June 30, 2025 • 28 mins
What happens when human systems fail us? Where do we turn when justice becomes injustice? Stephen's powerful story provides an answer that still resonates today.
Standing before a hostile council with false witnesses arrayed against him, Stephen doesn't cower in fear but shines with supernatural radiance – "his face became as bright as an angel's." This first Christian martyr demonstrates what hope looks like when it's anchored not in human systems but in Christ himself.
The irony is striking: Stephen faces accusations from the "synagogue of freed slaves" – people who had experienced persecution becoming persecutors themselves. His defense doesn't focus on self-preservation but on Israel's long history of rejecting God's chosen leaders. "You have betrayed and murdered the Righteous One," he boldly proclaims, seeing beyond his immediate circumstances to the eternal reality.
When the council drags him out for execution, Stephen's final words mirror Christ's own: "Lord, don't charge them with this sin." Meanwhile, a young man named Saul watches approvingly – the future Apostle Paul, whose transformation would further demonstrate God's redemptive power.
Stephen's name (Stephanos in Greek) means "crown," connecting him to every New Testament reference to crowns – from Jesus' crown of thorns to the crown of righteousness promised to believers. His story reminds us that being filled with the Spirit doesn't guarantee comfort but does provide supernatural perspective when systems turn against us.
Are you facing opposition? Feeling the weight of broken systems? Stephen's witness challenges us to examine where our ultimate hope lies. Not in human institutions, but in "the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the life-sustaining creation of God."
Join us as we explore what it means to be a "Pentecost people" – defined not by human approval but by the same Spirit that allowed Stephen to see heaven opened even as stones rained down upon him.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Well, for those of you who arealready joining us online, my
name is Kyle Leggett.
I'm one of the elders here, andtoday we are picking up where
we left off last week, talkingabout Stephen.
This week doesn't get too muchbetter for Stephen, but his hope
is what really ties us all theway through.
Now, pastor Stephen is not heretoday, but last week I threw up
(00:22):
on the screen and I'll do itagain.
His name in Greek is actuallyStephanos, so I think again, for
the rest of the year at least,maybe even just the rest of the
month, we've got to call himStephanos.
We've got to tell him he's notpronouncing his name correctly.
He needs to go back to the textand really evaluate himself for
calling himself this.
The other thing that I did notbring up last week, but I think
(00:44):
is important for this week itmeans something else in Greek as
well.
It means crown.
So I think that's reallyinteresting, one kind of.
He gets that little royaltyflavor to him, but which exactly
Megan's like.
Oh gosh, that's really good.
Exactly what I do like aboutcrown is, every time we come
(01:06):
across crown in Scripture, weget to see Stephanos as well.
So crown of thorns, stephanosof thorns, crown of
righteousness, crown of life.
Stephanos, it's the same word.
It's the exact same word, it'sjust a proper noun in Greek.
And I think that all these NewTestament words we were playing
a little bit of a word game lastweek as well all these words
come back and are connected.
I think that's fascinating aswe get into our passage today,
(01:34):
because we're going to see thatStephen the martyr is carrying a
bit of crown of himself as hewalks this very painful path
that he walks in our passagetoday.
But before we get into ourpassage, let's do a little bit
of reminding about what Acts isand where we're at in the book
of Acts.
So the book of Acts opens withPentecost as its defining event.
That's why you see on thescreen, you see the little
flames of fire over everyone.
So Jesus ascends into heavenafter his resurrection and then
(01:57):
the Holy Spirit is sent down.
And so the Holy Spirit descends, the life of the church
explodes.
They are growing in number,they are overcoming internal
strife.
That's what we talked aboutlast week them overcoming
internal strife.
Now they are enduring the painof persecution and have been for
the past few chapters the bookof Acts.
We have Pentecost as thedefining moment and then we have
(02:19):
the Holy Spirit as the definingcharacter all the way through.
So it doesn't matter whatcharacter we're following.
Throughout the book of Acts wefollowed Peter and John for a
little bit.
We're following Stephen rightnow, then there's Philip, then
there's Paul.
As we go through all thosecharacters, the Holy Spirit
remains the defining characterfor the book of Acts.
And then, lastly, last week welooked at the power of
(02:41):
collective ministry.
So how did the church embracecultural and spiritual diversity
, especially when the churchencounters conflict or, even
worse, when the churchencounters discrimination?
How do we lean in?
That's what we talked aboutlast week a little bit, but
today we ask ourselves what doesit mean to be a faithful
(03:02):
witness?
Does it mean to be a faithfulwitness?
How do we count the cost ofdiscipleship?
And what does it mean to be aPentecost people, a people
defined by Pentecost?
And I think all excuse me Ithink all those questions come
back to one very simple questionand a question that I want us
to think about this entire nextfew minutes when is our ultimate
(03:25):
hope?
Where is our ultimate hope?
Because our goal at MadisonChurch here is to be a community
that is defined by the power ofthe Holy Spirit.
But to unlock that we mustremember the powerful hope that
we have in Christ.
Not in human systems, not inthe judicial system, not in any
other system, but we have a hoperooted in Christ.
(03:48):
So we have just about 70 versesto unpack today.
It's kind of a long story.
So I'm going to break it upinto three different parts and
then we'll just go piece bypiece through it very quickly
and I'm going to break it upinto kind of three parts the
pain of accusation, Stephen thewitness and then Stephen the
martyr.
So, with that being said, let'sdive into the pain of
accusation.
You'll find this in Acts,chapter 6, verses 8 through 15.
(04:11):
This is the second half of thebook of Acts, chapter 6.
We'll throw it up on the screenfor you as well.
It says this Stephen, a man fullof God's grace and power,
performed amazing miracles andsigns among the people.
But one day some men from thesynagogue of freed slaves, as it
was called, started to debatewith him.
They were Jews from Cyrene,alexandria, sicilia and the
(04:35):
province of Asia.
None of them could standagainst the wisdom and spirit
which with Stephen spoke.
So they persuaded some men tolie about Stephen saying.
We heard him blaspheme Mosesand even God.
This roused up the people, theelders and the teachers of
religious law, so they arrestedStephen and brought him before
(04:55):
the high council.
The lying witnesses said thisman is always speaking against
the holy temple and against thelaw of Moses.
