Confidence In The Face Of Darkness

“Confidence in the Face of Darkness”

Acts 6:8-7:1; 7:54-60

The Book of Acts is the story of the beginning of the Church.

And As I mentioned last Sunday, in Acts Chapter 2, we see the first portrait of the Christian Church.

And it’s a beautiful scene—idyllic—really.

The brand-new Church devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with wonder and awe.

The believers were together, breaking bread in their homes, eating together, praising God together and their numbers were growing daily.

You’d think it would have been tempting to just stay as they were—become a club, turning in on themselves, laying low.

But, they were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they couldn’t keep it to themselves.

And so, they ventured out and faced the darkness of an unbelieving world with confidence and consequences.

There were arrests and persecution, but so many new believers…

…so many souls saved…

…so much excitement…

…so much that God was doing through them.

But, of course, with much growth, there came some obstacles within the church they had to overcome.

For instance, it came to pass that some widows were being overlooked when it came to the distribution of food.

And so, they chose seven men who were known to be “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” to take on that responsibility.

And Stephen was one of the seven.

Apparently, Stephen was an exceptional guy, and God had blessed Him with great faith and many gifts.

We are told that besides being a food server, Stephen also “performed great wonders and signs among the people.”

And sadly, not everyone was excited about this.

Some members of the Synagogue didn’t like what Stephan was doing and started arguing with him, but we are told that they couldn’t stand up to the great wisdom he spoke.

Apparently, this made them even more angry and they started making up lies about Stephen—and through these lies, they were able to “stir up” the people and the teachers of the law.

And so, these folks, took hold of Stephen and took him before the Sanhedrin.

Now, the Sanhedrin was the high court of the Jews.

They were a very intimating and imposing bunch.

They are the same body of people who sent Jesus to the Romans with orders for Him to be crucified.

Imagine standing in front of this same crew, knowing that they had pronounced the death sentence against the Lord?

I’d be scared out of my wits, how about you?

And so, we are told that the teachers of the law produced “false witnesses, who testified” against Stephen to the Sanhedrin.

And in Chapter 6:15, we are told that these powerful officials were looking “intently at Stephen,” waiting for him to give an answer to these charges.

And, I love this: “they saw that his face was like that of an angel.”

What images does that description conjure up in your mind?

Do you imagine an innocent man?

How about a person who is totally at peace, even with mobs of angry folks hurling insults at him and making up false stories?

How can this be?

Is it the natural response to slander, hatred and evil?

I mean where is the fear in Stephen’s face?

Why isn’t he trying to defend himself against these false allegations?

Was he so confident, so strong, so brave that he felt no need to defend himself or to deny what had angered his enemies in the first place—that he had been performing great wonders and signs in and through the name of Jesus Christ?

When we are attacked, our natural reaction is to attack back.

I mean it’s fight or flight, isn’t it?

When we are falsely accused, we want to clear our name.

When we are hauled before the law on trumped-up charges—we are angry and scared.

But, again, Stephen’s face “was like the face of an angel.”

And then, the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

And what they get is this long sermon from Stephen, beginning with Abraham and moving through the entire history of the Jewish people, the Scriptures pointing to Jesus Christ as the Promised Messiah and concluding with the following words: “And now you have betrayed and murdered him…”

Wow.

Talk about telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Not surprisingly, we are told that those listening “were furious and gnashed their teeth” at Stephen.

Obviously, things had escalated.

They had murder on their minds and in their eyes.

And Stephen had to have known it.

What would you do in this situation?

Run?

Apologize?

Take it all back?

Beg for your life?

Instead, what happens?

Stephen is so filled with the Holy Spirit…

…He is so on fire for God…