The following teaching is a tenth in a series on the Book of Acts by the Reverend John W. Howe of Truaux Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The title of this teaching is The Witness of Stephen, and the scripture reference is Acts, chapters 6 and 7. I'll apologize in advance if this does go on a little bit longer than usual. I'm going to do my best to move it along, but we're looking at The Witness of Stephen today, and there's really no good place to break it in the middle. it really stands as a unit.

I want to call your attention to a couple of verses before we get into that, starting with chapter 6 and verse 7. This is one of several verses that appear almost as a sort of a little chorus or a refrain throughout the book of Acts. Chapter 6, verse 7.

It's a summary statement, as if Luke at this point is bringing something together and sort of saying, here's how it ended, if you will. The word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. What we've been looking at up to this point is the ministry just in the city of Jerusalem.

And we've seen how it got started. We took a long time considering the day of Pentecost itself, and then what issued from that. And it's as if Luke, in recording this story, is saying, here's where we've come to.

And in the city of Jerusalem, the word of God increased, multiplied, the church was being built up, disciples multiplied greatly, and even a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith. If you're taking notes, I'm not going to take the time to turn to these verses, but just call them to your attention. Jot down chapter 9, verse 31.

Same sort of statement with regarding to the expanding Word of God and the expanding ministry in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Chapter 12 and verse 24, at the end of the first missionary journey, when they're beginning to move out beyond that. Chapter 16 and verse 5, in the middle of the second missionary journey.

And chapter 19, verse 20, at the end of the second missionary journey. It's interesting just to notice that. At each one of these points, Luke is sort of stepping back, taking a deep breath and saying, God's blessing his church.

It's multiplying. It's expanding. The ministry is increasing.

The word of God is being magnified. And if you stop and notice the pattern, chapter 6, we're in the city of Jerusalem. Chapter 9, Judea, Samaria.

Chapter 12, we're beginning to reach out to the Mediterranean world. Chapter 16, they have visited a second time the first set of churches beyond Israel, beyond Judah. And then chapter 19, reaching on still beyond that into what we call Europe today.

It corresponds very interestingly, doesn't it, with the commission that Jesus gave at the very outset of this book. You shall be my witnesses where? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth.

It's good just to bear that in mind. What we're seeing here is the unfolding of the commission that God has given. And God's commission will not be frustrated.

All right? Amen. Bear that in mind.

The disciples, the apostles themselves at this point, are not particularly getting on with it. They're supposed to be moving in exactly that pattern, like dropping a pebble into the pond, and it causes a ripple, and it reaches out and reaches out and reaches out and reaches out. At this point, they have saturated the city of Jerusalem, but they're not moving out beyond it.

This first summary statement is a statement about the ministry in Jerusalem, but God said, I don't want you to stay in Jerusalem. You're to be moving beyond the city of Jerusalem, throughout all of Judea, beyond that into Samaria, beyond that to the uttermost parts of the earth. And at this point, they're sitting very pat in the city of Jerusalem.

Approximately two years have already elapsed by the time we come to chapter 6. If you have the RSV or some other modern translation, there's probably a break between chapter 5 and chapter 6. Do you see that?

Time has gone by, all right? and we've told a bunch of stories in the first five chapters that happened pretty immediately after the day of Pentecost itself now some more time has gone by approximately two years in fact churches multiplied considerably in the city of Jerusalem but they're neglecting the rest of the commission get on with evangelizing the point of the power is proclamation they're to be getting on with that but they're not doing it they're sitting here very comfortable in Jerusalem. Thank you very much.

We like to be here in the city of Jerusalem. We've got the temple. We've got the worship.

We've got the ritual. It's very comfortable. You've seen that they've formed a community, and it has some positive things about it. It has some negative things about it. The negative things have not yet really come to the surface very much.

Persecution has not hit. Neither has famine nor hard times. They're about to, and in fact, what we're going to see is that it's only by a combination of hard times and persecution that God finally got the apostles and the disciples up and moving beyond the city of Jerusalem.

At this point, we're talking about a community which has involved literally thousands of people, some of whom obviously were already residents of Jerusalem, but many, and probably in fact the majority were coming from other parts of what was known as the dispersion. Jews from all over the known world who came into the city for that initial day of Pentecost got converted, got filled with the Spirit, became part of something new, and stayed. And so they sold their lands, they sold their goods, they formed a Christian community under very extraordinary circumstances.

