Follow Christ, Even if it Costs your Life.

Daniel Williams

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

Acts 7:54–8:3

Persecution of the Early Church

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Introduction

Good morning, church.

Introduce myself - role; Pastoral Candidate, Missions Director

Please turn with me to Acts 7—we’ll be picking up where we left off in verse 54.

While you’re turning there, I just want to recap together what has happened in Stephen’s life and in the life of the church before this as our text today marks a huge transition in the book of Acts that I think would be helpful to highlight for us as we read through this together:

Recap

Let’s think back on the very beginning of Acts, which picks up right where the gospel of Luke leaves off: Jesus had just risen from the dead and was appearing to His disciples, telling them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father—that is, the promise that they’d be given the Holy Spirit. I want you to pay close attention to this verse because we will see this play out in our text today,

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When he said this, He would then ascend into Heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, where He’s standing to this day and where Stephen would see him in today’s text. At the turn of the chapter, in Acts 2, we see the fulfilment of this promise at Pentecost, when the disciples would be filled for the first time with the Holy Spirit and from this point on they and the other Christians would begin spreading the gospel and being Christ’s witnesses throughout Jerusalem—and they would suffer for it.

(As we keep recalling the backstory, I want us to keep note of their commitment to follow Christ, even through suffering.)

1st Trial

So, they were proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ, risen from the dead, and this caused a lot of raucous. The leaders of the Sanhedrin, which if we remember was the highest council of Jewish leaders at the time, had them arrested and tried, but they had nothing they could charge them for and couldn’t punish them. So, they let them off with a warning, telling them to no longer speak of Jesus’ name. That was the first of three trials of the disciples before the leaders in Jerusalem.

2nd Trial

Yet, choosing to obey God rather than man, they continued proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, and were again arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin. This time, the Jewish leaders were so angry, that they wanted to kill them, but one of the leaders, Gamiliel, who is actually the mentor of Paul who would be introduced in today’s text, talked them down from their anger, saying if this movement was not of God, it would dissipate; but, if it were from God, they may be found opposing God! So, let’s just see how it plays out. Still, they beat the apostles and told them once again to not speak in the name of Jesus.

That did not stop them. They continued to follow Christ and instead rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer for the name of Christ and they continued to proclaim the risen King.

3rd and Final Trial

Finally, we were introduced to Stephen, one of the first deacons, who would be described in Acts 6 as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” who would join them in testifying to the risen Christ and would be arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin in what would now be the THIRD and final trial of the disciples for now.

As Andrew shared with us last week, Stephen flips the script on the Sanhedrin and puts THEM on trial. He confronts them with their own history, showing that God has kept His promises, despite their constant disobedience and rejection of God and His messengers who were telling them of the coming Righteous One.

Stephen lands the plane, saying they’re just like their forefathers—stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart—except this time, they rejected the promised Righteous One HIMSELF!

Although it’s been a week since then, it wouldn’t have been hard to imagine how they might have reacted to an accusation like that!

In any case, let’s see this plays out…Acts 7:54–8:3

Acts 7:54–8:3 ESV

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Quick prayer using Ps. 119:18.

See what happened here?

The first trial ended in a warning, the second in a beating, and now in a stoning, as Stephen becomes the first of many martyrs for the Lord Jesus.

Even still, this would not stop the Lord’s Church from continuing to follow and proclaim Christ.

This event would put into motion widespread persecution, but did this put an end to Christ’s Church? No! We are evidence of that, today.

Christ told us:

English Standard Version Chapter 16

I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

What it did, though, was thrust the Christians out of Jerusalem into the nearby regions of Judea and Samaria. Here we see a case in point of “what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good” as we see in Acts 8:1 already a fulfillment of Acts 1:8 as for the rest of the book of Acts, believers continue their ministry to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

But, let’s not miss how the Lord brought about the fulfilment of that promise in Acts 1:8: it was through the death of Stephen and the persecution that broke out on church.

Death and persecution did not stop the growth of the Church, rather it propelled the Church into further gospel growth as ordinary believers considered the riches of knowing and proclaiming Christ as of more value than their lives.

