“Dying to Please Jesus”
The Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts 6:8-7:59
One of great movies of recent years is Amadeus, a mostly fictional account of the life of the great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
•The story is told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri, a fellow composer.
•As a young boy, Salieri hears stories of the gifted child prodigy Mozart, and he too longs to be a composer ... to make beautiful music ...
•Unfortunately his father, unlike Mozart’s father, does not approve and for years he envies the boy genius.
•Then one day, his whole life is changed. His father chokes on a chicken bone and dies, and Antonio is sent to Vienna to learn music.
•Everything goes well for Salieri. He becomes the court composer for Emperor Joseph II, and it looks like he will fulfill his dreams.
•Then one day Mozart himself, now a grown man, comes to the Emperor’s court, and the emperor and all those around him, become enamored by Mozart.
•Salieri becomes obsessively jealous of Mozart’s incredible gifts, and plots to destroy him.
•He anonymously commissions Mozart to write a requiem, which Mozart comes to believe he is writing for his own dead father. Salieri slowly drives Mozart crazy with this obsession.
The story is a fascinating account of the power of passion – the passion for music – and the power of jealousy.
•Amadeus, Mozart’s middle name, means “Loved by God,” and Salieri cannot accept the unconditional gift of love, music, that God had given Mozart.
•So in his anger and jealously he really turns against God, seeking to destroy the object of God’s favor.
•But jealousy always destroys, and ultimately it drives Salieri to insanity himself.
•The whole movie is told to a priest after Salieri, now an old man, attempts to commit suicide in a sanitarium.
We are continuing our study of Acts this morning, and there is an interesting parallel to the story of Amadeus and to what is happening in the book of Acts.
•God is at work in his Church. He has now offered them the free gift, the Amadeus, of salvation.
•The religious leaders in Jerusalem should rejoice in the gift God has given the Church.
•Instead they see the Church as a threat to their power and prestige, and so they seek to destroy it.
And like Salieri, they are about to lash back once again..
And it will spark the greatest trial yet for the Church
•If you recall, the church has been threatened and harassed; the apostles beaten.
•Now, the greatest trial yet: martyrdom of one of their members.
We pick up our story where we left it last week.
•If you have your Bible turn to Acts 6.
•If you remember a conflict has arisen in the Church between two ethnic groups, the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians, the new kids on the block, were complaining against the Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians because their widows were being neglected
So seven servants are chosen, chosen from the Greek-speaking community itself, to take care of the widows.
•If you recall all seven were Greek-speaking Jewish Christians. They were from the community that was feeling left out.
•Two of these servants, Stephen and Philip, will play a major role in the events follows.
Let’s see how it begins:
•Verse 8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
•Stephen is obviously a multi-talented individual. He not only takes care of the widows, but he’s out there on the streets, on the front line, sharing the Gospel.
•It is ironic that Stephen, who was chosen so the apostles could do the job what Jesus told them to do – preach the Gospel.
The moral of the story is you can’t hold a good man down.
•Stephen is zealous for Jesus, and so when he gets done distributing
•He has the courage to preach the Gospel.
1. Stephen’s Arrest: The courage to preach the Gospel
But it is that courage that will get him into trouble.
•You see this was a dangerous time to be on the streets of Jerusalem.
•Remember that the apostles (1) had been warned not to do it. Then (2) they had been beaten for doing it
And opposition does come. Look at verse 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) —
Now remember Stephen is one of the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and it is opposition from a group of Greek-speakers. Notice where they are from (v. 9): Jews of Cyrene (N. Africa, modern Libya) and Alexandria (in Egypt) as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia (modern Turkey). These men began to argue with Stephen,
•These people, like Stephen, are ex-patriots; they are Jews who had emigrated out of Israel and have now returned.
Now you might think that since they were Greek-speaking Jews they would be less zealous, less loyal to their traditions. They have lived elsewhere, and been exposed to other cultures.
•But that is not the case. ex-patriots are the most loyal to the traditions of their fatherland.
