Worth Dying For? (Acts 6.8-15, 7.51-58 and 8.1-3)

Introduction

Ten years ago this week, we had news about somebody who had been with us just a few months before; an exceptional Christian leader. He had preached at the church I was then part of. But just a few weeks after his visit to us he was killed in a head-on car crash in Romania. He died instantly. When you get news like that, you don’t quite believe it at first. You go quiet. It’s sobering. It makes you wonder. It makes you think about how fragile life is and how arbitrary death can be. It makes you ask “why did God not prevent this?” If you’ve ever had that kind of sudden news, you know what I mean.

Persecution

I say this because today’s reading is about the last days, and particularly the last moments of one man’s life, Stephen. No accident this time, he was murdered in cold blood and he was the very first in a long line of Christians to pay the highest price for belonging to Jesus.

According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular group with members in 38 countries, 80% of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.

Research suggests that hostility towards Christians reached a new high in 2012, when our brothers and sisters in Christ faced some form of discrimination in 139 countries, that’s almost three-quarters of the world's nations.

The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the USA estimates that around 100,000 Christians now die every year, targeted for their faith.

So this is absolutely relevant for us this morning.

Introducing Stephen

Who was Stephen? The Bible tells us he was an able and anointed man.

We’re told in Acts 6.5 that he was “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Like Jesus, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit to proclaim good news to the poor and bind up the broken hearted.

Verse 8 says he was “full of God’s grace and power and did many great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” So, like Jesus, he was given authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. 

Verse 10 adds that his adversaries “could not stand up against the wisdom or the Spirit with which he spoke.” So, like Jesus, he spoke in a way that made everything clear and was spiritually incisive.

Verse 13 says that they had to produce false witnesses against him, presumably because no one could pin anything on him. So, like Jesus, he was a man of integrity.

The big issue

What did Stephen do to provoke the mob that eventually killed him? The clue comes in the last verse of last week’s reading, 6.7, where it says that “a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

Until this point, all those who came to faith in Jesus as the messiah were Jewish. They continued to be obedient to the Law of Moses. They continued to read only the Jewish scriptures, there was no New Testament. They continued to worship in the temple courts, there were no church buildings.

But in that little verse, Acts 6.7, is the seed of revolution. “A large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” That was new. If you were a Jewish priest and you converted to Christ what did you do now? Would you go on slaying lambs to offer as a sacrifice for sin on the temple altar?

Well no, because Jesus’ one perfect death for all means that no more sacrifice is necessary, ever again. He abolished sacrifices. Jesus fulfilled the Law. He replaced the Temple.

So priests didn’t have anything to do. Their role had become obsolete. They would have no choice but to resign their orders and find other work. And “a large number of priests” turned to Christ.

So Christianity, what had been a minor movement within the Jewish faith, was now becoming a major and serious departure from it. It was threatening to end the Jewish religion altogether. The boat was rocking. And Stephen was rocking the boat more than most.

In v13 it says people were upset because Stephen was saying two things directly related to the role of the priests; he was saying that Jesus is the end of the temple and that Jesus was the end of the law.

In other words, you can come to God anywhere now without needing a priest to shed the blood of a goat or a lamb. And you no longer have to be burdened with keeping every one of the 613 ceremonial laws of Moses to be right with God. He was saying that you can’t mix belonging to Jesus with the old Jewish religion.

And the truth is you can’t mix belonging to Jesus with any religion. Jesus is the end of religion, and he said no one comes to the Father but through him.

They rounded up some religious zealots and fed them lies about Stephen. They produced false witnesses and accused Stephen of blasphemy. In other words, they pressed exactly the same fictitious charges that Jesus faced and from the same court. Verse 15 says that, as he listened to the false accusations, knowing he faced imminent death, “his face was like the face of an angel.” They saw it.

A good death

Have you ever seen an angel? I am not sure I have, but I have a theory that some angels walk dogs. A pastor friend of mine once locked his car keys inside his car. He tried all the doors three times and looked to see if there were any windows open. Nothing. Then, a man walking a dog came by, asked him what the problem was, and then – annoyingly – asked if he had tried all the doors. (That’s even more annoying than someone saying “where did you last see them?” when you lose your keys – as if you hadn’t thought of that already!) My friend said, “Yes I’ve tried all the doors three times!” The man asked if he could try. He then pushed the passenger door handle and the door opened perfectly. So my friend thanked him and climbed inside to get the keys. When he got out of the car again to say goodbye, the man and his dog were nowhere to be seen.

Stephen wasn’t an angel, but he did have the face of one. What was it about his face do you think? Was there a strange radiance? Maybe there was just something unearthly about it. I think they saw the face of a man whose home is not here, but elsewhere, a man whose citizenship is in heaven.

I’ve had the privilege of accompanying Christians at the hour of their death and I’ve sometimes seen the face of an angel – someone whose heart is already with the Lord but whose body hasn’t quite got there yet. I think Stephen’s face was like that. A man who knew death at an early age was imminent but who was convinced that being with Christ is better by far.

In chapter 7.1, the high priest gives Stephen a chance to defend himself against the charges. We skipped most of chapter 7, for reasons of time, picking the story up in v54. I’d encourage you to read his defence when you go home. But I’ll quickly summarise it.

Stephen gives a highly selective potted history of Israel. And he mostly picks the best bits – Abraham, Joseph, Moses, (three great men) before stopping at David and Solomon; which was Israel’s golden age.

He leaves out the dark period of the Judges; he doesn’t mention the worst kings or the destruction of Jerusalem. But even focussing on Israel’s greatest heroes and finest accomplishments, the people still rebelled.

