The Face of an Angel
Acts 6:8-15
April 14, 2002
Intro:
A. [Change, 1000 Windows, Robert C. Shannon, Standard Publish Company, Cincinnati, OH, 1997, p. 20]
Gaston Bachelard wrote, "If one were to give an account of all the doors one has closed and opened, of all the doors he would like to reopen, one would have to tell the story of one’s entire life."
B. You see the truth is that all of life is change.
1. Jill’s grandmother lived to the age of 87; she saw the first automobile that rode off Henry Ford’s assembly line.
2. We live in a time where things change very quickly.
3. And although God is in the business of change, strangely one of the slowest places to accept change is in church.
4. Today we come to the end of Acts 6 and the beginning of the story of Stephen, a messenger of change; let’s see what we can learn from his story…
I. The man of God
A. Stephen was one of the seven.
Acts 6:5, This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
1. Stephen was one of the seven that we read about last week who were chosen to take responsibility for the daily distribution of food.
2. Stephen was already saved and a member of the church and he was one of the seven chosen by the 15,000+ members of the church to take care of the widows.
B. Stephen was a man of God.
Acts 6:3, Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
1. Stephen was known to be full of the Spirit (before he had hands laid upon him by the apostles).
2. Stephen was known to be full of wisdom. Stephen was known to be full of faith.
C. Stephen was a man of God.
Acts 6:8, Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
1. Stephen was known to be full of God’s grace and full of God’s power.
2. Stephen was a man of God.
II. His opposition
Acts 6:9, Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia.
A. Now it is clear that something is going on beyond what we actually read in the text.
1. At first reading the text just seems to indicate that Stephen was a nice man who was helping out with the widows and doing a few miracles on the side.
2. But there has to be more going on than this for these religious people to get this upset.
3. I’m not going to preach all of this story today, because it doesn’t actually end until chapter 8.
4. And these religious people are far too upset for this to simply be a nice man who is feeding widows and healing some of them.
5. There is clearly more going on that Luke actually records.
6. The text doesn’t come right out and say that Stephen was preaching.
7. The text doesn’t come right out and say that Stephen was preaching things that some religious people didn’t like.
8. And as you will se, this is strong opposition.
B. Let me tell you a little about those who opposed him…
1. These "Freedmen" were descendants of former Jewish salves who had become very influential.
2. They were powerful religious leaders.
3. There were also Jewish scholars from Alexandria and Egypt.
4. There were also preachers, scholars, professors, and religious experts from all over the world ("Cilicia and Asia").
5. Literally all types of religious, academic, preachers, and other experts all converged on one man.
6. You see there was clearly more going on here that Stephen was doing that Luke doesn’t record.
C. What Luke doesn’t record is that Stephen is preaching and teaching things that these religious people didn’t like.
1. As we continue to study this story we will see that Stephen was preaching change.
2. And these religious people didn’t like what he was preaching.
3. And all of these different religious authorities converged on Stephen.
4. Even today, when there is some change in the church, some people will converge on the preacher (or other messenger of change) to try to get them to conform and not to stray from the old ways, never bothering to ask if this is what God wants.
III. Their arguments
Acts 6:9-10, …These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
A. Now they are arguing with Stephen.
1. Now can you put yourself in Stephen’s shoes?
2. He is obviously a man of God.
3. He’s been saved, he’s know to be full of the Spirit and wisdom, the apostles laid hands on him and set him aside for ministry, God has spoken to him and given him a message of change to preach, God is confirming his message with power and wonders and miraculous signs and religious people from all over the world are coming and arguing with him.
4. Can you imagine what that would be like?
5. What would you do; how would you feel?
6. I’m sure he must have felt like he was being overwhelmed.
B. But notice what the text says…
1. but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
2. All of these religious people were coming to argue with him; the news has traveled far about him and they have come from a long way just to argue with him.
3. Wise and schooled and authoritative religious people from all over the world had come to argue against Stephen but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
4. They couldn’t win the arguments.
5. All of them combined couldn’t win the arguments!
6. Why? Exactly because of the qualifications that got him to be one of the seven: he was full of the Spirit and wisdom.
7. All of these religious leaders combined could not stand against the Spirit and wisdom of God.
8. They could get mad and upset with him all they wanted, but they couldn’t stand against the wisdom and Spirit of God!
9. Stephen was a man who power-filled.
10. Stephen was a man who was wisdom-filled.
11. Stephen was a man who was Spirit-filled.
12. Stephen was a man who was grace-filled.
13. No matter how much knowledge and how much authority religious leaders may think they have, they cannot stand against a man filled with God’s Spirit and wisdom.
