The Stoning of Stephen Acts 6:5-15
Today I want us to look at the first deacon, mentioned in chapter 6, Stephen.
Stephen’s ministry covered only part of chapter 6, all of chapter 7 and ended with the first two verses of chapter 8. His ministry was brief but extremely powerful!
Stephen was not a pastor nor was he one of the Apostles, he was simply a layman who served the body of Christ.
If you remember, last week we saw the word diakanos was the root word from which we get the word deacon. Each of us fit this word in one form or another but Stephen was, as we saw the week before; “one who served by example.”
I Tim. 3 says the first qualification for a deacon is that they are serious minded. This is necessary because we’re dealing with God’s business, and it is the most important business in the world and just like Stephen took God’s business seriously, so we all should.
I believe that because the qualities in Stephen’s life were worth recording in the Bible, these qualities are also worth cultivating in our own lives!
The Word of God tells us that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.
The truth is, Stephen allowed the Holy Spirit to call the shots in his life or to be in full control!
There are 4 Words Which Describe Stephen’s spirituality and I want us to examine each one.
I have found that being spiritual is a lot easier to talk about than to walk out.
I often meet people who talk very spiritually, but scratch just a little beneath the surface and you find there’s not much there! There is no real devotion or real commitment. There’s no depth in their roots. In other words they are all talk and no walk.
Stephen’s spirituality, however, ran deep, and it showed in his life in some very noticeable ways…
Let’s examine the four words that describe Stephen and determine if they could be used to describe us as well.
The first of our four words, describing Stephen is:
1. Faith: Look at verse 5a:
How did Stephen get faith? The only way any of us can… [Rom 10:17 NKJV] “So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Faith comes from absorbing the Word of God into our lives.
The fact that he was a man of faith tells us that Stephen absorbed the Word of God.
We need to understand that he didn’t own a printed copy like we have, so readily available today, but the evidence shows in chapter 7 as he preaches an unrehearsed sermon, without any notes, Stephen was a man of the Word!
In chapter 7 and completely from memory, Stephen gives the entire history of Israel, from Abraham to Moses, Egypt and slavery, to the wilderness and the Promised Land. He knew where Abraham was buried, when he died, and even gave the names of the men he bought the burial plot from!
The only way he could have pulled that off was because he must’ve known the Scriptures! No wonder the Bible says he was full of faith!
May I say, this morning, there is nothing spiritual about you if your Bible sits on a shelf, collecting dust from Sunday to Sunday! We are to:
Read it.
David said in, [Psalm 119:16] “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.” We are to:
Study it.
[2 Tim. 2:15 KJV] “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We are to:
Memorize it.
[Psalm 119:11] “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Stephen was a man of Faith…
2. Wisdom Look at verse10.
We know that he got his faith, from the Word, but where did he get his wisdom? College books? Seminary? No! He got it from the spirit of God through prayer! The Bible says in,
[Jas 1:5 NKJV] “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
Because he was a man of wisdom, we can know that Stephen was a man of prayer!
A young preacher wanted to preach in a robe so the tailor took measurements. The tailor asked this young preacher how long he’d been in the ministry. “What does that have to do with making my robe?” the young preacher snorted. “Everything, I’ve made a lot of robes, and if you’re young in the ministry you think you know it all and you walk around with your head held high and your chest stuck out…so I need to make it longer in front and shorter in back. But if you’ve been in the ministry for some time, you know you don’t know it all, you’re pretty level headed and level hearted! Finally, once you’ve been serving God a long time, you realize you don’t know anything, you spend most of your time with your head bowed in prayer asking for wisdom, or on your knees looking to the only One who can help! You need it shorter in front and longer in back!
We need wisdom every day. Some need it in marriage, finances, work, ministry, children, parents, health or plans for the future.
Do you need wisdom? The Bible says ask and you shall receive!
Stephen was a man of faith [through Scripture], wisdom [through prayer]…
3. Power: Look at verse 8.
The Bible says that God gives the spirit of power to them that obey!
God has no desire to fill a dirty vessel.
