Breaking Out of Religious Identity
Series: BREAKOUT – God on the Move through the Book of Acts
Brad Bailey – April 22, 2012
Intro
Today we are going to engage a problem that can quietly be at work in every life: the unconscious tendency to become attached to forms of religious identity… more than God Himself. Without realizing it, we can try to contain the eternal God of the universe within the boundaries of our comfort and control.
Today we are going to engage this disposition as we begin a series entitled: “BREAKOUT”
Breakout is defined as “a forceful escape or emergence from being confined, restrained, or trapped” (Encarta)
The Book of Acts captures God breaking out…an emergence from all that had been laid in the long history of relationship with Israel to the climatic sending of Christ the redeemer… and then pouring out of his Spirit.
The first part captures the initial pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the start of church… we focused on that portion in our series last Fall entitled “Roots.”
Beginning today… we will engage how the lives of those who follow are involved with that which is breaking out.
There is a geographical breaking out. (From Jerusalem to Judea to Rome.)
There is a cultural breaking out. (From Jews to Samaritans to Gentiles)
And in this process, there is a breaking out in how God leads his people. Jesus fulfilled all that God had set forth… but in a way that was outside the human religious expectations… and the Book of Acts captures how God continues this process of breaking out into the world.
Over the next ten weeks we are going to seek God to speak to us from ten of the events that take place in the Book of Acts… between chapters 6 and 28.
The last statement before the section we will begin with declared:
"And the word of God kept on spreading and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:7)
We can hear the breaking out but also the conflict that it raised… because when priest who were part of the established order began to recognize Christ…. It was sure to stir contention. So today… we begin with a rather intense confrontation between one of the early leaders and the religious rulers. The full text ranges from Acts 6:8 through all of chapter 7. The leader is Stephen. Stephen is mentioned in the first part of Acts 6. He was one of seven men chosen to minister to the widows and orphans in the new and growing church. and the majority of this section is a long message he presents. For the sake of time and focus I have chosen some central parts.
Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-5, 25, 35, 37-40, 44, 47-60 (NIV)
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 1 Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" 2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' 4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not… 35 "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?'… 37 "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' 38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us.
44 "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. … 47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him. 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! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." 54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 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. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 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.
I realize that this was a long text to hear… and follow.
Background:
Jesus had shown himself risen… prepared them go and wait for the coming Spirit… who came upon them…releasing the beginning of a breaking out which God had long spoken of. But just as their was opposition with Jesus… which led to his crucifixion…there was a lot of confrontation at hand.
Stephen has been declaring the message of change… of an old covenant to a new one… likely in the synagogues. The trouble comes in the synagogue of the Freedmen. It would have been a Greek-based teaching center of former slaves. They were Jewish, but had been slaves in Africa and Asia Minor, were freed, and returned to Palestine. It was natural that Stephen, who was himself one who was primarily Greek speaking and from outside Jerusalem, would choose that synagogue as a natural place to witness. These were his people with a common background in Greek thought, culture, and a more intellectual, philosophic approach to the Jewish religion. It was the custom in that synagogue in Jerusalem to have debates over religious issues. Stephen went there to tell the good news of Jesus Christ as Messiah [1] (Stephen is brought before the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jewish nation. He would face the High Priest who was a Sadducee, a Jew who neither believed in the resurrection, or angels, or the writings of the prophets)
There are various aspects we could focus on….including each of the many central events of Israel’s history… the key figures noted… and of course Stephen’s courage…for this became the dramatic moment that began the history of martyrdom…of dying for the sake of the truth of the faith… the courage to hold onto God in the face of death.
But I want us to face the underlying conflict that is at hand: (And ‘No...it’s not just about a guy giving such a long message that the people rise up and kill him at the end.’)
It is ultimately the conflict between living in genuine relationship with God… verses living in relationship with the various points of reference related to God that we can become attached to.
We might refer to this as a conflict with religious tradition… but we miss the heart of the issue. It’s common today to simply decry organized religion… and feel superior and safe. It was not simply a matter of the ‘old way’ vs. the ‘new way’… but the fulfillment of God’s way. It’s important to recognize that this confrontation… this conflict… was not simply about traditions. Jesus and his followers valued a certain aspect of traditions. He and his disciples He lived and taught the Scriptures. We are told that Jesus went to the synagogue as a regular practice. (Luke 4:16) They celebrated all the important feasts and the high holy days, as all Jews of that era did and many of today do as well. [2]
This conflict is also not simply with the “Jews” or Jewish people as might be heard when we read the reference to them as simply the “Jews.’ Stephen begins with the words “Brothers and fathers”… terms of respect between those who were Jews… as Stephen, though culturally and linguistically Greek… had given himself to the Jewish faith. The Messiah…Jesus… was thoroughly Jewish. At this point everyone was thinking inside their common life as the Jewish people. The use of the term ‘The Jews’ is referring to the Jewish rulers who shaped the cultural religious mindset that they were the rulers of.
