In 2018 I was sitting in an apartment in central Chicago, at Seminary, with a room full of people I respected deeply, a professor and a series of seminary students. And we were exploring a simple but profound question: Can a Christian really live holy?
This question would consume this era of my life. I was wrestling with it. But my answer was no. It’s just not possible! But, as we were talking about it over and over again, something in me clicked, and it was like I took my first step out onto a shining barely visible pathway… and I said to myself fearfully: What if it’s really true?
As much as it scared me, it also gave me this jolt of excitement. Like I’d begun… to believe.
Today we’re going to be looking at the scriptures which depict a young man that seemed to begin to believe, that with Jesus, anything is possible, and the convergence that occurred around him as a result.
If you remember last week we studied how the apostles were arrested, and tried before the Sanhedrin, but we saw how God used a pharisee named Gamaliel to help set them free. And the church continued to grow.
We will be in Acts 6:1-15 today.
Starting in verse 1: "In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food."
During this glorious time, the number of disciples was growing. However, a dispute occurred in the early church. It was a dispute between the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews. Hellenistic Jews were Jews who had adopted Greek culture. Greek culture had spread throughout the middle east after the conquests of Alexander the Great. These were Jews who maintained their spiritual connection to God but spoke Greek, wore Greek clothing and had their own Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, called the Septuagint.
The Hellenistic Jews spoke Greek and the Hebraic Jews spoke Aramaic. No doubt this was one of the main causes that the Hellenistic widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
I’m sure this started as a minor dispute. Minor disputes happen in the church all the time. And it’s all about how you handle those disputes. If you handle the disputes carefully, you can preserve unity and bring things around to a better outcome. But if disputes are handled poorly, they can lead to division in the church.
Pray, and use caution before you speak. God is always there to help us use tender words. If your one of those people where stuff just flies out of your mouth, you can learn to speak gently. So that’s the first thing to note, when disputes happen, act fairly.
Second thing to notice, is the early church is already engaged in what we today call mercy ministry. They are daily providing meals for the widows in the church. This just underlines how important it is that we as the church help takes care of the practical needs of those around us, food, drink, clothing, housing, everything we can.
Verse 2: “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.”
The twelve apostles rightly realize, they can’t do everything themselves. They need to delegate. There were times in my ministry when I tried to do everything, and you can’t, you’ll burn out. We need to delegate to other leaders who can take up positions of service.
Verse 3 continues: “Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them”
Seven men are to be selected. And they are given two key qualifiers for this leadership role: full of the Spirit and full of wisdom.
Whenever someone is in a leadership role in the church, there are certain qualifications that are necessary. For this role of serving food, they felt it was important that they be Spirit filled and wise.
Verse 4 continues: “...and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
This allowed the apostles to focus their attention on prayer and the word. They turned a responsibility over so that they would not be stretched in too many directions, and end up neglecting the key focus of their ministry.
Are you doing too much? Do you need to ruthlessly eliminate something from your plate? Are you stretched to the max? That isn’t God’s will for your life. He isn’t a God of busy. He is a God of faithful service.
Let’s see how the church responded: (v5-6) "5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them."
What’s interesting is that each of these names is a Greek name, they most likely put Hellenistic Christians in charge of the distribution, which meant the Hellenistic widows would no longer be neglected. That is wisdom. So they gathered the seven men up front, laid hands on them, and prayed for them, dedicating them to their new positions.
But here we get our first mention of Stephen. Historically we tend to view Stephen as a young man, though we don’t actually know his age. I think it’s fairly logical to think he was a young man, put in charge of providing food for widows. Though it is possible he was older.
But we’re going to see our scripture for today begins to focus in on Stephen. Something special was happening in Stephen’s heart and life.
Next, verse 7: "So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."
It’s interesting, numerous times in the book of Acts we see the early church confronted with some problem, internal or external, but each time they respond with wisdom and tact, and the result is clear: The word of God continues to spread.
It says the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. And we get this beautiful statement, that a large number of the priests became obedient to the faith. The priests weren’t like priests we have today. Instead priests were Levites of the tribe of Aaron, who worked in the temple. So this was a beautiful and important shift, where religious leaders were turning toward Jesus in droves.
And we also in our city are beginning to see the word of God spread. As we faithfully pray and speak, and live holy, and reject sin, we see the power and presence of God growing in our lives and in our services. It’s amazing to observe.
Next, we see Stephen begin his rise:
Verse 8: "Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people."
We see this fascinating meteoric rise of Stephen, who goes from leading the distribution of food to the widows, a pretty simple but important role, to moving into the fullness of God.
Stephen wasn’t an apostle. He didn’t spend time with Jesus, as far as we know. He wasn’t an evangelist or shepherd, necessarily, he was an ordinary person. But as he took on this role of helping widows with food, it’s like something caught fire in Him.
