Brown's Daily Word 4-21-08

Good morning,

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for He reigns and rules. He is sovereign. Saturday, April 19, began the Passover. Next Sunday is Easter in the Orthodox Churches. One of the readings for Sunday, April 20 was taken from Acts 7:55-60. As we reflect on the life and death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, we can conclude that bad things happen to good people. Yet, our Lord is able bring out some thing good and winsome even from something that is tragic and brutal. He is able to transform tragedy into triumph.
What happens when someone dies? Quite often, the site of the remains of the person is marked with some sort of memorial. It may be a plaque or tombstone, or some other reminder that the body of one who once walked this earth is located at that place. Quite often these markers are inscribed with a brief sentence or two that sums up that person's life or contribution to humanity. I have included some samples of epitaphs for our edification,
"I told you I was sick!"

Ann Mann Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid But died an old Mann. Dec. 8, 1767
Here lies Johnny Yeast Pardon me For not rising
Sir John Strange Here lies an honest lawyer, And that is Strange. She always said her feet were killing her but nobody believed her. Under the sod and under the trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod: Pease shelled out and went to God. Born 1903--Died 1942 Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.

Death ultimately reveals who we really are. Consider the famous French philosopher, Voltaire, who boasted, “In twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear." Voltaire was proud, confident and cynical, but when he died, he cried in desperation, "I am abandoned by God and man! I give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months life. Then I shall go to hell and you will go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ!" In contrast, the moment of death also sometimes reveals spiritual beauty. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, died full of counsel, exhortations, and praise for God. His final words were, "The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. Farewell!"
Adoniram Judson, great American missionary to Burma, suffering immensely at his death, said to those around, "I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school, I feel strong in Christ."
Jonathon Edwards, dying from smallpox, gave some final directions, bid his daughter good-by, and expired saying, "Where is Jesus, my never-failing friend?” (R Kent Hughes. Acts: The Church Afire. [Wheaton, ILL: Crossway Books, 1996] p.102) Acts 6:8- 7:60 shows us the final day in the life of a man named Stephen. It reveals how he lived, what he said, and how he died. Stephen stood tall in his faith when it counted. “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. 10And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." In verse eight of this chapter we have been again introduced to Stephen, one of the seven men chosen by the church to serve in the ministry of the local church in Jerusalem, and one of the first deacons. The church obviously chose well, for he was a man of unusual personal spiritual strength. Luke described him as a man “full of faith and power.” Though he was not one of the apostles, he manifested the ability to perform “great wonders and signs among the people”(v. 8). Such a man would be a magnet to those in need and a target for those who opposed the church. Resistance arose from a special synagogue made up of Hellenistic Jews like Stephen himself. Luke tells us that even the most intellectual and gifted of the Jews leaders found themselves “not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (v. 10). Since they could not resist his argument, they arranged to have false witnesses who would bring charges of blasphemy against him. 12 "And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, 'This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.' 15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. Then the high priest said, 'Are these things so?' Stephen stood tall before the Council and he disabused the religious leaders of the fallacies under which they existed. He came down hard on the three pillars of their religion; the land, the law and the temple – three false bases for confidence before God. 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 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, 56 and said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!' 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 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. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 60 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.” The reaction of the Sanhedrin was, “when they heard this they were cut to the heart.” The Greek word for “cut to the heart” conveys that they were furious; it means “to saw asunder, cut in two.” The logic of Stephen’s argument cut them in two, causing them great pain and anguish. They were filled with pain but it was not the pain of conviction. They were not crying out, “What must we do to be saved?” They were in pain because they hated what Stephen was saying and they hated him for saying it. They were in such pain that they “gnashed at him with their teeth.”
Sadly, “gnashing of teeth” is the description that the Bible uses to describe what people will be doing in hell. These religious leaders were so agitated that they acted like wild animals in their animosity toward Stephen. In verse 57 we are told, “at this they covered their ears and yelled at the top of their voices, they rushed at him.” The force of the Greek is that the members of the highest court in the land, “wailed in erratic, wild, jeering shouts of anger and hostility.” The phrase “rushed at him” is the same term used to describe the legions of demons who went into the pigs and caused them to run into the lake and drown (Luke 8:33). When logic fails then stones will do! F.F. Bruce, in his commentary, tells us, “Four Cubits from the stoning place the criminal is stripped….The drop from the stoning place was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses pushes the criminal from behind, so that he falls face downward. He is then turned over on his back. If he dies from the fall, that is sufficient. If not, a second witness takes the stone and drops it on his heart. If this cause death that is sufficient; if not, he is stoned by all the congregation of Israel, until he is dead.” (F.F. Bruce. Commentary on the Book of Acts. [Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s Publishing, 1979] pp.170-171. 58 "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. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 60 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." Though it may seem that Stephen ended his life in defeat, because he did not live to see the fruit of his ministry, God revealed later that his life had borne great fruit. A man who was present at the stoning of Stephen, a man named Saul, never forgot the witness of Stephen’s life and his death. Saul, who was later renamed Paul, near the end of his life clearly stated that he had added his vote to the Sanhedrin’s death sentence upon Stephen (Acts 26:10). Undoubtedly, Stephen’s death was a cause of gnawing questions in the heart of Saul of Tarsus that would prepare him for his confrontation with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. I believe that when Jesus told Saul on the road to Damascus, “it is hard for you to kick against the goads,” (Acts 26:14) that one of the goads was the testimony of Stephen’s life. Death will ultimately reveal what each of us truly is. Stephen lived his last hours as Christ would and did. He died a martyr’s death as Christ did. He stood tall through the matchless grace of Jesus our Lord. If today were our final day, what would others write about us?” Would they say, “they stood tall when it counted”?
In Christ,
Brown
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."Jim Elliott