Standing Strong

Introduction

Video: Take up your cross 1:37

These are familiar words of Jesus, our instruction to take up our cross and follow Jesus. The idea is familiar. We have even seen the concept fold into our culture with phrases like “it is his cross to bear” but it was not something that anyone in Jesus’ day too lightly. When someone was carrying a cross it meant “dead man walking”. It wasn’t just a sentimental idea of someone having a rough go of it. To carry a cross was to be on your way to the end of your life as you knew it…and it is into that understanding of “picking up our cross” that Jesus says

Matthew 16:24–26 (ESV)

“...If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Tension

This morning we are returning to our Series on the Early Church called “Ekklesia: the unstoppable movement of God” where we are tracking our way through the book of Acts to learn what this “Church-thing” that Jesus is building is all about and what is essential to it. There are certainly many different forms that the Christian Church has taken around the world and across time, but despite the different forms it’s function must remain the same.

And so far we have seen how the early Church shared in blessed community, wonderful miracles and sweet fellowship but they also experienced almost immediate opposition and persecution.

In Chapter 1 they were taught by Jesus and then explicitly told to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit, because you cannot build this thing called “The Church” without the power of the Holy Spirit. Then they watched Jesus ascend into the heavens and they waited.

In Chapter 2 the Holy Spirit arrives at Pentecost and they all miraculously speak the wonders of God in the many different languages of the people who had gathered there. This was explained by Peter in what was the first Christian Sermon and when he shared the “life-giving message of Jesus Christ” more than 3,000 people were saved and added to the Ekklesia that day. The unstoppable movement of God was really moving!

In Chapter 3, among other miracles, Peter and John heal a lame beggar and everyone is amazed so they took the opportunity to preach the good news of eternal life that is found in Christ alone…but the religious leaders did not appreciate their message so they arrested them and brought them before the the Sanhedrin and...

In Chapter 4 these religious leaders recognized that the Apostles were uneducated, common men but that they were speaking boldly and they connected this with their relationship with Jesus. Despite what was right before their eyes they still commanded the Apostles to stop teaching about Jesus in this way.

Acts 4:19–20 (ESV) 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

So they let them go and when the rest of the believers...the Ekklesia...the Church…heard what had happened they prayed for even more boldness to proclaim the “Life-giving message of Jesus Christ”. And again they enjoyed sweet fellowship and shared everything in common, even selling properties and giving the proceeds to the Church…until

In Chapter 5, a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira decided that they wanted to be recognized as one of these generous donors to the cause…they just didn’t want to have to give all they said they did to make it happen. But there was not room in the “Unstoppable movement of God” for this kind of dishonesty, so He instantly took their lives from them…this shook everyone up and they were certain not to take things lightly anymore.

But in Chapter 6 more problems emerged when complaints were lodged that the needs of one group was getting cared for better than the needs of another group - so the Apostles were led to form another tier of leadership in the local Church so that all the needs would be cared for. These servants were called “diakanos” where we get our word “deacons” and they chose seven men to serve in this roll. Men who had a good reputation, were full of the Spirit and Wisdom.

This brings us to our text for today, in that the first man mentioned among the new deacons was a man named “Stephen” and his is a story where the image of picking up your cross and following Jesus is vividly displayed.

So open up your Bibles with me to to Acts chapter 6, beginning in verse 8 which is on page 914 I’ll pray and then we will dive into Stephen’s story together.

Truth

Acts 6:8(ESV)

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Not only was Stephen serving tables with the other deacons, but as a man distinguished in wisdom and the Holy Spirit he was ministering in healings and teaching the people much like the Apostles.

This is an important thing to consider. Every member of the Ekklesia has a responsibility to use the gifts that they have been given for the common purpose of the Church, which is to communicate the Gospel - even if their official responsibilities is in hospitality or service or some other area. Everyone of us is still responsible to be ready to give and answer for the hope that we have in gentleness and respect.

And it appears that Stephen excelled in this.

9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Just who were these guys who were trying to match theological arguments with Stephen?

Well the “Synagogue of the Freedmen” were former slaves, probably released from the Roman General Pompey who captured a mess of Jews but found their strict adherence to Jewish traditions and laws like the Sabbath and Kosher eating to keep them from being very useful slaves... so he released them. So in a way, their strict adherence to Jewish traditions saved them for a life of servitude so they were not quick to consider new ways or ideas.

In addition to this particular synagogue, the Cyrenians were from all the way over in Libya of N. Africa, Alexandrians were from Egypt, and Cilicia is from the North in Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. The big idea is that these groups of people traveled very far to practice their Jewish faith here in Jersualem and this speaks to how dedicated and devout they were so that they too were not open to anything that sounded like a new way of doing things.

