Stephen (3) - The Martyr

Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

This evening we're looking at the last part of chapter 7 and into chapter 8.

As we consider Stephen, as we've been looking at him this evening, thinking of Stephen the martyr.

Verse 54, we read these words.

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 open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

And so on.

Well, as you look through the book of Acts up to this point, you see the early church being the witness to the Lord Jesus.

And how initially everything seems to be going so well.

You see an amazing growth in the early church.

But how does that growth come about?

Well, as you read through the chapters, you find that you see faithful people gathered together and praying to God.

You see people preaching the word of God, such as Peter on the day of Pentecost and thousands turning to the Lord.

You think this is wonderful.

This is great.

What a blessing to see everything going so well and the church growing in this way.

But as you continue to read through the book of Acts, and especially as you come to this passage,

we've been looking at where we see Steve and you see another way the church grows.

And it's a surprising way.

And it's maybe not the way we would want the church to grow.

But it's often the case that it is through persecution that the church will grow.

And you read about that.

Even Jesus himself mentioned that in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, where he says in verse 10 of Matthew 5,

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And that's a message that Stephen has already reminded them of here.

In verse 52, as we read, which of the prophets did not your fathers persecuted?

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one.

And you see so many similarities between Stephen and the Lord Jesus.

And it's a reminder to us, Stephen, that this is what every Christian should desire to be like.

To be more Christ-like.

And so we come to the conclusion here of looking at Stephen's life by looking at Stephen the martyr.

What we've seen of him so far is how he was chosen as one to serve tables.

It doesn't sound very glamorous, and yet in it all, he was serving the Lord.

He was a faithful man.

He was full of the Spirit.

And here, as we've seen in chapter 7, then we looked at the message that he brought to the people.

He presented to the people what they had done before God, how they had turned away from him, and their need to repent.

We see now the reaction of the people when they heard these things.

They were enraged.

But what we see now is that even in his martyrdom, it is the Lord who is glorified.

And indeed, as we see, the word is spread.

The word martyr itself comes from the word witness.

It is to witness.

And that is what Stephen is doing here, is bearing witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus, who himself is described in Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, as Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.

Revelation 1:5

That word witness is where martyr comes from.

And so here is Stephen the martyr, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.

The one who freed us from our sin by his death and by his resurrection.

And from the early church onwards, you see Christian martyrs such as Stephen, martyred for their faith and their witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, down through all the generations.

In our own day, it's still the case that Christians are martyred around the world.

As we thought of organizations such as Release International, Open Doors, Steadfast Global.

Why is there a need for them?

Because of the persecution the church is suffering.

Places such as the Middle East, India, Nepal, many parts of Africa, North Korea.

Christians are challenged on a daily basis to renounce their faith, to convert to other religions, to pay religious taxes.

And ultimately many to face execution.

But they remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because they know that there are greater blessings with him.

It's not just about the here and now, as we sang in Psalm 23, the Lord with us through the peaceful times.

The Lord with us through that valley of the shadow of death.

But our journey doesn't come to an end there.

You see that in God's house, forevermore, there's a dwelling place for God's people.

And that's what the life of Stephen encourages us by and reminds us of as well.

So what can we take from Stephen this evening and his martyr, him being a martyr?

Well, there's three things I want us to think about as we look at this.

The wickedness of man, first of all.

Then the grace of God in the midst of it all.

And then the greater good that God can bring out of these things as well.

So the first thing we see is the wickedness of man.

Here is Stephen in the midst of his own life experience.

He's facing up a crowd who are enraged and gnashing their teeth, grinding their teeth at him.

But it says in verse 55, but he full of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord is with him.

Just as he is going through that verse in Psalm 23.

Yet though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

He knows that the Lord is with him.

That the Lord is near.

And we'll see it as we go through it.

Just how powerful his vision of the Lord is.

But the first thing we notice here is the analogy of the shepherd leading his sheep.

And how faithful the Lord is to Stephen here.

And how precious a thing that is for ourselves this evening too.

That we can take heart from the experience of Stephen here.

That here he is.

He has had a time of blessing seeing the church grow.

That time when God has led him by the still waters.

But here he is now going through this valley.

This time where the shadow is drawing close.

And yet here he is still so assured that the Lord is with him.

He is full of the Holy Spirit.

And what our text this evening makes clear for us is the difference between Stephen who is trusting in the Lord.

And those who are persecuting him.

You see those who have heard the message and they're enraged at what they've heard.

They grind their teeth.

They block their ears.

It says to us as well.

And they rush him to take him out of the city to stone him.

The gospel is so offensive to them.

They want no more to do with it.

They want to hear nothing else from it.

But when you look at verse 55, you see the great difference between Stephen.

And this is the way the Christian should be as well.

That as we face up to many challenges in this world, a people who reject and even revile against the gospel.

