The Fight from Within

We know from the Scriptures and Christian history that many fight the Church from outside the Church. The Pagan persecution, the Islamic influence, and even secularism have all been fighting the Church. We know how to defeat them, but how do we defeat those who from the Church from within?

In those days, Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated men, who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. And the high priest said, “Is this so?” And Stephen said: “Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living; yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. “But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 6:8-15;7:1-5,47-60

Long before the Christians departed the synagogue, people were fighting against the Church. It was the ‘insiders’ that convinced the Romans to kill Jesus. It was the elites that convinced the crowds to shout, “Crucify Him!” It was those INSIDE the Church that fought against Stephen.

Every time our ‘way of life’ is threatened, we fight. We don’t like anyone telling us we can’t ‘do what we want, when we want’ to do it. Saint Stephen preaching the Good News of Christ, but the people didn’t want to repent, so they stoned him to death.

Stephen was killed by insiders. Eventually the Christians were forced to leave the Temple and Synagogue. The insiders were able to keep their ways, but the Temple was destroyed by Rome only a few years later.

Two thousand years later and the Church has survived centuries of attacks. The attacks hurt the most when they are from within the Church. When members of the Church feel their sinful way of life being disrupted by the Church, fights erupt.

This isn’t new and I doubt the battles will ever end, since the devil will never give up his war against God. What is new, in my observation, is our expectation that conflict within the Church is always short-lived.

We read about past conflict in history, but we forget some weren’t resolved for generations. We are not comfortable, nor should we be, with conflict within the Church. It is important to look at history and realize, we are living through a major era of conflict today.

The Church survived ‘then’ and it will survive now. Everyone thought they were ‘on the right side’ but in time, the truth prevailed, and the conflict was resolved by God’s grace. I guess what the Jews missed was that Stephen wasn’t changing God’s truth. He was changing how they experienced His truth.

For more than two thousand years the Church has refused to change the truth of God. We call those truths, ‘doctrines or dogmas’ and they are unchangeable. What has changed, sometimes dramatically, over the centuries was how our daily lives experienced the truth of God.

Our worship has changed. Fasting has changed. Even our institutional structures have changed. None of these changes ever affected the truth of God, but all of them affected someone’s daily lives.

Here’s my advice for you during our current conflict from within. First, don’t presume you are the only one correct. Second, don’t forget that change can be ok so long as it doesn’t change the truth of God. Finally, when you find yourself on the ‘other side’ don’t stone anyone to death.