•When we were in Scotland we found this to be the case. We knew Scots who would never bother to attend a Highland games, or wear a kilt, or attend a Ceileigh. But you go outside of Scotland, and many Scots are rabidly loyal to their Scottish heritage: they wear the kilts, and play the bagpipes, they eat the Haggis (I’ll tell you about that another time); and do the Scottish dancing (I think there is a highland games in Carlsbad). (We bought a Scottish dog while in Scotland, and he hated bagpipes – it was in the blood).
People who are away from their homeland often are the most fiercely loyal to your traditions.
And that is the case here. These Greek-speaking Jews hear Stephen’s preaching and they are furious because he is preaching changes to their ancient religion.
•He is saying that Jesus is the Messiah; he is saying that Jesus death paid the penalty for their sins; he is saying that faith alone in Jesus will bring salvation.
Now I want you to see something very significant. (This is for free – no charge). Some of these Greek-speakers are from Cilicia (southeastern Turkey). One of the cities of Cilicia was Tarsus. Who was from Tarsus? Saul, later to be known as Paul the apostle, was. Paul may well have been a member of this synagogue.
•Saul probably heard the preaching of Stephen, and it would have infuriated him.
•As we shall, he is present at the execution of Stephen; and he will become the great persecutor of the Church
But even Saul is no match for Stephen’s powerful preaching.
Verse 10: but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
•Stephen is good. He is a gifted preaching and he is running circles around his opponents. He says, “See, Jesus is the Messiah!” And they go, “Uh, bah”
•They have no answers.
•Like Antonio Salieri in Amadeus they have met their match, so they plot their revenge.
Verse 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
Two charges are brought against Stephen.
•They are given by false witnesses, but they are at least partly true, and they give us insight into what Stephen was teaching
(1) Stephen is first accused of preaching against the Temple. v. 13: “...This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place.
•What might Stephen be saying about the Temple?
•To answer that we have to ask, “What was the purpose of the Temple?” What took place there? Animal sacrifices to pay for sins. The OT commanded it.
Stephen was preaching that with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, animal sacrifices were no longer necessary. Jesus’ sacrifice was once-for-all.
By the way, this is the key theme of the NT book of Hebrews. It is all about the sacrificial system and how Jesus now fulfills it.
•The author points out that animal sacrifices had to be offered day after day, to pay for sins – Jesus died “once and for all.”
•The animal sacrifices never even took away sins, because “the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.” Jesus’ death truly paid for our eternal debt of sin.
Now that’s radical preaching in Jerusalem at the steps of the Temple!
•Suppose I got up here and said, “We aren’t going to use the Bible any more.” I’ve got a better book. It’s called the “Gospel According to Mark.” I just wrote it last night.
•The ushers will come by and pick up your Bibles and will distribute this new book.
•A few of you might object.
Now that might sound like a ridiculous example, but that must have been a little how Stephen’s preaching sounded.
One automobile company uses the slogan, “The Rules Have Changed” to promote its supposedly radical new technology.
•Stephen says, “Hey, the rules have changed. Forgiveness does not come through animal sacrifices; forgiveness comes through faith in Jesus Christ.”
Your sacrifices have become obsolete.
•You may as well just shut this Temple down. You are running an ice-house in an age of electric freezers.
•Using a typewriter in an age of computers. (You remember typewriters, right? We have about 1/2 a dozen of those things around the house. Do you know what they’re good for? Nothing. We’re saving them for our grandchildren, so they don’t have to go to the museum to see them.
•Like our record player. I still have a record player. I went looking for a needle for it. The clerk at the music store looked at me like I was crazy.
Stephen says, “The Temple sacrifices are at end.” A new age has dawned. The age of the Spirit. The age of the Messiah. The New Covenant has been established; the Old is passing away.
Now this is incredibly threatening for the Sanhedrin.
•I want you to go back and see the closing statement of verse 7: 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, (then Luke adds a little comment) and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
•Who were the priests? They ran the Temple. They offered sacrifices. They are turning to Christ.
