14 MAY 17 Acts 7:55-60 He Fell Asleep

Transcription

1 14 MAY 17 Acts 7:55-60 He Fell Asleep 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The days surrounding the very first Easter were dark days indeed. The Disciples had thought that Jesus would become an Earthly ruler. They thought He would set up His Kingdom and rule over all the earth from the city of Jerusalem. After all, isn t that what a Messiah should do? 1

2 But Jesus had different plans. He wasn t concerned with an Earthly Kingdom. He was concerned with our Spiritual life. Before His death we were all slaves to sin and no sacrifice could gain our complete forgiveness. But Jesus died for us so that we no longer had to be slaves to sin and death. His plan was infinitely greater than the plans of the disciples. But those first few days surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection were confusing. The disciples hid in a locked room. They feared for their own lives. But when they met the Risen Savior, they understood His plan. Their fear and anxiety turned into joy and boldness. 2

3 And that joy and boldness is what we see in today s passage. Stephen, one of the disciples, one of the ones who hid in the locked room for fear of his life, had changed. He boldly proclaimed the truth of the gospel. We are told that he was a man full of God s grace and power and he performed great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Talk about drawing attention to yourself. He s not hiding now. Something has changed! In fact Stephen was so successful that some of the Jews decided to oppose him. They argued with him but could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke (verse 10). Stephen continued to preach and to win converts. Lacking a legitimate argument and unable to silence Stephen his opponents resorted to lies and deceit to have Stephen arrested. They convinced some unsavory men to claim that they had heard him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and God. 3

4 This same tactic is still used today. I keep up some world events through a couple web sites. The man who runs one of the sites is an expert on Islam. He is willing to debate anyone. All too often when he is scheduled to speak, opponents show up and begin to yell and shout. They accuse him of all kinds of evil. But no one ever actually debates him. They know they will lose so it is safer to malign his character. They also malign anyone that agrees with him. 4

5 The false accusations worked. Stephen was arrested and dragged before the Sanhedrin--the same body that had found Jesus guilty. They produced even more false witnesses claiming all sorts of lies about Stephen. But Scripture tells us that the 5

6 Sanhedrin saw his face as the face of an angel. Stephen even looked innocent. The Sanhedrin had to know Stephen s enemies were using them. The High Priest asks if the charges are true. Stephen could have simply said, No and probably walked out. But he is bold. He is not afraid. His answer comes in the form of a sermon. Aren t you glad I don t answer every question with a sermon? He goes through all of Jewish history from Abraham onto the present. He reminds them that the Jews have killed God s prophets in the past. Then he reminds them that they killed Jesus too. He calls them stiff necked and uncircumcised. He tells them always resist the Holy Spirit. He asks them if there was ever a prophet they did not put to death. 6

7 Keep in mind that these are the same people who sentenced Jesus to death just a few weeks prior. Stephen s answer to the High Priest s accusation is an accusation in itself. These are fighting words. He is accusing them of being unspiritual. He calls them the worst kind of sinner he knows how. Not exactly the kind of words we would expect from someone who was hiding for fear just a few weeks ago. He tells them that they have not obeyed the law. Remember this is the group trying to find out if he broke the law. Depending how you read this it can seem pretty rude and judgmental. And it may be rude. However, it is also the truth. Christians cannot shrink from the truth. But we can speak the truth in love. I don t believe that Stephen was vicious in his words because we see his actions later in this passage when he prays for his killers. Finally we are told that He fell asleep. His death was peaceful. But it brings up an interesting question. How do we treat others who claim to know the truth but are really proclaiming lies? I hear expert after expert tell us that all religions are the same and we worship the same God. How do we as Christians answer? I do not think all religions are the same. The rally cry of Islam is that there is only one 7

8 God Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet. The Quran clearly says that Jesus is not the Son of God. And calls for judgment on anyone who believes He is the Son of God. Well, we can agree that there is only one God. And the experts assure me that Allah is simply God s name in Arabic. But Mohammed? If Jesus is God s Son and He died for us to set us free from sin and death, than there is no need for Mohammed to start a new religion that is contrary to Christianity. Plus if we look at his life we can find all sorts of things about his life to question. He made a peace treaty with a Jewish tribe called the Banu Qurayza. They surrendered to him and then he had all the men who would not convert to Islam beheaded. Doesn t seem the same as Jesus to me. That is the truth. But we need to speak it in love. There is no need to get violent. But there is a need to stand up for the truth. All religions are not the same. I believe Jesus is far superior to the founders of other religions. 8

9 Stephen s eloquent sermon gets the Sanhedrin angry. They are furious and gnash their teeth at him. But Stephen does not see their rage. He sees Jesus, standing at the right hand of God. He even tells them that he sees Jesus. It was meeting the risen Christ that changed Stephen from fear to boldness. And at his time of greatest need, Jesus again revealed Himself to Stephen. What a comfort it must have been to know that Jesus was waiting to welcome him into the Kingdom. Stephen knows what is about to happen. He knows they are going to kill him. He is not stupid. But he is not afraid. Keeping his eyes on Jesus he is able to face certain death. When he says he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God, the Sanhedrin goes crazy. They cover their ears; begin yelling at the top of their voices and rush at Stephen. 9

