Acts 7:44-50 - True Worship

Remember the charges brought by the Jewish authority against Stephen in Acts 7:13 was that he "...incessantly speaks against the holy place and the law." In his dealing earlier, Stephen debunked their misconceptions about Moses and the Law.

So In verses 44-50, Stephen focused on dealing with their third sacred cow,  the holy place, the temple. His point found in verse 48 was that, "God does not dwell in houses made with human hands"

Here we see that concerning worship, place was no issue with God. In fact, true worship is not confined to the temple. In the wilderness, the tabernacle was sufficient. Though it was built by human hand, it was a pattern given by God to Moses.

This tabernacle was brought into the land by Joshua and continued to serve as the sufficient house of worship. Although David's desire was to build God a dwelling place, it was Solomon his son who finally had it built.

But Stephen, quotiug Isaiah 66:1-2, proved  that God does not dwell in a physical temple made by human hands. God's original plan with regards to worship was not the temple but the tabernacle. Here, the third pillar of Judaism, the temple  was debunked.

At this point Stephen's speech ended. He had shown that he had not spoken against the Law of Moses. And his criticism against the temple was well supported by scriptures as he compared the tabernacle and the temple.

Stephen [oint was this: Israel as a pilgrim of God was free to worship God anywhere, where the Word was proclaimed. It was not confined to the temple.

Stephen had proven that the Israelites in rejecting the Messiah had failed to accept God's revelation given through the Scriptures. Their  rejection of the Messiah pathed the way for the evangelization of the Gentiles with the Gospel.  

This brings us to what the Lord told the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar,  “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.... But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

What's  important in worship is the heart attitude we bring to God. Let's not offer up our praises, but our hearts are far away. No matter where we offer our worship to God, we must bring to the worship a heart of sincerity and reverence. This is far more important.