Full of Power and Grace

This story, at first, this is a story that I think sometimes we look to the story of Stephen here in the Book of Acts, in chapter seven, six and seven is a story of his boldness, which is true. It's a story where you see, wow, someone who's faced with something scary, who still could be pretty bold and even truly at peace. The end of the story, as we look in Scripture actually says Stephen then fell asleep. Or the word actually is a peacefully rested. So you think of the story, you think, that's not how I would picture the day Stephen had. It doesn't sound very peaceful, but there's something there that changed in him in that story. So today, my hope is to just take a couple more minutes here to look at the story of Stephen. We're not gonna go. It's actually a chapter and a half out of the Book of Acts. We're gonna just jump quick through some moments in it. But I wanna highlight part of what's really happening here of why could a man like Stephen and many others we see in the Book of Acts seem to, like, live a different way? Even just their, like, being was different, who they were was different, the way they acted was different. Especially, I think, really highlighted Luke, who writes the Book of Acts, seems to really highlight that the people around them acted differently. So what's the difference there? How do they live in that? Let me just quick update here in the Book of Acts reminder too. If anyone wants, there are more clipboards available. We looked just out this door. If you want a clipboard with some things to draw and color on her for all ages. All ages are allowed to use those puppies. So if you want them, they're back there. Quick reminder in the Book of Acts, because it's really important. Where have we been? The Book of Acts starts that Jesus leaves. He leaves so that the Holy Spirit can come. He says it's going to come and kind of clothe us, wrap us up, fill us, overtake us, kind of really lead us and guide us. The power of the Spirit. And that is what we see. We see it right out of the gates comes people, speak to one another in different languages. We see miracles happen with people being healed, people being able to walk who never could walk. And in the midst of these beautiful, wonderful things happening, where we see the Spirit of God moving thousands and thousands of people coming to the church, coming to faith, this continuation of Jesus ministry, many, most of these people now, right now, at least in the Book of Acts, are Jewish people who see, oh, this is the continuation of our story. We've been waiting and waiting for this Messiah, and now he's here. And this is incredible. At the same time, there are people, as we saw in the story, who do not like that this is happening. They feel very threatened by it. In fact, I think quite fearful in it. And so they are gripped by this fear. And what happens is now we're seeing the third wave of this persecution where we've seen them arrest Jesus followers and threaten them even with death, and arrest them again and threaten them. And then we see in Stephen's story today, another moment where they actually. The tension and the hostility builds so much that it actually leads to that. Before this happens, there's actually a passage we skipped which kind of frames. I think it really frames all of Scripture, but it frames the Book of Acts. And I've been really encouraged by it. There's a guy, Gamaliel, who is a guy in the book. In Acts 5, we hear about him. He's actually the mentor, like a. He's mentoring Saul, who we're going to hear about more. You saw at the end of the story this incredible man who was actually there kind of cheering on this. This hurt they were doing. Who's going to get changed pretty quick here. We're almost there. In the Book of Acts, we're going to see his life completely changed. But there's a guy who is highly respected and honored. And when they had the disciples, the second wave of persecution, they had them there and they said, I think we should end their lives. And he says, hold on. And he says something. I don't know if he totally knows what he's saying in the sense of this is really framing what's gonna happen in the Book of Acts. This is from Acts 5. Therefore, in the present case, I advise you, this is him speaking to them. He's one of the religious leaders, and he's really respected amongst them. He's Paul. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Before we do something to these people, I advise you, he says, a series of. A little history goes. Remember that guy? He had people follow him. And then when he left, they stopped. And then. Remember that guy? And then when he passed away, they stopped. Remember, this guy also had people following me. We were worried about him, and they stopped. He said, we've seen this happen. This like. People get kind of excited about a person, and then it fades away. So this is. Then he grabs them. Therefore, in the present case, I advise you, leave these men alone. Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human Origin. It will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves fighting against God. It feels like a moment that we. We know the story of Acts. We know that we're still stand today. We're standing here worshiping Jesus as they did. So we know the outcome. It feels like a moment in a movie where that would. Maybe all the audio would cut out and there'd be like a. Like a moment. You'd look. You get like a look from one of the actors, like, does he know what he just said? Does he understand? He's telling essentially the story of what God has done and what's about to happen. You can try to stop this thing, but you're just going to find yourself up against God, which we know how that ends. So I want us to frame this. This is, I think, the movement that we see this happens. They let them go. And then we see the story of Stephen happen, and they gather around. And in the story of Stephen, I just wanna highlight the two groups of people. This would be a great opportunity. We're not gonna get real into this, but if you're in a small group and you're studying the sermon passage, a great opportunity to really kind of walk through this passage together. But this. I just went