This Crazy Stephen August 2, 2020
Acts 6:8 – Acts 7:2; 51 – 60
When you turn the news on, it’s COMMON to hear of people who have risked everything, including their own lives and the lives of their families, or even blown themselves up in the name of their religion. They willingly strap bombs onto their bodies, walk into a public setting and blow themselves to pieces to win favour with their god. They will not back down for anything, but instead will throw themselves into mortal danger for the chance of pleasing their god and going to his heaven. How crazy is that? One might say, “What faith!” But what kind of faith IS it? What kind of evidence is it based on? What motivates them? How can we say that what we believe is better than what they believe? How can we say that our religion is the truth, while theirs is a lie?
Acts 6:8 – Acts 7:2; 51 – 60
What motivates religious martyrs? Is it that they have been totally brainwashed since they were babies? Is it that they are expecting to get some incredible reward in the next life? Is it simply zealous idealism? We may be able to attach all those ideas to the things we are hearing in the news…. But then we come to this crazy Stephen. Stephen was hauled before the high priest on the very serious charge of blasphemy. This was the same charge used to condemn Jesus Christ to death on the cross. Stephen could have defended himself, calling witnesses to prove that the charges were false. But instead, he began to school the religious leaders on their history, preaching a powerful message with a terrible indictment at its conclusion. He virtually signed his own death warrant! What could have motivated him?
I Who Was Stephen?
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Stephen was a man who was alive when Jesus Christ was crucified and buried and therefore well acquainted with the facts of the crucifixion.
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Stephen was very likely one of the five hundred eye-witnesses of the risen Jesus Christ mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.
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He was so sure of his faith in the risen Jesus Christ that he willingly became the first Christian martyr, praying even as he died for the souls of his murderers.
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The record of the Bible says that Stephen was full of faith. “And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost…” Acts 6:5 The fact that Stephen was full of faith was recorded again in verse 8 of our passage. Verse 8 also tells us that not only was he full of faith, but also full of wonder-working power, doing great wonders and miracles among the people.
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Blind faith is crazy, especially when it leads to the death of the believer.
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This crazy Stephen boldly argued with those who would kill him for what he believed, knowing it meant almost certain death.
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II Serious Charges
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The Jewish religious leaders said Stephen was a blasphemer.
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Blasphemy by an Israelite was a sin that was punishable under the law of Moses by death. “And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.” Leviticus 24:16
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Obviously, by the way he preached, Stephen was well acquainted with the law, knew who he was talking to, and knew that the founder of his faith, Jesus Christ, was brutally beaten and hung by nails on a cross by the insistence of the people he was talking to, convicted of the very same crime they now charged him with.
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III Reasonable Faith
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But Stephen, crazy as he may seem to the casual reader, did not have blind faith.
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Stephen’s faith was a reasonable faith. He was a contemporary of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no indication in the Bible that Stephen personally met Jesus Christ in the flesh, but he may well have, and it is certainly sure that he met those who did. The record shows that many people saw Jesus Christ alive after he was killed and buried, including more than 500 people at one time in one place. Most of them were alive at the time of Stephen, and boldly proclaimed what they had seen, even in the face of great persecution and almost certain death for many.
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Stephen’s faith was a reasonable faith, based on facts, not any kind of blind faith. The record shows that with his faith was also power, so that Stephen did great wonders and miracles. How can we call all the writers of the Bible and the many witnesses they talked to a bunch of crazy, brainwashed liars? (Sadly, many would, today…)
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Indeed, Paul, first called Saul, was a brilliant scholar and lawyer, who sat there and watched Stephen being stoned to death, holding the coats of those doing the deed. He also persecuted and arrested many Christians, yet he became one of the greatest missionaries of all time, just a short time later. Did he suddenly lose his mind?
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This crazy Stephen’s faith was not so crazy. He was not born into a Christian family, not a Christian by ethnicity, but put his faith in the risen Jesus Christ as an adult, based on the testimony of eye witnesses and the testimony of the Holy Spirit who draws all men to Jesus. DO NOT RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT! Stephen was not looking for death, nor was he trying to kill anyone, nor was he looking for personal gain in the next life, but he was not afraid of death. “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” 2Corinthians 5:5 – 9
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Why was he not afraid of what these people might do to him, even to the point of killing him? Because he knew that his Saviour was risen from the dead, just as He said He would and that one who can rise from the dead can raise others from the dead and would raise him from the dead, and would raise ANYONE from the dead who put their faith in Him! Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
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IV Motivation
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So, then, what motivated Stephen? What moved him to boldly proclaim God’s truth to these people, even though he knew the danger and the risks?
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Love. It was love for these very people who killed him that motivated Stephen. Even with his dying breath, he prayed, with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!”
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The very love of Jesus Christ was in him, proving and validating his faith, even as he died. Jesus said, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44
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This love that Stephen had in his heart for his murderers is exactly what motivated him to so boldly proclaim the truth. Love for those who do not love us is not natural, but supernatural.
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Love for those who willingly and mortally harm you is not something you naturally have in you, but is something that God puts in you when you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour. It is one of the most powerful assurances of salvation that you can have. The Bible says, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:7 – 9 and 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren…”
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Conclusion:
What motivated Stephen was love. Love does not lie, but rejoices in the truth. Truth, even if it hurts, does not keep people in bondage, but sets people free. Stephen preached the sermon of his life, his very last sermon, because he loved those people who needed to hear the truth, repent, and be saved, and because those listening needed to hear the truth, repent, and be saved. Love also motivated Peter, who was crucified for his faith, James, who was killed by the sword, Paul, who was beheaded, and countless others throughout the centuries, who have willingly laid down their lives for the Gospel out of love. We do not preach the gospel for any kind of personal gain, but out of love. “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us; …” 2 Corinthians 5:13,14 When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, just as Stephen did, we are changed. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 Although we still have our old nature with us, we now have a new nature, just like this wonderfully crazy Steven, and a new purpose, full of love, to see people just like you reconciled to God, saved from your sins, rescued from hell and the lake of fire. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 Indeed, if you are a saved, born again believer right now, somebody shared the Gospel with you. Now go and do the same. Amen.