Stephen the first martyr (Acts 6:8-7:60) // On mission with the risen Jesus

This is a, it's a dramatic and devastating bit of the book of

Acts. It really is.

It's got the longest speech recorded in Acts, the speech

that Stephen gives. We meet Stephen, who seems a

wonderful man, wonderful Christian man, but he swiftly

killed for his face. And then after this point, the

rest of the book of Acts is devoted to the spread of the

church beyond Jerusalem. So there's a lot going on.

So to stop us getting lost, I want to use a sentence that

we're going to keep returning to to help us keep focus.

And it's a three-part sentence and it's this.

God's people face rejection, but he is always present with his

people and faithful to his promises.

God's people face rejection, but he's always present with his

people and faithful to his promises, but He's always

present with his people and faithful to his promises.

So the story of the church so far, just a little reminder.

So the Church of Jerusalem, it's been growing.

Jesus has ascended to heaven, but his Holy Spirit has come,

and more and more people are becoming Christians.

There are signs and wonders. Jesus has been proclaimed to the

rooftops. The church are looking after

each other, caring for one another.

Things aren't perfect. There's been a particularly

problematic episode of dishonesty.

There's been some organizational issues, and there's been

opposition from outside. The apostles have been arrested

more than once. But despite all this, actually

the church seems to be winning. Apostles are given the words to

say rescues happen from prison. And it seems those opposed to

God are completely on the back foot.

And so this verse in Acts, just before the bit we looked at, I

think sums well. The word of God spread.

The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and

a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

So we can see God's people faced rejection, but clearly he's

always present with his people and faithful to his promises.

His church is growing. It's going great.

It's with this background then that we meet Stephen.

And as in one sense, as we look at Stephen, it's like, what a

guy? And now we know he's one of the

men who's previously chosen to kind of help with the food

distribution to the widows of the church.

And we know from his name that he was a Greek Jew.

So either him or his parents were probably born outside of

Palestine and Israel. But if we look at what he was

like, so in Acts chapter 6 and verses 5/8, 10:15, we see that

Acts 6 · chapter mention

he was full of faith in the Holy Spirit.

He was full of God's grace and power.

He did great wonders and miraculous signs.

Verse 10, you couldn't win an argument against him because of

his wisdom and by the spirit by which he spoke.

Verse 15, his face was like the face of an Angel.

I don't think that means he was like really good looking.

I think it's kind of like at that moment he was just like

God's presence, just like shining through him.

We're supposed to see that he's been blessed by God.

And throughout whole of Chapter 7 in Stephen's speech, well, he

clearly knows his Old Testament history.

He's not afraid to stand firm in the faith and point people to

Jesus. And even at the point of death,

he's still trusting in Jesus. What a guy.

But he's not a guy on his own. It's not that Stephen is just

great. From these verses, it's clear

that the Spirit of God was with him.

God is present with him. Stephen is facing rejection, but

God's with him. And if we remember Jesus words,

Jesus promised that he would give his disciples A counsellor,

the Holy Spirit, and give his disciples the words to say when

they were put on trial, when they face pressure.

So we can see that God is keeping his promise and keeping

his promise to Stephen. God's people face rejection, but

he's always present with his people and faithful to his

promises. That's true of Stephen, although

there's going to be more to say on that.

So why was Stephen arrested? So initially it starts off that

there's members of of this Friedman synagogue that seem to

be against Stephen. They're getting into arguments

with him, but first time they just can't win the argument.

And So what do you do when you can't win an argument?

Well, they create a manufacturer situation where there's enough

opposition amongst the people and local leaders to have them

arrested. There's some trumped up charges

brought before him and they produce produce people who

basically lie about what Stephen has said and, and the charges.

We can basically get it down to kind of two things.

There's two things that they're kind of charging Stephen was

doing, and we see those in verses 1113 and 14 of chapter 6.

So the first is that Stephen is speaking against the temple in

Jerusalem, saying that Jesus will destroy it.

And the second is that Stephen is speaking against the law,

against the customs that Moses handed down to the Jewish

people. Now this, hopefully, if you're a

Christian here, they might start to sound a bit familiar.

You may remember that the main charge against Jesus at his

trial was that he would try destroy the temple.

Stephen's been accused of exactly the same thing and it's

a serious accusation. So this is like a picture of

what the temple might have looked at that time.

But the temple was supposed to be the visible and actual sign

of God's presence with his people is where God is supposed

to be. For someone to say I will

destroy the temple would be to like them saying I'll remove God

from your presence or indeed attack God himself.