Stephen provokes a crisis through his preaching.
T- But there is another related accusation against Stephen.
(2) Stephen is preaching against the Law. Verse 13 again: ...“This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
You see Judaism of the first century had two great pillars of faith.. The (1) Temple and its sacrifices was one, (2) the study of the Law was the other.
•Many Jews believed that salvation came through keeping the Law.
Now Stephen stands up and says, “The law is fulfilled in Christ.” We are no longer under the Law; we are under Grace.
• The apostle Paul says it this way, “Christ is the End of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
•Jesus perfectly kept the Law; he fulfilled it for us.
•We are saved not by keeping a bunch of dos and don’ts, but through faith in Jesus; through believing in him.
Are you aware of that? Even many Christians today don’t quite get it.
•Many Christians have this idea that there is this great big scale, and that your good deeds will be weighed against your bad deeds; and if the good outweigh the bad, the door to heaven opens. Bing, bing, bing...
•But the Bible says it’s not like that. The Bible says that even one bad deed disqualifies you. Because God’s standards are for perfection.
Picture it this way. At the gates of heaven you will see a great big scale.
•And a Righteous Man will step forward, and his good deeds piled on one side of the scale. And they’ll be a few little white lies, and some envy, a little cheating. And God will say, “Sorry....even one sin keeps you out of my presence.”
•Then the Greatest of Sinners will step forward. And he will have horrible sins pile up on this side. But he will turn to God and say, “I have done nothing worthy of salvation. I can’t save myself.” So I trusted in Jesus Christ for my salvation.”
•And Jesus will step forward and he will take all those horrible sins off the scale “I paid for every one of those sins.” And with his cross he will push the gates of heaven open. And that horrible sinner will walk in.
Does that sound pretty shocking? Does that sound radical? It is. And it is also the essence of Christianity.
•Eph. 2:8-9: For...by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
•There is nothing you can do to save yourself. Jesus did it all.
People come to me sometime and they say, “God can’t forgive me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”
•But the answer is, “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done,” It only matters what Jesus did. He died for you. You must let him save you. This is the Age of Grace – God’s grace.
T- So Stephen is standing before the Sanhedrin. And he has been teaching that everything they stand for is wrong.
•He has been teaching that the Temple is passé. God is finished with it.
•He has been teaching that the Law is not the way of salvation. Faith in Jesus alone.
These are very serious charges.
Look at the high priest’s words in ch. 7, verse 1: Then the high priest asked him, “Are these charges true?”
Now what is Stephen going to do? What would you do?
What he does in chapter 7 is he launch into the longest speech in the book of Acts (almost 50 verses!).
•Now you might think that Stephen is stalling.
•It’s like the condemned man who asks for an eighteen course meal, with two desserts, to try and drag it out.
•Or like my kids (when I’m about to execute them...no!). When it is bedtime they will do anything to stall. “Just five more minutes.” “Just one more story” O.K., I’ll say, just one more story. So they’ll bring out their children’s Bible. “Which story do you want to hear? The whole thing. What? Don’t you believe that the Bible is one great epic story.
In one sense that’s what he does! In fifty verses Stephen surveys almost the whole Bible.
•In verse 2, he starts with Abraham, and he surveys the whole history of Israel up to the time of king Solomon, and the building of the Temple
•But he’s not stalling.
T-What he’s doing is convicting the Sanhedrin with their own Scriptures. He’s showing them the Truth. That’s the second point in your outline: Stephen has....the courage to testify to the truth.
2. Stephen’s Sermon: The courage to testify to the truth
We obviously don’t have time to go through the whole sermon.
•But there are two themes that run throughout the sermon.
•They climax at the end. Turn to the end.
a. The first is that you can’t put God in a box.
Stephen takes the history of Israel all the way up to king Solomon, who built the first Temple.
And then he says, v. 48: “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men...
•He says, you think by building this magnificent Temple to keep God in, you have tamed God. You have made God into your own image.
