Being a Trail Blazing Believer
Notes
Transcript
Last week, institution of deacons
one name stands out
look at Stephens life and death for the gospel
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Trailblazers expanded our country
In the 19th century, the land that people in America occupied expanded greatly. The move out west was tough and many people did not make it due to the terrain and environment. In many places, there were no roads or paths even to travel. So the pioneers had to cut these roads and paths out to make the journey. These people were called “trailblazers”. They were blazing new trails.
As time went on, the name trailblazer was given to people who would make new paths in society and change the world around them. There were many people that would be put into this classification. You may think of someone like Henry Ford who decided that there had to be a better way to produce things in a higher quantity. So he created what we call the assembly line.
Henry Ford
Willis Johnson, invented the mechanical egg beater
Henry Ford was very famous for this. But there are some people that would be called trailblazers that you may appreciate what they did but may not know who they are. Like Willis Johnson, who was the person who invented the mechanical egg beater and saved people a ton of time mixing ingredients while cooking. Both of these men invented something. But to be a trailblazer doesn’t mean that you have invented something. Often times, people change the landscape of culture.
Like a man named Jack. He was a black man that was born into the time of segregation. In 1919, he was born in Georgia but the family moved to Pasadena, California. His father left the family and his mother worked odd jobs to try to keep them up but they remained a very poverty stricken family. His older brothers were very athletic, with one of them going to the Olympics and winning a silver medal in track. His brothers athleticism inspired him to pursue sports. He excelled in nearly every sport he tried. He went to junior college and eventually enrolled into UCLA where he was their first athlete ever to earn varsity letters in baseball, basketball, football, and track.
In 1945, he was contracted by a team in the Negro leagues to play baseball for them for $400 a month. In 1947, Jackie Robinson would be the very first person in modern days sports to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was a trailblazer not only in sports but in the eventual desegregation in America. He was a trend setter.
The circumstances were much different than that of Jackie Robinson, but the man that we are looking at in our text today was an early trailblazer in the life of the church. Let’s call Stephen a trailblazing believer.
Qualities
Qualities
The author of Acts, Luke, gives us several qualities about Stephen that we should pay attention to in Chapter 6 that tell us what kind of a man he was. These are qualities that all believers should strive to have. These begin back in verse 5 when we were introduced to Stephen.
A man full of faith - You may wonder if this faith is different than the faith you and I have. And it is not. But he was full of faith. When looking at the life of Stephen, we can gather that he did all that he did because of his faith. He did not let this hold him back but rather it enabled him to be a risk taker, a trail blazer.
Full of the Holy Spirit - This is in verse 5 but is also referred to in verse 8 when it says that he was full of power. God’s power that is.
Full of God’s grace - or full of faith. Stephen was a gracious and faithful person. In the later verses that talk about Stephen, we will see that even when he was being provoked, he continues to be Christlike.
He had wisdom - When people in the synagogue questioned Stephen, his answers were so wise that they did not know how to respond.
Strive to have these qualities
What fills us, controls us - Holy Spirit, faith, grace, wisdom
hostility, malice, self-satisfaction, hatred - enjoy gossiping, stir up division, willing to ruin something to get your way
verse 8
When we look at Stephen and the qualities that he had, we should strive to have the same. What fills us, controls us. So if we are like Stephen and are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with faith, filled with the grace of God, and filled with wisdom, then we will be controlled by these things. We will have God’s grace towards others, we will have faith when it comes to difficult situations, we will have wisdom that is given to us by God.
But on the same side, if we fill ourselves with hostility, malice, self-fulfillment, or even hatred, then the same thing happens with those things. You will get enjoyment off of people gossiping, you will try to stir up division. You will be willing to ruin something just to get your way. This is not from God. If you are doing this, then you are worshiping yourself and serving yourself. Repentance is needed when you do this.
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
Because Stephen was filled with the things of God, he was able to do great things for the kingdom of God. It says that he was doing not just wonders and signs but great wonders and signs. Luke doesn’t give us specifics of what exactly was happening. But we do know that it was out of the ordinary. And it was because of the qualities of Stephen. He was full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace, and had wisdom. Stephen had the qualities of a trailblazing believer.
Questions
Questions
Stephens obedience got him in trouble
not an apostle or elder, didn’t have a seminary degree
Stephens obedience to teaching the gospel started to get him into some hot water. I want to point out that Stephen was not an apostle and he was not an elder. Stephen was a servant of the church. But we see here in the next several verses that Stephen was teaching and preaching. You don’t have to be a pastor to teach people the gospel of Jesus. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. or go to seminary or bible college to teach people about Jesus.
Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
The people that Stephen was around here is very interesting and really plays into events that happen later in the book of Acts. It mentions Cilicia, which is the home region of Paul. The apostle very likely attended this very synagogue. And very well could have been the ring leader of the group. This group heard what Stephen was teaching, and they disputed it.
But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
Seminaries are not necessary but the spirit is to teach
They questioned him and he answered the question. there was no dispute. apologetics
Like I mentioned that we don’t have to be trained by seminaries to teach God’s word, Stephen wasn’t either. But we see that this didn’t stop Stephen. And not only did he teach unbelievers about God, it says that they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit in which he was speaking. They were questioning him and he had answers that they could not dispute. We have a formal word for doing this today called apologetics. It is when someone questions you for your beliefs and you use scripture to try to win them to Christ.
