In midwinter of A.D. 320 Emperor Licinius sent out an edict that to show their allegience all soldiers were to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Forty members of the famed Twelfth Legion of Rome’s imperial army serving in Sevaste, in present-day Turkey refused the emporer’s order. Their captain summoned these forty Christian soldiers and ordered them to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods.
One of the soldiers answered on behalf of the rest. "We will not sacrifice. To do so is to betray our holy faith."
"But what about your comrades? Consider--you alone of Caesar’s troops defy him! Think of the disgrace you bring upon your legion. How can you do it?"
"To disgrace the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is more terrible still."
A note of exasperation crept into the governor’s voice. "Give up this stubborn folly. You have no lord but Caesar! In his name, I promise promotion to the first of you who steps forward and does his duty." He paused a moment, expecting his lure would break their ranks. None of them moved. He switched tactics. "You persist in your rebellion? Then prepare for torture, prison, death! This is your last chance. Will you obey your emperor?"
The soldiers stood firm, although they well knew the governor would carry out his threat. They spoke: "Nothing you can offer us would replace what we would lose in the next world. As for your threats--we’ve learned to deny our bodies where the welfare of our souls is at stake."
Over the next several days the captain had the men alternately flogged and thrown in the dungeon. Finally he had them marched onto a nearby frozen lake. He stripped them of their clothes and said they would either die or renounce Christ. Then upon the night air could be heard a prayer:
"Lord, there are forty of us engaged in this battle; grant that forty may be crowned and not one be missing from this sacred number." One by one the temperature took its toll and they fell to the ice.
At last there was only one man left. He lost courage and stumbled to the shore, where he renounced Christ. The officer of the guards had been watching all this. Unknown to the others, he had secretly come to believe in Christ watching the unswerving witness of the other 39. When he saw this last man break rank, he walked out onto the ice, threw off his clothes, and confessed that he also was a Christian. When the sun rose the next morning, there were forty bodies of soldiers who had fought to the death for Christ. (Lieghton Ford, Good News is for Sharing, 1977, David C. Cook Publishing Co., p. 16)
Where does courage of that kind spring from? If you’re like me you often struggle to stand firm even in the face of criticism or persecution of the mildest sort compared to that of Stephen or the 40 of Sevaste.
But if you’re like me you also long for the courage and conviction to stand firm in your faith and testimony, and here is where our study today can provide help and inspiration. I’d like to look at this the story of the first Martyr for the cause of Christ as a model for us to encourage us in our prayers under pressure.
I’d like to consider what Stephen did as a pattern for us.
Transition: The first thing I’d like you to notice is that even facing death Stephen...
Spoke the Truth in Love
51-53 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was 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—53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
Stephen understood that this was not a receptive crowd. That he might pay dearly for his brutal honesty, yet he cared more about these who sought to harm him than he did his own life. He would not be silent to save his skin when he knew the Lord had called him to speak out.
The Bohemian reformer John Hus was a man who believed the Scriptures to be the infallible and supreme authority in all matters. In 1415 he died at the stake for that belief in Constance, Germany, on his forty-second birthday. As he refused a final plea to renounce his faith, Hus’s last words were, "What I taught with my lips, I seal with my blood."
Unfortunately in our lives of comfort and ease we not only have not yet resisted to the point of blood in many cases we have yet to open our mouths.
We care more about our pride and embarassment than we do about our neighbors. I’m not asking you to make a nuisance of yourself and forgive rudeness as boldness. The scriptures are plain that we by our lives and our witness are to make the claims of Christ attractive--a stepping stone and not a stumbling block, yet we are called to proclaim the good news. To speak the truth in love, even under pressure.
The second thing I notice about Stephen’s final minutes on earth is that even facing death he...
Saw the Lord
54-56 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."
The Lord did not abandon him in His darkest hour but rather made himself near. When we face difficulties, when we face persecution for the sake of Christ we experience His presence in supernatural ways.
Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John and an early church leader whose life ended in 155 A.D. when he refused to betray his Lord. When the governor asked him one last time to disavow his Christ, the old man replied, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I speak evil of my King who saved me?"
