The Man with a Face like an Angel

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Some years ago I preached a sermon on the book of Job. Yes, all 42 chapters in 20 minutes! At the end of which I was presented with an unexpected gift. Could you guess what it might have been? Not a petition from the congregation against me preaching there again. Nor was it an invitation to return and to preach on the book of Isaiah! So what was the gift? It was a pumpkin! Not that I deserved it. Not that it had been a great sermon. Not that a revival had taken place. But the week before there had been a harvest festival and since no one knew what to do with it they gave it to me! But it set me thinking ... If I received a pumpkin for a whole book, what would you give me for a chapter and a half? Perhaps a grapefruit or a large apple? Of course it may be neither, so I mustn't raise my expectations too high!

In the Christian calendar immediately after Christmas Day there are three minor festivals – St Stephen's Day (on the 26th), St John the Evangelist (on the 27th), and the Holy Innocents (on the 28th). And because they are so close to Christmas we tend to overlook them. But tonight I want us to focus on Stephen the first Christian martyr.

In the book of Acts we read about the growth and development of the early church – mainly through the activities of Peter and Paul. But the foundations of the Christian mission were laid by Philip the Evangelist and Stephen the martyr.

But who was Stephen, and what can we discover about him? And what lessons can we learn about Christian discipleship and Christian living? Tonight I have three simple headings around which I want to weave the story of Stephen – the man with the face of an angel:

1 Stephen was a servant

As the early church grew numerically, that growth brought its own problems. People complained and murmured. Tensions developed between foreign- born Jews and home-born Jews. Some widows received handouts, but others were overlooked. So how could the matter be resolved? It made sense to choose and appoint helpers to the apostles to serve the day by day needs of the Christian community (6:2, 4).

So the church met together and chose seven men as church workers. One of whom was Stephen. He was an outstandingly gifted Christian. He was gracious and wise and godly. He was (so we are told) 'a man full of faith, and of wisdom and of the Holy Spirit' (6:3, 5, 10). And it was these qualities that put him at the top of the list. Once chosen the apostles prayed and laid hands on them and set them apart for practical service and public ministry. This freed up the apostles to pray and to preach, and as a result the church grew numerically and many more became believers and were added to the church.

Intriguingly (you will notice in Acts 6:7) that some of the converts were some of the 18,000 priests and Levites who served in the Temple in Jerusalem! They who sacrificed daily came to realise that their work had been eclipsed by the single sacrifice of Christ. Their law had found its fulfilment in him. What an impact their conversion must have had on their fellow priests and among the religious authorities.

Soon Stephen's ministry extended well beyond his initial brief. He preached the Word and performed miracles (6:8). The Word proclaimed brought life and the signs and wonders brought healing. But Stephen's spirit-inspired ministry was not appreciated. He was soon accused of blasphemy, and false witnesses said that he had spoken out against the law of Moses and the significance of the Temple. Of course for the Jews the Law and the Temple were at the heart of their faith. They defined the distinctive nature of Jewish belief. Of course Stephen's words had been taken out of context. Look at 6:14 - 'We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us'. Similar accusations had been made against Jesus, and would be made later against Paul (21:28). We know, that Jesus spoke of his body being the temple and that he had come to fulfil the Law not to destroy it. Both Law and Temple pointed to Christ. Both found their fulfilment in him. Their ultimate goal was centred upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as the accusations were being made, what of Stephen himself? We are told that he was full of grace and faith (6:8); he possessed wisdom and power (6:10); he performed wonders and signs (6:8); he was full of the Holy Spirit (6:5, 7:55). And did you notice (in 6:15) that 'his face was like the face of an angel', and as one commentator put it – 'a certain majesty shone out in him' (J. Calvin, Acts, p.170). The inner faith was evident in his appearance. Like an icon he pointed to God. The inner radiance of God in Christ was so real in Stephen, so indelibly marked in him that it was obvious to other people. Similar words were used of Peter and John where their accusers saw their boldness and recognised that they had been with Jesus (4:13).

I wonder what does this say about our Christian lives and about our Christian witness? Is it so real, so vital, so powerful that it is evident to other people? Not so much by what we say but by what we are. Can others say of us 'that we had been with Jesus'? Sadly sometimes people say of Christians in the workplace – 'I didn't know that he or she was a Christian'. They are no different from anyone else. But do remember that at work our calling, our primary responsibility, is in the work we do. We are not being paid to evangelise or to read the Bible, but to show by our lives and by the quality of our work that we are one of the Lord's own people, and that it is in our work that we bring glory to him. You may not be an angel, but does you life radiate something of the reality of the love and the presence of Almighty God to those around you?

2 Stephen was a defender of the faith

Stephen was apprehended and brought before the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem and charged with blasphemy. He was accused of speaking out against the Law and the Temple. Of course Stephen's words had been twisted. They had been deliberately misunderstood. Through their opposition to Jesus the authorities had closed their ears and hardened their hearts. They were indifferent to the truth, so they opposed Stephen and lied about what he had said. Take heart then. When you speak about Jesus, people may well not hear or even want to hear what you are saying. An innocent remark may be misunderstood. A casual comment twisted out of all proportion. A single word a wall of fabrication.

Stephen boldly addressed his opponents. His faith in Jesus empowered him and he spoke with authority. He drew out the truths of scripture. In reviewing the history of the Jews, he gave a summary of how God had dealt with his people and of how they had responded to him. Stephen maintained that the Lord was not simply a local deity, not just concerned with the well-being of the Jews but with all peoples and all nations. All people were to be the recipients of God's grace and love and mercy, and not just the Jews.