They would be the ones that are mentioned in Rev. 12:11

Revelation 12:11 ESV

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Stephen and the ordinary believers of the church show us in this text what is the main challenge I believe the Lord wants us to embrace this morning:

MPS: Follow Christ, Even if it Costs your Life.

If you’re here as a visitor and you don’t know Christ, we are glad you’re here. What I hope you see from this text and our time here together this morning is that following Jesus may not be easy, but He is 100% worth it.

Perhaps the most fruitful books that I’ve ever read outside of the Bible have been missionary biographies. Seeing the faithfulness of those who gave up the comforts of their lives, even gave up their own lives, for the sake of the gospel challenges me deeply. It helps me see the breath that life is and that He is worth it. They followed Christ, even when it costed their lives.

I think of William Carey (1761–1834) a British man who would dedicate the last 40 years of his life in Kolkata, India bringing the gospel to natives. He’d be considered the “father of modern missions”

If y’all know my story, I had the opportunity to serve there in Kolkata as a missionary for 2 years, training church planters and sharing the gospel in their language, and I even had the opportunity preach in the church God used Carey to start.

Carey suffered a lot for the sake of bringing the gospel to this place; he suffered the loss of his wife, first mentally then physically, death of 3 of his children, labored for 7 years until he saw the first native come to Christ, depression, illness, etc.

Yet, God would use William Carey to translate the Scriptures into forty different languages (all across India, tons of Christian Indians use his translation today), led hundreds of nationals to Christ, and establish a college to equip native church leaders to lead their churches and to carry the Gospel to their people. I saw with my own eyes the fruit of this brother who decided to follow Christ, even if it costed his life.

I think of one of my favorites, Adoniram Judson.

Adoniram Judson and his wife were the first appointed American foreign missionaries, sent out in the early 1800’s to Burma where Adoniram would spend almost 40 years in ministry before he died.

Adoniram Judson suffered much in bringing Christ to Burma. Not only would he bury two wives and several children, he would experience illness, persecution, fruitless seasons, and a harsh imprisonment by the Burmese during which he would be stuffed into a small damp room and be hung by his feet with his shoulders resting on the ground below. His faithful wife Nancy would visit him and do whatever she could to petition and even bribe the jailors to let her bring him food and water. She would die soon after his release.

But God would use Judson to not only start a fruitful church in Burma after many years but he would also translate the Bible, in part or in whole, into two different languages.

I don’t have the time to tell of Jim Elliot who you all may remember Nathan mention—an American in the early 1900’s, who was one of five young men killed by natives in Equador to whom they were bringing the gospel. Only some time later, some of their wives would return to that tribe and see the tribe come to Christ.

Or John Patton, who would leave a thriving urban ministry in Scotland in the late 1800’s to bring his pregnant wife and the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unreached cannibalistic tribes of the New Hebrides, a group of islands east of Australia.

He would translate Scripture into their language and see the whole island come to Christ.

These missionaries were following in the footsteps of Stephen and the ordinary believers of the early church who were committed to following Christ, even if it costed their lives.

So, what does following Christ look like?

I want to consider two aspects of following Christ that we can take from looking at the life of Stephen, the ordinary believers, and the ministry of these missionaries.

1. Following Christ will lead to suffering and

2. Following Christ means sharing Christ.

Following Christ Will Lead to Suffering. (Acts 7:54–60)

Following Christ led to suffering for the Christians in the early church and it led to suffering for Stephen.

As we saw before, this wasn’t the first time the Sanhedrin were told they had just rejected and killed the very Messiah they’d been waiting for for hundreds of years. When Peter and the other apostles were brought in for the second trial, they said to the Sanhedrin,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins

Nonetheless, they were enraged—one translation says they were “infuriated by his accusation”—and gnashed their teeth at him.

But, what did Stephen do? In stark contrast to the anger and malice of everyone around him, and with death closing in on him, Stephen looks to God with an amazing sense of calmness and peace.

How did he have such courage in the face of death? How did these missionaries have courage to go to foreign lands and even cannibalistic tribes? How do WE have courage in our suffering?

