What do Hugh Latimer, Anne Askew, William Tyndale, Jim Elliot, and Bill Wallace have in common with Stephen? All of them died for their faith in Christ. They lived in different eras, but all faced the same fate of standing for the gospel of Jesus Christ and dying at the hands of those who opposed them.
Hugh Latimer was an English Bishop in the 16th century whose stand against the Roman Catholicism of Queen Mary and his stand for truth caused him to be burned at the stake in Oxford. Anne Askew was one of many Protestant women to die for their faith in the 16th century. At the age of 25 Anne Askew was tortured on the "rack" in an attempt to get her to abandon her faith in Christ alone. She fearlessly answered her interrogator with Scriptural accuracy though it meant certain death. When she was offered pardon if only she would recant her faith, her reply while tied to the stake amidst piles of wood was, "I came not hither to deny my Lord and Master." With that the fire was kindled and Anne Askew became numbered among the martyrs.
William Tyndale fed the flames of Reformation in the 16th century by translating the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into English. It was an effort to dispel the gross ignorance of the common people concerning the Word of God. For daring to oppose the Roman church by giving the Word of God to the people, Tyndale was hunted down and finally imprisoned. In 1536, just north of Brussels, Tyndale was burned alive for daring to stand for Jesus Christ as a witness.
Jim Elliot and Bill Wallace take us to the 20th century. Elliot's name became a household word in 1956 when he and four other missionaries in Ecuador were brutally massacred by the Auca Indians. They were trying to carry the gospel of Christ to the Aucas when they were attacked, bludgeoned and speared to death. Nine years earlier, when Jim Elliot was only 20 years old, he recorded a prayer that he made to the Father, "Lord make my way prosperous [spiritually, not financially], not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God." And indeed, his life has touched countless people as many have followed his example in going on with God, even going forth in the missionary enterprise [Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot, p. 11].
Bill Wallace was a Southern Baptist missionary to China before WWII began. He continued to serve as a surgeon in the Wuchow hospital during the war and after the communist takeover. The communists planted a gun in his room as an excuse for arresting this Christian doctor. He was imprisoned and died for his faith at the hands of the communist Chinese in 1950.
I have given you brief biographical sketches of five different Christians who all had in common their martyrdom for Christ. But more than that, all five had in common the kind of exemplary Christian lives which is called for in all who know Jesus Christ.
Now, my purpose this morning is not to prime everyone to be martyred! Rather, I want us to see how we are to live faithfully for our Lord Jesus Christ so that our lives are continually a witness of His grace and truth. All of us can appreciate seeing the example of living the Christian life in others. We have noticed in the past few weeks some of the biblical exhortations to follow the godly example of those who are spiritual leaders (e.g., Heb. 13:7; Eph. 5:1). This is particularly true when the example is someone of the faithfulness of Stephen.
Why follow someone else's example? Examples help to give us patterns to follow or steps to walk in so that we might live out the Christian life to its fullest. To some degree, all of us follow the example of others in the way we live our lives. Let's make sure that the examples we follow are right examples!
We would all profit by learning to follow the example of Stephen who started right, stayed right, and finished right. Let's see how Stephen lived the Christian life in such a way that his life has helped believers through the ages live out the demands of the Christian life.
I. Start right ~ "full of faith"
The way you begin any endeavor will determine the way you end. If you want to grow vegetables in a garden, the way you begin your preparation of the garden will determine the kind of crop you will reap. If you desire to end your Christian life in faithfulness to the Lord, you must begin right.
By this, I refer to making sure that your beginning in the Christian life is according to the teaching of God's Word. Peter exhorts us, "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you" (II Pet. 1:10a). Paul told the Corinthians, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? (II Cor. 13:5).
There are many people who have made some claim or profession of Christianity that have never "started right." They are like the examples our Lord gave in Matthew 13 of the shallow soil and the soil infested with thorns and weeds. They have spurts in their lives in which they have some interest or even excitement about the Christian faith, but whatever it is they possess, it does not last. Their faith was a faulty faith from the beginning and it fails them in the end.
Not so with Stephen! He is described as no one else in the New Testament when he is said to be "a man full of faith" (6:5). I have been trying to think through on precisely what Luke had in mind when he described the church's first martyr as "a man full of faith." Did he mean that Stephen possessed complete faith, one that could not be added to? Was he quantifying faith so that we could almost view it as a spiritual liquid that filled the vessel known as Stephen?
Luke uses the term "full" (Gk. pleres) to show the idea of 'abundant measure'. For instance, he uses the same term of Dorcas' good works in Acts 9:36, but here it is translated "abounding in good works." He uses the term "full" to describe Stephen: "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit....full of grace and power....full of the Holy Spirit" (6:5, 8, 7:55). Did this mean that Stephen had "arrived" spiritually so that there was nothing else left to improve upon in his life? I believe that would be uncharacteristic of any biblical writer to make such a statement. However, he does use the word "full" to describe something that belonged to Stephen in abundant measure or something that characterized him or something that controlled his life.
