Sermon Tone Analysis

Tragically Awkward

My first words to Karen as we chatted online.

“How old are your kids?”

I am thinking “I’m a Dad, you’re a Mom, here’s a common experience...”

She is thinking, do I need to call the police?

At the end of our second date, I am thinking “I will be a gentleman and walk her to her car… but I’m not going to kiss her on the second date.”

And in my mind, I execute it smoothly and perfectly.

Karen’s version goes more like this.

When I entered the 10 foot perimeter of the car, my whole body went rigid, I stood up straight and said “Welp… good night.”

And stayed planted right there until she left.

Tragic.

On our third date, when she kept going on about how great her younger brother is I asked “well, is he single?”

She was not amused.

Tragic.

I am so thankful that somehow, miraculously, wonder of wonders, somehow it all worked.

Looking back I can see it.

In the middle of some of those awkward moments I couldn’t see it.

In the worst of those, Karen certainly couldn’t see it :D.

Book

The Tragedy

We see the glory of this… they saw the danger, the fear, the persecution the apostles had escaped again and again in standing up to authority, here was the final proof that they weren’t going to be safe, that it wasn’t going to be smooth and easy.

Stephen was just like them, and when he dared to speak boldly… he got killed!

Savagely, shamefully, brutally killed.

How old was Stephen?

We don’t know, but I picture him in the prime of his life.

A leader among men, maybe near in age to me even?

Church tradition, the official record of the saints has him at 29 years old.

I’m sure he had a family.

Maybe married with kids, maybe not yet if he was 29.

Certainly he had a mother… as so many do.

And certainly he was well loved and well respected.

Can’t you imagine the long and fruitful ministry he could have had.

This guy was amazing: full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, full of faith, full of grace.

Whatever it was, this guy was full of it!

;)

His death was an absolute tragedy.

And a new figure has jumped into the scene.

The enemy has a face, persecution has a name.

Right there at the very first.

“Here… let me hold that coat for you.”

I don’t think he is dodging culpability but emphasizing his enthusiasm, his zeal in the killing.

What was their reaction?

They scattered.

They fled for the hills, fled for their lives.

Everybody RUN!

10,000, 10s of thousands.

A huge mega church where everything was going SO well, scattered to the winds.

Dissolved.

We see what a tragedy Stephen’s death is seen as… but they are barely given time to mourn.

Picture the Gestappo coming, door to door, house to house, are you hiding any Jesus people?

RAVAGING the church.

DRAGGING off men and women.

This is surely the end of the church.

Wait… what?

Scattered.

That implies fear, doesn’t it.

diaspora.

With a capital D it refers to the Jews scattered a bit under Assyrian rule and then very purposefully under the Babylonian rule.

Scattering very much has this negative connotation, under duress, under fear.

BUT (I love this), the root of the word has another meaning.

Scattering or sowing seed.

And what is happening here.

Yes, the people are scattered out every which direction.

But not to perish, not to fizzle out, not to cool off and die like scattered coals.

Instead… they are seeds scattered to grow wherever they land.

We get to zoom in and see what that looks like with another of the deacons.

No accident, I think.

If anyone had opportunity to see themselves in Stephen’s shoes, it was Philip!

But this tragedy sent the gospel out to the four winds, turning a nice cozy bonfire in Jerusalem into a wildfire spreading across Asia and Africa (to start).

And where they went they brought the gospel.

Proclaiming Christ.

And now Philip is preaching boldly, casting out demons, healing the paralyzed and the lame.

And there was “much joy” in that city.

As a result of Philip’s being there.

And why was he there.

A good Jew doesn’t go to Samaria and certainly doesn’t interact with the Samaritans.

And up until a few days ago, all the Jesus-people were holed up together in Jerusalem with no plans to leave.

Was it still a tragedy?

Yes.

Nothing makes that not a tragedy.

And yet, now with the perspective a couple decades, Luke can see God use even this.

Serotinous Cones

(Lodgepole pine here in Colorado).

Pine trees with serotinous cones.

They are thick, hard cones glued shut with a strong resin.

They can hang on the tree for years, long after the seeds are already matured.

Only when a fire sweeps through, melts the resin, do the cones open up, releasing seeds to then be scatterd by wind and gravity.

God transforms tragedy into triumph.

The execution of Stephen scatters the church out of Jerusalem and begins the spread of the gospel to Samaria, Judea and the ends of the earth.

Stephen’s death was a brutal and savage tragedy… but God transforms tragedy into triumph.

It may not be painless.

It may not be quick.

But God can use it for His glory and (even) for your good.

From Joseph to Jesus

He is an expert at this.

He has always done this.

Joseph, who Stephen just preached about, reflecting to his brothers over them being the WORST older brothers ever, he could now see

In Jesus.

“Our Lord died an apparent failure, discredited by the leaders of established religion, rejected by society, and forsaken by his friends.

It took the resurrection to demonstrate how gloriously Christ had triumphed and how tragically the world had failed.”

- A. W. Tozer