Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / Stephen (1) - The Man

Transcript

Stephen (1) - The Man · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

• 0:00
  to look at the life of Stephen together this evening and God willing and then the next maybe
• 0:05
  three times we meet together in prayer when I'll be leading we look at the life of Stephen and here
• 0:11
  in verse 8 we read of Stephen Stephen full of grace and power was doing great wonders and signs
• 0:18
  among the people and you also read about him in the earlier verses as well when you when they
• 0:26
  were asked to pick brothers from among them seven men of good repute full of spirit and wisdom and
• 0:32
  the wisdom whom we will appoint to this duty that's serving and Stephen was one of those who was
• 0:39
  chosen Stephen a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit well as we turn to the book of Acts and as
• 0:47
  you read through the from the beginning of the book of Acts the great thing about it is that just as
• 0:52
  much as it reminds you of the many great blessings that there are from God when we see so many
• 0:59
  conversions in the early chapters of the book of Acts the spirit poured down at Pentecost Peter
• 1:05
  preaching powerfully and many people converted this real sense of growth and blessing from God in this
• 1:13
  but we also as we read through it we realize it's very real as well it's not just a case that
• 1:21
  everything's going to go well for the Christian all the time there's reality for us in these chapters
• 1:27
  as well so to this point reading up to to chapter 6 you've seen in the earlier chapters the blessing of the
• 1:35
  awakening of the church with many people converted you've seen how this has led to a spirit of opposition
• 1:44
  so almost immediately there's this real realization this reality that the Christian life isn't easy
• 1:51
  just as there's many blessings from God there's much opposition but up till now every obstacle
• 1:59
  it seems to be overcome one after another and overcome to the glory of God and to the growth
• 2:07
  of the church so following on from really the end of the book of Luke Luke also wrote Acts as well when
• 2:16
  we have the death and the resurrection of Christ the death when everything seemed to be opposition
• 2:22
  against God's people and everything was dark what was happening in the midst of God's people then
• 2:29
  and yet then you have the glory of the resurrection that God was showing his wonderful purposes
• 2:34
  in all of this you have Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost and there's people mocking
• 2:41
  and accusing the followers of Christ of being drunk but the power of the spirit took hold and there's
• 2:49
  3,000 added to the church then in chapter 3 you have a miracle taking place of a lame man being healed
• 2:57
  and the result from that is opposition on the part of the rulers of the day so all that's good that's
• 3:05
  happening there seems to be also opposition in the midst of it in chapter 4 you have the arrest of Peter
• 3:13
  and John again this opposition as they are proclaiming the word of God so as the church continued to grow
• 3:22
  opposition continued to grow against it and so there was this mix of blessing and challenges and that's so
• 3:30
  often the case in the ministry of God's word but as you see at the beginning of this chapter itself
• 3:38
  chapter 6 still there are good things happening now in these days the disciples were increasing
• 3:44
  in number there was more and more coming to follow the Lord and so blessings are there in the midst of opposition
• 3:54
  but now you come to this point in the book of Acts and it's a point where Stephen if you like comes to the fore
• 4:04
  and something happens to Stephen that you may think well how are things going to go on from here
• 4:11
  as we see in this chapter Stephen is seized in the next chapter as we'll be looking at we'll see Stephen is
• 4:19
  stoned he is put to death there is this opposition that has now come to this point where Stephen loses his life
• 4:28
  for faith in the Lord Jesus and you would think to yourself well what's happening here okay we can have
• 4:35
  opposition but people dying for their faith is that really necessary but what we see is it is still all
• 4:45
  for the glory of God and Stephen here shows this wonderful obedience to his saviour standing up
• 4:53
  for his Lord and the Lord is with him in the midst of it all just as we've sung in the psalms we've been
• 4:59
  singing the psalms have been speaking about the challenges that God's people face and yet just that last psalm
• 5:08
  we sang psalm 57 I live with savage beasts I dwell with lions strong with men who speak with piercing words
• 5:17
  there's all this opposition and yet this assurance that God sends his help from heaven that God is with
• 5:25
  his people and that's what we see with Stephen the first Christian martyr as we have it here in the book of Acts
• 5:34
  we might expect this his death as the opposition that he faced would make the Christians who were there
• 5:41
  backtrack fall away from the faith turn away from the Lord Jesus this is going too far now if my life is going
• 5:51
  to be in danger I'm going to back off but that's not what happens at all what you see is the church
• 6:00
  continues to go even through the death of Stephen and through the death of many martyrs since the church
• 6:10
  and its opposition against the world's opposition against it the church continues to grow to this very day
• 6:17
  even in the midst of opposition against the church the church continues to grow and you only have to go
• 6:24
  forward a few chapters to chapter 11 to see the impact that Stephen's death was having in chapter 11
• 6:32
