Pure in Heart

Check out Stephen.

Stephen had a place of leadership within the early church, was full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit, and was always doing miracles. The religious leaders were eaten up with jealousy; they couldn't stand this man, but there was no fault they could find to convict him of. Finally, after the bribery of some sketchy characters, they arrested him under false charges.

When given the chance to defend himself, Stephen began to chronicle Israel's history. I can just picture the religious leaders scratching their heads and wondering, where is this going? It seems his only motive is to lead up to the gospel message, and beginning this way establishes some credibility.

I am like you.
We share our roots.

And so his listeners followed along for most of the speech. He spoke of God's plan to redeem Israel and  how the people were ungrateful and turned to other gods. Then! Stephen turned on them and said: this is you. YOU are proud, YOU are stubborn and YOU reject the Messiah.

I guess it is much the same as Peter's speech a few chapters earlier. But instead of weeping and saying, "what have we done?" the people covered their ears and began to stone Stephen.

But Stephen saw God.

Heaven opened and he saw his Savior, and he had peace. Don't miss this! Jesus promised, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Stephen's heart was untainted by the fear of men. He did not love his life so much as to shrink back from death.

It is not the seeker-sensitive who are blessed.
It is not the eloquent or persuasive who are blessed.
It is not even the bold who are blessed.

It is those whose hearts have been purified, that they desire to please God rather than men. They will see God.

Lord, give me a pure heart.

Of Bounce-houses and Donuts

"No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number." Acts 5:13-14

…

The more I study the early church in Acts, the more it amazes me. But this verse perplexed me the first time I read it. Why was it that no one joined them? Oh, there were new converts daily… but those who did not believe stayed away. Perhaps because there was no room for hypocrisy in this body, as the account of Annanias and Sapphira earlier in the chapter reveals. They fell over dead in church for lying to the Holy Spirit! The incident struck fear into the hearts of all who were lukewarm. Such a contrast with modern churches, who are often quite comfortable with mediocrity and try to reel back in any "extremists" who would endanger their reputation. 

Yet the Acts church was radical in every way.They considered their material possessions so irrelevant in light of the gospel that they sold everything to share with fellow believers. They completely eradicated poverty, not by government programs or legalistic church leaders, but by hearts and lives filled with the compassion of Christ. They came together, not weekly on Sunday for an hour, but daily. They ate together, prayed together, worshipped together, witnessed miracles together, learned together, served together, shared life together.

There were no inflatable bounce-houses. No donuts and coffee. No slick band or fog machines. Yet thousands of new believers were added to the church daily.

Daily.

Somehow I think our generation has gotten the wrong idea about church growth.

What was their secret? They simply shared the gospel with a fire that could not be extinguished. "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." No special training or memorization of an acronym required. They told what they knew--what Christ had done in their own lives. 

And how was it received by those who heard their message? They were cut to the heart. "What will we do?" they cried. For when the true gospel is preached, a moment of decision is inevitable. There is no straddling the fence. 

And Peter was ready with a response for his listeners: Salvation comes through Christ alone. This gift is for you and for all who are far off. Off the path, too far gone, not the religious type. It's for you. 

The church does not need more programs designed to draw a crowd. God simply asks his people to share what we have seen and heard, and he does the rest. 

What a beautiful plan.