Look at how this was expressed. The holy ground (7:33) was on Mt Sinai - outside the holy land. And the revelation of God was to outsiders – to Abraham, to Joseph and to Moses – who encountered the Lord away from the Promised Land, outside of the confines of Jerusalem and the Temple.

There's not time to look at Stephen's address in much detail but a summary would be that: He began with Abraham and ended with Jesus; and that he spoke about three significant figures – Joseph and Moses and Joshua – and about two successive kings - David and Solomon. Much of Stephen's address related to Moses, the great law-giver (7:17-44). Abraham was the father of the nation; but Moses was the saviour who had led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, and on the way (on Mt Sinai) he had received the Law.

Stephen spoke about the portable tabernacle and the permanent Temple (7:44-50). But the Lord was not confined to man-made structures and traditions. As someone has said, 'God's church means people, not buildings, and God's Word means scripture, not traditions' (J. Stott, Acts, p.143). God must never be confined, and locked away, and only brought out on special occasions. Sadly the Jews had come to worship the Temple, instead of worshipping the Lord. Of creating traditions and rules and regulations that obscured the truth and the reality of God.

There are some other important themes in Stephen's address. He spoke of God's sovereignty and of man's sinfulness. The Jews may have been greatly privileged but they were also disobedient. But those who heard Stephen failed to hear the word of God and they resisted the work of the Holy Spirit (7:51). The Jews tried to domesticate the Lord and to make him conform to their own views and to confine him to their immediate circle. To exclude rather than to include other people. To build barriers rather than to break them down.

Of course much of all of this resonates with us today. Though we are stewards of the buildings in which we worship, they must never become an end in themselves. At the end of the day we are not museum keepers. Sadly today, many small struggling congregations have become fund-raisers to maintain their buildings rather than the body of Christ committed to mission and service. Sometimes too we are in danger of maintaining our traditions at the expense of submitting to the Word of God and to the moving of the Holy Spirit. How we do things becomes an end in itself, rather than freeing us up to become the people whom we ought to be. We must never be deaf to the Word and never resistant to the work of the Holy Spirit. But to be shaped and moulded by them both.

3 Stephen was a martyr (22:20)

Having spoken about the patriarchs, the kings and the prophets, Stephen then turned his attention to his immediate hearers and to the persecution and murder of those who pointed forward to 'the Righteous One' (7:52). And who was he? The Lord Jesus Christ whom the religious establishment had betrayed and murdered. What a terrible indictment to those who longed for the promised Messiah! But Stephen's words reached their target and brought an immediate response from those who heard it! This was too much for them. They had heard quite enough.

As the uproar increased, Stephen saw a heavenly vision. He saw the glory of God and of the risen and ascended Jesus at the right hand of the Father. He was at the place of honour and esteem, of majesty and authority. Though he was in heaven, Jesus was Stephen's advocate on earth. Alongside him, defending him, supporting him. Standing as he awaited to receive the first Christian martyr. Stephen's hearers were enraged. They had no vision. They were spiritually blind and not open to the truth. Their anger and hatred was white hot. So they dragged Stephen out of the city – outside the city walls - and they chucked boulders at him and stoned him to death in one of the nearby valleys. It was probably near the city walls and many people would have witnessed the death of Stephen. And as Stephen died he cried out – in words that echoed those of Jesus - and words which were echoed down the centuries and used again as the English Reformers were burned at the stake. 'Lord Jesus, forgive them ... Lord Jesus, receive my spirit' (7:59; Luke 23:46). And so this godly man - this angel faced witness died – the first martyr of the many down the centuries. And after his brutal death his friends took his body and buried it in a tomb.

And what happened next?

The death of Stephen led directly to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (8:1). He was there looking after the clothes of the stone-throwers (7:58). He saw what happened to Stephen and approved of what had taken place. (8:1; 22:20). His face expressed anger and hatred / but he saw in the face of Stephen the face of an angel. He had heard his words and witnessed his manner of dying. He had seen this man of faith who was prepared to die for his faith in Jesus. This experience must have influenced Saul's own coming to faith and paved the way for his Damascus Road experience. It was Augustine who said that 'the church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen' (quoted in W. Barclay, Acts, p.63).

The death of Stephen provoked a great persecution of the church and caused a great number of Christians to flee for their lives. They managed to escape from Jerusalem and took their faith with them to other parts of the Roman Empire. And with what was the result? The church grew in numbers and spread abroad.

On Christmas Day we focus on the Incarnation – of God become man, of God coming to us and coming among us. And then the following day (on St Stephen's Day) we focus upon the first Christian martyr, whose life and death point us to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the expansion of the Christian community. The blood of the martyrs is indeed the seed of the church.

Consider for a moment those who influenced your coming to faith in Christ. They spoke to you. They prayed for you. They pointed you to Jesus. Think too of the impact of your witness and your example and your prayers and the impact they will have on other people.

To conclude, these words provide a neat summary of what I have been trying to say: 'Stay wise, like Stephen (6:10). Stay shining, like Stephen (6:15). Stay full of [the] Spirit, like Stephen (7:55) and stay forgiving, like Stephen (7:60).'
(M. Green, Acts for Today, p.196).

Honour Stephen as the first Christian martyr. Thank God for his life and witness. Thank God that you too can witness to your faith in Jesus!

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