Acts 6:8-15 - Do You Want to Be Great? (Stephen, Part 1)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Acts 6:8-15]
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.
[PRAYER]
Define your values. Be honest. Show empathy. Take responsibility. Practice self-discipline. Be respectful. Be a good citizen. Do these things, and you will be great. You will be thought of as a great man or a great woman, an excellent person, a distinguished individual. Who doesn’t want to be great?
However, the greatness that Jesus calls us to is a bit different. Now, Jesus certainly values good values. He’s a big proponent of honesty. He is empathetic. He encourages self-discipline and respectfulness. And He tells us that we ought to be good citizens.
But Jesus said true greatness would involve things like obedience, service, and humility.
He said whoever obeys God’s commands and teaches other to do the same, that person will be great in the kingdom of God (Mt. 5:19).
He said whoever wishes to become great must be last of all and servant of all (Mk. 9:35).
He whoever is least (i.e., humbly dependent on Jesus) among us, that one is great (Lk. 9:48).
[INTER] Do you want to be great?
Not so that people recognized you as an excellent person, but so that people recognize Jesus as an excellent Savior.
Do you want to be great?
Now, consider carefully how you answer that question because the greatness that Jesus calls you to can get you killed.
Jesus said of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” (Mt. 11:11).
And yet John got his head cut off for being so great.
Do you want to be great?
Not just self-disciplined, good citizen great, but kingdom of heaven great?
If so, then you need to learn from great men like John the Baptist and like Stephen who we just read about in Acts 6.
In fact, we need to learn from great men like Stephen, Philip, Paul, and Cornelius—all of whom were great men because of Jesus’ great grace working in them.
[CONTEXT] After the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the early church grew exponentially and experienced persecution, conflict, and complaint, but “the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly,” (Acts 6:7).
The church was poised to take the Gospel, the good news of God’s grace, to the whole world!
But before we read about the first great missionary journey, we read about these great men—starting with Stephen—men who will had a big part in moving the church forward in its mission to make disciples of all nations.
[CIT] Stephen was a great kingdom man who followed after King Jesus until his last breath was taken from him.
His great character, great courage, and great countenance will be our focus today.
[PROP] I hope you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven. I hope you’re willing to pay the price like Stephen did.
[TS] Let’s look first at Stephen’s Great Character.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Stephen’s Great Character (Acts 6:8-10).
Stephen’s Great Character (Acts 6:8-10).
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
[EXP] Stephen was described in Acts 6:5 as “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,” and here in v. 8 he is described as “full of grace and power.” Full of faith, full of grace, full of power, and then in v. 10, we see that his opponents were unable to cope with his wisdom. No doubt because he was full of wisdom too! All of this, again, because Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.
This great character was not produced by Stephen but produced in Stephen by the Holy Spirit.
His great character was a fruit of the Spirit.
This one chosen to serve food to hungry widows was performing great wonders and signs among the people, the first one in Acts to do so besides the Apostles.
Wonders refer to what people felt as they witnessed the miracles Stephen performed.
Signs refer to the power behind the miracles, which didn’t belong to Stephen but to Jesus. All that Stephen did pointed to Jesus as the Christ.
His great character exalted Jesus rather than himself.
And this is what his opponents took issue with. They didn’t take issue with his service to widows or even his wonders and signs by themselves, but they took issue with Stephen pointing to Jesus as the Christ through all that he did.
Those who argued with him were either from one synagogue, three synagogues, or five synagogues. There are logical arguments to be made for each perspective, but the main point is that a lot of Jewish men from a lot of places stood up to oppose the message that Stephen was preaching.
The Freedmen were former slaves or the children of slaves, possibly from Rome.
The Cyrenians and the Alexandrians were from North Africa.
Those from Cilicia and Asia were from Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
Tarsus was the major city in the province of Cilicia. It’s likely that Saul of Tarsus attended the synagogue there, which explains why he was present and in hearty agreement when they all decided to stone Stephen to death.
Synagogues were Jewish meeting places that developed in the time between the OT and NT when Jewish people were exiled and the Jewish temple was destroyed. In the synagogues the Jewish people read the Scriptures and worshipped, and on this day they disputed with Stephen.
What may have started as an informal argument may have then morphed into a more formal debate, but try as they might, they could not withstand the Holy Spirit-inspired wisdom and power of Stephen.
The NASB says they were unable to cope with the divine-wisdom and spiritual-power of Stephen’s words.
Jesus had promised, “I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute,” (Lk. 21:15), and Jesus kept that promise as Stephen debated with these men.
They couldn’t handle Stephen because they couldn’t handle the Spirit of Christ that spoke through Stephen.
[APP] When we think of a person of great character, we may think of a person who is moral, ethical, and responsible. You surely want to be a moral, ethical, and responsible person, but to be a person of great character in the kingdom of heaven—a person of great character like Stephen—, you have to be a trusting person.
You have to trust that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one sent by God to save you from your sins.
