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The Faith of Stephen April 29, 2007 Bro. Mark Braune Good morning
brothers and sisters. For the last few days we’ve been reading “The Acts of the
Apostles”. In chapters 6 and 7 we read of the accusations levied against
Stephen and his response. His adversaries were Jews, but they were Hellenist
Jews - Jews of the dispersion. These Jews seem to have been more zealous for
their religion than the native Jews. Perhaps this was because it was through
great difficulty that they retained the practice and profession of the Jewish
laws and customs in the country where they lived. They went through a lot of
trouble to maintain their attendance at However, Stephen’s
accusers were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke, so
they resorted to bribery and trickery to ensnare him. They “set up false
witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak
blasphemous words against [the] holy place, and the law: For we have heard him
say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the
customs which Moses delivered us” (Acts 6:13-14). They had him brought before the council of
the high priest where these false witnesses brought their accusations of
blasphemy against him. The blasphemy of
which he was accused was against the temple and against the law. Stephen begins
his reply with a history of the nation of He does somewhat address
the charge of blasphemy against the holy place. He was accused for saying that
Christ would destroy the temple. But so what if he did say that? He points out
that there was not a fixed place of worship until Solomon build the temple. All
the patriarchs acceptably worshipped Yahweh for many generations before the
temple even existed. The same would hold true for the law. Besides that, he
points out, “the most High dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; as saith the prophet, ‘Heaven is
my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is
the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?’” (Acts 7:48-50).
What a wonderful point, that is,
unfortunately, lost on Stephen’s audience. However, our focus
this morning is not directly aimed at the message that Stephen delivered, even
though there is certainly a lesson to be learned in it. Our focus this morning
is on faith. Not only the faith that Stephen displayed in standing up in front
of his accusers and professing the truth to a mob that had surely convicted him
before he ever spoke a word, but also the faith displayed by the subjects of
his speech. We read in this
chapter of the great faith that Abraham must have had to leave his homeland
upon the commandment of God. We also read of the account of Moses. Turning to
the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we read that: By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the
recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook We have abundant examples
of faith exhibited throughout the Scriptures by the men and women of God. By
faith: Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, Sarah delivered a
child when she was past age, Abraham offered up Isaac, Isaac blessed Jacob. And
Jeremiah's work should surely be counted to faith. The list goes on and on. However, we also
find recorded in Scripture cases of a lack of faith and the consequences thereof. A few weeks ago, as
we were reading the Book of Numbers, we read of the turning back of the
Children of Israel at the borders of This same lack of
faith exhibited throughout the history of The Children of
Israel’s lack of faith eventually led to the destruction of Even though we are
not of the world, we must live in the world. Just as the Children of Israel’s
thoughts continually turned towards the fish and the cucumbers and the garlic
and all of the flesh-pleasing things they once possessed in Egypt, we each are
susceptible to the pleasant things of this world that are so gratifying to the flesh.
So, how do we fight against becoming entangled in the snares and pitfalls of
the world that surrounds us? One thing we must do is continually turn our
hearts and minds toward the things of God. We know this is important, but we
must, in our daily battle against our sinful nature, also turn away from the
things that are not of God. It is easy to see
what happens if we fail to do this. We probably each had a best friend when we
were children. Maybe they lived next door or we went to school with them. We
thought we’d be best friends forever. But we know how that goes. Over the years,
we each go our separate ways and we see our friend less and less, until
eventually we don’t see them at all. If we bump into them years later, we
realize that we don’t even know them anymore. The same thing happens if we
neglect the truth. Without continually bringing to remembrance the things of
God, these things will move from the front of our mind to the back. Then
eventually, if we continue neglecting the Lord’s work, they will just cease to
exist in our hearts and minds, only to be replaced by whatever vanity has taken
their place. This idea leads to
the main purpose of our meeting together each week: to speak to each other on
the things of the truth, to receive exhortation, to study and meditate upon the
Scripture, and most importantly to bring into memory the sacrifice of Christ. Upon
the institution of this memorial of which we are about to partake, we were told
to examine ourselves. If we find that our faith is sure, and if we feel that
our lives would garner Christ’s approval, then we truly have nothing to fear.
To be Christ-like, we must be holy, we must be “set apart”, separated from the
evil world. So, not only must we hold to a doctrine that is different than all
of the pagan customs so dearly revered by Christendom, we must conduct
ourselves in a different way than the immoral world that surrounds us. That’s not to say
that we can attain salvation through works - that we can somehow save ourselves
by merely being good people. We know this is not the case. Paul tells us, in
his epistle to the Ephesians, that we are saved by grace through faith, but not
of ourselves. It is by the grace of God that we, being such weak and sinful
creatures, can even think about entering into the kingdom. Earlier, we touched
on the account in Numbers chapters 13 and 14. When the twelve spies returned to
the Israelites and reported that the land was “an exceeding good land”, but
that the inhabitants were too mighty for the Israelites to overcome, they
displayed a lack of faith. They had been given an abundance of signs that God
was with them, leading them, but despite all these signs and wonders, they
still hesitated. And from a purely human standpoint, they were right. They, by
themselves, could not have overcome the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites,
Amorites, and Canaanites. These nations indeed were mightier than the
Israelites (Deut 7:1). But God would not have let that happen. Maybe some
natural disaster would have overcome the inhabitants of the land. Or maybe
something else would have happened. We can’t say for sure how the Israelites
would have conquered the inhabitants and possessed the land; all we can say is
that they certainly would have. By the act of going in to posses the land, they
would have displayed their faith in God, and would have attained the promise. But they doubted. Most
assuredly this doubt stemmed from a fear of the inhabitants of the land. But
faith, even a little faith, can destroy fear. When given the choice between the
fear of God and the fear of man, the wise choice is a fear of the Lord, which
Solomon says is the beginning of knowledge. One Bible verse that
I think we should each have deeply impressed in the forefront of our mind is 1
Corinthians 10 verse 13. In it we read that God “will not suffer [us] to be tempted above
that [we] are able”. If we think a trial that stands before us is too hard to
bear, look at what Stephen endured. Or look to Christ, who we are told was made
perfect through suffering. It is during this
present time of probation that we are building our character and shaping our
moral fiber. It is what we do during this probationary period that will form
the individual that will stand before Christ at the judgment seat. If we are persistently
occupied with the Lord’s work, then our minds will be full of the divine
thoughts, ideas, principles, and cares that are laid out in the Scripture. Only
then will our hearts and minds be made ready for that day of Christ’s return so
fast approaching. |
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