When it comes to being "a man full of faith," it refers to the idea that Stephen was one who had a distinct, lively, energetic, and real faith. It was a faith that "controlled" him and left the mark of Jesus Christ upon his life. He was a man who was confident in his faith in Christ, yet who sought to continually to grow in his faith.
I am convinced that the foundation point of Stephen's life was that he was "a man full of faith." That gave him a right start in living out the Christian life. My friend, unless we begin the Christian life in faith, we will never know Christ and we certainly will not finish right.
1. Faith as a grace
The Bible teaches that faith is a grace rather than something which we produce by the strength of our personality. The Shorter Catechism states, "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby sinners receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to them in the gospel." By a grace it is implied that the faith to believe the gospel of Christ is not resident within each person's heart or personality. Instead, we recognize that the Bible teaches that "there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one" (Rom. 3:10-12). The depravity of every person keeps him turned in the wrong direction. Oh, he may have faith of a sort, but it is faith in religion or faith in himself or faith in faith, but not a biblical faith or saving faith. That alone comes as a gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8 states its best, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." The "that" of this verse I believe points clearly to the matter of faith. Faith is not of yourselves. It is obvious that grace is not of yourself or else it would not be grace. But the apostle reminds us that even the faith to believe the gospel of Christ is a gift of God's grace. The apostle adds to this truth in Philippians 1:29 when he refers to two gifts from God, faith and suffering. "For to you it has been granted [the word means a gift of grace] for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake."
Stephen's faith was a full-faith because it originated in the grace of God rather than his own personality. Is this true of you? Is your faith the result of the working of the regenerating power of God's Spirit or just the strength of your personality or the moral conscience by which you have been reared?
2. Basis of faith
If we are going to be "full of faith" or controlled by faith in a full-fashion, then our faith must have a basis. It must have a foundation upon which it rests. Too often we are given examples of false faith in interesting media stories. We see someone who has gone through a rough time in life and they claim that the only way they made it through was their "faith." Then they will make comments like, 'Yes, when things look bad you just have to think on the positive side of things to get you through'; or 'You know, he is a very religious person and has a lot of faith, so he was able to cope with the situation he faced'. In these instances, faith is more a certain mental posture than a trust in Jesus Christ. It is more the idea of 'keeping a stiff upper lip' as the British would say or exercising the power of positive thinking as Norman Vincent Peale promoted. But none of this is saving faith.
Saving faith as a grace has its roots in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. It is a trusting or embracing or a resting in the fact that God in Christ came to man as the only Savior and Redeemer, satisfying His justice at the cross, becoming righteousness on our behalf, bearing the wrath of God for sinners on the cross, and conquering sin and death as displayed in the resurrection. That kind of faith looks to Christ alone as Savior and Lord. [see Romans 10:13-17 as biblical basis for this assertion]
Stephen had a faith that rested in Jesus Christ and His merits. He was secure in Christ alone. He was not trusting in his own righteousness, but he had cast himself wholly upon Jesus Christ as his Prophet, Priest, and King.
My faith has found a resting place--
Not in device or creed:
I trust the Everliving One--
His wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me.
--Lidie H Edmunds "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place"
3. Faith as an experience
Being full of faith does not in anyway suggest that such a faith is only cerebral. No, that kind of faith is experienced! I think that is why Luke uses this phrase, "A man full of faith," only on Stephen. He had so experienced the saving grace of God through faith in Christ alone, that his faith was a lively, up-to-date faith. It wasn't that he had just believed Jesus a few years earlier, but instead, his trust in Christ was growing richer and fuller each day.
That is to be true of every Christian. If the faith we have in Christ is a real faith, then it should be a growing faith. Our confidence in Him should grow. Our trust in Him should grow. Our desire for Him should grow. Our experience of Him should grow.
True Christianity involves head and heart. It is not just a head-religion in which we learn all the facts of the gospel so that we can quote them backwards and forwards. With only such head knowledge we do not find ourselves changing at all. I cannot help but think of some of the liberal theologians whom I read about who had gigantic minds that could recite all manner of Scripture and truth, yet who were spiritually dead and often, morally reprobate. They had a head-faith in Christ without a heart-faith.
On the other hand, there are plenty of people who want to by-pass the head and go straight for the heart. They want to "feel" their religion, so they give way to every emotion that comes their way. They can sway, swoon, and faint. Some shout and holler. Others jump up and down about their faith. The only problem is that it has no basis. Theirs is simply a religious experience devoid of any foundation. While their counterpart has investigated the foundation without resting in it, this kind of faith by-passes the foundation for simply a great experience.
