A GOOD DEATH,
A BLESSED CONFLICT
Acts 7.54-8.8
S: Proclamation
C: Purpose of the Community
Th: A People with Purpose
KW: Comparisons
TS: The story of Stephen’s death demonstrates three comparisons between good and evil.
Pr: WE HAVE GOOD NEWS TO TELL.
Type: Narrative
I. REVELATION (54-56)
II. RESPONSES (57-60)
III. REPORTS (1-8)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• We have good news to tell.
• We should demonstrate courage.
• Randall issue: We keep moving out by keeping our core healthy (financially invest here, speak good news here)
Version: ESV
RMBC 26 March 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Heaven
An 85-year-old couple, having been married almost 60 years, had died in a car crash. They had been in good health the last ten years mainly due to the wife’s interest in health food and exercise. When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion, which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi. As they "oohed and aahed," the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost.
"It’s free. This is Heaven."
Next they surveyed the championship golf course behind the home. They would have golfing privileges every day, and every week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth. The old man asked, "What are the green fees?"
Peter’s reply, "This is Heaven, you play for free."
Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch with cuisines of the world. "How much is it to eat?" asked the old man.
"Don’t you understand yet? This is Heaven, it’s free!," Peter replied with some exasperation.
"Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol tables?" the old man asked timidly.
Peter explained, "That’s the best part – you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven!"
With that the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, and shrieking wildly. Peter and the man’s wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong.
The old man looked at his wife and said, "This is all your fault! If it weren’t for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!"
Well, we don’t get many descriptions about heaven, but we do know this…
1. Heaven is going to be great!
Without a doubt, it is a place of unending joy.
It is worth going to.
And, it is worth bringing our friends to.
When we come to our text today, we find Stephen is facing the very real prospect of experiencing heaven.
TRANSITION:
You see, as we have been following the story the past two weeks, we see that…
2. Stephen has courageously stood before his accusers and given them a history lesson.
Now in case you think history is boring, let me assure you that Stephen’s accusers did not.
The Jewish people loved to review their history.
They loved to review God’s blessings on them as a nation.
They enjoyed being God’s chosen people.
But when Stephen gives this history lesson, they are not so happy with what he is teaching.
Stephen has given them the facts, but they were facts that they were not interested in hearing.
You see, there had been a recurring theme in their history.
Whatever God sends, they resist it.
Whoever God sends, they reject them.
It happens over and over again.
This was not a conclusion they were interested in hearing, because Stephen was applying it to them.
He said that they had done the same thing with Jesus.
You will notice that…
3. In stating the truth, he has refused to make nice.
"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
Now what is clear here is that Stephen did not take Dale Carnegie’s course on how to win friends and influence people.
He doesn’t butter them up.
He had given up on persuasion.
He just bluntly states the truth.
He holds nothing back, because…
4. The accusers were repeat offenders.
They had not learned their history lessons.
They were doing the same thing their fathers had done.
They were no better.
In fact, they were worse.
When God had sent them their deliverance…
In fact, when God had sent Himself to them…
They rejected Him and killed Him.
That brings us to today’s text, and it is a sad text, because these leaders are going to give the same end to Stephen as they did to Jesus.
So, as we study the text, we will discover that…
5. The story of Stephen’s death demonstrates three comparisons between good and evil.
If there is such a thing as a good death, this is it.
If there is such a thing as a blessed conflict, this is it.
For what is meant as an evil has a good and blessed effect.
The enemies of God are fighting a losing battle.
OUR STUDY:
Our first comparison is…
REVELATION (54-56)
Let’s note what is revealed…
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 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. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
When it comes to the truth, there is no middle ground.
For it is the nature of truth to divide.
These Jewish leaders have been debated successfully and successfully embarrassed.
They have no argument to make.
They have lost.
But when Stephen calls them worse than the Gentiles, they are furious.
The text tells us they are cut to the quick.
Literally, it means that they are sawed in half.
In other words, they have been painfully exposed.
This being so, the veneer of their false spirituality comes apart.
And…
6. Hell reacts.
Perhaps that sounds like an overstatement, but I do not believe so.
For notice their reaction – their bodily reaction…
It is the gnashing of teeth.
Their teeth are clenched and grinding.
It is rage and frustration, the very activity of hell.
For hell is a place of endless anger and frustration.
Understand this…
There are no friends in hell, only enemies.
But notice the contrast…
For in the midst of the angry gestures, arms waving and fists in the air, the shouting and crying out…
Notice Stephen.