We have heard him say that thisJesus of Nazareth will destroy
the temple and change thecustoms that Moses handed down
to us.
At this point, everyone in thehigh council stared at Stephen
because his face became asbright as an angel's.
(05:17):
Very interesting.
So before we pick up with thespecific passage, let's do a
brief remember.
Let's briefly remember whathappened in the first part.
Last week we were told aboutthe election of seven deacons.
One of them was Stephen.
So there were certainHellenistic or Greek-speaking
widows that were beingoverlooked in the daily
(05:37):
distribution of food.
It was a little bit of internalconflict.
So the apostles said everyone,let's gather together.
So the apostles said everyone,let's gather together, let's
nominate seven deacons from aGreek-speaking background and
commission them to go overseethe distribution, daily
distribution of the food.
Stephen is going to be one ofthose that is nominated.
(06:03):
The interesting part, what isstrange here, is that we never
see Stephen depicted as waitingon a table or distributing the
food.
Instead, right here in thispassage that we just read, he's
engaging in the ministry of theapostles themselves, the
ministry of the Word.
I think it's really interestingthat he was able to go perform
amazing miracles and amazingsigns when he was commissioned
to go oversee the distributionof the food.
That's how we see the power ofGod's Holy Spirit working as he
(06:27):
tries to be a minister to thecommunity that is, bringing the
gospel to the community.
That was already taking him tothe next step.
Next step, stephen, now singledout by Luke, is depicted as an
early Christian commissioned bythe community to serve tables,
gifted with grace and power,which enables him to have an
effective ministry.
(06:48):
Remember, he's ministering tothe Greek-speaking Jewish
population in Jerusalem at thistime, and that's why I want to
briefly explain what were thesynagogue of freed slaves.
You might see it as synagogueof freedmen.
The synagogue of freedmen was agroup of Jewish people
originally from Italy who hadsettled in Jerusalem and had
(07:09):
their own synagogue.
So they were Greek speaking,they were Hellenist.
They were the same communitythat Stephen was commissioned to
go minister to and they'reabout to turn their back on him.
That's the painful part.
They were emancipated slaves orthey were the descendants of
emancipated slaves.
So you would think of anyonethe synagogue of freed slaves
would know the pain ofpersecution and mistreatment.
(07:32):
But that didn't stop them fromturning their back on Stephen
and citing lying witnessesagainst him and rousing up the
crowd and ultimately causingStephen to walk up the path
towards martyrdom.
Now, stephen is not bothered bysuch opposition.
What does he do?
He displays faith, wisdom and agood Christian spirit in spite
(07:54):
of it all.
So filled with the spirit thathis face was as bright as an
angel's and everyone is going tostare at him.
This actually pays homage toMoses coming off the mountain of
Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
Moses' face was so bright thatthey had to put a cover over his
face and they were terrified totalk to him.
What does that mean?
(08:15):
It means the same thing thatStephen is being accused of of
saying hey, you are blasphemingagainst Moses.
The people were blindthemselves.
They couldn't realize that hehad also encountered God.
They should be listening to him, but instead they turned their
back on him.
And as the story of Stephen goeson, we're going to see a
parallel to Moses, like we justtalked about.
(08:35):
And then we're going to see aparallel to Moses, like we just
talked about, and then we'regoing to see a parallel to the
accusations made against Jesus,too, in the gospel and then the
other details of the gospelnarratives, so bringing about
the temple's destruction.
We're blaspheming Moses.
We're destroying the law.
Stephen is accused of the samethings that Christ was accused
(08:57):
of.
Now, as we unpack thepersecution just a little bit,
the story of Stephen.
Stephen is accused of the samethings that Christ was accused
of.
Now, as we unpack thepersecution just a little bit,
the story of Stephen begins witha judicial proceeding but ends
with murder.
See the folks as they bring himbefore the high council only
pretend to be just, as theycarry out their own evil.
It's only a masquerade.
It was evil for their ownconvenience.
(09:18):
It was evil for their ownconvenience.
It was evil for their ownpurpose and they felt they were
entitled to do this.
They thought that they wereprotecting the system, their
standards, their law.
That's what they thought thatthey were protecting, and what
they couldn't realize is thatthey were enacting evil as they
went.
Now they proved to be no matchfor Stephen's eloquence and
(09:39):
argumentation.
They eventually bring about hissummons before the same
religious authorities that hadarrested Peter and John a little
bit earlier and forbidden themto teach the name of Jesus.
And again, I think it's funnyhow they couldn't even bring the
accusations themselves.
What do they do?
They go spur up false witnessesto rouse up the crowd.
(10:02):
I think we can all relate to howStephen is feeling in one way
or another.
How many times have we been thevictim inside of a human system
ourselves, where we have beenthe outcasts and we were there
just trying to help?
You feel powerless in thesemoments, and that's why I want
us to really consider, as wemove through this, where is our
ultimate hope?
(10:22):
Because Stephen's hope is notin the human system, but that
does not stop Stephen from beingprophetic in the moment either.
And so next that's why I wantto talk about Stephen the
witness Just because Stephen'shope is in Jesus doesn't mean
that he's not prophetic againstthe human systems.
So the testimony of Stephen aswe get into Acts, chapter 7,.
(10:45):
It's 53 verses.
I'm going to break them up alittle bit so we're not going to
read them all.
It begins with this episode inActs, chapter 7, and at the very
end of Acts, chapter 7, he willbe martyred, his face, like an
angel.
They can't see that they're theones who have actually lost
their way.
He does not present a standarddefense, it's not, you know?
(11:06):
Hey, I'm right.
Here's all the reasons I'mright.
He doesn't even refute theclaims that they made against
him.
Rather, he just gives thishistorical narrative.
He just recaps the entire OldTestament for them and to show
that Israel's actions are veryinconsistent when it comes to
God's actions on their behalf,he's trying to point out
Israel's been doing this for along time.
(11:27):
I don't know why.
I'm surprised that you're doinganything different.
He condemns them for resistingthe Holy Spirit.
He says that Israel's reactionsto God's chosen leaders have
often they've often rejectedGod's chosen leaders, and now
they're rejecting the ultimateleader that God has sent, the
Messiah.
