The Cost of Commitment
Notes
Transcript
When we think of commitment, many of us will naturally think about marriage. On July 13th, 2013, I stood before God, Brittany, and our friends and family. I committed to love her, be there for her, care for her until one of us dies. When you make a commitment like that, you may not completely understand what you are getting yourself into. But when you are committed, it does not matter. You must be willing to do what needs to be done to uphold your commitment.
Marriage is a great picture to look at for commitment. This is because the bible uses the analogy of marriage for the relationship between Christ and the church. Christ represents the bridegroom and the church represents the bride. The bridegroom lays down his life for the bride. Husbands need to follow the example of Christ. Commitment comes with a cost. For the husband, it may be a cost of time, physical care, or at least for most men it comes with a financial cost.
In the passage today, we see the commitment that Stephen has for truth. The truth of God’s word being rightly taught. He has a commitment to stand up for the faith. He is not doing it out of arrogance or even hatred towards the people. He is doing it out of a commitment to love. To love like Jesus loves. This commitment that Stephen has comes with a great cost. This commitment costs him his life.
Acts 7:54–60 (ESV)
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.
Stephen is an example for us in scripture. I am not saying that we all are going to be killed like Stephen is. But Stephen was willing to put himself out there because of his commitment. This commitment did not come out of tradition or legalism. This commitment came from the fact that Stephen had heard the gospel message, responded to it, and had let God work through him. And my prayer is that all of us are at that point. That no matter what, we are committed to the point that nothing is going to stand in our way of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. There are a few things in this text that Stephen is committed to that we should be committed to as well.
Committed to the Spirits Work
Committed to the Spirits Work
To set the scene a little bit, Stephen was teaching in the temple. It was really upsetting some of the people so they went to the religious leaders and came up with lies about what he was teaching. They said that he was speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. So he was confronted and went into the longest speech recorded in the book of Acts. He biblically taught the correlation between Moses and the temple. He then told the people who were accusing him that they were the ones who killed the only righteous person to ever live. That brings us to our passage today.
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
Who didn’t see this coming. If you have been with us through our study in the book of Acts, you know that this was coming. The message that he was preaching was biblical truth. And they did not want to hear it. They had already set in their hearts what they wanted to do with Stephen. And when he made sure to point out their sin to them, this was the tipping point. The KJV says that they were cut to the heart. They were infuriated with him. Luke even tells us that they gnashed their teeth at him. Stephen confronted their sin and they are going to attack him because of it.
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.
This is one of the most emphatic “but’s” in all of scripture. But he was filled with the spirit. The word “but” brings a reality to the situation that Stephen is in. Death was creeping at Stephens door, but he was filled with the Spirit.
When reading this verse, there is a sense of comfort in the face of death. Stephen knows what is coming, but he is filled with the Holy Spirit. This filling of the Holy Spirit played itself out differently at this moment for Stephen. It has brought with it a gift of prophecy. He is able to see into heaven in the moment. This is a special gift. And I could sit here and preach a whole sermon just on that. But what I want to point out with the fullness of the Spirit in the life of Stephen is that it also prepared him to suffer.
Suffering is something that often gets overlooked. The Christian life is a life that need to be committed to suffering. Look in scripture accounts at the life of Job, who lost everything because of his faith. Look at the life of Paul who was willing to go through all human suffering imaginable in order to spread the gospel. We can only attribute Stephens willingness to suffer to the Spirit filling him. If Stephen was in his flesh, like many of us tend to be, he would not have been willing to lay his life down for his faith. He would have been begging them to stop what they were doing. But praise God that he was willing to suffer.
In this vision, Stephen sees the glory of God. What that means, I am not sure. I am not sure that you could paint a picture or put into words what that really means. But what Luke does describe is that Stephen sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And Stephen audibly describes this as well in the next verse.
56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
When scripture describes Jesus being in heaven it always describes him being at the right hand of God. But here is the only place in scripture that it describes Jesus as standing at the right hand of God. Every other time it will describe him as sitting. So why is that? Is this a typo in scripture? The answer to that question is no. Many people have different interpretation as to why Jesus is seen standing here. The most appropriate one that I have seen is because Jesus was standing in approval of Stephen.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,
He is acknowledging Stephen from Heaven. If you know the story of the baptism of Jesus, you see the similarities between the baptism of Jesus and the killing of Stephen. Both looked up to the heavens and saw the heavens open up. And both recieved affirmation from heaven. Jesus from his father who said “this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased”. And Stephen from Jesus standing up and acknowledging him in front of all of the heavenly beings. Stephen was also a beloved son.
Stephen was committed to the spirit working in his life. Over the last 2 chapters in the book of Acts, we have seen that play out. He was obedient to the leading of the spirit to serve the body, and teach scripture to those who needed to hear it. He was committed to the spirit leading him into a situation that is not ideal. Into a situation that will cost him his life. Are you committed to the spirit working in your life like it was in Stephens?
This does not mean that you have to be put to death. But this does mean that you need to first of all be listening for what God is leading you to do. But the second aspect of this is being obedient to following him. This may mean that you will go to a 3rd world country to be a missionary, but this also may mean that you stay where you are and become a missionary to those right here in our community. This may also mean that you follow through with baptism to make a public profession of what Jesus has done in your life to the world. Each and every one of us must be committed to the spirit working in our lives.
Committed to Persecution
Committed to Persecution
We have spoken about persecution some over the last several weeks. So instead of giving us another illustration, I believe that Stephen serves as a perfect illustration himself. Stephen was committed to living a gospel life. He was committed so greatly, that he was willing to die for the gospel. What is the gospel? (gospel presentation)
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.
