Shine for Jesus!
Acts 6:7-15
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 8, 2013
*Matt Redman is one of the best-known writers of Christian music today. Shortly after the devastating terror attacks on September 11, 2001, Matt and his wife Beth co-wrote a worship song called Blessed Be Your Name."
*On 9-11, Matt and Beth were here on sabbatical from their homeland of Britain, and they wrote this song to help inspire worship in the dark and tragic times of our lives.
*The Redmonds found their inspiration in the words of Job, who continued to worship God in the face of devastating loss. In Job 1:21, this grieving father said: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.''
*"Blessed Be Your Name" became one of the Redmonds most popular songs, and it opens with these words:
"Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out, I'll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name" (1)
*Church: In the times of darkness, our Lord Jesus Christ still shines, and we can shine for Him! How can we do it? Stephen the deacon shows us in this Scripture.
1. First: Seek to be full of faith.
*Stephen was full of faith, and we see this great quality in vs. 7-8, where:
7. . . the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
[1] How did Stephen get so full of faith? -- It came from the right kind of food.
*And we see this food in vs.7. It was the Word of God. The only way we can ever be full of faith is by taking in this one-of-a-kind spiritual food. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
*There Christ quoted something He told Moses to say 1,400 years before the Lord came to earth. This Scripture is found in Deuteronomy 8:1-3, and there Moses said this to the Children of Israel:
1. "Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers.
2. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
3. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."
*God wants us to know that we have a lifetime supply of faith-building food right here in the Bible! That is why 1 Peter 2:1-3 says this to Christians:
1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
2. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
3. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
*The only real food for Stephen's faith (and our faith) is the Word of God. As Paul said in Romans 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
*Ray Stedman suggested a little exercise with God's Word to help build our faith. Ray said: "If you want a wonderful experience, take your Bible and use a concordance to look up the two little words: 'But God'. See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end, despair has gripped the heart, pessimism and gloom has settled upon a people, and there is nothing that can be done. Then see how the Spirit of God writes in bright, shining letters: 'BUT GOD,' and the whole situation changes into victory. (2)
*I tried this exercise, and here are some examples:
*In Acts 7:9-10, Stephen said:
9. . . "the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him
10. and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house."
*In Acts 13:28-30, Paul was preaching, and said this about Jesus:
28. . . "though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.
29. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30. But God raised Him from the dead.
*In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul said this to Christians:
13. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
*And in Ephesians 2:3-6, Paul said this to believers:
3. . . we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5. even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6. and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
*There are many other examples we could find, and this reminds us that we have a lifetime supply of faith-building food right here! That is the food for Stephen's faith.
[2] But also notice the fruit of his faith.
*We see some of this fruit in vs. 8, where Stephen "did great wonders and signs among the people." God sent those signs and wonders in the early church to miraculously confirm the good news about Jesus. It was a special demonstration of God's power for the apostolic age. But our God is still a miracle working God! -- and all things are possible with Him.
*We see more of faith's fruit back in vs. 7. And this fruit is more applicable to us today, unless God decides to give us the power to do great signs and wonders. And God could do that, if He wanted to.
*But He certainly wants to do what we see in vs. 7, where:
7. . . the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
*Jesus Christ surely wants the Word of God to spread today. He surely wants to multiply the number of disciples today. He surely wants people to be obedient to the faith today.
*And all of those Jewish priests who got saved remind us that some of the people who are least likely to be saved will be saved. And why? -- Because God is at work in His world!
*John Phillips explained that it's no wonder the priests came to the faith: "They, more than anyone else, knew that the old-fashioned Judaism, of which they were the most visible and venerable representatives, was finished.
*There had been a day, not long before, when some of them had gone into the Temple as usual to trim the lamps in the Holy Place. And they had been stopped cold in their tracks. The Temple veil had been torn in two, -- from top to bottom! No human hand had done that. The veil was thick as a man's hand. And besides, no Jew would have dared commit such sacrilege. But the awesome fact was evident: The veil was torn.
*For the first time the priests could look beyond the golden altar into the holiest of all and see the sacred Ark with the outspread wings of the cherubim. They could see where, generation after generation, the high priest on the Day of Atonement had sprinkled the blood. They had stood and stared.
*The priests compared notes. The tearing of the veil had happened the very moment Jesus of Nazareth had died. For a while they resisted the irrefutable evidence of the collapse of Judaism. But now a great company of them became obedient to the new faith." (3)
*God wants many more people to come to the faith today! -- Even people who seem least likely to trust in Jesus. That's why God wants us to shine for Jesus Christ.
2. How can we do it? Seek to be full of faith. -- And seek to have words of wisdom.
*God wants us to speak with words of wisdom. And this is His message for us in vs. 9-11:
9. Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.
10. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
11. Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.''
