Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Acts 6:7-7:1
Acts
6:7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased
rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
8
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and
signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the
Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as
well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10
But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak
blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They
seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false
witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy
place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of
Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to
us.”
15
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw
that his face was like the face of an angel.
Acts
7:1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
-- this morning, we are finishing up
our first major section in the Book of Acts that we called, “A New Hope – the
Beginning of the Church of Christ on Earth”
–
we began this study looking in detail at Christ’s promise in Acts 1:8 – “But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth” -- and the Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20 – “Then
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age.”
-- and over the last three weeks, we
have explored how the Holy Spirit empowered the early believers and initiated
the church of Christ on earth – we looked at some of the early opposition to
the message of the gospel – both from those outside the church – the priests
and the Sanhedrin and the leaders of the established religious community in
Jerusalem – as well as from those within the church – like Ananias and Sapphira
– who allowed their desires for wealth and recognition keep them from fully
giving themselves to the truth of the gospel and faith in Jesus
-- and we talked about how the
Apostles and the disciples in the early church were empowered by the Holy
Spirit to preach bold messages of salvation, to pray bold prayers of faith, and
to have bold hearts to stand up for the truth in the face of the religious
leaders’ commands to stop preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus
-- now, as we are coming to the
close of this section, the battlelines that we talked about last week are going
to fully come into view – as those who are opposed to the truth of the gospel
and the truth of Jesus Christ are going to actively begin persecuting the
faithful in the church, beginning with Stephen
II. Sharing the Truth (Acts 6:1-8:3)
-- which brings up the question: what
if you knew the truth about something, but when you tried to tell others about
it, all they did was ignore you or argue with you about it? – what would you
do?
-- that’s the premise of the 2021
movie, “Don’t Look Up” – which is a fairly accurate satire about the culture in
our social media world today – in this movie, Leonardo Dicaprio and Jennifer
Lawrence star as academic astronomers who discover a new comet heading straight
to earth – based on their calculations, the comet will hit in about six months,
and it will be an extinction-level event, meaning that the impact of the comet
will destroy all life on the planet and kill everyone on earth
-- they take their findings to NASA
and to the President in the hopes that the Government can do something to
divert or destroy the comet , but they are met with apathy and indifference – the
administration says that news of the comet isn’t as important as the political
issues currently trending on social media – so, they’re not going to waste any
time on it
-- eventually, the two astronomers turn
to social media to spread the alarm, but most of the people on social media refuse
to believe the comet is real or they say the threat is overhyped – the president
sees the trends on social media, so the Government starts repeating the same
points as the public, saying the comet isn’t real and even if it were, it isn’t
a threat
–
eventually, Dicaprio’s character goes on a talk show to criticize the president
for downplaying the impending apocalypse and questioning humanity's
indifference.
-- by this time, the comet has come
close enough to earth to be seen with the naked eye – the two astronomers try again
to rally the public to force the government to do something – they believe that
when the public is convinced that the comet is real, the government will have
to act – and at this point, the people can easily see the truth for themselves
– all they have to do is “Look up!” and they’ll see the comet heading for them
-- when the president sees the
astronomer’s efforts on social media, she doubles-down in her refusal to
believe them or act on the truth that they shared with her – in response to
Dicaprio and Lawrence’s characters pleas for the people to just look up, the
president starts appearing in campaign rallies throughout the country, pushing
a new message -- “Don’t look up!” -- passing out hats and t-shirts with that
slogan on it
–
this new message from the president gains traction, and people all over the
country join in, with scenes of stadiums and crowds in the street chanting, “Don’t
look up!” over and over
-- all the while, the two
astronomers keep pointing to the sky and are getting frustrated – they know the
truth – they’re trying to tell other people about the truth – they keep saying,
“Look up – it’s right there – you can see it for yourself” -- but no one will
listen to them and all they face is hostility and anger
-- Stephen obviously never saw the
movie, “Don’t Look Up!” but he would certainly understand the frustration that