through the passage here from six in chapter six, all the way through end of seven. And just to highlight some of these moments we're seeing in there. So here's how, for me, this is what really stood out as I saw this story this week, that there's a group of people who are very motivated. In fact, the tension in them has built and built and built. It has stirred in them and that spirit in them has led them to take actions. And there's a person that we get to highlight, Stephen, but many, many people, thousands of people who experience the spirit of God in them and this grace and it's changing them and how they act, right? These kind of two tensions and things are building at the same moment. And we're going to see it. We see how it plays out in this one story, but it's. We're seeing that in probably many, many stories. We don't even get in the book of Acts. And here's how. Here's how it worked out. So the people who live, I would say fear is a lot of the spirit here. Fear that you're taking away. You're saying that God has been in Egypt and you're saying he's been all over the world and he's that you're saying that we've come against God's chosen people, his prophets, Moses. You're saying that our pattern in our people is that we aren't rescuing ourselves. You're saying that God isn't even in the temple. They're literally putting people in a God in kind of a box. Like this is the place in the temple. And you're saying now the temple of God is his people. You're offending all of the things that we hold valuable to our identity, to our occupations, to what brings us hope, to what brings us power, to what brings us influence. All the things that are. We've been told and that we live that like all the parts of our life. Stephen now stands up and says, I think you're. You're sinning, you're against God. We're seeing that. That Acts 5 thing play out, right? So here's all the moments. We're seeing this happen. We see the people who are in the spirit of man. I'm using these words because they're kind of from that phrase, right? The human origin, or gods, or they're from God. We see them that God was in the temple, but we see the spirit of God saying God is with his people. We're seeing that their response to them is opposition. That word is actually used there. And we're seeing that Stephen is full of grace and a power. We're seeing that it actually says that they could. That Stephen's the wisdom of God would overcome the other people. So they're actually overcome by God. This is like a moment where we actually see them opposing God. This fear in them has. Has built and built and that. It's what fear does, right? It builds to where you start finding yourself moving towards, I gotta get rid of this thing that might hurt me. We see the spirit of God giving him wisdom, grace and power. We see the spirit of God producing God's presence. There's a moment there in, I think at the end of six where it says he looked like his face was like an angel. Which is the same phrase that we see in the Old Testament. We hear, like Moses, when he had been with God, he came back to the people and it said his face glowed like he was an angel, like he had been with God. So in the same moment, Stephen becomes a picture of what we see in Moses. At the same moment that's happening, they are starting to talk about how they can get rid of this guy. You see, in that exact moment, Luke is showing us, here's what the spirit of God does in him. Here's what they're doing. They're talking about how they could end this guy and he's, he's glowing with the spirit of God. They start producing lies. They actually rustle up some false witnesses. Hey, we need people to lie about him so that we can get him in trouble and get rid of him. Sounds very much like the Easter story as well. In him he speaks of God as this hero and he shares the truth of the sin that's in people that they need rescue from. And he points them to the righteous one, the one who came to rescue them and says, you actually even killed Jesus. And he's the one, he's the right one, the righteous, the Messiah, the one who's come to rescue us. And we hear in seven that they, at the end of seven six, that's probably a wrong reference. They're stiff necked. This is when it starts to actually describe their physical, how they are. It's like it's built so much up in them. Maybe you felt this when you're, when your fear is taking over that your body actually like changes in it. Stephen continues the posture of he turns his head to God. He's in prayer, he's full of the Spirit, he's grace and power. He speaks with peace, with wisdom. And they have become stiff necked. They've resisted the Holy Spirit. They've been the ones who have killed the righteous one. Fear has seemed to just grip them. It's this like almost shaking. You can imagine this anger and fear. Holding them as the Spirit of God has gives him great courage and boldness and a real peace in the midst of that.755, it says he looks up to Jesus even as they've come to him. Here's where we see this. Visually, they describe them as furious and they have gnashed teeth. It seems like a exaggerated but not right. They're so angry that we have to stop this guy. He's taking everything from us. And we were seeing thousands of people come to him. We heard right before this, even, even some of our priests have now come to believe this. It's ruining our lives and our way of life and what we think brings us close to God and, and provides for us. It's taking all that out of who we are. There's even a moment it says they cover their ears and stop listening and they just yell. Imagine the gnashing of teeth, the covered ears. Does that look like. It looked like me? Probably when I was two years old, three years old, right. I wanted Just one more Capri Sun. My mom wouldn't give it to me. And you get to the point. All you have left is covering your ears and yelling for your Capri sun, right? There's a tantrum happening. There's. They've, like, reverted to just being kids who want something or adults who want something. And it moves very violent. In the midst of that happening, the tension, the gnashed teeth, the covering, the yelling, Stephen looks up to Jesus. It's very intentional. In Luke, we see a lot