What we must understand is that the heart of the issue is the heart…. the heart becoming attached to something other than God Himself in all His kingly sovereign loving freedom.
They had become attached to the some forms of religious identity that provided them with a sense of security… and potentially…superiority.
The Jewish leaders would point to three things to make a claim concerning their special standing before God as the “chosen people”… as faithful people.
Three things that the Jewish rulers held as symbols of their faithfulness:
1. We are the descendants of Abraham…now having arrived in the land of fulfillment.
2. We have the Law given to us by Moses…setting us apart as the people of the Word.
3. We have the Temple… the unique place where God’s presence dwells.
All of these were very significant to the roots of what God was doing.
He called Abraham as the father of a chosen people… in time he raised up Moses to whom God gave the Law which defined how they should live as a distinct people… and the Temple became a source and symbol of God’s powerful presence.
All of these were good… but none of them were an end in themselves… they were the start but they would never serve as the end… to that God said be would send a representative… a savior known as the Messiah who would fulfill what these represented…. Jesus was the Christ... this anointed One. Stephen understood that Jesus had fulfilled what these points of religious identity represented. [3]
The problem is that all of these were bound in dynamic relationship to the Living God… and separated from relationship they become sources of religious identity.
These sources of identity can become self-deceptive symbols. They become self deceptive because one cannot see that they are bound to the symbol…the form… while growing unresponsive to the living source. This is the self-deceptive dynamic of relationship being replaced by religion.
So Stephen rehearses their history to declare that he’s not denying what God had done…but that in truth the work of God was greater than what the people’s hearts had become responsive to.
I believe this can apply to us… and we must consider what Stephen raises in the light of our own attachments to religious identity.
Stephen begin by setting forth the truth regarding identifying with Abraham.
Acts 7:2-5
2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' 4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
He begins by declaring that the ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia’,… which is the land of the Gentiles. He is at once reminding them that God is the God of glory…infinite and omnipotent… “glory” is the composite of all His attributes. It is a rich description of the holy, almighty and sovereign God. God was at work in the wider world. If Abraham is the great father of this faith… in truth he never possessed this land… he lived by faith… and that is what he was commended for. Abraham is the great example of the fact that when the sovereign God says it’s time to go … we should go… when he is moving us forward into what is changing….we should change. [4]
John the Baptist had confronted this attachment…
Matthew 3:9 (NIV)
“…do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
Jesus would also confront the false security and significance of mere lineage…
John 8:39 (NIV)
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did.”
The point is that…
1. You cannot merely claim the name (‘Abraham’s descendents’) apart from following what that name represents… which is a life of dynamic relationship of faith with God.
We do well to consider our relationship to the word “Christian.” There is nothing inherently wrong with the term…but it can become part of a safe religious identity. It’s not a term that Jesus ever used nor that any of his followers initiated. It was a term that outsiders used because they saw how much these first followers bore the life of Christ in themselves…so they called them ‘Christians’ which means ‘little Christs.’
Now it has become used to define ourselves… and is more a noun defined by a set of beliefs.
It’s natural to want to solidify our faith in some identifiable term… like “Christian”… it has great value…but we must recognize that it can become a safe and simplistic substitute for the reality of what it should represent.
Both Abraham and Christ lived every day is a dynamic relationship of faith.
Both Abraham and Christ represent the life of response.
Faith was not a set of propositions they said “I agree with”….but a call upon them that they said “yes” to.
Every day Abraham got up and journeyed as God led… it was by faith…not based on fulfillment. He, like Jesus, was never at home...but always trusting in the future.
We must ask ourselves: Have I become settled and secure in the claim to a name… and becoming settled in the ‘land’ that symbolizes faith…or am I living by faith… stepping out upon the reality of what God is calling me into?
Is my life defined by following Christ in a dynamic relationship of faith?
Stephen goes on to engage the nature of the Law given by Moses.
As for being a people who received the Law from Moses… in truth, Stephen declares,
39 "…our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us.”
They were attached to their identity as people of the Law…of having the right way…God’s way….but Stephen forces them to see that in truth… the people had refused Moses…rejected the way of God… and sought other gods… breaking from the most fundamental of the laws.
Receiving the Law is itself a privilege…but as for finding pride in it…they persecuted those who represented the voice of God… and when the Law was given to Moses they were at that very time asking for idols to be made so that they could enjoy the forms of power that the people of that land had. [5]
It was a demonstration that they were more interested in the work of their own hands and a god they could control.
His point is that…
2. You cannot claim to be defined by God’s Word simply by receiving it… rather we are defined by responding to it.
Jesus would draw lives back to the spirit of the Law…. revealing that any sense of becoming proud of having the Word… or knowing the Word …or mere outward faithfulness… that is not responsive… does not reflect life with God.
