Stephen’s Sermon
Acts 7
April 21, 2001
Intro:
A. [Seeing Yourself in a Sermon, Citation: From a cartoon by Lee Johnson, The Best Cartoons from Leadership Journal, Volume 1 (Broadman & Holman, 1999)]
Following the Sunday morning service, the pastor stood at the back of the church, shaking hands with the worshipers as they left.
As one man shook hands, he looked intently at the pastor and said, "Powerful sermons, Pastor. Thoughtful, well researched. I can always see myself in them…and I want you to knock it off."
B. Today, we are going to look at the only recorded sermon that we have from a man named Stephen.
1. In this sermon, God confronted some religious people with some things He wanted them to change.
2. Stephen’s sermon "plowed close to the corn" and they certainly saw themselves in it and they got so upset about it, they stoned the preacher to death.
3. Today that same sermon plows as close to the corn today as it did then.
4. I believe all of us will see ourselves in this sermon and we too will have a choice, we can stone the messenger or we can open our hearts and minds to what God wants us to hear.
C. [Prayer for open hearts and minds.]
I. Stephen’s Scriptural Support
A. God was with Abraham wherever he went.
Acts 7:2-8, To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 ’Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ’and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ’Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ’and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
1. God was with Abraham in Mesopotamia.
2. God was with Abraham in Haran.
3. God was with Abraham in Palestine.
4. God was with Abraham wherever he went, even though he had no building to worship God in.
5. God did give Abraham the custom of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with him in a foreign land.
B. God was with Joseph in Egypt.
Acts 7:9-19, "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11 "Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17 "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18 Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
1. God was with Joseph while he was in slavery in Egypt.
2. God was with Joseph while he was in prison in Egypt.
3. God was with Joseph while he was governor of Egypt.
4. God was with Joseph while he was in Egypt, even though he had no building to worship God in.
C. God was with Moses in the desert.
Acts 7:20-43, "At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ’Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 "But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ’Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord’s voice: 32 ’I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 33 "Then the Lord said to him, ’Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’ 35 "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, ’Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 37 "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ’God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ’Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt--we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: "’Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 43 You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
1. God was with Moses while he was growing up in Pharaoh’s house.
2. God was with Moses while he was in Midian.
3. God was with Moses on Mt. Sinai.
4. God was with Moses throughout the Exodus and their wonderings in the desert.
5. God was with Moses, even though he had no building to worship God in.
D. God was with Joshua in the Promised Land.
Acts 7:44-45, "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,
1. Joshua had the tabernacle (a tent) with them as they entered the Promised Land.
2. The tent of meeting was a portable place of worship.
3. God was with Joshua as they drove out the giants in the Promised Land.
4. God was with Joshua, even though he had no building to worship God in.
E. God was with David in Palestine.
Acts 7:46, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
1. God was with David as he ruled the nation of Israel in the region of Palestine.
2. David wanted to build God a temple, but God did not allow Him to.
3. God was with David, even though he had no building to worship God in.
F. God was with Solomon in Jerusalem.
Acts 7:47, But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
1. God was with Solomon as he ruled the nation of Israel from the city of his father.
2. Solomon did build the building that his father David had wanted to build.
3. But Stephen is making it clear that God did not ask for a building; it was David’s idea.
4. God was with Solomon whether or not he had a building.
II. Stephen’s Scriptural Summary
A. The Most High does not live in houses made by men.
Acts 7:48-50, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 49 "’Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’
1. This has been Stephen’s point throughout this survey of OT history.
2. God does not live in houses made by men.
3. And Stephen adds here a quotation of Isaiah 66:1,2 that actually comes right out and states the point that he’s been making using most of the OT as his text.
4. Isaiah 66:1-2 says, This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
5. Of course, Stephen didn’t quote that last statement, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word."
6. But these religious authorities knew full well what the rest of it said, even though Stephen didn’t quote it.
7. And that is the problem that Stephen is addressing.
8. This is one of the reasons that these religious authorities had come from all over the world to argue with Stephen.
9. When Stephen was preaching this stuff about God not living in temples, that infringed upon their territories.
10. They had a racquet going where they had a corner on religion.
11. Whenever anyone wanted to get close to God, they had to go through these people in a temple.
12. And it is clear that these religious people were not humble and contrite and they ignored the parts of Scripture they didn’t like.
