Scripture: Acts 7:55-60; Acts 6:1-4; Acts 6:8-10 Series: 2023
Opening a post-Easter Acts series asking ‘What do we do now?’, this sermon on Acts 7:55-60 presents Stephen, the deacon stoned for caring for widows and orphans and confessing Christ, as the model of true discipleship. Drawing on Wesley’s ‘The Almost Christian,’ the preacher argues that Christian faith is not mere decency or moral behavior but holiness rooted in the truth of the resurrection, calling the congregation to follow Jesus down a windy path even to the foot of the cross, immoderate in love.
Illustrations: following-someone-before-gps, boss-who-made-bad-decisions, trusting-the-boats-captain, wwjd-bracelets, wesley-almost-christian, wall-of-being-decent, teacher-learning-to-die
May 14, 2023
Discipleship
But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God’s majesty and Jesus standing at God’s right side. He exclaimed, “Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One standing at God’s right side!” At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul. As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, accept my life!” Falling to his knees, he shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Then he died. - Acts 7:55-60
One of the aspects of life that has been lost with the advent of navigation apps on our phones and in our cars, basically everywhere, is the act of following someone somewhere. Let us go back 15 years. You are in a group and someone says, “let’s go here.” And then another says, “Oh, let me just follow you.” Now, in the good old days, when this was done, some people would lead others in very different ways. Some people would drive in a very conservative manner if someone was following them; always mindful of the person behind them; never taking a yellow light; never turning without being seen. Others would drive in a seemingly more reckless way, always racing through the yellow light, always going a little step further. If you’re driving behind someone and they make a turn, and then they make another turn, and they make another turn to the point that you question where you are going to begin with, how much longer are you going to keep following that person? At some point you have to stop and reassess what you are doing.
The last days of Jesus’ life took a few turns that very few of his followers were expecting. First, the arrest and then the trial and the crucifixion; then the resurrection and his return. Imagine the disciples thought things would kind of just continue as they had been. It was great. And then it took another turn. At Pentecost, the Spirit descended on the church. New disciples were made. They met and shared with one accord, and then it took another turn. They realized that a group of people needed to be set aside to care for widows and orphans. They distributed food. They called these people deacons, which means servants, and they gathered a group of seven of them, and then the path turned again. Stephen, one of the first deacons, was offered a chance to deny Jesus, and he did not. And the Christian faith took another turn. Jesus, when he called his disciples, said, follow me. The word disciple means student. A disciple is one who follows another through whatever turn that happens. To be a Christian is to be a follower. In our world today, who wants to be a follower?
Series intro.
In the season of Easter, we’re going to take the time to look through the beginning of the Book of Acts where the disciples are left with the question:What do we do now? For Bee Creek United Methodist Church, that is the season that we are in: What do we do now? And as we worship together over the next few weeks, I want us to be praying and thinking through and responding actively to God’s movements as we not only ask this question, but answer this question, what do we do now?
Today, Discipleship.
I’m sure most of you have had bosses at some point in your life who made decisions that you disagreed with. You knew that it would turn out bad and it ended up turning out bad. If we look at both Jesus and Stephen, it seems like the decisions that they made turned out bad. Like let’s just look at it from a more objective perspective. Jesus comes, heals, preaches, loves, and they kill him for it. Stephen brings water to widows and orphans. They stone him for it. From the point of view of an every day citizen of Jerusalem, the decisions of Jesus and Stephen both turned out bad. They would have had a much more productive life if they hadn’t done such and such. If you’re on a boat together in some way, you want to trust that the captain knows where they’re going, what if they know where you’re going, but it’s not the place you think you’re going. That’s usually the issue with faith. God never promises we’re going anywhere save an end in God’s presence. Over and over again, throughout the gospels, Jesus says that there will be suffering and persecutions, there will be division, and struggle. And yet we selectively hear the comfortable aspects of the life of faith.
In the end, it doesn’t come down to whether we like it or not but is this true or not? Is Jesus the son of God or not? Did Jesus rise from the dead or not? Because if he didn’t rise from the dead, then none of it matters. And following him is just as good as following anyone. It’s a nice set of moral values to pass along: be kind, don’t steal, help people on the side of the road. But if Jesus did rise from the dead, and we’re in the season of Easter, so it should be present on our mind, if Jesus did rise from the dead, then discipleship looks different, following looks different. Most examples I’ve seen of following Jesus are much more of the moral leader-kind than of the Stephen kind. The What Would Jesus Do bracelets of my youth were about ethical behavior, not martyrdom. Sure, we have stories of Christians being persecuted across the world and that is dreadful. Remember, Stephen was a deacon. Stephen wasn’t an evangelist. Stephen wasn’t a preacher. Stephen was a deacon. Stephen was set aside to care for widows and orphans. He was ordained for this.
