The Martyrdom of Stephen - Part 3 (Acts 7:54-8:3)

Welcome and Announcements

Quarterly Business Meeting today right after Sunday AM Worship

We are back to a regular worship service schedule:

Discipleship Groups at 9am on Sunday

Sunday AM Worship at 10:30am

Wednesday Bible Study & Prayer at 7pm.

Please prepare to partake in the Lord’s Supper next week.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 69:6-18)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 69:6-18, which continues a psalm of David in which he laments and cries out to God. We see him ask God to not allow those who trust in Him be put to shame because of the suffering that David is going through. He asks God to answer his prayers and take care of him. Please stand and read Psalm 69:6-18—I’ll read the even-numbered verses, please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.

Psalm 69:6–18 ESV

6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. 9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. 12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. 13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. 14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. 15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. 17 Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. 18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!

Congregational Singing

There is a Fountain (301)

When Trials Come (79)

Jesus, Strong and Kind (Lead)

Scripture Reading (Gen 12)

We’re back, in our Scripture Reading, to reading through Genesis together. This morning’s passage shows us God’s calling upon Abram who later becomes Abraham, the Father of Israel. In this chapter, we see God call Abram and Abram immediately fall into sin, which reminds us that Abram is a man who sinned and it reminds us that our hope isn’t in Abram. Josh, can you read Genesis 12 for us?

Genesis 12 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. 10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 7:54-8:3)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Acts 7:54-8:3.

While you’re turning there, I need to spend the first part of this message reminding you of the context for this passage. Almost a month ago, we started working through the end of Acts 6 and the beginning of Acts 7, which records a sermon-like speech from the deacon Stephen, which causes him to be murdered by the very people that he’s preaching to. Of course, because of how long it is, we divided it into three parts: in the first week, we looked at how Stephen preached the Gospel and taught the truth, but the people didn’t want to hear it so they stirred up the people, elders, scribes, and chief priests. We know that he was simply proclaiming the truth because the Bible tells us that they couldn’t “withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.” He spoke the truth in the right way.

So, again, they riled up the people against Stephen and Stephen is pulled in front of the high priest who asks him a simple question, “Are these things so?”

Instead of acting and reacting in fear and backing down, Stephen determines to keep preaching the Gospel and teaching the truth; so, he takes almost all of ch. 7 to explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He works through the history of Israel while pointing out all the ways that God providentially and sovereignly worked in and for the Israelites. He speaks of how God worked through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and even how God worked in and through David and Solomon.

And of course, all these details would be well known by the Jewish people listening to Stephen and they might even hear everything that Stephen said and quietly celebrate all the different things that happened in Israelite history. In fact, they might even well up with a sense of pride at where they were and how far they had come until the very end of Stephen’s sermon-like speech.

But Stephen gets to the end and in vv. 51-53, he drives home the point that he’s been leading to—let’s read those verses because they provide the context for this morning’s text. Vv. 51-53 say, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Stephen gets to the point that he’s been driving at—and it’s basically this, just like your ancestors, you disobey God, you reject the truth, and you resist the Holy Spirit. And you don’t even have to imagine what type of response this caused because we immediately see what happens.

Let’s read Acts 7:54-8:3.

Acts 7:54–8:3 ESV

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 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. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Death of Stephen (7:54-60) and (2) The Introduction of Saul (8:1-3). In vv. 54-60, we’ll see the end result of Stephen’s sermon-like-speech. How exactly did the people respond to his sermon? Not well. Vv. 1-3 will then introduce us to someone that chronologically, we have yet to meet; and we won’t see again until ch. 9 of Acts. Luke is ending Stephen’s account by recording his physical death; and he’s starting the account of Saul by recording Saul’s spiritual depravity before showing us his repentance later. This morning, we’re going to discuss what it means to be willing to proclaim the Gospel and teach the truth even if it means being murdered for your faith.

Prayer for Illumination

The Death of Stephen (7:54-60)

So, Stephen finishes the sermon-like speech and there really isn’t much dead time in between the speech and the reaction of those listening to him.

From the text, we get an impression that everything happened rather quickly and we see their reaction in v. 54, “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.”

I think we would all agree that their response is not generous towards him, but I think, if you’re familiar with the history of the Israelites throughout the Old Testament, you might have noticed an allusion to how the wicked in the Old Testament opposed God and how the people in Acts 7 are opposing the Word of God as proclaimed by Stephen.

