We resume our yearlong study of the book of Acts today. Acts is a bridge book. It is a bridge between the Gospels, which describe the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and the letters, which unfold the life and nature of the church. And in the early part of Acts, we are introduced to five brief biographies that I want to introduce to you now. If you enjoy reading a biography, then you’ll benefit from these short bios. Think of these five men as the Mount Rushmore of Acts, if you will. First, there’s Stephen, who we’ll look at in more detail in the moments to come. Stephen is Christianity’s first martyr. Other than the death of Jesus, no death gets as much space in the pages of the Bible as the death of Stephen.
Second, we’ll see the misstep of a newcomer, Simon. He’ll ask to buy the gifts of the Spirit for a price. Simon’s story is a story of man who doesn’t get it.
Our third bio is a story you wouldn’t believe even if your mother told you. It’s the story of man who sought to kill Christians becoming a Christian. His story is so pivotal that we’ll spend two weeks looking at the incredible life of Paul. I want you to meet Peter, a hero of the faith but it’s stubborn racial prejudice that blinds him. He’s so locked into his views that God puts in him in a trance to shake him loose. And we round out the series with Barnabas, someone so warm and encouraging you’re going to want to emulate him.
Five stories, five lives, five people – the study of the book of Acts. Let’s look at the final day in the life of a remarkable hero.
Today’s Scripture
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council…
An accusation is made against him in verse 13-14: and they set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never ceases to speak 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 will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.’ 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Acts 6:8–15)
For now, we’ll move Stephen’s past it to see the final moments of Stephen’s life.
“Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:54–60)
Stephen is the first Christian martyr & a hero of the Christian faith. Stephen begins an effective preaching ministry and is eventually pulled before the Sanhedrin, the ruling council. Now, Stephen may not be our example of how to give a speech for they kill him after his speaking. No, the speech isn’t Stephen’s success. It’s his faithfulness that is his success.
Mark this: Stephen’s death marks a turning point in the early church. Because the average person now joins with the Jewish priests in turning against Christianity, Christians flee Jerusalem. As they run, they share the gospel all over the world. And here’s the secret to Stephen: he didn’t live long enough to see how his life was truly successful.
1. Serve Like Stephen
The baseball world has been talking about the Japanese baseball phenom, Shohei Ohtani. Shohei Ohtani is a rare Japanese baseball player who is reminding many of the legend of Babe Ruth. Now with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani is an effective pitcher but also really good with the bat. His first two games pitching in the major leagues were excellent and he is homering every 10 times he is at the plate. For the baseball fans in the room, when’s the last time you heard of a pitcher hitting as the Designated Hitter? Ohtani is a two-way star but Stephen is a five-way person – let me show you.
Stephen did miracles and was an evangelist (Acts 6:8). Everyone knew him for being “full of the Spirit and of wisdom...” (Acts 6:3b) In fact, Stephen was a gifted preacher/evangelist (Acts 6:10). Stephen’s persuasive abilities were so good that priests were converting from Judaism to Christianity (Acts 6:7). Plus, the fact that the Jewish Sanhedrin picked him out of the others to stone probably means he was unusually effective in sharing the message of Jesus in the Jewish synagogues. Here was a Swiss army knife of a Christian. But it is the last of his five tools that I want to call your attention to for the moment. Yes, he was a gifted speaker, miracle-worker, wise, full of the Holy Spirit, but he was also a deacon. He served Greek widows food (Acts 6:2). He waits on tables for widows. Stephen’s job isn’t glorious. Yes, he’s a great preacher and highly intellectual. Yet, at his core, Stephen works to serve. He made sure hungry people got food to eat. Are you too good to serve those who are the weakest? Oh, that we would serve those in our community.
One of the biggest proofs of God is you serving people in love. Love on display is your most convincing argument for the truth of Christianity. The Roman Emperor Julian, one of the fiercest persecutors of early Christians (whom early church affectionately referred to as Julian the apostate. He couldn’t stop the church from growing no matter how many Christians he jailed. He admitted in disgust that, “these godless Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own.” Historian Eberhard Arnold notes about the early Christians: “Most astounding to the outside observer was the extent to which poverty was overcome in the vicinity of the communities. . . . Christians spent more money in the streets than the followers of other religions spent in their temples.” Love on display is your most convincing argument for the truth of Christianity.
So many of you will not serve because it is not convenient. I know washing feet was below Jesus’ pay grade. Stephen was a brilliant man – you would go to him with your problems. Stephen was a spiritual man- you would see him praying. But Stephen was also a humble man – you would NOT see him because he was serving. If we are going to be wise, full of grace, and full of the Spirit then we must recover the secret to service that Stephen had. If you’re serious about following Christ, then you are serious about serving others. There’s power in serving.
1. Serve Like Stephen
2. Speak Like Stephen
The second feature to Stephen’s life is his speaking.
2.1 Stephen’s Speech
Stephen offers a defense of sorts that is the longest speech in the all of the book of Acts. Acts is filled with sermons, speeches, & talks just like this one – fifteen sermons in total. Did you know of the approximately 1,000 verses in Acts, around 300 verses are speeches. Almost all of Acts 7 is Stephen’s speech and I hope you’ll take time to read it later today. For Luke to give it so much space in the book of Acts, he sees real significance in Stephen’s speech. Throughout this long speech, he’s answering two questions: “Are you speaking against the temple?” and “Are you speaking against the law?”
There’s three parts I want you to pay attention to under Stephen’s speech: the temple, the law, and the deliverer.