*Satan always opposes spiritual truth, and he will pull every trick in his book. But when these men were disputing with Stephen, vs. 10 tells us "they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke."
*Stephen had great wisdom. And we can get the same kind of wisdom from God! James 1:5 tells us: "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."
*God will give us wisdom for every situation we face in life. All we have to do is ask Him in faith, believing that He will give us the wisdom we need.
3. How can we shine for Jesus Christ? Seek to have words of wisdom. -- And seek faithfulness over fairness.
*Christians: We must realize that great faith doesn't guarantee fair treatment in this life. We see this truth in vs. 12-14, where:
12. . . they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.
13. They also set up false witnesses who said, "This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;
14. for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.''
*Those hard-hearted unbelievers couldn't stand up to Stephen's wisdom and gospel truth, so they cooked up a big lie. The devil never fights fair, so we shouldn't be surprised when life's not fair.
*There is a false teaching very popular today that says, "If you belong to God, or if you have enough faith, you are going to be healthy, rich and successful." But here in Acts 6, Stephen is about to be stoned to death. What's the matter Stephen? Maybe you just need a little more faith, and all this trouble will disappear. No. Godly living does not guarantee earthly success.
*We already saw that Stephen had more than enough faith. He was "was full of faith." But vs. 3 also shows us that Stephen was full of wisdom, and he was wise enough to know that Godly living does not guarantee earthly success.
*So when he found himself in this terrible situation, Stephen did not whine or complain to God that life's not fair. And he didn't try to weasel himself out of trouble. No. Stephen chose faithfulness over fairness, and that's what God wants us to do. We have been blessed beyond measure, but we must not always expect good times from Godly living. We have to measure our progress from a heavenly point of view
*In May of 2003, our IMB reported the story of a believer from India they called "Adam." In Adam's rural Hindu village, people were very antagonistic to the gospel. One day, Adam's older brother and wife became the first believers in the village. At that time, Adam was not willing to follow the Lord, but he could see how Jesus changed the lives of his brother and sister-in-law.
*They began to share the gospel with other villagers, but no one would listen to them. Then the beatings began, but something amazing happened! Every time the Hindus beat Adam's brother, someone in the crowd became a believer.
*Eventually, Adam himself believed in Christ, and he began suffering the same persecution as his brother. One day, the unbelieving villagers surrounded Adam, his brother and the small group of new Christians. In a rage, they had prepared a huge pot of boiling water, and were getting ready to boil these Christians alive.
*Then one of the Hindus calmed the mob and said, "If we do this even more will become Christians." So they agreed to just beat the believers. But again, more people were saved! And at the time of the report, they had a church in that village with over 35 families! (4)
*Getting beat up was not plan "A" for Adam's brother, but God turned a trial into triumph, because somebody shined for Jesus.
4. How can we shine for Jesus Christ? Seek faithfulness over fairness. -- And seek a radiant relationship with Christ.
*We can see Stephen shine in vs. 15. There, "All who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel." What an amazing thing!
*On this verse, John Phillips said: "Having heard the indictment, the Sanhedrin turned to see how Stephen was reacting to the deadly charges. They saw the face of an angel. As the face of Moses had shone with the light of another world when he came down from the mount, so the face of Stephen now shone. It was not hate they saw there, nor horror, but heaven." (5)
*Stephen's face was a miraculous reflection of his relationship with Jesus Christ. As he stood before the high court, Stephen seemed to be alone, but he was not alone! God was surely there with Stephen. And He has promised to be with us in every trial and tribulation.
*But we need to seek His face. We need to seek an ever-closer relationship with Almighty God. As James 4:8 promises us: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
*And people may not see the light shining in our faces. But they will see it shining in our lives! God will flood our hearts with the light of His love. And we know this is true because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
*As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:5-6:
5. . . we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
*In this dark world, we need to shine for Jesus Christ!
-So seek to be full of faith.
-Seek words of wisdom.
-Seek faithfulness over fairness.
-And seek a radiant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
*Please pray for these things as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
Today's Christian, May/June 2007, p.17 - Source: "In Other Words" July 2007 #3 - produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
Songwriters: Beth Redman, Matt Redman - Published by Lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group
http://www.metrolyrics.com/blessed-be-your-name-lyrics-matt-redman.html
(2) Ray C. Stedman, "Man of Faith" - Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 5 - Source: "Bible Illustrator for Windows" - Topic: Strength - Subtopic: God our - Index: 3806 - Date: 12/1997.1982 - Title: "But God"
(3) Adapted from "Exploring Acts" by John Phillips - Kregel Publications - Grand Rapids, MI - Copyright 1986 - p. 119-120
(4) "thETASK" - IMB - May 2003
(5) "Exploring Acts" by John Phillips - Kregel Publications - Grand Rapids, MI - Copyright 1986 - p. 122