In Job 16:9, we see Job’s response to some of his friends—remember, his friends weren’t exactly gracious toward him when they accused him of sinning. Their thinking was that Job must’ve sinned and that’s why he experienced such great hardship, which wasn’t true. Job describes his friends as “[gnashing] at [him] with [their] teeth.”

In Psalm 112, we read about how the man who fears the Lord and delights in God’s commands are blessed. And because he hopes in the Lord, he will stand firm and not be afraid. We read about how those who are blessed by the Lord tend to be generous and in vv. 9-10, we read that the blessed “has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.” But “The wicked man sees [all this] and is angry; he gnashes his teeth.”

Those who wickedly oppose the Lord are typically described as being enraged and grounding or gnashing their teeth at both God and those who follow God—they are hostile, they absolutely oppose the truth, which makes sense, consider those who are outrightly atheistic in today’s world. Those who tend to describe themselves as atheistic usually aren’t content to let others continue in faith, they typically argue and fight against the truth.

In Stephen’s instance, those surrounding him refused to believe what Stephen was saying, just like their ancestors who opposed God’s Word, they too oppose what God has spoken through Stephen.

So, the people surrounding Stephen are stewing in their anger, enraged at what Stephen has spoken, but something unusual happens to Stephen during this situation.

And what happens with Stephen stands in contrast to how the people are responding—they’re responding in anger and hostility; but Stephen is utterly calm and he sees something that simply amazes him—and really, the description of it ought to amaze us as well—Stephen sees the glory of God and he sees Jesus, which might sound a little bit like unnecessary detail, but there is great significance in Stephen seeing God’s glory and seeing Jesus.

In vv. 55-56, “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 opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”

It’s significant because it fulfills the very words of Jesus in Luke 22:69 just before His crucifixion. In Luke 22:66-71, we read Jesus being tried before the very same people that Stephen’s standing in front of. The council in Luke 22 confront Jesus, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus responds by saying that if He told them, they wouldn’t believe Him and in v. 69, He continues with “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

Jesus prophesied His return to the right hand of God—Stephen sees Jesus at the right hand of God.

Jesus prophesied that He would be at God’s right hand, which is a position of power and authority—Stephen sees Jesus standing in a position of power and authority.

Do you see the significance here? The very thing that Jesus said would happen in Luke 22:66-71, Stephen claims actually did happen to the very people that initially heard Jesus’ claim.

It’s also of note that this is precisely what Daniel prophesied would happen in Dan 7:13-14 “13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

Patrick Schreiner suggests that part of the reason for Stephen to see this is for Stephen to see that what he did was right—it’s vindication. “[Jesus] stands as the Son of Man (see v.56) in a law-court setting vindicating Stephen and declaring him innocent. Though condemned by a human court, Stephen stands vindicated in God’s court . . . Stephen must and shall go free, but this freedom will only come by giving up his life, not by saving it.” (Patrick Schreiner, Acts, Christian Standard Commentary (Holman Reference, 2021) 257).

Those surrounding Stephen are enraged, grinding their teeth at him; but Stephen sees the glory of God and he sees Jesus—who has all power and all authority. He sees Jesus, who vindicates him

Imagine the sense of praise and worship that must’ve come over Stephen as he sees the glory of God. Imagine how Stephen felt as he sees Jesus.

I think we get a sense of this in his proclamation, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

This is a bit subjective of me, but I don’t think he’s saying this in a matter of fact way—I think he’s blown away right now and he’s expressing something that is absolutely astounding to him.

And he’s probably doing it with a great amount of passion, wonder, and awe.

But the people, they hear him make this proclamation about seeing Jesus standing by the Father; and they realize what the implication is, but instead of listening to what Stephen said and responding with repentance from their sins and belief in Jesus, they respond by doubling down in their sins. Vv. 57-58 show us just how far they’re willing to go to continue in their unbelief, “But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

They so don’t want to hear the truth, that they physically stop their ears and cry out.

It’s precisely what a young child does when he doesn’t get his way or hears something that he doesn’t want to hear—they cover their ears and they shout, “I can’t hear you.”

That’s sort of what these Jewish people are doing—they’re literally refusing to hear the words Stephen speaks, which let’s be honest, was nothing more than the Gospel.

