Sermon for Sunday September 7th, 2008
God Uses Ordinary
People: Stephen by Brian Bill
Acts 6:1-7:60
God Uses Ordinary People: Stephen
Acts 6-7
Rev. Brian Bill
8/31/08
Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player – too good, it turns out
because Jericho is a pitcher with a 40-mile-an-hour fastball. He throws so hard
that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven, Connecticut told his coach that he
could not pitch anymore. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the
opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left. Wilfred Vido, his
coach, had this to say: “How can you punish a kid for being too good?” Young
Jericho is bothered by all the controversy and misses pitching: “I feel sad,” he
said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.” (As reported by
ESPN.com, 8/25/08).
In a league of ordinary players, Jericho stands out as someone with
extraordinary abilities. As we wrap up our series today called “God Uses
Ordinary People,” we’re going to focus on an extraordinary individual named
Stephen, who was not only banned from playing; his preaching led to his
martyrdom. Since this is the last message in our summer series, I want to
emphasize again that God loves to use ordinary people, just like you and just
like me.
Please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 6. We’ll go through this chapter
quickly, and then we’ll skim most of chapter 7 and finally camp out in the
closing verses. Here’s the setting. The church is growing and people are coming
to Christ but in the process some of the widows were being overlooked. On top of
that, there’s some friction between two groups from different cultural
backgrounds. As a result the Twelve gathered everyone together and established
that they needed to keep preaching and praying and then seven men are chosen to
care for the widows. Among the seven was a servant named Stephen.
That’s a good reminder for us in our 40th year of ministry in Livingston County
– we must never neglect preaching and prayer and we must always be willing to
restructure and realign people and programs to meet the changing needs around
us. This is especially the case as we focus on ways to connect families to Jesus
and then to equip them to become growing and faithful followers. As a result of
this restructuring, verse 7 says: “So the word of God spread. The number of
disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became
obedient to the faith.”
I see three main things we can learn from Stephen.
1. Determine to be ready. The first reason Stephen was used greatly was because
he was ready to be used. We see that there is a rich fullness about him. He is…
* Full of the Spirit (3)
* Full of wisdom (3)
* Full of faith (5)
* Full of the Holy Spirit (5)
* Full of God’s grace (8)
* Full of God’s power (8)
The word “full” means that he was complete or “fully covered over.” He knew his
emptiness apart from Christ and so he made sure he was filled up before being
used. He was determined to be ready.
And, something we’ve seen time and again in our study of God’s Word, whenever
God is at work, opposition rises up. Look at verse 9: “Opposition arose…these
men began to argue with Stephen.” Verse 10 tells us that they couldn’t stand up
against “his wisdom or the Sprit by whom he spoke” and so they find some men who
lay false charges of blasphemy against him. Everyone gets all stirred up, and
Stephen is seized and brought before the Sanhedrin, which was like the Jewish
Supreme Court. False witnesses come forward and they’re ready to throw him out
of the league. We see a contrast right away between their anger and Stephen’s
sweet spirit in verse 15: “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently
at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like that of an angel.”
Stephen now has the opportunity to answer the charges in chapter 7 and in the
process provides an outstanding overview of the Old Testament. In Jude 3 we are
urged “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”
1 Peter 3:15 challenges each of us to be ready as well: “But in your hearts set
apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect.”
Stephen begins with an attitude of gentleness and respect in 7:2: “Brothers and
fathers” but he is also very passionate when he says: “listen to me!” Beginning
with Abraham and then moving on to Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon,
with quotations from Amos and Isaiah thrown in, Stephen establishes at least
three things.
* God has never been limited to one space or place. He cannot be put in a box.
* God’s people have never fully obeyed Him.
* Leaders have always had a habit of rejecting and killing those whom God sends.
One thing that is striking to me in this long chapter is how well Stephen knows
Scripture and how clearly he communicates the narrative. With all the political
speeches we heard last week and with all the ones that are coming this week,
Stephen’s speech stands out as brilliant and bold. While speeches today are
analyzed according to poetry and policy, Stephen’s is full of powerful
preaching. If you want to be ready, first make sure Christ is Lord of your life
and that He fills you up and then make sure the Word saturates your life.
2. Decide to be bold. I’ll never forget and will always be thankful for how
confrontative my college roommate was when he talked to me about Christ. He was
respectful but he didn’t hold back when he told me that he didn’t think I was a
Christian. I was mad when he said it, and even swore at him, but I knew he was
right. Bruce’s words were kind compared to what Stephen says in 7:51-53: “You
stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!” This strong colloquial
phrase was the ultimate prophetic put-down. To be stiff-necked means to have
never surrendered to the yoke of a master and was used 20 times in the Old
Testament to describe someone who would not bow before God. Exodus 32:9 is just
one example: “I have seen these people…and they are a stiff-necked people.”