of this language. Looks to Jesus, looks to God. He prays to him. And you know what he says? He asked God to forgive them. He says, please forgive these people. It's so close to the same words that Jesus uses, Stephen. Filled with the spirit, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that is now in him, it says, and then he peacefully rests in the midst of the chaos and the violence and the gnashed teeth all around him. He shows great courage and peace. Some commentary said Luke intentionally doesn't say that he died. It actually says he rested peacefully to show, like, the place he's in. What does the spirit of God do in you? Fear moves us to become paranoid and angry, become liars, become blamers. At all costs, we end whatever we have to end that might be taking that thing from us. Whether it's our comfort or our joy or whatever we think it is, right, we'll do anything. It just builds. And the spirit of God changes us in the midst of that. Nancy Guthrie says about this moment in church history, surely part of their resistance was that if they were to accept God's dwelling in his people by his Spirit, it would mean that people no longer needed to come to the temple for access to God. Here's the part. They would lose all of their power and their position and their purpose for existence. This is why I get angry in my life, because I am worried a thing is going to take away my power or my position or my purpose, Right? Like identity, my core identity. And if you're threatening those, then I'm a different per. My teeth start clenching and I stop listening. So this is the joy of the gospel. It is not just a story about Stephen going, I'm not scared to die. It's a story about a man who says, a spirit of God has changed all of me, that I can look to Jesus. I can know that all of my comfort and joy and purpose and all of my position and my power and my purpose are given to me by him. And it's so much greater than Anything I could grab that I could create. And we know I no longer have to live with a spirit of fear, but I now get to live in the spirit of grace and of God. We hear this in second Timothy, second Timothy. I encourage you to just keep even reading past this part, but I like the ESV version. It uses this word for this reason. I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. It just had talked about these wonderful people, these women and people in his life that have like. That have prayed for him and has like asked God's spirit to be in him and work in him. And so he's encouraging Timothy here in the beginning of. Of 2 Timothy, which is in you, this gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self control. That's how I described Steve in that moment. God gave him a power and love and self control. Peace. That's what I want and not a fear. I know what fear leads me to. I see this all the time here in my life, right? Many, many moments. Maybe you experience this around you. Maybe someone takes a toy that you love and then it just. In a moment, right, you go from laughing to how dare you touch my teddy bear. And your teeth gnash and maybe you start yelling and you are ready to do anything to get that teddy bear. I remember as a kid having these wonderful moments with my brother. And then in a moment one of us would leap off of a bunk bed on the other one because they were touching their GI Joe and that was the end of it. You're threatening my power and my. You're threatening the thing I love that brings me comfort and joy. The thing I live for, the thing I waited all day at school to come home and play with. And now you're messing with it. I'll do anything to get that thing. We feel this, we see this online, right? This might be a moment. You're like, oh, I'm thinking of a lot of people who live with a spirit of fear. You live with the spirit of fear. Maybe try to shift it. I know you're thinking, I can think like six people who post things. Most of them are family members. How dare I gotta. I'm gonna send them this sermon and you, let's deal with you. You, we do this, we go, oh, I don't even. Oh, this thing. And they're threatening who I am, they're threatening who we are. They're threatening my way of life and my spirit of fear starts building in me. I plug my ears. I just start yelling, oh, thank goodness. They've created an angry emoji. I don't know if that's on there anymore. I actually typed in, like, oh, I need to see an image for fearful Facebook posts. That's a wild thing to search for. None of them appropriate for church. This is the only one I could find. But. Right. The same thing wells up in us. You're not gnashing teeth. It'd be nice to have a gnashing teeth little image I could post there. Or even that. I just think that for me, I think in a moment in my life, when I get a little criticism, this is when it's very practical. I get a little bit of, hey, that wasn't helpful. Or have you thought about doing this? This different. I realize how close, how much I hold onto a thing I did or I made or I designed or I. Or I planned. And I go, how dare you? That is my purpose and my power. That is who I am. How dare you do that? I just want to cover my ears. Don't tell me. Don't tell me. I. Because all my identity was in this thing I did right? That was of human origin. How quick. Even in the criticism. So the answer, my friends, is not, let's go be more like Stephen. The answer is, let's look to the one Stephen looked to. Because that day, in that moment, we didn't see Stephen say, oh, I got this. Everyone go, man, Stephen's the best. That guy. Like, he has so much scripture memorized, and he's just such a good Christian. And that's why he did it. It all happened because the spirit of God did you see? He looks up to Jesus, looks to heaven, and then he acts out the same thing we see on the cross. This is what we do. We turn to Jesus for this. You want the spirit of God in your life? You want to be able to hear criticism and go, yeah, okay, I guess. Yeah, that's helpful. And not feel it like your teeth clench because you can't believe they criticize you. Do you want to be able to see and hear something that maybe is hard to hear? People who maybe themselves are living in fear and not just throw back more fear, but have