What Frances Ridley Havergal wrote of "God's perfect peace," can be written of true saving faith,
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller ev'ry day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.
Do you know the constant experience of faith in Christ? Because Stephen's faith was a grace-gift from God and because it was grounded upon the bedrock of the person and work of Christ, his faith constantly grew and enlivened his life. He found constant delights and joys in resting in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the experience of being "full of faith."
II. Stay right ~ "full of the Holy Spirit"
The Christian life is meant to be lived. It is not simply a "decision" we make at some point in time, then go on with life as usual. Instead, when we come to a true, saving faith in Christ alone, everything in life is changed! We look at life differently. We think of life differently. We view our relationships in a different manner. We look to the future with a great confidence which we did not have before. We find constant delights in knowing Jesus Christ.
I would hasten to add that we do not simply put our lives on automatic-pilot. Living the Christian life is not fatalism, that is, the attitude of 'whatever will be will be', so I need not give much effort in life. Jesus Christ, as the hymn writer puts it, "Demands my life, my soul, my all!" I think we find some wonderful and practical help in this when we take a look at how Stephen stayed right and kept his focus as a believer all the way to the point of the martyr's death.
1. Attention to the inner life
Twice Luke refers to Stephen as a man "full of the Holy Spirit" (6:5; 7:55). The fact that he repeated this truth about Stephen's life ought to cause us to pay close attention. Stephen could face the angry mob without fear and with resolute confidence in Christ because he was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.
There are plenty of ideas about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Some would suggest that being filled with the Spirit is really not all that important; it was just a big deal in the 1st century. Others would give the idea that the filling of the Spirit is some kind of extraordinary experience that carries with it incredible emotion and feelings. Only a few elite Christians will ever attain to such an experience, they would add. Some call for you to go through a series of 'spiritual gyrations' in order to induce the Spirit to fill you. Still others would say that this filling of the Spirit is not for all Christians so I do not need to know much about it.
But I would point out to you that God's Word tells each of us as believers to be filled with the Spirit. We found earlier in Acts 4:31 that as the young church gathered to pray after the release of Peter and John from prison, that "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." This helps us to see that being filled with the Spirit was a necessary part of spiritual growth, development, and continuing service for Christ. The Apostle Paul offers the clearest instruction on the filling of the Spirit when he wrote, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18).
First, we notice that being filled with the Spirit is not an option, but an imperative. It is not part of a Christian smorgasbord in which we decide we do not like this idea, so we will skip it. To neglect being filled with the Spirit is sin and disobedience in the life of the believer.
Second, being filled with the Spirit is something that is to take place in our lives regularly. The verb is a present imperative, so that it could be translated, "Be being filled with the Spirit." This is to be part of our daily walk and attention to the inner life.
Third, being filled with the Spirit is not something you do, but something that God does within you. The verb is passive in its mood which means that someone outside of you is taking action upon your life. The idea is that we make sure that there is nothing on our behalf that would encumber the Spirit's filling in our lives: e.g., no unconfessed sin, no harboring of sin, no rebellion in our heart against the Lord, no impure motives. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit who will bring sin to our attention if we but walk with Him (I John 1:7).
Finally, being filled with the Spirit means that we are under the control of the Spirit. And that is the natural way that Christians are to daily live; under the control of the Holy Spirit. There is no reticence on the part of the Spirit to fill your life. As we seek to trust and obey in all things the Holy Spirit controls our lives--that is the filling of the Spirit, so that we are enabled by the Spirit to do the will of God.
2. Attention to understanding the Word
The longest portion of this text involves Stephen's biblical explanation of the purpose and working of God. It extends for most of chapter 7 and gives evidence that Stephen was steeped in the truths of God's Word. He saw the working and ways of God in the Old Testament as part of the whole redemptive plan of God, a plan which pointed to Jesus Christ and culminated in Him alone.
While our purpose this morning is not to look at Stephen's sermon in detail, I think it is important to see that it is filled with quotations from the Septuagint (Greek version of the OT) and with summaries of large portions of Scripture. Another important detail is that Stephen was right on target in his interpretations of these Old Testament passages. He ended his sermon by pointing to the Messiah, Jesus Christ (7:55).
Stephen was a godly man who was able to face opposition courageously and to face death without fear. He did not get to that point overnight! Here was a man who gave himself to the study of God's Word. He read, memorized, meditated, studied, and thought-through on the only Bible available to him, the Old Testament. He was careful to "rightly divide the word of truth," knowing that as Christians we are responsible for making sure that we seek to properly interpret the Word of God as stewards of the riches of Holy Scripture. When the occasions came, Stephen was ready with the Word of God.