To say they were uncircumcised in their hearts and ears is to say that they were
just like gentile dogs on the inside. Sure, they followed rules and regulations
with outward rituals but their hearts were hard. “You are just like your
fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” Notice that he says they “always”
resist the Holy Spirit; not once-in-awhile, but all the time. That’s quite an
indictment to lay at the feet of religious leaders.
“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— you who have received the law that was put into effect through
angels but have not obeyed it.” Stephen not only takes on their fathers for
their faithlessness; he also calls them out using the second person plural: “All
of you” have betrayed and murdered Christ. Friends, preaching cannot always be
positive if the preacher is preaching the full counsel of God.
I came across a cartoon this week in which a pastor is standing in the back of
the church, shaking hands with people as they leave. One man looked intently at
the pastor and said, “Powerful sermon, pastor. Your sermons are thoughtful and
well-researched. I can always see myself in them…and I want you to knock it
off.”
Their response is immediate and intense in verse 54: “They were furious and
gnashed their teeth at him.” The word furious means to be “sawn asunder” or “to
be emotionally cut in two.” They are so mad that their teeth start grinding
together which makes us think of the words of Jesus in Matthew 13: 42: “They
will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.” This is not a sudden outburst but rather the tense shows that it was
prolonged. Don’t miss the truth that hell will be filled with angry people.
First, be ready to share Christ. Second, be bold when the opportunity comes and
refuse to water down the message, no matter how it’s received.
3. Delight to die well. I read somewhere that the task of a pastor is to prepare
people for a good death. I think there’s some truth in that. Stephen not only
teaches us to be ready and how to be bold, he also helps us to die well. He had
a full life and died a good death.
* He faced death with a focus on Jesus. Look at 7:55: “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.” Do you see the “conjunction junction?” But in contrast
to the rage and anger, Stephen was “continually full of the Holy Spirit.” He
looked in the right direction and saw the Shekinah glory of God. Friends, when
you’re down, make sure you look up to the Lord. To Stephen death is not dark or
dangerous; it is a window where Jesus meets the believer. It’s interesting that
he saw Jesus “standing” at the right hand of God. That’s curious because most
passages say that Jesus is “seated” in heaven. Why would He be standing? John
MacArthur offers this explanation: “He sat down in terms of redemption, but He
always gets up when His children are in trouble.” I love 1 Peter 4:14: “If you
are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of
glory and of God rests on you.” Here are some other possibilities for why Jesus
was standing.
1) To welcome Stephen home.
2) To cheer and applaud with words of, “Well done, my good and faithful
servant.”
3) To witness what they were about to do to him.
4) To defend him before the Father (Matthew 10:32).
They couldn’t stand to hear Stephen speak of Jesus, the one they had murdered,
now standing at the right hand of God and so verse 57 tells us “At this they
covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at
him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.” They didn’t want to
hear anything else so they put their hands over their ears and started yelling
as loud as they could. Then, these dignified men rushed at him, dragged him out
of the city (they followed the Old Testament here) and stoned him.
The second-century Jewish writing Mishnah, describes the practice of stoning:
“When the trial is finished, the man convicted is brought out to be stoned …When
ten cubits from the place of stoning they say to him, ‘Confess, for it is the
custom of all about to be put to death to make confession, and every one who
confesses has a share in the age to come.’ Four cubits from the place of stoning
the criminal is stripped…The drop from the place of stoning was twice the height
of a man. One of the witnesses pushes the criminal from behind, so that he falls
face downward. He is then turned over on his back. If he dies from this fall,
that is sufficient. If not, the second witness takes the stone and drops it on
his heart. If this causes death, that is sufficient; if not, he is stoned by all
the congregation of Israel.” (Cited in Bruce)
In the midst of all this activity spurred on by their anger, I love how Stephen
verbalizes what he sees. Heaven is open to him because Jesus is the door by
which he is about to enter. In verse 59, he prays directly to Jesus: “Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.” If you’ve never received Jesus as your Savior, you
need to know that the door to heaven is open – but it doesn’t stay open forever!
* He faced death with Scripture in his words. Stephen’s entire sermon is filled
with Scripture and now, in the seconds before his death, he quotes the short
Jewish prayer from Psalm 31:5, changing the words slightly to reflect the
lordship of Christ: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The time to learn Scripture
is now so that we have it when we need it. I urge you to join a small group this
fall or one of our other Bible studies or Sunday morning IMPACT classes.