Likewise the law. To do away with the law would be

to do away with with God. It was everything to the Jewish

people. These are serious, serious

charges and Stephen's been bought before a serious court.

So there's that term. The Sanhedrin.

This is kind of a council, over 70 or so Jewish leaders,

including the high priest. It's would be very intimidating.

And remember, this is the same court that condemned Jesus to

death. And so throughout this, you know

what we're looking at, there's echoes of Jesus trial and what

was said to him and what happened.

And we know how that ended. But even at this point, Jesus

Stephen's arrest, I think a sentence is still true.

OK, God's people face rejection. Well, yes, Stephen is on trial

for his faith, face faith, but he's always present with his

people. We've talked before about how

the Spirit was with Stephen, how he had the face of an Angel.

But God is also faithful to his promises.

This is a promise that Jesus made in in John 15/20/21.

Remember what I told you? A servant is not greater than

his master. If they persecuted me, they'll

persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they

will obey yours also. They will treat you this way

because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

Stephen's being treated just as Jesus was, and that's something

that Jesus would promised would happen to his followers.

I think Stephen and the early Christians knew that really

well. And I think for us here today, I

think we need to remember that as Christians, we're in receipt

of some wonderful promises, but we also need to make sure we

don't forget the promises that might be a bit more difficult to

hear. Jesus is very clear.

A Christian can expect to be treated badly because of Jesus,

because Jesus was. And although on the face of it,

this doesn't seem like the kind of promise we might we might

want to hear or have made, to us it's actually deeply reassuring.

Christians face hardship. Christians face bullying,

Christians face mocking, Christians face persecution, and

Christians face death. And Jesus says, yes, you will.

That will happen as it happened to me.

There's no pretence, there's no sugar coating.

There's no saying it won't happen.

We know it happens. A couple of weeks ago we had the

the persecuted Church Sunday and Jesus tells us it will happen.

So if it happens to you, when some of this stuff happens to

you, it's actually a reason to trust Jesus more because he told

us about it before it would happen.

He's trustworthy and real with us about what it means to live

as a Christian and follow Him and what we may might face in

our lives as Christians. So Stephen's been arrested.

We know the charges against him. What was Stephen's defence?

So picture the scene. Stephen is before the court.

The charges against him have been made.

The witnesses have spoken and the high priest say, says, are

these charges true? What would you say?

What would your response be? I suspect it might start with

the word no. What I suspect you wouldn't do

is give a history lesson that encompasses the entire history

to that point of the Jewish people.

I don't think that would be our first thought.

That's what Jesus does, and specifically Jesus in his sweep

through Old Testament history is kind of focusing on on 2 areas.

He's focusing on, one, where is God's presence?

And two, what faithfulness and following God's law looks like

and who's faithful and who's not.

He wants to demonstrate that what Jesus taught and therefore

what Stephen has been teaching is consistent with Old Testament

teaching and that in rejecting Jesus, they the Sanhedrin who

are rejecting God and the law, not Stephen and his speech.

We can divide it into to five parts and and we had the

timeline helpfully kind of show us that dealing with these big

figures in Old Testament history, Abraham, Joseph, Moses,

David and Solomon. And then at the end, Stephen

makes he turns the tables on the Sanhedrin and makes an

accusation. And we can't go into a huge

slave slaver in Egypt far away from his family.

Did God abandoned him just because he went to Egypt?

No, Verse 9. God was with him and rescued

him. Moses, the Lord spoke to him

from the burning Bush in the desert.

He promised to be with Moses and his people to rescue them from

Egypt. And God was most certainly with

his people when he bought them out of slavery from Egypt with

signs and wonders. And finally, yes, a temple was

built, but Stephen quotes Isaiah as I was 66 and and he said,

look, this what this is in keeping with the whole Testament

teaching. You can't really think that God

in his presence is just limited to a temple.

God says heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me?

So the focus on the temple as being the only way that God is

present with his people. It's proved wrong by the

entirety of Old Testament history.

I read some John stop like kind of explain this posture as I

found it extremely helpful. And I think the two things he

says here are really helpful. He says the God of Israel is a

Pilgrim God. God's presence cannot be limited

or confined to a specific place or building.

It is with his people that he lives.

God's with us here, the avenue today.

God's with Matt and Lisa in Nigeria, it's with Simon and Ali

in Ethiopia, it's with Asher when he's in America.

God's with his people. And Jesus was God made flesh.

Jesus was literally God living with his people.

The fulfillment of God's presence with his people is not

a building, not the temple. It's Jesus.