the two astronomers felt as they tried to share a truth with the world in order
to save them from a potential danger that they all faced
-- here in this passage, we see
Stephen trying to do the same thing and facing the same result
-- look back at Acts 6:7-10
Acts
6:7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased
rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
8
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and
signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the
Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as
well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10
But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
-- here we see the early church
mobilized through the power of the Holy Spirit to share the good news of
salvation and the forgiveness of sins with the people of Jerusalem – Stephen, a
man who is described here as being full of God’s grace and power – filled with
the Spirit – was one of those in the church who actively shared the gospel with
all those around him
-- he had heard the truth of the
gospel himself – and that truth was now in him – and he had a burden to share
it with everyone else – to tell them the truth that he had found
-- but anytime you try to share the
truth with someone – especially the truth of the gospel and of Jesus Christ –
you will face opposition – you will face those who refuse to believe and who
will argue with you and disagree with everything you say – and that’s exactly
what we see here
-- when Stephen preached the message
of Christ, he faced opposition from the members of a group of Jews who called
themselves the Synagogue of the Freedman – these were probably former slaves
from the Roman Empire who had been given their freedom and who had emigrated
from Rome and other areas in the Roman Empire back to Israel
-- but while they may have won
freedom from captivity, they were still bound to sin and death in their hearts
– for they held on to the chains of religion and tradition instead of receiving
the good news of salvation that Stephen preached
-- they argued with him – they stood
against him – and when they could not refute the truth of what he was sharing,
they resorted to lies and slander in order to discredit Stephen and the message
he was sharing
-- verse 11
Acts
6:11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak
blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They
seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false
witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy
place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of
Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to
us.”
15
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw
that his face was like the face of an angel.
Acts
7:1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
-- making up lies about what Stephen
had said, the members of this synagogue stirred up the people and the religious
leaders against Stephen – Stephen was arrested and was brought before the
Sanhedrin, the ruling body for the nation of Israel
-- Stephen stood there calmly before
the group even as the synagogue members continued to share lies about what he
had said – he had a peace about him – his face was like the face of an angel –
because he knew the truth and he was convinced that if he just shared the
truth, others would hear it and be convicted in their hearts, and come to
believe it just like he had
-- but, as we all know, that rarely
works out
-- there are several places in
Scripture where God gives us a summary of His actions on behalf of the nation
of Israel – most of these are found in the Old Testament – and we will see
other instances in the Book of Acts where Peter and Paul recount a summary of
what God has done through them – these are helpful to us because they give us a
concise and succinct account of God’s covenants and plan of salvation
--
we see a similar passage here -- when the high priest asks Stephen in Acts 7:1,
“Are these charges true?”, Stephen -- under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
-- shares the foundation of the faith of the Jewish people and builds upon it
to point to the truth of Jesus as the promised Messiah
--
he begins by reminding the Sanhedrin of God’s calling of Abraham and the
covenant that God established with him – that through Abraham, God would raise
up a people to be His people – a people who would fill the earth and be as
numerous as the stars in heaven – a people who would know the truth and share
the truth with the entire world – a people through whom the promised Messiah
would come
--
Stephen pointed out that God had been with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob throughout
their lives – leading them and calling them to follow Him – to hear the truth,
to know the truth, to believe the truth, to live in the truth
--
but jealousy and evil desires caused them to reject God’s messengers and the
truth of God’s message over and over again
-- look at verse 9-16
Acts
7:9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave
into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He
gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11
“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our
ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in
Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit,
Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.
14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,
seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our
ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the
tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain
sum of money.