So, as he goes throughout, thisis going to be kind of his
(11:50):
thesis God has constantly beenat work in the history of God's
people bringing good out of evil.
And I'm going to break thislittle section up into four
different parts his statement ofdefense to the high council.
So first he's going to talkabout the story of Abraham.
Now, with the story of Abraham,the reason he brings this up is
that he wants to unpack God'spromise.
God's promise to the nation ofIsrael ultimately the nation of
(12:13):
Israel but really God's promiseto the wanderer.
So in verse 3, it says this Godtold him, abraham, leave your
native land and your relativesand come into the land that I
will show you.
So this is Stephen recappingthis.
God made a promise to Abrahamthe wanderer, so, in the same
way, god made a promise to thewanderer, the Hellenistic, the
(12:35):
Greek-speaking Jews of this timewho have brought this
accusation against him shouldknow that they have a promise in
God too.
Why would they turn on?
God's promise in this moment isreally what he's about to get
to.
And then we go into part two.
He impacts the story of Joseph.
In the story of Joseph, goduses evil for good.
(12:59):
In verse 9, these patriarchswere jealous of their brother
Joseph, and they sold him to bea slave in Egypt, but God was
with them and rescued him fromall his troubles.
Here God's deliverance iscontrasted with human
mistreatment, and the irony isnot lost on the audience here in
(13:19):
this moment either that Stephenis saying God will still
deliver me despite themistreatment I am currently
experiencing.
What Christians are currentlyexperiencing in this moment.
God always delivers.
And then he moves on to partthree, the story of Moses.
And then he moves on to partthree, the story of Moses.
(13:39):
The story of Moses is about adeliverer who was rejected by
Israel multiple times, the sameone that they say he's
blaspheming.
Israel rejected many times andthis is about a 20-verse part of
his speech In verse 35,.
So God sent back the same manhis people had previously
(14:01):
rejected.
And when they demanded who madeyou a ruler and judge over us?
So Stephen ultimately makes thepoint that Israel rejects Moses
three different times.
Once when he leaves Egypt, sohe kills the Egyptian masters.
And then the Hebrews look athim and are like who made you
ruler over us?
We didn't ask you to do that.
And so then he flees.
(14:22):
And then, when he comes back torescue them out of Egypt, they
say why should we follow you?
Who made you ruler over us?
Again.
And then, when he finallydelivers them and takes them out
of the land of Egypt, what dothey say?
Why did you bring us out hereto die?
It would have been better if wehad just stayed.
What Stephen is saying here isthat, consistently, the people
(14:47):
of Israel have rejected God'schosen leader.
And this is where part four, ashe wraps up his speech, he talks
about Israel's first and secondfalling away.
So first, with the golden calfidolatry In verse 41,.
So they make an idol shapedlike a calf and they sacrifice
to to it and celebrated overthis thing that they had made.
(15:08):
Then God turned away from themand abandoned them to serve the
stars of heaven as their gods.
It's funny that when we walkinto kind of an apostasy, god
sometimes just lets us go.
And that's what's happeninginside the synagogue right now.
It's ah, you think you'rereally serving the God of our
(15:28):
fathers, but really you'reserving your own God, your own
system.
That's what you're reallytrying to protect here.
The second thing when it comesto Israel's falling away,
stephen accuses them of making atemple when the most high God
dwells, not in buildings made byhuman hands.
That was the whole point ofPentecost, right, there's no
(15:49):
longer a temple.
The Spirit resides in believers.
So in verse 48, so, as Stephensees it, heaven is my throne and
the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple asgood as that, asked the Lord.
So, as Stephen sees it,especially these Greek speaking
(16:13):
Jews, these diaspora.
Jews should be more critical ofthe Jerusalem temple, made by
human hands, because it wouldhave discounted their own
worship or their ancestorsworship when they didn't have
access to the temple.
Why are you making such a bigpoint about blaspheming the
temple?
You were stranded away fromJerusalem for a long time.
You're saying that your worshipwasn't valid.
(16:34):
You knew this.
What I'm saying you knew.
You've known for a long time.
That's what he's trying to getand make the ultimate point.
And then he concludes with thisIsrael's guilt continues as your
ancestors did, so do you.
You have betrayed and murderedthe upright one.
He says this in verse 51.
(16:56):
Must you forever resist theHoly Spirit?
That's what your ancestors did,and so do you.
Name one prophet your ancestorsdidn't persecute.
They even killed the ones whopredicted the coming of the
righteous one, the Messiah, whomyou have betrayed and murdered.
Those in Jerusalem, especiallythe ones that had come from afar
(17:17):
, who had been freed.
The synagogue of freed slaveshave become the very thing that
hurt themselves for so long.
Stephen is choosing to beprophetic in this moment.
His hope is not in the system.
His hope is not that they willlisten to him and change their
mind.
His hope is in the powerfulwork of Christ, but he's still
(17:40):
choosing to be faithful to thewitness that he is called to be.
And so quickly this turns intoStephen the witness becoming
Stephen the martyr.
And we'll look at the lastsection here of Acts, chapter 7,
verses 54 through 60.
Now this story of Stephen isgoing to form a climax for the
(18:01):
persecution of Christians insideJerusalem.
So the first episode, it wasjust a warning to the apostles,
the second a flogging, and thethird will end in death.
It says this in verse 54.
The Jewish leaders wereinfuriated by Stephen's
accusation and they shook theirfists at him in rage.
Actually, if you look atanother translation, it says
they gnashed their teeth at himin rage.
But Stephen fooled the HolySpirit, gazed steadily into
(18:24):
heaven and saw the glory of God,and he saw Jesus standing in
the place of honor at God'sright hand.
And he told them look, I seethe heavens open and the Son of
man standing in the place ofhonor at God's right hand.
Then they put their hands overtheir ears and began shouting.
They rushed at him and draggedhim out of the city and began to
stone him.
His accusers took off theircoats and laid them at the feet
(18:47):
of a young man named Saul and asthey stoned him, stephen prayed
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
He fell to his knees shoutingLord, don't charge them with
this sin, and with that he died.
We quickly see the typology ofMoses transition to the typology
of Jesus.
(19:07):
The bright face of Moses is nowmatched with Stephen's
connection to heaven.
