Sermon Tone Analysis
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The Paradox Of The Christian
A Pocket Paper \\ from \\ The Donelson Fellowship \\ *______________*
*Robert J. Morgan \\ *July 9, 2000
----
*During *these summer Sunday mornings, we have been studying the life of a man in the Bible named Stephen who rose to the forefront of Scripture in the sixth chapter of Acts.
The church had grown so quickly that it wasn’t adequately caring for some of the elderly widows, and a round of complaining had broken out.
The Apostles gathered everyone and said, "It isn’t right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word in order to distribute food.
Choose seven men, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and let’s put them in charge of food services."
So the church chose Stephen, Philip, and five others.
But Stephen quickly advanced in the ministry, and he was soon preaching the Word with the same intensity and effectiveness as the Apostles themselves.
He particularly appealed to repatriated Jews in the synagogues, and his preaching stirred up a storm, for his message that Jesus was the Messiah was not well-received by some.
Stephen was seized, dragged before the Jewish Ruling Council (the Sanhedrin), and there he was accused of blasphemy against Judaism.
In reply, Stephen preached a lengthy sermon before the Jewish elders.
It is recorded in Acts 7, and in it he reviewed the history of Israel, pointing out how the people in Old Testament times had repeatedly rejected the deliverers and prophets God had sent.
Stephen ended his message with these words:
{{{"
/You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!
You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?
They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.
And now you have betrayed and murdered him--you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."/
/When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."/
/At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.
Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul./
/While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
When he had said this, he fell asleep.
And Saul was there, giving approval to his death./
/On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
But Saul began to destroy the church.
Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went./
}}}
A paradox is an apparent self-contradiction that proves true after all.
And /that, /it seems to me, is a good definition of a Christian.
Jesus once said that we’re like the wind.
No one knows quite where we’re coming from, and no one knows exactly where we’re going.
We move through this world like a mystery, and the world doesn’t always know what to do with us.
When you look at Stephen, you see a series of paradoxes that helps us understand the mystery of the Christian life.
*Gracious But Assertive*
In Acts 6:8, Stephen is described as a person full of grace.
As we’ve already seen, he was a gracious man.
He had a concern for people that led to his being chosen to minister to the widows.
He had a burden for souls that led to his preaching in the synagogues.
When attacked by a stone-bearing mob, he willingly forgave his persecutors.
And yet he was in their face, calling them stiff-necked and uncircumcised.
This is one of the bluntest and boldest sermons you’ll ever read.
"You are just like your fathers," Stephen thundered.
"You always resist the Holy Spirit!
Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?"
We can learn from this that mature Christians are a strange mixture of mercy and moxie.
They are both tough and tender.
They are humble, but never intimidated.
They are full of grace, but sometimes in your face.
The world doesn’t know what to do with people like that.
*Stoned, But Enthroned*
But there’s another paradox here.
Stephen was stoned, but enthroned.
He was rejected by the Jews, but received by the King of the Jews.
Look again at verse 54ff: /When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God./
This is the only time we see Jesus standing at His heavenly throne.
We’re told that when Christ ascended back to heaven following His resurrection, He took His seat on the throne at His Father’s right side.
But here our Lord stands up, as if peering over the banister of heaven, ready to receive the soul of His first martyred saint.
And at the very time Stephen is being stoned by the Jews, he is being enthroned by the King of the Jews.
I had a friend, a roommate in college, who went home for Christmas break on the bus.
He was dirt poor and only had money for his bus ticket.
He didn’t even have much money for snacks along the way.
But in the washroom of the bus station, two men pulled a gun on him, demanding his money.
He almost laughed at them.
"Boy, did you pick the wrong person," he said.
"I don’t have a dime."
They threatened to shoot him, and he said, "Go ahead.
You’ll just send me straight to heaven."
They didn’t know what to do with him, so they turned and fled.
What do you do with people like that?
*Grief, But Glory*
We also see the paradox here of grief, but glory.
Look at verse 59: /While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit."
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
When he had said this, he fell asleep./
There are several things to notice about those words.
First, they echo two of the seven last words of Christ Himself, but with a difference.
On the cross, Jesus asked His Father to receive His spirit.
Luke 23:46 says: "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit."
But Stephen asks /Jesus/ to receive His spirit."
This indicates that Jesus is God the Son who represents us to the Father, and we come to the Father through Him.
Then Stephen, like Jesus, prayed for his executioners to be forgiven.
And having offered those two prayers, he fell asleep.
That is, he died.
Why does the Bible sometimes use the term "falling asleep" to describe death?
Well, as we said a few weeks ago, when we die our soul or spirit goes immediately to be with Jesus.
It remains awake and aware of things and alert.
But our bodies sleep until the resurrection day when they will be awakened, clothed with glory, and reunited with our souls.
For us, the whole thing is tinged with glory.
When my mother died a few weeks ago, I thought of the verse that says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
I tried to picture her in heaven, being received by the Lord Jesus, being reunited with my father, with her brothers and sisters, with her family and friends who have gone on before.
The old hymn that puts it well:
/When all of my labors and trials are o’er/
/And I am safe on that beautiful shore,/
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