During what has been called the “Sizzling Sixties,” Dinah Ross and the Supremes recorded a cut entitled “Reflections.” That song was about faces and the memories those faces reflected. Looking out her rain-soaked window, she sees reflections of how things used to be. She sees the face of a distant lover, and she sees the reflection of the love he took from her. She sees reflections of wasted years and useless tears. And all that remained in her heart was the outline of a familiar face, and that face evoked painful reflections.
The TV series “China Beach” was a nostalgic retrospection on faces and reflections of the Viet Nam War era. It used the song “Reflections” as its theme. Some years ago I would know when “China Beach” was on because a few of my daughters used to exercise their vocal chords with a strange mixture of harmony to sing loudly that song, as if in their very brief lives, they had had previous experiences which caused them to relate to the words of that song. They were only 8 and 6 at the time!
Perhaps in the history of your pilgrimage, you have had a “China Beach: a place where you have been severely tried and tested, a place of bruising battle and protracted pain – “China Beach”; a place where you had to stand your ground and defend your principles or practices. In a very real sense, every growing saint has had his/her “China Beach.” And occasionally, present faces cause you to reflect on previous experiences. Every now and then you run upon a face that reminds you of a past experience, and you reflect again on that experience.
Stephen had his “China Beach,” but he stood! Our textual script, verses 8-15, sketches the outline of THREE FACES that REFLECT THREE DIFFERING IMAGES. Perhaps if we hush our hearts and focus our lens, we just might perceive our face and reflection mirrored in one of these three sketches drawn by the Holy Spirit. And let me add here parenthetically that the Holy Spirit is a Master Artist. He paints a true picture. He always draws our portrait well, showing all our faults and flaws which we have tried to make over, cover up or minimize. But nothing is hid from the eyes with whom we have to do. God knows how to draw our true portrait, after which He shows it to us that we might be convicted, turn and be changed into the image of Christ, so that we might go from glory to glory and from strength to strength.
The simple premise of this message is: EVERY FACE IS A REFLECTION OF THE CONDITION OF THE HEART. Let’s see, then, if our textual Script will validate my claim that Faced Do in fact Reflect.
I. THE FIRST FACE WE CONFRONT IS THE FACE OF ACADEMICS.
In verse 9, we find certain faces rose up from the synagogue of the Libertines that had a cross-section of members from Cyrene, Alexandria of Egypt, Cilcia and Asia. If we would examine this Text of Scripture closely, it will reveal some Features of the Face of Academia.
Here we have the faces of men who were Proud of their denomination with an Academic background, and raised up in a Scholastic atmosphere. They were very prim and proper in their grammar and language, very erudite in their learning, very logical in their reasoning. Their outlook was that of Learning. They knew well the history and theorem of their denomination, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But any history without God is no history at all, for we all come from Him. If, then, history does not commence with Him (for He is the beginning, the Alpha of history), but begins with a man and his theory is doomed to failure; for “except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that are builders.”
These faces of Academia were looking to dead men who had pioneered a “theory of knowledge,” staking their eternal security on the fickle ideas of frail frames. We love our history, heritage and denomination so much so that we would stand and even die for it, not realizing that if the Lord is not in it, it cannot stand and will not profit us.
These religious men were very learned but inexperienced in practical matters: they lacked wisdom. Learning without the ability to apply or put that knowledge into practice is useless. They were basing their claims on the writings of scribes and Pharisees, hypocritical individuals who had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof.
We have those among us who are very erudite as it relates to knowing the historicity of their denomination, and have some knowledge of the Scriptures in that they can quote some and can tell you where they are found, but they do not know Jesus. Therefore they have zeal but no life, theory but no truth, policy but no power. They are fervent in defending a building, a sect, a denomination, or a set of rules or rituals that have no power, but are dead silent when it comes to defending the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. My friends, we must be careful not to defend something that is indefensible. We are to contend for the faith, the Christ and holy things but not to stand up for denominationalism. There is only one denomination, the Church of God. There is only one sheepfold, one door and one shepherd; and if we don’t come through the door, we are not in the denomination. There is only one church, the Church of Jesus Christ or the Church of God. He is the Architect. He built it and He calls and adds to it!
