Stephen A Man Full of the Spirit and Courage

A four year old was at the pediatrician for a check up. As the doctor looked down her ears with an stethoscope, he asked,

"Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?"

 The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat.

He asked, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?"

Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest.

As he listened to her heart beat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?" "Oh, no!" the little girl replied. "Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants."

Last week we talked about deacons in the Church – and we learned that they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

 That is another way to stay they are filled with Christ.  Just like the little girl that had Jesus in their heart.

 Today we will meet a particular deacon that was the first Christian martyr.

His name was Stephen.  Stephen to me was a man of great courage.

Growing up and hearing this story, I was always struck by his great courage in the face of persecution.

Stephen is a breath of fresh air in our time because it seems our society is gripped with fear.

Ann Landers in the USA reported that she received more than 10,000 letters a week.

  She said that she received more mail concerning fear than any other matter.

  More than finances: children: stress: or marriage the thing that she receives the most mail about is fear.

Howard Hughes was so afraid of germs that he used 4 boxes of Kleenex each day wiping off everything he touched.

 Evil Knievel was not afraid to try and jump the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle but he was terrified of flying.

President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn't dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on.

 This morning we are going to look at a young man that was not afraid but had great courage.

 To the fleshly world he would be a young minister of the word cut down in his prime but to people of faith he is a hero and a martyr for Christ.

 Chapters 6 and 7 of the Book of Acts tell the story of Stephen. Stephen has the distinction of being the first Christian martyr—

 the first follower of Jesus to be killed for his faith.

This is a story of a good death. Not because Stephen was a martyr—the cause of death isn’t the issue.

 This is the story of a good death. Not because Stephen was a martyr, but because Stephen was prepared.

About Stephen’s life we don’t know a lot of detail.

 We know that he was a Helenistic Jew—

 that is, he spoke Greek better than he spoke Aramaic; he was comfortable in the predominant culture of the Romans and Greeks; and he was nevertheless Jewish

 We know that he was one of the seven men chosen to assist the twelve with leadership responsibilities,

specifically the daily distribution of food to the widows in the growing Christian community in Jerusalem.

We know he had a powerful ministry in Jerusalem, and that he did “great signs and miraculous wonders among the people.”
We don’t know exactly when Stephen became a Christian.

Since Jesus’ ministry was mostly in the countryside of Judea among Aramaic-speaking Jews,

Stephen probably came to faith in the risen Jesus sometime after Pentecost.

 He might have been one of the 3000 who were baptized on the day of Pentecost.

In any case, Stephen wasn’t a follower of Jesus for very long, at least not on this earth.

In Acts 6:5, Stephen is described as “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”

  In verse 8, this is emphasized again:

 “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power…” Every indication is that Stephen’s life, as a follower of Jesus, though not long, was very full.

Every indication is that Stephen’s death, as a follower of Jesus, was a good one.

The story has been repeated thousands of times.

 At the head of the list stands Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Our word “martyr” is a transliteration of the Greek word for “witness.”

 By their lives and by their deaths, the martyrs have borne witness for “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness” (Rev. 1:5).

Stephen’s death is the only death scene and martyrdom described in detail in the New Testament, except for that of Jesus Christ. From it we learn that …

 Whatever we suffer due to faithfulness to Jesus, we will be rewarded with His eternal acceptance and the encouragement that He will use our service for His purpose and glory.

 I want to draw four lessons from Stephen’s death:

 1.    Because wicked men are enemies of God, those who speak out boldly for God and against evil will suffer.

As Paul later put it, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim.3:12).

 Satan does not sit idly by when his realm is challenged.

  And, in His mysterious, sovereign providence, God does not miraculously protect all of His

servants who dare to confront the prince of darkness.

 He allows this choice young man to be cut down in the prime of his ministry.

 The godly manner in which Stephen died is contrasted here with the grisly wickedness of these supposedly respectable Jewish leaders.

 He was calm, clear-headed, articulate, and kind, even as the rocks were crushing his body.