He's staring at the glory ofChrist in heaven and just as the
dying Jesus committed hisspirit to the Father, we now
have Stephen confiding hisspirit to the Lord Jesus, firmly
(19:30):
expressing Lord Jesus, receivemy spirit.
Then we also hear forgive them,for they know not what they do.
He's reflecting, he's imitatingChrist in one of his most
painful moments.
But the other thing as well isGod is beyond the temple.
What does he say in verse 55?
But Stephen, full of the HolySpirit, gazed steadily into
(19:50):
heaven and saw the glory of God.
Stephen's vision and whathappened are not to be separated
radically from the speech,because the vision gives the
real interpretation for everyonelistening.
The Most High does not dwell ina temple made by human hands.
The transcendent God dwells inheaven and God's Spirit has been
(20:14):
sent here, working in andthrough the Pentecost-defined
people.
We see that in the contrastbetween Stephen and the
synagogue.
Stephen and the synagogue Oneside filled with rage, the other
, stephen, filled with theSpirit.
(20:34):
One side affected by spiritualblindness, stephen a heavenly
vision, and one side affected byhate-filled murder, while the
other Christ-like love andforgiveness directly contrasted
from one another.
Now there's one more martyrthat's famous for their witness
(20:55):
that I want to talk about todayJustin Martyr.
And Justin Martyr comes about ahundred years after Stephen.
He gets his title because hewas a great witness for
Christians against the Romanpersecution.
See, it's not just Israelthat's persecuting Christians,
it's Rome as well.
What Justin Martyr tries to do,he tries to follow a very
(21:16):
logical legal process.
So Stephen's a little bitanimated here in this passage.
He's really just beingprophetic.
In this moment, stephen, orJustin Martyr, tries a little
bit of a different approach.
So he writes the Roman Senateon multiple occasions and his
main work is known as the firstapology or first offense.
You guys ever heard the wordapologetics?
(21:37):
That just means defense, right?
A lot of times when we thinkabout apologetics in our world
today, we think about oh, I needto convince someone that
Christianity is the correct way.
That's not actually what JustinMartyr tries to do in his first
and second apology.
Really, all he's doing when hewrites the Roman Senate is hey,
romans, will you please stopkilling us Christians.
(21:59):
We're not even doing anythingwrong.
That's all he's trying to say.
He's just providing a defense.
Will you please stop doing thisagainst us?
And so he has to defendmultiple accusations.
First off, justin Martyr defendsthe accusation of atheism.
He says us Christians aren'tatheists, we just don't believe
in Roman gods.
The second thing he has todefend against is treason.
(22:22):
Hey, we are not trying tooverthrow the Roman empire and
bring in the kingdom of God.
That's like a spiritual kingdom.
That's already here.
The third one, and this one'sreally interesting, justin
Martyr tries to defend againstthe accusation of cannibalism.
Hey, us Christians, when wepartake in the body and blood of
our Lord, that's not literal,like we're just talking about
(22:42):
the spiritual communion with ourLord.
That's all we're talking about.
And then he goes and describesthe details of the Christian
faith.
He explains that Romans shouldwant Christians to be in their
empire because they're reallygood citizens.
Faith, love, hope these are theprinciples of Christianity and
really the Roman governmentshould be looking at all these
(23:03):
evildoers who have been twistingthe words of Christians and
trying to paint us in a badlight, accuse us of things that
we should like.
It's not even true.
Now I say that to say thisSurely Justin Martyr's logical
approach worked right.
Surely the Roman Senatelistened to him.
They listened to the reasonthat he had and said hey, we're
(23:25):
going to stop doing this.
Unfortunately, not so.
About 11 years after his firstletter to the Roman Senate,
justin Martyr, along with sixother Christians, are killed
because they refuse to renounceChrist and make a sacrifice to a
Roman god.
I say that because it reminds usonce again that, in the hands
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of human systems, we are trulybroken.
We are going to lose hope.
We are going to lose faith, aregoing to lose hope.
We are going to lose faith.
It's not sufficient to placeour trust in human systems.
So where is our hope?
And this hope is the key to ourwitness.
Our lives are so incrediblybroken as we look to our left
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and to our right and we see thepain of human systems failing us
day in and day out.
Days when we need justice, weare forgotten.
Days when we need justice, weare met with overwhelming
injustice, we are met withaccusation.
There are people we trust andthose people turn their backs on
(24:33):
us in times of great need, well, they turn to the side of the
system, and some days it feelslike people simply choose hate
to see our bitter end come true.
But we must remember that ourhope is in the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus, in thepower of the Holy Spirit, in the
(24:54):
life-sustaining creation of God.
That is a hope that will neverfail us.
You remember when I talked aboutat the very beginning,
stephanos also means crown.
It reminds us that Stephen worea crown of his own as he walked
this painful path, a crown ofrighteousness that's so clearly
(25:16):
marked by the power of his faithin God, who sustained him even
when the broken systems ofhumans brought evil upon him.
It also reminds us of Paul'sown persecution, when he was
persecuted himself.
He writes in his closing wordsto Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, as
for me, my life has already beenpoured out as an offering to
God.
The time of my death is near.
I have fought the good fight, Ihave finished the race and I
(25:39):
have remained faithful.
And verse eight.
And now the prize awaits me thecrown of righteousness, the
Stephanos of righteousness,which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will give me on the dayof his return.
And the prize is not just forme but for all who eagerly look
forward to this appearing thecrown of righteousness, the
Stephanos of righteousness,grounded in the hope of the
(26:02):
risen Savior.
We cannot be plucked from ourSavior's hand.
That is our hope and inconclusion, I offer this brief
warning.
So, after what happens toStephen, christians are going to
have to disperse in Jerusalem.
(26:22):
The persecution is just goingto become too rough.
They almost have to gounderground at this point.
And we see in this passage thathis accusers took off their
coats and they laid them at thefeet of a young man named Saul,
who's eventually going to becomePaul.
That piling of cloaks at thefeet of someone was certainly
(26:45):
symbolic, and that is ajuxtaposition of when the
disciples came and laid alltheir possessions for the needy
at the feet of the apostles.
We see the comparison rightthere.
In that moment, and as we lookat this story, we have to be
cognizant that we too can becomejust like the synagogue of
(27:06):
freed slaves.