That this is how we are to be.

This is our response.

It says of Stephen, but he.

In these simple words, it defines the difference.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.

He was different.

He was a Christian.

He knew Christ and he knew Christ with him.

And he knew where to look.

He looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God.

God, Satan does not sit idly by as the Lord is at work here in this world as well.

Satan wants to snatch a people for himself.

He wants a people to turn and be enraged against the gospel.

And God, even though he sees his people suffering such as Stephen here.

This is the hard part for us.

You think, why didn't he intervene?

Why didn't he miraculously protect Stephen here?

Why does he allow this choice young man to be cut down in his prime?

Well, it takes eyes of faith to see why.

Because, as we'll see later, you see that even in the midst of this, the persecution, the suffering, the greater good of God goes on.

But what you're reminded of here, too, is that that is good for Stephen in it all.

He knows that there is greater to come.

He has this action here where he's calm, clear-headed, articulate, even kind towards the crowd as they rush to stone him.

But they are angry.

They are gnarling at him.

They're gnarling and grinding their teeth.

They're so enraged.

And this is just a reminder to us of the wickedness of man.

And how often we see this again and again.

Things that we cannot understand.

Suffering for God's people.

That we sometimes think, why?

Why this way?

But down through every generation, we see man's inhumanity to man.

Again and again, we're reminded of the evil of this world.

Time and again.

You look in history, and it's there constantly for us.

Every January, the 27th of January each year, is Holocaust Memorial Day.

As always, a powerful reminder to us of how evil mankind can be.

Millions died in awful ways.

And we cannot understand some of these things.

But we can learn that God is still with his people in it.

And one survivor who you probably all heard of was Corrie Ten Boom.

And how she spoke of the wickedness that she saw.

And many others have done likewise too.

But also to see the love and grace of God in it all too.

And she once said this.

There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.

And that's the way we sometimes have to look at things.

To remind ourselves that in the wickedness of mankind in this world,

there is no pit so deep that God's love cannot go deeper.

Regardless of the reason that hardship has come,

every believer needs to be like Stephen here.

A but he believer.

That whatever is going on around us,

whatever is going on even in our own experience,

that we have this faithful view of Stephen.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit,

gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.

That we remind ourselves again and again

that the Lord is with us always.

Just as Psalm 23, such a precious Psalm to us.

You go through the valley,

but there's always that destination at the end of it.

That dwelling place with God.

And so as we ourselves,

as we face up to the wickedness of man around us,

whether it's in the distant lands

where we pray for persecuted people,

whether it's in our own nation,

or even on our own doorstep,

when we face up to the challenges that are around us through sin.

That we don't respond with evil.

That we don't respond like for like.

That we make sure our eyes,

our focus is fixed on the Lord.

That we seek to be a glorious witness for him day by day.

Praying for faithful patience and grace

to be his witness to all around us.

We have the wickedness of man all around us.

But we're reminded certainly of the grace that overcomes.

And we see what grace does in this passage.

Grace is illustrated in many different ways here for us.

Remarkably, you see it in the people

who are gathered around even stoning Stephen.

And there's one in particular who we see.

And his name is Saul.

And in just a few words in this passage,

it says that as they stoned him,

the witnesses laid down their garments,

this is in verse 58,

at the feet of a young man named Saul.

All the people that were gathered around,

he's the only one that's named.

A young man named Saul.

You see his name referenced then in chapter 8, verse 1.

And Saul approved of his execution.

And from there, he continued to persecute.

He continued to go on.

It says then in verse 3 of chapter 8,

but Saul was ravaging the church

and entering house after house.

He dragged off men and women

and committed them to prison.

And you're beginning to think to yourself,

how can grace be seen here

in the person of Saul?

And it's a reminder to us

that when people view the grace of God at work,

when people view Christians

as Saul was viewing Stephen here,

it doesn't mean that there's going to be

an instant response.

In fact, if you look at Saul here,

it says his heart's going harder.

He's going the other way completely.

He's becoming more and more determined

to persecute the church.

He's going around.

He's dragging them out, men and women,

committing them to prison.

So it's as if he's going further away.

And you're saying to yourself,

how can any good come out of this?

Seems as if he's going further away.

And yet, all you have to do

is jump into chapter 9.

And you see the grace of God.

But Saul, still breathing threats

and murders against the disciples of the Lord.

He's still at it.

But what happened?

He met with the Lord on the road to Damascus.

And his life was transformed.

As a reminder to us,

even as we see a persecuted people

around the world,

whatever it is,

in foreign lands,

and even in our own lands,

as we see such a contempt

of the Christian faith just now

and so many against the Christian faith,

it seems to be getting worse.

