Luke/Acts for Beginners
Persecution of the Church
Part 1
Teaching Strategy
The focus of this lesson is the faithfulness of the early Christians as persecution began. This lesson also provides insight into how the Apostles dealt with day-to-day issues as the church continued to grow. The span of this lesson is from Acts 6:1 – 7:60.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Know: Summarize the events from Acts 6 and 7 and state their impact on the Church today.
- Feel: Value the example of faithfulness to our Lord as demonstrated by early Christians.
- Do: Resolve to keep our focus on serving our Lord.
Body of the Lesson
Discussion Questions
Below are suggested questions to use during the guided discussion portion of the lesson. There are also suggested responses to questions to help students grasp the various concepts. These are provided to assist the discussion and are not considered as “right or wrong” responses.
It is easy to overlook the daily activities in the overall narrative of the growth of the Church. By giving this insight we see that there were practical issues that came about. This also helps us see that we each have responsibilities and skills with which we can serve the Church. The Apostles established a practical way to overcome the issue and stop a situation that could impact the unity of the Church and thus slow the spiritual growth of individuals and the numerical growth of the body.
Today, we also face issues within our congregations. We have established, from the example of the apostles in Acts 6 and Paul's teachings on Church leadership, a method for organization. We have men appointed as shepherds responsible for each congregation. These men oversee and participate in teaching and guiding the congregation. We also have men appointed as deacons to serve over specific programs. Along with these we have men and women participating in all efforts within the Church as it reaches out to the community. Collectively this effort ensures that God's word continues to be taught and souls won for Christ.
A problem was identified, a solution was presented and it resulted in the continuing growth of the Church as well as the encouragement of its members. Today, we also experience situations as we work and grow together and should use this same model. We must identify what is actually the issue/problem and implement viable solutions. We must then monitor the implementation and results to ensure that the issue is resolved. In this way we are able to stop an issue from interfering with our mission as the Lord's Church. We must never let a situation continue to the point where it causes disunity. If we did that, Satan would have won in his efforts to harm the Church and prevent souls from coming to our Lord.
Stephen was one of the seven original men selected to serve. Additionally, he was among the first on record to receive spiritual gifts from the apostles. Apparently, these gifts included the ability to teach since this is how he is introduced. This would be consistent with the requirement that they be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
Stephen was not only active in the day-to-day activities of the Church, but also served in the ministry of spreading the gospel. This brought him to the attention of the Hellenistic Jews. In attacking Stephen, the Jews hoped to stop the growth efforts of the Church and discourage others from joining being added to their number. The Jews had already tried to stop the apostles with no success. So now they see others like Stephen continuing to teach others.
Stephen represented what is known as the multiplication effect. Instead of one person teaching one person, a person would teach several others and those several others would in turn teach several others. The result was the quick and wide-spread growth of the Church. Later, Paul would instruct Timothy in the same method (I Timothy 2:2). This is how the gospel was preached to all the known world within the lifetime of the apostles.
Stephen's trial was not a legal trial, nor was his death justified. False witnesses were brought to testify concerning his threat to the Temple and the Law of Moses. This is also what happened in the trial of Jesus. The result was an illegal death penalty. Even in carrying out His death the Jews violated the Law. Ironically, all of these illegal actions should have resulted in their death rather than Stephen's (Deuteronomy 17).
It is also noteworthy that Stephen's final words were asking God to forgive those persecuting him. This statement was similar to what our Lord said from the cross.
Satan knows he cannot directly defeat our Lord, so he chooses to attack those most precious to Him. He knows our weakness and uses them against us. In doing so he accomplishes three key strategies:
- He prevents someone from obeying the gospel
- He weakens our faith
- He weakens our influence
We can defend against these by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and remain busy in our service as faithful Christians.
Look for specific responses explaining how we can grow spiritually, remain faithful and motivate others to believe.