Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Back in 1956, Jim Elliot was 28 years old and on fire for the Lord.

He and several other believers had been doing some initial work with a group of people in Ecuador called the Huaorani Indians who lived in a very remote village in the jungle.

Elliot felt called to reach these people the minute that he heard about them at the age of 22.

After dropping off some gifts from a plane, Elliot and several other missionaries decided it was time to make contact from the ground.

After successfully communicating with a small group of the native Indians and even taking one of them up in the airplane, the missionaries thought that things were going well!

Little did they know what was coming.

The Huaorani had very little trust for outsiders and one of their leaders recommended that they kill these missionaries, even though they had been friendly to several tribe members.

On January 8th, 2 days after making initial contact, a large group of the Huaorani appeared and began to spear the missionaries one by one.

They threw their bodies into the nearby river and on January 13th 4 of the 5 bodies had been recovered and identified.

To the world this seems like a failure at this point in the story.

In fact, 60 years ago it was described as a tragic nightmare.

But if you know what happens next, you know that the only plausible explanation is found in the providence of God as family members of these missionaries came back to the Huaorani and shared the Gospel with them.

Fast forward 30-40 years and many of the men who threw spears into the hearts of the original 5 missionaries came to accept Christ as Lord and Savior due to the continued efforts of their loved ones and the worldwide purpose of our God.

Jim Elliot once shared this, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Why would a person like Jim Elliot who had a family risk his life to share the good news of Jesus with a dangerous group of people that would in time kill him?

Why do this - why “waste” away your life as some in our world have stated?

Because this world is not our home.

This life is not ultimately about us.

We can’t keep what we have.

Therefore, whenever we realize this, we can live with the mindset of a Jim Elliot and strive to gain what we cannot lose and freely give that which doesn’t belong to us in the first place.

Jim Elliot was someone who understood Hebrews 12:28

He understood that our world is shaking and confused, but as Christians, we are secured completely in Christ!

As Christians we know that we are running a race.

The race is long, difficult at times, hot at times, confusing often, and it can leave us feeling discouraged more often than not.

Yet, we see throughout Scripture numerous encouragements to us as we run our race.

We know that we are not running alone - our Savior is with us every step of the way.

So, how can we run in this race as members of Christ’s unshakeable Kingdom?

So far in Stephen’s sermon, we’ve seen many examples of how the Jews failed to listen to God’s servants and how his audience had failed to listen to Jesus.

In order to faithfully run as followers of God, we have to respond correctly to Christ’s message.

We have to repent of our sins and place our faith in Jesus.

We have to live for Him as a new creation - this is a daily decision to die to self and follow Christ.

As we do this, as we listen to His Spirit, we focus not on our comforts and conveniences but instead we focus on the cross and our calling to be like Christ regardless of what comes our way.

If that means we suffer like a Jim Elliot or a Stephen, so be it!

We must run our race until the end.

Let’s look at how Stephen ran his leg faithfully.

Speak the Truth (51-53)

Have you ever been in a situation where you are asked to give your opinion about something that you know is likely to not be the same as people around you?

This can be a bit of an awkward position to be in.

On the one hand, you can be honest and tell the truth even though it might upset others or possibly put you on an island of sorts.

On the other hand, you can water down the truth in order to fit in a little better and go with the common consensus.

Whenever you fail to tell the truth, it can lead you down a slippery slope and become nearly impossible to determine where the lies begin and end!

Even though telling a lie or watering down the truth might seem like a good option, it leads to more problems than solutions.

Stephen has been sharing the truth of the Gospel with his audience for 50 verses and he’s not quite done.

He’s been stepping on the toes of his listeners and now, in verse 51, he goes for the knock out punch.

He shares with them the truth: They are stiff-necked and have resisted the Holy Spirit just like their ancestors have done!

Further, he says that they are betrayers and murderers just like their ancestors before them who persecuted God’s prophets.

This is a serious charge.

Stephen wasn’t interested in making friends above all else.