But these normally dignified members of the high council were out of control with rage.

 They gnashed their teeth, they screamed at the top of their voices, they covered their ears so as not to hear what they considered Stephen’s blasphemy.

 They rushed upon him, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death.

 The Greek word for “rushed” is used of the herd of demon-possessed swine rushing off the cliff into the sea after Jesus cleansed the Gerasene demoniac.

 Scholars debate whether the death sentence on Stephen was a judicial decision or mob violence.

 While there was a semblance of judicial proceedings at first,

  the end result seems to be that of men controlled by rage

and hatred.

Luke notes that the witnesses who began stoning Stephen laid

their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul (7:58).

 He adds that “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death” (8:1).

 as a result, that very day a great persecution arose against the

church in Jerusalem.

 saul began ravaging the church like a wild boar ravages a vineyard (Ps. 80:13), obviously with the approval of the Sanhedrin.  

He entered house after house, dragging off to prison both men and women who believed in Jesus.

 Many of them were put to death (26:10).

  Saul later described his own behavior as being “furiously enraged at them” (26:11).

When a sinner comes under conviction through hearing the

gospel or through the example of a believer’s godly life,

  he may be broken with repentance and come to faith in Jesus Christ.

But, he also can harden his heart and go deeper in rage, as Saul did.

 Some maintain this fierce opposition to the gospel all the way to their deathbeds.

Others, like Saul, eventually repent and become new creatures in Christ.

 but often those around them have to endure increased hostility and rage before they see the person broken by God’s mercy.

 Because we live in a time and place where we have relative

freedom from violent persecution,

 we tend to forget that being a follower of Jesus Christ makes us enemies of the evil prince of this world and his followers.

 Of course, brute force is not his only weapon.

He uses deceit and cunning to lull us into adopting worldly values.

 A worldly Christian is no threat to his domain of darkness.

 He gets us to live for the selfish pursuit of comfort, with

a little church attendance thrown in to round out the good life.

  It doesn’t hurt his cause when the preacher gives sermons that make everyone feel good about themselves,

  teaching them how to use God for personal well-being and overall family happiness.

 ut the moment a believer moves out of this comfortable

Christianity and begins aggressively to go after souls for Christ,

 Or to give radically to the cause of Christ, or to speak out boldly for God against sin,

 he also moves into the line of enemy fire.

 Often he catches “friendly fire” from fellow Christians who are threatened by his radical ways.

 But we should be prepared and not be taken by surprise when we commit ourselves to be 100 percent for the Lord and then suffer for it.

 It goes with the territory.

 Maybe you’re wondering, “Why risk it? Why leave a comfortable,

safe way of life to become a target for Satan’s attacks?

 2.    Those who suffer for Christ can be assured of His faithful presence and support in their suffering and His acceptance in heaven after death.

Far better to die with Stephen under a hail of rocks crushing our skulls and be welcomed into heaven by the risen Lord Jesus, than to die peacefully in the midst of worldly comforts, surrounded

by family, but then to hear,

 “Depart from Me, I never knew you!”

 Note how the Lord supported Stephen in this grand finale of his short life.

 first, all three members of the Trinity are mentioned in 7:55.

 Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.

 He gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God the Father, which must have looked like the brightness of the sun.

 To His right hand, there stood the risen and ascended Jesus. Stephen was so awed by this vision that he could not keep it to himself.

 He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (7:56).

  This is the only time that this title is used other than by Jesus. Except for two times in Revelation (1:13; 14:14), which use the phrase “one like a son of man,” it is the last time it is used in the New Testament.

 There were several reasons that this statement was significant.

 First, it immediately brought to the minds of every member of the

Sanhedrin Jesus’ words when He had been on trial before them.

The same high priest, Caiaphas, had asked Jesus, “Are you the

Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus replied, “I am; and you

shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and

coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61-62).

 By these words, Jesus claimed to combine in His person the prophetic words of Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 110:1.