But here were the faces of Academia arguing, disputing, debating with Stephen, a member of the true church; the church that was on fire for Jesus, whose tongue was a ready witness, whose heart was pure and who possessed that spirit of continuance. This Stephen had seen the Lord, being in His presence for 40 days, had experienced the power of a Spirit-filled life, for he was a man full of faith and power, who had performed great wonders and miracles among the people. Yet the face of Academia chose to dispute with Stephen. Oh, what strange logic! With philosophy they tried to disprove the claims and character of Christ.
The history of Philosophy shows us that the search for truth has always been for man a search after universally valid judgments. Man has not been satisfied with possessing truth. He has wanted something else, something which seemed to him “better”: he has wanted his truth to be a truth “for all.” To establish a right to this, he created the fiction that he himself did not create this truth but took it over, not from a being like himself (a living, essentially unstable mutable, capricious being), but from a being which knows no alteration and will know of none, having no will at all and caring nothing either for itself or for anything else (that being that teaches us that the sum total of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles). But if the source of truth is something so peculiar, so absolutely inanimate, then, human virtue reduces itself altogether to self-renunciation; impersonal and passionless truth on the one hand, and on the other hand, the readiness to sacrifice all to this truth.
Euripides once said, “Who knows if life is not death, and death life?” Plato, in one of his dialogue, put these words into the mouth of Socrates, the very man who created the theory of general ideas and first considered the clarity and distinctiveness of our judgments to be an index of their truth. How has it happened, how could it happen, that the wisest are in doubt where the ordinary man can see no difficulty whatever, and why are the most painful and terrible difficulties reserved for the wisest? For what can be more terrible than not to know whether one is dead or alive? Isn’t it obvious to us all that life is life and death is death, and that to confuse them with one another can only be madness or a mischievous wish to upset all self-evidence and to bring disorder into the human mind? Yet by disputing, that is exactly what philosophy tries to do.
Now we are warned in several Scriptures beginning at First Timothy 6:20-22 about this Face of Academia. Paul closes this powerful epistle with a great warning to both Pastor and Parishioner regarding those who shall argue or debate the merits of our faith. Therefore, we must know the Reflection of the Face of Academics which is ARROGANCE. They think they know. They are high-minded, condescending, having an air of “I know it all and you know nothing.” Paul says, “Keep that which is committed to your trust.” What is committed to our trust? The Word of God. If we keep the Word, then we’ll avoid “profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.”
Science pretends to the certainty, the universality and the necessity of its statements. What science wants is theory, something which will transform what happened once into necessity. Science does not state, it judges. It does not reflect truth, it creates it according to the autonomous laws which it has itself created. Reason decides what may and what may not be. It decides according to its own laws, taking no account of what it calls the “human, all too human.” In other words, science is life set before the tribunal of reason. Thus, we are to oppose science falsely so called.
Acts 17:21 tells about the reflection of the face of Arrogance. Paul was on Mars Hill when he ran across the face of Academia. They were so arrogant that verse 17 says that “all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”
Tertellian alone understood that Athens could never agree with Jerusalem. He alone resolved in that famous saying of his: “I am not ashamed – because it is shameful; it is absolutely credible – because it is absurd; it is certain – because it is impossible.”
Only once in the course of the two thousands years which have passed since the people of the West began to read the Bible has it occurred to some man that all the shame, absurdity, impossibility so cherished by reason takes from us what is most necessary and valuable. Everyone thinks it is his duty, not only to reconcile Athens with Jerusalem, but to require of Jerusalem to seek her justification and her blessing in Athens. And consequently, every thing which proceeded out of Jerusalem must be weighed in the balances of Athens. The Bible’s God must consent to alter His “nature” where He fell short of the Hellenic conception of the supreme perfect being.
The ontological proof of God, which is so attractive to many, means nothing else but the readiness to deliver up Jerusalem to the judgment of Athens. The idea of the supremely perfect being had arisen in Athens, and the Bible’s God, if He wished to attain the predicate of existence, had to seek it on His knees in Athens where all predicates which cannot dispense with universal recognition were forged and distributed. What sort of new thing is that? It is foolishness, that’s what it is! But we don’t need some new thing. We only require that “Old, Old Story of Jesus and His love.”