10 They drag him out of the city and begin to stone him. Their rage has reached a new level. At least with Jesus they pretended to follow the law. The Romans would not allow the Jews to put any one to death. The Jews were supposed to ask the Romans and then the Romans would put the prisoner to death. 10

11 But the hatred and animosity of the Sanhedrin is uncontrollable. They take the law into their own hands, risking the certain anger of Rome for their unlawful actions, and begin to stone Stephen. These are not little pebbles. These are not meant merely to wound. These are large stones meant to kill. 11

12 12

13 I may have told you this before but I can t thin k of a better illustration. When I was in the Philippines at the Naval Magazine, there were a bunch of cute monkeys all over the place. One warning given concerning the monkeys was whatever you do; do not throw a rock at them. Apparently, someone in the past had thought it might be fun to throw a rock at a monkey. Apparently, they were pretty easy to hit and sometimes they were a nuisance so getting them to move on with a well-placed rock seemed like a good idea at the time. Well a couple of sailors were checking the ammo bunkers when one of them decided to throw a rock at a monkey. The monkey ran. But the other monkeys had seen what happened and they must have thought it would be great to join in the fun. While they were not very good with their aim, there were so many monkeys that the sailors had to retreat back into the bunker. It was several hours before someone realized they were late and went looking for them. They had to pull the truck right up to the door to get the two out safely. Stones can hurt and even kill even if the aim is not very good. 13

14 I know a lot of Christians who claim they are not afraid of dying. I kind of disagree. I am not afraid of being dead. I know what waits for me on the other side. Jesus Himself waits to welcome me home. But the process of dying just may hurt and I don t look forward to pain. I usually try very hard to avoid pain. But death for Stephen is inevitable. There is not a lot of time to think about the pain. But Stephen s death is not a normal death. He is a Martyr. He is the first martyr put to death for Jesus. Compare this to the so-called martyrs we see on the news today. 14

15 Stephen did not strap explosives to himself to take out as many of the enemy as possible. In fact, we see that he was praying for his executioners even as the stones were in the air. He talked to his good friend Jesus and asked Him to receive his spirit. His words very close to Jesus own as He hung on the cross. Then Stephen prays, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. There was no hatred on Stephen s part. Only love. It must have hurt as the stones broke bones and tore flesh. It would have been easy to cry in pain and perhaps pray that they get what they deserve. But Stephen remained steadfast; he prayed for his executioners and then died. This story seems a little strange and hard to believe. How could the rulers of the nation of Israel get so out of control that they would willingly break their own laws and stone a man to death who had done nothing wrong? Keep in mind that these were also the religious leaders of Israel. They felt it was their responsibility to protect God and make certain that no one blasphemed, no one got out of line. They were willing to go to any extreme to protect what was good and right and Holy. In so doing they killed a second innocent man. 15

16 While we would like to think that we are far above any such religious bigotry, we too might have helped stone Stephen. You see while we do not use actual stones to hurt our enemies, we do use words. We talk behind their back. We talk to others convincing them to join our side. We are certain that anyone who disagrees with us is an enemy and needs to be rooted out of the Church. We believe the gossip, the back stabbing, all are designed to keep the Church pure and right and Holy. I know many a Pastor that was asked to move because of some anonymous accusations. If they were the truth, why not go to him or her and discuss the issue. Why make an anonymous complaint? I have been hurt in the past by anonymous accusations. 16

17 I never saw how any of the accusations moved the Church forward. But the person making the accusation must believe it was helping God. But all that happens is another innocent soul is wounded and the Church is torn apart. Yes, we need to stand up for what is right. But we need to do it in love. We also need to keep in the back of our minds that maybe, just maybe, we are the ones who are wrong. How would history have been different if the Sanhedrin had listened to Stephen? What if they had realized he was right? What if they had softened their hearts and accepted Jesus? 17

18 After this event we see a change. No longer do the disciples emphasize the Kingdom of God. They begin to emphasize the gospel of grace. The Church becomes the center of the Kingdom of God. It is no longer Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. Did the Jews reject God s Kingdom? Did their rejection change God s plan? From this point on in the book the gospel is preached more and more to the gentiles. And our passage even foreshadows the change since Saul who later became Paul is there as Stephen is stoned. Where are you in the story? Are you one of the Pharisees, making sure the Church remains pure? Are you Stephen, being tormented for your faith? Or are you one of the bystanders? It is safer to be a bystander. They didn t throw the rocks but they did not stand up for Stephen or Jesus when they had the chance. Jesus never called us to be a bystander. He called us to get involved. We need to take a strong stand. We need to stand up for Jesus but do it in a loving manner. Are you willing to take a stand? 18