We have to ask ourselves today… as part of our religious identity is the Bible… whether we will identify ourselves simply by having the Bible as a book of knowledge or whether we will be defined by the voice of the Living God… by Whom the Word is always a Living Word.
It is natural and good to want to be rooted in the clear and concrete Word of God…but we must recognize that when we treat such a Word as set of propositions… we can treat it as an ‘it.’ We can begin relate to it as an object and selectively shape something manageable…rather than the living Word of the Living God who comforts me but also confronts.
Rather than facing God Himself….we come to His Word more like visiting a friends wall on Facebook. They left a Word we can look at… but responding really optional. When in truth… God is never off-line. His Word is more like a chat message He just sent… calling for our reply.
Is my life defined as one who lives in response to the voice of the living God? Am I responsive to the Spirit’s inner conviction and change?
Finally, Stephen engages the role of the Temple.
And as for the Temple...Stephen rehearses how God began with symbolizing his presence in the tabernacle… the sacred container that the people travelled through the wilderness with… and then a temple was built….but in all these… it was never a matter of God being contained by the temple.
48 "… 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!
Temple was just a foreshadowing of God dwelling with us. [6]
Matthew 12:6 (NIV)
I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
The full presence of God had come among them in Jesus…who had now sent the Spirit to bear the presence at work everywhere.
3. You cannot claim to be defined by God presence simply because of one place He has dwelled if you dismiss His presence that is now poured out everywhere.
Now we may not identify so much with the centrality of a place. Few today see a church building in the same way that the people related to the Temple. There is only one central Temple.. it is like the Palace that represents national identity… but even more profound for it was understood to be the one unique meeting place with God.
However, in many respects, we can identify a lot with the function of “going to church.” We can tend to centralize God… compartmentalize God’s presence… and ultimately unconsciously end up containing God to the Sunday gathering in a place.
Again, it’s natural to want to solidify our nature of meeting with God…but when over-identified with any set time and place… we may begin to try and contain God to that place. Unconsciously we might even resent His claim to the whole of the time and space that surrounds our lives. Is God as welcomed to speak into my Monday morning life…my Wednesday afternoon life…my Friday night life?
We must ask ourselves:
Have I allowed my form of meeting with God to become a way of containing or compartmentalizing my participation with Him? Is my life defined by the ever-present Spirit of God?
So I ask us today to stop and consider our own religious identity.
We all know something of how we may define ourselves a “Christians”…who have the “Bible”… and “go to church.”
Each of those aspects are central and powerful when they reflect a living relationship to their source. When “Christian” means following Christ in dynamic life of faith… and having the Bible as God’s Word means being defined by His living voice… and going to church is just preparing for being joined with His presence at work all around us…everywhere every day.
But I believe most of us know something of how those reference points can become estranged from relationship… and the self identifying with being a Christian who has the Bible and goes to church can begin to reflect a false sense of religious identity… even safeness and superiority.
If you are being drawn towards Christ… but struggle with how some claim the title “Christian” even when it doesn’t seem to fit…and claim the Bible as their authority perhaps too safely and with too much superiority… and go to church as if they think they have the only source of God’s presence… God may share your good sense. This can make it popular to simply decry any such religious claims. I understand the sentiment….but I would also challenge that that simply denouncing organized religion itself can be a way of avoiding the real issue… and reflect it’s own ultimate statement of superiority… the ultimate sense of life ‘on our terms’… based on our comfort.
What we all must face the reality of an actual relationship with the creator of the universe… in all it’s sheer intensity and invasion in our lives.
Stephen describes how such attachments can become a source of control… we may think we are deeply committed to God…but it is on our unspoken terms. We begin to refuse what God is doing when it does not fit what we are comfortable with.
As Stephen must point out… it was a matter of hearts growing hard.
• He describes how they are “Stiff-necked” which means they “will not bow the head; literally will not be humble or show reverence
• He describes them as “uncircumcised of heart and ears” – Circumcision was understood as the cutting away of pride and sinfulness of heart; it was yielding of the most private parts to God. The physical act had been completed but the spiritual part was not yet yielded.
• They were “Resisting the Spirit” - Our resistance to the Spirit is ultimately death itself. For it is the Spirit that God breathed into us that made us living creatures in relationship to Himself. It is the Spirit which makes us living creatures rather than merely robotic machines or instinctual creature. It is that Spirit that allows us to bear freedom. [7]
Conclusion: We must face our own choice.
We see what these religious lives did… they begin to ‘stuff their ears’…. and then silence the voice that offers relationship. It is not beyond us to do the same…to begin to stuff our ears… and eventually kill the voice that calls us.
When we choose the outward… we may escape facing the sheer otherness of God…but we are left with rules and ideals that we never really fulfill…There is no grace.