13. They certainly weren’t teaching the people Isaiah 66.
14. Yes, this is the NT and God was changing some things, but the thing that God was actually wanting to change was the way people came to God.
15. Stephen thoroughly proved that this was not something new; God had never dwelt in buildings, even though those religious people were trying to convince people that He did live in their temples and that people had to come into their buildings to meet God.
B. God really wants circumcised hearts and ears.
Acts 7:51, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!
1. Now I must say that for those who think that the preacher’s sermons should always be positive, uplifting, and loving—I must point out that was rather hard—don’t you think?
2. Can you imagine a preacher telling religious people that they were stiff-necked and their hearts and ears were uncircumcised? Stephen did.
3. Can you imagine a preacher calling religious people hypocrites? Jesus did.
4. Can you imagine a preacher calling religious people snakes and vipers? Jesus did.
5. You see the truth is that sometimes the preacher has to lay it on the line and call a spade a spade!
6. And I want to say loud and clear today that if you think that I should never say things may come across as unloving to someone, you may want to look for another church.
7. If you want to come to church and get your ears tickled every Sunday, then you probably need to find another church.
8. Because as long as Somerset has been around and as long as God allows Somerset to stay in existence, Somerset is going to be committed to preaching the WHOLE counsel of God, not just the parts that people want to hear! AMEN?!!
9. 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
10. Sometimes the preacher is called upon by God to rebuke people for resisting God and there is no question that this is what Stephen was doing here.
11. Stephen is telling them that they could circumcise their males all they wanted to, but it wasn’t going to get them any closer to God.
12. They could circumcise their males on they wanted to but if they hadn’t given their hearts to God, they weren’t going to be saved.
13. They could circumcise their males on they wanted to but if they wouldn’t listen to what God said, they weren’t going to be saved.
14. What God wants is our hearts and ears and not a piece of flesh!
15. What God wants is our hearts and ears and not a bunch of rituals and traditions.
16. What God wants is our hearts and ears and not some religious ceremonies and rituals.
C. Non-acceptance of these things equals quenching the Spirit.
Acts 7:51, You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
1. Unwillingness to let go of traditions and rituals is quenching the Spirit.
2. Unwillingness to let go of buildings is quenching the Spirit.
III. Somerset’s Scriptural Solutions
If we are going to hold on to Jesus instead of man-made rules and rituals, there are five lessons we need to learn from Stephen’s sermon…
#1 God does not live in hand-made buildings.
Acts 7:48, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men.
1. We have got to get past buildings if we are going to seek God.
2. Buildings are simply meeting places.
3. God does not live in a building.
4. Don Heckman has told me that being in the Marines, he was privileged to visit some of the great cathedrals of the world.
5. But he noted how dead they seemed because God was not in them.
6. And he was right because if God is not in the hearts of the people inside the building, then God is not in the building.
7. The truth is that God has left the building to be where two or three are gathered.
8. Yes, going to church should be a good thing, but only if the people in there have God in their hearts.
9. Just going to church will not save us.
10. Just going into a church building does not mean that we are going to experience God.
11. And even going to a church that is full of people who have Jesus in their hearts doesn’t necessarily mean that you will experience God.
12. The only way that we can experience God is if we have God in our hearts ourselves.
13. I’ve seen people gather to worship God who truly were experiencing God and right in the midst of those people who were enjoying the presence of God in their hearts is a person with a sour-puss look on their face and their arms folded that just seem to be saying, "I don’t like this!"
14. And as we discussed last week, if you are mad at the people who don’t like to worship the way you do, you will not experience God.
15. If you just sit there and pout because everything isn’t done your way, you’ll miss God.
16. People come in this place every Sunday and truly experience God, and if you are not feeling God’s presence each week, other people are not the problem!
17. Because God is here and you can experience Him – if you want to – if you let go and let God into your heart!
18. God doesn’t live in this building.
19. God doesn’t live in a certain arrangement of the platform furniture.
20. God only lives in our hearts!
21. Does God live in your heart?
#2 When you have given your heart and ears to Jesus and no longer resisting the Spirit, then wherever you stand for Jesus is holy ground.
Acts 7:33, "Then the Lord said to him, ’Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.
1. That could be in a church building.
2. That should be at work.
3. It should be at play.
4. It must be at home!
5. The religious leaders of Stephen’s day had turned the temple into a special place where God lived.
6. They expected everyone to act differently in there, because that is where they thought God lived.
7. The question is: Why do some people want to do the same thing with a church building today?
8. The answer is: If they can convince others that the church building, made by human hands, is the new Holy Ground of God, then they don’t have to take God home with them.
