Text: Acts 6:8-15, Title: What Angels Look Like, Date/Place: NRBC, 10/07/07, AM
A. Opening illustration: tell about the Rick Gage Crusade in TN, tell a little bit about George Whitfield as an example from his biography – p. 98 & 105,
B. Background to passage: Coming off the selection of seven men to handle the church’s benevolence ministry, the church was still rapidly growing and ministering to thousands, transforming a whole city. But as Satan usually does, he sets his sights upon God’s man of the hour to destroy him. And so we see the beginning of a story that stretches over to the beginning of chapter eight, and has much further reaching implications and effects.
C. Main thought: Today our text reflects the character of a man that would become the first Christian martyr.
A. Deep Communion (v. 5, 8)
1. From the previous passage we know that Stephen is a man of great faith and also full of the Holy Spirit. Here we learn that he is full of grace and power; and that an apostolic like ministry was his lot as well. To be filled with the Spirit as a regular occurrence and be considered a man full of faith, grace, and divine power, one must have a close walk with Jesus. Stephen had a lot of parallels with Jesus because he was close to Jesus and shared a deep fellowship and communion with his Master.
2. John 15:4, Gal 2:20, Col 2:6, Ps 42:1, 63:1-2, 84:9-10,
3. Illustration: I remember the first time that I saw Ronnie Owens overcome by the presence of God in his prayer time in the old tobacco barn that we slept in…Ravi Zacharias states, "What is the difference between companionship and communion? In companionship with God we come to Him recognizing our limit of strength. In communion with God we stay with Him, recognizing our depth of spirit. In companionship with God we long to see and understand. In communion with God we long to feel and belong. Those who seek companionship without communion seek power without commitment, a display without dedication, and proof without love." Speaking of prayer, “It is duty, yet is one that rises far above and goes beyond the ordinary implications of the term. It is the expression of a relationship with God, a yearning for divine communion. It is the outward an upward flow of the inner life toward its original fountain. It is a statement of the soul’s origin, a claiming of sonship that links man to the eternal. Prayer has everything to do with molding the soul into the image of God. It also has everything to do with the elevating and enlarging the measure of divine grace. It has everything to do with bringing the sold into complete communion with God. It has everything to do with enriching, broadening, and maturing the soul’s experience of God.” –E. M. Bounds, On New Year’s Eve 1739, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and some of their friends held a “love feast” which became a watch night of prayer to see the New Year in. At about 3 a.m., Wesley wrote, “the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground.” Revival always begins with a restoration of the sense of the closeness of the Holy One.
4. This is probably the most neglected thought of evangelical Christianity. We talk a lot about going to church, serving the Lord, about the music style, or the preaching content or quality, about church growth or lack thereof, but seldom do we talk about our closeness to Jesus in real terms. And it is hard to quantify, and therefore we can’t really brag about it. But you know it when you are around someone who walks close to Jesus. Desiring Him is really important, but so is the action of pursuing and communing with Him. We know the cliché that says our faith is about a relationship, not religion; but do we really put the time into the relationship. Do you have a closeness with Jesus? The people that God uses the most are the ones that know him the closest (not from a knowledge standpoint, but from a relationship one). In fact sometimes I think that we are so scared of emotions and emotionalism, that we have turned fact into a hollow mental or intellectual assent in which there is no “real relationship.” And the scary part is that we have many among the ranks of the church that have never made anything other than an intellectual decision—they have never sold all that they have for the love of their newly found Treasure. Do you love Him? Desire Him? Do you want Him? Do you pray? Just a few at prayer meeting, because of all the other important things besides prayer, and fewer still at special times of prayer.
B. Deep Commitment (v. 9-13)
1. How do we know that Stephen had deep commitment? We know that he began a debate with Jews from about three different synagogues at the same time. And we see that he was able to outwit them. And we see that even in the face of false witnesses he continued to stand firm and kept preaching what he was preaching. In fact, he was so committed that he as determined to stay the course even if it cost him his life. They said that he “does not cease” to preach.