We can also be filled withcondemnation, we can also be
filled with rage.
We can also be Saul in thismoment.
That is something that we haveto think about.
What about the Pharisee in me?
Now?
In the next few moments, we'regoing to have a time of
communion and we'll ask that, asthe band plays, you just get up
(27:29):
out of your seat at your ownpace, you go to the back, you
grab the elements and you return.
But what I want us to focus onhere, at the very end, is that
Stephen is a man full of graceand power who becomes the first
martyr of the Christian church.
His final speech is a boldchallenge against religious
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comfort.
It's a form of spiritualresistance, and his death sets
the church on a path ofexpansion, even in the middle of
their pain.
And today's message invites usto consider what it means to
follow Jesus, even when the costis high.
And that is anchored on thequestion where is our hope?
(28:14):
Where is your hope?
What does it mean to be aPentecost people defined by the
hope in Christ?
As we close, I just sayspirit-activated faith might
lead us into sacrifice, but italso might lead us into
something eternal.
All right.
Well, for those of you who arealready joining us online, my
name is Kyle Leggett.
I'm one of the elders here, andtoday we are picking up where
we left off last week, talkingabout Stephen.
This week doesn't get too muchbetter for Stephen, but his hope
is what really ties us all theway through.
Now, pastor Stephen is not heretoday, but last week I threw up
(00:22):
on the screen and I'll do itagain.
His name in Greek is actuallyStephanos, so I think again, for
the rest of the year at least,maybe even just the rest of the
month, we've got to call himStephanos.
We've got to tell him he's notpronouncing his name correctly.
He needs to go back to the textand really evaluate himself for
calling himself this.
The other thing that I did notbring up last week, but I think
(00:44):
is important for this week itmeans something else in Greek as
well.
It means crown.
So I think that's reallyinteresting, one kind of.
He gets that little royaltyflavor to him, but which exactly
Megan's like.
Oh gosh, that's really good.
Exactly what I do like aboutcrown is, every time we come
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across crown in Scripture, weget to see Stephanos as well.
So crown of thorns, stephanosof thorns, crown of
righteousness, crown of life.
Stephanos, it's the same word.
It's the exact same word, it'sjust a proper noun in Greek.
And I think that all these NewTestament words we were playing
a little bit of a word game lastweek as well all these words
come back and are connected.
I think that's fascinating aswe get into our passage today,
(01:34):
because we're going to see thatStephen the martyr is carrying a
bit of crown of himself as hewalks this very painful path
that he walks in our passagetoday.
But before we get into ourpassage, let's do a little bit
of reminding about what Acts isand where we're at in the book
of Acts.
So the book of Acts opens withPentecost as its defining event.
That's why you see on thescreen, you see the little
flames of fire over everyone.
So Jesus ascends into heavenafter his resurrection and then
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the Holy Spirit is sent down.
And so the Holy Spirit descends, the life of the church
explodes.
They are growing in number,they are overcoming internal
strife.
That's what we talked aboutlast week them overcoming
internal strife.
Now they are enduring the painof persecution and have been for
the past few chapters the bookof Acts.
We have Pentecost as thedefining moment and then we have
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the Holy Spirit as the definingcharacter all the way through.
So it doesn't matter whatcharacter we're following.
Throughout the book of Acts wefollowed Peter and John for a
little bit.
We're following Stephen rightnow, then there's Philip, then
there's Paul.
As we go through all thosecharacters, the Holy Spirit
remains the defining characterfor the book of Acts.
And then, lastly, last week welooked at the power of
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collective ministry.
So how did the church embracecultural and spiritual diversity
, especially when the churchencounters conflict or, even
worse, when the churchencounters discrimination?
How do we lean in?
That's what we talked aboutlast week a little bit, but
today we ask ourselves what doesit mean to be a faithful
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witness?
Does it mean to be a faithfulwitness?
How do we count the cost ofdiscipleship?
And what does it mean to be aPentecost people, a people
defined by Pentecost?
And I think all excuse me Ithink all those questions come
back to one very simple questionand a question that I want us
to think about this entire nextfew minutes when is our ultimate
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hope?
Where is our ultimate hope?
Because our goal at MadisonChurch here is to be a community
that is defined by the power ofthe Holy Spirit.
But to unlock that we mustremember the powerful hope that
we have in Christ.
Not in human systems, not inthe judicial system, not in any
other system, but we have a hoperooted in Christ.
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So we have just about 70 versesto unpack today.
It's kind of a long story.
So I'm going to break it upinto three different parts and
then we'll just go piece bypiece through it very quickly
and I'm going to break it upinto kind of three parts the
pain of accusation, Stephen thewitness and then Stephen the
martyr.
So, with that being said, let'sdive into the pain of
accusation.
You'll find this in Acts,chapter 6, verses 8 through 15.
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This is the second half of thebook of Acts, chapter 6.
We'll throw it up on the screenfor you as well.
It says this Stephen, a man fullof God's grace and power,
performed amazing miracles andsigns among the people.
But one day some men from thesynagogue of freed slaves, as it
was called, started to debatewith him.
They were Jews from Cyrene,alexandria, sicilia and the
(04:35):
province of Asia.
None of them could standagainst the wisdom and spirit
which with Stephen spoke.
So they persuaded some men tolie about Stephen saying.
We heard him blaspheme Mosesand even God.
This roused up the people, theelders and the teachers of
religious law, so they arrestedStephen and brought him before
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the high council.
The lying witnesses said thisman is always speaking against
the holy temple and against thelaw of Moses.
We have heard him say that thisJesus of Nazareth will destroy
the temple and change thecustoms that Moses handed down
to us.
At this point, everyone in thehigh council stared at Stephen
because his face became asbright as an angel's.
(05:17):
Very interesting.
So before we pick up with thespecific passage, let's do a
brief remember.
Let's briefly remember whathappened in the first part.
Last week we were told aboutthe election of seven deacons.
One of them was Stephen.
So there were certainHellenistic or Greek-speaking
widows that were beingoverlooked in the daily
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distribution of food.
It was a little bit of internalconflict.
So the apostles said everyone,let's gather together.
So the apostles said everyone,let's gather together, let's
nominate seven deacons from aGreek-speaking background and
commission them to go overseethe distribution, daily
distribution of the food.
