These verses that we have read
together from Acts chapter six speak to us about the man called
Stephen, a man whose service early in the church's experience
and his martyrdom as a result of his ministry and his preaching
for the cause of God and truth has given us a lasting testimony
in the church. I don't think anyone can read
the story of Stephen without being touched in their heart
at the way this faithful man quitted himself in the face of
all the trouble that he encountered, the allegations and the opposition
and the lies that he faced. But first, before we talk about
Stephen, I want to draw your attention to some problems that
the church faced in its earliest days. I wonder if some of you
younger ones have heard your parents talking about growing
pains. You know what growing pains are?
See when we're growing up and we're putting on height very
quickly and our arms are growing and our legs are growing and
our bodies are growing, everything just seems to get that little
bit stretched. And sometimes we get pains and
those are called growing pains. They're not serious, they're
just part of growing up. the church had growing pains
as well. And when all of these people
came together and they were working out how the ministry of the church
would go forward, we discovered that they needed to organise
themselves. And the disciples were probably,
the apostles were probably having far too much to do of a practical
nature. and they realized that there
was trouble in the church between different groups that were speaking
against each other. You know, it is the case that
the human heart will always find a cause for strife and trouble. That's just the nature that we
have. And even in the church in those
halcyon days, in those lovely days, in those early days of
the church, following the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the day of Pentecost, it tells us that there were problems there
too. So no church is perfect. No church
is perfect. Even the church that had all
the apostles in it still had some troubles. And it's worth
us remembering that until we get to glory, there will be problems
even amongst the Lord's people. So the apostles wisely appointed
a number of deacons. And these were men that were
helpers to the apostles, they were qualified to serve the church
in practical matters and that freed the apostles to concentrate
on their ministry, on the preaching of the gospel and of prayer. These men were of good reputation,
seven of them were chosen and the key qualification that they
had was that they were believers in the Lord Jesus. It's no use
having a leadership in a church that isn't saved, that isn't
born again, that isn't a believer. And here, these people were believers. They were filled with the Holy
Ghost. They were experienced men, they were able men, and
they were willing to serve the church. And many churches today
still retain this office of deacons, men who will help support the
ministry and the preaching of the gospel in the church. In this church, this little church
here, Sovereign Grace Church in Great Falls, we have three
deacons. The church in Jerusalem had seven,
we have three. And these men, and they are Larry
at the back, and Mitch down here, and Tim, who's not here today.
These men are the deacons in the church, and they are helpers
and supporters of the ministry of the church. They help to manage
the affairs of the local church in this place. And another interesting
fact about the story that we have here in Acts chapter 6 is
that at this time there were many of the priests converted
and joined the church. These were the very people that
were to the Lord Jesus Christ during his ministry and yet it
seems as if the grace of God started to make inroads even
amongst the religious people of that day. Not all of them
by any means and we see that there was people who were opposed
to Stephen but some of the priests at least heard the gospel and
believed and I think that that's interesting for us to note. You
know the gospel The grace of God can reach to the most unlikely
people. That's worth remembering. That's
worth knowing. You might have people that you're
friendly with, or people at school, or people that you know, and
you think to yourself, that is such a bad person. That is such
an awful person. That is such a person that I
don't want to spend any time with. That person couldn't be
a Christian. You know what? That is the wonder
of the powerful grace of God, that it can reach to the uttermost.
The Apostle Paul, we're going to encounter him in a few weeks,
but the Apostle Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, and the
Lord's grace can reach to anyone. Here we encounter Stephen. And in verse eight, we are told
that Stephen was a particularly able man. He was a preacher,
he was a witness, and it seems as if the Jews from a number
of synagogues, a number of different churches, if you like, a number
of different gatherings of the religious people, got their best
men to come and argue with him, to come and debate with him,
to come and contradict him on the gospel that he preached.
And they disputed with him about theology, about Jesus. They asked
him what authority he had to be a speaker, what authority
he had to do the miracles that he was able to do. And it seems
that they argued with him on the very same subjects as they
had argued with the Lord Jesus Christ about. Men and women are
always ready to argue about the gospel. They're not so ready
to believe the gospel, but that's what the the Lord calls us to. In verse 10 we are told that
the people who opposed Stephen were not able to resist his wisdom. He understood the person of Christ,
he understood the divinity of Christ, he understood the work
of grace and the gospel of Christ and he spoke with wisdom and
with the Holy Spirit and they were not able to contradict him. So what do you do when somebody
beats you at an argument? Well, you don't just accept their
argument. None of these people could do
that. And so they opposed Stephen in
another way. They attacked his person. They
trapped him, they caught him, they put him in prison, they
took him before the council and they made accusations. They deviously
accused Stephen of blasphemy and speaking against the religion
and the law. Blasphemy is really speaking
about God. and it seems as if they were
opposing Stephen for his claims about the divinity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They told lies about Stephen.
They stirred up the crowds against him. They arrested him and took
him before the council. They brought more false witnesses
against him. I wonder where they got all these
false witnesses from. There seemed to be a lot of them
in Jerusalem. And they made up deceitful, dishonest
stories about this faithful man. I suspect that Saul of Tarsus
The man who subsequently became the Apostle Paul was one of the
leading opponents against Stephen at this time. We're not told
exactly that in as many words, but we are told that there were
people there from Cilicia which is where Tarsus was, and so Saul
of Tarsus would have been there in the synagogue of Cilicia,
and it is very likely that Saul of Tarsus opposed Stephen at
this time. They expected him to defend himself
before the council. They expected him to be ashamed
at all the things that they were saying against him, or at least
afraid because they knew that they had power against him, to
show some kind of reaction to the serious situation that he
was in. The Sanhedrin, the council of
the Jews, they listened to all of these false allegations against
Stephen. And then they turned and they
looked at Stephen to see what he was going to say and do. Every eye in the council was
upon Stephen. What would he say? But then the strangest thing
happened. Without saying a word, Stephen's face began to change. His face began to change. His
countenance altered. He wasn't afraid. He was calm. He wasn't angry. He was quiet
and he was composed. He wasn't aggressive. He simply
stood and he glowed. He glowed. His face looked like
the face of an angel. When all the people around about
him were shouting and accusing and lying and arguing, Stephen
stood still and he looked like an angel. For a moment, everyone
stopped talking and looked at him in amazement. They had power
of life or death over Stephen, or they thought they had, but
he didn't care. It seemed as if he was already
being prepared for the presence of his saviour. He was already
anticipating what it would be like to enter into his glorious
home, his glorious rest, and see the Saviour. And that calmness
that Stephen displayed is the calmness and the confidence of
those who trust in Christ. The testimony of the Lord with
Stephen, the safety and the security of his soul, the fact that he
trusted and was assured of the salvation that he possessed,
blessed Stephen as he waited there to hear the decision of
the council. Soon Stephen would have an opportunity
to speak and to defend himself and his words would confirm that
he was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and that he trusted
his Lord and Saviour. That testimony is for another
day, but let us remember this man Stephen and the glowing face
of the angel that he exhibited as these people argued against
him. Amen.