Standing in the Faith (2)

Intro and Scripture

Acts 7:55–60 NIV

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Pray.

I was in Austin with a group of young clergy from around the country. We were learning about innovation and public branding. We began our conversation talking about branding of the Church. The big C-church. What is the general public perception of the Church? To drive the conversation we considered the “He gets us” campaign that made a big splash during the Super Bowl. Do you know what I am talking about?

What do unchurched, dechurched, marginal Christians think of the Church?

Another story of a major/well known pastor last week accused of child abuse

we have seen this in the Roman Catholic church and across protestant denominations

Megachurch after megachurch scandal

SBC convention issues

Methodist denominational Schism

The church lost its mind during COVID. Many churches in the news for their conspiracy theories and complete abandonment of care for people

Christian nationalism. Political posturing superceeding the kingdom of God.

Does a multi-million dollar campaign counteract what is happening to the image of the church?

As the pastors talked we shared similar feelings that many are beyond skeptical of the church, most consider Christians hypocritical. But really the sad part was there is a complete lack of trust.

Gabe Lyons, author and visionary helping Christians live out their faith in a changing world:

“The study confirmed many of our fears about the negative perceptions I had experienced. An overwhelming percentage of non-Christians sampled said they perceived Christians as judgmental, hypocritical, too political, and antihomosexual, among other things.”

The worst part, according to Lyons, is we have not recognized our new reality and adapted.

If it feels like a leap to consider a man killed for his faith for what it means for you to stand for your faith, hang in there. It shouldnt require the threat of death for us to consider how great the stakes are. There is much we can glean from Steven. There may not be an angry mob rushing at us. But perhaps a similarly dangerous experience is at play....the crowd has washed their hands of us.

Stephen the first martyr:

We do not know much about Stephen. He is introduced in chapter 6 and dead before chapter 8. He is likely a Hellenistic Jew, which means he was probably a Jew who spoke greek, really fit in more as a greek with culture and practice. Scripture goes to great lengths to speak of his faith....

Acts 6:5 (NIV)

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit;

and

Acts 6:8 NIV

8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

Immediately, in his ministry, Stephen begins to attract the wrong kind of attention. He gets wrongly accused of blasphemy. Is dragged in front of the Sanhedrin (ruling group of Jewish affairs in Roman providence)…think about Jesus here.

Then he preaches a fiery sermon that pretty much seals his fate.

We will talk about that too in a second. What can we learn from this witness? How do we stand in the faith in the midst of difficulty and trial?

1. Stephen knows the story of God and God’s people

Stephen is brought before the ruling parties and he gives a speech which provides a story arc leading to Jesus.

Beginning with Abraham and the promise of blessing of descendants with a home and God’s presence to be with them.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who became the father to the 12 patriarchs.

These patriarchs were the same brothers that sold Joseph into slavery. And God delivered from famine through this chaotic story. Later a new Pharoah rises to power and treats the people of God poorly. God again is faithful to his promise to Abraham and rescued the people through Moses.

The people rebelled against Moses and continually against the covenant through David and Solomon’s time.

And now the people are rebelling against God in the same way by rejecting Jesus.

I wish I could unpack all of this: Stephan is relevant, passionate, and confident.

2 challenges here:

Do you know your story with God?

Do you know the story of God and humanity?

read scripture

journal

2. Stephen is strong in the face of adversity

Stephen refuses to succumb to pressure of his accusers. In this day, often times the accusers would simply ask the accused to publically denounce their faith and they can save their life. Just say sorry and that you pledge allegiance to ceasar or the gods or something along those lines. The first church refused to compromise. As a matter of fact they spoke very strongly of those who did abandon the faith to save their lives.

It’s like they actually believed the words of Jesus.

Church, I am afraid we have compromised with much lower stakes. Because our lives are not literally asked of us, we have comfortably drifted into compromise. We have informally denounced our faith for money, success, sex, and soccer.

We have built more golden calves and this time they are political elephants and donkeys.

We live comfortable isolated lives, because our lives are not asked of us, why would we risk them?

Young people: We owe you an apology.....

As Stephen shares, the people have to cover their ears because truth stings. It challenges. It induces guilt and shame. If he was full of nonsense....they would have left him like the next beggar on the side of the road.

Listen, I am not telling you to go incite a mob by accusing them of crucifying Jesus. Stephen is a historical person, called for a specific reason in God’s mission.

But next time you shrink because you don’t want to make someone else uncomfortable, ask yourself:

Is it more likely I am shrinking because I don’t want to be uncomfortable?

Living counter cultural will be hard but it is the landscape we are in.

3. His Witness of Sacrifice and devotion becomes the ultimate testimony

Stephen and the martyrs become a compelling witness to faith. These men and women sacrificing their own life for this faith is as compelling as anything the world has seen. They did it with peace, assurance, and complete conviction. They shared their stories of grace.

“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” -St. Francis Assisi

I struggle with this so much.

Action without words is philanthropy....

words without action mean nothing....

4. Stephen was full of the Spirit and walking in the footsteps of Jesus

Outside of the bible, the earliest written account of martydom that we have is of Polycarp.

Polycarp was a bishop in Smyrna in Asia Minor and incredibly influential. His martyrdom was captured by eye witnesses and shared like a letter from the bible as a witness. What is fascinating is that the story is told in a way of comparing his death to that of Jesus:

Comparison of Polycarp to Jesus

Ch 6: betrayed by household, Herod is the chief of police, “those who betrayed him received the punishment of Judas”

Ch 7, they came armed, when they found him, he says “may God’s will be done.” Some regretted (think of centurion)

Ch 8, he came into the city on a donkey on the sabbath

Ch 12, both jew and gentile shout out against him. Prophecy fulfilled

Ch 16, stabbed

Stephen is the same way:

He is wrongly accused of blasphemy

he goes before the sanhedrin

Jesus: Into your hands I commit my Spirit

Stephen: “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.”

There was such an intimacy in the life of Stephen and Polycarp that their death was recorded as if it was a testimony and connection to Jesus himself.

Nothing we shared today is possible or even likely, without an intimacy with Christ.

It is so buzzword cliche now a days to say we must become Christlike.

Stay with Jesus, become like Jesus, do what he did in the world. This is the call of a disciple.

Close with story from Sarah….