Stephen is going to be one ofthose that is nominated.
(06:03):
The interesting part, what isstrange here, is that we never
see Stephen depicted as waitingon a table or distributing the
food.
Instead, right here in thispassage that we just read, he's
engaging in the ministry of theapostles themselves, the
ministry of the Word.
I think it's really interestingthat he was able to go perform
amazing miracles and amazingsigns when he was commissioned
to go oversee the distributionof the food.
That's how we see the power ofGod's Holy Spirit working as he
(06:27):
tries to be a minister to thecommunity that is, bringing the
gospel to the community.
That was already taking him tothe next step.
Next step, stephen, now singledout by Luke, is depicted as an
early Christian commissioned bythe community to serve tables,
gifted with grace and power,which enables him to have an
effective ministry.
(06:48):
Remember, he's ministering tothe Greek-speaking Jewish
population in Jerusalem at thistime, and that's why I want to
briefly explain what were thesynagogue of freed slaves.
You might see it as synagogueof freedmen.
The synagogue of freedmen was agroup of Jewish people
originally from Italy who hadsettled in Jerusalem and had
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their own synagogue.
So they were Greek speaking,they were Hellenist.
They were the same communitythat Stephen was commissioned to
go minister to and they'reabout to turn their back on him.
That's the painful part.
They were emancipated slaves orthey were the descendants of
emancipated slaves.
So you would think of anyonethe synagogue of freed slaves
would know the pain ofpersecution and mistreatment.
(07:32):
But that didn't stop them fromturning their back on Stephen
and citing lying witnessesagainst him and rousing up the
crowd and ultimately causingStephen to walk up the path
towards martyrdom.
Now, stephen is not bothered bysuch opposition.
What does he do?
He displays faith, wisdom and agood Christian spirit in spite
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of it all.
So filled with the spirit thathis face was as bright as an
angel's and everyone is going tostare at him.
This actually pays homage toMoses coming off the mountain of
Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
Moses' face was so bright thatthey had to put a cover over his
face and they were terrified totalk to him.
What does that mean?
(08:15):
It means the same thing thatStephen is being accused of of
saying hey, you are blasphemingagainst Moses.
The people were blindthemselves.
They couldn't realize that hehad also encountered God.
They should be listening to him, but instead they turned their
back on him.
And as the story of Stephen goeson, we're going to see a
parallel to Moses, like we justtalked about.
(08:35):
And then we're going to see aparallel to Moses, like we just
talked about, and then we'regoing to see a parallel to the
accusations made against Jesus,too, in the gospel and then the
other details of the gospelnarratives, so bringing about
the temple's destruction.
We're blaspheming Moses.
We're destroying the law.
Stephen is accused of the samethings that Christ was accused
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of.
Now, as we unpack thepersecution just a little bit,
the story of Stephen.
Stephen is accused of the samethings that Christ was accused
of.
Now, as we unpack thepersecution just a little bit,
the story of Stephen begins witha judicial proceeding but ends
with murder.
See the folks as they bring himbefore the high council only
pretend to be just, as theycarry out their own evil.
It's only a masquerade.
It was evil for their ownconvenience.
(09:18):
It was evil for their ownconvenience.
It was evil for their ownpurpose and they felt they were
entitled to do this.
They thought that they wereprotecting the system, their
standards, their law.
That's what they thought thatthey were protecting, and what
they couldn't realize is thatthey were enacting evil as they
went.
Now they proved to be no matchfor Stephen's eloquence and
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argumentation.
They eventually bring about hissummons before the same
religious authorities that hadarrested Peter and John a little
bit earlier and forbidden themto teach the name of Jesus.
And again, I think it's funnyhow they couldn't even bring the
accusations themselves.
What do they do?
They go spur up false witnessesto rouse up the crowd.
(10:02):
I think we can all relate to howStephen is feeling in one way
or another.
How many times have we been thevictim inside of a human system
ourselves, where we have beenthe outcasts and we were there
just trying to help?
You feel powerless in thesemoments, and that's why I want
us to really consider, as wemove through this, where is our
ultimate hope?
(10:22):
Because Stephen's hope is notin the human system, but that
does not stop Stephen from beingprophetic in the moment either.
And so next that's why I wantto talk about Stephen the
witness Just because Stephen'shope is in Jesus doesn't mean
that he's not prophetic againstthe human systems.
So the testimony of Stephen aswe get into Acts, chapter 7,.
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It's 53 verses.
I'm going to break them up alittle bit so we're not going to
read them all.
It begins with this episode inActs, chapter 7, and at the very
end of Acts, chapter 7, he willbe martyred, his face, like an
angel.
They can't see that they're theones who have actually lost
their way.
He does not present a standarddefense, it's not, you know?
(11:06):
Hey, I'm right.
Here's all the reasons I'mright.
He doesn't even refute theclaims that they made against
him.
Rather, he just gives thishistorical narrative.
He just recaps the entire OldTestament for them and to show
that Israel's actions are veryinconsistent when it comes to
God's actions on their behalf,he's trying to point out
Israel's been doing this for along time.
(11:27):
I don't know why.
I'm surprised that you're doinganything different.
He condemns them for resistingthe Holy Spirit.
He says that Israel's reactionsto God's chosen leaders have
often they've often rejectedGod's chosen leaders, and now
they're rejecting the ultimateleader that God has sent, the
Messiah.
So, as he goes throughout, thisis going to be kind of his
(11:50):
thesis God has constantly beenat work in the history of God's
people bringing good out of evil.
And I'm going to break thislittle section up into four
different parts his statement ofdefense to the high council.
So first he's going to talkabout the story of Abraham.
Now, with the story of Abraham,the reason he brings this up is
that he wants to unpack God'spromise.
God's promise to the nation ofIsrael ultimately the nation of
(12:13):
Israel but really God's promiseto the wanderer.
So in verse 3, it says this Godtold him, abraham, leave your
native land and your relativesand come into the land that I
will show you.
So this is Stephen recappingthis.
God made a promise to Abrahamthe wanderer, so, in the same
way, god made a promise to thewanderer, the Hellenistic, the
(12:35):
Greek-speaking Jews of this timewho have brought this
accusation against him shouldknow that they have a promise in
God too.
Why would they turn on?
