Talking Points with President Woodford - Holiness Incarnate

You can get yourself in trouble when you set out to confess the Word of God. Take Stephen, for instance (see Acts 6 & 7). He had a holy calling, yet it was pretty ordinary and mundane. He and six other men had been divinely appointed to relieve the Apostles of waiting on tables, so they could focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word.

But Acts tells us how Stephen was brought up on false charges, with those claiming he was speaking blasphemous things against Moses and God. But you see, that’s what happens in Christ’s church. Whenever you take up the cause of holiness, you become a target of attack from the evil one. It’s like you’ve got a flashing bullseye on your chest. You can be sure there’s going to be some attacks coming your way when you serve the Lord Christ.

You probably know this from your own experience. If you’ve ever been falsely accused, you know the utter angst and sorrow such accusations evoke. Slander hurts. Being smeared will make your stomach drop to your knees and your knees drop to the ground.

So, for a guy who was appointed to wait on tables, Stephen found himself in quite a predicament. But then again, Scripture is clear he was qualified to do much more than just wait on tables. Clearly, Stephen was a pretty good apologist for the Holy things of God. He spoke clearly and eloquently concerning the hope that was in Him.

“Full of grace and power, [Stephen] was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” He debated men from “the synagogue of the Freedmen… the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” (Acts 6:8-10). And that’s where things went south.

When your side is not winning, you spread falsehoods, untruths, and lies to gain the advantage. That’s the way of the sinful heart, be that in the grade school hallways, family gatherings, political elections, or voters’ meetings at your church. And, oh how quickly those falsely accused can become the false accusers. Maybe you know what that is like?

Stephen knew the pain of slander. Maybe you do, too. Those who touted the 8th commandment were all too happy break it. “They secretly instigated men who said, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God’” (Acts 6:11). They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. They made false accusations, some may have even sought restraining orders, and they brought Stephen before the council.

Then, with the “face of an angel,” this waiter of tables tells the Good News of God’s promise to Abraham and God’s deliverance through Moses. This especially captures the irony of Stephen’s sermon. Even as he is being rejected by the Jews around him, Stephen emphasized how Moses was first rejected by the Hebrews around him.

Stephen knew his Old Testament history. He spoke no blasphemy. In fact, he stressed how forty years after his exile, Moses stood before a burning bush and was told to remove his sandals lest God’s holiness devour him. The ground was holy because God was there. We ought not miss this point. Where rejection made Moses an exile, God’s holiness made him a mouthpiece. It purified him, cleansed him, and sent him forth as a prophet.

Yes, it is a dangerous thing to come into the presence of God’s holiness. It will either devour you, destroy you, and annihilate you with all your impurity and sin, or it will cleanse you, comfort you, and caress you with His unconditional love and affection, sanctifying you from top to bottom.

Stephen used this Old Testament narrative to point to the One who would deliver God’s holiness once and for all. In his words: 37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.' (Acts 7). Stephen was pointing to Jesus—the Holy One of God. For that they put him to death. His “angel face” was marred and mashed by stones. He was truly baptized into Christ’s death.

You who have ears to hear, now hear this. Such is what happens to those who receive Jesus. We receive His death. First given to you in the waters of baptism. Pressed upon you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and then laid upon you over and over again through the crosses our Lord gives you to bear in faith and holiness.

You see, as Moses once stood upon holy ground, Stephen reminds us that in God’s good time, Christ Jesus came as God’s holiness incarnate. He was the prophet who was “raised up.” Raised up like the prophets before Him, like Stephen and like Moses, Jesus, too, was rejected by those to whom He was sent. In fact, He was “raised up” on the cross so that all could see He was not only rejected by mankind but was deliberately and excruciatingly rejected by His Father in Heaven.

He endured false accusations. He had no one to intercede for Him—no one to come to His defense—no one to be in His corner. He was rejected by God in your place so that you never will be. The holiness of God-in-the-flesh endured all that was vile, impure, and unholy so that you, right here and right now, are made holy by His very Word. On that cross He takes your impurity and by His resurrection He gives you His holiness.

In the very presence of your enemies the Lord sets a table before you where He cleanses you from outside in and inside out. By His holy body and His holy blood put into you, He devours all that is impure and consumes all that is unholy—all the hurt, all the wrongs, all the false accusations you have suffered, as well as all those you have made against others. They melt away in His holiness.

Now not merely do you stand upon holy ground, but you yourself—your very body—is the undefiled temple of the Holy Spirit. Now His holiness makes you a mouthpiece to boldly confess His name and joyfully praise His name to all who will listen.

In Christ,