History’s First Christian Martyr!
Acts 7:54-60: “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Stephen was not the only individual in the history of the Christian church who was martyred for the cause of the Lord Jesus. Many others have been martyred as well, in fact some brutally.
For example, if church tradition is correct, and this is just a sampling, the beloved Dr. Luke, who accompanied Paul on a number of his missionary travels, was hung on a large tree in Greece. And James the Less, was thrown from a high pinnacle and beaten to death with a club. Mathias, who was the one chosen to replace Judas in the apostolic band, was stoned and then beheaded. And Jude was killed by a set of arrows. And that was all in the first century! Scores of others have suffered martyrdom for Christ down throughout the years, including a number of individuals in our own lifetimes.
Stephen was not the only individual to experience martyrdom for the cause of the Lord Jesus, but he certainly was the first. And his martyrdom here in Acts 7 is not at all surprising. After all in this sermon of his in Acts 7 Stephen absolutely rips into the members of the Sanhedrin, or the members of the Jewish Supreme Court, before whom he is now standing trial. He says to them in verses 51-53: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
You are wretched rebels who have betrayed and murdered the Messiah. That in essence, in a nutshell is what Stephen said to these guys. Well it’s no wonder he was martyred! After all that’s hardly the way to win a popularity contest. But see Stephen was not interested in winning a popularity contest. He was interested in speaking the truth. And that of course is what you and I must be interested in as well. “But, speaking the truth in love…” (Ephesians 4:15). “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
Now Stephen’s behavior during this whole martyrdom experience, during this very challenging set of circumstances, was nothing short of tremendous. And that’s what we want to focus in on, for you see his behavior provides us with a tremendous example for us to follow when we find ourselves in a challenging set of circumstances.
Let me ask you believer, have you ever found yourself in a challenging set of circumstances? Of course you have. Well the question is: how should you react when you do? Should you go get hammered, go get drunk? That’s what people in the world do in an attempt to forget their problems. Should you self medicate, through gorging yourself with food or through some other means? Should you go down to the Detroit River and jump off the Ambassador Bridge? Should you commit harikari?
I would suggest to you otherwise. No when we find ourselves in a challenging set of circumstances we need to do exactly what Stephen did here. Which means firstly:
1. We Need To Keep On Looking
That is we need to keep on looking to the Lord. “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (verses 54-55).
Now what do we see here? After Stephen preached his sermon and he was in trouble, he was given the unique capacity to gaze into the heavens and to observe what theologians have called the beatific vision. To gaze into the heavens and to observe the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Now people today do not have that capacity, in spite of what you may hear from the mouths of certain well known televangelists. But Stephen was given that capacity, and he looked. And he not only looked but he kept on looking. His focus remained upon God and upon His Son. And this was such a sight for sore eyes. For I would maintain that what Stephen saw here was the Lord Jesus in a very loving pose, perhaps with His arms wide open, ready to receive His courageous and beloved and faithful servant to Himself.
Along these lines I like what Harry A. Ironside has written. “As Stephen looked up he saw the Lord standing. What does it mean? It’s just as though the blessed Lord in His great compassion for Stephen had risen from His seat and was looking over the battlements of heaven to strengthen and cheer the martyr down on earth.”
Now like Stephen kept looking to the Lord during his challenging set of circumstances we need to do the same. We need to keep looking to the Lord, for like Stephen was strengthened and cheered as he did so, so will we be strengthened and cheered. I’m reminded of that verse in John 20:20, which by the way is the kind of vision you want to have. You don’t just want to have 20/20 vision, you want to have John 20:20 vision. “…Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
When the disciples saw the Lord they were glad. And when we see the Lord we will be glad as well. And that’s true no matter how difficult the situation is, that we are in, no matter what we are going through. For how can it possibly be otherwise?
