September 21, 2008

Dr. Ron Sumners

Stephen’s Sermon

Acts 7:1-60

Following the sermon, the pastor stood at the back of the church, shaking hands with the people as they left. As one man shook hands, he looked intently at the preacher and said, “Powerful sermon, preacher; thoughtful, well-researched. I can always see myself in them…and I want you to knock it off.”

Today we are going to look at the only recorded sermon of Stephen. In this sermon, God confronted some religious people with some things that He wanted them to change.

Stephen’s sermon hit too close to home and they certainly saw themselves and they got so upset that they stoned the preacher to death. I have had many folks through the years to say, “Preacher, you really stepped on my toes.” I have yet to have anyone try to stone me to death! Maybe I just haven’t preached with enough conviction. Or maybe there is such a group that I don’t know of. The preacher is sometimes the last to know.

I believe that all of us will see ourselves in this sermon and we too will have a choice, we can stone the messenger or we can open our hearts and minds to what God wants us to hear.

Let’s pray that God will open our hearts and minds to His illumination rather than just to the words of this sermon.

Acts 7:2-8 talks about Abraham’s experience with God. (Read Acts 7:2-8).

God was with Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia. God was with Abraham in Haran. God was with Abraham in Palestine. God was with Abraham wherever he went, even though he had no building to worship God in. God gave Abraham the custom of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with him in a foreign land. God made a covenant with the descendants of Abraham.

Acts 7:9-19 tells us that God was with Joseph. (Read Acts 7:9-19).

God was with Joseph while he was in slavery in Egypt. God was with Joseph while he was in prison in Egypt. God was with Joseph while he was the governor of Egypt. God was with Joseph, even though he had no building to worship God in.

Read Acts 7:20-43.

God was with Moses in the desert. God was with Moses as an infant, floating in the river. God was with Moses while he was growing up in Pharaoh’s house. God was with Moses while he was in Midian and on Mount Sinai. God was with Moses and Israel throughout the Exodus and their wanderings in the desert. God was with Moses even though he had no building to worship God in.

Read Acts 7:46.

God was with David as he ruled the nation of Israel in Palestine. David wanted to build God a Temple, but God would not allow him to do so. God was with David even though he had no building to worship God in.

Read Acts 7:47.

God allowed Solomon to build a Temple for His worship. God was with Solomon as he ruled the nation of Israel. Stephen was making it clear that the Temple was something his father, David, wanted to build. God was with Solomon with or without a building!

Read Acts 7:48-51.

The summary of Stephens study of Old Testament was that The Most High God does not dwell in houses made by men. That is still true today. Stephen adds a quotation from Isaiah 66:1-2, that actually comes right out and states the point that he’s been making. It says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ He is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

The religious authorities knew full well that Stephen was addressing them as ones who were not humble or contrite in their spirit. They were haughty and arrogant. This is one of the reasons that the religious authorities had come from all over the world to argue with Stephen. When Stephen was teaching this stuff about God not living in Temples, it infringed on their territory. They had a racquet going where they had a corner on religion. It is clear that these religious people were not humble and they ignored the parts of the scripture that they didn’t like! They certainly were not teaching Isaiah’s word from God.

This sermon of Stephen is recorded in the New Testament. What God was saying through Stephen was that He wanted people to come to Him in a different way. He wanted their heart not the sacrifice of animals and ritualistic ceremonies. In Isaiah 1:14 God says, “I hate your new moon festivals and appointed feasts. They have become a burden to me.”

Stephen was telling the people that God was doing a new thing through Jesus Christ. He was also telling the people that God had never dwelt in a building – the Temple or any other. God doesn’t care for our rituals and buildings if he does not have our hearts. Circumcision counts for nothing if we are not circumcised in our hearts. Paul talks about this later in the New Testament, but the sermon from the first Christian martyr begins the theme!