It’s only in relationship that we face both our true responsibility, but also the power of grace. [8]
It is like being forever in the fear of expressing one’s self to the opposite sex… trying to awkwardly kiss for the first time… so fearful one might make a mistake… because it is more about doing it right than a meaningful expression of relationship. In contrast, a husband of wife of many years can kiss freely…because the relationship is free from performance and full of grace.
This is what life that Stephen beckons… life surrendered his life to the very being of God.
Stephen reflects a life deeply surrendered to the God he has come to know and trust… as he surrenders his spirit to him. [9]
This morning God is present at the alter of relationship. He is here in all his glory… the eternal all powerful all knowing the creator of the universe…and we must choose whether we will come and give ourselves…surrender ourselves to Him…or just take the symbols of identity. We will be the pseudo bride who says “I’ll take the name… appreciate your family code… and we can meet every Sunday”…. Or will we give ourselves in the reality of marriage which says ‘yes’ to giving ourselves to another freely and fully.
Let’s open hearts to God… in all the ways that a true relationship with another being includes… God freely at work.
Resources: Paul Decker, Michael Luke
Notes:
1. Ogilvie, L. J., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1983). Vol. 28: The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 28 : Acts. The Preacher's Commentary series (136). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
Boice, J. M. (1997). Acts : An expositional commentary (120–121). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
2. There is a difference between TRADITION and TRADITIONALISM. “Tradition is the living faith of those now departed. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living.” – ‘Shaped by God's Heart’ by Mildred Minatrea, p. 163
3. Stephen understood that Jesus had fulfilled what these points of religious identity represented.
Stephen was saying that Jesus had replaced the temple.
The sacrifices were no longer need.
Blood flowing out for atonement, it was no longer needed.
All the activities of the priest – no longer needed.
Frankly, they were out of a job.
This was the ultimate meaning of the tearing of the temple curtain when Jesus died.
It was the sign from God.
The walls were coming down.
The new covenant was being established.
The temple was no longer the exclusive place of the glory of God.
For on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the law.
The ceremonial law was over because it had found its fulfillment in Jesus.
It was replaced.
He was the One and only sacrifice for sins.
He was the One and only high priest.
He was the One and only habitation of the fullness of the glory of God.
4. Regarding identifying with Abraham or Christ, we can also consider these Scriptures:
John 8:56 (NIV)
“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
Christ reflects the same dynamic of Abraham… he went forward in ‘faith.’ When he came to the suffering ahead he had to surrender his will to the Father….not knowing what would come…or how.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
5. As for the response to Moses, Moses foretold of future deliverance.
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15 (NIV))
Moses was foretelling the Messiah. A greater prophet was coming because God was faithful to provide Him. Stephen understands that this change has come and because the Messiah has come, they are once again rejecting Moses, not revering him.
Matthew 5:17 (NIV)
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
John 1:1-51 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. …11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
6. Regarding the Temple,
When their worship place was the tabernacle, it proved that God was always on the move with His people.
Wherever God’s people have gone, He has gone with them.
Wherever He has sent them, He has accompanied them.
Thus, God was in Mesopotamia with Abraham.
God was in Egypt with the descendants of Jacob.
And he was in Midian at the burning bush.
These were all locations outside of the holy land.
For what makes ground holy is that God is there.
This is where these leaders were dead wrong about the temple.
As John MacArthur has said…
“The temple was the symbol of God’s presence, not the prison of His essence” (cf. I Kings 8.27).
God had warned Solomon that His real desire was faithful obedience.
2 Chronicles 7:19-20 (NIV)
"But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object The Jews by Stephen’s were clinging to the physical reminders of a dimly remembered relationship to a now distant God. The gifts had replaced the Giver, and in that state they were sure to miss any other gifts that God might give.
Solomon, who built the first temple, understood this when it was being dedicated…
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27)
God cannot be confined.
God’s presence cannot be localized.
He is wherever His people are.
7. The idea of ‘quenching the Spirit’ can be manipulated to support what anyone claims to be their view of what God is doing….but is an idea that does bear a healthy and hard reality. Stephen was not suggesting his idea of something new was better… but that what God had clearly always sought and said was beyond their hearts.
8. The choice for religion verses relationship
Jesus described our choice when he told the story of a Prodigal Son.. it is the choice to come home and live in relationship to the Father…. Or to stay outside as the older son who was very comfortable with his self assessment of faithfulness….never realizing the tragedy of never coming inside the home of the Father.
9. Comparison of Stephen’s death to Jesus’ death
vs. 59-60 – “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
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.”
Lk. 23:34a – “Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."”
--Lk. 23:46 – “Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
When he had said this, he breathed his last.”
Notice Jesus commended His spirit to the Father while Stephen asked Jesus to receive his spirit.
