Sermon Tone Analysis

Saul ravages the church!

Saul ravages the Church

“And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

On Sunday, January 8, 1956, on the shore of a lonely river deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, primitive Auca Indiana murdered five missionaries.

News of the massacre shocked the world.

To some, their deaths seemed a senseless tragedy.

Many people decried the promising missionary careers they were cut short, others the five young wives bereft of their husbands, and also the many children left fatherless.

Those with deeper spiritual insight saw things differently.

Nate Smith who was of the five people killed that day; he had written these words earlier but the power of his point resonates even more after his death.

As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages?

As we ask ourselves this question, we realize that it is not the call of the needy thousands; rather it is the simple suggestion of God’s prophetic Word that says there shall be some from every tribe, tongue and nation in His presence in the last day.

And because of this in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca homeland for Christ.

At first glance, Stephen’ death may almost seem pointless.

Here was yet another promising career cut short.

He was a powerful, miraculous preacher, with a deep knowledge of the Old Testament.

Such was the godly character of his life that he was one of the seven chosen by the church to oversee its daily affairs of the body.

Why was it necessary that one so gifted have such a brief ministry?

Only God knows!

Further, his ministry seemed to have ended in failure.

But this is not true; he was not a heretic but a hero of the faith.

His death also triggered the first persecution against the entire church.

That persecution, spearheaded by Saul of Tarsus, scattered the Jerusalem fellowship.

Such a skewed view of Stephen’s death, however, betrays a lack of understanding of the way the Holy Spirit works.

The persecution, which seemed to be a negative, was in reality a positive factor.

It was in this scattering that the Church of Christ Jesus grew even the more.

These persecutions led to the first great missionary outreach by this early church.

Satan’s attempt to stamp out the church’s fire merely scattered the embers and started new fires around the world.

In the words of the early church Father Tertullian, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.

The church’s first missionary effort, beginning in this chapter, was foreshadowed in chapter 5, when people from the cities near Jerusalem brought their sick fro the apostles to heal (5:16).

Stephen’s outreach to the Hellenistic Jews, those from foreign lands, was a step toward world evangelism.

Now in chapter 8, the church is seen reaching out to Judea, Samaria, and even to a Gentile.

They were carrying out their Lord’s mandate to in

, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This chapter marks another turning point.

Jerusalem, which has dominated the story up to this point, begins to settle into the background, illustrating the truth that opportunity ignored is opportunity lost.

The church there continued, but the explosive days of apostolic miracles and exponential growth faded.

God was call for an expansion beyond Jerusalem, for the Gospel was been unleashed through God’s power!

Paul wrote in , “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Victor Hugo once said “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time as come.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is much more than an idea.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation!

The church of Jesus Christ was on the move because of persecution, the salt was being shaken out of the Jerusalem saltshaker to be spread over all Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost places in the world.

Let us pray…

Saul ravages the church… by persecution and scattering it.

, “And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

The persecution the church had faced up to this point had been directed at the apostles and their associates who were proclaiming the risen Jesus.

Peter and John had encountered opposition from the Jewish authorizes, and Stephen had died a martyr’s death.

As of yet, however, no persecution had been aimed at the members of the church.

That was about to change quickly.

On the very day of Stephen’s death, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem.

A Hellenistic Jew led the persecution, ignited by the murder of Stephen.

His name was Saul of Tarsus; he is he one that the text refers to as it says he approved of Stephen’s execution.

Saul of Tarsus was born in approximately AD 5 in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia (in modern-day Turkey).

He was born to Jewish parents who possessed Roman citizenship, a coveted privilege that their son would also possess.

In about AD 10, Saul’s family moved to Jerusalem.

Sometime between AD 15—20 Saul began his studies of the Hebrew Scriptures in the city of Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel.

It was under Gamaliel that Saul would begin an in-depth study of the Law with the famous rabbi.

There has been some debate over whether Saul was raised in Jerusalem or in his birthplace of Tarsus, but a straightforward reading of his own comments indicate that Jerusalem was his boyhood home ().

We know that Paul’s sister’s son was in Jerusalem after Paul’s conversion (), which lends weight to the idea that Paul’s entire family had moved to Jerusalem when he was young.

Saul was present for the trial of Stephen—a trial that resulted in Stephen becoming the first Christian martyr.

The historian Luke tells us that Stephen’s executioners laid their garments at the feet of Saul, who was in full approval of the mob’s murderous actions.

Saul later ravaged the church, entering the homes of believers and committing them to prison.

Saul was a brilliant student of the revered rabbi Gamaliel.

Saul was advancing in Judaism far beyond many of his contemporaries and among his countrymen.

He was known for being more zealous for the traditions of his ancestors.

Look at how he describes himself in

, “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

Ironically, this same Saul who consented to Stephen’s death would later suffer far more for the cause of Christ than did Stephen.

The very first physical persecution Stephen encountered killed him, while Saul after he became Paul would repeatedly suffer for the name and the cause of Christ.

, “Are they servants of Christ?

I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Paul’s ministry was in many ways parallels that of Stephen.

Stephen preached Christ in the synagogues, so did Paul.

The Jewish people rejected Stephen’s message, as they did Paul’s.

Stephen was accused of speaking against Moses, the law, and the temple, so was Paul.

The Sanhedrin tried them both and both died a martyr.

Yet, when Paul was still Saul he led a great persecution against the church of Christ Jesus.

His goal was to break the church in half and them break in half again.

The predictions of Jesus Christ were ringing true in Saul’s time.

, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.