As we move into 2019, my prayer is to look more and more like Jesus. After all, that is the goal of our faith. Paul talks about having our hearts circumcised (Colossians 2), about giving the Holy Spirit room to do His transforming work so that we can take on the nature of Christ and live life the way He did.
I see this kind of circumcision, a circumcision of the heart, at work in the life of Stephen in Acts 6 and 7. This guy was off the hook. He was hooked on Jesus. He was Holy Spirit amped. He was preaching and teaching like nobody’s business. Acts 6 says he was full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace, full of power and full of wisdom. Well, people got all up in arms about his preaching, and they treated him like they treated Jesus. They made up lies about him and drug him before the Sanhedrin, the same religious ruling body that condemned Jesus and handed Him over to the Roman courts. Stephen’s words in Acts 7 as he faced the Sanhedrin were incredible. He started by reminding the Sanhedrin leaders of the story of Abraham and the whole covenant of circumcision that God had established with His people in Genesis 17. He gave them a whole Bible History lesson by taking them through Joseph and then Moses and then the Tabernacle and the Law and Ten Commandments. He waxes on about David and Solomon and the building of the Temple.
And then he said this: Acts 7:48-51 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
There it was. It wasn’t that these religious leaders didn’t know the Scriptures or the religious rules. It wasn’t that these religious leaders didn’t know there was a protocol for Holy Living. The problem was they had never experienced the heart change that could bring life to a dead religion, that could birth a relationship between them and God, that could make them fruitful, that could transform their identity and empower them to live with God’s authority and power. They had never had a circumcision of their hearts. They had never let the Holy Spirit have His way.
The Sanhedrin members weren’t having it. They were furious and verse 54 says they “gnashed their teeth at him.” I’m not uber sure what “gnashing one’s teeth at someone looks like, but that’s what they did!” They couldn’t handle Stephen because they couldn’t handle Jesus. He had become like Jesus. His heart had become circumcised. I have to read from verse 55 on because it proves Stephen had a circumcised heart.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him…59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
While Stephen was being killed, he did two things exactly the same way Jesus did them. He asked for his murderers to be forgiven, and he asked God to receive his spirit. I read that the stoning of Stephen set the stage for the rapid spread of Christianity to the rest of the world. Because of that violent persecution of Stephen and because of his murder, Christians began fleeing Jerusalem in search of safer places and spaces and when they did, they took the Gospel with them, planting churches and proclaiming the Good News. He lived a fruitful life and died a fruitful death.
Stephen was all in. He was willing to live for Jesus and he was willing to die for Jesus. Why? Because he had been radically changed from the inside out. He had allowed the Holy Spirit full access to his heart. The Holy Spirit cut out the wisdom of the world and replaced it with the wisdom of God. The Holy Spirit cut out the desires of the world and replaced them with the desires of God. The Holy Spirit cut out the fear of man and replaced it with the boldness of Christ. Stephen had undergone a circumcision of the heart. He was full of all things Jesus.
Deuteronomy 29 and 30 is another Old Testament passage where God’s people have a Covenant Renewal moment. There, Moses, leads the people in remembering all God had done and in admonishing them in all God desires for their lives. He says this in 30:6 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. It was never about a mark of the flesh. It was always about a condition of the heart. God doesn’t want a superficial sign from you, but a surrendered heart. He doesn’t want a flesh wound that proves your love for Him, but a heart of flesh that beats with passionate love for Him.
Circumcision of the heart goes way beyond attending church and keeping our noses clean. It is far weightier than wearing Christian jewelry and maintaining high moral standards. It sits deeper than Bible reading and good works. It’s about giving it all up so that we can go all in with Jesus and so that the Holy Spirit can take every part of us, eject what needs to go and replace it with all things Jesus. As we approach 2019, let’s make sure we aren’t resisting the Holy Spirit and are giving God access to every part of our hearts.