-- so, the first instance of the
rejection of God and His plan for the nation of Israel occurred with the
patriarchs – the twelve sons of Jacob from whom all Israel are descended
-- Joseph was one of the twelve sons
that Jacob – Israel – had – now Joseph was special, and Jacob knew it – he
honored him above all the other sons and gave him the coat of many colors
--
Jacob was responding to something he saw in Joseph without even understanding
it – because it soon became apparent that Joseph had been chosen by God to
deliver the children of Israel from famine and plague – even while he was a
young man, God gave Joseph visions and prophecies pointing to his exaltation
above the other brothers – that through him they might be saved
-- but the brothers were jealous of
him and rejected him and the message from God – they sold Joseph as a slave
into Egypt – but just as the visions and prophecies foretold, God was with him
through it all – through his captivity as a slave – through his time in prison
and in the pit – and then as prince over Egypt as he was exalted to the second
highest position in the land
-- making a way and a place for the
nation of Israel to be saved from the famine that was in the Promised Land
-- and Stephen points out in his
message to the Sanhedrin that every time the nation of Israel was in trouble –
every time they were in captivity or in danger – God would send a deliverer,
just like Joseph – and every time, the people would reject him
--
look at verse 17-22
Acts 7:17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill
his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly
increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in
Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors
by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no
ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was
placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in
speech and action.
--
skip down to verse 39-41
Acts 7:39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him.
Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They
told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who
led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the
time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and
reveled in what their own hands had made.
--
once again, the nation of Israel is in trouble – Joseph and all the patriarchs
have passed away, and the kings of Egypt have forgotten them and forgotten how
Joseph saved the people of Egypt through the famine by storing food to get them
through the hard times
--
when the king of Egypt looks at the Israelites now, all he sees is a group of
people who have grown numerous in the land and who have acquired for themselves
vast wealth and property – he is afraid they will rise up against him, so he
forces them into slavery and tries to stop the Israelites from growing in
numbers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies
--
but God raises up a deliverer in Moses, who was sent to lead God’s people out
of Egypt – to deliver them from captivity and bondage – to carry them to the
Promised Land
-- and, true to form, the people rejected
Moses and the message from God – the first rejection of Moses occurred when he
tried to help the people by killing an Egyptian overseer who was mistreating
some Jewish slaves – and then they rejected him again, after he brought them
out of Egypt and began leading them to the Promised Land
-- and, so, Stephen reminds the
Sanhedrin of all of this – of how God had called the people to love Him and to
follow Him – to hear the truth and to live in it – through Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob -- through Joseph – through Moses – through the tabernacle and the Law
that was given at Sinai – and through the prophets, who pointed to the coming
Messiah and the eternal fulfilment of salvation and eternal life through Him
-- but despite hearing the truth and
knowing the truth and having the truth with them – the people closed their ears
and rejected God and those who shared the truth of God’s word with them – they
chose their own way – their own traditions – their own rituals – above the
plain truth of God’s word
-- and now, he says – you’re doing
it again!
-- look at verse 51-53
Acts
7:51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.
You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was
there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those
who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and
murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels
but have not obeyed it.”
-- just like the astronomers in the
movie, “Don’t Look Up,” Stephen has gotten frustrated with the response of the
religious leaders and the Sanhedrin to the plain truth in front of them
–
he and all the disciples have been going to the temple courts every day –
preaching the good news of salvation through Jesus – teaching the people the
truth of God’s word
--
but when they do that, they are faced with rejection and mockery – by the
people and by the religious leaders themselves, who should know better, because
they are the keepers of the truth – they are the ones who God has entrusted to
lead Israel into the truth of the Promise
--
they are just like all their forefathers who rejected those who came before –
Stephen calls them “stiff-necked” – unable to bend – to turn – to face the
truth in front of them
--
he says their hearts and ears are still uncircumcised – while they may look
holy on the outside – while they may be following all the rituals and
traditions of faith – their hearts are far from the Lord – they are hypocrites
who have seen the truth but refuse to accept it – hypocrites who should know
that the rituals and the traditions were put in place to point them to the
Messiah
--
and now that He has come – now that Jesus has come preaching the fulfillment of
the Promise and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven – they refused to believe
the message – they refused to believe the truth – and they have rejected the
very Savior that God had sent to deliver the Israelites and the whole world
from captivity to sin and death
--
verse 54
Acts 7:54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard
this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of
the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and
the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the
top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and
began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a
young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord,
do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 8:1a And Saul approved of their killing him.