You have to trust Jesus as you serve Him.
You have to trust Jesus as your point others to Him.
You have to trust Jesus for the words as you give a defense for the hope that is in you.
That’s what Stephen did.
That’s what we’ll do too if we want to be great in the kingdom.
[TS] Let’s look second at Stephen’s Great Courage…
Stephen’s Great Courage (Acts 6:11-14).
Stephen’s Great Courage (Acts 6:11-14).
11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
[EXP] Having lost the argument, these wicked men secretly induced some others to lie about Stephen. They likely bribed these men and gave them the lies to tell, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God,” (v. 11).
To speak against Moses was to speak against the law and to speak against the law was to speak against God. According to the lies they told, Stephen was a blasphemer, one who spoke profanely about God. According to the law, blasphemers were to be put to death.
Stephen knew that his life was at stake, and yet with great courage he remained faithful.
Having induced the liars, these men then incited the people, the elders, and scribes against Stephen. They came upon him, seized him, and dragged him before the Council, i.e., the Sanhedrin.
The Sanhedrin was the Jewish ruling council, the deciding body in matters of blasphemy and capital punishment.
The Council would decide Stephen’s fate, but his courage did not waver.
The liars added flair to their lie, “This man never ceases (never stops) speaking against this holy place and the law,” (v. 13). This holy place was God’s temple in Jerusalem. This law was God’s law, which was given to God’s people.
This was another way of falsely accusing Stephen of being a blasphemer.
"For we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us,” (Acts 6:14).
Stephen had likely quoted Jesus in reference to the temple. In John 2:19 Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” but Jesus was referring to the temple of His body (Jn. 2:21). Those who crucified Jesus didn’t care about the real meaning of what He said, and these men who were about to kill Stephen didn’t care either.
They saw Jesus as a threat to the temple and the law when they should have recognized Him as the fulfillment of everything represented by the temple and the law.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17…
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
He also said in reference to Himself in Matthew 12:6…
6 “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.
Jesus had not come to destroy the temple or the customs (i.e., the laws) of Moses. He came as the fulfillment of all that they promised.
Because Stephen recognized Jesus as greater than the temple and greater than the law, he had the courage to stand and speak the truth even when he knew his life was on the line.
[APP] Face your fears. Take small steps. Learn from setbacks. Surround yourself with encouraging people. That’s a bit of earthly wisdom on becoming more courageous, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. But if you want to develop kingdom courage, the kind of courage that Stephen had, then start with understanding that Jesus, our King, is greater.
When we can be courageous because He is greater than the lies that people may tell about us.
When we can be courageous because He is greater than the threats we might face.
When we can be courageous because He is greater than the persecution we might endure.
When we can be courageous because He’s even greater than death if they decide to kill us.
If we don’t believe that He is greater, then we will be cowards. We won’t have the courage to stand for Him when standing for Him is hard.
[TS] We’ve seen Stephen’s Great Character and his Great Courage. Finally, this morning, let’s look at his Great Countenance…
Stephen’s Great Countenance (Acts 6:15).
Stephen’s Great Countenance (Acts 6:15).
15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.
[EXP] What does it mean that Stephen’s face was like the face of an angel?
Some say that it just means that Stephen’s face reflected his innocence or that it was peaceful even though the situation was surely very stressful, but, of course, it means much more than that.
The faces of angels shine with the glory of God because they are in the presence of God.
Stephen’s face shone with the glory of God in this moment because he was in the presence of God. The glorious favor of God was shining on him.
[ILLUS] When Moses received the law from God on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34, it says that “the skin of his face shone because Moses spoke with God,” (Ex. 34:29).
God answered the trumped up charges of the wicked men who accused Stephen of blasphemy by putting His glory on Stephen’s face.
They said that Stephen (like his Savior, Jesus) attacked the law of Moses, but the glory of God shone on Stephen’s face like the glory of God shone on Moses’ face after God gave the law to Moses.
It was Stephen who upheld the law of Moses because he upheld Jesus as the Christ.
God verified this by putting His glory on the face of Stephen and allowing his accusers to see it.
This was Stephen’s great countenance.
[APP] If you want a great complexion, you need a great routine. You need to cleanse your skin, moisturize your skin, and protect your skin. People today spend a lot of time and money making sure their faces reflect just the right look.
If only we cared as much that our countenance reflect the glory of God.
What do people see when they look at your face?
Do they see the peace of God? Do they see innocence of obedience? Do they see the face of one who upholds Jesus as the Christ?
A great countenance only comes by upholding Jesus as the Christ.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
Do you want to be great, kingdom of heaven great?
Then you’ll need great character and great character only comes through trusting in Jesus.
You’ll need great courage and great courage only comes by believing that Jesus is greater.
And you’ll need a great countenance and a great countenance only comes by upholding Jesus as the Christ.
If you trust Jesus, believe Jesus, and uphold Jesus then one day your face will shine too.