Faithfulness through Fire

Introduction

In our world today, we here lots of crazy things day in and day out. What is kind of concerning is that it can be hard to tell what is real and what is fake with some of the outlandish things going on around us! Think if someone told you in 2019 that in a couple of months there would be lockdowns, people would stop going to work, kids wouldn’t be going to school, and you wouldn’t be able to go to the grocery store without a face covering. 2 years ago, you would’ve laughed and said that whoever told you this was either insane or trying to make you laugh. Fast forward several months and suddenly that doesn’t seem as crazy. While there continue to be crazy things said each and every day and we know that not every crazy thing will happen or is happening - we know that we live in a strange world that seems to continue getting stranger.

Put yourself in the shoes of a Jew in the 1st century. Since the time of your great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents, no one has heard from God. From Malachi to John the Baptist, it’s been nearly 400 years, and people are starting to get a little crazy. You have the Zealots who want to overthrow Rome and get back to the “glory days” of Israel. You have the Sadducees who have gotten really comfortable with the Romans in order to remain in power. You have the Pharisees who appear to be really cold and calloused as they go throughout their religious activity with a very legalistic mindset. Things are not exactly going well until you hear about Jesus of Nazareth. You hear the stories, miracles, and you even talk to people who have seen Him with their own eyes. You make your way to Jerusalem and, to your disappointment, you see Him crucified on a cross. The brief hope that you had that some of the craziness in your world was coming to an end after all these years was now dashed and you were back to life as normal.

Then, a couple months later, you start hearing rumblings in the city about a growing movement that continued to teach that Jesus was and is the Messiah. You go and check these guys out and you see the evidence. They are healing people in Jesus’ name. They are faithfully preaching about Jesus even though it gets them locked up in jail. They are united at a time in which there is division and hatred. You begin to question yourself and dig deeper into this church and what they believe. Before you know it, you hear some crazy stuff. Peter shares that there is salvation only through Jesus and not through the sacrificial system. You hear John and other apostles preach about the resurrection of Jesus and how we have the hope of resurrection as well. You finally hear of Stephen who teaches that Jesus will destroy the temple.

Would this sound a bit crazy to a 1st century Jew? Absolutely! This would sound blasphemous. Think of somethings that our world thinks is crazy. Does our world think that it’s crazy to say that every single human being is a sinner? Many think that’s crazy. Does our world think that it’s crazy to say that there is only 1 way one can be saved? Many think this is arrogant and crazy. Does our world think that it’s crazy to say that there is something more important than making ourselves happy? Many think life is all about being happy. The world thinks many things found in Scripture are a little crazy… The same was true for these Christians in the 1st century world as they taught what Jesus taught!

What should our response be whenever there is push back from others based on what the Bible says? Should we water down the message? Should we keep quiet? Should we just talk about Christianity when its convenient or whenever we’re at church? No to all of the above. Friends, we have good news to share and as we continue to look at in the book of Acts, we are reminded that faithful Christians are those who proclaim the truth of the Gospel to others. This morning, we are going to look specifically at a man named Stephen and how he was faithful to the task at hand. How he was faithful through fire and pointed people to Jesus Christ. May this be true of us - may we be people who obediently point others to Jesus, even if we stand out just a bit.

Acts 6:8–15 CSB

8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin. 13 They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law. 14 For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” 15 And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Faithfulness to God Requires Action (8-10)

