Acts 6:8 – 7:60

in 155 AD a man by the name of  Polycarp lived & died.  He was 86 years old one of the early church fathers known for his love for Jesus and his Christ likeness.  Polycarp had known the Apostle John and was the last living link to him. The Roman proconsul told Polycarp to deny Jesus as his Saviour, and worship the genius of Caesar to be spared from death.  This is Polycarp’s reply…"For 86 years I have served Him, and He has never wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King, who has saved me?" The proconsul then threatened to cast him to the wild beasts if he would not deny him, Polycarp answered, "Bring them on!" He was then warned that he might be burned at the stake. He responded, "You threaten me with fire which burns for only a moment, but you are ignorant of the fire of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly."  The 86 year old Polycarp was then dragged out to the middle of the arena tied to a stake and burnt alive.  These are Polycarp's final words: "O Father of Thy beloved and blessed child, Jesus Christ!... I bless Thee that Thou has deemed me worthy of the cup of Christ, and of this hour, to receive my portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Christ…and for all things I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee through the everlasting and heavenly High Priest Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Ghost be glory now and the ages to come. AMEN" [1]  What amazing final words of a saint in Christ, and sadly we don’t have to go back to our ancient sources to find examples of faithful saints killed, for their love for Jesus, as we continue to hear of the reports of those who are murdered because they place their trust in Jesus on our nightly news.  This example of about Polycarp, and hearing his last words got me thinking, what would we like our last words to be?  Today in Acts 6-7 we stare down death with Stephen whose last words are to forgive those who kill him.  We recall Stephen was one of the 7 men set apart and prayed for by the Apostles to look after the needs of the Greek Jews and widows who had turned to Christ.  We notice Stephen quickly is more than a table waiter Acts6:8  Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  Stephen was known as a man who loved Jesus.

Today we go along with Stephen to a court room, with this challenge  how will you speak about the Good News of Jesus to a world that is hostile to us?  This is where we find ourselves today is being warned, don’t brush off Jesus! As we read in Acts 6:10-11 (The Message) But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke. So in secret they bribed men to lie: “We heard him cursing Moses and God.”  The arrest of Stephen led to his trial before the Sanhedrin (the same Sanhedrin who had also only a short time before had Jesus executed by the Romans).  The charges brought against him we read in verse 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."  And despite their false accusations Stephen’s face we’re told was like that of an angel, we know this trial will end in Stephen’s death.  The result will be widespread persecution in Jerusalem against the followers of Christ, scattering them to Samaria and many other places.  Let’s now then drill down then on what Stephen says that will stare down death.  Please take a closer look at Stephen’s response.  There are 2 things are made perfectly clear here, that throughout the history of the Jewish people, the activity of God is not confined to just the land of Israel itself.  That is just as worshipping God isn’t confined to the temple of Jerusalem.  As we see throughout this journey starting with Abraham Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses we soon see God’s plans are being carried out despite their disobedience.  In the example of Joseph who is sold into slavery because of his brothers jealousy, the same brothers who are to become the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Acts 7:9 "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him.  The other example is Moses, who when he was up on Mt Sinai receiving the 10 commandments, the people convince Aaron to make an idol of the golden calf for them to worship verses 42-43.  But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:  "`Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings  forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?  43  You have lifted up the shrine of Molech  and the star of your god Rephan,  the idols you made to worship.  Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.  The reflection is that so often our hearts struggle with is we like the idea of confining God as the one doing what we want.  The same struggle today we share of being able to speak about what the Bible says, but show an unwillingness to live that out.  Stephen has us recalling humility is what is to stand out about us.  As Stephen sees it those bringing the charges against him had created a designer God, mistaking the temple a place where God lived as an idol of their desires, rather than worshipping the living God himself.  Look at verses 51-53  “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”  (The Message) In his death we see the extent to which Jesus was central to Stephen’s life.  We see in death Stephen looked and saw the author of life appear before him, heaven opening up before him.  Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand side  of the throne of God in heaven, and in his moment of greatest need Stephen turned towards God in prayer, verse 59-60 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.  Stephen’s death declares the majesty and kingship of Jesus, and is the first recorded person to pray to Jesus

following his death and resurrection.  Stephen is someone who grasps

something about the worship of God, that we will soon see shapes the future of the gospel.  Stephen spoke about the outward reaching mission of the church.  It was that the Good News about Jesus wasn’t found in buildings but in relationship with the living God.  This is the same for us that we share also in the face of suffering, Stephen could see the presence of Jesus who we know is the chief of all sufferer’s and who has gone through death before us.  Here we are invited in to the radical understanding of God Stephen points us to.  We see that even in the face of hostility we bring a gospel of peace we are warned don’t be surprised when trouble comes.  This might even be when we might be brushed aside in the cause of sharing the Good News about Jesus, we are not to despair as God will triumph.  The question is how are you finding God meeting you in your own personal suffering?  We are reminded of the struggle again today, and it may be harder than you ever imagined.  We are reminded that …” Goodness and mercy will follow you all the

days of your life. No matter how many times you’ve heard it, no matter how long you’ve known it, no matter how well you can say it, God’s answer will come to mean something better than you could ever imagine.”[2]  One way we can apply Stephen staring down death is as we speak with one another ask “what is one thing I can be praying for you in this week?” and to keep praying for them until we are seeing God on the move in their life, as we pray for God to continue to be on the move in our lives.  Just as a result of todays passage the stoning of Stephen we soon meet Saul who was there giving his approval of the killing

who we’re about to meet as a changed man, Paul will not only experience the life changing forgiveness of God, but will become the ambassador for of the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles to the ends of the earth.  We discover in Jesus we have life to stare down death

with our trust in him as our personal lord and savior.  We know that living each day for him is the most important thing we can do

Let’s pray…

David Hassan@ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 19/2/17