Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts Series #15

Back to the Beginning:

When Church was Church

*Laying Down Your Life: The Martyr's Story*

*Acts 7:54-60*

 

About a year ago I preached a message to you entitled, Crown Him with Many Crowns.

I told you that there were two kinds of Crowns in the NT.

The /diadema/ a royal crown and the /stephanos/ the victors crown.

Wel, the Victors' Crown, the Stephanos is where we get the name Stephen.

The greek word for witness is the word where we get the word "martyr"

 

Stephen is the first martyr, the first witness to lay down his life as a witness to Christ

 

Let me highlight and catch us up

 

We know that Stephen was a man full of wisdom and the Spirit

He was Full of God's grace and power and he did wonders and miraculous sings

 

Opposition Rose

They couldn't stand against his wisdom

 

They secretly persuaded people to say that he was speaking blasphemy against Moses and God

 

They brought him before the people and used false witnesses

 

Their greatest complaint was about the Temple and the Law

 

Now, Pilate by this time had been recalled to Rome, The Emperor had died and places like Judea were left to kinda take care of themselves

 

Chapter 7 Stephen started them with Abraham, through Joseph, Moses, to the Law to an understanding that God is not limited to the Temple but will live in men through the Holy Spirit and pointed them to Jesus Christ to fulfill the law and the prophets.

Then he said that if they rejected Christ they were compared to the words of Moses and Jeremiah and were stiffnecked people, who's "physical selves were set apart for Christ but not their hearts and not their ears."

Read 51-53

 

Jer 6:10/ to whom can I speak and give warning?

Who will listen to me?  Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.

The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it/

 

 

So …

 

Stephen this "victor's crown" spoke boldly the truth of Jesus Christ.

He stood in the face of lies and false doctrine and preached and gave witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

 

And as usual people took it lightly with indifference … LOL RIGHT?

Read 7:54-60

 

Stephen was the First Martyr of the Church age.

Our word Martyr comes from the Greek word /martyreo/ (reputation ~/ witness)

 

A Martyr is 1)/a person who voluntarily suffers death as a witness to and refusing to renounce a religion 2) a person who sacrifices something of great value and life itself for the sake of principle/

 

A Martyr Lays down their lives

 

John 15:13 you may know - /Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends./

But what is LOVE?

 

1 John 3:16 says /This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us/

 

So LOVE is defined as Jesus Laying down his life for us,

 

well that's great but God doesn't expect that from us right?

Go back to John 15:12 and put it back in context with verse 13, define it with 1 John 3:16, and we have our answer 15:12 - /My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you./

So, we are being called to LOVE, love how?  Laying down our lives as witnesses as martyrs

 

That the truth about Jesus Christ might be known, that those who would lead a different way might be proved false, that the proud might be broken before a Holy God.

So, If we will follow Stephen in laying down our lives for Christ, for our friends, for a world in need of the Truth

 

Then we should make some observations and be realistic

 

~* Speaking the truth will Get you In Trouble

~* Living the Life of a Follower of Jesus Christ will separate you from the pack

~* Speaking the Truth and still loving your Enemy will blow their minds - They saw Stephen in the 6:15 and were amazed that his face was like that of an angel

 

I'm challenging us to be a church full of Martyrs

 

We may not all be called to DIE for Christ but we ARE all called to be Living Sacrifices

 

Romans 12:1,2

/I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices ….

Spiritual act of worship 2 do not be conformed … world … be transformed … /

 

 

So if we are to be Martyrs if we are to lay down our lives that we might each Witness to, and Win and see One person Baptized

 

If we are to live the Martyrs' life in a godless generation what can we learn

 

What kind of people ought we to be?

 

*1.

Live Fearlessly*

The Word of God lived and proclaimed is a Divisive thing

 

Heb 4:12 /the Word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart./

Taking the Word of God into your life and imparting it WILL be a dividing agent in your life

 

Some will receive it as a healing scalpel others will reject it as a sword of battle

 

But we cannot live in fear to live it and proclaim it

 

Romans 1:16/ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes/

 

Gentleness was the norm for Jesus and for his disciples but there was a time and place for bold proclamation and radical living

 

We must not be afraid to live, preach, and proclaim Jesus Christ

 

  *A*.

*Fear the Lord*

    1.

Fear the Lord and you Will Never Fear Man

    2.

Peter in Acts 4:19 - /judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey~/fear you rather than God 20 we cannot help speaking (witnessing~/testifying) about what we have seen and heard/

 

    3.

If we fear God we need not worry about man

 

    4.

John Chrysostom A Syrian Preacher and Martyr in the 4th Century early 5th Century said / "for the Christian, life involves challenge and conflict whether we like it or not.

Our enemies are constantly waging war against us, and trying to keep us from claiming our inheritance in Christ/

 

    5.

We need not fear the Earthly consequences of living and preaching the truth.

6.

The Consequences of disobedience to God, silence, or mediocrity are GREATER than the consequences that this world may bring to bear on our living the Truth

 

 

  *B*.

*Know* His *Promises* ~/ Be *Certain* of His *Call*

    1.

We can live fearlessly when we know his promises and know what he has called us to

    2.

Ro 8:31 /… if God is for us, who can be against us?

/

    3.

Col 2:14,15 /canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away nailing it to the cross 15 and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross/

    4.

Joshua 6 - God commanded Joshua to go to Jericho verse 2 says /"See I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and fighting men."/

    5.

Their 7 days of marching were simply Victory Laps for a battle already decided -

    6.

We can LIVE Fearlessly because we FIGHT FROM VICTORY not FOR Victory

    7.

We are MORE than conquerors we are Victors

    8.

Heb 13:20,21 - /may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen/

 

    9.

We need not Fear this World

 

    10.

The World Pays us no attention because we live a FEARFUL existence

/… the church is so much like the world that the world takes little notice of what we do.

We imitate the world's methods; we cater to the world's appetites; we solicit the world's approval; and we measure what we do according to the world's standards.

Is it any wonder that we don't gain the world's respect?

/

 

    11.

Wiersbe says we can Believe a promise and not Reckon on it and Obey It

 

    12.

Believing is Like Accepting a Check

 

    13.

Reckoning is Like Endorsing the Check and Cashing It

 

    14.

J Hudson Taylor says there are 3 ways to serve God 1) make the best plans hope they succeed; 2) make our own plans and ask God to bless them; 3) or Ask God for HIS plans and do what he tells us to do  - The FIRST TWO are fearful, the 3rd enables us to Live Fearlessly

 

A Faithful Witness who lives a faithful life

 

Rev 2:10 says /Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.

I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life./

A Martyr will Live Fearlessly and will …