After all, to see the Lord is first of all to see His sovereign intervention in our lives. Just to remind you believer, God is not just sovereign over the nations, and over nature, and over the things that take place in our world. Now He is that. Daniel 4:35 makes that very clear: “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” He is that, but He’s more than that. He’s also sovereign over the details of your life. And what an encouraging, gladdening thought that should be for you. God is in control of my circumstances. Nothing can happen to me unless it is first filtered through the will of the sovereign God of the universe. And whatever happens to me is not only for God’s glory but for my good. For “…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
To see the Lord is first of all to see His sovereign intervention in our lives.
It’s furthermore to see His love and His care and His concern for us. Believer in Jesus Christ God is concerned about you and He’s caring for you 24/7, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So while some people may give you good care God gives you great care. For His care for you never stops, which may bring to mind the words of that song we sometimes sing; “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.” How true, how absolutely true!
This is why the Lord Jesus could say to His disciples in that famous sermon of His, the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:25-26, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Jesus makes it clear there that we don’t have to worry about anything, for God is taking care of us. Consequently we can let Him do the worrying, and we can live relaxed, carefree lives.
You can correlate Jesus’ words there on the sermon on the mount with David’s words in Psalm 40:5: “Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.”
Did you get that believer? God’s always thinking about us. We’re always at the forefront of His mind. As we read in Isaiah 49:16, He has engraved us on the palms of His hand. That’s not just a trite cliché that is reality.
To see the Lord is first of all to see His sovereign intervention in our lives. And it’s to see His love and His care and His concern for us.
Finally it’s to see as Stephen saw here. It’s to see the Lord Jesus with His arms wide open, ready to receive us when the time comes for us to go to be with Him.
Are you experiencing difficulties today? I am acutely aware that many are. At times it’s easy to put on your game face, and to come across to other Christians like everything’s fine, like life for you is fabulous, isn’t it?. But for many that is just not true. After all as we read in Job 14:1: “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.” If you are experiencing difficulties believer keep looking to the Lord.
Many of us are familiar with the story of Peter walking on water, which we read about in Matthew 14. If you recall one day Christ’s disciples were in a tiny little boat in the midst of a great big storm on the Sea of Galilee, when the Lord Jesus came to them walking on water. And when Peter saw the Lord he said, Lord “if it is You,” if it is really You, “command me to come to You on the water.” And the Lord Jesus said, “Come.” And so Peter got out of the boat and he made his way toward the Lord Jesus.
And for a moment while Peter’s gaze was fixated on Jesus Christ, everything was great, everything was wonderful. Yes the wind was howling and the waves were raging. And yet while Peter kept looking at Christ he was able to remain above it all, without the benefit of water skis, or a surfboard. But then Peter got his eyes off of Christ and on to the howling wind and the raging waves and that was his downfall. That’s when he began to sink.
Believer in Jesus Christ do not be like Peter. Do not get your eyes off the Lord, for that will be your downfall. That is when you will begin to sink.
When we as believers find ourselves in a challenging set of circumstances we need to keep on looking.
Now secondly:
2. We Need To Keep On Praying
“and [Stephen] said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’” (verse 56).
And that was the last straw for the members of the Sanhedrin. They had had quite enough of Stephen’s dogmatic pronouncement, of his preaching, of his declarations about Jesus and about them. And so: “…they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord” (verse 57).
These men of the Sanhedrin put on quite a display here. They were like little children having a temper tantrum. But they were so furious at Stephen that they couldn’t contain themselves and so they went berserk. And you know what that’s like, don’t you, where you’re so mad that you can’t control yourself? Yes, unfortunately many of us can relate to the men of the Sanhedrin here.
“and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul” (verse 58).
Whoa, wait a minute; Saul? The same Saul who wrote at least 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament? The same Saul who was used by God to carry the gospel into Europe? The same Saul who was instrumental in impacting countless numbers of lives with the glorious message of the gospel of Christ? He was involved in the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr? You bet. Which just goes to show you what happens to an individual when they come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. The change that occurs in an individual when they come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Prior to salvation Saul was arch enemy #1 of the church, a man who absolutely hated Christians, and who was not only bent on stopping them but who was bent on destroying them. See prior to salvation Saul thought that the Lord Jesus was the great pretender and that the gospel was a fairy tale. But then something wonderful, something glorious happened to him. He got involved in TM, transcendental meditation, right? Oh I know, he got involved in yoga, right? No wait, he got involved in psychology, right?
