Acts 6:8-15, 7:54-60 “Stephen’s Ministry”
This last week on Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Report, which I must confess I watch on occasion, Mr. Colbert made an interesting syllogism that went like this: “God is love. Love is blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.” I thought to myself after hearing that that he had just offended every God-fearing person on the planet—four billion or more Christians, Muslims and Jews. Not to mention the fact that he really put Stevie Wonder in a difficult position! Yet, it was meant merely to get a laugh. And, it did. Then I thought about the fact that his name is “Steven” Colbert, named after Saint Stephen as is Stevie Wonder. That caused me to wonder.
I cannot speak for you, but I will tell you for myself that I do not like it when people disrespect my faith. That is not to say that I do not appreciate a good joke or a little humor. However, there is a line that should not be crossed. I try to remember where that line is when I am talking to people of other faiths, too. I do not want to cross that line and find myself speaking against somebody else’s faith rather than speaking in favor of my own. Amen to that!
Recently one of you were talking about how certain weeds would come up in your lawn and that you used to go out with a pickax to try to dig them out to the root. I tell you that another way to get the same result is to plant and fertilize good grass around the weeds so that the good grass eventually grows over the old weeds. This is how I see evangelism. We cannot and should not go out with a pickax to take out other religions. We just really need to cultivate our own faith and let that growth run its course.
Saint Stephen takes the more drastic approach to evangelism in our reading form the Book of Acts today. He learns, a little too late I am afraid, that taking out or destroying another person’s faith is dangerous business. He is stoned to death on the count of supposed blasphemy. You will recall from last week’s sermon that Stephen was one of the seven deacons that were elected by the Apostles to perform the task of waiting on tables; that is to help with the distribution of food and assistance to those in need. He had not had the experience or training to do what he was doing, which is to reach out in love of Christ to a hostile world.
When we consider Stephen’s ministry, we have to know that he is not the first one to have problems reaching out to a hostile world. Indeed, whole Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures have been dedicated to this theme. Psalm 140, for instance, really seems to fit Stephen’s demise. Let us go ahead and read it verses 1-4:
“Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers. Protect me from those who are violent, who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually. They make their tongues sharp as a snake’s, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent who have planned my downfall.” Please take note that the three Psalms speak of the same idea that we need God’s protection in this hostile world when we lift up what is truth and righteousness. You can check out those other Psalms on your own.
Also from the Hebrew Scriptures, we can see that there is a longstanding tradition of attacking other faiths that does not really fit anymore with the our New Testament understanding of how we are to win the world for Christ. The story of Gideon comes to mind from the Book of Judges 6:28-30, “When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. So they said to one another, ‘Who has done this thing?’ After searching and inquiring, they were told, ‘Gideon son of Joash did it.’ Then the townspeople said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son so that he may die for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.’”
To make a
long story short, Gideon’s father Joash stands up for his son, is also
threatened with death, and eventually this leads to major warfare. Eventually
Gideon conquers the pagans and destroys all the Ba’als, but when Gideon dies,
the people all go back to worshipping the false idols again. In other words
this is not really the most productive way of spreading the faith! Indeed, it
is not really spreading the faith at all but rather forcing it upon someone
else who has no choice. Christianity
is about choosing Christ!
Now, getting back to Stephen’s specific story. Where is he when he makes his testimony that gets him into trouble? The text in Acts says that he is in the synagogue of the Freedmen. Around him are people who most likely had been slaves from other countries (and those countries are listed for us in the text). What is for us bitter irony is that in this synagogue of freed men are those who are still enslaved to sin because they are not willing to accept the Truth.
Jesus made this very point in John 8:31-33, “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendents of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?’” Jesus goes on to explain that anyone who does not accept the Truth and sins is a slave to sin. We, however are free in Christ because we accept him as the Truth in our lives.
In the Freedman synagogue, Stephen is alone. There are no other deacons or apostles with him. And, everything happens very quickly before others of the Christian faith know what is going on to come to his aid. We know this from the use of the word “suddenly” in verse 12. They were waiting for him and sprung a trap upon him it seems.
Let us jump to the second part of the reading for this morning which you will find on the next page over in the pew over in the pew Bibles, Acts 7:54 to the end of the chapter. Just before Stephen is stoned, the heavens open up before his eyes. He sees Jesus at the right hand of God. This is an amazing thing. We can say that even though the other deacons and apostles were not there with Stephen, Jesus was! Jesus was right there. Stephen could see him. If you ever think that you are going through this life alone, know that Jesus is right there all the time.
As for me, the question then comes to mind as to why Jesus did not intervene to save Stephen’s life. Why didn’t Jesus make himself known to those men in the synagogue? The men in the synagogue look away and cover their ears, but Jesus could have made them see the truth in that moment, but he did not. If they had seen Jesus right there as Stephen did, they would not have stoned Stephen. But again, it comes back down to the idea that one cannot force someone else to believe. Even Jesus cannot force someone to believe on Him. A personal decision is needed to open the heart, or in this case just even the ears, to hear the Word of God!
In Luke 9:51-56 there is the story of the Samaritan village that refuses to receive Christ: “On the way, they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him. . . .When his disciples saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.” Stephen, when he saw the heavens open up before him had the power to command fire to come down to destroy those who had it in their hearts to stone him. Instead, Stephen asks the Lord to forgive the ones that are stoning him!
I should point out that one of the people who are there, Saul, will have the opportunity to see Jesus just as Stephen did when he is on the road to Damascus to persecute more believers. We will hear more about this in the weeks to come. Yet for today, please know that Jesus did have and could have made those in the synagogue see him. Stephen could have called down flames from heaven, but he forgave them instead. Why?
Luke 9:23-26, Jesus said, “If any of you want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and pick up my Cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. “
Stephen was the first of the early church to do just what Christ said. He lost his life for the sake of Christ and in doing this was saved up unto heaven. Amen to that! This causes each one of us to ask in our hearts if we would have had the strength of faith and courage in Christ to do what he did. If we were faced with an angry mob that was about to kill us, would we stand firm for Christ? Yes, we would! And when others would persecute us, we would continue in the love of Christ to turn their hearts to salvation, forgiving them as Christ forgave those who crucified Him.
Amen.