2.1.1 The Temple
As he goes through the history of Israel, he says, “Well, I don’t think we need the temple to find God. Abraham met God, and Abraham didn’t have the temple. God was with Joseph in Egypt, and Joseph didn’t have the temple. God met Moses out in the wilderness at the burning bush, and there was no temple.” Even after the temple was built, he quotes where Isaiah 66 says God does not dwell in a house made with hands. God is not a tribal deity; He is not confined to a zip code or a region of the country. He can’t be confined to a box. The first thing he does if you look through the speech is he’s saying, “No, you don’t need the temple in order to find God, in order to meet God.”
2.1.2 The Law
Then he turns to the law, and as he goes again through the whole history of Israel. First, he says, “Under Moses you didn’t obey the law. Under Aaron you didn’t obey the law. Amos says you didn’t obey the law.” Stephen is saying, “Look. The law is good. I believe in the law. The law of God is important. You can’t put the law aside. You can’t ignore it, but the problem is you’ve never obeyed it and you never will obey it. So if we’re saved by obeying the law, we have a problem.”
2.1.3 The Deliverer
He brings up something he sees in the history of Israel but wasn’t asked. And it’s this part that gets Stephen stoned. He says, “I’ve noticed a pattern in the history of our people. Every time God sends a deliverer, that deliverer is rejected and persecuted by the very people he was sent to save. Look at Joseph. Joseph was appointed by God to save his family, and yet he was sold into slavery into Egypt by that very family. Moses was appointed to deliver his people, to bring them out of Egypt. He was initially rejected and had to flee to the wilderness to save his own life. Later on, David is appointed to be the true king, to lead the people, and yet for big parts of his life he’s in the wilderness. David is a fugitive. He’s fleeing for his own life. Every single time God sends a prophet or a deliverer or a savior, the person is rejected and the person is persecuted.”
Then he reaches his climax: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51–53)
Stephen is stoned because he mentioned God’s final deliverer, Jesus, who he refers to as the “Righteous One.” For many in this room, you’ve never experienced anything like this because you have never actually articulated your faith to someone. You set up tables, you’ve moved chairs, and you’ve brought the breakfast every week for Bible study. It’s not enough to only to serve, you must also speak.
2.2 Stephen’s Language
Stephen shows us that the gospel is slowly moving to the edges of the boundaries of Israel. By introducing Stephen, Acts is showing us Christianity is moving into the Greek speaking Jewish culture. Probably one to two years after the death of Jesus, Christianity had been a Jewish faith believed by people who were Jewish. Look back at Acts 2:9-11 for a moment. Here you’ll see people from modern day Iran, modern day Turkey, Egypt, Libya, and Italy to name a few. There were fourteen different regions represented. There were different languages & even different dialects within those languages and yet when the people spoke they heard the message in their own language. God is telling the message of Jesus Christ is for everybody.
2.3 The Growth of Christianity
“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41) “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47) “But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4) “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14) “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” (Acts 9:31) “And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.” (Acts 13:49) “So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” (Acts 16:5) “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” (Acts 19:20)
Yale historian, Kenneth Scott Latourette said of these early days of Christianity, “Never in so short a time has any other religious faith or, for that matter, any other set of ideas, religious, political, or economic, without the aid of physical force or of social or cultural prestige, achieved so commanding a position in such an important culture.” This Christian faith is not just a Jewish thing, not just a Jerusalem thing, but it is a God thing! When the gospel was first preached to the world, it was preached in every language at once. Stephen is Greek speaking Jewish Christian who lived in ancient Jerusalem. Stephen shows us the gospel must move into every cranny and nook of our world.
1. Serve Like Stephen
2. Speak Like Stephen
3. Suffer Like Stephen
The third stand out feature to Stephen is the way he suffered. God created a tremendous synergy with these 3 features of his life: his service, his speaking, and his suffering. It’s a horrific scene ... as rocks whizzed past his head, yet Stephen never lost perspective. God opened up the curtain for Stephen to see the eternal/heavenly - with that in mind, he prays for the very ones throwing rocks at him.
3.1 The Way He Suffered
So much of Stephen’s life reminds us of Jesus’ life from the way he forgives his enemies to the role of false witnesses in his trial. Even the very words he says at the end of life where both Jesus and Stephen say, “Into your hands, God/Jesus, I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46/Acts 7:59).
3.2 The Courtroom
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” (Acts 7:55-56)
When Stephen was being condemned on earth, he knew he was being commended by the true courtroom of heaven. When no one on earth spoke up for Stephen, Someone in Heaven did.
3.3 Saul Saw Stephen Suffer
Stephen died not knowing fully just how effective his life was. He dies not seeing how his life impacted the growth of Christianity.
Question: how do we have this speech to include in Acts? Paul probably remembered this speech. Paul remembered this suffering. The reason we have this long speech is because of the deep impression it made on Paul. Saul/Paul approved of Stephen’s execution. Stephen was an incredible convicting, shocking experience for Paul. It must’ve moved him, but he didn’t immediately get converted. Stephen changed the world because he changed Paul.
Application to Christians
The power of the synergy of Stephen’s suffering, his speaking, and his serving were seen by the man who had the garments laid at his feet. You are one of three people sitting here this morning. You are a good speaker who needs to serve. You are a good servant who needs to speak. You are a good Christian who needs to suffer.
Application to Non-Christians
Do you fear the end? Do you fear the Day? You can have the Righteous One stand in your place too.