No I’ll tell you what happened; the Lord got a hold of him and transformed him. The Lord did an extreme makeover on him, on the inside. And consequently he became so different, so radically different, that it was like night and day. Which of course affirms the truth of what he wrote later on in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
In another New Testament passage Paul wrote: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly (with emphasis on the word formerly) a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy (the Lord got a hold of me and transformed me from the inside out)...And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:12-14).
“And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’” (verse 59).
As Stephen was being stoned here, as rocks were being flung at him, as he was being hit with this stone and that stone, he prayed saying, Lord, I’ve had enough! Oh Lord, that one really hurt. Take me out of this. “…receive my spirit.”
Let me ask you, have you ever felt like you have had enough?
Do you know something? I’m just about up to here with my problems. I’m just about up to here with my physical problems and I’m just about up to here with my financial problems and I’m just about up to here with my domestic problems.
When you feel that way you need to pray like Stephen prayed; Lord take me away. I’m sick of the sleepless nights, I’m sick of the pressures, I’m sick of being hit with this impossible challenge, and that impossible challenge. It’s wearing me down, it hurts. So God please intervene on my behalf. Help me I’m in trouble!
Now if you pray like that there is no guarantee that God is going to deliver you out of your painful problems, out of your taxing troubles, for He may have something else in mind for you. However there’s no guarantee that He won’t either. In fact one of the reasons why God sometimes does not deliver us out of our troubles is because we fail to ask. That’s what James 4:2 tells us: “…you do not have because you do not ask.” And so believer ask. In fact you are mandated to ask: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
When we find ourselves in a challenging set of circumstances we need to keep on looking, and we need to keep on praying.
Now lastly:
3. We Need To Keep On Forgiving
“Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (verse 60).
Stephen’s words here remind us of Jesus’ words just before He died. As He was being crucified Jesus said in Luke 23:34, “…Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do…”
Sometimes the challenges that we face in life can be traced directly back to certain individuals who are the source, the cause of our challenges. Well how should we respond to that? I’ll tell you how we should respond with forgiveness.
Now I have to be brutally honest with you. I have a hard time when it comes to forgiveness. When somebody does me wrong and throughout my life both believers and unbelievers have done me wrong, have done me dirty, my inclination is to go and to drop them. Can you imagine that? That kind of a response from somebody who has been forgiven so much? My inclination is to retaliate. But you can’t have that mindset. You have to forgive. And that is true no matter how grievous the offense is that somebody has committed against you. We read in Ephesians 4:32: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Believer you’ve just got to forgive, and you can’t have the attitude; well I’ll forgive if that person apologizes to me. Look, if you’re waiting for an apology from some people don’t hold your breath because you’re going to be waiting for a long time - like forever. It’s just not going to happen. But that doesn’t matter. We need to forgive, irrespective of whether someone apologizes to us or not.
And having an attitude of forgiveness can be so beneficial. It first of all can be beneficial to the person who has done the wrong. Stephen had an attitude of forgiveness here and he prayed that God would forgive his executioners, and as the great Augustine has said, “The Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen.”
Having an attitude of forgiveness can be beneficial to the person who has done the wrong, and it can also be so beneficial to the person who forgives for when you forgive you experience such freedom, such a release.
However the opposite is also true. If you don’t forgive you experience no release. In fact you destroy yourself. I can tell you that from personal experience. You destroy yourself with bitterness.
Conclusion
Right at this moment you may like Stephen be in a very challenging set of circumstances. So much so that you are beside yourself with anxiety and terribly confused about what to do, where to turn, whom to go to. If that’s the case I have the perfect remedy for you. Here’s what to do: keep on looking, keep on praying, and keep on forgiving, and then just see what God does.