And then finally in Second Timothy 2:23 Paul tells us how to deal with the foolish arrogance of Academia. He says, “Avoid foolish and unlearned questions, knowing that they do gender strifes.” And back in our text at verse 9 of Act 6, the face of Academia were raising foolish and unlearned questions with a view toward raising strife, which they did in verse 12. For verse 12 says, “They stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes; who came upon Stephen, and caught and brought him to the council.”
My friends, when confronted and confounded, Academics will use another face, for it is too smart to show its hand, too learned to expose its plot, but shrewd enough to get another face to do its dirty work. And that leads me to the second face revealed in our text.
II. Thus the Second Face We Confront Is THE FACE OF THE ABJECT, in verses 11, 13-14.
Abject simply means Low-Life, people with no morals, sub-humans. The educated uses the Low-Life to do their dirty work! We have seen it in the religious realm. We view it daily in the political realm in that, when they desire a cover-up, the intelligentsia will go to the Ghetto and hire a person who will sell his/her soul to support a drug habit; a person with no morals, no principles who will say or do anything for a price.
For centuries the Academic have used the Abject!
• Oliver North and the intelligentsia of the CIA used an Abject, illiterate African American to flood South Central Los Angeles with Crack-Cocaine to cover up the finger-prints of Ronald Reagan George W. Bush.
• The intelligentsia of the Security Counsel used the Abject of the Cuban community to break into Watergate to cover-up the finger-prints of Richard Nixon.
• The intelligentsia of the State Department and the Pentagon are using the Abject of the N C O’s of the National Guard to take the blame for the abuses and crimes at the prison in Baghdad.
• And in many church conflicts, the Academics are using the Abject members of the church to bring about the dismissal of a leader who will not bow to pressure.
We find in verse 11 that the Face of Academia went and got the Face of Abjection: “they suborned men.” They went and got the Low-Life, the sub-human. They were perjurers, for the word “suborned” means that they induced these men by way of bribery or a favor to lie. These men perjured themselves, they lied under oath.
A few years ago I went to the courtroom where the Board of Deacons of a Baptist church brought a suit against the Pastor. And I witnessed men, church men under oath lying. And it was so obvious they were lying because the members of the church in the audience would laugh out loud every time they would tell a lie. Men, who were supposed to be pillars of the church, the very backbone of the church, lying and perjuring themselves. They lifted up their right hands and swore on the Bible to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth while calling on God to help them to do so! If one has no principles, he can easily be swayed to lie if the favor or the bribe is right! People like that are very treacherous; they can never be trusted.
These men were bought and paid for. Their testimony was rehearsed and coached. Oh, that’s why we need to be saved! That’s why we need to have godly principles and convictions! That’s why we need to Stand, because it is easy to compromise and sell out for a piece of bread, easy to sell the righteous for 30 pieces of silver! At one time all of us were Low-Life, but Jesus came in the gutter and picked us up and raised us out of that horrible pit, cleansed us from sin, set our feet on a solid rock and said to us “Stand!” you are somebody now. You have principles, Charisma!
But these men did not know the Lord, so they were worthless, faithless and unreasonable. Church folk will lie because they have been bought with a bribe, have been influenced by someone who has made promises of favors.
Now the reflection which this face of Abjection casts is APATHY. Apathy simply means “no feelings.” A person with no feelings will do anything to anyone. Apathetic people are without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce and despisers of those that are good. If a person lacks natural affection for his own parents or family, they certainly do not care for the things of God nor His folk.
Now, the Faces of Academic and Abjection were set against A THIRD FACE.
III. That Third Face Was THE FACE OF ASSURANCE, the Face of Stephen.
Stephen had the Face of Assurance because he was “Full of FAITH.” When one is full of faith, one knows he/she is saved, sealed and satisfied. You are not Arrogant, you are just Assured. Stephen was full of faith and not doubt, questioning or disputing. When you know something, you have rest and composure. You aren’t worried or full of care because you have trust. When confronting the snobbish, the academics and abject, you’re going to need some Assurance that no man can pluck you out of the Father’s hand. Stephen was full of faith.
