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It's about time to kick off.

by James Sparrow  
2/07/2014 / Writing


But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.Acts 7:55-56

The character of Stephen is famous as being the first Christian martyr recorded in the pages of the Bible. His short career in public ministry was met with a rather unruly and some what vicious end, as he was stoned to death by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. This tragic and unwarranted event, was noted by the writer of Acts for being the spark that set off the Jewish persecution of the Christian sect, known as 'the way', causing many of the professing followers of Jesus to flee from the city and out into the Hellenistic world. It is also credited as the event that began the conversion of the most gifted and zealous of Pharisees, who would go on to become the most well known and celebrated author of over half the New Testament.

We don't know that much about this young and faith filled man, Stephen. We do know he was a man filled with the Spirit and that he had a heart to serve the poor. His first mention appears in Acts chapter 6, when due to a dispute arising between the widows of the city concerning the daily allocation of food, the Apostles pick seven young men to make sure that the food is distributed fairly and equally amongst the hungry. Stephen is one of the seven, who is prepared to role up his sleeves and get involved in a ministry that lacks any real glamour or prestige, which tells us something about the strength of his character. We read on about how through the ministry of this young man, God worked many miracles, signs and wonders amongst the people, which ultimately caused him to become a threat to the established religious system in Jerusalem. Stephen is arrested after an argument with a group of Hellenistic Jews, who cannot hold a candle to him in debate, which is understandable because Stephen's wisdom is being supplied by the holy Spirit.

Stephen's fate should have come as little surprise really! Jesus had prophesied of the reception that awaited those who would stand up in his name, 'they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name' (Luke 21:12).

So here Stephen finds himself, standing in front of the religious leaders of the temple, accused of sedition and being called to give an account of his actions. Quite a predicament and a situation that would require a seriously good and diplomatic explanation. However, Stephen, being lead by the Spirit, gave what was probably the most brilliant and yet inflammatory, exposition of the Old Testament scriptures ever spoken in the hearing of the most fervent students in the history of the Jewish nation. Stephen, a man with no Rabbinic credentials, essentially tells the most learned men in the land, that they have completely misunderstood the whole story of the people of God, the purpose and the mission that God called his people to and, therefore, were guilty of executing the Messiah, whom, they didn't even have the eyes to recognise when he turned up! You got to think, at this point, it's about time to kick off!

Somewhat inevitably, the reaction that Stephen gets is not good. In fact, Stephen gets dragged outside the city and bludgeoned to death with big rocks. Not the best indication that your sermon has been well received, but at least there was no mistaking their feelings on the points Stephen was proposing. It is here, in the midst of this heinous crime, however, that we come to the most interesting part of the story. As it's here that Stephen, in his last statement before being murdered, makes the following remark:

'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'.

Now you have to think about this in light of what the rest of the scriptures teach us about the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. In Hebrews, the author quite brilliantly expounds upon the function that Jesus serves as our great 'high priest'. You see Jesus, in his role as the divine agent of redemption, is both priest and the sacrifice offered for our sins. In fact, it was his blood that was the only substance that could not just atone for our sins, but actually remove them; washing them away forever. He was the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Once this act of redemption was achieved, he had no reason to carry on serving in the normal function of priest. The work was done, as he stated in the last words he spoke from the cross, 'It is finished'. As the writer to the Hebrews states:

'After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven'. (Hebrews 1:3)

In light of the fact that Jesus' mission was complete, there was nothing left to do, but take his rightful place seated next to his Father in glory. However, one could ask the following question, if Stephen says that he can see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, what is so important that it makes the son of God stand up?

I am sure that the calling of the people of God, the bride of Christ, the Church, is not merely to rock up on a Sunday morning, sing songs, give money, listen to some preaching, drink some tea, chat to some friends and go home. As I'm also sure that it's not enough for us to simply talk to our friends about the gospel, or put on a really good alpha course, or even have an excellent youth program and outreach team. All of those are brilliant and can serve as excellent indications that your church are actively involving themselves in the things of God, but Jesus called for us to be more, he called us to be his disciples. He told us that if we wanted to follow him, then we too would need to pick up our cross and follow him, to whatever place of self sacrifice we are called to go to, even if it meant an agonising death. Stephen, in the midst of his pain, with his dying breath, just like his saviour, cries out, 'father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing'. That's what gets the attention of our saviour!

When we fully reach the place in our lives where we are so abandoned to the will of God, that even in a place of misery and shame, that we can still show love and compassion to our persecutors, then we have entered into the fulness of what God has intended for his creation. We maintain the truth of who we are, divine reflectors of God, who can never be victimised by circumstance, who can never be beaten and dragged down into the gutter by the schemes of evil. Paul writes in Ephesians that:

'that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms'. (Eph 3:10)

It was God's plan that no matter what, the powers and the principalities would be shown the truth of who He is! A loving, forgiving and gracious God, who has compassion and mercy, who is never dictated to by anyone, but in His eternal wisdom, continues to be consistent in the way in which he conducts Himself. The Church is supposed to be the living, breathing embodiment of His Spirit and here is Stephen, finally fulfilling the potential that all humanity has, when in union with Jesus. Romans 8:29 says that God's intention for his people, was that they would 'be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters'.

God's intention was that there would be an entire race of people, who operated in the same way as Jesus. We are called not just to tell people about Jesus, but to go and be Jesus. We are called to bring light, hope and joy; to bring the very presence of God himself!

Stephen was top of the class! Let us pray that we can all begin to move in the same direction as this humble giant of the early Church.

James Sparrow is an academic and Pastor. He is currently living with his wife, Jemima, in Essex (UK). He is currently work on a book on the subject of practical, biblically based discipleship

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