He doesn’t put His Almighty hand into a filthy glove…we need to daily repent, confess, keep short accounts with God.
A glove has no power of its own. The power comes from the hand filling it, but if you fill that glove with dirt, grease, or if spiders are allowed to build their webs and lay their eggs in that glove; don’t expect anyone to put it on!
Now none of us are perfect, but if we want God’s power, we must protect our eyes, ears and hearts, DAILY. At salvation you got that once and for all cleansing…but you still need to wash your feet every day. Why is that true? Every day you & I tread down the dusty sinful streets of the world and our feet get filthy...
Stephen was a man of...Faith…of wisdom…power…and finally:
4. Grace:
In verse 15 The word isn’t actually used, but you see the evidence.
What kind of grace did Stephen experience and can you/I experience that same grace?
There is saving grace. Stephen had experienced this saving grace.
[Ephes. 2:8] “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
John Newton was a drunken slave-trader. After coming to Christ as his Savior he wrote the words: “Amazing Grace, how sweet…” (quote)
That’s saving grace and all born again believers have experienced it!
But there is another kind of grace available, only to the children of God:
Sustaining grace:
[2 Cor. 12:9] “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
It’s the grace that holds you up during times of trial or sorrow. Times of grief and temptation. In times of stress or extreme pressure.
It’s the grace that keeps you going when you don’t think you CAN keep going. Sustaining grace holds you up when you don’t think you can hold up. It sets you apart when you’re about to come apart…and Stephen had it as he was under fire from the council.
We see in verse 15 that he’s in a lot of trouble. He’s on trial, standing before the Sanhedrin; accused of blasphemy! Stephen knows blasphemy is punishable by death…he knows what they did to Jesus, he knows this can’t turn out good for him.
Yet as he stares his accusers in the eye he has the face of an angel! That’s the sustaining grace of God!
That’s the face of perfect peace! Jesus won’t keep the storms out of your life, but He’ll give you peace in the midst of the storm…sometimes He calms the storm, but other times He calms His child! Jesus is the Eye of the storm!
The more grace you need the more you get!
Dying Grace:
We all fear death, it’s a natural, healthy aversion…but for the child of God, when your time comes, you don’t have to be afraid! It’s a grace God gives his children.
[Psalm 23:4] “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me…”
Acts 7:54-60 [read]
You can see this dying grace all over Stephen’s face!
You saw it on the face of Jesus, in the midst of His pain and suffering, when on the cross; He says... “Father, forgive them”… “into Thy hands I commit my spirit!”
Sometimes it takes grace to accept what God gives!
I read about a preacher who when he spoke from this text an atheist stood and said, “Why do you follow God, just look at this story, what did God do for Stephen?” The preacher responded, “A lot! He gave him the grace to forgive the very men who were murdering him!”
Look at the word “Sleep” in verse 60. This word is simply a metaphor for the peace and grace in a believer’s death and you can have that grace…
I think about those Christians who were kidnapped and beheaded by ISIS and how calm they seemed to be as they paraded them out, knowing they were about to die. I think, as an American Christian so in my mind I’m thinking that I would be kicking, biting and clawing all the way. It would take every member of ISIS to hold me still enough to cut my head off or they would have to drug me heavily. But when I think of Stephen and I see the look of peace on his face and then I go to the cross and I see the same look on the face of our Lord and Savior I begin to understand this thing called dying grace, just a little more.
So, Stephen was a man of
Faith=man of Word, reading, studying, memorizing but there was a price to pay!
Wisdom=through prayer but there was a price to pay!
Power= but there was a price to pay!
Grace= but here’s the good part, it was free! Grace can’t be earned! You can’t pay for it. Because Jesus paid the price for our grace!
Need more faith? You’ll find it in the Word.
Need wisdom? Repent of prayerlessness and ask for it!
Need Power? Get a divine foot washing at the altar!
Believer—you may be in need of sustaining grace in what you’re going through.
Not yet been saved…you need saving grace! When the invitation Hymn starts you come…