 The Daniel passage spoke of one like a Son of Man who received from the Ancient of Days

 “dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him.”

 In Psalm 110, David hears the Lord saying to his Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Here Stephen affirms that Jesus is exactly where He predicted He would be, at the right hand of God, the risen Lord of power and glory!

It  hould have hit these men with full force that Jesus was exactly

who He had claimed to be!

F. F. Bruce (The Book of Acts [Eerdmans]) points out that Stephen’s understanding of the exalted role of Jesus was even more advanced than that of the apostles, who were still continuing to go to temple worship, join in the Jewish rituals, and limit their preaching to the Jews.

He points out that the Daniel passage means that “Messiah’s sovereignty is to embrace all nations without distinction,”

thus effectively doing away with the Jewish temple worship

(pp. 166-167).

He writes, “And the presence of Messiah at God’s right hand meant that for His people there was now a way of access to God more immediate and heart-satisfying than the obsolete temple ritual had ever been able to provide.” (p. 166).

Normally, the Scriptures speak of Jesus now sitting at the right

hand of God, having accomplished the work of our redemption

(Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Eph. 1:20).

But here, twice it says that  Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Most commentators agree that Jesus was standing to welcome home His faithful witness.

Jesus always stands with those who stand for Him.

He gave this courageous man on the verge of death a vision of the

glory of heaven to support him in the terrible moments to follow.

It reminds me of the story of the three bold Hebrew witnesses

who refused to bow down before the image of Nebuchadnezzar.

In his fury, the mad king had them bound and thrown into the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal.

But to his shock, when he and his men looked into the flames, they saw not three men bound, but four men unbound and walking around without harm.

And the appearance of the fourth was “like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:25).

I believe that the preincarnate Jesus had joined these brave witnesses in their moment of trial, to support and encourage

them for their faithfulness to Him.

 He spared them from death, but not Stephen.

But He welcomed Stephen home with open arms, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

 Whenever the Lord calls on you to suffer for His name, He will be with you to support you.

Whether you die then or later, He will welcome you into His presence in heaven for eternity.

3. When we suffer according to the will of God, we can entrust

our souls to the faithful Creator and show His love to

those who persecute us.

I am using the words of 1 Peter 4:19, written to a suffering

church: “Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will

of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is

right.”

Stephen did this. As the rocks hit him, he prayed, “Lord

Jesus, receive my spirit!”

 And, with his dying breath, imitating His Savior’s words from the cross, Stephen did what was right toward his enemies by praying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

Charles Spurgeon pointed out that Stephen’s death was full

of Jesus: Jesus seen; Jesus invoked; Jesus trusted; and Jesus imitated.

I borrow his outline here.

A. Jesus seen.

Stephen looked into heaven and the Lord gave him a literal vision

of the splendor of God’s glory and of Jesus standing at the

right hand of His throne.

If the members of the Sanhedrin had looked up, I think that they would have seen the ceiling of the council chamber.

God is not in the business of revealing His heavenly glory to hard-hearted skeptics.

 In fact, not every saint gets such a literal vision of the Lord. Some dying saints seem to have such a glimpse into glory just before their departure, but many others die without it.

B. Jesus invoked.

As Stephen died, he called upon the Lord Jesus in prayer.

Clearly, he believed in the full deity of Jesus Christ, or he would

not have prayed to Him.

It would have been mere superstition or a worthless fancy to call out for help to a great teacher who had died and was still in the grave.

Spurgeon wrote, Dying Christians are not troubled with questions as to the deity of Christ.

At such a time we need an almighty and divine Savior; we want “God over all, blessed forever” to come to our rescue in the solemn article.

So Stephen called upon Jesus, and worshipped him.

 He makes no mention of any other intercessor.

He did not cry out to the virgin Mary or to the Michael the archangel – Stephen cried out the Lord Himself.

C. Jesus trusted.

Clearly, Stephen trusted Jesus to receive his spirit as it was

separated from his body at the moment of death.

Although he suffered a terrible, violent, painful death, he died with a supernatural peace.