  at verse 19 it says now those who are scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen
• 6:40
  traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews now if you
• 6:48
  were to read on you realize the context of that chapter as it's speaking about the persecution that arose
• 6:55
  over Stephen the people were scattered but yet they went away preaching the gospel it says there
• 7:03
  to the Jews but we also see as you go on to the Gentiles also the gospel just rapidly spread
• 7:11
  so the world against the gospel thinking we'll stop it in its tracks with a stoning of Stephen
• 7:19
  it almost had the complete opposite effect persecution arose but with that the gospel spread
• 7:27
  and the gospel was blessed and how often do you hear particularly missionary speakers coming to speak
• 7:36
  about the persecuted church in different parts of the world and one thing they so often say is about
• 7:43
  the persecution we don't want it to stop and you think to yourself well why that would seem to make no
• 7:53
  sense if they're suffering for their faith surely you would want that to stop but they will say no
• 8:00
  because God is using that opposition that persecution to build his kingdom and so often it is through
• 8:10
  persecution that the church grows I remember one speaker once saying about the united kingdom and
• 8:18
  the persecution coming to the united kingdom they said this we are too sleepy for it to happen here in the UK
• 8:27
  we're too sleepy and what a challenge that is we don't suffer persecution they were saying because we're too sleepy
• 8:36
  we're sort of holding ourselves back in other countries are putting themselves forward standing up for Christ
• 8:44
  they're suffering persecution but they said we we're too sleepy there's a great challenge in that and there's a great
• 8:51
  challenge as we look at Stephen's life we need to be more like Stephen godly people who will stand up as martyrs
• 9:02
  for the for the Lord full of the spirit and wisdom it's said of Stephen that's what we want to see in his life
• 9:10
  that we would long for our own so in three parts we're going to look at Stephen first of all we're going to look at
• 9:16
  Stephen the man then the next time we'll look at Stephen and the message and then finally we'll look at Stephen
• 9:23
  and the martyr but tonight we want to look at Stephen the man and the kind of man he was and especially in light
• 9:32
  of the persecution that he was facing up to the first thing we see about Stephen is this he was a godly man
• 9:40
  he was a godly man as you read there in verse five what they said pleased the whole gather and they chose
• 9:49
  Stephen a man full of faith and of the holy spirit what is what does it mean to be godly what is
• 10:02
  godliness we speak about godly men we speak about godly women but what is it to be godly what makes
• 10:12
  a person godly I think sometimes we can think of it as an age thing the older we get the older the
• 10:21
  Christian gets the more godly they are and very often that can be the case because a Christian who
• 10:28
  has gone through much in life and experienced so much in life and lived close to the lord through it
• 10:34
  all has learned what it is to be trusting in the lord and there is this godliness about them but it's
• 10:43
  not just that there's more to godliness and just being old in the faith Stephen wouldn't seem to have
• 10:52
  been an old man and he wasn't one who was up there with the others who were the apostles Stephen was
• 11:00
  chosen to serve tables and yet what we see is he was a godly man so what is it that makes
• 11:10
  Stephen a godly man and what can make you and I godly men and women well what we see of Stephen is
• 11:20
  that he was full of faith he was full of faith this is one element of godliness and it's more than just
• 11:33
  saying I believe it's more than just saying I have faith it is faith that shows itself in action
• 11:44
  faith that shows itself in a willingness to serve god faith that shows itself in an obedience no matter what
• 11:55
  so first and foremost it is yes about grasping hold of the lord jesus as our own savior
• 12:04
  saving faith is not in ourselves it's in the lord jesus christ and so we must come to this faith
• 12:13
  in the lord jesus christ but this faith is then a living faith and an act of faith an obedient faith
• 12:22
  and just notice here how Stephen you know he's not one to mump and moan here he's not one to say
• 12:31
  I wanted to be an elder in the church I didn't want to be one who was serving tables
• 12:37
  if only I could be someone more important in the church then I would be able to serve the lord fully
• 12:45
  there's this attitude of obedience he was called along with six others to serve tables to help those
• 12:55
  who were in need but he didn't see this as something as hindering his service he saw this as
• 13:03
  serving the lord with all his heart and that's what you see of Stephen in verse 8 Stephen full of grace
• 13:10
  and power was doing great and wondrous signs among the people so we don't need to be a people to be
• 13:18
  godly to think well maybe if I be if only I could be an elder in the church I would be godly
• 13:23
  if only I could have a position of authority in the church then I could be godly
• 13:29
  every one of us should be godly Christians no matter who we are no matter what position we have we can
• 13:37
  all serve the lord in obedience with all the gifts and talents that he has given to us
• 13:46
  faith is trusting in the lord no matter what putting our trust in him and that's what you see with
• 13:57
  Stephen he is a godly man he is willing and prepared to face up to whatever obstacle came with his
• 14:06
  certainty that god was with him and that in his obedience towards god that god was completely
• 14:14