For starters, the text says that he was full of the Holy Spirit. If we remember back in Acts 6, this was among the first things we knew about Stephen. Acts 6:5 says he was a “man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”.

The Lord does not promise that we will be safe from harm. As we’ve heard, He surely doesn’t promise that we will be kept from suffering.

After all, Jesus said in Mt. 10:16

Matthew 10:16 (ESV)

. . . I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. . .

There’s no doubt what the risk is for a sheep in the midst of a wolf pack.

He doesn’t promise safety; But, He does promise to be with us. When He commissioned His disciples to go make disciples of all nations, He gives them a promise: “Behold, I am with you always.”

Safe to say that Stephen got a good sense of that here.

He had, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in him.

You’ve probably been asked the question and I want you to think of it now, “If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person, who would it be?” Nathan told me to tell you that if your answer was Jesus, you get an official Redemption North Davis gold star.

I remember hearing someone say, “If I had the choice between 5 minutes with Jesus or 1 million dollars, I’d choose the million dollars because I know I’d have eternity with Him!” I didn’t really know what to do with that, but I’d venture to say we’d love the opportunity to spend some time with Jesus here on earth.

But, let’s not miss the fact that He lives and He dwells in us today, through the Spirit.

Remember, Jesus said in Jn. 16:7 it is “TO YOUR ADVANTAGE that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper (or Comforter) will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

Stephen has the Spirit of the living God dwelling in Him, comforting him, giving him strength to endure and courage to proclaim the glory of Christ.

And that Spirit that filled Stephen and gave him courage to proclaim is the same Spirit that dwells in each of those who have trusted in Christ.

It was the same Spirit that comforted John Paton in the tree when hundreds of angry cannibals hunted for his life, yet he was able to write in his autobiography:

“The hours I spent there live all before me as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of muskets, and the yells of the Savages. Yet I sat there among the branches, as safe as in the arms of Jesus. Never, in all my sorrows, did my Lord draw nearer to me. . . Alone, yet not alone! (p. 200)”

Take comfort, brothers and sisters, that when we may feel alone, we are not alone! This same Comforter dwells within you today. He is with you always, in the times of greatest joy and in the times of greatest suffering.

There was another reason Stephen was able to have peace in the midst of this chaos—he was also given a glimpse into heaven of the risen Christ.

The text says that he:

English Standard Version (Chapter 7)

gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

It’s as if God peeled back the curtain of heaven to let Stephen see His glory in part and confirm for him his hope in the risen and ruling Savior to whom he’s been testifying before the Jewish leaders.

It’s worth noting that Stephen’s defence in chapter 7 began with a reference to the glory of God appearing to Abraham and here, at the end of his life, he tells of his own vision of God’s glory.

One commentator would remind us, though, that “the glory of God appeared not unto Stephen wholly as it was, but according to man’s capacity. For that infiniteness cannot be comprehended with the measure of any creature.” (Calvin)

God allowed Moses to see a part of His glory as well, hiding him in the cleft of a rock, but told him that “no man can see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).

I remember back in 2017, when we witnessed a total solar eclipse in Nashville, TN. People were coming in from everywhere, solar eclipse glasses totally sold out, gathering in crowds across the city with their lawn chairs like it was a concert. People wanted to look directly at this thing, knowing full well that if they happened to accidentally knock their glasses off that they’d go COMPLETELY blind or at the very least in part. The next one is expected in 2024…I’m warning you now, don’t look at it.

Now, consider the bright glory of God such that we would not even be able to look at it and live.

Nonetheless, God reveals His glory in part to Stephen.

And he sees the Son of Man standing at His right hand.

This is the only use of the title “Son of Man” in the NT that wasn’t spoken by Jesus Himself. Stephen sees Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of Daniel 7 and Ps. 110 spoken about the Coming Messiah. Daniel tells of the coming of...

Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)

. . .a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

And Ps. 110. . .

Psalm 110:1 ESV

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The Messiah would reign at the right hand of God in all power and authority.

And this is exactly where Jesus said He would be when He was the one on trial before the Sanhedrin.

