Sermon Tone Analysis

Stephen is seized

“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

Stephen was a great witness and servant for the Lord Jesus Christ!

This Spirit-filled man did not limit his ministry to serving of tables.

Because Stephen understood that the true measure of a man is not how many servants he has but how many people he serves.

So Stephen served tables as well as served the larger body as he also won the lost to Christ Jesus and even performed miracles.

Up to this point, it was the apostles who performed the miracles but now God gave this power to Stephen also.

This was part of God’s plan to use Stephen to bear witness to the leaders of Israel.

Stephen’s powerful testimony would be the climax of the church’s witness to the Jews, where he would bear witness and show great wisdom and the Spirit of God as he spoke to them.

Then the message would go our to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles.

Because no one could really match the wisdom and power of Stephen, so their only alternative was to destroy him.

Remember what Jesus warned His followers in

, “Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences.

And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

You will be hated by all for my name's sake.

But not a hair of your head will perish.

By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Their treatment of Stephen parallels the way the Jewish leaders treated Jesus.

First they seized Him those leaders who were in the synagogue.

Then they seized Him and stirred up the people against Him through false witness to testify against Him.

Finally, after listening to his witness, they executed him to keep him silent.

Let us pray…

Stephen is seized...by those in the synagogue.

, “ And Stephen, full grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.”

Verse 5 described Stephen as a man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.”

This word “full” both there and in verse 8 translates as

“ pleres,” which means to be filled up.”

Stephen was totally controlled by faith, the Holy Spirit, grace, and power.

His sermon before the Sanhedrin reveals the content of his faith.

He believed that God ruled history and was very confident of God’s sovereign control of his life.

He could say with Paul, “If we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord: therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Stephen saw Jesus as the fulfillment of messianic prophecy and believed that Christ had risen and been exalted to the right hand of the Father.

His confident trust in Jesus’ care for him allowed him to face death calmly because he believed in the Holy Spirit.

Sadly, many Christians today could not be described as full of faith.

Like the father of the demon-possessed boy healed by Jesus their cry is the same as it was, I believe, help my unbelief!

, “And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood.

And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’!

All things are possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”

But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Sometimes people find it easier to trust God for their eternal destiny while at the same time they still find it difficult to trust Him with the concerns of everyday life.

But we must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, we must not lean towards our own understanding.

But in all ways we must acknowledged God and He will direct our paths and make them straight.

This was the character of Stephen; he was a servant and a witness who trusted God fully and completely in every area of his life.

He was focused on doing what God wanted and left all consequences in God’s hands.

Not only was Stephen full of faith but also of the Holy Spirit; this is the privilege of every believer.

, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” To be full of faith is to trust God; to be filled with the Spirit is to obey fully His will.

Stephen believed God and submitted to the leading of the empowering, purifying Holy Spirit.

Those two realities really epitomize the strength of the Christian life.

In the words of the beloved hymn,

Trust and obey.

For there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey.

A third spiritual reality, flowing from trust and obedience that characterized Stephen was grace.

Because Stephen trusted God, and walked in the fullness of the Spirit, he was given the grace to face persecution, even death.

Neither fear nor hatred controlled him, only trust and submission.

He could be gracious even at the point of death because of his confident trust in God and resignation to the divine purposes God had for Him.

Having committed himself fully into God’s hands, he was willing to endure anything in the strength of enabling grace.

God’s grace also flowed out of his life to others.

Perhaps that was one reason the church chose him to minister to widows.

Stephen was even gracious toward his executioners, praying for their forgiveness even as their stones crushed out his life.

The only way a believer can live like Stephen is by dying to their sinful self.

Those busy looking out for their own interests will have little time or inclination to abandon themselves and experience the grace Stephen experienced.

Finally, Stephen was full of power.

That was a direct result of his being filled with the Spirit.

That he was performing great wonders and signs among the people suggests he was far more than just a deacon.

Instead, his deeds of power show his close link with the apostles.

In the New Testament church only the apostles performed miracles.

The imperfect tense of the Greek word “did” which is poieo, means he was performing continually doing those mighty signs and wonders, no doubt with the same impact as the apostles.

Taken together, verses 5 and 8 give both the Godward and manward sides of Christian character.

A man full of faith toward God, and yielded to the Spirit’s control, will be gracious toward others and manifest great spiritual power.

That a righteous man will do righteous deeds is a basic New Testament principle.

Paul teaches repeatedly that all Christian joy and usefulness, all power and gracious service, flow out of faith and obedience.

For example in , Paul gave the Colossians the following practical injunctions.

, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.”

But as we are putting away some things we are putting on some new things as well.

, “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.