He was already Spirit filled and had wisdom, but somehow it went further. He began to be full of God’s grace and power. God was looking with particular delight on this young man’s heart, and blessing Him with grace and power.
This is a beautiful thing. I love to see a believer in the church who catches fire with excitement and begins to pursue God with their whole heart.
It is a sort of “rising up” that occurs in our lives. Think back to the opening illustration. That pathway that began to appear, as I started to believe…
I had been caught in unbelief. I didn’t want it to be true. I didn’t believe Christians could live free from sin. But, one day, in Captain Matt’s class we were all attacking Wesley's position. And he finally said, "Someone defend Wesley..." and at that moment I thought to myself, what if it’s really true? I can’t sense it. I can’t see it. It would take an act of faith because it’s not my experience so far. But what if it really is true, that a Christian can live holy?
Diane Ury visited campus soon after. And she said to us, she pleaded with Jesus for holiness, but Jesus replied to her, I can’t give you that, but I can give you myself. She said we must learn to turn out face toward God's face, and seek His face. At that moment, I saw a shining face appear over hers for a moment, and I knew I had seen the face of Jesus.
Rising as a Christian, happens in those moments where we take a step a faith toward something we previously felt was impossible. Stephen saw the apostles performing signs and wonders, and Stephen dared to believe, by faith in Jesus, I can walk in that power too.
He was full of the Spirit, full of wisdom, and God was showering grace on Him. Spiritual power was the result.
Is God calling you to go higher with Him? As you walk closer and closer with God, building those times of prayer and fellowship, sharing the gospel, helping meet needs, you begin to build momentum, growth, faith, and you begin rising in the Lord.
And perhaps like me back in 2018, you start to think to yourself: Maybe it is possible.
Next, verse 9: "Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.”
The spiritual battle heats up. Opposition comes. The Synagogue mentioned here, the Synagogue of the freedmen, was made up of Hellenistic Jews. They must’ve noticed one of their own, a Hellenistic jew preaching the gospel in Greek, and decided they needed to stop him. It’s also possible that Stephen used to be part of the freedmen and left to follow Jesus. Hard to say for certain. But apparently Stephen was engaging in consistently sharing the gospel, and they began to debate him.
Next, verse 10: “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.”
They could not stand up. They tried their very best to out debate him, but they couldn’t. The Holy Spirit spoke freely through Stephen, and wisdom came out of his mouth from the Spirit. And I had to ask myself, as I was reading verse 10, how can that happen?
Does the Holy Spirit just by default speak through Christians all the time? Not in my experience. It takes a particular attitude of the heart and mind to have this occur.
But how? First, wisdom. We have three main books of the Bible that are considered wisdom literature: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. They deal with where the rubber meets the road: practical application of God's truth in the world.
The collision of a sinful world with the purity of God creates many complex, paradoxical, and difficult situations that we’re called to navigate as Christians. How can we navigate them successfully?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As we fear God, we are drawn toward His way of doing things. Then we study and learn the word of God, and this gives us a framework for how to live our lives. We gain wisdom from the word of God, and apply it to our lives.
But, this equation is completed by adding the factor of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the Holy Spirit is following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The more we are filled with the wisdom of God from scripture, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with as far as leading us and guiding us. If we know numerous scriptures, the Spirit can bring them to mind in certain situations. We learn to follow the Spirit’s leading, and when this is matched with wisdom from the scriptures, it makes an unstoppable combination.
The heart of a Christian who has trained their mind on the scriptures has wisdom, and this wisdom is a beautiful place in our heart for the Holy Spirit to be seated in glory, because our body/soul/spirit is the temple of God. Then the Holy Spirit guides us to apply situationally the wisdom of scripture.
Wisdom is like having the guidebook with us, and the Holy Spirit is like having the Guide with us. The guidebook is helpful for the Guide to point to and say yes, in this situation, this is the best way to respond. Stephen walked in this powerful Spirit-wisdom mentality.
The wisdom of the word matched with the leading of the Spirit within Stephen meant he could hear the word he had stored in his mind, and how to apply it situationally by the Holy Spirit.
So they couldn’t say a thing against Stephen, he’s proving to them that Jesus is the messiah, and they can’t refute it. So what do they do? Admit Jesus is real and become Christians? Not quite.
Verse 11: "Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
They hatch a plot against Stephen, to have a basis to accuse him. These men begin spreading the word that Stephen is teaching blasphemy.
Have you ever had someone stir up gossip about you? Or speak evil things against you? It’s not fun. But it’s something we can expect will happen to us as Christians. Pray for the people who do this against you. God may move in their hearts to change them. And better yet, you may learn to forgive them, and even love them.
Next, verse 9: "Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.”
The spiritual battle heats up. Opposition comes. The Synagogue mentioned here, the Synagogue of the freedmen, was made up of Hellenistic Jews. They must’ve noticed one of their own, a Hellenistic jew preaching the gospel in Greek, and decided they needed to stop him. It’s also possible that Stephen used to be part of the freedmen and left to follow Jesus. Hard to say for certain. But apparently Stephen was engaging in consistently sharing the gospel, and they began to debate him.
