Speaking the Truth with Conviction and Clarity

Two weeks ago Pastor David started us in Acts 6 and for the exhortation today we are picking up the story of Stephen which begins in the second half of Acts 6.

Stephen enters into our story in Acts as the opposition is growing. If you remember, the opposition started not quite as aggressive as ready to kill. In Acts 4:2 “the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees” were greatly annoyed with Peter and John, which is a lot different than being so angry you’d kill someone. As the church grew and as more people started to believe in Jesus the opposition started to get jealous. In Acts 5:33 the rulers were enraged and they wanted to kill them on the spot, but Gamaliel calmed them down. You can see that the opposition is growing in intensity.

And now we enter a new day in Acts. We pick up the story in Acts 6:8. Stephen, an officer of the church, is doing great wonders and signs among the people. The rulers are jealous for the people. They want the people to follow them, not Jesus. So, Stephen doing great wonders among the people is not going to go over real well.

So what happens here with Stephen? He evidently spent time at the local synagogue. At this local synagogue in Jerusalem, not the temple, people came and studied the law and studied Scripture and used it as a place to teach and train the people in the ways of the Law of God. Well, Stephen shows up and he’s ready to teach as well, but has a different perspective on what the Scriptures teach. A debate ensues. And they, the teachers at the local synagogue, “rose up and disputed with Stephen.”

It’s at this point that things get serious real quick. Stephen gets caught up in this debate and instead of robust dialogue and disagreement and everyone goes home, the leaders of the synagogue start to twist Stephen’s words and start to make some serious accusations that Stephen is speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.

No doubt jealousy is at work here in their hearts. You can easily see that when the leaders could not withstand the wisdom with which Stephen was speaking, they must’ve looked foolish in front of the people. So instead of taking Stephen’s words to heart, and repenting, they instead go deeper into sin and stir up people against Stephen and they end up seizing him.

Stephen is facing death. Stephen is in the Supreme Court of the rulers of Judaism and they are ready to sentence him to death for treasonous blasphemy against God.

The teachers of the synagogue say “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 that Moses delivered to us.”

The place falls silent. They want an answer. The intense stares of many are all at Stephen. No one is there to help him. He’s alone in front of people who hate him.

Then the high priest speaks: “Are these things so?”

Stephen’s life hangs in the balance with the next few minutes based on what he says. Does he back down and soften his words and try to win over the crowd? Kind of schmooze the people to ease the tension? What would you do?

Or does Stephen see these men as the people who did kill Jesus and now if you’re Stephen, as you’re facing them – are you angry at them? Bitter? Are you going to fly off the handle yourself and become a loose cannon and yell at them incoherent accusations?

Stephen does neither. He calmly speaks Truth with conviction and clarity. In his last words, Stephen is giving the ultimate application of Scripture. He is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ from the whole Bible. And, he aims to help these people see their sin. Stephen is bold and courageous in this moment. So that’s the set up. That’s where we are at when we enter Acts 7.

So, how would you react in this situation?

Honestly, I don’t know how I would react. I haven’t faced persecution like that.

But we all face challenging situations throughout our day that tempt us to not believe in God. We’d rather ignore Him. We’d rather have him go away.

Or we face conversations where we’d rather kind of escape and walk away and go home and not bring up Jesus. We’d rather not talk about Jesus with our neighbors because it’s uncomfortable.

Stephen is a great example for us, but we often fall short. I want to use this time now to have a moment of silent confession where you can confess your sins either related to this or something else. Then I’ll pray, then I’ll do the assurance of pardon.

Father God, indeed we confess our sins, and you say that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins, on the basis of Jesus dying in our place. Thank you for hearing our prayers. In Jesus name, amen.

Assurance of Pardon

You have confessed your sins. You have acknowledged your iniquity. Therefore, by the authority of Jesus Christ, and as a minister of his gospel, I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Congregation: Thanks be to God!