The “deacon” Stephen was also a mighty preacher of the Word! By the way, his name has a Greek background, not Hebrew!
And in the chapter (Acts 7) where this great witness for Jesus dies for his faith … this godly man displays an amazing knowledge of Jewish history! A powerful Speech/Sermon ending with Jesus, Whom Stephen describes as “the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Pretty orthodox, and bold!
In today’s Lesson I’d like to share a little “nugget” (related to Stephen’s Oration) I saw earlier this morning, studying the Word.
His paragraph about Moses is phenomenal! In fact, he called Moses a man “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was MIGHTY IN WORDS and in deeds.” Acts 7:22, with Moses at that time being not quite forty years of age. Still a relatively young man, since he lived to be 120 years of age, with unusual strength and eyesight even then! Moses, “mighty in words!” The adjective used here is “dunatos,” meaning unusually powerful (as in dynamite), if you need an English “loan word” to help define Moses’ considerable verbal skills.
But now watch this. When God first called Moses to “liberate” the Jews from the clutches of Pharaoh, from Egyptian bondage … Moses countered “O my Lord, I am not eloquent; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” Exodus 4:10, literally “I am a man of no words!” My tongue is (again defining literally) “heavy!”
Wow!
Moses (in an attempt to shrug off God’s Calling) uses an objection that is not entirely accurate! Because His life afterwards proves time and time again that he IS eloquent in speech!
Anyway (Preachers take note, Sunday School teachers too) God countered Moses’ “excuse” with these words: “Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Exodus 4:11-12, what a Promise!
What can we deduce from this seeming incongruity? Moses, “I can’t talk” versus Stephen’s “Moses (was) mighty in words.”
It is NOT a Bible error!
Rather … we might at least see here a consequence of delayed (incomplete) obedience! Moses persisted, I can’t do this Lord, “at least not alone.”
Moses continues with his hesitancy: “And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. (Get someone else!) And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. (Maybe a little too well!) And also, behold, he (Aaron) cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.” Exodus 4:13-14
So now, due to Moses’ stubbornness (or false modesty) he has a helper, a “mouthpiece!” But less than God’s Best, I’d say!
This is an example of smooth-mouthed Aaron, so adroit in speech, explaining away the “golden calf” debacle! “And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.” Exodus 32:24
Aaron says he threw a blob of gold into the fire and suddenly there emerged a golden calf! Smooth words indeed! (When we know from Scripture that Aaron fashioned that thing with his own hands!)
Let me prove that: “And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto AARON. And he received them at their hand, and FASHIONED IT WITH A GRAVING TOOL, after he HAD MADE IT a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Exodus 32:3-4, King James Version, word for word!
Better had Moses alone led Israel. But Oh, I forgot … he can’t talk!
Reader here today … quit making excuses for not doing what God has called you to do!
I heard an old preacher say once … “God does not call the equipped but instead equips the called.” That is not always true, though. “God often calls those whom He has equipped from birth!” Endowed with “gifts” fit for divine Service!
One quick example of this principle, God to Jeremiah, who was also objecting to his Call … “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5, pre-natal endowment!) The prophet had just said, Moses like: “Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.” Wow!
Do what God asks you to do … teach Sunday School, witness to that co-worker, speak at that retreat! Don’t make bogus excuses, like Moses did and like Jeremiah tried to do.
Let me close with this. A “balance” must be found in this Moses Situation. Too much self confidence in one’s (God-given) ability … can result in PRIDE! Too little confidence in God’s bestowal upon you life … DISLOYALTY to your Saviour! Or outright DISOBEDIENCE!
Enough said.
Thank you, Stephen, for that little thought.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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