So a riot begins. His fate had been sealed and he was being led to his execution. It was proper to preform an execution outside of the city. So they took him outside of the city to be stoned. This execution was not one that was very legal even. There was no trial, no formal accusations even. The only legal thing thing that happened was that they had witnesses when the stoning happened and that they went outside the city. Other than that, this was an unjust execution.
Throughout the process, there was only one man that was named as an opponent to Stephen, and that was Saul. We will learn more about Saul in chapter 8. But to summarize Saul briefly, he is a persecutor of Christians. Saul will soon encounter Jesus and be radically changed. Change to such a degree that he goes from persecuting Christians to converting people to Christianity. And this begins with him being the one who seemingly executes Stephen for the message that he proclaimed.
In everything that happened, Stephen never changed what he was saying, he never gave up on his faith. This is because with salvation comes perseverance. When someone makes a profession of faith, you will be able to see how genuine it was once they begin to face persecution. And this is because those that have truly been saved, who have truly experienced the love of God, who have truly been brought from death to life, will persevere.
I was watching a sermon the other day by HB Charles Jr. and he said “a faith that fizzles at the finish had a fatal flaw at the first”. Genuine faith will stand the test of trials and persecutions. This is not talking about perfection but about not seeing someone completely fall away. Faith will persevere.
I have said it recently that the persecution that we face in America in 2023 as Christians is not the same as some have faced over time. You don’t hear stories very often of Christians losing their lives because of their faith here in America. But it very well could be coming. In the last several years, God has been pruning the church in America. Not just Immanuel either but churches all over. We saw it with Covid and people who were once very regular people who just stop coming completely. And I am not talking about people who physically cannot anymore. God has been removing many nominal believers from the body of Christ. People who profess Jesus but don’t possess Jesus.
God has been pruning. John 15:1–2 “1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Yes, our numbers in church are not what they once were. But our church is in a very healthy place. We had 4 people last week come to our membership interest lunch. We are baptizing 2 adults today. We are at a pivotal point in the ministry of this church. And God is working in our body. Our mission as a church is to Build the Kingdom and Impact our Community. For us to be able to effectively do this, we need harvest workers. And I believe that in the life cycle of our church, we are at the point where God is sending us workers.
But we must be committed. And being committed to the local church means that you will be committed to persecution when it comes to us as a body. I have mentioned before what our brothers and sisters in China go through as churches and having to meet in private because it is illegal. This may be us one day. And if it is, I pray that we are as committed as Stephen was.
Committed to Love
Committed to Love
Love is a word that is abused by the world today. They believe that to love someone, you must accept their sin and approve of it. But this is not love. Love is deeper than this.
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Stephen was secure in his faith. He was dying and he cried out to Jesus to receive his spirit. I believe that we can see by his actions that he was very secure in his faith and his devotion to Jesus and to God’s word.
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.
Even as he is taking his last breath, we see his heart. This is what I am talking about when I say that he loved his persecutors. And this is the distinction between the worldly definition of love and how we see love displayed in scripture through the people of God. He asks God to not hold their sin against them. He never said that he approved of their sin and accepted their sin. We see in his own words his complete disapproval of their sin.
The world will tell you that if you do not approve of people’s sin, then you do not love them. Stephen was burdened by the hearts of the people that were literally killing him. He is asking God not to hold this sin against them. This is love. This is the same love that we see Jesus show his persecutors on the cross as he was being killed. Luke 23:34 “34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”
Just another similarity between Stephen and his savior. I say it a lot, but Christ should be our example. We need to love and treat others the way that Jesus did. We need to be devoted to the father the way that Jesus was. We need to be devoted to prayer the way that Jesus was. We need to love God’s word the way that Jesus did. Christ is our example. And this is why we should love. Because Christ loved us to the point that he went to be put to death in our place to give us new life in him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
You have heard me talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just to remind us, the gospel is that we were born sinners because of the sin of Adam and Eve. We need a perfect savior. God sent his son, Jesus, who lived a perfect life, to go to the cross and bear our sin. He defeated death and rose from the grave 3 days later. When we turn from our sin and believe that Jesus did that for us and is our Lord and savior, then you are saved.
Maybe this is you today. Maybe you have never turned from your sin and had faith that Jesus is your Lord and savior. There is nothing magical about walking an aisle, raising a hand, or praying the sinners prayer. All you must do to be saved is turn from your sins and believe in Jesus. If this is you, then that is your first step today. We would love to talk to you about what comes next. We don’t want you to walk this journey alone. We want to be here for you. Please fill out your bulletin with a way for us to get ahold of you so that we can follow up.
For those in the room who have already professed faith in Jesus, here is the challenge for you today. How committed are you? Are there ways that you can be more committed? And I am not specifically talking about to our church but to Jesus Christ in your walk with him. Maybe your next step in commitment is changing how you act around others. Maybe it is getting the courage to invite someone to church or to share the gospel with them. Or maybe it is following through with the bibles command to be baptized like we are about to witness today. We are to follow the example of Jesus. Jesus showed us what it means to be baptized. We believe that baptism must happen after a profession of faith and that it is by immersion. The word baptism comes from the Greek word “baptismo” which means to be immersed. So we follow Christs example to be baptized by immersion. If you have never followed through with baptism or would like to know more, I would encourage your to leave us your contact info on your bulletin in your seat.