In Acts chapter 2, there were 18 separate nations mentioned specifically. So you've got an international community here living in the city of Jerusalem. Now, the story of Stephen begins under those extraordinary circumstances, and interestingly enough, it's slightly humorous, a problem that begins within that community, that communal experience.

In these days, we read, when the disciples were increasing in number. The Hellenists, all right, who are the Hellenists? They're Greek speaking Jews.

They're Jews from other parts of the Roman Empire, not Jerusalem Jews, all right? They are converted now to Christ, but their background is that they are Greek speaking, they are dispersion Jews. The Hellenists murmured, grumbled, complained, against the Hebrews, the Jerusalem Jews.

You've got a Christian community which is almost entirely converted Jews, but some of the Jews are Jerusalem Jews and the others are Hellenistic Jews. You see the dynamics of what we're dealing with? Okay, they're all members of the body of Christ.

More than that, they're living in commune, experience. But within the community, the Hellenists are murmuring against the Hebrews. Why?

Because their widows are being neglected in the daily distribution. They have all things in common. They have a potluck supper every day.

They're distributing whatever food is available to the whole community. Obviously, the Jerusalem Jews are in charge of that. After all, it was their territory.

And as they're going along, they come to Edna here, who is not a Jerusalem Jew, and she gets a little bit. And we go on to Shirley, who is, and she gets a whole lot. All right, so Edna and Shirley have a problem.

And they're murmuring about all this. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Praise God that the apostles did not get themselves distracted administering a welfare program.

Because that's what could have happened. You see what Satan was up to. You know, get this complaint going.

Get the Christians complaining and bickering among themselves about who's getting the most of what. And make sure the leadership finds itself right in the middle of that problem and has to administer it. He said, no, it's not right.

We're called to preach the word of God. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. Most people would speak of this as the beginning of the diaconate, which really means simply the servant ministry, the ministry of serving tables.

It's interesting that they did not say go to the local waiter's union. They did not say get the guys who have had a lot of experience at the spaghetti tree. the criteria for being waiters catch this the criteria for being table waiters full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom alright men of good repute do you know that there are no second class ministries in the body of Christ some are called to do the work of preaching that is no more exalted than the work of waiting on tables Wendy you'll be glad to hear that okay so that's the criteria for this ministry and interestingly enough the people that they appoint to that task are themselves Hellenistic Jews and you can tell that simply by their names these are not Jerusalem Jews all of seven that get appointed are dispersion Jews there's great wisdom in that appointment okay if the Hellenistic widows are being neglected, let's put the thing into the hands of dispersion Jews.

One of whom is this man named Stephen, and we want to look at his ministry, his witness. It's interesting in verse 8, Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. So he's not just full of the Holy Spirit, not just a man of some wisdom, and not a man by any means limited to some sort of a behind-the-scenes ministry.

He's appointed to this ministry of table waiting, but God is attending his life with great power, great anointing. Miracles are happening. Healings are taking place.

Now, Stephen, I just want to put into context what is happening. I think we remember Stephen primarily because he's the first Christian martyr. And last week, we came upon the first time that blood was shed for the cause of Christ.

the first time they had their backs whipped. And they rejoiced that they were worthy, they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor. We're going to go very quickly from the first bloodshedding to the first martyrdom.

But Stephen's witness is rather more significant even than that. And I want to suggest to you, I don't want to make overly much of this, but I think the hints are here that Stephen played a very important role in the life of Saul who became Paul. They sort of have to read between the lines a little bit to see that.

But I'm going to suggest to you that what we find in the brief account of Stephen's ministry is a very important link between Peter and Paul. And Stephen's witness, I believe, haunted Paul for the rest of his life. I don't know if you've ever had the experience, maybe this has happened to you or you've seen in somebody else's life, where somebody says something, and it may even just be a casual offhand remark, and somebody else finds a light going on.

You know? And that second person may even see more in the remark than the first person ever intended. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Maybe that's happened to you. You heard somebody saying something, and it just unlocks a worldview for you. You say, wow!