They told him,

Luke 22:67–69 ESV

“If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

While Jesus and the prophets foretold it, Stephen now sees the reality of it: Jesus is now risen and exalted to His position of authority at the right hand of the Father.

Now, Stephen could have kept this vision to himself. I know I would have! I mean, READ THE ROOM, Stephen.

Judging by the, I don’t know, GNASHING OF THEIR TEETH, I’d imagine that saying this out loud wouldn’t be received well

But, Stephen continues to demonstrate Spirit-filled courage and verbalizes this vision for the hearers, bearing his final witness unto death of the resurrected and exalted Christ to those responsible for His death.

They obviously understood this as blasphemy since these words were claiming once again that Jesus was the long expected Messiah and had equality with God.

So, as the text says, they were enraged and blocked their ears so they could hear no more blasphemy.

Like young children who don’t get their way or who hear something they don’t want to hear, covering their ears and shouting, “I can’t hear you!”

They refused to hear the truth, doubled down on their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, and in mob fashion the leaders and now the people felt they had enough evidence to carry out the Jewish practice of stoning for blasphemy.

And it says that the witnesses who falsely accused him put their garments at the feet of Saul who probably watched over them while the witnesses threw the first stones in accordance to custom.

All the while, Stephen, whether intentionally or not, follows the pattern of the Savior in His death.

Consider the parallels:

- both Stephen and Jesus were put on trial before the Sanhedrin, (Mark 14:53 and par./Acts 6:12; 7:1)

- both were also falsely accused, (Mark 14:56–57; Matt. 26:60–61; not in Luke/Acts 6:13)

- both testified that God does not dwell in a temple made with hands, (Mark 14:58; not in Luke/Acts 7:48)

- both spoke of the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father (Mark 14:62 and par./Acts 7:56)

- both were charged with blasphemy, (Mark 14:64, Matt. 26:65; not in Luke/Acts 6:11)

- On the cross, Jesus called out to the Father to receive His spirit; here Stephen committed his spirit unto Jesus, (Luke 23:46/Acts 7:59)

- both cried out with a loud voice, (Mark 15:34=Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:37 and par./Acts 7:60)

- both interceded for the forgiveness of their enemies. (Luke 23:34/Acts 7:60)

Application:

Stephen points to Jesus not only in his words and in his life, but also in his death. Stephen faithfully followed Christ, even when it costed him his life. He saw firsthand that following Christ leads to suffering, even death. After all, Jesus said...

John 15:20 ESV

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

It’s hard to imagine being a church committed to making the gospel known in our city and to unreached peoples throughout the world that we will not eventually have someone suffer like Stephen did for their faith.

If it happens, we can know that judgment will come eventually and that the enemy can’t stop God’s mission to make His name known in all the earth.

For most of us, it may not be death, but we suffer in other ways for our faith. Some of you have been ostracized in your neighborhood or workplace for being a Christian. And you feel it. You feel different.

There may be people in your community who will treat you different when they learn you follow Jesus. Just this past week we were at the pool connecting with someone really well as our children were swimming together. When they asked us why we moved here and we said to be a part of a church in Kaysville, that was literally the last thing said and she went into the other pool with her kids.

Some of you have friends who are afraid that if they believed, they may lose friends, their family, their community, possibly their jobs.

If that’s you here today, I want you to consider the words of Jesus Himself:

Luke 18:29–30 ESV

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus offers far more than what we give up. He is 100% worth it.

Stephen would testify to that—that Jesus is worth it. . .The text would say he fell asleep.

Now, I think it’s pretty obvious that this doesn’t mean he laid down and took a nap, considering the circumstances. . .This was a biblical euphemism for death, showing hope and assurance of resurrection from the dead. Like sleeping and waking up in the presence of Jesus.

I heard someone say “when you go to sleep tonight, and wake up tomorrow—think of it as resurrection practice”

Stephen would wake up in the presence of Christ. He would see that He was worth it.

Following Christ Means Sharing Christ. (Acts 8:1–3)

Now, I mentioned this at the beginning of our time, but I think it’s worth mentioning again that we come to a huge transition in the book of Acts here at the start of chapter 8.

