In this ideal church, now a controversy arises (so, congregational perfection has always been elusive). There is suspicious between two groups of believers -- Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians. (Not to put too fine a point on it, they were not called "Christians" yet. I believe they were called the followers of "the way.")
It seems that the Greek-speakers thought that their widows were not treated fairly in the distribution of goods. So the church appointed seven men to be "Deacons", or servants, to make sure that everyone was treated fairly.
One of the men was Stephen. (Another was Philip, but we will learn more about him, later.)
Seven could be just the literal number of men chosen to be deacons, but it's worth noting that seven is also a meaningful number -- often times the number seven signifies completeness. So -- these seven men are deacons, which means they are servants. But they are also forces to be reckoned with, as we will see, on at least two occasions.
Stephen rubbed people the wrong way. He was bold about Jesus, and a lot of people were upset by the things he said. If you really walking in the moccasins of the religious leaders, you might at least sympathize, as he was very critical of them.
So Stephen was asked to defend himself (you might have noticed that this happens rather regularly.) He gives a summary of salvation history, starting with Abraham and ending with Jesus. And he calls them stubborn and unrepentant, totally disobeying the Holy Spirit.
This makes the religious leaders even angrier. So they stone him.
And, Stephens sees the heavens open up, and he sees the angels and the Son of man, and he says to those who are stoning him, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing?"
Who does this sound like to you?
The Acts of the apostles.
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