Here is his martyr’s prayer, as recorded by the historian Eusebius. "Father of Your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of You, I bless You that You have counted me worthy of this day and hour, that I might be in the number of the martyrs. Among these may I be received before You today in a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as You have beforehand prepared and revealed. Wherefore I also praise You also for everything; I bless You; I glorify You, through the eternal High Priest Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, through whom, with Him, in the Holy Spirit, be glory unto You both now and for the ages to come. Amen." Eusebius adds: "When he had offered up his amen and had finished his prayer, the firemen lighted the fire." (Quoted in Closer Walk, July, 1988, p. 22).
Just as Stephen and Polycarp and untold thousands of others have experienced, I believe with all of my heart that when we stand up for Him, he will stand up for us. He will reveal himself in our hearts and even in our circumstances. He holds our hand as we walk through the valley.
Thirdly I notice that Even as he faced death Stephen...
Showed them Love
59-60 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
The nearness of death didn’t cause Stephen to lash out, but rather to show the ultimate expression of love--identical to that which Jesus showed to those who nailed Him to the cross, Father, forgive them.
In 1989 George Atley was killed while serving with the Central African Mission. There were no witnesses, but the evidence indicates that Atley was confronted by a band of hostile tribesmen. He was carrying a fully loaded, 10-chamber Winchester rifle and had to choose either to shoot his attackers and run the risk of negating the work of the mission in that area, or not to defend himself and be killed. When his body was later found in a stream, it was evident that he had chosen the latter. Nearby lay his rifle -- all 10 chambers still loaded. He had made the supreme sacrifice, motivated by his burden for lost souls and his unswerving devotion to his Savior. With the apostle Paul, he wanted Christ to be magnified in his body, "whether by life or by death." (Our Daily Bread)
Sometimes it’s difficult when we deal with those lost in sin to remember that sinners aren’t supposed to act like saints. It’s difficult to remember that their bad behavior was exactly what Jesus had in mind when he went to the cross. I think this prayer is one we could use tatooed inside our eyelids so that each time we close our eyes in prayer for those around us we remember to pray, Father forgive them. Lord draw them to repentance. Lord use me to show them the way. Lord let me be a light as they see how I deal with the darkness. Which brings us to the final thing--perhaps the most exciting thing about Stephen’s last minute witness. Even in death he...
Shined the Light
57-58 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged 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.
Festo Kivengere, a leading evangelical minister in Uganda, wrote a book called I Love Idi Amin. In this book, he told of the first Christian martyrs in the Uganda’s history:
"In 1885, three Christian boys shed their blood for Christ in Uganda. The king had ordered the arrest of these page boys in an effort to stamp out Christianity. The eldest was fifteen and the youngest was eleven-year-old Yusufu. They held fast their faith and staked their lives on it, though people were weeping and their parents were pleading with them. At the place of execution they sent a message to the king: ’Tell his majesty that he has put our bodies in the fire, but we won’t be long in the fire. Soon we shall be with Jesus, which is much better. But ask him to repent and change his mind, or he will land in a place of eternal fire and desolation.’ They sang a song which is now well loved in Uganda as the ’martyr’s song.’ One verse says, ’O that I had wings like the angels. I would fly away and be with Jesus!’ Little Yusufu said, ’Please don’t cut off my arms. I will not struggle in the fire that takes me to Jesus!’ Forty adults came to Jesus the day the boys died. This was a new kind of life, which fire and torture could not control. (Quoted by John MacArthur, The Hallmarks of Discipleship, p.25).
It has often been said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You can no longer silence a martyr. The power of that testimony lives on.
You may be wondering what all this talk about martyrdom has to do with you. First of all I think it’s important that we realize that just because we as Americans have always been blessed to have the freedom to share our testimony without risking our lives, doesn’t mean that will always be the case. We haven’t earned that blessing by our own merit. We need to pause occaisionaly to reflect on those who have given their last full measure of devotion in service to the one who died to set them free. And we need to do a gut check on ourselves.
Secondly this message applies to us even if the Lord doesn’t call upon us to shed our life’s blood. Becuase the way we face trials is seen be those around us and makes an impression upon them. Your prayers under pressure, your conduct in difficult circumstances convinces them of the truth of the transforming power of Christ in a way your words never can.
There’s a story of a man who followed a preacher around at the church work day because he wanted to hear what the preacher aid when he mashed his thumb with a hammer.
Under pressure is our chance to shine for the Lord.