It's not time to stop praying for them,

but to pray even more

that the persecutors would be like Saul,

watching on,

maybe seeming in our eyes to get worse,

but that the Lord would meet them

and transform them

just like he transformed Saul

by that wonderful grace.

So we see grace at work

in unbelievable ways here.

We see also the grace God gives to Stephen.

And you notice just how,

we've sort of touched on this already,

how the Lord is with him

and with him in a remarkable way.

And you think of those who are present here,

not watching on,

but those who are present with Stephen.

And when you read verse 55,

it says,

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.

What do we have in that verse?

We've got all the members of the Trinity.

They're all there.

He's full of the Holy Spirit,

the comforter that Jesus had promised.

We see that he's looking up into heaven

and he's seeing the glory of God.

And at the right hand of God

is Jesus,

the Son,

standing at the right hand of God.

He's there standing,

waiting for Stephen.

It's a remarkable image.

And he goes on to say in verse 56,

and he said,

behold,

I see the heavens opened

and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God.

Now we often read of Jesus

being at the right hand of God,

but he sat,

sitting at the right hand of God.

But here,

he is at the right hand of God standing.

So he's waiting

just to welcome Stephen home.

So we have them.

They're all there.

They're all present.

And what a view,

what a vision he's got here.

What he sees is remarkable.

You know,

we've marveled these last few weeks,

some evenings,

when we see the northern lights

and how spectacular they are.

We lift up our gaze in the skies

and you see these lights

dancing in the skyline.

And you think how amazing that is.

And yet here,

we see Stephen

with a much more greater view

than anyone could ever have

with the northern lights.

He sees the glory of God.

He sees it all

as he lifts his eyes

up to heaven.

And even in his dying moment,

you see the grace of God

at work in him,

at work through him.

Look at the words

that he sees.

As he's in the throes

of just the last moments

of his life,

he's seeing these things.

But he also has words

to speak.

And he says in verse 59,

Lord Jesus,

receive my spirit.

And then in verse 60,

he says,

falling to his knees,

he cried out

with a loud voice,

Lord,

do not hold this sin

against him.

And again,

you think,

where do these words,

what do they remind us of?

The words of Christ

as he was crucified.

Father,

into your hands,

I commit my spirit.

And Father,

forgive them,

for they know not

what they do.

They're so alike.

And it's a reminder

to us as well

that this is how

we are to be as well.

We are committing ourselves

into the Lord's hands,

into the Lord's care

at all times.

And we are also

to have that kind

of attitude too.

Lord,

do not hold this sin

against them.

Forgive them

for what they do.

Charles Spurgeon

once said

of Stephen's death

that it was

full of Jesus.

It's full of Jesus'

sin,

he said.

It's full of Jesus'

invoke

that's called upon.

It's full of Jesus'

trusted.

And it's full of

Jesus imitated.

And again,

it's just such a powerful

reminder to ourselves

of the way we should

seek to live

our lives too,

to be Christ-like

and to know

the grace

of God

in that way.

And that's the grace

that he promises

to you

and to me.

Grace

for every

occasion

in life.

Grace

to live

day by day.

Grace

to witness

grace

to him

day by day.

Grace

to die.

But the Lord

is with us.

The grace

of God

is a remarkable

thing.

Finally,

we see here too

God's

greater purpose

in it all.

No one

suffers

for Christ

in vain.

that is a great

truth

that we see

in Stephen's

life

and every

Christian's

life as well.

No one

suffers

for Christ

in vain.

Even as Stephen's

life is taken

from him here,

God has a purpose

in it all.

It was Tertullian,

the early church

father,

who said,

the blood

of the martyrs

is the seed

of the church.

In other words,

that even

through the

death of the

Christians

over generations,

that that would

be the seed

of the church.

That is where

growth

would come.

And you see

here that even

as this

persecution

was done,

something else

happened as well.

That the word

of God

spread.

It says in

verse 1 of

chapter 8

that there arose

on that day

a great

persecution

against the

church,

and they were

scattered

throughout the

regions.

The Christians

were scattered,

but what happened

as they were

scattered?

Well,

just go down

to verse 4.

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 there was

much joy

in that city.

it says.

Even through

Stephen's

death,

through his

witness,

through his

life,

the church

bore fruit.

And you just

think again

of Saul

and how he

looked on

at this

stoning of

Stephen and

approved of

it all.

And yet

this Saul

who became

Paul and

who God

used for

the growth

of the

church

over many,

in many

different

places.

And you

think of

some of

the words

that Paul

would later

speak.

And how

different the

words that he

had been

saying at

this time

when he

says in

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:58

15,

verse 58,

therefore,

my beloved

brethren,

my beloved

brethren,

those who he

had persecuted,

those who he

had dragged

out and

committed to

prison,

they are now

my beloved

brethren.

And he

says to

them,

be steadfast,

immovable,

always abounding

in the work

of the Lord,

knowing that

your labour

is not in

vain in the

Lord.

