Spirit Empowered Life & Death Part 2
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Stephen provided us a picture of a well lived life. Last week we learned through Stephen that Jesus has given you His Spirit. He has equipped you to live a well-lived life in His name. Your new life is full of grace that overflows in God’s kindness toward others. Your new life is also full of power. He empowered you with his Holy Spirit to joyfully advance His kingdom by making much of Jesus in the church, community, and home. And when your ministry is so effective that it kindles Satanic opposition, you are not to worry about what you will way or do. Jesus promises that he will give you everything you need to live well in that moment. He did it for Stephen, and he did for Pastor Samuel Naik. He will do it or you. Through his life he encourages us to live our life in Christ well.
Stephen’s life serves as a Spirit-empowered testify. Last Sunday we learned from him that Jesus empowers you to live well, so do it. This morning, his life testifies:
Jesus gives you His Spirit, don’t resist Him (Acts 7:1-53)
Jesus gives you His Spirit, don’t resist Him (Acts 7:1-53)
Stephen’s speech is a long historical indictment against Israel’s commitment to God. Stephen shows that God’s people have a pattern of resisting His Spirit.
In verses 7:1-18, Stephen begins to recount Israel’s history much like an Old Testament Prophet would recount it. He begins by reminding Israel of their covenant responsibilities beginning with Abram. God promised Abram land, seed, and blessing. He gave Abram the covenant of circumcision, which was a sign that Abram’s (who became Abraham) descendents were God’s chosen nation. The sign was also a demonstration that God was committed to keeping his promises to Abraham's family.
Abraham was given a son Isaac. Isaac had Jacob, who had twelve sons who became the patriarchs of Israel. Within the twelve patriarchs a pattern of rejecting God’s Spirit became evident. God made it known that Jospeh was his chosen servant to deliver his people, and Jacobs sons became jealous of Joseph. They became so incensed with God’s chosen deliverer, that they wanted to kill him, but settled for selling him into slavery.
God delivers Joseph and uses Joseph to deliver his brothers from the famine, which in fact ensures the Judah’s linage will bring the Messiah. At this point Stephen is drawing a parallel between the patriarchs rejection of Joseph (Genesis 37:11) and the religious leaders rejection of Jesus and his followers (Acts 5:17-18). And the implication he is making is, just as God was with Joseph and not the other patriarchs, so God is with the church, not the religious leaders.
God is faithful to keep His promises despite those who resist His Spirit.
From here, Stephen unfolds this pattern before his listeners: God is faithful despite His people resisting His Spirit.
Moses: God’s Faithful Deliverer Rejected (Acts 7:23-37)
In verses 7:23-29, Stephen summarizes and interprets Exodus 2:22-25. God chose Moses to deliver his people out of Egypt. Stephen recalls that Moses was beautiful in God’s eyes (Acts 7:20). At forty years old, Moses is mature and ready to lead God’s people. He delivers a Hebrew out of the hands of an Egyptian, foreshadowing his future deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh. The next day he sees two of his Hebrew brothers fighting. He tries to reconcile them, and he is rejected, and now must flee.
In Acts 7:35, you see a turn in Stephen’s language. When he says, “This Moses,” he is sounding a lot like Peter. Peter referred to Jesus in the same way in his speech in Acts 2:32, 36. Stephen is imitating Peter’s logic. Israel was always in the habit of rejecting God’s leaders, and therefore fighting against God. Just as the people rejected Moses, so Israel now is rejecting Jesus.
Fast forward forty years, God calls Joseph from the wilderness to deliver his people. He performs signs and wonders to deliver them out of the hands of Pharoah. All the while, God’s people complain and have a tendency to want to go back to Egypt, especially when things get tough, Their hearts are rebellious toward Moses and toward God which is why God made that generation remain in the wilderness. However, despite their rejection, God still promised to raise up a Prophet like Moses from among your brothers (Acts 7:37). Jesus fulfilled that promise and Israel rejected Him.
Living Oracles: God’s Faithful Law Rejected (Acts 7:38-42)
At Mount Sinai, God gave His direct revelation to Moses to give to the people. Moses was the mediator who put into effect the law for the people (Galatians 3:13). God’s people rejected His law by having Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. God turned away, allowing that generation to continue in their idolatry (Acts 7:42). They would not enter his rest, but their children would enter the Promised Land. God fulfilled His promise to Abraham that he would give his descendents land and blessing. But Israel would eventually break covenant with God and be exiled.
Fast forward to the New Testament. God sends His Word to dwell with his people. He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him (John 1: 10-11). They rejected God’s Word, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the good news he brought for their salvation.
Tabernacle: God’s Faithful Temple Rejected (Acts 7:43-50)
The religious elite accused Stephen and Jesus of threatening the temple, the place where heaven and earth meet so God can commune with His people (Acts 6:13). The tabernacle was the precursor to the temple. God instructed them to build the tabernacle to move with them as they wondered in the wilderness so God could always be with his people.