C. And when God changes things in His church some people may resist, but they will not be able to stand against the Spirit and Wisdom of God.
1. "Don’t bother confusing me with the facts, I already know what I believe."
2. "Don’t bother trying to teach me anything from the Bible, I don’t want to hear it."
3. "Don’t bother telling me that this where God is because, I’m staying where God was."
4. "God did great things in the past when we did things this way, and if everyone would just get the right attitude, God would do it again like He did then."
5. "I want to keep things the same, just to keep them the same."
6. "We never did it that way before, why should we do it now?"
IV. Their false accusations
Acts 6:11-14, Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
A. Did you see what happened?
1. They couldn’t stand against what Stephen was saying, so they coerced a small group of men to bring false accusations against him.
2. All of these religious leaders combined couldn’t stand against Stephen, so they brought in false witnesses.
3. "We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
4. "So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen…" and took him to court.
5. Someone made a broad accusation, but did you notice there was nothing specific?
6. And unfortunately that’s all it takes for some people to get stirred up and call someone on the carpet: a broad-stroked accusation.
7. "We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
8. Why didn’t anyone care to ask, "Um, what were the specific words of blasphemy that Stephen had spoken against Moses?"
9. "What were the specific words that Stephen said that were blasphemous against God?"
10. Now they did eventually try to give some proof, but not until after he was in court.
11. But why is it that people are quick to condemn a man of God when accusations are made against him?
12. What is it that is within us that is quick to want to say, "See I told you he couldn’t be for real?"
13. Then they’ll say, "I didn’t like what he was saying in the first place?"
B. THERE is the real crux of the problem!
1. "I didn’t like what he was saying in the first place."
2. You see Satan tries to get us to rebel against the message of God and the easiest way for him to do that is to point out the human weaknesses of the messenger God sends.
3. The old saying is, "If you don’t like the message, just shoot the messenger."
4. Praise God they don’t do that in America—they just fire ‘em! J
5. But that is exactly what Satan got people in the OT to do, he convinced them to murder the prophets.
6. It’s one of the oldest tricks that Satan has in his bag—don’t listen to God’s message, accuse the messenger.
7. These religious people didn’t like what Stephen was preaching and they traveled great distances to come and confront him.
8. When they got there, they couldn’t stand against him.
9. So they brought in false witnesses and hauled him off to court.
C. So let’s look at the specifics of the accusations that they brought against him in the court…
1. They said that he never stopped speaking against the temple ("this holy place") and against the law.
2. They said that they had heard him say that Jesus would destroy the temple and change the customs of Moses.
3. First lets think through the accusation about the temple…
a. They said that Stephen was preaching that Jesus would destroy the temple.
b. Interestingly, the Sanhedrin brought in false witnesses who made the very same accusation against Christ.
c. Mark 14:58, "We heard him say, ’I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.’"
d. But listen to what Christ had actually said as recorded in John 2:19-21, Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
e. The Scripture says that when Christ said He was going to destroy the temple, He was referring to His own body.
f. They were going to destroy His body (which the Scriptures tell us that our bodies are the temple of God), and He was going to raise it back to life again in three days.
g. Now next week we will look closer at this temple accusation, but let me just say today that Christ and Stephen taught that God does not live in man-made temples.
h. Today, our bodies are the temples of God, just as the Scriptures say.
i. But for today, we just need to see that this is a false accusation and it is one of the same false accusations that they made against Christ.
5. The second part of their accusations was that that Stephen was going to change the customs of Moses.
a. The Greek word here is ethoi, which means habits or traditions or customs.
b. As we will study the rest of this story next week, we will learn that the specific custom of Moses that Stephen was seeking to change was the custom of circumcision.
c. Stephen was trying to tell them that this was no longer a part of God’s plan for them…what God desires is a surrender of hearts and not a piece of their flesh.
6. BUT we need to make it perfectly clear that what they made it sound like was that Stephen was asking them to do away with the Ten Commandments which Moses brought down from the mountain, while what Stephen was really seeking to change was a method of doing things and not the message.
a. This is a very important distinction.
b. Stephen was seeking to change traditions and customs and not the Word of God.
c. Stephen was seeking to change the methods and not the Message.
d. Now when someone wants to change the Message of the Word of God, then we need to get upset about it.
e. But when God moves us to change the methods of doing things, then we need to change with God.
f. Stephen was advocating a change in the place of worship and in the rituals of worship.
g. Stephen was advocating changes in methods that God desired.
h. But sadly, as is all too often the case, we see that these religious people came from all over the world to throw a fit because Stephen was persuading people to change the way things were done and were unwilling to even ask god if these were changes that He wanted.
