"Stephen & Saul" Sermon: Acts 7:54-8:3

“Stephen & Saul”
[Acts 7:54-8:3]
September 27 2009 Second Reformed Church

Stephen, one of the Church’s first deacons, was accused by false witnesses of blaspheming both God and God’s Law. The false witnesses said that he had preached that “this Jesus” would return to destroy the Temple and change God’s Law. So, Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, and the High Priest asked him if these accusations were true.

Stephen answered them by recounting the history of Israel – a history of persecutions – showing that every time God did something for Israel, and every time Israel followed God, there were people who stood up and persecuted Israel and led her away from the teaching of God. Stephen ended his answer by declaring that it was not “those people” who persecuted the Israel of God, but the High Priest and the Sanhedrin and their fathers before them: they murdered the prophets and they murdered the Savior that God sent to His people.

As we saw in our Scripture, the Sanhedrin flew into a rage and physically responded by grinding their teeth at him. They were in such a rage over what he had said, they were about ready to tear him to pieces.

Surely Stephen knew what was coming; he knew what the result of their accusations against him and his declaration against them would be. So God, in His Mercy, filled Stephen with the Holy Spirit to such a degree that he saw the heavens part, and He saw into the very throne room of God. He saw the Glory of God and he saw Jesus standing at the Right Hand of God.

Let’s stop here for a moment to answer this question, “Why was Jesus standing?” In the Apostle’s Creed, we confess that Jesus “sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father.” But Stephen saw Jesus standing. Does this matter? What’s the difference between sitting and standing?

When we confess that Jesus “sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father,” we are confessing that Jesus is, right now, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Sovereign Ruler and Judge of the Creation. In this confession, we understand that everything must occur according to His Plan and He will judge all sin at His Return.

But when we confess that Jesus is “standing at the Right Hand of God,” we mean something different. When we confess that Jesus is “standing at the Right Hand of God,” we are confessing that He is our High Priest. The author of Hebrews writes, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:7-10, ESV).

“For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever” (Hebrews 7:26-28, ESV).

The call of the High Priest was to stand before God and the people and to offer up a blood sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people, which would reconcile them to God, until they sinned again. Jesus is the Final High Priest: He stands before God and His people, offering up His Holy Self, so that all of our sins are eternally forgiven in Him and He merits us eternal life, making us right with God forever. As Paul wrote, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (I Timothy 2:5-6, ESV).

So Stephen cried out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God.”

The members of the Sanhedrin knew what Stephen was proclaiming in his vision. “The Son of Man” was Jesus’ favorite title for Himself. Daniel described Who this is: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like 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 people, 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” (Daniel 7:13-14, ESV).

It was as though Stephen cried out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus is there, the Son of Man, as Daniel prophesied, the God and King of all humanity, and He is standing – acting as High Priest between His people and the Father – so those who believe in Him are eternally forgiven and saved to live eternally in His Kingdom.”

This is the same Jesus – the same Son of Man – that we who are Christians have come to know. He is our Savior, our Mediator, our High Priest. So, as we face persecution and even the daily trials of life, let us remember that our God and Savior is standing at the Right Hand of the Father – He is full of Glory – and we are forgiven through His Work as High Priest on our behalf. Be assured, brothers and sisters, if you believe in Jesus Alone for Your Salvation, Jesus has offered up Himself on your behalf, and you are eternally forgiven and right with the Father.

This great assurance that we see in Stephen’s words pushed the Sanhedrin over the edge – they screamed and plugged their ears. They descended upon him and dragged him outside of the city gates and began to stone him. Why? Because that was the punishment – according to the Law of God – for blaspheming – for belittling or wrongly using the Name of God.

We ought not forget that those who oppose Jesus and His Gospel will use the same Bible that we use to try to trap us and trick us. The devil, himself, quoted Scripture to Jesus to try to get Him to sin, but Jesus understood the Scripture better than the devil, who was misusing it and taking it out of context. We must be careful how we read our Bibles. We must read the texts in their context – according to the style of writing they are, according to their historical context, and so forth. When people take the text out of context or misquote it, we end up with heresy and other problems, and there are those who will purposely misuse the Scripture in the hopes of misleading us, getting us to sin, and to doubt God. We need to be as ready as we can be. Read the Bible over and over. Note the type of writing it is – poetry, story, history, etc. Be ready, because someone, someday, will try to mislead you.

Moses records, “Now an Israelite woman’s son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, and the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they bought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death’” (Leviticus 24:10-16, ESV).

The Sanhedrin, in their sin, believe that Stephen’s confession that Jesus is God the Savior, the High Priest and Mediator between God and His people, was blasphemy – that he had said something that was utterly untrue and against the Name of God. So they followed the Law and dragged him outside of the gates of the city and began to stone him.

Do you understand? The death penalty was given to anyone who used God’s Name in a flip or disrespectful way. The death penalty was given to anyone who said things about God that were not true or called someone or something God that was not. God is very serious about His Name and the knowledge of Who He is. How often have we let the Name of God slip casually from our lips? How often have we said things about God that have no merit in Scripture? Although the death penalty is no longer in effect for this sin, it is still a sin.