It's the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives to every

Christian, and then it's his body of the church which becomes

a new temple. That's what Stephen's trying to

get across to the Sun Hedram. And the second main theme of

Stephen's speech is is to address the accusation that

Stephen's rejecting the law and rejecting God.

And it's they, the Sanhedrin of the true followers of God.

How does he deal with this? Well, he just kind of looks

through Old Testament history and says, well, your ancestors

keep rejecting God and his prophets.

Look at what Stephen says about Moses in verse 27.

The Israelites say to Moses, who made you rule and judge over us?

But Despite that, God used Moses to rescue Israelites from

freedom, to rescue them from slavery into freedom.

And then in verses 39 to 43 in Chapter 7, Stephen really

focuses on Moses. He said they rejected Moses

again when Moses was talking to God.

And so God gave them over to their impulses and they

worshipped fake gods. And it became a repeating theme

in the life of Old Testament Israel.

And Stephen quotes Amos to make his point there.

The idea that far from there being a glorious history of the

Sanhedrin's ancestors being faithful and obedient followers

of the Law, no, they reject God's chosen prophets and

Saviours time and again and again.

And they reject God too. The track record is terrible.

And so Stephen brings it to a head in his accusation in in

verses 51 to 53, basically he's saying, you people who are

accusing me, you're just like your ancestors.

You've got it so wrong. Was there ever a prophet your

ancestor did not persecute that even killed those who predicted

the coming of the righteous one? That's Jesus.

And now you have betrayed and murdered him, murdered Jesus,

you who have received the law that was given through angels,

but have not obeyed it. So Stephen is turning the screw

and pointing the light back on the Sanhedrin.

He said you killed Jesus, you killed the Messiah, you killed

God's promised king. And in doing so, you're the

people who have not obeyed the law.

It's not me who's blasphemed God.

It's not me who's not obeyed the law.

It's you guys. They didn't worship Jesus, they

killed him. And so through this whole sweep

of Old Testament history, you know, IA sentence I've put helps

us, it's still true. God's people face rejection.

Joseph, Moses, the prophets, Jesus himself, Stephen.

But God is always present with his people.

God is always present with his people wherever they are.

And God is faithful to his promises.

I mean, there's so many examples of that.

But, you know, just we could think of God rescuing his people

from Egypt, but Stephen dies. He puts those who are judging on

the spot, and they hate it. They're furious.

But then Stephen says something else.

Before they can say anything, he says, look, I see heaven open

and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.

And when Stephen says this, they go, I mean, they go crazy.

Any pretense that normal legal procedure seems to be thrown out

the window. They yell at him, they rush at

him, they drag him out of the city and stone him to bat to

death. It has kind of a pattern of like

a mob killing. And what Stephen has just said,

it's actually very similar to what Jesus said at his trial

before the Sanhedrin. I put it up there for you from

Matthew. You've said so, Jesus replied

when asked, you know, if he was the Messiah.

But I say to all of you, from now on, you will see the Son of

Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the

clouds of heaven. Jesus is the Son of man.

He's referencing Daniel here where the Son of man is given

authority and power in judgement.

Jesus saying that he is the Son of man and the Messiah.

So when Stephen says he sees the Son of Man, this figure of

authority and judgement, you bet your bottom dollar that the

Sanhedrin, remembering what Jesus said to them, Stephen has

basically said that the man you killed, the man who said he's

the Son of man, well, actually he really is.

He's now getting ready to judge you.

And so the Sanhedrin lose it. Rather than bend the knee and

bow to Jesus asking for forgiveness, they double down

and they do to Stephen what they did to Jesus and they kill him.

That's sad, isn't it? That should make us feel sad.

Stephen full of grace of power, Stephen full of the Holy Spirit,

Stephen who spoke so well, God is so present with he's killed.

What are we to make of this God's people face rejection.

Well, that's clearly true. The killing of Stephen is the

ultimate rejection of of of him and of God's truth.

But at this moment always present with his people,

faithful to his promises. Stephen's been killed.

It's, it's difficult. Where was God?

Was this present God? And Stephen was killed.

You know, a few chapters earlier we read about a miraculous

escape from jail, didn't we, for the apostles?

Well, where's Stephen's escape? And we know, yes, Jesus says

that we will face the same as him.

He promises that. But maybe actually, if we think

really about that, maybe that's a promise we'd prefer that God

didn't keep cost Stephen his life.

These are hard questions. I'm not pretending I've got all

the answers. But I think that Stephen's

death, actually God is present there with his people and

faithful to his promises. Not just Stephen's death, but

actually Jesus death, his resurrection, his ascension to

heaven, which Stephen's speech and his death point us towards.