Stephen was not only full of faith but also he was full of power. He knew that he could do all things thru Christ who strengthened him. My friends, when you are full of faith, you have power! Therefore, you are assured that no matter how high the mountain, you have power to climb it; no matter how dark the hour you have power to endure it. And so you can Wait upon the Lord, for with the waiting comes the joy of the morning.
Stephen was assured even when standing before educated men and he had never gone to theological school because he had faith and power. There he stood before the abject who were lying on him and the Academics who had plotted against him, full of confidence because he knew that he had an Advocate with the Father and power to hold his peace.
Being full of faith and power, Stephen was also full of good works, he was Productive. Because he abided in the True Vine, he brought forth much fruit: he “did great wonders and miracles among the people.”
Stephen was also Powerfully Persuasive. The Academics argued with Stephen but they were not able to Resist the Wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
Therefore, the Reflection which Stephen cast was that of an Angel. The reflection of the face of Academics is Arrogance. The reflection of the face of Abjection is Apathy. But the Reflection of the Face of Assurance is Angelic! Oh, when you know whose you are and where you are going, you’ll have the Face of an Angel! Verse 15 says that “All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.”
Well, I had to ask myself, ‘How does the face of an angel look?’ Judges 13:6 says that the face, the countenance of an angel looks “very terrible.” When the council looked at Stephen, he looked very terrible, very awesome. He looked like someone they did not want to fool with being full of power. How does the face of an angel look? Daniel 10:6 says that the face of an angel looks like lightning with eyes as lamps of fire. Well, you can’t stand to look at lightning as it cracks the sky, for it will blind you. Now here was the council looking steadfastly into the face of lightning with eyes like lamps of fire, a terrible and awesome sight!
The face of an angel, like lightning, will light up darkness. With eyes red like lamps of fire, folk think we are angry or high on drugs; but the truth of the matter is, we just had an encounter with God in which we were purified. Moses encountered God for 40 days and his face changed. He had to wear a veil over his face because the people could not stand to look at him in his face because his face shined, glowed with glory. You can’t be in God’s presence and look the same! Once you have been in the presence of God, you have this Glow of Serenity!
No matter what was happening around him, Stephen was Serene. He knew that no one could whip him. He knew no one who could withstand his wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke; so he was just serene!
Oh, God grant us to have the Face of an Angel in our “China Beach.” If we are saved, sealed, and satisfied, then we have been Transformed! We no longer look like a natural man, but like a spiritual man. For the inside comes out; glory shines through!
The more Stephen looked into the Face of Jesus, the more he reflected the image of Christ. When Jesus Himself went upon the Mount of Transfiguration, He, Himself, was Transfigured, and His Face looked like the Face of an Angel; for His countenance was as lightning; His divinity shined thru His humanity and the disciples couldn’t take it. For when Peter woke up and saw Jesus transfigured, the only thing he could say was “it’s good to be here.”
My friends, we are going to look just like Him. Once we have passed from death unto life, the process of glowing faces has begun. Red eyes, not from drinking, smoking or drugging, but because we are being purified. John put it this way. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.”
Stephen was pure. He had this hope in him, therefore he was being transformed. His eyes were like lamps of fire. His face lost its natural look because he was being transformed into the image of Christ Jesus. He lost his color and looked colorless, like spirit!
Every Face is a Reflection of the Condition of the Heart. If we are saved, sure and satisfied, our face will reflect the assured look of being angelic; that God-like look, that care-free look, that powerful look, that transformed look.
What reflection is your face casting? Is it Academic, Abjection or is it casting Assurance? Are we reflecting Arrogance, Apathy or Angelic Majesty? Is there a Glow about us? Is it Scholarship, Slime or Serenity?
Stephen was getting ready to go home to be with the Lord, for they were about to stone him to death. The closer we get to the Lord, the more we ought to glow!
And as I go to my seat, I want to go pronouncing this Benediction upon you.
“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
I want His Face to Shine on Me because its Light; and I’ll look like an Angel.
The closer we get to the Lord, the more we are going to be transformed. We’re going to have Red Eyes, not from crying, but from being purified.
The closer we get to the Lord, we’re going to Lose Color; we’ll become a Terror to the workers of iniquity!
Oh God, SHINE YOUR FACE UPON US!
LIFT UP YOUR COUNTENANCE UPON US,
AND GIVE US THE FACE OF AN ANGEL!!!