Close your eyes for a moment and rewind the clock to your younger years. Think back to whenever you were a child and consider some of the people that you looked up to in life. On Father’s Day, I shared that survey after survey indicate that children say that the people that they look up to most often in life is their parents. Maybe for you, your role model was your mom or dad. For others, maybe it was a teacher or good friend. Whenever Lindsey and I were engaged, we visited Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City because we were under the impression that after our graduation from SBU, we’d be moving to Kansas City and I’d be attending class on campus and Lindsey would be teaching somewhere in the KC area. Oh, how the Lord changes our plans! Whenever we were visiting the campus we saw many impressive things - the Spurgeon Library, beautiful study halls, a student center that was under construction that has since been completed. One thing that stood out arguably the most from the trip, though, was the President’s office. I’ve never been to the White House, but I feel confident in saying that Dr. Allen’s president’s office is at par with the Oval Office. It is absolutely breathtaking in terms of size and beauty. Inside the office, near Dr. Allen’s desk, there were 3 portraits of preachers. Immediately as people were filing into the room, I tell Lindsey who each of the people are and I was curious as to why Dr. Allen had their respective portraits in his office. As he began his introductions and welcoming everyone to the campus, he began to tell us briefly about his time as seminary president and how he looked up to the preaching of these 3 individuals. The people were Charles Spurgeon, George Whitfield, and Jonathan Edwards. If you know anything at all about these men, you’d know that they were titans of the faith and some of the most faithful preachers of God’s word in the last 300 years. Sadly, many people today are unfamiliar with these people or at least 2 of the 3. Dr. Allen looked up to these men as faithful preachers who didn’t waver on what the Bible clearly taught. They had influenced his ministry as a pastor and they continued to influence him as a leader and teacher.

Whenever we have people that we look up to, we often emulate them in our lives. We act like they act. We say things that they say. We do things that they do. Thinking about my past, whenever I was a kid, I wanted to be a professional baseball player and my role model was Albert Pujols. I wanted to play 1st base because Albert Pujols played first base. I wanted to wear #5 because Albert Pujols wore #5. I couldn’t bat right handed, but I tried my best to copy his batting stance from the left side. Why did I do this? Because to me, Albert Pujols was the best baseball player in the world and I wanted to be like him. Maybe you did something similar in your childhood or maybe, like Jason Allen, you had several people you look up to and you continuously strive to emulate in your daily life/ministry.

This isn’t a bad thing by any stretch! We know that, as Christians, our goal is to be like Jesus Christ. Jesus is our goal and we desire to reflect His goodness and grace to those around us. We want to live and love like Jesus. Tony Merida shares that in the next few chapters of Acts, we read about a man who was as much like Jesus as anyone in Scripture: Stephen. Stephen’s role model was unquestionably Jesus Christ. We were introduced to this individual last week as he was selected to be a servant in the church and to help the widows who were in need. Today we see that this man is performing signs and wonders and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is teaching and preaching just like Jesus did. He is also about to undergo severe persecution, just like Jesus did. See, for me to wear the #5 for Albert Pujols or for Dr. Allen to have a portrait of Charles Spurgeon in his office, those are actions, sure, but there’s no pushback for those things. There’s no cost to those actions. Whenever we study about Stephen, for him to emulate Jesus, there was a cost. It’s easy to want to be like Jesus when it helps us out! But what about whenever it gets us killed? Only you can answer this question: Do you really want to be like Jesus? This is what we are called to be like according to Scripture. We looked at how we are united with one another last week as we have all been adopted into the Kingdom of God and Paul shares that because of this reality, we are to look like Jesus

Galatians 2:20 CSB

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So, are you looking like Jesus?

How did Stephen look like Jesus? We see that He was full of faith (6:5), full of the Holy Spirit (6:5), full of God’s grace (6:8), he spoke the truth whenever others argued (6:9), he had wisdom (6:10), and He allowed the Spirit to speak (6:10). This was a man who was all about living for and looking like Jesus Christ! This was a man who inspired the great Jonathan Edwards in many respects. Edwards once said this, “Resolution 1: I will live for God. Resolution 2: If no one else does, I still will.”

These people didn’t back down from a challenge. We see that Stephen encountered opposition but he continued to stand firm on the centrality and truthfulness of God’s Word and he allowed the Spirit to speak and use him in this way. Friends, faithfulness to God looks like a lot of different things. It can look like loving your enemy whenever they wrong you. It can look like taking the high road whenever someone disrespects you. It can look like having a conversation with someone about Christ. It can look like speaking the truth in love. It can also look like assisting someone in need. These are ways that we can be faithful to our heavenly Father and all of these things require action. It’s one thing to cognitively know the facts and know what the Bible says. It’s one thing to know what to do - but it’s another to actually do it!

Are your actions reflecting Jesus to others? Are you putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak? Is Jesus being magnified with the words you use and the actions you’re living out?