–
after pointing out how the Israelites had rejected God’s truth time after time,
Stephen has just said, “You’re doing the same thing – except this time, you are
rejecting the Righteous One who God sent to save you”
--
we read here that Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit – empowered by the truth of
God – looks up and points to heaven and cries out, “Just look up – look up and
see for yourself – I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God”
--
and as the truth pours out of him – as the Holy Spirit speaks through him – the
members of the Sanhedrin close their ears and gnash their teeth and rush at him
– grabbing him and dragging him out of the temple and out of the city – and then
they begin to stone him for what he has said
-- look at the second part of Acts
8:1b-3
Acts
8:1b On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem,
and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2
Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to
destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and
women and put them in prison.
-- the truth was spoken – the truth
was heard – and once again, the truth was rejected by the people and the
religious leaders of Israel
-- people don’t like it when you
tell them they are wrong – when someone hears the truth and rejects it, they
often act out against it – and that’s what is happening here as this section in
the Book of Acts comes to a close
-- we read that a great persecution
begins to break out against the church and against all the believers in
Jerusalem, as the people and the leaders reject the truth and choose to live
their lie
-- and this persecution marks the
beginning of a new phase for the church, as God uses this for the good of the
church and for the good of those who have heard the truth and believed the
truth and who follow Him
III. Closing
-- in the movie, “A Few Good Men,” we
see the famous argument between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in the court room
as Cruise is seeking answers for the death of a marine at the hands of other
marines
-- after going back and forth for
some time, Cruise’s character demands to be told the truth – he says, “I want
the truth” – and Jack Nicholson replies, “You can’t handle the truth”
-- that is the story of us – that’s
the story of the men and women that we read about in the Bible – the men and
women who couldn’t handle the truth of God – the men and women who couldn’t
handle the message that God was giving them and who chose to blindly follow
religious tradition and ritual above all else
-- this is the reason why the
patriarchs rejected Joseph – why the people of Israel rejected Moses – and why
the priests and the Sanhedrin rejected Jesus
-- they couldn’t handle the truth –
they couldn’t stand to know that what they had been following – that what they
had been doing – was wrong
–
and when Joseph and Moses and Jesus and the prophets and Stephen stood up
before them and pointed to heaven and said, “Just look up and see the truth and
hear the truth and believe the truth and follow the truth” – they couldn’t
handle it – and they rejected themselves straight to hell
-- we see this in the gospels as the
high priest and the Sanhedrin reject Jesus and send Him to the cross
-- we see this in the opening to the
Book of Acts, as these religious leaders of Israel reject the church and the
truth of the gospel, and begin a great persecution by stoning Stephen to death
-- and we see this in the mirror,
when we look at ourselves as we choose to close our ears to the truth – when we
choose to ignore God and His commands – when we choose to follow our own way
and not the path of righteousness and holiness laid out before us
-- when Jesus and His Spirit stand
right in front of us and say, “Look up and follow Me” and we turn away to
follow our own path instead
-- as we have seen many times in our
study in the Book of Acts so far, we are faced with a choice every single day –
the choice to hear the truth – to know the truth – and to act on that truth as
God commands – or the choice to do our own thing – to let our own desires and
our wants and wishes dictate what we do with our life
-- every single day, we face a fork
in the road – one path is broad and leads to destruction – the other path is
narrow and leads to life
-- Stephen stood up in front of the
Sanhedrin and spoke the truth and pointed them to the narrow path, but they
chose the other
-- God’s word stands before us now,
speaking the truth and pointing us down that same narrow path that leads to
life
-- as we close in prayer, I want you
to take a moment and consider where you are in your relationship with God – and
I want you to consider where He is leading – the truth He is speaking – and I
want to encourage you to choose today to follow Him and His truth – to trust in
His power in the Holy Spirit to enable you to follow Him down the narrow path
to salvation and eternal life
-- let us pray
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