Christlike

You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.(5:39-40)

He adds, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me” (5:46).

Stephen’s approach for making this point involves telling some microstories in view of the macrostory of the Bible. That’s good preaching! Scripture includes many narratives, but its main plotline is about God’s salvation made available through Christ.

Let’s break Stephen’s sermon into two parts: (1) a historical clarification and (2) the Christological culmination. The first part is the longest, due in part to Stephen’s getting mobbed before he could develop the second part. That section is the most indicting and is really the major point: Israel’s religious leaders have rejected God’s ultimate Savior.

In this long section Stephen essentially tells the Sanhedrin that God’s presence is not confined to a building. God’s presence has always been with his people, and that presence predates the law, the temple, and the land. He reminds them that God, by his nature, is not imprisoned in a place. Unfortunately, though, Israel often associated the presence of a temple with God’s unconditional protection of them (e.g., Jer 7:4). Stephen reminds his hearers that the great heroes of the Old Testament never imagined God was confined to a temple or felt God was obligated to bless them because of its existence. The temple was a good thing, but the people often turned this building into something it was never intended to be or to communicate.

Stephen points to Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and the monarchy (David and Solomon). The whole story line shows God being with his people in various locations, and when the temple is built, he reminds them that “the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands” (v. 48), as the prophet Isaiah said (vv. 49-50; cf. Isa 66:1-2). Solomon himself said this at the dedication of the first temple (1 Kgs 8:27).

After opening with a respectful, heartfelt tone (v. 2), Stephen starts with Abraham and describes how God was present alongside him even in Mesopotamia(vv. 2-8). God made a covenant with this pagan and, by amazing grace, made the man the father of many nations before the law, the temple, or the nation of Israel even existed.

Concerning Joseph, Stephen reminds them of how his jealous brothers sold him, but “God was with him.” God used Joseph as a savior. All of this happened while Joseph was in pagan Egypt. In fact, Egypt is mentioned six times in verses 9-15. Was there a temple for God in Egypt? No.

Stephen describes three stages of Moses’s life, showing how God was with Moses in each spot. In stage one (vv. 20-22) Moses was “beautiful in God’s sight” and was “powerful in his speech and actions.” In stage two (vv. 23-29) Moses understood his role as a savior to the people, but the people rejected him. In stage three (vv. 30-38) God appeared to Moses in the wilderness. God spoke to Moses and declared that place was “holy ground.” Moses led the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness for forty years. Stephen draws the Sanhedrin’s attention to Moses’s teaching, with verse 37 being a prophecy about Jesus. So then, Stephen traced Moses’s career through the Egyptian, Midianite, and wilderness periods, pointing out that God was with Moses in every case.

Jesus was like Moses in many of the ways in which Stephen describes Moses. Jesus was mighty in word and deed; Jesus was the rejected Savior; Jesus gave living oracles. And Israel had a history of not only rejecting God’s appointed saviors but also of replacing God’s glory with worthless idols (vv. 39-43).

Stephen finally brings up the Israelites’ settlement into the land as well as the tabernacle and the temple. Both were constructed according to God’s will. Both were good gifts. So Stephen is not saying that the people were wrong in constructing either site, but they were wrong to think that these buildings were God’s home (v. 48; Stott, The Message of Acts, 139). Quoting Isaiah, he tells the crowd that God is the Creator, and he can’t be confined to a building.

John Stott summarizes this lengthy section well:

A single thread runs right through the first part of his defense. It is that the God of Israel is a pilgrim God, who is not restricted to any one place. . . . He has pledged himself by a solemn covenant to be their God. Therefore, according to his covenant promises, wherever they are, there he is also. (Ibid.)

This reality is highlighted by the divine initiative emphasized in the passage. God appeared. God spoke. God sent. God promised. God punished. God rescued. God is working out his sovereign will all over the earth. He most certainly is not confined to a building.

In this climactic part of the message Stephen tells his audience that they are actually the lawbreakers, and they have rejected the righteous law fulfiller.

Using the language of the prophets and Moses, Stephen tells the religious leaders that they are just like their stubborn, hard-hearted fathers who rejected God’s Word. Like them, they are rejecting God’s gracious appeals. Stephen then rebukes them for persecuting the prophets and ultimately for killing the One about whom the prophets ultimately spoke: Jesus, the righteous One. He calls the crowd “murderers.” And in his last sentence he reminds them of the privilege of having God’s Word while rebuking them for failing to respond to it appropriately.

Stephen’s point is that the religious leaders and authorities are the lawbreakers, and they have rejected the Savior, who is himself the law fulfiller. Instead of speaking further about the temple and the law, Stephen points them to Jesus, who is the fulfillment or culmination of them both. True, someone was guilty of demeaning the law and the temple, but it wasn’t Stephen.

Acts 7:54-60

One can’t help but see the relationship between Stephen’s death and Jesus’s. The two executions are not exactly the same, to be sure, but they bear many similarities.

The angry mob gets “enraged” by Stephen’s message and, like animals, “gnashe[s] their teeth at him” (7:54; cf. Job 16:9; Ps 35:16). Instead of responding to the man’s message in humble repentance, the self-righteous are outraged by it. But, like Jesus, Stephen has a heavenly perspective prior to his death. Stephen can view death positively because of heavenly realities. As the wolves prepare to attack, Stephen catches a glimpse of heaven (vv. 55-56).