Faithfulness to God Invites Criticism (11-14)

If you are committed to doing this and allowing the Spirit to guide and direct you, expect to experience some criticism. Who here actually likes criticism? If you raise your hand I either think you didn’t hear the question, you want attention, or you’re kind of crazy! No one actively likes criticism in our world - in fact, we usually try to avoid criticism at all costs. If we’re being honest with one another this morning, we would likely all agree that we are awfully critical of others at times. Whenever someone disagrees with us or doesn’t like us, that can give us a license to be critical of them and say all sorts of mean things. Just as we don’t necessarily enjoy criticism, other people don’t enjoy it as well. What is the solution to this? To handle criticism with grace like Jesus did. Did Jesus have some people who were incredibly rude and critical of how He did things? He certainly did - often it was the religious people who were like this, by the way. It was the Pharisees and the people who were like the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son who had large problems and criticisms with Jesus Christ. These people would say, “come on Jesus, do you really even know what you’re talking about?” The joke is on them, sadly!

Criticism can be tough to handle, but we shouldn’t be surprised when it comes our way. It doesn’t have to be viewed as a bad thing, in fact, criticism often helps us sharpen our skills and grow to become a better person if we have a mature attitude about it. Criticism can occasionally give us a door and platform to be able to make much of Jesus Christ as well!

How can we handle criticism well? Our world certainly doesn’t do this. Our world is kind of like the wind, it goes whichever direction the wind is blowing and if you’re in the way then you’re a problem. We don’t like getting in the way and we don’t like other people criticizing us. How can we do better at standing firm on the essentials, such as that Jesus alone saves and that the Bible is true?

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Criticism, Ignoring

Sailors in the northern oceans have frequently observed icebergs traveling in one direction in spite of strong winds blowing in the opposite direction. The icebergs were moving against the winds, but how? The explanation is that the icebergs, with eight-ninths of their bulk under the water surface, were caught in the grip of strong currents that moved them in a certain direction, no matter which way the winds raged.

In the Christian life, no matter how strongly the winds of passing opinion blow in opposition, the believer who has a depth of living in the currents of God’s grace should move toward righteousness.

Just like an iceberg is primarily underwater and not visible to those at the surface, our faith in Christ keeps us anchored in His promises even whenever people bring about swift criticism.

In our text, we see Stephen stand firm even whenever the Jewish leaders bring forth people accusing him of blasphemy and saying that he keeps on talking about this man named Jesus. Did another individual get put on trial for preaching blasphemy and preaching against the Law? You bet - Jesus Christ!

Stephen has preached exactly what Jesus preached. That Jesus changes everything! That you don’t have to go to a massive building and perform animal sacrifices in order to worship God. Friends, we know that if someone wants to have a relationship with God, they can’t do that by simply coming to a building, a temple, a sacrificial center, or a confessional or expecting a priest or parent to establish that relationship for them. They have to go through 1 person and His name is Jesus! He cannot be contained in a mere building as some of the Jews believed. You have access to God wherever you are through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! And Jesus taught that He was greater than the very temple itself

Matthew 12:6 CSB

6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.

Not only this, Jesus taught that He would raise the temple up in 3 days in John 2

John 2:19 CSB

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

What does this mean? It simply means this: It’s never been about a physical temple. The temple cannot contain the presence of God. The preacher of Hebrews answers this very thing and shows how all of the things in the Old Testament are pointing to Jesus Christ. How Jesus is greater than Moses, He is greater than Aaron and the priests. His covenant is greater than the old covenant. His ministry and sacrifice are greater than the old ways. It’s not that Jesus gets rid of the old ways, He fulfills the Old Covenant and establishes the New Covenant. What’s the point? Trust in Jesus because He alone saves!

What does trusting in Jesus get Stephen? It got him put on trial and in some hot water. It got him criticized because people don’t like new stuff. The Jews thought they had all the answers but, church, they didn’t have Jesus. So whenever we communicate with people who don’t have Jesus, don’t be surprised whenever they disagree with us and even when they criticize us. It’s ok! We’re in good company and we must remain firm in His Word. The Jews rejected Stephen because they ultimately were rejecting Jesus. There will be times whenever we are faithful to God that people will reject what we say. What we have to remember is that they are ultimately rejecting Jesus.