God's promise in this moment isreally what he's about to get
to.
And then we go into part two.
He impacts the story of Joseph.
In the story of Joseph, goduses evil for good.
(12:59):
In verse 9, these patriarchswere jealous of their brother
Joseph, and they sold him to bea slave in Egypt, but God was
with them and rescued him fromall his troubles.
Here God's deliverance iscontrasted with human
mistreatment, and the irony isnot lost on the audience here in
(13:19):
this moment either that Stephenis saying God will still
deliver me despite themistreatment I am currently
experiencing.
What Christians are currentlyexperiencing in this moment.
God always delivers.
And then he moves on to partthree, the story of Moses.
And then he moves on to partthree, the story of Moses.
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The story of Moses is about adeliverer who was rejected by
Israel multiple times, the sameone that they say he's
blaspheming.
Israel rejected many times andthis is about a 20-verse part of
his speech In verse 35,.
So God sent back the same manhis people had previously
(14:01):
rejected.
And when they demanded who madeyou a ruler and judge over us?
So Stephen ultimately makes thepoint that Israel rejects Moses
three different times.
Once when he leaves Egypt, sohe kills the Egyptian masters.
And then the Hebrews look athim and are like who made you
ruler over us?
We didn't ask you to do that.
And so then he flees.
(14:22):
And then, when he comes back torescue them out of Egypt, they
say why should we follow you?
Who made you ruler over us?
Again.
And then, when he finallydelivers them and takes them out
of the land of Egypt, what dothey say?
Why did you bring us out hereto die?
It would have been better if wehad just stayed.
What Stephen is saying here isthat, consistently, the people
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of Israel have rejected God'schosen leader.
And this is where part four, ashe wraps up his speech, he talks
about Israel's first and secondfalling away.
So first, with the golden calfidolatry In verse 41,.
So they make an idol shapedlike a calf and they sacrifice
to to it and celebrated overthis thing that they had made.
(15:08):
Then God turned away from themand abandoned them to serve the
stars of heaven as their gods.
It's funny that when we walkinto kind of an apostasy, god
sometimes just lets us go.
And that's what's happeninginside the synagogue right now.
It's ah, you think you'rereally serving the God of our
(15:28):
fathers, but really you'reserving your own God, your own
system.
That's what you're reallytrying to protect here.
The second thing when it comesto Israel's falling away,
stephen accuses them of making atemple when the most high God
dwells, not in buildings made byhuman hands.
That was the whole point ofPentecost, right, there's no
(15:49):
longer a temple.
The Spirit resides in believers.
So in verse 48, so, as Stephensees it, heaven is my throne and
the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple asgood as that, asked the Lord.
So, as Stephen sees it,especially these Greek speaking
(16:13):
Jews, these diaspora.
Jews should be more critical ofthe Jerusalem temple, made by
human hands, because it wouldhave discounted their own
worship or their ancestorsworship when they didn't have
access to the temple.
Why are you making such a bigpoint about blaspheming the
temple?
You were stranded away fromJerusalem for a long time.
You're saying that your worshipwasn't valid.
(16:34):
You knew this.
What I'm saying you knew.
You've known for a long time.
That's what he's trying to getand make the ultimate point.
And then he concludes with thisIsrael's guilt continues as your
ancestors did, so do you.
You have betrayed and murderedthe upright one.
He says this in verse 51.
(16:56):
Must you forever resist theHoly Spirit?
That's what your ancestors did,and so do you.
Name one prophet your ancestorsdidn't persecute.
They even killed the ones whopredicted the coming of the
righteous one, the Messiah, whomyou have betrayed and murdered.
Those in Jerusalem, especiallythe ones that had come from afar
(17:17):
, who had been freed.
The synagogue of freed slaveshave become the very thing that
hurt themselves for so long.
Stephen is choosing to beprophetic in this moment.
His hope is not in the system.
His hope is not that they willlisten to him and change their
mind.
His hope is in the powerfulwork of Christ, but he's still
(17:40):
choosing to be faithful to thewitness that he is called to be.
And so quickly this turns intoStephen the witness becoming
Stephen the martyr.
And we'll look at the lastsection here of Acts, chapter 7,
verses 54 through 60.
Now this story of Stephen isgoing to form a climax for the
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persecution of Christians insideJerusalem.
So the first episode, it wasjust a warning to the apostles,
the second a flogging, and thethird will end in death.
It says this in verse 54.
The Jewish leaders wereinfuriated by Stephen's
accusation and they shook theirfists at him in rage.
Actually, if you look atanother translation, it says
they gnashed their teeth at himin rage.
But Stephen fooled the HolySpirit, gazed steadily into
(18:24):
heaven and saw the glory of God,and he saw Jesus standing in
the place of honor at God'sright hand.
And he told them look, I seethe heavens open and the Son of
man standing in the place ofhonor at God's right hand.
Then they put their hands overtheir ears and began shouting.
They rushed at him and draggedhim out of the city and began to
stone him.
His accusers took off theircoats and laid them at the feet
(18:47):
of a young man named Saul and asthey stoned him, stephen prayed
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
He fell to his knees shoutingLord, don't charge them with
this sin, and with that he died.
We quickly see the typology ofMoses transition to the typology
of Jesus.
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The bright face of Moses is nowmatched with Stephen's
connection to heaven.
He's staring at the glory ofChrist in heaven and just as the
dying Jesus committed hisspirit to the Father, we now
have Stephen confiding hisspirit to the Lord Jesus, firmly
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expressing Lord Jesus, receivemy spirit.
Then we also hear forgive them,for they know not what they do.
He's reflecting, he's imitatingChrist in one of his most
painful moments.
But the other thing as well isGod is beyond the temple.
What does he say in verse 55?
But Stephen, full of the HolySpirit, gazed steadily into
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heaven and saw the glory of God.
Stephen's vision and whathappened are not to be separated
radically from the speech,because the vision gives the
real interpretation for everyonelistening.
The Most High does not dwell ina temple made by human hands.
The transcendent God dwells inheaven and God's Spirit has been
(20:14):
sent here, working in andthrough the Pentecost-defined
people.
We see that in the contrastbetween Stephen and the
synagogue.
Stephen and the synagogue Oneside filled with rage, the other
, stephen, filled with theSpirit.