I read a great quote this week from J. B. Phillips, who did the Phillips translation of the Bible, lively, idiomatic translation of the Bible, struck a cord w/ many.
•In describing the translation work, he pointed out how difficult it was, and how awesome and solemn the task was of translating it.
•He said he felt like an electrician re-wiring an ancient house without being able to turn the mains off; can’t turn the power off.
•Isn’t that great! There is extraordinary power in God’s Word.
•I remember working one summer for a handyman who did a lot of electrical stuff. And occasionally we’d do a small job where he wouldn’t turn the power off. And I’m like this (hand shaking). O.K. I’m a wimp. But there’s a lot of juice there.
Hey. There is a lot of juice here.
•Some of you are living like the power has been turned off; like none of this applies to you; like God is an old man in the sky who will wink and look the other way.
•If you think that you’ve got God tamed. If you think the power is off, you’ve got another thing coming. You’re going to get burned.
Stephen says, “God is doing an extraordinary work here. You need to get on board.
•God doesn’t need your little Temple he fills the Universe.
•See Verse 48 again: “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’
•Great image. Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. This earth is my soccer ball, and its about to get kicked.
T- The other theme of the speech is directly related to that one.
•Throughout the sermon Stephen points out how over and over is Israel’s history she has rejected God’s messengers.
•Finally he climaxes by saying, and now you’ve rejected Jesus Christ, the great and final messenger. You have murdered the Messiah.
V. 51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him —
Stephen is not afraid to testify to the truth. And he’s not afraid to die for it. We’ve seen his courage to preach the Gospel; his courage to tell the truth.
In closing, let’s look at his
3. Stephen’s Stoning: The courage to give up all
Stephen’s accusations are downright inflammatory. The Sanhedrin dissolves in rage; they drag Stephen out of the city, and they stone him.
Verse 57: At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
But I want you to see Stephen’s last words:
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
•Like Jesus, his last words are, “Forgive them.” One last hope that they will turn and respond in faith.
Stephen weighed the price; he counted the cost of the Gospel, and then he stepped forward and said, “I’m willing to give up all.” He sacrificed all.
•And he became the first of many.
•People like Peter, like Paul. Like Polycarp. who stood his ground (arrested for faith in 156 A.D.). Govt. official: I have lions (“my God closes mouths of lions.” I have fire; “your fire burns a little while then it goes out”).
•People like William Tyndale. Dared to translate the Bible into English, when it was illegal to do so. His last words were, “Open the eyes of the King of England.”
•People like those five missionaries in Ecuador murdered by the Auca Indians, because they dared to take the Gospel where it had never been.
•People like Cassie Bernall at Columbine H.S., whose last words were, “I believe in Jesus.”
Are you willing to count the cost? Are you willing to give up all?
But I have to say counting the cost and giving up all doesn’t always mean sacrificing our lives. It may be the sacrifice of our time, or our ambitions, or our money.
James Dobson in his little book Coming Home tells the story of Tim and Christine Burke (pp. 16-17)
•In 1985 Tim Burke saw his boyhood dream come true the day he was signed to pitch for the Montreal Expos. After four years in the minors, he was finally given a chance to play in the big leagues. He quickly proved his salt – setting a record for the most relief appearances by a rook player.
•Along the way, though, he and his wife Christine adopted four children with special needs: Two daughters from South Korea, a handicapped son from Guatemala, and another son from Vietnam. All had serious illnesses or defects.
•Neither Tim nor Christine was prepared for the tremendous demands such a family would bring, and with his grueling major-league schedule, Tim was seldom around to help. So in 1993, only three months after signing a $600,000 contract to pitch for the Cincinnati Reds, he decided to retire.
•When pressed by reporters to explain this unbelievable decision, he simply said, “Baseball is going to do just fine without me. But I’m the only father my children have.”
The Burke’s decided that family was more important than any 6 figure salary.
The question is, “Are you willing to give up everything – your money, your ambition, your career, your reputation...even your life – to follow Jesus.”
Maybe you are here this morning....and you have not received the free gift of salvation.
