Praying for Others: Even Our Enemies? Acts 7:55-60

Transcription

1 Praying for Others: Even Our Enemies? Acts 7:55-60 Rev. Michael D. Halley May 18, 2014 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Fifth Sunday of Easter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a remarkable story. It begins, really, in chapter 6, when we first meet Stephen. He is one of the original seven helpers, or deacons, chosen to assist the early church in making sure that the distribution of food and assistance to the widows was done properly. Luke specifically mentions Stephen s spiritual gifts, describing him as a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5). As a result of this new ministry within the early church, the ministry of the seven deacon/servants, the apostles were freed up to do the preaching and witnessing. And as a result, Luke tells us,... God s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of 1 the Jewish priests were converted, too (Acts 6:7, NLT ). So Stephen extended his ministry and went about Jerusalem preaching and teaching. But one day, Luke tells us, some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with... [Stephen. The men of this synagogue] were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke (Acts 6:9-10, NLT). So the men of this synagogue, seeing that they could not debate the 1

2 religious issues with Stephen, decided to get him arrested on false charges. So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen. Specifically, they said that Stephen taught that Jesus was going to destroy the temple -- a most holy place and the seat of the Jewish faith -- and change the customs that Moses put in place. Well, this lit a firestorm in Jerusalem. The people were roused up and they arrested Stephen and took him before the religious council in Jerusalem. The high priest, who was chairing this hearing, asked Stephen a simple question: Are these charges true? Page 2 th Stephen s answer is found in verses 2 to 53 of the 7 chapter of Acts. Remember where this is located, for if you ever want to read a brief summary of the history of God s dealings with Israel, here it is. It is a brilliant exposition of Bible history. At the end of Stephen s remarks, he said this: You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God s law, even though you received it [the law] from the hands of angels. (Acts 7:51-53, NLT) Now, on the one hand we can certainly admire Stephen s courage to stand in this hostile environment and tell it like it is. But, as I ponder this story, I wonder if there could have been a little more diplomatic way Stephen could have put that? As it was, the results of these words were predictable. The members of the religious council were furious! Here is how The Message describes their reaction: At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles 2 and invective (Acts 7:54, MSG ).

3 Stephen reacted to this furious outburst with serenity and calmness, because he then experienced something only a very few human beings have ever witnessed, something we call a beatific vision. Stephen was permitted a direct vision into heaven. And then something very interesting happened. Everyone in the room covered their ears with their hands and yelled at the top of their voices. What a chaotic scene! The level of their anger and rage was unbelievable! And they dragged Stephen away, outside the city walls to silence him forever. Page 3 Well, they couldn t very well stone him with their robes on, so they took them off and put them in the care of a man standing there, a man named Saul, whom we will later come to know as Paul, the leading theologian of the early church. In his writings, Paul never addresses this incident. Even though there is no evidence that he picked up a stone, neither did he try to stop this outrageous violence against Stephen. For, as we know, at that time, Saul/Paul himself was a major persecutor of the early church. Another little detail I noticed is that Luke does not mention that any of Stephen s friends were there in his defense. This doesn t mean they were absent, of course. But this is one of those little details in the Bible that causes us to think more deeply about the text. And the stoning. Luke simply says they began to stone Stephen. These few words belie an horrendous torture. I looked it up (of course!). Stoning, as a form of capital punishment, is 3 alive and well in the world today, legal in a number of countries. Stoning is also called lapidation. Do you suppose calling it lapidation makes it seem less horrible? In stoning, of course, no one person inflicts the fatal blow. Equal

4 culpability is placed on all who participate. Does that make it less horrible? Let s name it for what it is: torture. And all because of religion. Religion is intended to lift us up and teach us to do right and to treat others as we want them to treat us. Even the most primitive religious beliefs would support these noble aspirations, wouldn t they? Page 4 But this! Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, giving up his life and becoming the first martyr of the church. And by the way, did you know that the word martyr is transliterated from the Greek language - meaning the 4 word is the same in English and in Greek - and it means witness? And truly that day Stephen witnessed to his faith. But we haven t really gotten to the topic of this sermon, have we? The title says this is a sermon about praying for others and indicates that our prayers should even go out for our enemies. Notice how Stephen handled that. In just a few simple words, he said, 5 Lord, don t blame them for what they have done. (Acts 7:60, CEV ) Echoes of Jesus, right? Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34, NIV) Did you ever pray a prayer like that? Have you ever had an occasion where you literally prayed forgiveness for those who are lying about you, scheming against you, stealing from you, cheating you, hurting you, and generally making your life miserable? Doesn t such a prayer go against our very nature? A clinched fist or a loaded gun is usually our weapon of choice when someone does a number on us. But here is Stephen, calmly praying that these killers would walk away free. This is another example of what I often remind you: Christianity is counter-culture so often. Our contemporary world will not live like this. But don t you suppose this is how God wants us to live?

5 Page 5 Now, this does not mean that we go out and deliberately provoke others just so we can go through the ritual of forgiving them. No! But it does mean that when the occasion comes, as it surely will, praying for our enemies is what God wants us to do. This does not mean that we will become friends with our enemies. This does not mean that we will be able to forget the bad things they did to us. It simply means that we forgive them and then get on with our life. And if you don t think this can be done, then re-read the story of Stephen. Even in the throes of death, he let his tormentors off the hook. Remarkable. But godly. And Christ-like. Friends, let s give this Christian faith a try. We know what our lives are like when we live them on our own selfish terms. We know the results of suspicion, hate, and discontent. Why don t we try love and compassion and understanding and forgiveness? Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Let us pray together: O God, how we thank You for Stephen, our brother in Christ. We thank You for his faithfulness and for his forgiving heart. We look forward to meeting him one day in heaven. But meanwhile, Lord, give us the courage and the strength to live the same way. May our Lord Jesus, who also forgave his enemies, grant us the power of love. We ask this in his name, Amen +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.

6 Page 6 +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. New Living Translation (NLT), copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House 2. The Message (MSG), copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson 3. Stoning remains a legal form of judicial punishment in Iraq, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Northern Nigeria, Aceh in Indonesia, and Pakistan. See Stoning, 4. See Martyr, in Holman Bible Dictionary, edited by Trent C. Butler, copyright Contemporary English Version (CEV), copyright 1995 by American Bible Society