But their fierce loyalty to their traditions turned them into very defensive and angry men. Not only were they not open to listening to a new message, they were personally threatened by it. And since they were not able to match Stephen’s arguments theologically because He was speaking with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit...they took to other measures. Dark measures. The ole’ saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, then cheat ‘em” comes to mind…and that is exactly what they did.

Acts 6:11-15

11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,

14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

There is just nothing new under the sun is there? We see this so prevalent in our day today. When you find that your logic doesn’t hold up against someone else’s argument you don’t stop and consider what they have to say…you just attack them with false accusations from a different direction and stir up groups of people against them. Human nature is so predictable. Our sinful nature is so predictable.

So jealous men are accusing Stephen of dishonoring the Temple and questioning the laws of Moses and now he has been given the opportunity to respond . I don’t exactly know what an angel’s face looks like, but there was something in Stephen’s countenance at this point that began speaking to the Council even before he said a word.

And Stephen’s response was not a direct approach like you or I might take, but he followed with the eastern tradition of walking up through the story of their ancestors in order to make his point. And his long speech, which we will only cover in summary, begins all the way back to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob and the Patriarchs. Then through Joseph and Pharoah and then he spent a great deal of time covering the life, role and importance of Moses.

But this speech was not about informing the Council of these events, certainly they were well aware of their history. Nor was it to show off his knowledge of these things…In the wisdom that God had given Stephen he used the history of God’s people to emphasizing the parts of these stories that pointed to their desperate need for a savior. He was showing them their need for Jesus!

He spoke of Abraham who had no children, yet his blessings were promised to come through his offspring

Then in his old age Abraham had Isaac, and Isaac had Jacob and Jacob had 12 sons, but one of them was hated by his brothers who first left him for dead but then instead decided to sell him into slavery.

But God was with this brother of theirs…and Joseph, the rejected brother, ended up being their salvation and the salvation of the rest of the covenant family as he rose in power in Egypt through signs and wonders.

Then a new Pharoah came into power and God’s people were enslaved for 400 years, just as God told Abraham they would be. They they cried out for a a rescuer.

So God sent Moses, but again the “brothers” did not accept God’s rescuer as Stephen says in verse 23

Acts 7:23–25 (ESV)

23 “When he (Moses) was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

So Moses ran to the wilderness and became a Shepherd, then God met Moses in a burning bush and sent him back to Pharaoh to tell him to “Let my people go” and still his “brothers” rejected him.

Acts 7:35–37 (ESV)

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

Where is Stephen bringing the council? He is brilliantly walking them from the story of Abraham to Joseph to Moses right into the message of Jesus.

Acts 7:51–54 (ESV)

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 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, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

Our first theme for the week is that

1. Standing up for your faith in Christ is countercultural (Acts 7:54).

Stephen clearly showed the council that when it comes to the history and traditions of the People of Israel, they were not playing the part that they thought they were playing. They thought of themselves as the descendants of a piously proud people who were faithfully following their God when in fact...

They were the brothers who had rejected Joseph, even though he would be their salvation.

They were the ones who rejected Moses, even though he was sent to be their “ruler and redeemer.”

They are a stubborn stiff-necked people with long history of rejecting those whom God had sent for their salvation

And now they are continuing in the path by rejecting the message and ministry of Jesus, the Messiah, the anointed one. Not only did they reject Him, they had the salvation of Israel murdered.

You see the “life-giving message of Jesus Christ” may sound really good, but at it’s core it is an offensive message. Sometimes religious people try and clean it all up and focus it away from the realities that it points to, but the truth is that the Gospel is offensive. The Gospel says things that people do not want to hear...because it accuses us.

Let me try and illustrate this for us. What if I was to come up to you and tell you that I have some great news for you. That I just found out that the IRS has agreed to forgive everyone who cheated on their taxes last year and so I couldn’t wait to come tell you the good news. How would you respond?

You probably would not thank me, would you. You would probably be offended! What kind of person do you think I am? I don’t need forgiveness for that, I don’t cheat on my taxes and more than that I think people who did cheat on their taxes deserve to be punished not forgiven…what is wrong with you!

That is the attitude that Stephen is facing here. A culture that tells us that we are really not all that bad, maybe a little rough around the edges but ultimately we are good people who just need to pick up our game here and there... but that is not the message of the Gospel.

The Gospel tells us that we are sinners who stand in direct rebellion against a holy God and there is nothing that we can do on our own to fix that.  People don’t really want to hear that. If we tell people how good they are at being good then we can fill arena’s and write instant best-sellers with that message…but it is a powerless lie. Lies never help anyone, they just keep us lost in our destructive delusions.

But deliver the “counter-cultural” message that we are all sinners separated from God by our sin and the culture will not appreciate you or your message.  But we cannot preach the true gospel without confronting human sin.

