Jesus Christ, Your Sure Foundation When Your Temple Falls

Introduction

Without what could your ministry not go on? If your building were taken from you, if your pastoral team disappeared, if the word "evangelical" came to carry a different weight, what would be left of your church? Benoît Engel asks the question head-on, preaching the closing minutes of Stephen's speech in Acts 7:38 through 8:3.

Stephen is speaking to Jewish opponents who are about to stone him, but he's also speaking to the first disciples of Jesus, who were deeply attached to Jerusalem and the temple. His words still cut close to home for you today: God has always made his people travel light, and since the righteous one entered heaven, the Church is guaranteed up there.

Three movements to walk through with this text: gaining depth, invincibility, and agility. That's Benoît Engel's prayer for you.

Sermon Outline

1. The assembly in the wilderness got along fine without a temple (v.38-50)

• Stephen pulls his listeners' imagination away from the temple looming over Jerusalem. God knows how to work without a temple.
• Moses came and went and disappeared: "we don't know what has become of him" (v.40). No panic on God's part, it worked.
• In verse 42, a certain nostalgia for the wilderness surfaces: worship stripped down to the essentials, only the Levites offering sacrifices for lack of resources, and yet it worked.
• The tent of witness isn't an idol, it's a place of spoken word. The temple, on the other hand, was first David's idea; and Stephen speaks of it lightly, quoting Isaiah: "What house will you build me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?"
• A question comes back to you: what plays the role of a temple in your own imagination? A seat of your glory, a reassuring cradle, a guarantee of your standing? An affiliation, a stamp of approval, an oversight body, a governance structure, a label, a network, a set of certainties?

2. The righteous one opened access to the true temple (v.51-60)

• Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, fixes his eyes on heaven and sees the glory of God, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He sees straight through: there's no more firmament, no more curtain, nothing blocking the way.
• An earth-dweller is up there, a man like you and me, in the glory of God. The true temple has been inaugurated, and room has been made for humanity up there.
• The tabernacle and the temple were shadows, a small-scale model constantly repeating that what's really at stake is communion with God. The real thing has been accessible ever since Jesus the righteous one took his place there.
• Stephen falls asleep like a baby, after asking, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Jesus is his security, his righteousness, his peace, even under the stones.
• Every potential idol, every thing that might hand you a bit of glory and a bit of assurance, is put in its place. Your boat on the water may get tossed about, but it will reach the harbor safely because of Jesus Christ, your guarantor.

3. Rising above it all: depth, invincibility, agility

• Depth. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman this: the Father seeks worshipers in spirit and in truth (John 4). People who break through the clouds and see all the way to heaven, who put mountains, credentials, and gold stars in their proper place. Our God isn't looking for religious people.
• Invincibility. The Church looks like it's losing, a Stephen, a "good one," is cut down. And yet Saul will end up holding the coats, will be recruited against all odds, and the gospel will reach Samaria. The Church endures; the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
• Agility. The Spirit blows where it wills. Stephen seems light, even reckless, but his blood will bear more fruit than stones ever could. Perhaps the martyrdom of Saint Denis shaped France more than the basilica that bears his name. Use whatever means God gives you (a beautiful building, if you have one), but know that wild growth is always possible through unlikely, painful, sacrificial means, even through forgiveness.

Key Takeaways

• Without what could your ministry not go on? That hypothetical loss often reveals a hidden idol.
• God has always made his people travel light: from the wilderness assembly to the Huguenots, to the Chinese Christians of the 1950s, to churches across sub-Saharan Africa today.
• The true temple stands open in heaven: Jesus, the man who entered glory, guarantees your communion with God there.
• To lose is still to win. The Church is invincible because Christ reigns, and God raises up other men for every one who falls.
• Forgiveness, blood, and tears carry more weight than stone. The Spirit blows where it wills, often through unlikely means.

Personal Application

1. What "temple" are you afraid to lose, so much so that your whole ministry seems to depend on it? Take the time to name it before God.
2. Where do you go looking for your glory, your standing, your assurance? Does that seat still hold when you look up at Stephen's opened heaven?
3. Are you ready to travel light if God moves you to unfamiliar ground, a secularized neighborhood, a people you don't yet understand?
4. What "religion" (habits, labels, tribe, network), is keeping you today from worshiping in spirit and in truth?
5. Can you pray, as Stephen did, for those who have wronged you: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them"?

Scriptures Cited

• Acts 7:38 – 8:3 (WEB), The end of Stephen's speech, his vision, his stoning, the persecution
• Isaiah 66:1-2 (WEB), "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool"
• John 4:23-24 (WEB), Worshipers in spirit and truth
• Matthew 16:18 (WEB), The gates of Hades will not prevail against it
• Acts 5:42 (WEB), Every day, in the temple and in homes

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the passage from Acts 7:38 to 8:3 preached by Benoît Engel tell us?

It's the end of Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin, his vision of heaven opened with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, his stoning, and the start of a great persecution that scatters the church in Jerusalem. Saul (the future Paul) approves of the execution and goes into houses to drag believers out.

Why does Stephen say the Most High does not dwell in temples made by human hands?

Stephen quotes the prophet Isaiah to remind his listeners that the true temple is heaven, and that the tabernacle and Solomon's temple were only a small-scale model of it. The place of communion with God never depended on a building, and since Jesus was exalted, access to heaven stands open directly.

How can you apply the idea of "traveling light" today?

Benoît Engel invites you to identify the thing without which you believe your church or ministry could not survive (a building, a team, an affiliation, a label, a network), and to accept that God can move you. The Church is guaranteed in heaven by Jesus the righteous one, so nothing on earth is indispensable.