FALSELY ACCUSED
TEXT: ACTS 6:8-15
Introduction
1. Illustration: The author, Antonio Socci, claims the untold story of the 20th century is the murder of 45 million Christians, mostly at the hands of communist and Islamic regimes, and that massacres continue to this day. Drawing heavily from the World Christian Encyclopedia, published last year by the Oxford University Press, Mr Socci traces the persecution of Christians through the centuries, from the crucifixion of Jesus to the lions at Circus Maximus, the assassination of Thomas Becket and the execution of Thomas More, the Boxer rebellion in China, Mexico's revolution and the Turkish massacres in Armenia. He calculates that in the past 2,000 years some 70 million Christians have been killed, two-thirds in the past 100 years alone, a bloodbath blamed mostly on the Soviet Union as well as communist China and Nazi Germany. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jun/04/religion.booksnews).
2. What is a martyr? The dictionary defines a martyr as “someone who is killed because of their religious beliefs.”
3. Today we begin looking at the very first martyr of the Christian church, and his name is Stephen.
4. Let’s begin by looking at what our text tells us about Stephen. Read Acts 6:5, 8-15.
Proposition: Like Stephen, we need to be bold in the face of opposition.
Transition: First, let’s look at…
I. Stephen the Spirit-Filled Preacher (8-10).
A. Full of Grace and Power
1. The only thing that Scripture tells us about Stephen is found in this section and the next chapter. However, what it tells us is amazing. First, Luke tells us back in v. 5, “Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit).”
a. The first thing that Luke tells us about Stephen is that he was a man of faith.
b. In one sense his faith was ordinary. He had faith in Jesus just like other Christians.
c. On the other hand, his faith was extraordinary because he was willing to trust Christ enough to risk everything to follow him. He was literally willing to put his life on the line for the cause of Christ.
d. If you look at the great people of faith in the Bible, you will find that they were all risk takers. Everyone from Abraham, Moses, David, and now the believers in the NT, were all risk takers for the purpose of the Kingdom.
e. Second, Luke tells us he was full of the Holy Spirit.
f. Nearly all the believers in the early church were full of the Spirit, but Stephen was so completely engulfed with the Holy Spirit that he stood out from the crowd, so much that Luke draws special attention to it.
2. In v. 8, Luke shows us what was special about Stephen, “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.”
a. It was because he was so full of the Holy Spirit that he was full of grace and power.
b. He was so full of the Spirit that God’s grace came pouring out of him.
c. This does not mean that he was weak, as the next chapter will show us, but even under persecution and false accusation he was able to demonstrate the graciousness of God.
d. In addition to displaying God’s grace, he was able to perform miraculous signs and wonders.
e. He is the first non-apostle to perform miracles in the Book of Acts, and the first non-apostle to have his sermon recorded.
f. It is uncertain how long his ministry lasted, but it is certain how powerful it was while it lasted.
3. Now we know that whenever someone is doing something for God that Satan will try and stop it. In v. 9 Luke tells us, “But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.”
a. Some men from the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves opposed what Stephen was doing for the Lord and debated with him.
b. These men were former Roman slaves who had been freed and now came to Jerusalem and started their own Synagogue.
c. They were Jews from different parts of Africa, Italy, and Asia.
d. Obviously, they didn’t agree with what Stephen was preaching and stood against him in public.
4. However, “None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.”
a. Another aspect of Stephen’s character is that he was a great preacher.
b. First, these men couldn’t stand against the wisdom with which Stephen spoke.
c. “Wisdom” (sophia) appears only four times in Acts (6:3, 10; 7:10, 22). It was an “inspired wisdom” (REB), because the Spirit gave Stephen the words to speak, in keeping with the promise of Christ, “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict” (Luke 21:15). (Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary, 245).
d. Second, he spoke from the Holy Spirit. Stephen was not only empowered by the Holy Spirit in the working of miracles, but he was also empowered in his preaching.
e. His preaching was theologically correct and filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. It was knowledge on fire!
f. These men simply couldn’t hold a candle to this spiritually empowered and biblically correct preacher.
B. Knowledge On Fire
1. Illustration: “It is dangerous to depart from Scripture…most of the controversies which have disturbed the Church have arisen from people’s wanting to be wise above what is written, not contented with what God has plainly revealed there” (John Wesley).
