Similar Story ... Just Better

Overview

Similar Story… Just Better

Stephen stands on trial for blasphemy—a charge punishable by death—accused of speaking against God, against Moses and the Law, and against the temple. Rather than mounting a narrow legal defense, Stephen preaches. Having already taken his accusers back to Abraham and the promise of land, people, and a coming Messiah, he moves next to Moses in Acts 7:17-34. A new Pharaoh arises, threatened by Israel's growth. He enslaves God's people and orders the killing of their infants. Into that oppression, Moses is born, hidden, and—remarkably—adopted into the household of the very Pharaoh oppressing his people. Raised in royalty, instructed in all the wisdom of Egypt, Moses at age forty tries to act as deliverer in his own strength, kills an Egyptian, and ends up fleeing to Midian as a shepherd. Forty more years pass before God speaks from the burning bush: "I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people… I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you."

Trace the building blocks of the plot: royalty becomes a lowly shepherd in order to rescue. That theme should sound familiar, because Scripture tells the same story again—only better. In John 10, Jesus declares, "I am the good shepherd… and I lay down my life for the sheep." The Son, the second person of the Trinity, leaves the glory of heaven, takes the form of a servant, and lays down His life for the flock. The Shepherd Himself becomes the Lamb. As we sing at the communion rail, "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Our sin separates us from God and makes us worthy of His wrath; the only way to redeem us was for the royal Son to become the lowly Shepherd, shedding His blood as the spotless Lamb in our place.

Moses' story prefigures it. Christ's story fulfills it. Same plot, just better.

Each of us is living a story with familiar building blocks—joy and sorrow, gain and loss, laughter and tears, peace and conflict. The details differ, but the themes recur in every life. What changes everything is that our small stories are embraced by the story: the King who became the Shepherd to rescue us. Whatever page is being written in your life right now—whether it reads of harmony or hardship, celebration or grief—that overarching story shapes every page beneath it. It is the story we never tire of hearing, because it is the story that gives joy on every page.

Transcript

Would you open your Bibles, please, with me to the seventh chapter of the book of Acts? 0s

When you pick up a book, as you start to read it, the theme of the book oftentimes is very apparent, isn't it? 6s

In fact, oftentimes you can just get the theme of the book from the jacket on the book. 17s

And there are common, common literary themes that about love, hate, good versus evil, war, peace, survival, on and on, they go. 24s

And quite quickly, as you read, you can categorize that book around its theme, can't you? 45s

But also as you read further, you see the building blocks of the plot. 55s

As you put those building blocks together, sometimes, sometimes that reminds you of a story that you've heard elsewhere. 62s

The similar blocks of the story under the umbrella of the theme. 74s

I mentioned that to you this morning, because that's what we experience in our text. 85s

And it's why I've entitled the sermon, similar story, just better, similar story, just better. 91s

We return this morning to our study in the seventh chapter of the book of Acts. 104s

And just as a reminder of the context, you'll recall that Stephen is on trial. 109s

I remember that charge is blasphemy again, Stephen. This is a serious, serious charge. It was punishable by death. 116s

And there was a three-fold charge of blasphemy again, Stephen. 124s

There was the charge of blasphemy that Stephen was blaspheming God, that Stephen was blaspheming Moses or the law, and that Stephen was blaspheming the temple. 130s

So in the seventh chapter, what you have is you have Stephen's defense against these three charges. 143s

And remember, last time we were in the seventh chapter of Acts, we saw how he was addressing the first charge of blasphemy. 150s

That charge with regard to blasphemy against God. And remember, as he was defending himself, he drew upon a portion of Scripture, where there was a phrase, the glory of the Lord used only once. 159s

To communicate this composite nature of the attributes of God. 179s

Stephen was saying, I'm not blaspheming God. I'm lifting up his attributes. And he went right into the story of the most important person in the Old Testament Abraham. 187s

Right into the story of telling the history. 201s

God's promise, remember, to Abraham. That through him and Sarah would come this line of people and out of this line of people would come the Messiah. 204s

And what you very quickly see in the seventh chapter of Acts, Stephen really, who doesn't so much defending himself as he is preaching, as he recounts the story of God's action. 214s

So one moves from Abraham and then he moves into as he follows the history to Moses. Moses. 236s

That's where we pick up. Verse 17, please, of Acts the seventh chapter. 248s

But as that time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, and remember, what was the promise that God had made to Abraham, it was land and people, right? 255s

And that through that line of people would come the Messiah. 268s

As a time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, are people in Egypt, increased and multiplied, until another king, 271s

who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt, he dealt craftly with our race, and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so they would die. 281s

So a new Pharaoh has come along, and this Pharaoh is threatened. 294s

He's threatened as he sees this growing number of the Israelites. He's concerned that as these Israelites continue to grow, that they will 300s

come with some other force, and now all of a sudden become invaders. So what does he do? He enslaves the Israelites. He keeps incredible amount of forced labor upon them, and he institutes in fantasied to try and stop the growth of the people. 311s

Pick up in verse 20. At this time, Moses was born. He was beautiful before God. 333s