Thank you for sharing that! And the other guy scratches his head wondering, What it is you just saw, right? That happens to preachers a lot.

They come up and they thank me for this tremendous thing that I just said, and I had no idea I said it. It didn't hit me that way at all, but God used it in their lives. You see this over and over and over in the old Perry Mason stories, right?

Della Street says some dumb thing, and Perry says, and that's the answer, Della. Right? Karl Marx said, I read Hegel and suddenly the world opened up for me.

And, as a matter of fact, I turned Hegel on his ear. I saw much more than he did, says Marx. I think something like that is happening with Stephen.

Stephen obviously is converted through the ministry of Peter and others, but primarily Peter. and I suspect that in many ways Stephen saw things in Peter's ministry that Peter himself didn't see or let me put it another way Stephen took things to their logical conclusion in a way that Peter failed to do for instance Peter says Jesus fulfilled the law and yet here Peter and all the others are sitting around meticulously keeping the law for at least two more years. Peter says Jesus is the Lamb slain for our sins, and yet they're in the temple daily, participating in the offering of sacrifices.

What in the world are they doing offering additional sacrifices if Jesus is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices? Peter says Jesus is building a new temple, Himself the chief cornerstone. And yet there they are, day in, day out in the temple.

What are they doing there? What's special about this pile of bricks? Jesus is the Lord of all the earth, says Peter.

And yet he continues to view himself as having some sort of an exclusive inn or at least a privileged position as a Jew. Right? Jesus is the king over all the nations.

And yet here they remain in the city of Jerusalem when God and Jesus himself has said, get out there to the nations with this gospel. Do you understand what I'm saying? Peter is saying the right things and he's saying them under inspiration of the Holy Spirit and yet he's not taking them to their logical conclusion at all.

And in fact, we'll find out a little bit later about an incident where Paul comes and has to publicly rebuke Peter for living inconsistently with what he's preaching. Stephen is a Hellenistic Jew. He's a member of the dispersion.

He's come in to the city of Jerusalem. We don't know whether he was already living there at the time that all this took place or whether he's one of those who moves in as a result of the day of Pentecost. But either way, his background is he's not a Jerusalem Jew.

His background is he's a foreigner. and as such the background of his experience is he did not worship in the temple he worshipped in a synagogue the synagogues you remember grew up all over the known world wherever there were Jews they could not offer sacrifices anywhere but the temple in Jerusalem but they began to gather together for prayer meetings usually by a riverside somewhere this is why when they go into Macedonia in Philippi they go down to the river they figure this is a place of prayer. Synagogue system developed and eventually they built buildings and became settled praying congregations but centered not around sacrifice because that could only be done in the temple.

Instead centered around Bible study, interestingly enough. Centered not around a priest because a priest offers sacrifices. Centered around a rabbi instead.

This is Stephen's background. He has an international viewpoint. He is not wedded in the way that a Jerusalem Jew would be to the temple.

And as a matter of fact, interestingly enough, right there in the city of Jerusalem, even though the temple is obviously the dominant reality of the whole surrounding territory, there are synagogues right in the city of Jerusalem. At least one very notable one. And Stephen may have been in the temple somewhat, just out of courtesy, but the principal place where he spent his time was the synagogue down the street.

Okay? You get the dynamics of what we're talking about? And so we read, verse 9, And some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians and those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen.

All right, what's happening here? He becomes converted and he goes back to his own little community which is a Jewish community but it's a Jewish community composed of internationals. And he goes back and he begins to witness to his faith.

He begins to dispute on the basis of scripture about this new doctrine that he himself has embraced. Do you see what's going on? He's arguing from the scriptures about the lordship of Jesus not in the temple now as Peter was doing but in the synagogue down the street he's evidently a very learned man of the scriptures and a brilliant man there's an anointing on him but there's also a natural brilliance and it goes on to say but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke now it does not say this but I think the case is very strong that among those who were entering into this dispute with him was a fellow by the name of Saul.

I suspect that. I can't prove that absolutely. But it's very likely Saul, who became Paul, was also a Hellenistic Jew, also extremely learned in the scriptures, had a very great deal at stake in disputing about this new doctrine.