Let's remind ourselves, what or who does Stephen see before he's

taken out to be stoned? He sees Jesus, the Son of man.

Jesus is at God's right hand, in a position of power and

authority. Jesus is not dead, Jesus alive.

Jesus is not weak or powerless. He's in that position of power

and authority. Stephen sees Jesus, his eyes are

fixed on him. He knows his presence.

But the thing to notice about Jesus when Stephen sees him is

that he's not sitting. He's standing.

When Jesus spoke about himself to the Sanhedrin, he said that

he'll be sitting, but Stephen sees him standing.

What might that mean? Next time the high priest see

Jesus, he will be sitting on judgement on them.

But Stephen sees Jesus standing. Might be that Jesus standing

because he's talking to his Father, saying there is my

faithful servant Stephen, who has put his faith in me and I

stand for him to cover the cost of his sins.

He is a good and faithful servant.

Might it be that Jesus standing, because he's standing there to

welcome Stephen home to his heavenly home, his true home,

the place where the presence of God with his people is fulfilled

completely and utterly, and his promise of God with us is

completely fulfilled. Perhaps Stephen sees Jesus and

he knows he's going home. And if you're a Christian here

today, that's true for you as well.

One day you'll get to go home and Jesus will welcome you into

his presence, fulfilling all his promises to you.

One of my favorite films, which I'm not going to name because of

spoilers, is about a little girl living through a European civil

war, and it has fantastical elements to it.

But essentially throughout the film, her life is grim and

horrible. She has no Lovings family, and a

situation gets worse and worse and worse and worse, and at the

end this girl dies. But the film does not end with

her death, it actually ends with her being welcomed home.

Welcomed back to a fantastical home where her family are, where

there's no more pain and where the joy of being in that place

completely overwhelms the misery of her former life.

And it's the only form I've ever watched.

We're at the end of cry tears of joy.

And it's it's a wonderful moment because it kind of almost like

gave a little glimpse of what it would feel like to have a joy of

going home to be with Jesus. And I think Stephen Ward had

even more joy than that when he was welcome home by Jesus.

And that's true for us today if you put your trust in Jesus,

your sins and wrongs botted out, your sufferings far outweighed

by the glory of being with Jesus in his presence and his promises

all fulfilled. Welcome to home.

Not to some fantastical film home, but to a heavenly home.

So no matter how bad or difficult it gets or feels,

whether you're suffering or difficulties relate to

persecution or not, please hold on to that hope.

Cling to Jesus because he will bring you home.

But there's one more thing just to finish.

I think Stephen was completely assured that Jesus will keep his

promises. Look how he dies.

Verse 59 he says Lord Jesus receive my spirit.

Verse 60, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

Again, I think we should be thinking about Jesus.

These mirror very closely some of Jesus last words on the

cross. Verse 59 implies that Stephen

has a complete enough to trust that Jesus has got him.

For Stephen vertically to ask Jesus to forgive those who are

killing him, that's not the prayer of a vengeful or bitter

man. It's a prayer of a man who

completely entrusts himself to God and to God's grace.

But you could argue, you could make an argument that the most

important words are the ones Stephen doesn't say.

We've noticed that he says words very similar to those that Jesus

said as he died. But what doesn't he say?

There are words that he can't say, but there are words that

Jesus said as he died. Jesus said, my God, my God, why

have you forsaken me? It's not Stephen who shouts out

these words as he dies. It's not Stephen who is

separated and punished by God as he dies.

Stephen doesn't shout out these words because Jesus already said

them when he died. Jesus was forsaken by God.

Jesus was punished for Stephenson for our sin instead

of us. He was crucified so that we

don't have to say those words. And that as death could not hold

Jesus and he was reunited with his Father, so we too will one

day rise up to be with him even beyond death.

No matter how bad it gets for us as a Christian, we won't face

that. We won't be forsaken or

separated from God because our faith in Jesus saves us, because

he went through it all instead of us.

So please, if you're not, if you're sitting here today and

you're not a Christian, don't put yourself in a position where

one day you end up before the judgement seat and Jesus is

sitting down in judgement on you.

You won't be able to stand. Instead, put your faith and

trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and one

day see Jesus standing up to welcome you home.

So for Stephen and for us, I think this, I think it holds

true. God's people face rejection, but

he's always present with his people and faithful to His

promises. Whatever life will throw at you

in the weeks, months, and years to come, Jesus is with you.

He keeps his promises and he'll see you home.