He wasn’t about watering down the truth because the truth of the Gospel is too important to even consider watering down.

He spoke the truth - his audience was guilty of killing Jesus Christ and resisting the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

They had Jesus in front of them and they killed Him.

They are no better than their ancestors who killed the prophets.

Stephen has made his decision to speak the truth and his decision will have ramifications that will reverberate throughout the coming generations as we will see.

Did you know that whenever someone dares to speak the truth, especially the truth of the Gospel, in a hostile crowd, that decision has ramifications?

In Nazi Germany there were many Christians who were left with a choice before them.

Either bend the knee to Hitler and adopt a much different version of Christianity that looks nothing like historical Christianity, or risk losing your job and possibly being executed.

The great Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood firm on the exclusivity of the Gospel and salvation being found only through Jesus Christ.

He shared this quote, “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.”

Bonhoeffer told the truth to those who would listen in a very immoral and evil nation.

His efforts would eventually cost him his life but he was willing to speak the truth nonetheless because the truth of the Gospel was worth any cost - something that Stephen and Jim Elliot would certainly both agree with!

Do you agree with this?

Do you agree that it is always worth it to speak the truth about the Gospel to others around you? What about when it costs you a friend or a relationship?

Is it worth it to be honest to Jesus?

Is it worth it to speak the truth in love if it means that you get ridiculed in the court of public opinion for believing in the Bible?

Our response should simply be: yes!

Stephen’s answer is yes and he goes off and shares that his audience is without excuse because they have rejected the truth.

They know the Old Testament and they received its law under the direction of angels.

They received God’s truth through His prophets, yet they did not keep either and they killed God’s prophets.

They were God’s chosen people, yet they continued to resist God’s plan.

The twist from Stephen is that it’s not only their ancestors who are guilty - they are the guiltiest of all because of what Hebrews 1:1-2 shares

They rejected and disobeyed not an angel or a prophet… They rejected and disobeyed God’s own Son.

May we not be such a stiff-necked people.

May we be people who dive into God’s Word in order to see what it says about salvation and grace and who it calls us to be as followers of Christ!

May we be people who speak the truth in love as Ephesians 4:15 commands of us.

Stand on the Truth (54-58)

As we speak the truth, there will be people who oppose us and in such moments, it is important that we stand firmly on the truth.

What is the truth? 2 weeks ago we began going through the BFM 2000 on Sunday nights and we studied what we believe as Southern Baptists about Scripture.

We believe that the Bible is truth.

We believe what Hebrews 6:19 shares

God’s promises serve as an anchor for our soul.

God’s Word is the solid rock that doesn’t falter when the rain comes and the flood waters rise.

We must stand firm on His Word or else we will be shaken and fall for false teachings and false fruits.

As Stephen shared the truth, the result in verse 54 is that the crowd was enraged and they began to gnash their teeth at him.

Have you ever said something to someone that upset them a little bit?

I’ve had this happen a time or two but I’ve never had someone gnash their teeth at me - this would’ve been a frightening position to be in!

Normally whenever we upset someone, accidentally or intentionally, we just get an eye roll or back handed comment thrown our direction.

Stephen, though, has something much worse happen.

In fact, do we know another person in the New Testament who speaks the truth before a large crowd and instead of his audience wanting to have a discussion, they just want Him dead?

We do! Jesus Christ spoke the truth about who He was and it angered those around Him.

As we looked at several weeks ago, Jesus was Stephen’s role model.

Stephen didn’t set out to be killed like Jesus or to be a martyr, that wasn’t His goal in life per say - he simply set out to live like Jesus.

Sometimes, being like Jesus will lead to dying like Jesus.

We see this with many heroes of the faith who died for believing in Christ.

Yet, Stephen isn’t alone as he stands up for the truth.

How is Stephen not alone?

2 reasons

He is full of the Holy Spirit

He saw Jesus Christ

Whenever we talk of the Holy Spirit we often fail to give Him the respect and spotlight that we do God the Father and God the Son.