It is extremely likely that one of the ones with whom Stephen was entering into argument was in fact Saul. It is extremely likely that Saul was involved in the events that we're about to read. It says they couldn't withstand him, and so they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. That poor council. they don't want to see any more of these guys they wish no more charges right they set up false witnesses does this sound vaguely familiar as if they've gone through this experience before and they said this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us and gazing at him all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Now, in these charges, and there are six things specifically mentioned in that very brief account, in the charges, it seems to me we can hear an echo, a distorted echo of what he really was saying. I mean, that's how it works, isn't it? You don't get somebody to come out and say an out-and-out lie.

You get somebody who will get up and just twist or take out of context what it was you said. Have you ever had somebody do that about you? You know, and you're so angry because they're quoting you and you really did say it.

But you meant something entirely different than they're turning it to. You know what I mean? I think you can hear an echo of what Stephen had to be saying in the charges they're leveling against him. He speaks against Moses.

Well, how did he speak against Moses? By saying the very thing Moses promised would happen, that one greater than Moses has come. He's not speaking against Moses, but he is saying that there's one greater than Moses who's come.

He speaks against God by urging the worship of a human being. And that is clearly blasphemy, punishable by death under Jewish law, unless it should turn out to be true, that God himself has become a human being. He speaks against Jerusalem.

Well, did he? I doubt it very much, but he clearly is saying Jerusalem is no longer the focal point in the way that it was. God's grace is to reach out to all the world.

He speaks against the law. How? By claiming Jesus Christ fulfilled it.

And we're not under its curse anymore. We're not winning, earning our salvation by meticulously trying to keep all the ramifications of the law. Do you hear a groundwork being laid for somebody else's theology?

You see what I'm saying? He says that Jesus Christ will destroy this temple. We've heard that one before too.

Very same charge was brought against Jesus Himself based upon the same twisting of what He said. Destroy this temple, pointing to His body, and in three days I'll raise it up. because the temple of God is no longer this physical building.

It's a spiritual building and I myself am the chief cornerstone. That's clearly what Stephen was preaching. Whereas Peter and the others are saying, well, Jesus is the foundation of a new thing and yet here we are in the temple.

See? Stephen is taking that to its logical conclusion and they're turning it into a charge against him. He says Jesus will change our customs well he's already done so end of the Sabbath as we've known it we've entered into God's rest Sabbath rest of God strive to enter that rest says the book of Hebrews the end of at least some of the dietary restrictions the apostles themselves don't get around to that one until Acts 15 end of the Jewish separation from the Gentiles Stephen sees exactly where that's going but they turn it into charges against him.

Now, in Stephen's defense, which I'm not going to try to read carefully, it's too lengthy, but I want to call to your attention a couple of things about it and ask you to go back and read it for yourself because probably if you've waded through chapter 7 in its entirety, it has struck you simply as a summary of the main backbone of the Old Testament account. It takes us from the call of God, the covenant to Abraham, up through the building of the temple and the dedication of it by Solomon. And it is, at least that, it is a summary of that holy history.

But I think if you look for it, you're going to see that Stephen is defending his theology precisely in terms of the charges that they've just leveled against him. And he's defending it in terms of the Old Testament record. Okay?

Can I just invite you to see that for yourself? So that he says, for instance, it's not only I, but Moses himself who proclaimed that one greater than he would arise. And he talks about Moses.

Verse 30 and following. He summarizes the burning bush account and he goes on to say in verse 37, This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. And that's a reference to the very thing.

Moses promised there is one greater than I who is coming. He says it's not my idea that we should worship Christ, but God's. He's the one who raised up Jesus as the righteous one. And specifically, one of the main features of this whole lengthy defense is he says, it's not I who is claiming that God works everywhere, but God himself in the whole account of holy history has demonstrated that he's a God whose love and grace embrace the whole earth.

Notice how he speaks about incident after incident, and what we see is God active elsewhere than Jerusalem and Judea. Where was it that the call came to Abraham? Well, verse 2 of chapter 7, Mesopotamia, where he lived out in Haran.

Where was it that he was active in the life of Joseph and the patriarchs? Verse 9, down in Egypt. Where was it that he spoke to Moses from the burning bush?

Verse 30, Mount Sinai out in the middle of the desert. And so on. He gets into talking about, I'll remove you beyond Babylon.

