The Table Server Who Challenged The System Had My Middle Name
View all responsesMy birth certificate reads “Charles Steven Simms,” but I’ve always gone by Steve. When I first began to read the Bible, I came across a guy named Stephen. He was an early Christ-followers and was one of seven people appointed by the apostles to “wait on tables” and to distribute food to widows so that the apostles could give their “attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Stephen, however, didn’t follow the religious program. Instead of waiting tables, he began to tell people about Jesus and he “performed great wonders and signs among the people.” “Opposition arose . . . who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.”
Then those who were against Stephen arrested him and brought him before a religious council. So, Stephen courageously preached to them and what he said takes up the long chapter of Acts chapter 7. He boldly told them, “You have received the law that was given through angels but you have not obeyed it.” When the members of the religious council heard that, they were furious and murdered Stephen by stoning him to death.
As the stones were crushing his body, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” A young man named Saul “approved of their killing him” and watched out for their coats as they stoned Stephen. That young man later encountered the risen Jesus and became Paul who started numerous Christ-led communities around the Roman Empire and wrote a fourth of the New Testament part of the Bible.
Stephen didn’t roll with his assigned religious role of serving tables. Instead, he obeyed God’s Spirit. Even his enemies said that “his face was like the face of an angel.” His example of obedience and sacrifice has inspired multitudes of people throughout the centuries to obey God rather than man, to follow the living Jesus instead of religious ritual and formalism.
Stephen has inspired me to step beyond spectator religion, to set aside its assigned roles and expectations, and to obey the Holy Spirit instead. That hasn’t made me popular, but it has led me to multitudes of amazing experiences with the living Jesus.
Below is a picture of my seminary degree and ordination certificate that tried to confine me to a religious role. For years I tried hard to fit in and to serve their tables, but opposition always arose. The Holy Spirit always led me to turn the tables and to follow Him instead. Inspite of the cost there’s nothing like daily listening to Jesus and doing what He tells you to.
I’m still proclaiming outside of the religious box: Open Your Blinds To Let God’s Light In!
To truly grow
Let God show
You where to go.
Learn to flow
With His Spirit.
Read His word
And hear it
With your heart.
Step beyond
What you know.
So God can sow
His seeds in you.
Adam and Eve
Chose to blame.
What they needed
Was forgiveness.
It’s dangerous
To do the same.
Lord, have mercy
On me.
The Miracle Flow–
I love to speak
And experience
A miracle flow
Of words I don’t know
That makes me aware
Of God and His care
So that I can see
Christ working in me.
I’ve observed that Christians tend to be mostly disinterested in personal and spiritual growth, unless they open their heart to the risen Jesus and let Him make them hungry for righteousness. Humans are born with an God-given guide to happiness and inner peace. It’s called your conscience, but our tendency is to ignore it and to resist it.
Money can put you in a big mansion and in a fancy car, but it can’t buy you a beautiful relationship or a clear conscience. The true measure of success is a person’s level of integrity, kindness, compassion, joy, inner peace, and self-control, not $$$!