2. The Church today needs knowledge on fire. To do so, our teaching needs to be based entirely in the Word of God.
a. “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.” (2 Tim. 4:2-4).
b. We need to follow in the steps of Stephen who preached the Word of God with boldness.
c. The time that Paul warns Timothy of is here. We live in a time in the Church when people are more concerned with what society thinks that what Scripture teaches.
d. We live in a time in the Church where people want to hear what sounds good rather than what is true.
e. We live in a time in the Church when people are no longer listening to sound teachings of God’s Word, but they are following their own desires.
f. What the Church needs today is preachers who will preach the Word and not the opinions of society.
g. What the Church needs today is preachers who will declare what Scripture says and not be concerned with what people feel.
3. For the Church to have knowledge on fire we need preachers empowered and impassioned by the Holy Spirit.
a. “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:29-31).
b. Knowledge on fire is more than just words, but words that are inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
c. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came upon us that we would receive power, and we need to start showing that power in what we say and do.
d. We need to display that power in our preaching.
e. We need to display that power in our worship.
f. We need to display that power in our deeds.
g. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn in the Church again!
h. Holy Spirit set us on fire again!
Transition: Next, we see…
II. The Accuser of the Brothers and Sisters (11-15).
A. Persuaded Some Men to Lie
1. When the devil cannot compete with biblical wisdom and spiritual empowerment, he did what he always does, he lied. In vv. 11-12 Luke tells us, “So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” 12 This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.”
a. The devil has been lying since Genesis 3, and he’s still lying here.
b. These men persuaded others to lie about Stephen saying he had blasphemed Moses and God.
c. The word blasphemy means to use slanderous and abusive speech against someone. Stephen would never do either of these things.
d. Just as they couldn’t find anything to accuse Jesus without lying, neither could they do it with Stephen.
e. But they knew that the Sadducees, who controlled the Jewish high council, believed only in the law of Moses and to blaspheme it was a crime.
f. So, they had Stephen arrested and brought before the council.
2. However, God intervened and showed whose side he was on. “At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.”
a. Just as Moses did when he came down from the mountain of God, and as Jesus did on the mount of transfiguration, Stephen’s face began to glow as if he were an angel.
b. Stephen’s glowing face, like Moses’, was a literal reflection of God’s glory, a sign of having been in God’s presence.
c. Maybe Stephen had been given a glimpse of the vision that would be more evident at the moment of his death (7:55).
d. Maybe his change in appearance was because of the fullness of the Spirit, a characteristic that had marked his life and ministry.
e. Whatever it was, the moment was at hand for the first witness of Christ to lose his life for the faith. (Bruce Barton et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary, 494).
B. Overcame Them
1. James the son of Zebedee was beheaded in Jerusalem, the first of the apostles to die, during the Easter season in about the year A.D. 44.
a. Matthew was slain with the sword in a city in Ethiopia.
b. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria until he died.
c. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece.
d. James the Lesser was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple.
e. Philip was hanged up against a pillar in Phrygia.
f. Bartholomew was flayed alive.
g. Andrew was scourged then tied to a cross where he preached to the people for two days before dying.
h. Jude was shot to death with arrows.
i. Thomas was run through the body with a lance.
j. Simon the Zealot was crucified.
k. Peter was crucified upside down.
l. Matthias was stoned and beheaded.
2. But they were all overcomers, because the one thing that couldn’t be taken from them was Christ!
3. We are all overcomers by the blood of Jesus!
a. “Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last— salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.” (Rev. 12:10-11).
b. The devil can lie about us.
c. The devil can bring people against us.
d. The devil can scheme against us.
e. The devil can even convince people to harm us physically.
f. But he cannot take our spirits.
g. He cannot take away our faith.
h. He cannot take away our eternal life.
i. Most of all, he cannot take Christ from us!
j. “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39).
Conclusion
1. Stephen was a Spirit-filled preacher full of God’s grace and power.
2. The devil used people to take his life and he became the first martyr of the Christian church. But they couldn’t take Christ from him.
3. What’s the point preacher? If we remain faithful to Christ and stand on his Word, nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! Let us remain faithful to Christ. He died for us, now let us live for him.