He “fell asleep” (7:60) in the arms of His Savior.

Sleep refers to the body, which rests in the grave until the resurrection at  the coming of Christ.

A believer’s soul goes immediately into the presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).

D. Jesus imitated.

On the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do

not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

In imitation of His Lord, Stephen’s dying words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

That prayer was answered in the conversion of Saul.

It was the prayer of a man free from bitterness toward those who

were wrongfully killing him.

Stephen could pray it because he had practiced a life of forgiving others ever since he had experienced the Lord’s gracious forgiveness of his own sins.

4. Jesus Christ always uses the suffering of His saints for

His greater purpose and glory.

No one suffers for Christ in vain.

Stephen laid down his life, but as Tertullian observed, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

The persecution that arose against the church scattered the seed of the gospel.

Watching Stephen die had a profound and unforgettable effect on Saul.

He continued kicking against the goads for a while, but finally the Lord powerfully saved him.

 Stephen’s sermon and his courageous, calm death softened the soil of  Saul’s heart, preparing him for that later conversion. He later wrote, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

Whenever we suffer, whether from persecution or from other

trials, we need to keep two things in mind.

Number one, “I am not indispensable in God’s work.”

 If He takes me out now, as He did with Stephen, He can easily raise up many others to continue the work.

This will keep us in the proper state of humility.

It is Christ who builds His church; I am just a small part of the process.

 Second, “The Lord is mindful of my service for Him, and He will duly reward even a cup of cold water given in His name.”

There are no useless parts in the body of Christ. Whatever you or I do for His name’s sake counts in eternity.

 Keeping this in mind helps us not to become discouraged and lose heart in the battle.

Conclusion

In his gripping book, Lords of the Earth Don

Richardson tells the story of Stan Dale, who obeyed God’s call to

take the gospel to the fierce Yali tribe of Irian Jaya.

They shot him with five arrows, which he plucked out one by one, while shouting at his tormentors, “Run away home all of you! You’ve done enough!” (p. 276).

 Although arrows had penetrated his diaphragm and intestines, he managed to hike to safety and survive.

At this point, my attitude would have been, “They’ve had their

chance. I’m not going back!”

 But Dale went back. This time, the warriors decided to make sure that he died.

A tribal priest moved in and fired an arrow at point blank range, hitting him under his raised right arm as he pled with them to go home.

Another priest shot a bamboo-bladed shaft into his back.

As the arrows entered his flesh, Stan pulled them out, one by one, broke them and threw them down.

Dozens of arrows were now flying at him from all directions.

He kept pulling them out, breaking them, and dropping them at his feet, until he could not keep up.

Fifty arrows, then sixty, but still Stan stood his ground.

The startled warriors began to worry that he might be immortal.

“Fall!” they screamed at Stan.

“Die!” Finally, Stan fell, and the warriors repeated a similar attack

on his comrade, Phil Masters (pp. 302-305).

To make sure that the two white men did not resurrect, the

warriors beheaded them and then chopped their bodies in pieces.

Normally, the Yali would immediately eat the bodies of their victims, to increase their life force.

But in this case, they waited to make sure that the dismembered bodies would not resurrect.

An older tribal member convinced them not to eat them, but to cremate the remains.

It would seem that the two men died in vain.

No one dared go back into this dangerous valley. But a missionary pilot got confused in bad weather and flew into the same mountainous valley where the two men had been murdered.

 The plane crashed, killing everyone on board except a missionary’s nine-year-old son.

 God used this strange twist of providence to get the gospel to these fierce warriors.

To find out how, you’ll have to read the book!

John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, spent twelve

years in jail because of his faithful preaching God’s truth.

He wrote that at the day of judgment, “a smile or a kind look from

Christ shall be worth more than ten thousand worlds”

Keep that great day in view every day that you live.

If you are called on to suffer for Jesus, you will be blessed, “because the Spirit of glory and of God” will rest upon you (1 Pet. 4:14).