Faithfulness to God Stands Out (10, 15)

As we stand firm on what the Bible says, we know that we will stand out in a world that typically rejects God’s Word. There are moments where we feel weak and unprepared to do this, though. The journey that we are on is one that can leave us feeling isolated and the idea of standing out can be overwhelming for some. If you’ve been in that situation where you’re trying to figure out how to remain faithful to God and you feel as though the only way you can is to stand out, regardless of how that makes you feel, you have to stand out! In our text we see that as Stephen defends the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we see that he stands out in this setting. Not only is he verbally standing out because of his position, but we read in verse 15 that his face shines like that of an angel! We see a couple of examples of this throughout Scripture and one of the interesting references to this very thing is that Moses (as Stephen will talk about in chapter 7 and as the Jews have brought up in chapter 6) had a moment whenever his face shined like an angel whenever he came down from Mt. Sinai. What was the situation like whenever Moses came down with the 10 commandments? The Israelites were worshiping the golden calf. They were frightened. Yet, Moses’ face was radiant because He had been with the Lord. He has the Lord’s approval. He was His faithful servant.

Stephen is God’s faithful servant in our text. Just as Moses was thousands of years before, God is pleased with Stephen’s defense and interpretation of the law and God blesses Stephen for all to see. Why would his face shine? To show the Jewish audience that God, the same God of Moses, is pleased with this man whom they are accusing of blasphemy. This same man who is standing out based on his beliefs and teachings is the same man who is blessed by God throughout this text. What is the natural conclusion for this audience? You should hear this man out. You should give careful consideration to what he says/believes and take it to heart.

Standing up for Christ is not for the faint at heart. We will see in a few weeks the result of this for Stephen as there is a severe cost… his own life! Without giving too much away, though, even though there is a cost, the cost is worth it. God is at work whenever we experience suffering and persecution! Whenever we stand out and defend Scripture to others. How is He at work in these moments?

Whenever we stand out, He stands out.

Whenever we stand out for our faith, we are pointing others directly to God. He is the one we have faith in. He is the one who gives us the boldness to not conform and to look different. Whenever we stand out in a group of people, like Stephen, He stands out to them.

Whenever we stand out, others are without excuse.

Whenever we stand out, people hear something possibly new. They are without excuse and can’t say that they never were told about Jesus or about the Bible. Whenever we stand out for Christ, we help others by informing them and this is a way that the Holy Spirit often grabs hold of people.

Whenever we stand out, other Christians stand out too.

It is hard to stand out on your own. For Stephen, he was in good company here because Peter, John, and the other apostles had undergone persecution beforehand. We don’t know this for certain, but we know from our own experience that it is easier to stand up for something whenever you’re not standing on your own. Stephen could look back at his friends who had faith in God and how they were obedient and this would have given him added strength to do the same. Likewise, whenever we stand up for our faith, we encourage others to do the same and this unifies the body of Christ!

Conclusion

To quote the great missionary Hudson Taylor, “Depend upon it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack supplies. You must look not to the mission, but to God.” Friends, we must depend on our heavenly Father as we go about accomplishing His work. We remain faithful to Him through the fire because we trust in His plan and in His timing. Just as Stephen remained faithful to God’s plan even though it brought him suffering, slander, and eventually stoning, we must remain faithful to Him because that’s what He calls of us.

Do you really want to look like Jesus? Not just here at church for an hour or two. Not just at home. Not just whenever people are watching. Do you really want to look and act like Jesus Christ? He is our example. He is our guide! If you are all in and genuinely want to look like Jesus, here are 4 questions to ask yourself in closing.

Am I willing to suffer for my faith in Jesus?

Am I surrendering every area of my life to Jesus?

Do other people know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I belong to Jesus?

Do I extend grace to others - even my enemies - like Jesus?

Stephen modeled his life after Jesus. Even though it cost him his life, Stephen was all-in for King Jesus and longed to see others come to know Christ as Lord. He was faithful through the fire. Are we willing to trust in Christ through the fire? Are we willing to model our entire lives after Jesus and love others as He first loved us?

Consider how you can stand firm on the truth of the Gospel and share the love of Jesus with someone this week!