Acts 6 starts in this way.
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. 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. 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 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Stephen was the first one called. Then later in chapter six
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 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. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
The wonders and signs Stephen performed had to do with caring for widows and orphans. He was stopped because he was caring for widows and orphans. And when asked why he was doing it, he confessed the whole story of Jesus Christ. He starts with Abraham and tells the story of Israel and faith and meaning leading up to the promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
To follow Jesus is to rennarrate our lives in light of Jesus. This is what Stephen does in the face of the Sanhedrin. He doesn’t shy away. He was serving widows and orphans. The men in charge were offended by this and confront him and he doesn’t shy away. It isn’t about a series of truths or good morals. As one of my teachers once said,
Look, if you need a series of truths to assure yourself that Jesus has been raised from the dead, worship that series, don’t worship Jesus. So then you begin to see what a radical position you’re in because that means there isn’t any more primitive metaphysical claim than God, the father, raised Jesus from the dead, having previously raised Israel from Egypt. Now, that’s how you’ve got to learn to narrate the world. And that is no easy matter among a people who think that Christianity gives your life meaning. I mean, your life just isn’t that interesting. This is about learning to die.
Stephen was persecuted for living out his belief, for serving too much, for loving too much, for giving too much because Jesus rose from the dead, for being immoderate in his kindness, immoderate in his love because Jesus rose from the dead. He cared so much he was a threat to the civic order of the place. He cared so much for the widows and orphans. I think it also reminded the leaders that they weren’t caring about the forgotten of the city. There’s a way that that Stephen was stopped as much because he was a deacon as because he confessed Jesus Christ as God. They go together. You cannot separate it. Stephen wasn’t just trying to be a good person or find meaning in his life. He had the love of Jesus in his heart. He was trying to be holy. He was being set apart for God.
There’s a line that all of us reach when we’re just trying to be a good person. For some of us, the line is further than others. When we’re just trying to do good, we all hit a wall. That is Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhist, it doesn’t matter your religion, you’re all going to hit a wall of just being decent. The Christian faith is not about just being a good person because we all hit that wall.
John Wesley has this great sermon called the Almost Christian. It talks about the limits of just trying to be a good person. Going to church. Praying with your family. Giving to the poor. Doing the things. Wesley mentions how pagans do a lot of these things, and sometimes better than Christians.
He then compares the almost Christian to the altogether Christian. The difference is love and assurance. The love of God shed abroad on their heart and the assurance and confidence in Christ’s offering for us. This is seen with Stephen. He was confident enough in Christ’s love to offer mercy to even his persecutors at the moment of his death.
We should not be satisfied at the wall of being a decent person. I mean, we should try to get there and Lord knows a lot of us don’t even get there, but we should not be satisfied there. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, it doesn’t really matter. But if he did, we don’t have to be satisfied there. We can give more of ourselves to others. We can share more of our life with others. We can share more of our life with our children. We can give them more of a life than just keeping up with our neighbors, making sure we have the latest screens, the latest summer camps. Jesus called people together to do this thing called discipleship. It’s a communal act centered around the person of Jesus Christ, the sharing of his word, the offering of his body and blood. It’s not just a thing up here, it’s not just something you do at home. It’s not just something you do in a small group. It’s not just something you do at a breakfast. It’s not just something you do at a retreat. It’s not just something for the mountain. It’s not just something for the valley. It is for the gathered people to hear the word proclaimed, to share the body and blood of Jesus Christ and to go forth as students, go forth as followers, go forth as children of God.
Jesus calls us to follow him and that path is windy. According to the world, it is absurd. Why follow Jesus if that path ends up like Stephen or it ends up like the cross?
Let us have faith in the path Jesus has for us. Let us be willing to follow even to the foot of the cross. Let us follow not by just being a decent person. Let us seek out to be holy. May God empty us of all but love.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, you offer us not just life, but abundant life. Help us to follow up even when life turns, because we trust you more than life itself. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.