Many have attempted to explain the idea of Jesus’s “standing” instead of “sitting” at the right hand of God here; “sitting” is the most frequent expression used to describe his exalted position. So was this a sign of Jesus’s honoring Stephen, as when the faculty stands at a graduation for PhD students? That scene is always a moving display of honor considering all the hardworking student has endured. Was it a sign of Jesus’s welcoming and receiving Stephen, like a host who welcomes a beloved family member into his home? After all, when someone you love but haven’t seen for a while comes to your place, you do tend to get up and greet him with joy. And if that person is a soldier who has been fighting in a war, your welcome will be even more dramatic! I, for one, want to believe that both of these are true. Clearly Jesus is acknowledging Stephen before the Father in heaven, just as Stephen acknowledged Jesus before men on earth. Jesus is thus advocating for Stephen. And this vision of glory empowers Stephen and enrages the wolves even more.

A riot ensues at this point in the narrative. No formal verdict is given against Stephen. No further questions are asked of him. Instead, this group that includes religious elites transforms into a lynch mob. The only semblance of justice in what happens is that he gets stoned in the presence of witnesses and is removed from the city beforehand. There the attackers lay down their garments, like baseball pitchers removing their jackets to throw the ball more effectively. These they lay at the feet of a young man named Saul (7:58).

In this whole narrative the only opponent mentioned by name is Saul (also in 8:1). He is at the head of the whole ugly scene. And according to 22:20, Saul never forgot this moment.

Our brother Stephen endured a horrible death. People were hurling rocks at him, and he eventually died from the many blows they landed to his head. But before Stephen passed away, he offered prayers to the Lord Jesus, his words reflecting the prayers Jesus prayed to the Father while suffering on the cross (vv. 59-60). This beautiful truth helps us see how one filled with the Spirit lives and dies. Stephen asks Jesus to welcome him home, and then Stephen prays for his murderers! Only people who know the forgiveness of Jesus at a deep level can offer such grace.

Now don’t miss this. Saul himself would become the answer to Stephen’s prayer! Saul would soon find forgiveness through Jesus. He would become an undeserving recipient of the martyr’s request that this sin not be held against those responsible. Saul, further, would go on in Romans 12 to argue for leaving vengeance to God.

Following his Christlike prayer, Stephen “fell asleep.” Did you know that for the Christian death is like sleeping? The use of this metaphorical description here reflects a sense of peace we shouldn’t miss. And it reminds us that while Stephen fell asleep in this life, he awoke in glory. For as sure as he suffered and died like Christ, he was guaranteed to be resurrected like Christ. So when you go to sleep tonight, think about this text. Greet tomorrow morning with your resurrection future in mind.

Acts 8:1-3

While the church rightly grieved over Stephen’s death (v. 2), God used it to advance his redemptive purposes. Because of persecution, in fact, the church scatters outside of Jerusalem (v. 1) and evangelizes in the regions mentioned in 1:8. The enemy could not thwart the purposes of God. So take heart, Christian witness. While suffering may be inevitable, God’s mission is unstoppable.

Saul approved of Stephen’s death (v. 1), and his rage escalated to the point that he went through “house after house,” “ravaging” the church, dragging away men and putting them in prison (v. 3). He “was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples” in chapter 9. Consider his anger and hostility, but then remember the amazing way Jesus would transform him. In some translations, in fact, chapter 9 has this heading: “The Conversion of Saul.” Only a miraculous change could take the guy that’s the terrorist in one chapter and turn him into the evangelist of the next.

Marvel at this good news. And pray persistently for those outside of Christ. Speak this good news faithfully. Because having experienced the transforming grace of the same Jesus we serve, Paul the former persecutor wrote, “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them” (1 Tim 1:15).

After a remarkable season of emphasis on missions, the Austin Stone Community Church eventually sent more than one hundred people overseas with the goal of evangelizing unreached people groups. One of the travelers was a young man named Ronnie Smith. Ronnie looked like many young leaders in a local church: he was young, bright, funny, and passionate about following Jesus. He was also gifted. But though he received offers to take leadership positions at other churches, Ronnie and his bride determined to go all the way to dangerous Bengazi, Libya, to make the gospel known.

Later, in a conversation between Ronnie and a pastor friend, Ronnie was asked whether he thought things had escalated in that country to the point that it was too dangerous for him to remain in Libya. To this Ronnie replied, “It feels to be home . . . there is literally no other place on Earth that we would rather be. Nowhere” (Shaw, All Authority, 7).

That pastor soon described what happened after that discussion:

[A] black Jeep circled Ronnie several times as he was on his daily jog in his neighborhood in Benghazi, Libya. The two Libyans in the Jeep pulled up to a car stopped nearby. “Is that the American?” they asked. The man smoking and waiting in the car said, “Yes. He lives here and he’s a good man.” Ronnie had lived in Benghazi for nearly a year teaching science to Libyan high school students. He loved working in education as it gave him the opportunity to pour into the lives and aspirations of Libya’s next generation. The black Jeep circled back to Ronnie. A quick word was exchanged and then the Libyan men emptied six bullets into Ronnie’s chest, killing him instantly. Ronnie’s wife and two year old son had returned two weeks before to the USA for their Christmas holiday. Ronnie died on Dec. 5, 2013, one week before he was to join them. (Ibid.)

Many in the media wondered why a guy like Ronnie would move to hostile Libya in the first place. But all of heaven knew exactly why he did it: Ronnie Smith was following Jesus. Like Stephen, Ronnie didn’t set out to be a martyr. He set out to be like Jesus, but sometimes Christlike living leads to Christlike dying.

Suffering will sometimes be inevitable as we determine to follow Jesus in the work he desires that we do, but the great news is that the King’s mission is unstoppable. Jesus is building his church, and neither bullets nor rocks can prevail against it! May God grant us grace to follow Jesus faithfully until we, like Stephen and Ronnie, fall asleep. In the moment we open our eyes to see the glorified Savior, we will know that living for Jesus is worth more than any sacrifice.