(20:34):
One side affected by spiritualblindness, stephen a heavenly
vision, and one side affected byhate-filled murder, while the
other Christ-like love andforgiveness directly contrasted
from one another.
Now there's one more martyrthat's famous for their witness
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that I want to talk about todayJustin Martyr.
And Justin Martyr comes about ahundred years after Stephen.
He gets his title because hewas a great witness for
Christians against the Romanpersecution.
See, it's not just Israelthat's persecuting Christians,
it's Rome as well.
What Justin Martyr tries to do,he tries to follow a very
(21:16):
logical legal process.
So Stephen's a little bitanimated here in this passage.
He's really just beingprophetic.
In this moment, stephen, orJustin Martyr, tries a little
bit of a different approach.
So he writes the Roman Senateon multiple occasions and his
main work is known as the firstapology or first offense.
You guys ever heard the wordapologetics?
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That just means defense, right?
A lot of times when we thinkabout apologetics in our world
today, we think about oh, I needto convince someone that
Christianity is the correct way.
That's not actually what JustinMartyr tries to do in his first
and second apology.
Really, all he's doing when hewrites the Roman Senate is hey,
romans, will you please stopkilling us Christians.
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We're not even doing anythingwrong.
That's all he's trying to say.
He's just providing a defense.
Will you please stop doing thisagainst us?
And so he has to defendmultiple accusations.
First off, justin Martyr defendsthe accusation of atheism.
He says us Christians aren'tatheists, we just don't believe
in Roman gods.
The second thing he has todefend against is treason.
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Hey, we are not trying tooverthrow the Roman empire and
bring in the kingdom of God.
That's like a spiritual kingdom.
That's already here.
The third one, and this one'sreally interesting, justin
Martyr tries to defend againstthe accusation of cannibalism.
Hey, us Christians, when wepartake in the body and blood of
our Lord, that's not literal,like we're just talking about
(22:42):
the spiritual communion with ourLord.
That's all we're talking about.
And then he goes and describesthe details of the Christian
faith.
He explains that Romans shouldwant Christians to be in their
empire because they're reallygood citizens.
Faith, love, hope these are theprinciples of Christianity and
really the Roman governmentshould be looking at all these
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evildoers who have been twistingthe words of Christians and
trying to paint us in a badlight, accuse us of things that
we should like.
It's not even true.
Now I say that to say thisSurely Justin Martyr's logical
approach worked right.
Surely the Roman Senatelistened to him.
They listened to the reasonthat he had and said hey, we're
(23:25):
going to stop doing this.
Unfortunately, not so.
About 11 years after his firstletter to the Roman Senate,
justin Martyr, along with sixother Christians, are killed
because they refuse to renounceChrist and make a sacrifice to a
Roman god.
I say that because it reminds usonce again that, in the hands
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of human systems, we are trulybroken.
We are going to lose hope.
We are going to lose faith, aregoing to lose hope.
We are going to lose faith.
It's not sufficient to placeour trust in human systems.
So where is our hope?
And this hope is the key to ourwitness.
Our lives are so incrediblybroken as we look to our left
(24:13):
and to our right and we see thepain of human systems failing us
day in and day out.
Days when we need justice, weare forgotten.
Days when we need justice, weare met with overwhelming
injustice, we are met withaccusation.
There are people we trust andthose people turn their backs on
(24:33):
us in times of great need, well, they turn to the side of the
system, and some days it feelslike people simply choose hate
to see our bitter end come true.
But we must remember that ourhope is in the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus, in thepower of the Holy Spirit, in the
(24:54):
life-sustaining creation of God.
That is a hope that will neverfail us.
You remember when I talked aboutat the very beginning,
stephanos also means crown.
It reminds us that Stephen worea crown of his own as he walked
this painful path, a crown ofrighteousness that's so clearly
(25:16):
marked by the power of his faithin God, who sustained him even
when the broken systems ofhumans brought evil upon him.
It also reminds us of Paul'sown persecution, when he was
persecuted himself.
He writes in his closing wordsto Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, as
for me, my life has already beenpoured out as an offering to
God.
The time of my death is near.
I have fought the good fight, Ihave finished the race and I
(25:39):
have remained faithful.
And verse eight.
And now the prize awaits me thecrown of righteousness, the
Stephanos of righteousness,which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will give me on the dayof his return.
And the prize is not just forme but for all who eagerly look
forward to this appearing thecrown of righteousness, the
Stephanos of righteousness,grounded in the hope of the
(26:02):
risen Savior.
We cannot be plucked from ourSavior's hand.
That is our hope and inconclusion, I offer this brief
warning.
So, after what happens toStephen, christians are going to
have to disperse in Jerusalem.
(26:22):
The persecution is just goingto become too rough.
They almost have to gounderground at this point.
And we see in this passage thathis accusers took off their
coats and they laid them at thefeet of a young man named Saul,
who's eventually going to becomePaul.
That piling of cloaks at thefeet of someone was certainly
(26:45):
symbolic, and that is ajuxtaposition of when the
disciples came and laid alltheir possessions for the needy
at the feet of the apostles.
We see the comparison rightthere.
In that moment, and as we lookat this story, we have to be
cognizant that we too can becomejust like the synagogue of
(27:06):
freed slaves.
We can also be filled withcondemnation, we can also be
filled with rage.
We can also be Saul in thismoment.
That is something that we haveto think about.
What about the Pharisee in me?
Now?
In the next few moments, we'regoing to have a time of
communion and we'll ask that, asthe band plays, you just get up
(27:29):
out of your seat at your ownpace, you go to the back, you
grab the elements and you return.
But what I want us to focus onhere, at the very end, is that
Stephen is a man full of graceand power who becomes the first
martyr of the Christian church.
His final speech is a boldchallenge against religious
(27:53):
comfort.
It's a form of spiritualresistance, and his death sets
the church on a path ofexpansion, even in the middle of
their pain.
And today's message invites usto consider what it means to
follow Jesus, even when the costis high.
And that is anchored on thequestion where is our hope?
(28:14):
Where is your hope?
What does it mean to be aPentecost people defined by the
hope in Christ?
As we close, I just sayspirit-activated faith might
lead us into sacrifice, but italso might lead us into
something eternal.
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