Full of the Spirit, Stephen’s attention is drawn elsewhere.
Because…
7. Heaven opens.
Heaven opens before Stephen and he gets more than a glimpse of heaven.
[look up and out]
He sees the glory.
He sees Jesus glorified.
And in the midst of all the fury, he calls on them to look and see what he sees.
Look, the One you murdered – He is there.
He is risen.
He ascended.
He is exalted, at the place of power, the right hand of God.
Which brings us to the next comparison, the…
RESPONSES (57-60)
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 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. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 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.
Hell is on the move, and…
8. The attack is on.
The trial falls apart.
Justice, which has never really been an issue in these proceedings, is cast aside.
For this has turned into a lynching.
And though the Sanhedrin has no right of execution under Roman law, it does not matter.
At Jesus’ execution, they had followed the Roman law, even though they had trumped up the charges.
But they don’t care here.
In a phrase, they lost it.
They are out of control.
They have become a howling mob.
In a mad rush, they continue the sorry tradition of their fathers to kill another prophet.
There does occur a small semblance of protocol.
The text tells us that they laid their coats at the feet of Saul.
This was a literal laying aside of their garments in order to throw the rocks at Stephen.
But it also showed that Saul was deeply involved in this whole process and becomes the official overseer of the incident.
It may even be that he was the one that stirred up the mob into a frenzy.
But evil does not have the last word, because in Stephen…
9. Jesus is seen.
As rocks are flying and beating him down…
As his body is being bruised…
As blood trickles from his flesh…
Stephen shows Jesus.
Stephen lives Jesus.
He even repeats Jesus.
And just as Jesus committed His Spirit to the Father, Stephen calls on Jesus to receive his spirit.
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
You see, Stephen has a definite expectation.
He expects heaven.
He expects to enter into the Lord’s presence.
And then he makes one more final vocal appeal.
It may surprise you, for it was not for his own vindication.
Not, it was for mercy for his executioners.
Just as Jesus had extended forgiveness to those that sent Him to the cross, Stephen does the same.
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Then we have an interesting description of Stephen’s death.
It is not a death of despair.
No, it is a good death.
It is mere sleep, for Stephen still lives.
And as Stephen crossed the threshold of life into death, he found more life.
It was a gracious invitation.
It was Jesus saying, “Come on in!”
“Welcome home!”
How strange it must have seemed that moment when the last rock landed.
The furious turmoil of hell has ended in the curious peace of heaven.
For even in death, the tranquil faith of Stephen stands in contrast to their brutal and lethal anger.
By his own testimony, it is a contrast that haunted Saul.
Which brings us to the third comparison which is the…
REPORTS (1-8)
As we enter into chapter 8, we find reports or messages that find their source in hell.
They are evil messages.
They are messages of anger.
And they come from Saul who reports to all that there is heresy about.
And Saul approved of his execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.
It is interesting to note that Stephen is buried with great and loud mourning.
This would be against the Jewish law, for one that was executed, there was to be no public mourning.
But the fellow disciples ignored this tradition.
They were no longer beholden to the traditions of man, especially when applied so unjustly.
Nevertheless, hell wants to have its day, and…
10. The persecution begins.
For Saul, no compromise was possible.
Stephen was not going to be the last to die for the heresy of Jesus as far as he was concerned.
The old order must be preserved, and this new faith must be eliminated.
They were either misguided enthusiasts or deliberate imposters.
Either way, these followers of Jesus must be removed from influence.
For after all, in Saul’s thinking the death of Jesus itself showed that a divine curse was on this movement.
The text gives us the idea that Saul is very active in his chasing and persecuting of Christians.
It was persistent and violent.
It was unrelenting and aggressive.
Christians were getting hurt, men and women alike.
The text literally says that he was making havoc.
It is the same verb that was used of a wild animal tearing up and savaging a body.
But it is fascinating to note that once again Satan has overreached.
He had stamped on the embers in Jerusalem, and spread them all up and down Palestine.
For thought you might kill the messenger, you can’t kill the message.
So, the message moves out of Jerusalem, and the mission found in Acts 1.8 finds its fulfillment – Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the world.
For the…
11. Proclamation is successful.
The Christians may have been on the run, but the one thing that they did not do was shut up.
No sir…
The Christians kept going.
They were not cowering in fear.
Instead, they kept telling the truth by proclaiming publicly the truth about Jesus.
Here the text turns our attention to the person of Philip.
He was one of the men, along with Stephen, that was chosen to serve the widows in chapter 6.