We must admit that Stephen's understanding of God's Word is a loud rebuke to our generation of Christians! One of the great tragedies of our century is our neglect of knowing and understanding the Word of God. You do not have to be a teacher to be a student of God's Word! You only need a love for the Word that will drive you to know it and fill your life on its riches. My friend, give your time and attention to understanding God's Word to us, the Bible. If you desire to stay right, you must give steadfast attention to the Word.
3. Attention to witness
Stephen saw an opportunity to witness for Jesus Christ and he jumped on it! We find him engaged in dialogue with men from the so-called Synagogue of the Freedmen. This was a group of people who descended from Jewish prisoners of war under the Roman commander Pompey in 63 BC. They were eventually freed and began to build their own colony in the area of Rome. Later their descendants were expelled from Rome and obviously ended up in Jerusalem where they built their own synagogue. The word "argued" suggests that they were trying to disprove Stephen's claims concerning Jesus Christ and His gospel, but in each case they failed.
Even after being dragged away by the Jewish mob, Stephen continued his bold witness for Christ. You can notice in the text that his witness was filled with Scripture and that he was not in the least apologetic to confront his audience with their deep spiritual problem: "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did." He was not interested in making 'chums' out of the crowd. He was a man with a message and he delivered it faithfully. His intention was to confront the stubbornness and complacency of the Jews who had rejected the Messiah that had come to redeem them.
"Ah," you say, "but look at the response! They stoned him!" Indeed they did. If your concern in being a witness for Christ is in how everyone will treat you, then you have failed to have the same godly motivation as this man, Stephen. Your witness will not go very far. You must recognize that among that crowd was a man named Saul of Tarsus who heard every word of this sermon. How many came to Christ through this spirited message? We don't know. For the moment, no one. The only response he saw was stones. Perhaps the only one who responded favorably was Saul and his response was many days later. Can you measure the impact of that witness in terms of numbers when you realize that Stephen sowed seeds which the Holy Spirit brought forth in Saul of Tarsus, who later was known as the greatest Christian of the Church, the Apostle Paul?
III. Finish right ~ "saw the glory of God"
The end of Stephen's life is perhaps one of the most glorious scenes in the New Testament. Standing amid an angry mob that seethed with hatred for him, Stephen "saw the glory of God!" My brethren, I don't know all that such a statement means, but every time that phrase is used in the Bible it points to the magnificence, holiness, and radiance of the living God. And every time it leaves the one gazing with a solitary heart for the Lord and a forsaking of the things of the world.
1. Focus on God alone v. 55
Stephen "gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." In the gracious providence of God, Stephen's sight was lifted to see another world and another realm which our physical eyes cannot naturally see. With that gaze into heaven, Stephen found himself comforted. With the storm raging about him in the Jewish council, he "appears to be an island of serenity" [NT Commentary, Kistemaker, 278].
While we cannot imitate his experience, God often gives special comfort to His servants by His sovereign acts. The point we must see is that Stephen's focus was on the Lord God alone. He was satisfied with knowing God through Jesus Christ. He had no longing for fame and reputation. He did not desire the treasures of this world. He found his greatest happiness in his relationship to His Lord. Consequently, by God's sovereign action, Stephen was able to see something in the realm of heaven which the others in the same room could not see.
Will the Lord give you such a heavenly glance when you face death? That is an area in which we are not given any specific promises. However, what arrests my own heart is that desire to be focused on the Lord when I come to the end of my life. May that be true of all of us. May we have no desire for the things of this world, but only God-ward desires.
2. Faithful unto death
In the last few verse of Acts 7, we find Stephen facing an incredibly violent death. The mob rushed upon him and after driving him from Jerusalem, they began to thrown stones at him until he was literally beaten to death. Can we find calls for revenge in his voice? Do we see a man with regrets at the end of his life? We see his faithfulness in both a vertical and horizontal fashion.
Vertically, Stephen calls out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" His cry was similar to that of our Lord on the cross, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!" Here Stephen has no hesitation to approach Jesus Christ as the Eternal God, Co-equal with the Father. The same Lord he trusted in life was the same Lord he trusted in death. The Lord who carries you through the in's and out's of this life will carry you into His presence in heaven. Look to Him! Do not fear the intimidation of the adversary. Do not cower in the face of death if your faith is in Christ alone.
Horizontally, Stephen utters one final prayer, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Again, he imitates our Lord in His death when He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Stephen ended his life with that same magnanimous love for the souls of men which characterized his faithful witness. He was not focused on his pain or the ugliness and hatred of the crowd assaulting him. He saw sinners in need of the forgiveness of the Lord. Perhaps he recognized that but for the grace of God he would have been throwing stones at God's witness.
Conclusion
Start right with your faith in Christ alone as your Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.
Stay right by living in the fullness of God's Spirit, attending to the Word, and standing as Christ's witness.
Finish right by focusing on God alone and remaining faithful unto death by the grace of God.
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