He utilized the history of the Israelites to prove to them that they, just like their ancestors, were refusing to hear the truth from God.

He called them to realize their sin and repent.

They chose not to believe, they chose to disregard the truth, and they chose to cry out with a loud voice and stop their ears.

They also chose to double-down in their own sinful behavior. Instead of just saying, “nope, I don’t believe in what you’re saying,” v. 58 tells us that they rushed together at him, “then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”

They dragged him out of the city, which was a bit of irony—because the only reason they grabbed him out of the city was to keep to the Law of God.

They’re following Leviticus 24:14-16 “14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him. 15 “And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 ‘Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.” (LSB)

You might hear Leviticus and think, when did Stephen blaspheme? He didn’t, but remember, the Sanhedrin doesn’t believe that Jesus is God—thus, Stephen’s claim to see Jesus standing at the right hand of God would be blasphemy if Jesus wasn’t and isn’t God.

The irony in all this is that they claim that he’s committing blasphemy and they’re actually obeying what the Word of God says concerning those who commit blasphemy—despite the fact that Stephen just utilized the Word of God to prove to them that they typically don’t obey God.

The irony being that they think they’re obeying God, when they really aren’t.

Perhaps most surprising in all this, is how Stephen responds to being stoned by the people. Vv. 59-60, “As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Stephen says two sentences that accompany his death. Let’s look at them:

In v. 59, he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” — which sounds an awful like when Jesus says (during His crucifixion) Luke 23:46 “46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.”

Whether or not Stephen was thinking this when he was dying is up to debate, but the meaning of Stephen’s statement is simple.

He’s expressing an absolute trust in the Lord, even in the midst of being dragged out of the town, stoned, and killed. He’s expressing the absolute confidence that he has in the Lord.

He trusts God; and so, despite his death, he finds comfort in knowing that he’s in God’s hands.

In v. 60, he says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” This is the sentence that might be completely shocking to you and really maybe even to some of the people killing him.

Stephen literally is being murdered; and he chooses to forgive the ones who murdered him as he’s dying.

John Polhill, “Stephen died as only one who was “full of the Holy Spirit” could (v. 55) . . . ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,’ echoed those Jesus prayed from the cross. This was the same basic commitment of his life to his Lord that Jesus made to the Father in his own dying moments (Luke 23:46). There is a certain trusting innocence in these dying words of Stephen and of Jesus. The words are an ancient Jewish prayer, based on Ps 31:5, which children were taught to pray at bedtime. ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ reminds us of Jesus’ prayer for the forgiveness of those who crucified him (Luke 23:34). And so Stephen ‘fell asleep,’ . . . No one ever died with greater assurance than Stephen. He fell asleep with the vision of his risen Lord at God’s right hand still fresh on his mind.” (John Polhill, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992) 209-210))

Now, the last three verses for this evening ends our text with a transition. And you might be curious as to why we’re ending on a transition—the reason is simple. Because technically, the paragraph or the pericope ends with v. 3 of ch. 8. The flow of thought, though it is transitioning, doesn’t end until v. 3 with the introduction of great persecution over the whole church.

Let’s re-read the last three verses.

The Introduction of Saul (8:1-3)

Acts 8:1–3 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Now, just to clarify—when we worked through the first section, you might have notice that I skipped over part of one verse. V. 58 gives us some insight about a man named Saul, “And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

I intentionally skipped working through this verse, so that I could tie it with this transition in vv. 1-3, but I do think having it at the end of ch. 7 helps us to understand the transitory nature of these remaining verses.

It is surely a transition, which is why it weaves this introduction about Saul into the martyrdom of Stephen. And it not just introduces us to a man, but to something significant that is going to explode across the known world.

And it’s the issue of persecution—Saul brings about a wave of persecution against Christianity that hasn’t been seen up to this point in history.

This wave of persecution starts with the execution of Stephen in Acts 7 into Acts 8 and it rapidly expands.

V. 1 speaks of great persecution agains the church in Jerusalem, which causes the disciples to scatter throughout multiple regions.

Judea being the region immediately surrounding Jerusalem; Samaria being the region past Judea.

And though this verse doesn’t speak of the persecution following them at that moment, we know from the rest of the New Testament that persecution does indeed follow the believers throughout the known world.

V. 3, we see how “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

The persecution in question ripped homes apart, tore couples asunder, and destroyed the normal lives of those who followed Jesus.

