An exampled witness (2024)
Book of Acts: Deer Creek • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsAim: To look at the example of Stephen as a witness of Christ
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From persecution to more . . .
From persecution to more . . .
From revealing times, to empowering times, to growing, to multiplying times that brought about persecutions, beatings and more Christian example, today we start a multi-part look at the 1st Christian martyr Stephen.
Revealing God’s plan (Act1:6)
To empowering God’s people (Act2:1-3)
To professing Gods way (Act2:14-41)
Demonstrating God’s results (Act2:42-46)
Persecution begins (Act4:18-21)
From threats to beatings and more threats (Act5:40)
The persecution reaches a new level (Act6:8-7:60)
Begins with the first Christian Martyr, Stephen (Act6:5)
Stephen who is one of the seven.
5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
A man approved by the whole congregation, Stephen a man of faith which we will learn much more about as we press on through the next multiple lessons
Stephen’s example, his willingness, his faithfulness led to many who were willing to suffer for Jesus.
The persecution he endured led to more church wide.
Leading to church wide persecution (Act8:1)
1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
(Transition) So we have our story and we are only looking at the arrest today, but may I encourage you to read on your own in preparation Act6:7-7:60 several times as we do this and the forthcoming studies.
To us in hindsight it is no wonder that Stephen, full of faith was able to perform miracles as the first non-apostle. It is no wonder that the scripture arguments raised by Stephen were unassailable. See that is what happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon and within, to accomplish God’s task.
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.
10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;
14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
This accepted, spirit filled man did not limit his ministry to waiting on tables, waiting on Hellenistic widows. He was an example to the lost and brought them in, he was granted to do miracles, and he was called to be an exampled witness to the Jews.
A couple of little side notes in (v.9) it speaks of the Synagogue of Freedman, there is no biblical definition of that, but it was common in that time, in that region that there were many Jews from many nations, cultures and each had its own Synagogue and this one, what we do know from (v.9) consisted of Cyrenians, Alexandrians, those from Cilicia, and Asia). These are the “libertines” those who were previously in bondage to Rome but have won their freedom.
Second, notice it says Cilicia, the city of Tarsus is in Cilicia and do we know anyone else who comes from Tarsus? We can see that Paul travelled from Tarsus in Cilicia (Act21:39; you can look that up)
Third, Stephen, Saul from the same region would, could have attended the same Synagogue and had debated one another hence why Paul heartily approved of Stephen’s death (Act8:1) previously noted.
Finally, as you may notice here, but will for sure as these parts work together there is some parallelism to Jesus Christ in Stephen, he followed the example of Jesus and truly was a disciple who picked up his cross to follow him, even to death.
(Transition) now may we start to look at the arrest and a couple of things to pull from it tonight. Why the arrest and what transpired from the arrest from our text tonight only at this point.
Stephen’s Arrest
Stephen’s Arrest
Stephen’s arrest as mentioned before has some parallels to that of Jesus, prompted by his ministry, arrested because of false accusations and displayed God’s glory in the midst of it.
Stephen’s name in the Greek means “crown.” I’m sure little did his parents know that he would be a disciple of the One who wore the crown of thorns so that he would we a witness, an exampled witness of victors crown he received in being a disciple of Jesus.
Luke as a good investigator for Theophilus has great things to record about Stephen from his investigation.
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
We should couple this verse with (v.5) and then look at how Luke sees Stephen and why it led to his arrest
5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
Stephen full of faith, evident faith
Stephen full of Spirit, evident within
Did great wonders and signs among the people
Stephen is the first non-apostle, along with the other of the seven, who was given the gift of Holy Spirit to do wonders and signs.
But may we remember that he was full of faith and full of the Spirit before the wonders and signs were done before the people. The people who are the ones who chose Stephen along with the others to minister to the Greek widows.
This is a man who was full of faith in Christ’s death and resurrection for him. Full of faith that all things were possible through Him
(application) - - - - may we be people who have evident faith and walk in the Spirit not in the flesh for people who have evident faith and demonstrate God’s grace and God’s power at work in them are going to be an attraction to others. But, also, may bring opposition too so we need to be ready for that too.
Stephen’s exampled witness brought opposition (Act6:9-11)
9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
Synagogue of the Freedmen, we can know they compromised of Cyrenians, Alexandrians (Africans), some from Cilicia and Asia (which is modern day Turkey)
This Synagogue as mentioned before could be place where both Stephen (which these would be his people) and Saul would have, could have been. Stephen being an exampled witness no better place for him to be than in his circle of influence, those with the same culture, same intellectual and philosophical approach to Judaism that he had. A place where there could be spirited debates over religious issues.
one thing we know when the Spirit of God is working in and through there is no stopping him. They were not able to resist his wisdom and the Spirit in which he spoke.
Stephen is there to spread the Good News, to preach Jesus the name above all other names in one must be saved by and the listeners, well they could not resist.
(transition) - - - - so this love filled, hope filled, Spirit filled, faith filled man bringing the good news that was difficult to resist then brought the opposition and the arrest.
11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.
13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
Opposition was filled with lies, were paid off to tell lies
Sound familiar here (Mt26:60)
60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,
Opposition brought forth false witnesses and statements
We have heard him say destroy the temple (gee, sound familiar?) (i.e. Mt26:61)
About the law of Moses; claims against (again still sound familiar?)
Stephens references? (Mk14:58; Jn2:19-21; Mt24:1-2; Mk13:1-2; Lk21:5-6)
When Stephen spoke of the temple was it what Jesus said?
58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”
Look what John recorded for us from Jesus own words about the temple.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Now, Stephen could have been speaking of the physical temple that Jesus referenced
1 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”
and then look at
1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”
And if that happened then the customs of Moses would be changed since there could no longer be animal sacrifices in the temple. (expand on that briefly)
Witnessed composure
Witnessed composure
May we turn back to the passage and focus on Act6:15 for a few minutes.
15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.
Composure like the face of an angel
Composure that was noticed
Evidence of being full of the Spirit (Act6:5; Gal5:22-23)
Back in (v.5) we know he was considered a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.
Spirit that was in him produced fruit that was evident too.
(application) - is our faith, is the Spirit evident in us. Is the Spirits fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control evident? If so, great thank God, if you wonder, or are not sure, pray ask God to help make it evident.
Now this afternoon I believe i have a few minutes left and want to take a side venture into the the times and the people here that led to Stephen’s exampled witness and martyrdom.
Stephen and Saul(Paul) somethings to consider
Tension in the church (Act6:1; Eph2:14-18)
Just because they are all believers there was still some tension going on, between the Hellenistic and the Hebrews. Some bias that was in place already before the church was born. If converts came from different synagogues it would make sense that the colloquial rivalries were still there and still needed to be worked through, isn’t that part of what Paul is dealing with the church at Ephesus in Eph2:14-18?
Stephen and Saul (Act8:1)
We know that Saul was there and heartily approved of the stoning of Stephen; had he debated Stephen from the other side of Damascus road before his conversion?
Paul sounds like Stephen? (Act13:13-52)
In Act13 is a longer recorded sermon and history lesson by Paul where he recounts just like Stephen did history to bring about the good news.
Paul following Stephens example (Act9:29)
29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.
So here is Paul now arguing on behalf of the gospel and the Jews wanting to put him to death.
Accusations against Paul, like Stephen (Act21:28)
28 crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
Let that sink in, does it sound, look familiar?
So, in looking at all we have looked at, who do you think the source of information to Luke was to record this for us but Paul himself?
Encouragement: What kind of witness are you?