I want to encourage you to be like Stephen

Reading: Acts 6:8-7:3, 7:51-8:1

Tonight I want to encourage you to live like Stephen. I hope you will never have to give your life for your faith, but I do hope you will have to give something.

• A faith that costs very little is worth very little!

On the face of it Stephen was very ordinary man, chosen to do a humble job – to serve at tables – he was a waiter

• and in the New Testament he was previously unheard of

To get a grasp of the man he was I want you to look at one key word

full

Back story:

The apostles said to the the wider group of disciples “we need a team of seven, say, to do this waiting at tables role – you go away and find some people – but not just any old people …”

Acts 6:3-4 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility (of serving at tables) over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

1 full of wisdom 6:3

Wisdom is

• more that being clever
• more than having the facts – just knowing the facts doesn’t make we wise
• more than experience – “oh I’ve done it before”

Wisdom

it’s being able to identify the spiritual and moral implications

it’s being able to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, helpful from destructive

its’ being able to accurately discern motives that may not always be obvious from the surface.

• to be able to tease out when someone is appearing to be generous when actually they’re being selfish (like Ananias and Sapphiria in ch 5)
• to be able to tease out when someone is appearing to be very spiritual (lots of God-talk and ‘I’m filled with the Spirit’ language) when actually they’re divisive in the church.

To serve at table we need people with spiritual smarts as well as management drive!

Prov 4:5-7

5 Get wisdom! get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.

6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.

7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding!

2 full of faith 6:5

• 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.

faith is an objective quality – must have an object – faith in…

Stephen’s faith in Christ

3 full of Holy Spirit 6:5

No mention of a specific charismatic experience (there may have been one)

• his character was holy, pure, something inexplicably Christ-like in the way he was.
• his attitudes were Christ-like
• his ambitions were Christ-like

the very fabric of his being was holy

• ‘Holy’ means set apart for God’s exclusive use!

In the English Bible we have ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ – “the” is absent from the original text

• it’s just ‘full of Holy Spirit’ – and that conveys a different nuance.

e.g. child growing up – you see something of his father in him and you might say “oh he’s got the spirit of his father”

• Stephen had the spirit of Jesus Christ – and that spirit was evident in all he did

4 full of grace 6:8

Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

To be full of grace winsomeness about him

• approachable – not aloof
• and when you approached you found a warm person
• who accepted you are you are.

(Gk => charis – charisma – gifted)

5 full of power 6:8

(Gk => dunamis – dynamic / dynamite)

did great wonders and miraculous signs

just like Jesus!

But he was an ordinary man who walked closely with God

Up to this point miracles have only been reported as having happened through the ministry of the apostles who were alongside Jesus

Here is the first time someone else is demonstrating God’s power

This begs the question

Like Stephen …

So how can I be like Stephen?

• by recognising my emptiness of the Holy Spirit
• by calling on God to fill me Luke 11:13
• by taking steps of faith

e.g. child – small steps first

• by asking a colleague, neighbour for an evening out at a stepstone event
• by ordering my life so that there are no hindrances to the Holy Spirit’s work in me

Then leave the results with the Lord!

Like Jesus …

I’m going to scamper through the story and I only want you to see one thing – how much Stephen was like Jesus

He performed miraculous signs – like Jesus

He was full of the Spirit – like Jesus

He was opposed by the Jews (6:9) – Like Jesus

Acts 6:9-10 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. These men began to argue with Stephen,

He spoke with authority – like Jesus

6:10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

He was convicted on the strength of false witnesses

Acts 6:11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

He was judged by a kangaroo court – Just like Jesus

Acts 6:12 So [these Jews] stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

He was falsely accused of blasphemy – just like Jesus

Acts 6:13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

When he was being killed he handed himself over to God’s care – like Jesus

Luke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Stephen

Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

As he died he forgave his murderers – like Jesus

Jesus said “Father forgive them for they don’t realise what the’re doing!”