And so on. God himself has demonstrated throughout the whole of this history that whilst he did some very important things here in Israel, his love, his grace, his power, his revelation has been reaching out to the whole earth. He says, it's not I who said that this temple has no lasting significance.

Solomon himself, in building it, in dedicating it, said precisely that. And look at the words that he quotes from Solomon. Verse 47.

It was Solomon who built a house for him, and yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet said, heaven is my throne and earth my footstool. Quoting from Isaiah, I think it's what, chapter 66.

What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest did not my hand make all these things. And so Stephen's defense here is to speak to these specific six charges that are laid against him and to answer them point by point. God himself has borne witness to what I'm preaching throughout the whole of our history.

Do you see what's going on? And he moves toward a very, very dramatic conclusion. Verse 51.

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Now here he's speaking to the whole religious establishment, as well as to the international Hellenistic Jews. He's speaking in the council at this point, And speaking once again to the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees party, he's saying throughout the whole of this history, we have the same pattern that's going on right now.

In all of what God has been doing, what has your response been? Resistance. He's done His thing, but you have resisted it.

Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. You who pride yourself on your observance of the law, you didn't keep it.

You missed the point. You've resisted God. You've persecuted His prophets.

You've killed the righteous one. You can imagine how that goes over. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth against Him.

But He, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he said behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God and they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. They really had no authority to do that. You remember that capital punishment needed to come from the governor, the Roman governor but they were so enraged that they dragged him through the city.

They probably, as a matter of fact, took him to precisely the same place where Jesus was killed. It would be very unlikely that in a city of that size they had two different sites of execution. It's very likely that they took him to the top of a cliff and threw him down onto the very place where Jesus was crucified and then picked up stones to finish the work and get the drama of that scene.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. I have a tremendous sense of deja vu here.

And Stephen doing exactly the same thing now as his master had done. Forgiving the ones who are executing him. Looking into heaven and commending himself unto God.

It's an interesting thing in his comment about the vision that he sees. I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Every other time that we have such a glimpse into the heavenlies, we have the Son of Man seated.

Seated, right? That's the position of rule and authority. And again, I don't want to make overly much of it, but I would just suggest that maybe, maybe, in this particular instance, the Son of Man is rising to give honor to the first Christian martyr who's coming to join him.

It's also interesting that the very phrase Son of Man in the heavenlies is a very clear reference to Daniel chapter 7 and you go back and read that for yourself as well when the Son of Man comes and receives the kingdom from the ancient of days and it is an international kingdom. thrones and dominions and powers, and thousands upon thousands singing his praises, joining with the angels and archangels. So even in the moment of death, Stephen is bearing witness to the fact that Jesus Christ has destroyed the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile.

The kingdom we're talking about, Peter, you may not understand this, but the kingdom you yourself are proclaiming goes beyond the city of Jerusalem, goes beyond the temple, goes beyond the old covenant. It's an international kingdom. And that's what we're bearing witness to.

And we read finally that when he had said all this, he fell asleep. He died. That is, his body died.

And he went right to be with his Lord. There was a young man standing there holding the coats of those who did the real work of stoning and consenting to his death. Paul, in some of his later letters, will talk about the fact that he not only persecuted Christians, but he killed them.

He killed Christians. And I want to just leave for you to enjoy in your own meditation that seeing his face like the face of an angel, hearing him say, I saw heavens opened, and the Son of Man was there to receive me. And Saul knew the reference.

He knew what was going on before his very eyes. He was seeing the fulfillment of prophecy. He was seeing Scripture coming alive right there in front of him and hearing Stephen say, Father, forgive them.

Lay not this charge to their account. I want to suggest to you that that haunted Saul and that Stephen's influence is again like the seed that dies and bears much, much fruit. And I want you to take great encouragement from that.

Because you might not be called to be a Saint Paul, but you don't have any way of knowing what your influence is going to be in the life of somebody else who may be one. Stephen never knew in this life that out of that death and that faithful witness in that little synagogue, there would be fruit born in the life of the very man who may well have instigated the false charges the people who were perjuring themselves before the council and the taking up of stones to kill him and that that man in turn would write it all down and you and I'd be reading it two thousand years later