Basically, Stephen was saying this, “Our nation has persecuted the prophets and hardened its heart against God throughout its history. Yes, we had the law from God but rebelled against it. Yes, we built the temple but we shut God up in it. And when the greatest one of all came, true to form, we crucified him as well.”

His point was this; once you’ve met Christ, you don’t need religion. Once you’ve met Christ, you don’t need a temple. Once you’ve met Christ, you don’t need the law. And people who like religion tend to oppose whatever the Holy Spirit is doing. That’s what he says in v51.

I’ve found that again and again. I’ve known people, who were on fire for God in their youth, go all churchy and lukewarm. It becomes all about the religious sideshow; the trappings and accessories, the garments, the exclusive vocabulary that no ordinary person understands. And it’s true, those I’ve known who are into all the religiosity usually fear and resist the new thing of the Holy Spirit.

In Stephen’s day, you would get into big trouble for saying that Jesus is the Messiah, the end of the law and the end of the temple.

In every age people have got into trouble for something. In the middle ages you’d be burned for saying that Jesus is the only mediator between us and God.

In the non-Western world in our day, the uniqueness of Christ over all religions or political systems is area in which God’s people are being challenged to stand firm. 100,000 a year are martyred for this – and many more are imprisoned, tortured, beaten and threatened.

In the West in our day, it’s probably issues of human sexuality that most provoke marginalisation and contempt. They might not stone you here for reading your Bible, but you might well lose your job for publically agreeing with some of its content.

Verses 57-58 tell us that Stephen’s murder was not a mad, impulsive affair. They covered their ears and yelled and rushed towards him. They dragged him out of the city. It was a lynching. What would have been going through Stephen’s mind? All he can hear is a screaming mob, as he is pushed and pulled outside the city to his certain death.

Is Jesus worth dying for?

And if you could have asked Stephen at that time, “Was it worth it? Look, Stephen, you have provoked today a great wave of persecution against followers of Jesus in Jerusalem,” (that’s what 8.1 says), “Stephen, what do you think about that? What about all those innocent people who are going to suffer because of your stubbornness?” I think he would have replied, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

I think he would tell you what happened in v56. Looking up and seeing the glory of God, he said “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” To look up and see King Jesus, triumphant, reigning, glorious and waiting – to know that this was my inheritance, to give what I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose – yes, it was worth it.

For 100,000 people, in 139 countries this year, the preciousness of Christ will be dearer than life itself.

In this 20th anniversary week of the permanent cease fire in Northern Ireland let me tell you a true story from Belfast.

A young woman was locking up the church hall after taking her Sunday school class. Life was good: she had just graduated from University and had got engaged; her one great sadness was that her father had recently died. A young man walked up to her. “Karen?” “Yes,” she answered. “I’ve come for you,” he said, and pulled out a gun. “But there must be some mistake,” she said. “No mistake,” he answered, and shot her at point blank range.

As Karen lay dying in her hospital bed, her mother distraught by her bedside, Karen said this: “I know you’re broken-hearted for me mum, but think of the mothers of the boys who do things like this. Think how they must feel.” Then she gestured towards the Bible that lay by her bedside and said this; “I want you to find one of these terrorists and give him my Bible. And tell him that I love them.”

A week later there was a conference at Belfast’s Wellington Hall. The main speaker was Charles Colson, the man who became a Christian in prison for his part in Watergate. The speaker before him was Liam McClosky, a former member of the IRA. While he had been in the Maze prison McClosky been one of the hunger strikers, going without food for 55 days. His mother had force-fed him when he was too weak to resist. But now he had become a Christian and renounced violence, sharing with others how the love of Christ had changed him.

What a testimony. Suddenly, there was a security alert. A woman was walking up the aisle with her hand in a bag. A security guard rushed towards her but before he got to her, she had pulled her hand out of the bag and was holding… a Bible. She went up to the platform and embraced Liam McClosky and said, “This week I have lost a daughter, but tonight I’ve gained a son.”

The gospel of peace that heals broken communities and turns enemies into friends. Is that worth laying down your life for?

Back to Stephen. Do you remember what Jesus said as he hung on the cross and was about to die? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” As they threw rocks at Stephen, one by one, thudding into him, breaking his bones, opening up deep wounds, he said “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Do you remember what Jesus said as they gambled for his clothes? “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” As Stephen’s life flowed out of him, as his strength failed, as he slipped into unconsciousness, he fell to his knees and cried “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

All through life, and in even in death, Stephen wanted nothing more than to be like Jesus.

And on that day when my strength is failing,
the end draws near and my time has come,
still my soul will sing your praise unending;
ten thousand years and then forevermore.

Ending – the unquenchable flame

8.1 tells us that Saul, later to be called Paul, was an approving witness of this sickening death. But we know that he never got it off his conscience. In the last letter he wrote, right at the end of his life, he still described himself as the worst of sinners because he had once persecuted believers.

And Stephen’s death gave rise to a wave of heavy and systematic violence against Christians, but the church grew even stronger. Because the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Last year, the bombing of a church in Peshawar in Pakistan killed 127 people and injured 250 more. I read shortly after Justin Welby’s visit there in May that the church has actually grown, not declined, there since that attack.

When Saul got converted not long after Stephen’s death, the gospel spread like a wild fire all over the Mediterranean basin.

Stephen’s death sowed the seeds for the collapse, years later, of the mighty Roman Empire, with all its corruption, its decadence, its perversion, its anti-Christian cruelty, its excess and its godlessness. 

Few of us - probably none of us here - will be appointed to die for Jesus. But every one of us here is called to live for Jesus, every day. And this is what he says:

“Those who would come after me, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for me will find it. What good will it be if someone gains the whole world, yet forfeits their soul?”

Let’s stand to pray...

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 7th September 2014.