For three months, he was brought up in his father's house, and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 343s

Remember, they're practicing in fantasied. So the abandonment here is not neglect. The abandonment is a hope that he will be spared. 356s

The parents put him in a basket. He's discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, and he becomes the adopted grandson of guess who? 367s

The Pharaoh. That is oppressing the people. Next verse verse 22. So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds. 381s

When he was 40 years old, it came to his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. 400s

When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man, and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 406s

He suppose that his kin's folk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. 415s

I was important to note here, at this point, God had not called Moses to act on behalf of his people, hadn't called him yet, and certainly he was not called to take justice into his own hands, which was exactly what he did. 425s

What happens? 446s

Verse 26. 450s

The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them and saying, 453s

Men, you are brothers, why do you wrong each other? 457s

But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside saying, 461s

Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 465s

Do you want to kill me? 471s

As you killed the Egyptian yesterday, when he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. 473s

There he became the father of two sons. 484s

So you see the plot developed, and what are the building blocks of the plot? 491s

Royalty becomes a lonely shepherd. 502s

Royalty becomes a lonely shepherd. 512s

And look at the last segment. 518s

Verse 39, now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. 521s

When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look there came the voice of the Lord. 531s

And the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. 538s

Then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you were standing is holy ground. 548s

I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning. 558s

And I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt. 566s

There's the call. There's the call, 40 years later. 577s

And what are the building blocks of the plot? 583s

Royalty becomes the lonely shepherd. 588s

In order to rescue, royalty becomes the lonely shepherd in order to rescue. 592s

Does that sound similar to another story? 614s

You know? Sound similar? 620s

This cross that I wear most every Sunday was given to me when I became a pastor. 629s

It was given to me via lady in the congregation that I grew up in in California. 638s

I was just a little guy there. 646s

And until I went away to college, that was my home congregation. 650s

My home congregation at this point when I graduated seminary was in Washington. 657s

So what did the lightful surprise to open up this gift from a lady that I knew when I was a boy? 662s

I love this cross. 672s

Right in the center of the cross is Jesus. 675s

And you can tell right away what is being emphasized is Jesus the shepherd. 680s

Around his head is the nimbus. You so often see that in artistic portrayals of Jesus. 688s

That's that round kind of glow around his head. 695s

It's called the nimbus. It communicates the divinity of the Lord Jesus. 700s

On the cross beam of the cross, you've got sheep. 707s

And underneath you've got sheep. 710s

And on the top right above Jesus, you have a lamb carrying a banner. 712s

And underneath the lamb carrying the banner of victory, you have the dove, the Holy Spirit. 720s

Remember when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him. 729s

And the father said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. 734s

This shepherd then of the sheep becomes the lamb in order to save the sheep. 744s

In John the 10th chapter, Jesus says this, 764s

I'm the good shepherd. I know my own and my own, know me. 771s

Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. 778s

The shepherd becomes the lamb that wins. 791s

Victory. Why does the shepherd lay down his life? 798s

Because it's the only way to redeem. 807s

Our sin separates us from God. It makes us worthy of the wrath of God. 811s

God is just to turn to us and to say, you are banished from my presence for it. 816s

But he sins his son, the Lord Jesus, the second member of the Trinity and the royalty, becomes the lowly shepherd in order to rescue. 827s

The shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, goes to the cross and sheds his blood. 841s

The penalty for sin is laid upon the spotless lamb of God Jesus Christ. 845s

It's why we sing as we come forward to the communion rail. 853s

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 857s

The shepherd has become the lamb in order to redeem. 861s

And it's the theme again, isn't it? 869s

It's the same blocks. 872s

Royalty becomes the shepherd in order to rescue. 877s

It's the similar story with Moses. 890s

It's just better, isn't it? 895s

It's just better. 899s

All of us gather today, we've got a story. 909s

We've all got themes that we experience. 913s

And we all have various plot lines to our story. 918s

There's a lot of blocks that are really similar in all of our lives. 925s

The details, the details may change, but there's so much similarity in our lives. 929s

Mr. various stories here, we experience joy in life and we experience sorrow in life. 938s

We experience gain and we experience loss. 946s

We experience laughter and we experience tears. 950s

We experience peace and we experience conflict. 956s

It's all these themes and all of these blocks to our stories. 964s

But superimposed and embracing all of our stories is the story. 970s

It is the story of the royal one who becomes the shepherd in order to rescue us. 978s

That is the story of stories that amidst whatever the various chapter of your story is at the moment. 989s

Whatever the page seems to yield, that is the story that embraces it all. 997s

And that is the paramount story. 1006s

Because it's that plot line. 1010s

It's that story that affects every page of our book, every page. 1013s

And that is a story of royalty who becomes the shepherd, to rescue. 1028s

That's the joy, isn't it? 1042s

I'm it's whatever page is being written right now in your story. 1047s

Whether it's peace and harmony or whether it's this harmony, whether it's joy and laughter or whether it's tears and grieving. 1058s

It's that story that gives joy on every single page. 1067s

And it's that story that we just never, ever, tire of hearing. 1079s

And it's that story that gives joy on every single page. 1111s