Instead, His people turned to the tent of Molech, a Canaanite false god who required Israel to sacrifice her children (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5). John Barry notes, “Stephen reminds them that, by turning to the tabernacles of other gods, Israel has consistently failed to respond in faith to the one true God present in their midst.”
Still, God gives them a permanent tabernacle through Solomon. A magnificent structure. Beautiful beyond all comparison. The pride of Israel. A place so prominent in their hearts that they assume it is the only place that can contain God.
However, the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:
Heaven is My throne,
and earth My footstool.
What sort of house will you build for Me?
says the Lord,
or what is My resting place?
Did not My hand make all these things?
They put so much emphasis on the greatness of the temple, they reject the greatness of the God who does not need to dwell in it. Solomon, who built the temple even said,
But will God indeed live on earth?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You,
much less this temple I have built.
In Acts 7:51, Stephen finally identifies the heart issue with God’s people. He calls them stiff-necked. Its the same term Yahweh used to describe His people in the wilderness. Stephen is saying without a doubt that his listeners are no different than the generation who rejected God in the wilderness.
Their hearts are uncircumcised, Stephen says. This is another term God used to describe his people when they were unfaithful to His covenant. They were no different than pagans who worship false gods. And the consequence is they refused to be led by the Spirit.
The phrase ‘resist the Holy Spirit’ may be rendered as ‘refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit’ or ‘will not obey the Holy Spirit’. Stephen uses the word ‘always’ to describe their resistance, that is, they are always opposing God again and again. Their resistance is habitual.
There is a grave consequence to habitually resisting God. Habitual resistance to God’s Spirit hardens your heart with unbelief. The writer of Hebrews warns us
Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. As it is said:
Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
An uncircumcised heart is an unbelieving heart that stiffens your will toward God’s ways. A stiffnecked person is a stubborn person who constantly resists God’s leading through His Spirit.
You resist the Holy Spirit by allowing habitual sin in your life (Galatians 5:17).
You resist the Holy Spirit through habitual rebellion (Psalm 106:33; Isaiah 63:10).
You resist the Holy Spirit by deceiving yourself (Hebrews 3:12-19).
The consequence to deception is that it hardens your heart so that you cannot discern God’s truth. This is the pattern of everyone who resist the Holy Spirit.
Stephen makes his case: Just as Israel resisted Moses, God’s prophet who delivered them from Egypt and into the Promised Land, so they have rejected Jesus, the True Prophet who delivers them from the penalty of sin and into eternal life. Just as they rejected His law and broke covenant with Him, so they reject the one who fulfilled the law on their behalf offering them a new covenant sealed by His perfect blood. Just as they resisted God in his temple, they reject God’s new and perfect temple, in Christ, and all those who are in Him. And just as they killed the prophets who brought God’ word and deliverance, they killed Jesus, the Living Word, our only hope for deliverance. By their harden hearts, they betrayed God and murdered His Son, their only hope for salvation (Acts 7:52).
Stephens message is clear to them and to us. God’s people are not marked by disobedience and defiance to His ways. We are not to be a proud and obstinate people who are unfaithful to His covenant. All of God’s working in the Old Testament finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Joseph points us to Jesus as the true rescuer of God’s people. Moses points us to Jesus the true mediator and redeemer of God’s people. The temple points us to Jesus, the only place where heaven can meet earth so we can dwell with God. Everything points to Christ.
By resisting God’s Spirit, the scribes and the Pharisees could not see Jesus for who He was and is now. We are not make the same mistake.
If you do not know Jesus, today is the day of salvation. Repent of your sin. Do not resist the Holy Spirit drawing you to the cross. Jesus will take your sin and your punishment. At the cross he bears the wrath of God in your place so you don’t have to spend eternity in hell. He will be your substitute. He will give you His righteousness and eternal life with him. By faith ask Him or forgiveness. Ask Him to come into your heart to live. He will send His Spirit to live inside of you sealing you forever for His kingdom. His Spirit will lead you to abundant life, and will give you wisdom for this life, and seals you for eternal life.
If you have received Christ, do not resist His Spirit. He did not give you His Spirit to be resisted, but to empower you to live, abundantly. He gave you His Spirit to empower you to joyfully advance God’s kingdom by making much of Jesus in the Church, Community, and Home.
Good night, church! If there was a time we need to be lead by the Spirit it is now. Are you paying attention to what is happening around us? I don’t hear white evangelical Christians or their pastors weeping and morning over the death of George Floyd. I hear justifications. I see apathy. I don’t see any empathy for the loss of life, or for his grieving mother, or for the black community that once again is rifled.
If you’ve watched the video of George Floyd’s final moments, then you heard him begging for air and calling out for his mother. You cant see that and not think something is not right here. Whatever his crime may have been, he did not deserve the death penalty on the street.
On the other side of this is a family that is now turned inside out. The police officer and his family is nationally hated. It is likely he will go to jail for a long time. If he has children, what will become of them? What about his wife? His parents? Is there mercy for them?