  in charge of everything faith was full in him he was a man full of faith everything that he did
• 14:26
  he did he did with knowledge and assurance in his lord Jesus Christ in the knowledge that god was sovereign
• 14:34
  over all so how can we be a people who are godly how can we be full of faith well as it says there's faith
• 14:45
  there's this obedience and being full of the spirit he was walking close to god he was
• 14:56
  a man who was in step with god in tune with god all the time when you read of step in
• 15:03
  throughout this section what you see is a man who was fully trusting in god and that's the kind of people
• 15:12
  who we are to be as well he trusted in the power of god now when you go forward into the new
• 15:23
  testament you read in second timothy as paul is writing to the people there he says of the people
• 15:30
  that there will be those with no real love for god in the latter days and he describes him in this way
• 15:39
  in second timothy chapter 3 verse 5 he says having a form of godliness but denying its power
• 15:48
  a form of godliness but denying its power and that was not stephen his godliness was seen in that he was
• 15:59
  not denying its power he was preaching the power of godliness and the power of god so many people today
• 16:08
  speak about christianity in a way that it's about what we do
• 16:12
  but that is denying the power of god we have to trust god and his power and that's where stephen's faith
• 16:23
  was in the godliness that came through faith in his lord and so where is our godliness tonight
• 16:32
  is it in ourselves or are we fully trusting in god as our lord fully obedient to him in all that we do
• 16:43
  he was a man full of faith and that faith lived itself in out in his life in everything that he did
• 16:52
  and so our faith should live itself out in that way as well that in all that we do we are fully trusting
• 17:00
  god the second thing we see about stephen here is he is described as a wise man a wise man again you
• 17:11
  you see it in how those who are looking who they were looking for to serve the tables are described in
• 17:18
  verse 3 pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the spirit and of wisdom
• 17:24
  and as as as stephen is speaking to the crowd later on in verse 10 they couldn't stand up to him because of
• 17:36
  the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking so he was stephen he was a wise man
• 17:45
  and what you notice is that the wisdom that stephen is described as here is also the wisdom with which
• 17:55
  he preaches later on in chapter 7 about moses in chapter 7 verse 10 it speaks there about the wisdom
• 18:04
  that moses had and rescued him out of his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before pharaoh
• 18:12
  so this was moses's wisdom it's a very wisdom that stephen has described as having as well
• 18:19
  and what's interesting about this is as he speaks about moses this is what rattles the people's cage
• 18:28
  this is what rubs up them up the wrong way he's speaking about moses in a way that they say he
• 18:34
  shouldn't be and yet he's speaking about here we hear but the wisdom that stephen had is the very same
• 18:42
  wisdom that moses had and so what does that mean well it's the wisdom that god gives god gave moses this
• 18:53
  wisdom god gave stephen this wisdom as a very wisdom that we can get from god as well if anyone lacks wisdom
• 19:04
  let him ask god who will give so we have this wisdom on offer from god this knowledge of god through his son
• 19:15
  the lord jesus christ in his book knowing god jim parker speaks of wisdom in this way he says wisdom
• 19:24
  is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal together with the surest means of attaining it
• 19:38
  the inclination to choose the best and highest goal together with the surest means of attaining it so there is this
• 19:43
  wisdom that comes from god that's the wisdom that we are to look to and where is this wisdom found
• 19:51
  it is found in the word of the cross god's wisdom is summed up in jesus christ on the cross
• 20:01
  because in first corinthians chapter one and speaks of it in this way to those who are perishing the cross
• 20:08
  is foolishness but to those who are being called by god christ is both the power of god and the wisdom
• 20:17
  of god as we put our trust in the lord jesus christ we have this wisdom that he gives to us
• 20:27
  this is the wisdom of stephen wisdom of moses the wisdom of all god's people down through every
• 20:35
  generation the wisdom that even had is the wisdom that we should live for and where is this wisdom shown
• 20:44
  is again seen in how he lives his life the will of god in all things not my will but yours be done
• 20:55
  i read a poem that teaches about wisdom and seeking to know the wisdom that the lord will give in his will
• 21:04
  the author it says is unknown i thought we'd share the poem with you and it says this
• 21:11
  i am not sent a pilgrim here my heart with earth to fill but i am here god's grace to learn
• 21:20
  and serve god's sovereign will leads me on through smiles and tears grief follows gladness still
• 21:29
  but let me welcome both alike since both work out his will no service in itself is small none great
• 21:38
  though earth it fill but that is small that seeks its own and great that seeks god's will
• 21:46
  then hold my hand most gracious lord guide all my doings still and let this me my life's one aim
• 21:55
  to do or bear thy will stephen was one who had that very mind from christ where to do his will
• 22:06
  was what counted for him so let us pray to be a wise people the final thing we see about stephen here
• 22:18
  is that he was a content man you would think in the midst of all the opposition that he faced that this