Acts 7:60 Then he fell on his knees [probably because of the brutality of the battering] and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Ultimate sacrifice

The death he died 7:55-8:3

Sociologists say that all societies have their taboos

• Our Victorian forefathers talked about death and suppressed sex
• We talk about sex and suppress death

Why? we live in a materialistic age

• it says “the only things that are real, are the things I can see, touch, taste, smell and hear.
• => death is the one thing that the materialistic life-style can do nothing about
• post-modernism can’t cope with death because post-modernism is all about ‘my personal story’, and death brings that story to an abrupt end

Without recognising spiritual reality we have no answer to death whatever

So we tend to ignore it

• Woody Allen “I don’t mind the thought of dying – I just don’t want to be around when it happens!”

What does Stephen’s death tell us about dying?

Stephen’s death highlights some important principles

1 When a Christian dies it is at God’s appointed time

On the face of it this was a tragedy

• Stephen – a young active man
• a spiritually sensitive man
• a leader – a wise man

Cut down

But No incident or accident can take God by surprise

• there is not often an answer to the question “Why?”
• and even if we knew the answer – it wouldn’t help us much!

Psalm 31 “my times are in His hands”

Psalm 139 “you knew me before I was born – you scheduled each day of my life”

John 14: Jesus talking to disciples just before his own death

“I go to prepare a place for you – and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself so the where I am – there you may be also.”

One particularly tragic incident that sticks in my mind happened in 1978 –

• 12 OMF missionaries were killed in a car accident – 3 were pregnant mums

This rocked the mission – and the UK Christian world as a whole

• Cable from General Secretary “don’t allow the questions you can’t understand limit the joyous certainties you already know”

When a Christian dies, it is at God’s appointed time.

2 When a Christian dies, he is given God’s grace to die

Many Christians feel they can’t face death,

• but the Bible tells us that at the time of our death, the Lord gives special grace to see you through – as He does for any crisis in life.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Stephen was “full of grace and power” – it was God’s grace that enabled him to die as he did.

D. L. Moody was an American evangelist – just before he passed into the presence of the Lord, his loved ones heard him say

“Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet – there is no dark valley here. God is calling me and I must go. This is my triumph, my coronation day!”

Dr. M L Jones. a year before he died was visiting Rev Vernon Higham – long time friend in Cardiff. At Lloyd-Jones’s funeral. Vernon Higham told of this event.

“The doctor asked me to pray for him – and I wanted to pray that he might be healed. But he said “Pray that I might have an abundant entrance into glory. I am a sinner saved by grace – that is all”

No wonder Ps 116:15 says “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints”

What a prospect awaits you.

3 When a Christian dies he goes home to the Lord

v59 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”

The more Stephen had walked with the Lord, the more he realised that this world was a fallen, passing and alien place

• he didn’t belong here!

Old Chorus “this world is not my home I’m just a-passing through”

No wonder Paul could say of death “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

• for me to live is Christ – and when that is our experience – “to die is gain!”

4 When a Christian dies his friends mourn for him

8:2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

Grief is a very natural thing and a very necessary thing.

shortest verse in the Bible “Jesus wept” – and they were tears over the loss of a friend he loved.

He does care, does feel, does understand what we go through when we grieve the loss of someone we love – because He has been down that road too!

“they buried him”

Incidentally – I’m sometimes asked about cremation and burial – which is right for the Christian?

• after all, some say cremation is of pagan origin (so are the days of the week!)
• some say that the fire is reminiscent of the fire of hell, so shouldn’t Christian avoid it at all costs.

Let me answer this very carefully

• the way a body is disposed of depends to some extent on the customs in the land and the tradition of the family.
• whether a body is buried, burned or lost at sea – (or conceivably in space) – it will make no difference when the Lord comes at the resurrection

Philippians 3

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

21 who … will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Many of the bodies we die in are racked with pain and disease – we will not want them back – and the promise of the Bible is that God will give us a new one.

“Comfort one another with these words”

5 When a Christian dies, the work of the Lord goes on

8:1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

After Moses – Joshua

After Elijah – Elisha

“the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”

work grew – church expanded – God’s wonderful work of transforming lives – bringing new life and power went on

With God there are mysteries – but no mistakes

 

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