When I was sixteen I met Jim Bakker for the first time.
He and his wife, Tammy, were doing a children’s television program on the Christian
Broadcasting Network in Tidewater, Virginia. (It was a kind of Christianized
Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.) Since that time Jim and Tammy have become famous for
many things, including:
PTL Club
Heritage
U.S.A. in Charlotte, N.C.
A cosmetics
line
Timeshares
A theme park
Sexual misconduct
Mail &
wire fraud & conspiracy to defraud the public
Prison
Divorce
Remarriage
Cancer, etc.
I have a friend who’s interviewed Jim several times since
his release from prison. In one interview my friend said, “I’ll bet the hardest
thing about the whole prison experience has been the feelings of embarrassment and
shame.” Jim smiled and said, “It was
tough, but I’m glad it all happened. Now I can go anywhere and be with anybody
in the whole world, and there aren’t raised eyebrows. I can go into any bar,
any social circle of outcasts – and nobody tells me that I ought to be careful
because ‘people will talk’ and that I might ‘hurt my reputation’. People have
already talked. I don’t have any reputation to hurt. It doesn’t matter anymore,
because I’m free.” The Apostle Paul would understand that in spades.
In Luke’s account of Paul’s life – Acts 8 through 28, he
is quick to chronicle the beginning of Paul’s walk with Jesus as rocky and
reputation-dissolving. There’s a six-word statement at the beginning of
Acts 8 that says it all – “And Saul approved of his (Stephen’s) execution.” It’s
something that the Apostle Paul never forgot; and yet, like Jim Bakker, it freed
him from all pretense.
We are going to delve into all of this – Saul’s
relationship to Stephen – this Baccalaureate Sunday. Indeed, it seems appropriate
to be looking at Acts 6 and 7 this week, because without this experience, Saul
would never have become Paul. He would never have walked with Jesus and would never
have seen how overwhelming grace is!
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the
following:
1.
Is forgetting a necessary component of
forgiving?
2.
What does it mean to be “seized with a great
affection”?
3.
What is the meaning of Stephen’s name?
4.
Why does Luke devote 7% of this book to him?
5.
What is the meaning of Stephen’s profile in Acts
6:8, “full of grace and power”?
6.
Who are these “freed men” in verse 9?
7.
What role does Saul play in instigating the crowd
against Stephen?
8.
What parallels do you see in Acts 6:8-12 and
Acts 7:54-60 between Stephen and Jesus?
9.
How does God answer Stephen’s dying prayer in
verse 60?
10. How
do we know that the stoning of Stephen freed Paul from pretense?
See you Sunday!