peace, even be able to say, I forgive you in the midst of them hurting you? All those things come from us turning to the one who himself was killed by a mob. A lot of the same people who killed Stephen and could turn and forgive. So that's my hope today for us I'm going to invite our worship team up here so we get some time to sing together. But I can be a person who shares my stuff because I've already been given the greatest gift in Christ. I can not be threatened by the loss of my power or my wealth or my control or comfort, because I have the rock, the salvation, the one who gives me those things abundantly and graciously. I can listen to criticism or even maybe people opposing me, and I can even forgive, because my identity is in Christ and not what I have done. I just want to end with a quick moment here. I used to, when I played baseball in middle school and high school, at the end of games, my dad always wanted to have, like, a talk. And I dreaded those. And I could feel, like, two things well up in me. So it all depended on what happened. So sometimes we'd come after a game, and my dad would put his tailgate down in his truck, and we would sit together, and he would, like, put his arm around me, and he'd tell me how proud he was of how well I did. I remember this, like, I had a game that I hit a home run, and it was like. And he says, wow, that was so good. You did all the things. You did it. And in that moment, there was this different thing that welled up in me, right? Like a love, a safety, a peace, a joy that we got to share. And even after that, you might share criticism, but it was different. And then there was moments where he'd put the tailgate on and he'd say, sit down. And then he would stand and pace in the parking lot, and he would, like, let me know all the things I should have done differently. But every moment in the game, he might have been a little frustrated. And I got to hear about everyone. I got to hear about everybody on the team and myself. Those moments were not moments that I felt love well up in me. On the tailgate, all I wanted to do was grit my teeth and cover my ears. All I want to do is tell him all the things that he didn't do. Well, maybe you should have coached us better, dad. There was a fear of all these things, right? This anger that welled up in me, all from the difference in how I sat with my dad. And I want us to encourage us that today, all the way back when I'm sitting in my room wrapped in my blanket, Christ has come and clothed us in the spirit. Our Father sits with us, says, I know you're broken. I know you've made idols. I Know you've turned to other gods. I love you. And again, I want to give you mercy. Again, I'm with you, and I want to help you through this. Again, my spirit will not be stopped. And I want you with me on this. I want you to join me on this. And I pray that it would be the people we get to be. Instead of living in a spirit of fear, we get to live the spirit of grace, which is really good news. And we get to snuggle up and know that we are safe and we can rest well because the God who will not be stopped has come and clothed us and we do not have to worry. A couple things to consider here as we keep moving in our service. We're going to take some time to sing together as we end our time and just respond to that really good news. One of the things we love about our service is that we build to a time of communion, which is something Jesus calls us to do. To break bread and drink wine, but we're gonna break crackers and drink grape juice. But to remember his body broken and his blood shed. The thing that that makes this possible, him willing to suffer so that we could receive that forgiveness, that life. And so we encourage you to head out and take communion at some point in the next three songs. They're out in the hallway. Anyone can do this. We ask you. You're a follower of Jesus. And actually, even if families want to do this on 5th Sundays, we usually have stickers available, too. I think they're out there. So even if you're someone who's not taking communion because you don't know yet if you believe, we still would love you to go and just pray together, Maybe throw a sticker on you. Just it helps to remember you as you head home today and spend your day, maybe your week, you can go, oh, look at that sticker. It reminds me of what Christ has done. We also have people who would love to pray for you in the back of the room for anything. Please take them up on that. They have a yellow lanyard, and you can always give in response. It's a way to continue to help serve the church and continue joining God in what he's doing. He's not stopping, and we get to join him in that. Let me ask you a few things just to consider as we end here. Have you clothed yourself in Jesus? Be wrapped up in him. Look to him. That is the way to this kind of life. Where does fear and anger control you? It's an opportunity to pray, even repent, and Turn away like, wow, I'm looking to things that aren't Jesus. I'm fighting for things that aren't Jesus. You turn to him who fans into flame this gift of God in your life. Ask that who are the people who are around you, who continue to encourage you to live in this spirit? And who needs to hear this freedom from fear. It's really good news. We live in that. So let me pray for us and we'll continue worshiping here together. God, you are good. You are moving and you're not stopping. And it is incredible that you invite us into that, that you've even made a way, that we get to join you in that. I pray that we too would be filled with your spirit, full of your wisdom and your power and your grace, and that that would change not just us, but those around us as they experience the same Lord. And we pray that more people would know you. And I pray too, as we're all in this room together worshiping. It's such a gift to do this together. I pray for those, especially our friends, our kids, the little ones here, who don't know you or have not made that decision. We pray for their hearts, too. We cannot wait for the day when we see our friends say yes to you. Be baptized and join your work. That is a joy. So we thank you for them. We pray this, Lord, in Jesus, really good name, Amen.