• 22:27
  would unsettle him in some ways or challenge his faith or make him question things but what you see is
• 22:33
  he stands strong he stands strong in the faith even when the people falsely accuse stephen of going
• 22:42
  against the teaching of moses he still stands strong in faith in verse 10 as i said it says but they could
• 22:53
  not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking so as he stood up and as he stood up
• 23:02
  and spoke of moses in this way and all that he was doing and how they challenged him and all that he was
• 23:08
  saying what happened with him well when you look at verse 15 there's this remarkable thing that happens
• 23:16
  to stephen gazing at him all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel
• 23:26
  there was something that stood out about stephen even here to those who are in opposition against
• 23:33
  gazing on him all who sat in the councils saw that his face was like the face of an angel he shone
• 23:42
  and who else is it said of in scripture who shone for god moses himself in exodus 34 verse 29 it says
• 23:54
  when moses came down from mount sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands he was not aware
• 24:01
  that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the lord so the very one that they were accusing
• 24:09
  him of speaking against it's almost like he's replicating moses he's shining with the same glory
• 24:16
  that moses did and why is that because they were both close to god one commentator puts it like this
• 24:25
  the description is of a person who is close to god and reflects some of his glory as a result
• 24:32
  of being in his presence just as moses had spoken with the lord and been in his presence and shone
• 24:39
  stephen is here seen as one whose face shines like an angel because he is close to the lord
• 24:47
  it's a wonderful example of that told by a missionary when he said a hindu trader in india once asked a
• 24:58
  missionary what do you put on your face to make it shine the missionary was sort of taken aback by the
• 25:07
  question surprised by the question he said i don't put anything on it but the hindu man carried on
• 25:15
  questioning him he said you must put something on it all of you people all of you who believe in jesus
• 25:23
  you have it i've seen it in so many different places in towns in agra and surat and bombay i've seen all
• 25:32
  you who are following jesus and you you glow and the mission he suddenly began to realize what he was
• 25:41
  getting at and he said oh no i know what you mean and i will tell you the secret it's not something we
• 25:49
  put on from the outside but something that comes from within it's reflection of the light of god in our
• 25:59
  hearts imagine that a hindu someone opposed to the christian faith and yet saying there's something
• 26:05
  about you christians something that makes you glow it's not something we put on but something
• 26:13
  from within just as moses had been in the presence of god and shone just as stephen here is close to god
• 26:23
  and shining for him like the face of an angel surely as christians too we should have that within us
• 26:30
  the glory of god shining through so it would be obvious to others who say surely they must have
• 26:37
  been with the lord so the closer we are to the lord the more contentment we will find and the more joy
• 26:48
  we will find and the more we will radiate the glory of god through ourselves again looking at timothy and
• 26:55
  what paul says first timothy chapter 6 it says godliness with contentment is great gain godliness
• 27:05
  with contentment is great gain and truly stephen had godliness and contentment in the lord
• 27:15
  he gazed on his savior he gazed on his savior he looked to him he shone for him and we as his people
• 27:24
  are to be a people who look to the lord day after day and shine for him in the face of opposition
• 27:33
  in the face of persecution stephen saw no one but jesus and found his contentment in him so may our
• 27:43
  prayer be that we will continue to fix our eyes on him to find this godliness that comes from him to
• 27:51
  pray for this wisdom that comes from him and to find our contentment fulfilled and complete in him let us pray
• 28:02
  our father in heaven we thank you for your word and the wisdom it gives and the way that we come to
• 28:11
  your word we meet with you and come into your presence and we pray that you will fill us up
• 28:17
  that we will be a people full of faith and from the inside out lord you will make us shine for you
• 28:23
  to be examples of those who are close to you and honor you and serve you with all our hearts
• 28:31
  help us to do that lord whatever calling you have in our lives we are all called take up our cross
• 28:38
  and follow you so give us the strength oh lord for that and the grace and the wisdom
• 28:43
  to go on in all of these things and pardon our sins in jesus name amen
• 28:50
  we conclude our worship by singing in psalm
• 28:56
  be merciful to spring
• 28:59
  Mori was our boy
• 29:04
  we 2000 the selection of the thing we do in 2003
• 29:06
  we are the second part of he is an independentist of the greeting and heart and conference and
• 29:08
  the warning, unity of the humility to be completed in來了
• 29:10
  we have all the potential inwhile athletics just left the harmony narah
• 29:13
  to the future and the reason that the learning that was extremely special every element
• 29:14
  of coming together can that inform us she may have an environment and the
• 29:16
  relaxation of tyrana requires
• 29:17
  we may be HTV chenry
• 29:18
  מ on the happening and the team of our group
• 29:20
  happened in the games analysis of mother
• 29:23
  and I was able to roll back this program
• 29:23
  would never respond to her