The persecution in question resulted in men and women being thrown into prison, which shows us the extent of this persecution—that the governmental agencies in charge of the penal system would allow Christians to be placed in prison.

Now, just as a side note—though this situation seems dire with significant persecution coming against the believers, the reality is that anytime the true church of God is persecuted severely, the persecution has the exact opposite effect than the persecutors want.

Acts 8 through the rest of the book will teach us this—Saul desperately wants to squash the church—the idea of ravaging is that of destroying (or at least seeking to destroy).

He does this to the extent that he kills people, imprisons people, and hunts people, but instead of actually squashing the church and destroying God’s people, what actually happens?

We see as we continue through Acts—that despite harsh persecution, the true church of God grows significantly.

Another example of this is seen when you look at Revelation 1-2 and you see the messages sent to the churches.

There are seven churches given messages in Revelation 1-2—most of the churches are given warnings for abandoning their first love, following false teaching, being spiritually dead, and being lukewarm.

Only two of the churches aren’t given warnings—Philadelphia and Smyrna. Why aren’t they given warnings? Because persecution has stopped them from following false teaching, being spiritually dead, and being lukewarm.

Or in other words, they aren’t given warnings because persecution has been a catalyst for them to keep growing significantly.

Now, there’s one last verse in question and it really tells us how people responded to the death of Stephen. Acts 8:2, “Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.”

Those who genuinely believed and followed God; those who were true to the faith, buried Stephen and lamented over him.

Lamentation is the idea of great weeping and mourning—people who actually believed in Jesus, saw what had happened, and they wept.

This leads us in our remaining few minutes to discuss some application and I think the best way to start our application is by posing two questions—why was Stephen willing to die like this? Or What motivated him to do the things that led to his death? Think on these two questions while I give a brief synopsis of what has led up to our application this morning.

Application

Over the past month, we’ve looked at various aspects of Stephen’s martyrdom—we saw how he proclaimed the Gospel to an unwilling group of people, how they lied and claimed that he was essentially in sin when he wasn’t, and how he was brought to the Sanhedrin to be tried for his sins—particularly the sin of blasphemy (though again, he wasn’t actually guilty of this). He then spends almost all of ch. 7 recounting the history of the Israelites with special emphasis on how God was working in and for the nation of Israel, but the Jewish people continuous rejected the truth, disobeyed God, and fell into sin. Stephen intentionally recounted all this to show the Jewish people in his day that the rejection of the truth is something that the Israelites were really known for—despite seeing miracles, regardless of the truth, and with no regard to how God had been working in their lives. Just like their ancestors, these Jewish people were rejecting the truth—despite seeing miracles, regardless of the truth, and with no regard to how God had been working in their lives.

Now, through all this, I think we could readily admit that Stephen was at least a little intuitive; and so, when things started going sideways for him, I’m sure he probably noticed it. Or in other words, when he proclaimed the Gospel in Acts 6 and the people started riling others up against him—I’m sure he noticed. And when he stood in front of the Sanhedrin and gave his sermon-like speech and all the people around him started getting restless and irritable, angry and irate—I’m sure he noticed. I can appeal to personal experience with this—as someone who has preached to congregations of varying size, you can tell when people are responding to the text (particularly in smaller groups, but even in much larger groups). You can tell when people are feeling conviction and you can tell when people who feel conviction are refusing to repent despite being convicted. Though it might sound subjective, experience tells us that Stephen could tell that things were going sideways for him in the eyes of men, but instead of backing down, instead of recanting, instead of being silent to protect his own skin—he boldly proclaimed the Gospel, he firmly stood on the truth, and he stayed faithful even as he was accused, even as he was dragged out of the town, and even as they took stones and bludgeoned him to death with them.

Again, I’m sure he noticed the people riling up against him, I’m sure he noticed their anger and their wrath building up. I’m sure he realized that he was about to die.

So, again, think of the two questions that I offered, why was Stephen willing to die like this? What motivated him to do the things that led to his death?

We can sum it all up with one word. Stephen was motivated to do all this because of the truth.

Stephen had knowledge of the truth—of the Gospel. And he realized something about this Gospel truth that motivated him to not just know it, but to proclaim it even to his death.