2. Luke 9:56-62, 12:11-12, 21:13-15, Acts 21:13-14, 2 Cor 11:23-27, Rev 12:11
3. Illustration: In May of 1860, Garibaldi had landed in Sicily with a volunteer force of 1070 men (the "Thousand"). Within two weeks this force had taken the city of Palermo, forcing the capitulation of an army of 20,000 regulars. Garibaldi had an incredibly committed volunteer army. He would appeal for recruits in these terms: “I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me!” Adventurer Robert Young Pelton was confronted with the price of commitment while in Afghanistan. "When I was being shelled on a front line north of Kabul, I asked a 23-year-old Taliban fighter, ’Why don’t we dig trenches to escape the bombardment?’ "He looked at me and asked, ’If you didn’t come here to die, why are you here?’" “Salvation is free...but discipleship will cost you your life…Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” –Bonhoeffer,
4. Many times the smallest resistance or inconvenience causes us to shrink back from dispute about our Lord. I am always encouraged when you come to ask for resources to help you witness better to cult member coworker or a neighbor of a different faith. And the depth of our commitment is only tested during hardship. So when that financial crisis comes, are you going to continue to tithe? When that opportunity to go on this trip or this event comes on Sunday, are you committed to worship? When that person comes near that needs Jesus, or that opportunity comes for some forbidden fun, or we are asked to compromise just a little bit, will you stand firm? Is Christ a commitment of convenience? Or is He worth selling out for? Are the eternities of other people worth the sacrifice of your time, effort, and pride?
C. Deep Conviction (v. 13-15)
1. Steven was a man of deep biblical convictions. His preaching consisted of the words of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus. And we must remember that saying anything remotely close to the destruction of the temple was kind of like saying you have a bomb in the airport. And changes in the Mosaic Law or the rabbinic customs around it could also be punished by death without the consent of the Roman governor. But Stephen new the importance of such a truth. He knew that Jesus came to fulfill, but in doing so, the whole system of sacrifices and temple worship was replaced.
2. John 2:19, Matt 5:17, 9:17, Heb 8:13,
3. Illustration: a preference is something that you hold, a conviction is something that holds you, a pastor the other day said that there is a big difference between always being prepared with an answer for the reason of our hope, and living a life that causes people to ask no questions. Tevye, the Jewish dairy farmer in the Fiddler on the Roof, lives with his wife and five daughters in czarist Russia. Change is taking place all around him and the new patterns are nowhere more obvious to Tevye than in the relationship between the sexes. First, one of his daughters announces that she and a young tailor have pledged themselves to each other, even though Tevye had already promised her to the village butcher, a widower. Initially Tevye will not hear of his daughter’’ plans, but he finally has an argument with himself and decides to give in to the young lover’s wishes. A second daughter also chooses the man she wants to marry: An idealist revolutionary. Tevye is rather fond of him, and, after another argument with himself, he again concedes to the changing times. A while later, Tevye’s third daughter wishes to marry. She has fallen in love with a young Gentile. A no-no among faithful Jewish people. This violates Tevye’s deepest religious convictions: It is unthinkable that one of his daughters would marry outside the faith. Once again, he has an argument with himself. He knows that his daughter is deeply in love, and he does not want her to be unhappy. Still, he cannot deny his convictions. “How can I turn my back on my faith, my people?” he asks himself. “If I try and bend that far, I’ll break!” Tevye pauses and begins a response: “On the other hand…” He pauses again, and then he shouts: “No! There is no other hand!” With his first two daughters he gave some ground, compromised his positions. However, with his last daughter, he would not because he had to remain true to the Word of God. “No other hand.” After giving the issue further thought, the fourth scholar admitted, "I have personally preferred my mother’s translation." When the other scholars chuckled, he responded, "Yes she translated it. She translated each page of the Bible into life. It is the most convincing translation I ever saw.”
4. Are we committed to offensive biblical doctrines? We tend to hold biblical truth lightly, especially if it is offensive in any way. Our culture of relativism says that the only thing that is intolerable is intolerance. And truthfully, Christians’ unwillingness to hold up biblical standards and convictions has given rise to that which we have. Biblical truth is our lifeblood. And when it falls in our minds, our behavior is soon to follow, then our churches, then our culture. But our real problem is not usually the doctrine that we articulate, but our attitude and practice. We say that the bible is important, but don’t usually demonstrate that to our children and grandchildren. What do our children or our neighbors think when they know we believe the bible, but never see it practiced or revered in our lives. We teach them by example that it is really not as important as we say. We say that we love the wonderful words of life, but we never uses them, consult them, quote them, or delight in them. When we are asked to examine a part of our lives or our churches that has been that way for a hundred years, we are offended that anyone would suggest change. We say, “I know what the bible says, but…” If the bible goes one way and our lives go the other way, which do we choose (or do we consult the church constitution, church history, or the Tifton Gazette.
A. Closing illustration: Talk about the popular song Angels Among Us and our culture’s view of angels. But biblically we see them in deep communion with God (although not the kind that the redeemed enjoy), we see them deeply committed to God’s every desire and to His glory, and we see them with deep conviction about the truthfulness of God’s word and the need for men to turn to Him—that’s what angels look like
B. Recap
C. How about you?
Additional Notes