9. They can do whatever they want, use all the foul language they want as long as they aren’t in "God’s house."
10. But my friends, if you are a Christian, wherever you stand is holy ground!
#3 When God wants to changes things, you can destroy the messenger, but you can not kill the message!
Acts 7:52-60, Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." 54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
1. Did you notice the spiritual maturity of these leaders? (When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.; At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,
2. Stephen was killed by a bunch of immature religious leaders who could not accept change.
3. Saul was there giving approval to all this and God had to eventually strike him blind in order for him to finally see the light that Stephen was right.
4. And that Saul became the apostle Paul and did great things for God.
5. And unfortunately, even today, before accepting change, God may have to strike some people blind before they will see the light.
6. God will have to bring some terrible adversity into their lives before they finally accept the message.
7. They killed Stephen, but they could not kill the message.
8. And that truth is still as true today: you can destroy the messenger, but you will not kill God’s message!
#4 People who cling to religious habits without a surrendered heart will resist the HS when it moves.
Acts 7:51, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
1. Those people were clinging to their own traditions and customs, but didn’t know God.
2. Stephen said that these people who were clinging to their own traditions and customs (even one instituted by God) were resisting the HS.
3. Stephen said God did institute that custom, but God was changing things.
4. We don’t have any traditions or customs that God gave us that anyone is challenging.
5. We don’t have anyone asking us to do away with singing praises to God.
6. We don’t have anyone asking us to do away with praying to God.
7. We don’t have anyone asking us to do away with the Lord’s Supper.
8. We don’t have anyone asking us to do away with preaching the gospel.
9. We don’t have anyone asking us to do away with water baptism.
10. But God is asking us to do away with man-made traditions and seek only Him.
11. God is asking us to do away with singing perfunctory songs at prescribed times in the service.
12. God is asking us to do away with our legalistic adherence to certain types of songs.
13. God is asking us to do away with our legalistic adherence to a traditional order of service.
14. God is asking us to do away with anything that is keeping us from worshipping in Spirit and in truth.
15. God is asking us to do away with anything that is keeping us from seeking Him.
16. God is asking us to do away with anything that is preventing us from loving our neighbors as we should.
17. People who cling to traditions and rituals instead of clinging to God, are resisting the HS.
18. The Bible is clear that we are not to resist or quench the HS.
19. God is calling us to move forward in allowing the Spirit of God to move freely and stop clinging to religious traditions.
#5 Religious ritual is no substitute for wonder-filled worship.
Acts 7:53, you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
1. Stephen was indicted and murdered, by religious people who claimed to follow God, for advocating changing traditions and customs.
2. The sense of awe and wonder that God is present is sometimes dulled, because some of us put more importance on a particular religious habit, instead of seeking and experiencing the presence of God’s Spirit.
3. We come here to stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene!
4. If we get caught up in traditions and customs, amazement is lost and tension gets so thick that God’s Spirit cannot move (we’re thereby quenching the Spirit).
5. When we come here every week and sing two or three songs and take communion and offering and listen to the sermon and sing a song and go home week after week, year after year, the same thing over and over and over again, the sense of wonder is lost!
6. God’s Spirit is quenched and we loose wonder-filled worship.
7. Do you see that religious ritual is no substitute for wonder-filled worship?
Conclusion:
A. How should we respond to this message?
1. Are you going to insist that the preacher stop preaching these kinds of sermons?
2. Or are you going to open your heart and mind to God and ask HIM if this is what He wants for you?
B. [Prayer]
C. Today, I want to offer a slightly different invitation.
1. Today, I want you to sit during the invitation.
2. Now, I know this is different than what we usually do, but then that is what this sermon is encouraging.
3. Today, I want to ask you to sit and ask God what HE wants you to let go of in your life that is keeping you from seeking Him fullly.
4. Today, I want to ask you to sit and sing and contemplate this question: Are you finished being comfortable with the way things are or the way they used to be and are you ready to change so the Spirit can move freely?
5. Are you ready to let go of everything and seek only Jesus?
6. If and when you can say, "Yes, I’m ready to let go and seek only Jesus," I want you to stand.
7. Song: #391, "I Surrender All"