What did he realize about the Gospel truth? He realized that the Gospel—the fact that Jesus Christ came to save sinners and He accomplished this by living a perfect, sinless life and then by sacrificing Himself as a substitionary atonement for our sins, then by being resurrected was of such great importance that it is worth having being oppose you, attack you, unfairly try you, and unjustly execute you.

He realized that the Gospel was worth dying for—even if the proclamation of the Gospel resulted in direct opposition, of pain, and of suffering.

He understood the fact that the truth of God’s Word, the Gospel is so important that it has to be proclaimed and preached and taught regardless of how people respond to it.

Stephen was willing to die for the Gospel because he realized that the people around him needed to hear the Gospel even though he knew that they wouldn’t accept the truth.

Stephen was willing to do this because he realized that the Gospel was and is true—he understood the truth.

And because he understood the truth of the Gospel—of the Word of God, he was motivated to proclaim the truth with boldness in the face of opposition, of injustice, and eventually death. Why? Let me give you three reasons—I’ll state them and then break them down a bit.

First, because the truth is still true even when everyone around you disagrees—I think we all know that there are certain things that are true regardless of if someone agrees with them or not.

For instance, we all know gravity is real and if someone were to walk in and claim otherwise, we would still know that gravity is real—we can experience gravity.

The truth of the Gospel, the truth of God’s Word is true even when people claim otherwise. We know this to be the case because it proves itself valid time after time.

So much so, that even honest unbelievers will admit that the Bible validates itself in terms of historical events, archeology, and various other fields of study as well.

Stephen was motivated by the truth—He was willing to die because He knew the truth and understood its importance.

Second, he was motivated by Jesus—both Jesus’ command to make disciples and the vision of seeing Jesus standing at the right hand of God—Stephen knew Jesus’ command to go a make disciples. While it’s doubtful that he was physically there when Jesus gave this command, it’s clear that he had been taught by the apostles who were told to teach this command.

Stephen was motivated to proclaim the Gospel simply because Jesus commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel and he was willing to obey Jesus.

Which honestly, ought to convict us all a lot because most of us are guilty of disobeying this command, but consider just how simple the command is—go and make disciples of every nation baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them all that I have taught you. The command is to go and tell other people about Jesus, go and teach them what Jesus taught, go and convince them of the truth.

And of course, not everyone that you tell about Jesus will come to believe, but most professing Christians today aren’t even trying to tell people about Jesus—how can you claim to follow Jesus and choose not to obey his commands? Especially when He says, “if you love me, you will keep my commands.”

Stephen was motivated by Jesus—He was willing to die because He knew Jesus and understood His importance.

And third, he was motivated by compassion and love for the people—it might not be as easy to see this because no where in Acts 6-8 does Stephen actually verbalize the words, “I love these people.” But consider the fact that as he dies, he asks God not to hold this sin against the people. Why would he do this? Because he truly loved the people and he had compassion on them.

We live in a culture that has a warped view of what true love is—this warped view comes from various worldly and unbiblical sourced and it has infiltrated the church. In other words, many people in the church have a warped view of love because of the influence of the world around us.

Note, that I’m not talking about love in the sense of loving ones spouse, which the world also has a warped understanding of.

I’m talking about what it means to love others—to love other people in a non-romantic sense. The world teaches that to love others, you must be completely accepting of everything that individual does—otherwise, you’re a bigot, you’re hateful, or you’re fearful of that person.

Stephen shows us what it means to love people—you tell them the truth, you call them out for their sin, and you call them to repentance, to belief, and to follow Jesus.

Even if they hate you for it, even if they disdain you for it.

Even if they drag you out of town, take stones, and bludgeon you to death.

If you actually love the people around you, you will tell them the truth.

Stephen was motivated by compassion and love—He was willing to die because He knew the people and he knew what would happen to the people if they refused to repent and believe.

The reality is, friends, that until you come to the realization that the Gospel is worth dying for, you will never live for Jesus the way that he has commanded us to live for Him. Until you understand that Jesus demands total dedication, your complete attention, and every ounce of your affections, you will never please God the way that Stephen pleased God. Without developing a compassion and love for those around you, you will never see people the way that God sees people.

Put simply, we learn from the record of Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts 6-8 that the Gospel proclamation is so important that it is worth dying for because (1) the truth is true, (2) Jesus has commanded us to proclaim the truth, and (3) the people need to hear the truth.

Rom 10:14 “14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without [someone telling them]?” (LSB)

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Be Thou My Vision (176)