Up until now, the disciples had been spending all of their time bearing witness to Christ to the Jews in Jerusalem. And now, the martyrdom of Stephen set into motion widespread persecution on the early church there. As the text tells us, this pushed the believers out into the nearby regions of Judea and Samaria.

And what did they do? Did they go into hiding? Did they see what happened to Stephen and decide, “you know what, it would probably be best if we kept our faith to ourselves”? I know I would have been tempted to—after all, I have a family to think of, a wife, two children.

No. We see in verse four that “those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”

Not only do we see from the example of Stephen and the early Church that following Christ will lead to suffering, we also see from their example that following Christ means sharing Christ.

And notice who were the ones scattered about preaching the word—”all” of the church. . .except the apostles. These were ordinary, everyday believers, like you and me!

Praise God that these ordinary brothers and sisters in Christ, like you and me, did not let fear of rejection, persecution, or even death keep them from proclaiming Christ! We would not be here today if it weren’t for them. We would not be here today if they kept silent, if they did not believe that following Christ was worth it and that He was worth sharing with others, even if it costed their lives—and, for many of them, it did cost their lives.

And, all throughout church history and to this day, there are brothers and sisters all across the world that are being suppressed, oppressed, beaten and even killed for following Christ.

I personally have met and have labored alongside brothers who have been beaten, brothers who have been figuratively and literally thrown out of their families and communities, brothers who have had to change their names and appearances because they were being hunted down because they believed that Christ was worthy of their worship and their lives, and decided that they would not and could not keep silent. To them, along with Stephen, the early church, the missionaries throughout history like Carey, Elliot, Paton, and Adoniram Judson, to them, following Christ meant sharing Christ, even if it costed them their lives.

Considering the life of Adoniram Judson, I would highly recommend to you the book, To the Golden Shore. But, John Piper also writes a very much condensed booklet/biography on Judson’s life that I want to quote from at length as we come to a close here in our text.

Our Lord Jesus said to us in very solemn words, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Then he adds this: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). In other words, a fruitful life and an eternal life come from this: dying like a seed and hating your life in this world. . . .

More and more I am persuaded from Scripture and from the history of missions that God’s design for the evangelization of the world and the consummation of his purposes includes the suffering of his ministers and missionaries. To put it more plainly and specifically, God designs that the suffering of his ministers and missionaries is one essential means in the joyful triumphant spread of the gospel among all the peoples of the world.

We saw evidence of this in our text today as God used the suffering of His people to propel the gospel to the ends of the earth as ordinary believers, like you and me, decided to follow and share Christ, even if it costed their lives.

So, I want to leave you with this question today:

Are you willing to follow Christ, even if it costs your life?

What will you do when suffering comes? To whom will you go?

Stephen’s example encourages us to depend on the Spirit and fix our gaze on Christ who is right now at the right hand of the Father ruling over the nations.

With whom are you sharing Christ?

If there’s not anyone that immediately comes to mind, consider those whom the Lord has placed in your life that are far from God, but close to you.

People in your family

in your work place

in your neighborhood

in the shops that you regularly go to

in the gym or on the trail

This text showed us that all these Christians did was share Christ wherever they went.

If you’re here and you haven’t put your trust in Christ, again, we are glad you are here. I believe the Lord brought you here for a purpose—to see that we are imperfect people and to see that He is a perfect and worthy Lord whom we can trust and follow.

We’ve talked a lot of suffering this morning, but I want to point you to the One who truly suffered for our sake. We are just as stiff-necked as those whom Stephen addressed. We are just as guilty of killing the Messiah. As the song goes, “it was my sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished.” Yet, even though we could not be perfect, He WAS perfect. And, yet He suffered and died for you and for me. He rose from the grace three days later, showing that He had victory of sin, death, and the grave; and He promises new and eternal life to all who confess that He is Lord and trust in Him as Savior.

Will you trust Him today?

If that’s you or if you’d like to know more of what it means to follow Christ, I encourage you to grab anyone beside you now or after the service—I will also be in the back. We’d love to share more.