And you

just wonder

are these

words linked

to this,

to Stephen's

stoning,

or looking

back to the

death of

Christ.

And you

think,

how many

thought that

that was

it,

that was

the end,

when Christ

was crucified,

that will

finish off

the church,

but no,

it grew.

Or as

Stephen is

stoned,

they're thinking

this will put

an end to

the witness

of the church,

what happened?

The seed

was scattered.

And so he

says,

your labour

is not

in vain

in the

Lord.

No matter

what you

are doing

for the

Lord,

it is

not in

vain.

There have

been periods

in our

own nation

where the

Christian

church

would seem

to have

been cast

away in

so many

places.

And there

was a time

in the

1600s when

many parts

of Scotland

saw martyrs

in their

lives taken

because they

would not

turn their

back on

the Lord

Jesus.

And our

time in

Dumfries was

certainly a

time when my

eyes were

opened to

that,

where there's

many monuments

to martyrs

of the past.

In the town

centre near the

bus station

of Dumfries,

there's a

stone monument

there.

And on it

is the name

James

Kirko.

And he

was shot

in the town

there in

May 1685.

because of

his faith

in the

Lord Jesus.

Then further

down the

coastline

there's a

town called

Wigtown.

And there

near that

town is a

memorial to

two ladies,

two Margarets,

who again

were martyrs

for the

Christian faith,

Margaret Wilson

and Margaret

McLaughlin.

And they

would not

turn their

back on the

Lord Jesus.

And so they

were tied to

posts out

in the

sand where

the

Solway Firth

comes in.

And the

tide was

coming in

upon them

and rising

up.

And the

soldiers were

telling them

to renounce

their faith,

but they

wouldn't.

Instead,

they sang

Psalm 25,

even as the

tide was

coming up

over their

head.

And there

they died

for faith

in the

Lord Jesus.

And that's

not that

long ago

in our

own nation.

And we

say to

ourselves,

we will

never see

days like

that again.

But even

if we do,

do we not

still have

that great

hope?

That hope

that is ours

in Christ.

John Bunyan,

the author of

Pilgrim's

Probes and

other books,

he spent

12 years

in jail

because of

his faithful

preaching of

God's word.

And he

once wrote

this, he

said,

a smile

or a

kind look

from Christ

shall be

worth more

than 10,000

worlds.

Again, he

was reminding

us to

fix our

eyes on

the Lord

Jesus,

to keep

our eyes

on him

and to

keep that

day in

mind when

the Lord

will come.

In 1

1 Peter 4:14

Peter 4,

verse 14,

it says,

if you are

insulted for

the name

of Christ,

you are

blessed because

the spirit of

glory and

of God

rests upon

you.

And that's

what we see

in Stephen.

Even as he

was stoned

here, he

gazed up

to heaven

and he

saw the

glory of

God and

Jesus

standing at

the right

hand of

God.

And that

is the

kind of

Christian

that we

should strive

to be as

well.

Every one

of us

to be

faithful in

whatever we

are doing

for the

Lord,

remembering

our labor

is not

in vain.

Even when

things seem

to be going

against us,

God has

a purpose

and a plan

in it all.

And there's a

greater good

God

at the

end of

it as

well.

Just as

Stephen saw

the Lord

Jesus

standing at

the right

hand of

God,

so every

Christian

remembers

that the

Lord will

welcome

his people

home.

That we

might suffer

in this

world,

but there

is greater

to come,

and that

is through

faith in

the Lord

Jesus,

the faith

that we've

seen in

Stephen.

Stephen the

man who

was a

godly

man and

a wise

man.

Stephen's

message was

one of a

real God

to a

real people.

And Stephen

the martyr

saying,

I looked,

look,

I see

heaven open

and the

son of

man standing

at the

right hand

of God.

He saw

the glory

of God,

but remember

this,

he saw

people around

him too,

and his

prayer was,

Lord,

do not

hold this,

against

them.

So may

we keep

our eyes

on the

Lord Jesus,

but keep

our eyes

on the

world around

us too,

in a

prayerful

way,

that they

would not

perish,

but see

the glory

of God

for themselves.

Amen.

Let us

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we thank

you for

your word

and for

the boldness

of Stephen

as we have

seen so much

of in this

passage.

we pray,

Lord,

that you

will fill

us with

that seal

of emotion

and devotion

to those

around him,

longing,

Lord,

that they

would know

the glory

of God

in their

lives,

that that

might be

our prayer

too for

those around

us.

But too,

Lord,

we pray

that you

will keep

us with

our gaze,

our vision

fixed on

Jesus,

the one

who has

gone before

us and

prepared the

way for

us.

Lord,

bless

your

word

to us

and

pardon

our

sin

in

it

all.

We ask

it in

Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.