Stephen's Brief Ministry

A Sermon preached on Sunday, August 26, 2007

by Pastor Terry Davis

First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT

Acts 6:8 - 15 ⁸Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.  ⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.  ¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.  ¹¹Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”  ¹²They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.  ¹³They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law;  ¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.”  ¹⁵And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 7:51 - 60 ⁵¹“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.  ⁵²Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.  ⁵³You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.” ⁵⁴When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.  ⁵⁵But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  ⁵⁶“Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  ⁵⁷But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.  ⁵⁸Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.  ⁵⁹While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  ⁶⁰Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died. 

As we think about Stephen it might seem that his ministry was so brief as to be of little significance, although Luke does not provide us with any clear indication of how long his ministry lasted the impression I have is that it was rather brief, certainly not as long as the three years that Jesus ministry was commonly believed to encompass.  His ministry was certainly a flash in the pan compared to the Apostle Paul who over an etended period of years took numerous missionary Journeys, founded multiple Churches, and whose letters letters which form the bulk of the New Testament, and yet I would like to suggest to you today that his ministry was of great significance to the life of the Church in his times, and continues to provide an inspiration to the believers and to the whole Church today.  His saint’s day which is December 26 often gets lost in the Christmas celebration, although we sometimes sing about Good King Wenceslas who befriended an impoverished woodcutter on the feast of Stephen.

We first meet Stephen in the list of the seven first deacons, appointed to  oversee the community meals for the widows of the Church; but as Luke reports in story we read a bit of this morning Stephen’s ministry was not confined just to the task for which he was ordained.   It seems to be the case that every member of this early Jerusalem Church considered themselves commissioned to be an evangelist, an ambassador for Christ, a witness to the Good news of the Gospel.  It is the key to understanding the success of the Jesus movement, that every member of the Church participated in some way in spreading the story of Jesus.  Obviously, however, some people were more dedicated to the task than others, and some were more eloquent and more intelligent.  Stephen appears to have been one of those who were on fire for bearing witness to others about the love of God made known in Jesus.  When the Apostles called the Church to elect deacons they specified that they must be people of good standing. Spirit filled, and people of strong faith and wisdom.  Obviously Stephen filled his description to the letter and Luke reports that he was full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.  He was a man of both courage and intelligence, and was willing to talk about his faith with any one at any time.  He did not back away from an argument, and found himself in more than one dispute with those who were opposed to this Jesus movement.  He could out argue those who wanted to dispute with him and so they stirred up false witnesses who spread the story that he was anti-Jewish, that he spoke against Moses and the customs of the Jews and that he was preaching that Jesus or the Jesus movement was going to destroy the temple.

When he was arrested his intelligence and his courage are evident in the sermon which fills the gap between the first and second part of the reading from Acts this morning, and it is one worth reading.  The accusation was that he, and the faith he represented was anti Jewish.  Although he was a Greek speaking Jew he demonstrates in this sermon that was more acquainted with the Hebrew Scriptures than most of his accusers.  He goes back to Abraham and tells them the story of the Bible from Abraham through Moses and down to David and Solomon, and says that it all points to Jesus and all through Jewish history the people had rejected God’s prophets and messengers just as they rejected Jesus and put him to death.  His courage and his intelligence enraged his accusers and they took him out of the city and in great anger stoned to death, making him the first Martyr, the first person to give his life for the Jesus faith.

But what really was accomplished by his brief ministry and his martyrdom?  Couldn’t he have been a little less confrontational and saved his life and enabled his ministry to continue on in to the future.  Shouldn’t he have been more dedicated to the peace and unity of the Jewish faith?  His energy, intelligence, imagination and love could have strengthened the Church in this early and crucial time in its history.  Why did he have to die at such a young age when his ministry was just beginning?  Couldn’t he have had a ministry as productive as that of Paul?  In what sense is the old saying true that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church?  How was his death more important and valuable than the continuation of his life could have been?

Besides the example of his life which has been inspiring to Christians throughout the ages there were two fairly immediate and very important consequences of his death.

The first was that his death set off a great persecution of the Church.  It seems that nearly all of the really committed members of the Church except the Apostles left the city and scattered into the surrounding countryside, into Judea and into Samaria, where many of them, like Philip who was also one of the seven deacons had extremely productive ministries, bringing the faith out beyond Jerusalem.  This had been Jesus plan and instructions all along; before he ascended to Heaven he told them that they should be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  So far they had not got beyond Jerusalem, the Church was growing and prospering there, but the Jesus faith was practically unknown beyond the city limits.  While the persecution that followed Stephen’s death seemed a terrible thing to happen, it actually served to advance the cause of the Church.

The second thing that happened was that there was a man named Saul, Saul of Tarsus who was there that day, and not just there on the sidelines, but he was the one who guarded the coats and valuables of those who carried out the stoning, and Luke says that he approved of their killing him.  Again this seems like a terrible thing, because before he was converted this man Saul was a terrible persecutor of the Church, imprisoning men and women for being followers of Jesus.  He was the chief instigator of the persecution that followed the death of Stephen.  Again this seems like a terrible thing, but I believe that the witness of Stephen had a profound effect on the life of Saul, an effect that prepared him for meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus and becoming the greatest missionary, pastor, theologian and author of the early Church.  Saul was witness to Stephen’s courage and he heard his sermon.  Paul uses the same arguments that Stephen does in defending the faith he came to embrace.  Saul was there and saw the face of Stephen, and as we read this morning: ^6:15And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel

Saul was also a personal witness to Stephen’s final words, words that echoed the words of Jesus from the cross. We read:  ^7:59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  ⁶⁰Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

I believe that the martyrdom of Stephen had a profound impact on this man Saul who may never have become Paul the Missionary and Apostle to the gentiles except for the witness of Stephen.

Sometimes we wonder the significance of our ministry, but I am convinced that faithfulness will have effects beyond our understanding.