Acts 7:51, Stephen says, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!” He called these incredibly religious people, hypocrites. Jesus did the same thing earlier. Stephen was rebuking people for resisting God while professing to worship Him. Stephen is telling them that they could circumcise eight-day-old boy babies all they wanted, but that would get them no closer to God if they did not realize that that act was symbolic of giving everything to God. They could obey every jot and tittle of the law but if God did not have their heart, it was of no profit to them. What God wants is the fruit produced when we give our hearts to Him. He wants our hearts, not some religious ceremonies and rituals.

Acts 7:51 tells us, “You are just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit.” Unwillingness to let go of traditions and rituals is quenching the Holy Spirit! Unwillingness to let go of buildings is quenching the Holy Spirit.

I see five lessons we need to understand from Stephen’s sermon.

#1. God does not live in man-made buildings. A building is not a bad thing, it can be a great convenience, but it does not mean that a church dwells inside. There are many churches around the world that have no building at all. I remember several churches in Nigeria that were just meetings under a shade tree in a village. Were they any less a church than Meadow Brook Baptist? No! A church is the people! When Jesus said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church…” He was talking about the statement of Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” The church exists wherever a group of people believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and shares that message with the world.

Meadow Brook Baptist is a church, not because we have a fine building, but rather because we have people who believe in Jesus Christ and attempt to fulfill the Great Commission. God dwells in the human heart not in a building, whether we are talking about the Temple in Jerusalem or a red brick columned edifice on Main Street USA! Does God live in your heart?

#2. When you have given your heart to Jesus and no longer resist the Spirit, then wherever you stand for Jesus is Holy Ground! Stephen shares in Acts 7:33 God’s words to Moses: “Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.” That holy ground can be a church building. It can be where you work. It can be the ball field. It can be the school. It can be your home!

The religious leaders of Stephen’s day had turned the temple into a special place where God lived. We have done much the same in our day. If I were young and could start a new church, I think one of the first premises I would present to the membership is that we never build a building. I know how ridiculous and idealistic that sounds.

Look at our budget. How much of the money given for the kingdom goes for the provision and upkeep of the physical plant? It is a sizable percentage of our budget. What if we used rented or donated space for our worship and actually used money not used for a building and all the related expense to actually spread the Gospel? Why do we desire a physical structure so much? If we can convince ourselves and others that the church building, made by human hands, is the Holy Ground of God, we don’t have to take God home with us! We can do anything we want as long as we are not in the church building. Some of you use language outside this building that you would not think of using here. My friend, if you are a Christian, wherever you stand is holy ground!

#3. When God wants to change things, you can destroy the messenger, but you cannot kill the message. In Acts 7:52-60, Stephen tells the people that the prophets were persecuted. And he was also killed after he made this pronouncement.

Notice the spiritual maturity of the religious leaders, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. They covered their ears and yelling at the top of their lungs they pushed him and stoned him to death.

Stephen was killed by a bunch of immature religious leaders who were more concerned for their status quo than they were the truth. Saul stood and witnessed and gave consent to their action. God had to eventually strike him blind before he could see that Stephen was right. God used him to be the apostles to the Gentiles. The one who most hated the gentiles and stood for blind obedience traditions of the law, became the one who encompassed the world to take Jesus to non-Jews. What a miracle God worked. They killed Stephen, but the message lived on.

#4. People who cling to religious habits without surrendering their hearts will resist the Holy Spirit when He moves! Acts 7:51 says, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”

The message that Stephen was giving was that God was doing something new through Jesus. The old wineskins were not adequate to hold this new revelation from God as Mark tells us in his second chapter.

#5. Religious observance is no substitute for wonder-filled worship. That was true in the days of Stephen and is still true today. If we make observance of custom and ritual the standard, then judgment and accusation rule. There will almost always arise a group who proclaim their interpretation of a certain ritual as the “right” one. So, unity is destroyed and the work of the Gospel is hindered. Amazement and wonder are lost and the function of the church degenerates into useless debates over who has the right interpretation of doctrine. God forgive us that sin when we live in a lost and dying world.

Stephen did not convince his audience that day. They killed the messenger. However, the message lived on. It still will if we understand what the church is and are faithful to proclaim Christ to the world.