Next, verse 10: “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.”
They could not stand up. They tried their very best to out debate him, but they couldn’t. The Holy Spirit spoke freely through Stephen, and wisdom came out of his mouth from the Spirit. And I had to ask myself, as I was reading verse 10, how can that happen?
Does the Holy Spirit just by default speak through Christians all the time? Not in my experience. It takes a particular attitude of the heart and mind to have this occur.
But how? First, wisdom. We have three main books of the Bible that are considered wisdom literature: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. They deal with where the rubber meets the road: practical application of God's truth in the world.
The collision of a sinful world with the purity of God creates many complex, paradoxical, and difficult situations that we’re called to navigate as Christians. How can we navigate them successfully?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As we fear God, we are drawn toward His way of doing things. Then we study and learn the word of God, and this gives us a framework for how to live our lives. We gain wisdom from the word of God, and apply it to our lives.
But, this equation is completed by adding the factor of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the Holy Spirit is following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The more we are filled with the wisdom of God from scripture, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with as far as leading us and guiding us. If we know numerous scriptures, the Spirit can bring them to mind in certain situations. We learn to follow the Spirit’s leading, and when this is matched with wisdom from the scriptures, it makes an unstoppable combination.
The heart of a Christian who has trained their mind on the scriptures has wisdom, and this wisdom is a beautiful place in our heart for the Holy Spirit to be seated in glory, because our body/soul/spirit is the temple of God. Then the Holy Spirit guides us to apply situationally the wisdom of scripture.
Wisdom is like having the guidebook with us, and the Holy Spirit is like having the Guide with us. The guidebook is helpful for the Guide to point to and say yes, in this situation, this is the best way to respond. Stephen walked in this powerful Spirit-wisdom mentality.
The wisdom of the word matched with the leading of the Spirit within Stephen meant he could hear the word he had stored in his mind, and how to apply it situationally by the Holy Spirit.
So they couldn’t say a thing against Stephen, he’s proving to them that Jesus is the messiah, and they can’t refute it. So what do they do? Admit Jesus is real and become Christians? Not quite.
Verse 11: "Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
They hatch a plot against Stephen, to have a basis to accuse him. These men begin spreading the word that Stephen is teaching blasphemy.
Have you ever had someone stir up gossip about you? Or speak evil things against you? It’s not fun. But it’s something we can expect will happen to us as Christians. Pray for the people who do this against you. God may move in their hearts to change them. And better yet, you may learn to forgive them, and even love them.
Next, verse 12: “So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law.”
These men begin spreading their evil agenda everywhere. The amazing rise of Stephen, the signs and wonders, are countered by a rise of persecution. Lies spread, outrage grows, and soon the leaders find out.
I’ve seen this happen before. Lies and controversy spread quickly, and soon the person being slandered is brought before the authorities. So it was with Stephen.
Verse 12b: “They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.”
An outright controversy is taking place, demonic in origin. We have a spiritual conflict taking place. So Stephen, this young man stands in the chamber of hewn stone that we talked about last week, before the 71 leaders of the nation.
It says next, verses 13-14: "13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 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.”
This is somewhat similar to the trial that Jesus endured, many false witnesses were brought forward there as well. I can’t imagine how difficult this must’ve been for Stephen; lies so blatant.
They make two claims, first that Stephen was speaking against the temple and the law. And second, that Stephen was saying Jesus would destroy the temple and change the customs of the oral tradition. These were all lies.
Verse 15 says, “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
They are all staring at Stephen, and they notice Stephen’s face begins to appear like the face of an angel. An angel is often described in scripture as being like lightning, very bright.
Stephen’s face shines before the Sanhedrin. This is clear evidence to them, that Stephen is bringing the words of God to them.
Only three times in scripture do we see someone’s face shine. First, Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai after meeting with God. Second, Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. And third, Stephen.
For a moment, I want to bring us back to the mount of transfiguration, because I believe it points us to what was happening with Stephen in this moment.
From Matthew 17:1-5, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
Like we talked about at the beginning, our walk with God can be like stepping out onto a henceforth unknown path. But if we dare to believe, we can reach to new heights with the Lord. As we grow in maturity in him, we find higher and higher levels of spiritual growth. On the mount, Jesus’ shines and God tells them to listen to Jesus.
Similarly with Stephen, God makes his face shine, to say, this is my servant, listen to him. Imagine being so close with God that your face begins to shine as you speak about him, wouldn’t that be amazing?
So as we conclude today, I want to challenge you, how can you begin to rise in your relationship with God the way Stephen did? He was full of the Spirit and full of wisdom. Which do you need today? Ask the Lord to help you dare to believe something you used to think was impossible. He will meet you there and guide you up the heights, just as he did for Stephen, an average human, touched by God.