And those who had taken up stones against Stephen laid their garments – their coats – at the feet of a young man – a young rabbi – by the name of Saul. We will learn later in Acts that Saul is a student – a prized student – of Gamaliel – the Pharisee who had warned the Sanhedrin back in chapter five to let these men go and wait to see if the followers of Jesus would just fall apart, as had the followers of other false teachers, or if this would continue and prove itself to be of God.

And as they stoned Stephen, he cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Do these prayers sound familiar?

Remember the crucifixion of Jesus: “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’” (Luke 23:33-34a, ESV).

“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of th temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out in a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit ’ And having said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:44-46, ESV).

We have no reason to believe that Stephen was at the crucifixion, but he would have heard what happened – what was said – and what it meant. He had learned some of the lessons of the crucifixion and was putting them into practice as he was being killed.

One the one hand, Stephen recognized that it was not his place to judge the sin of others. He acknowledged that Jesus is the judge of the whole world. And he asked that the sin of killing him would not be held against them – he showed mercy to the very people who were killing him. Why? Because until the moment of death, a person may come to faith in Jesus Alone and be saved, and Stephen cared more about the salvation of those who were killing him than his own physical life.

How willing are you to forgive those who have sinned against you? Whether someone has knowingly or unknowingly wronged you, have you held a grudge against them? Have you sought revenge on them? Have you wished them ill? Or have you forgiven them and prayed for them and their salvation? It’s not the natural thing to do. It’s not an easy thing to do. But it is the Christ-like thing to do. And we as Christians – “little Christs” – ought to be like our Savior in forgiving others, just as we have been forgiven. Don’t we pray that every Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer? Do you mean it?

The other thing Stephen learned and confessed in his prayer is that the only safe place to be – in life or in death – is in Jesus Hands. Stephen confessed his sure belief that he would be received into the Presence of Jesus, His Savior.

Are you sure that when you die, you will see Jesus standing there, waiting to receive you, as Stephen did? If you believe in Jesus Alone for your Salvation – if all of your hope and confidence is in His Work Alone and nothing of your own, then you shall see Jesus in that final moment – standing – waiting to receive you into His Kingdom.

And Stephen fell asleep – He died in the safety of His Lord and Savior. And devout men buried him with lamentation.

And we are told that “Saul approved of his execution.” And we should understand this was not just a passive approval. The word that is used for “approved” means that Saul was hungry for Stephen’s execution. He believed it was the right thing to do, and he couldn’t wait to see it come to pass. Saul, as he himself later admits, was a zealous persecutor of those who did not conform to his understanding of God’s Law. So, when he saw someone he thought was blaspheming, his mouth watered, he became excited and desired to see him stoned to death.

“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.”

Up until this time, though the Christians had some run-ins with the religious leaders, in particular, they basically were allowed to function as a sect of Judaism in Jerusalem. But with the stoning of Stephen, Jerusalem turned against the Christians, naming them all as heretics – blasphemers – and the first great persecution of the Christians began. It was so great that only the twelve apostles stayed in Jerusalem – all of the other Christians fled to Judea and Samaria.

From this, let us understand that God uses man’s sin to accomplish His Good Plan. It was sinful for Jerusalem to persecute the Christians. But what had Jesus told the disciples on the day of Ascension? “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” (Acts 1:8, ESV).

It was time The disciples had been in Jerusalem. They had grown. They had ben taught by the apostles. But they had not left Jerusalem. And it is God’s plan that the Gospel be preach to every people and every nation, beginning in Jerusalem, and then “all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Jews of Jerusalem sinned against the Christians by persecuting them, but it accomplished God’s Good Plan of moving the disciples out of Jerusalem, first to be His witnesses in all of Judea and Samaria.

And we’ve seen that again and again in the Scripture; we have seen this again and again in Sunday morning Bible study: God does not sin, but God uses human sin to accomplish His Good Plan. Remember what happened to Joseph and how his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. After they reunited, we read, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.’ ... But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people would be kept alive, as they are today’” (Genesis 50:15, 19-20, ESV). Joseph’s brothers sinned in selling him into slavery, but it was through that sinful act that God accomplished His Good Plan of having Joseph rise to power and save many people who would have starved during the famine.

Saul became even more zealous, ravaging the church, breaking into the homes of suspected Christians, dragging men and women off to prison. Thankfully, this sin is not the end of the story of Saul. We will learn more about him, Lord willing, as we progress through the book of Acts.

For today, let us be comforted and find our assurance trusting in the fact that Jesus is our High Priest and stands ready to welcome us into His Kingdom as forgive sons and daughters of the Father.

Let us remember that those who oppose Jesus and His Gospel will use our own Bible to try to get us to sin and doubt. So we need to know our Bibles and understand them as best as we can.

Let us be merciful towards those who sin against us, being more concerned about their salvation than even our physical well-being.

And let us understand that God uses man’s sin to accomplish His Good Plan. So, let us not worry about what man does, but concentrate our hopes and lives on Jesus and His Promises to us.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the promise that Jesus stands at Your Right Hand as our High Priest, ready and able to receive us as forgiven sons and daughters. Help us to understand Your Word and to seek out ways – through worship and Bible study and good books, and through the intercession of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us – to understand it better. Make us merciful, as You have been merciful to us. And help us to trust in You and the Plan that You are unfolding, even when we only see the sin of man. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.