When the church is silent everyone looses. When the church is more about political ideology than being led by the Spirit, everyone looses. When the church holds on to sinful attitudes that treat God’s image bearers, red, yellow, black, and white, less than human, less than made in the image of God, everyone looses. When the church resists the Holy Spirit, resists sharing the gospel, resist His humbling of your pride, resist repenting of habitual sin, resist reconciling deep broken relationships, resist restoring one another to Christ-honoring fellowship, everyone looses.
Do not quench the Holy Spirit because you are afraid obedience is too costly. Your holiness
Stephen’s life is sits in contrast to the crowd. Where Stephen submits to God’s Spirit, the crowd continues to resist God’s Spirit. The church must sit in contrast to the culture. It will be costly, but glorious.
At this point the religious leaders are enraged. Acts 7:54 says they were infuriated. Why? Stephen testifies to the risen Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:55).
Once again, God shows He is faithful to keep His promises despite those who resist His Spirit. Stephen made the point earlier in Acts 7:45, that David was proof that God keeps his promises despite those who resist him. God kept the lineage of His messiah in tact and moving forward despite Israel's rejection. When God told David that he could not build a temple, God promised David that He would build a house for David, a dynasty. God would use David to bring a King who would never leave His throne. God kept His promise. Stephen saw God’s promised King standing at the right hand of God.
Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. He did not resist the Spirit, but preached the gospel. Jesus was pleased with Stephen’s preaching. Albert Mohler notes, “Like a man rising up from his chair to greet a friend, Jesus rose to greet Stephen.” It was as if Jesus was saying to Stephen,”Well done good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21).”
At that moment, Jesus sent Stephen a vivid picture of encouragement. You see, Jesus standing at His throne reminded Stephen that Jesus was sovereign. Nothing was going to happen to Stephen that Jesus did not ordain. God is faithful to His promise.
Now the crowd becomes so infuriated they decide to kill Stephen. For Stephen to say that Jesus was standing next to the father was blasphemy. So they pick up stones and begin stone Stephen.
Jesus has given you His Spirit, so die well (Acts 7:59-60).
They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep.
I remember not long ago speaking to a pastor friend who had lost both his aunt and his uncle at the same time. Evidently, they had decided to take their own life together. My friend said the funeral was odd. Both his aunt and uncle were believers, and he believed when they died they went to heaven. However, the way they died did not sit well with him. As he was explaining his feelings to his wife, she wisely said, “Honey, it matters how you die.”
Stephen teaches us the truth my friend’s wife made. It matters how you die. Jesus has given you His Spirit to help you die well. How do we die well?
The Spirit empowers us to die in faith (Acts 7:59)
As Stephen is being stoned to death, he cries out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Stephen was not afraid of those who could kill his body. He feared the one who could kill both body and soul in hell. His faith was in Christ. And when his life on this earth was waning, He called on His Savior to save Him.
The bible teaches that death is a blessing to all who do not resist God’s Spirit. Paul says ti live is Christ to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). Why is death gain? It is gain because Christ’s Spirit has sealed us for eternal life (Ephesians 1:13). At the moment of our departure we are in the presence of Jesus (Luke 23:43). Stephen walked into the arms of Jesus. Why else was he standing there greeting Him? We are also safe and secure (Rev 2:11; Romans 14:8; Rev 20:6), and we are anticipating our new resurrected bodies to be lived out on a new heavens and earth (Rev 21:4), never to die again (1 Cor 15:55).
The Holy Spirit reminded Stephen of God’s faithfulness and empowered Him to die in faith.
The Spirit empowers us to die like Jesus (Acts 7:60)
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep.
Stephen knew that he was going to die from the stoning. After he asked the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit, he ended up on his knees in prayer asking the Lord Jesus’ forgiveness of the persecutors who were stoning him. His prayer sounded just like Jesus when he prayed “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). Stephen expresses the heart of a true disciple.
And when he was faced with his greatest opposition to the faith, he did not resist the Holy Spirit. He submitted to God’s will and allowed God to conform Stephen into the image of His Son, even in his death.
There is a man standing in the crowd who approves of Stephens death who will become one of the churches greatest enemies, Saul. Stephen’s death marks a shift in the church. God is about to move beyond Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. God is going to use Stephen’s martyrdom to drive the church out of Jerusalem and into the ends of the earth.
Stephens well lived life and death in Christ will stand as the example of how Christians should move forward in fulfilling the Great Commission. A well lived life on mission will be full of faith, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is one of submission to the Holy Spirit’s will, not resisting it.
Joyfully advancing the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus will be costly. Stephens death remind us that the world at large hates the message of God’s good news, and will revolt against it with violence. What happens to Stephen also happen to Pastor Samuel Naik two thousand years later, and happens everyday across the world. But the church will not be derailed.
Stephen teaches us not to live in fear but in faith. Jesus has given you His Spirit with the promise that when it comes time for you to perish on this earth for His names sake, he will give you everything you need to die well.
I find Albert Mohler’s words fitting to close:
“The church must not fear persecution of the world. Our God reigns in heaven: and even if the world turns against us, we will, like Stephen, find Jesus standing in heaven, ready to receive us as we remain faithful to Him. May the Lord make us willing to serve the church like him, to preach the gospel like him, and to die for Christ like him.”