And we notice that he also has some of the character of Stephen, for he too is bold.
In fact, his boldness takes him where Jewish Christians would be reluctant to go.
Philip goes to Samaria.
You might remember that the Samaritans were considered to be racial and religious half-breeds by the Jews, and this prejudice would have easily carried over to the early believers.
But Philip is following the example of Jesus.
He will dare to go.
He has a message of deliverance, for the Samaritans did place a hope in the Messiah.
They believed in a Moses-like prophet who would come and restore them.
So did Philip.
Philip believed that He had come.
He believed that Christ is for all the world.
And as he ministered, God gave him power to do the miraculous, just as Jesus and the apostles had done.
They were signs confirming the message.
What was the result?
Joy!
When the good news is understood and received, it has one unmistakable result – joy!
APPLICATION:
ILL Evangelism: Huddle
In a sermon called The Power of God’s People by Tony Evans, he illustrates the importance of both being gathered and scattered…
“In football they have a huddle, the goal of the huddle is to give you thirty seconds to call the play, that is why they give you a huddle. At a professional football game there may be 60,000 watching you huddle. They don’t mind you taking thirty seconds to call the play. They understand that you have to get organized, you have to know where you are going to go. The receivers need to know where they are going to go. The quarterback needs to know where he is going to go. The backs need to know where they are going to go. A huddle is a necessary part of playing the game.
But let me inform you if you do not already know, 60,000 do not pay all that money for a ticket to watch you huddle. See, people don’t come to football games to watch the huddle. They want to see if their team can overcome the opposition who is daring them to snap the ball and move down the field to score. What they want to know is does your practice work?
Now what Christians often do is get high on their huddles. We gather together on Sunday morning and Sunday nights and Wednesday nights and we go nuts over the huddle! We say, “Boy did we have a huddle!! My quarterback can call plays better than your quarterback. And boy do we go off on the huddle. But what people don’t seem to understand is, that the huddle is so that we can play the game. The effectiveness of your church cannot be measured by how well you do on Sunday morning. … The test of the church is what it does in the marketplace. What we need today is churches that are representative of Jesus Christ not only when gathered but when disseminated.”
(Dr. Tony Evans. “The Power of God’s People.”
(Sermon, 1987 – Church Growth Conference,
Prestonwood Baptist Church, Dallas, TX)
Hey folks…
12. WE HAVE GOOD NEWS TO TELL.
We have been called to be the salt of the earth, to make a difference wherever we go.
But sometimes, it seems to me, we are like salt that is stuck in the saltshaker because of the humidity.
We are being asked to come out.
We are being shaken and shaken, but we don’t come out.
ILL Evangelism: Sign of the Time
There was a man who prayed this prayer every morning: "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is."
One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get very nervous about the man next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep.
He then cried out with a loud voice, "I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?" He turned to the Christian and pleaded, "Can you show me how to be saved?"
The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, is this a sign?"
13. Let’s not lose our courage.
We need to realize that our lives of comfort, ease, affluence, prosperity, safety, and freedom cause tremendous inertia.
We, in effect, stop moving because we are content.
We are satisfied.
And apparently we are afraid.
Because we are not telling anybody!
Let us not doubt of the power of the good news.
For fearsome enemies can become precious friends.
Adversaries can become advocates.
Critics can become comrades.
Let us have courage like that Afghan believer that returned to his homeland unafraid to declare his faith, even under the penalty of death.
And let us remember that…
14. Our responsibilities begin here.
At Randall, nobody sits the bench.
At Randall, no one is called to the sidelines.
God has called on every one of us to be actively sharing our faith, whatever our situation, wherever we are.
He is calling us to serve in every walk of life, whether at a hospital, in an office, on a golf course, in a store, in our neighborhood, at the university.
God wants the Christians scattering, moving out with the good news.
So, will you stand for Jesus as Stephen did?
ILL
Stand by Denver and the Mile High Orchestra
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating — to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Amen.
from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
© 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Coget, A. Todd Stephen’s Sermon
Hoke, J. David Pass the Salt, Please
Mathew, P. G. The First Christian Martyr
Piper, John The Death of a Spirit-Filled Man
____, Spreading Spiritual Power through Persecution
Stedman, Ray C. What More Can He Say?
Books:
Barclay, William. The Acts of the Apostles. Revised ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977.
Bruce, F. F. Commentary on the Book of the Acts The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975.
MacArthur, John, Jr. Acts 1-12 The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
Stott, John R. W. The Spirit, the Church, and the World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