* He faced death with forgiveness in his heart. As the stones rained down on
him, he could have become very bitter. Instead, he prayed in verse 60: “Lord, do
not hold this sin against them.” Stephen is being just like His Savior when He
prayed these words in Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing.” At his point of death, Stephen is demonstrating the type
of forgiveness that can only come from the Great Forgiver. Romans 5:5: “God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” It’s only through the
outpouring of His love that we can ever hope to pour out forgiveness to those
who have wronged us.
Do you have any bitterness in your heart right now? Don’t take it to the grave
with you. It’s time to forgive, right now, today. Don’t put it off. Let it go.
Instead of being filled with rage, release that person from ever having to pay
you back.
* He faced death like going to sleep. Look at the end of verse 60: “When he had
said this, he fell asleep.” He went to sleep when the stones were flung by angry
arms and then woke up in the adoring arms of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:8 says that
when believers leave here we are immediately at home with Jesus. Death is
nothing to fear for the follower of Christ for He has conquered death as stated
in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57: “‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is
your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Putting Into Practice
1. People are watching how we live and how we die. The Apostle Paul was impacted
by how Stephen died. Look at the last part of verse 58: “Meanwhile, the
witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” It’s
interesting that the stone-throwers take their clothes off. I think it was in
order to pitch the stones as fast as they could, probably with much more
velocity than 40 miles per hour. Now drop down to 8:1: “And Saul was there,
giving approval to his death.” I’m sure that Paul had a hard time getting
Stephen out of his mind. Later on, in Acts 9, we read of Paul’s conversion,
which is an answer to the prayer of Stephen: “Lord, do not hold this sin against
them.” Then, in Acts 22:20, when Paul is conversing with Christ, he says these
words: “And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving
my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.”
Don’t lose sight of the fact that people are always watching us and that even
hardened hearts can be softened by the Savior. We received an incredible email
this week from some friends who minister in Israel in which they confirmed that
the son of a Hamas leader has converted to Christianity! Our friends were
skeptical at first, just like people were when they heard that Paul was saved,
but they have heard him give his testimony twice on TV. He came to Christ as a
result of some English-speaking Christians in Jerusalem and received a Bible
from them. Let me quote from part of the email: “When he began reading one of
the gospels he was captivated by the person of Jesus and quickly finished all
four gospels. From that point he went through a period of trying to combine
Islam and Christianity but found that it wasn’t possible. So he came to the
conclusion that he must become a follower of Christ and from that point he began
meeting secretly with other believers from a Muslim background here in the West
Bank…In my view this was an especially compelling testimony, because he made it
clear that he had no hatred for anyone and no political agenda…Becoming a
Christian was for him simply the final outcome of a personal struggle he had
been through…At this point everyone is talking about Musab, both Muslims and
Christians, but it remains to be seen what impact his testimony will have on the
Palestinian public.”
2. God moves us to get His message out. In Acts 1:8, the believers are told to
take the gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Unfortunately, they basically were just hanging out in Jerusalem, that is, until
persecution drove them to other areas. Check out Acts 8:1: “On that day a great
persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the
apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” Did you catch that?
Evangelism now takes place in Judea and Samaria and the church launches a
missionary movement around the world.
Sometimes we have to become uncomfortable before we are willing to do whatever
it takes to complete the Great Commission. God moves us out so that we will give
out the message. Don’t just assume that hard times are just hard times. They may
be God’s way of getting you to move out to share the Word of God with others.
Related to that, we’re not all called to be martyrs but we are all called to be
living sacrifices. God may use adversity and even persecution to alter our
schedules and plans in order to accomplish His purposes. I can’t wait for our
Missions Festival October 19-22 as we celebrate what God is doing around the
world right now through our missionaries. I’m excited to hear from Mike and
Robin Wahls, Keith and Jeannette Schubert, Roger and Maggie Bruehl and Dan and
Lorraine Wilson. Please put this on your calendar.
3. Pray for persecuted believers. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, but he
won’t be the last. Just this week reports have come in from eastern India that
17 Christians have been killed, pastors have been murdered and homes of
believers have been burned to the ground. Friends, Stephen fell asleep…but it’s
time for us to wake up and pray for those who are persecuted. Hebrews 13:3 says:
“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who
are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
4. Don’t miss God’s salvation. The time to get ready to die is now, not later.
Do you have a stiff-neck today? There are two ways to deal with a stiff-necked
person. God can break you or you can bend in humility before Him. The offer
Jesus made still stands in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Don’t be stiff-necked but humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God and receive salvation…while the door is
still open.
“When It’s All been Said and Done”
When it’s all been said and done
There is just one thing that matters
Did I do my best to live for truth
Did I live my life for You
When it’s all been said and done
All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I’ve done for love’s Reward
Will stand the test of time