The good news of salvation is not really good news if we don’t really need saving. If science or politics or social conditioning or good family values could make us good then all we really need is a good “therapeutic pat on the back” to keep us going. And the truth is that is often what our culture is looking for when it comes to religion. Some sort of “divine At-A-Boy”...but Jesus never offered that…but listen to what He did offer… In John 15 starting in verse 18 Jesus says:

John 15:18–21 (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

This is what is happening here to Stephen. The council hates him because they do not know God and because Stephen has offended them by accusing them of needing saving from their sins.

“Who does this guy think he is. We are the Sanhedrin. The chosen elites, true Israelites, set apart by God and held in great honor among the people”…except Stephan just showed how the history of “true Israelites” was not as they supposed. They do not know God or His law as they claimed.

They were well representing what James says in James 4

James 4:4 (ESV)

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Tell me, whose judgment are you the most concerned about? God’s? Or this World? Our calling to “Stand up for our faith in Christ” is a “countercultural” calling, and if you are still trying to reconcile it with the world then you are fighting a loosing battle.

Our second theme that we see in Stephan’s story is that...

2. Standing up for your faith in Christ is spiritually rewarding (Acts 7:55–56).

So the Sanhedrin is now “enraged” and they were “grinding their teeth at him” (Acts 7:54)

Acts 7:55–56 (ESV)

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.”

It is hard to over emphasize what a gift this moment must have been to Stephan. He was given a picture of two different worlds in the same moment. As he was standing there before the highest court on earth, being unjustly accused by wicked men...He was given the vision to be able to see into a very different courtroom.

The throne room of heaven where Jesus was ascended next to the Father and standing in approval of Stephan’s faithful witness. Things looked bad from an earthly perspective, but spiritually Stephen’s heart was overflowing with joy. The only judgement that mattered to Him now was the approval of Jesus.

It brings us back to this common theme of the early Church in Acts where on one side we have the Second Temple rulers where “The spirit of man was operating in manipulative and murderous ways” and then we have in vivid contrast the Christian Church where “The Spirit of God was operating in magnificent and miraculous ways.”

Stephen was clearly resting in Jesus’ promise when He said back in Luke 12...

Luke 12:11–12 (ESV)

11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

But that doesn’t mean that everything will work out as your would prefer. Stephen stood up as a bold witness for Jesus, but remember what the Greek word for witness is. it is “Martys” where we get our word “Martyr”. This has come to mean more than just a witness who testifies to the truth, but someone who is willing to sacrifice their life for that truth. This was in fact what happened to Stephen.

Acts 7:57–60 (ESV)

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. Standing up for our faith in Christ is countercultural (Acts 7:57–60)

...because the gospel tells us that our works will never be good enough. but it is also

2. (Standing up for our faith in Christ is) spiritually rewarding (Acts 7:57–60).

…as God is honored by our bold witness, even if the world is not. Still...

3. Standing up for our faith in Christ is personally demanding (Acts 7:57–60).

Is it any surprise that the men that Stephen likened to the ones who set out to murder Joseph and Moses and in fact did murder Jesus would have any problem mustering up the contempt to get rid of Stephen in the same way. The crowd was so hostile toward God that they were unwilling to hear anything Stephen was saying and instead they rushed to silence him…permanently!

But look at Stephen’s response. Full of the Spirit he responded as Jesus did in asking God not to hold this further action of rebellion against them. He submits his Spirit to the Lord and prays for their forgiveness even as they were in the process of murdering him and then Luke says he “fell asleep”.

Gospel Application

It is true that the “life-giving message of Jesus Christ” is personally offensive, but it is also profoundly beautiful to those who trust in it and live by it. The message of the Ekklesia, the Gospel message, tells us that our works will never be good enough, but it also says that Jesus’ work on the cross is good enough and it is given to us freely.

You may have caught that small foreshadowing of “the young man named Saul” who held the coats for the stoning. He doesn’t know it yet, but this same man will soon play an integral part of the growth of the Christian Church. This Saul, later called Paul will one day write many letters of the New Testament including one to the Corinthians where he says:

1 Corinthians 1:18–20 (ESV)

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Landing

Again I ask you, whose judgment are your concerned about? Are you trusting in the “wisdom of this world” that says that you can make it on your own? Or are you trusting in the wisdom from above that promises that you can do no such thing, but God has done it for you.

So at this point I am going to invite Chara up and we are going to close the message with a song. We actually had planned on doing a song on Christmas Eve...

Stephen was a bold witness for Jesus, a martyr whose love for Jesus Christ overpowered his fear about the situation he faced. We have access to the same Holy Spirit and must choose whether to focus on our circumstances or on the role that Jesus has given us to carry our cross and follow Him as His Church. To stand strong in “communicating the life-giving message of Jesus Christ” because the cost is worth the reward.

Let’s pray into this together.