V. His anointing
Acts 6:15, All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
A. But notice that as the Sanhedrin and the Freedmen were going berserk, Stephen was calm, cool, and collected.
1. The Freedmen argued.
2. The Sanhedrin secretly persuaded false witnesses.
3. The elders and teachers got stirred up.
4. The Sanhedrin looked intensely at Stephen to hear his response.
5. And Stephen had the face of an angel!
B. Now, how was this possible?
1. How is it possible for a man to sit before all of these religious people from all over the world and stay this calm.
2. They were angry and upset and he had the face of an angel!
3. How was this possible?
4. It was possible because he was a man of God!
5. It was possible because he was filled with God’s Spirit!
6. It was possible because he was filled with God’s wisdom!
7. It was possible because he was filled with God’s grace!
8. It was possible because he was filled with God’s power!
9. It was possible because he was he heard God’s voice!
10. It was possible because he was totally surrendered to God!
11. It was possible because his heart was free to accept God’s changes!
12. It was possible because he didn’t need to hang on to the past!
13. It was possible because he was willing to move with the Spirit that was within him!
14. It was possible because he wasn’t in this for the rituals, he was in it for God!
15. It was possible because he didn’t care if it wasn’t going to be the same as it was!
16. It was possible because he didn’t care about keeping things the same!
17. It was possible because he didn’t care how things were going to be as long as he had God’s Spirit!
18. It was possible because he didn’t care how things were going to be as long as had God’s grace!
19. It was possible because he didn’t care how things were going to be as long as had God’s wisdom!
20. It was possible because he didn’t care how things were going to be as long as had God’s power!
21. It was possible because he didn’t care how things were going to be as long as he had Jesus!
22. It was possible because he didn’t care how much or even what things changed, as long as he had JESUS!
23. It was possible because he didn’t care where they worshipped as long as they worshipped Jesus!
24. It was possible because he didn’t care what the rituals and customs were as long as he had Jesus!
25. It was possible because he didn’t care where they did it, what they did, how they did it, or how long they did it because he wasn’t there for himself he was there for JESUS!
26. It was possible because Stephen didn’t care about his own personal preferences since his worship wasn’t for him—it was for GOD!
27. How was it possible for Stephen to have the face of an angel in the face of such tremendous religious opposition?
28. It was possible because he knew he was speaking God’s message!
29. It was possible because he was a man of God!
Conclusion:
A. So how is if for you today?
1. Are you hanging on to the customs or practices, or are you hanging on to Jesus.
2. Are you seeking to make things as easy and comfortable for yourself as you can or are you seeking Jesus?
3. Are you holding on to the things that you prefer or are you holding on to Jesus?
B. My friends we’ve had a lot of struggles with this here at Somerset!
1. We’ve had people struggling with the arrangement of the furniture on the platform.
2. We’ve had people struggling with the order of service in the bulletin.
3. We’ve had people struggling with the kinds of songs that we sing.
4. We’ve had people struggling with certain messages on certain topics that God brings.
C. Who are we here for?
1. Who are we here for?
2. Surely we don’t want to be like these religious zealots who were only there for themselves and their traditions and preferences!
3. Surely we’re here for God.
4. Surely, no matter how the furniture is arranged, we’re here to worship JESUS!
5. Surely, no matter when communion is in the service, we’re here to worship JESUS!
6. Surely, no matter what kinds of songs are sung, we’re here to worship JESUS!
7. Surely, no matter what our individual preferences, we’re here to worship JESUS!
8. Who are we here for?
9. May we NEVER forget that we are here to worship ALMIGHTY GOD!
10. May we NEVER come in here and get upset because something isn’t exactly were we’d like it to be on the platform.
11. May we NEVER come in here and get upset because something isn’t exactly where we’d like it to be in the order of service.
12. May we NEVER come in here and get upset because someone did something a little differently than the way we would have preferred it!
13. Are we hanging on to customs and preferences or are we seeking JESUS!
14. Are we freeing the Spirit to move or are we quenching the Spirit?
15. We need to come here to be filled with God’s Spirit.
16. We need to come here to be filled with God’s wisdom.
17. We need to come here to be filled with God’s grace.
18. We need to come here to be filled with God’s power.
19. If you’re coming here to be served, or see if things are done the way you want them, or according to your preferences, you’re never going to walk away from here satisfied!
20. But if you come here seeking to be filled with God’s Spirit, wisdom, grace, and power, HE and HE ALONE will satisfy!