Wisdom didn’t come from education
wisdom came from God supernaturally endowing Stephen with it
He trusted that God would take care of him
Jesus warned the disciples that this situation would happen
Luke 21:12-18
But in this situation, Stephen had wisdom in what to say to them. This wisdom did not come from years of intense studying or higher education. This wisdom came from God supernaturally putting it into Stephen for him to be able to speak to the disputes these men had toward what he was saying. But with this wisdom also came trust. Trust that God would take care of him. He was not oblivious to the situation that he was in. He knew that people were hostile towards Christianity. But he was going to trust in the words of Christ.
But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish.
What does this passage show us? These events are unfolding in front of Stephen
Not a hair on their head will perish. This doesn’t have to do with a physical death but security in eternity
Wow. Think about what is said in Luke. Jesus tells them not to worry about what they need to say beforehand. That he would give them the wisdom what to say in the moment. That they would be taken before kings and governors for his name say. They will kill some of them. We have Stephen here that we are talking about. This is what is happening to him right now. God is giving him the words to say and they don’t have a rebuttal to him. He is going to be taken in front of the authorities. And if you don’t know the story of Stephen, that is okay. But so that you know what happens, he loses his life. But Jesus promises that not a hair on their head will perish. This doesn’t mean that they will not lose their life. Rather this means that God holds them securely in his grasp and will continue even when they lose their life.
Why is this? Why does God continue to hold them securely. That is because they have repented and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (gospel presentation)
- The fact that Stephen was given wisdom to handle the questions that came up is going to escalate the situation and frustrate the men. And now the questions turn into a quarrel.
Quarrel
Quarrel
These men were both frustrated and motivated. Frustrated that they could not logically debate Stephen. And motivated to stop this from continuing.
Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,
Couldn’t win, so they smeared his name
These men decided that since they could not win against Stephen, that they would smear his name in the mud. They would do everything that they could that the council that they were going to take him before would have to act against him. Whether it be true or not.
smear campaigns - Political commercials
We see this quite frequently in our day. It doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you fall on, smear campaigns are always the tactic of political campaigns. Every year when the election cycle gears up and we start seeing political ads on TV, what are they all about? All of them tell you how horrible of a person the other candidate is.
Not only politics
Church smear campaigns. engaging in conversation, maybe you thought it was a private conversation, phone call
This is enabling. This causes disunity and even hatred
If we do this, we are no better than the men that sent Stephen to his death
Acts 6:13
Maybe if smear campaigns were relegated to politics, we would be fine. But if we are honest they are not. Anyone ever been in a church that has had a smear campaign against someone? Maybe you were involved in it. You may not realize it even. But every time someone engages the person that wants to just smear the person through the mud, you are engaging in a smear campaign. Maybe it was the little side conversation that you didn’t think anyone was listening to, maybe it was a phone call from someone that just had to call you to talk about how terrible of a person such and such is. You are enabling the smear campaign. Just as these men were doing with Stephen.
They stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. They got them going and let the hatred and their despise for the gospel get them to the point that the authorities came and took Stephen before the council.
and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,
They lied. They lied so that this man would get the punishment that they wanted him to have. They concocted this false story so that it would get people riled up and turn against Stephen. They were willing to do anything in their power to stop Stephen. Even if it meant killing him.
for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
In the teaching that Stephen was doing, he never once smeared the name of Moses. He never once spoke of Jesus in a destructive way. This is what is called changing the narrative. They took what Stephen was teaching and twisted it. In Chapter 7, we will see the reflection of what Stephen had been teaching in a much longer speech that he will give. Stephen was teaching that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and prophets, the same very thing that Jesus taught about himself.
The men that were against Stephen knew what to say to get the council to be against Stephen. The council did not care about a person, they cared about a building. They didn’t care who they worshiped, as long as they were able to continue their rituals and traditions. They were religious people that did not worship Jesus as Lord and savior. It isn’t about a building, it isn’t about rituals. It is about a man. A man that was fully God who came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross for the sins of man.
These men, because of their own egos, turned everyone against Stephen because of a smear campaign that came from the quarrel. But this isn’t the end of the story. Because lastly we see the peace of Stephen.
Peacefulness
Peacefulness
Stephen is not oblivious to the situation that he is in. He knows that Jesus said that some of them would lose their life because of the name of Jesus. Stephen was prepared. He was not shaken or intimidated. But he was calm and collected. And this is because of the Holy Spirit being present in him. He has the wisdom that God has given him and knows what will come of himself.
And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen was not speaking against Moses even though that was the accusation. Stephen is described like Moses was
Exodus 34:29 “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Isn’t it a beautiful picture in scripture that in the same place that people were saying that Stephen was speaking against Moses, that he is described like Moses was. Exodus 34:29 “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Just like with Peter and John in Acts 4, they could see it on his face
Sometimes, you can see someones heart on their face
Do you believe that someone can see Jesus on your face?
They could see it on his face. Just like in Acts 4 when Peter and John were before the council and they knew by looking at them that they had been with Jesus. I hear people say all the time that we don’t know someones heart. Well sometimes, you do. You can see it on them.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Self evaluation - can people see Jesus in you?
Can they see it on your face?
What does this mean? Fruit of the spirit. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
You can’t pick and chose some. We are mandated to have all of these
Believers - take a look in your spiritual mirror. I am not saying that you need to be someone who preaches and debates with people who oppose Christianity.
But when people know us and look at us, can they tell that you are someone who has been brought from death to life? or do you still live your life like the person you always have been. you can read your bible everyday, pray everyday, give a tithe to the church, have perfect attendance, but if you do not display the characteristics of a Christian, you are nothing but legalistic.
unbelievers - there is hope. if you are here and want to know how to have a redeemed life in Christ, this is what you need to know. (gospel presentation).
please let us know if you have made this commitment to God
if you would like to spend time in prayer down front, I will be here for you during this last song or after the service