Acts 6: 8-15
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I can’t call myself a Beatles fan. Not because I don’t like them, but because I know what a true Beatles fan is like. A true Beatles fan doesn’t only know the hits, they know the history, the relationship dynamics within the band, the evolution of the music itself. For example, I know a little about John Lennon or Paul McCartney, but a true fan can tell you, with great depth and passion, all about George Harrison. George, they’ll say, is the often-overlooked genius of the four, the true innovator and technological pioneer in the group. Controversially, some even argue that George was the best songwriter of the bunch. Visibility and popularity can sometimes overshadow influence, even the great George Harrison going underappreciated at the height of Beatle-mania, never mind poor old Ringo.
When thinking about the New Testament, we might be able to riffle off a few popular characters, Jesus, obviously, superseding them all. Next, we might think of Peter, team captain of the twelve disciples, Paul the apostle, Mary Magdalene, John the beloved or others. But our familiarity with New Testament characters, if we had any to begin with, can get a little foggy after that. We relate to the New Testament as we might some popular musical group. We know some of the hits, a couple of iconic members, and that’s about it. Delving further into Acts we discover more. Important and visible as Peter or Paul are, one of the most influential figures in “the band” is Stephen. What’s so important about Stephen?
Stephen features mostly in Acts 6 and 7, mentioned just couple of times later. We know very little about Stephen and yet he’s profoundly influential in Luke’s record. Here’s a few clues which might pique interest in his influence. Stephen is recorded in Acts as the first of the believers beyond the apostles to defend the gospel publicly. Up until Acts 7 only Peter’s speeches are recorded, next comes Stephen’s. Also, in a book where speeches are key to its main themes and main points, almost out of nowhere, Stephen’s is the longest speech in all of Acts (longer than any of Peter’s or later any of Paul’s). The speech is not only long, but the ideas it holds appear deeply inflammatory, sparking such rage in Stephen’s listeners that they skip any due process through the Roman authorities, take the law into their own hands and murder him themselves. Stephen is the first Christian martyr. The first individual recorded as killed because of Jesus, since Jesus himself. Add to all this that Stephen’s words at his death are strikingly similar to Jesus’ words at his death, and Stephen becomes a strange, instrumental figure in the book of Acts. We’ve already heard plenty from Peter and we’ll see much of Paul to come, but there is more to Stephen than we may realize.
Over the next three weeks we’ll study his short but sharp impact. I’ll share something of an introduction today, and in the following weeks Rikk and Kirsten will share what made Stephen’s message so controversial and powerful.
Who is Stephen?
Let’s start by asking what made Stephen so influential. Well, the most important thing about Stephen, according to Acts, has little to do with Stephen at all. We’ll come to that shortly.
We first meet Stephen because of a problem in Jerusalem’s first Jesus’ community which already numbered in the thousands at this point. In Acts 6 we learned they needed to set up a kind of equitable feeding program for those among them in need because some folks were being overlooked on the bases of cultural difference. This was not simply a growth challenge in the new community, or a conflict to be managed, but a threat to their unity. The danger was being distracted by their difference rather than remaining unified under Jesus. The solution was to refocus the community by choosing seven individuals to help manage and meet the need, and Stephen was one of them. He’s likely not from Jerusalem originally, but is Greek speaking, which is to say he’s probably relocated from somewhere in the wider Greek world, though by heritage an Israelite. This is likely one of the reasons he was chosen to help with the feeding program.
But beyond the cultural ties which suits him for serving the need, Stephen features prominently in Acts 6 and 7 for a singular reason. He’s not one of the twelve, and unlike Paul we’re not told he has status or training among Israel’s elite. As mentioned earlier, the most important thing we’re told about Stephen has little do with him at all.
At the first mention of his name we hear, “they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (6.5) This is in addition to what was already a prerequisite to serve as one of the seven leading the feeding program. In Acts 6.3 we read that the seven selected should be known to be “full of the Spirit and wisdom”. Let’s take a moment to notice that the solution to this community problem came not first from shrewd conflict management, but an insistence of the Spirit’s prominence in the lives of those given to serve. As the community was in danger of cultural division, the solution came from re-focusing on what had united them in the first place.
Stephen is chosen to serve. And in a matter of just a couple of verses the defining mark of his character is clear. He’s full of trust in the LORD, and full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. He’s even singled out among the seven particularly, highlighted not because of his leadership acumen, social status, age, rank or training. Stephen is highlighted because of his trust in God and because he is full of the Holy Spirit. Hot on the heels of that, Luke, the author, adds more:
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
So, Stephen was already noted as being full of wisdom, trust, full of the Spirit, and now full of grace and power, which translated to signs and wonders. He may have been selected to meet a practical need in the church, but what makes him stand out, even beyond the other seven selected, is the power of the Holy Spirit at work through him.
There’s a first lesson for us today. Notice there is no division made between Stephen’s administrative commissioning within the church and the power of the Spirit in which he walks. It’s all a life in the Spirit. We might break up the practical and the powerful, but Acts doesn’t. For the first believers the Spirit isn’t tiered or limited to position. Believers all get the Spirit and then apply themselves to various kinds of service, as it’s the Spirit who fills in order to serve to begin with. What makes Stephen stand out is not his position or gifts, but the power clearly at work through him.
This is crucial for us to grasp as believers today. A church is not a community organized, ultimately, around pecking order or status. We are one in Jesus’ name, and we all have access to his Holy Spirit. In other words, whether we’re singing on a worship team, serving in the nursery, bringing a sermon, making coffee or hosting a Life Group – we don’t get more of the Spirit because of our position or role. And we needn’t worry about what role we play or position we think we have or should have in the community. It’s not about position or politics, but the Spirit’s life and power at work among us.
What’s especially clear in Stephen’s story is that true kingdom influence appears only to come through genuine Spirit power. Talented or experienced in various areas of service though some may be, it will be Spirit who makes the difference, not our proficiencies.
9 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.
Next Luke tells us that people of a similar background to Stephen, folks who were Jewish but Greek speaking, had a problem with him since he’d joined the new believing community. Notice this is the first instance the believers get push back from beyond Israel’s high council, as the opposition comes from a synagogue in Jerusalem, a smaller house of worship. As the gospel spreads it was disrupting things increasingly in the city.
10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Count with me. That’s the third mention in short span about the role of Spirit in Stephen. Not once, not twice, but three times Luke indicates how powerfully Stephen walked in the Spirit.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
As is a pattern in Luke and Acts from those opposing Jesus and his gospel, these folks resort to shady methods. They reduce and twist Stephen’s message to land him in hot water. To stir up the people and get the high council involved again, Stephen must have be making waves. In the following two weeks Rikk and Kirsten will unpack their accusations before the high council and Stephen’s staggering response.
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Before coming to Stephen’s speech next week, we’ll pause here on this strange image. Like the apostles before him, Stephen has been dragged before the high council with accusations aimed to ruin him. As Stephen stands before the most powerful men in Israel, Luke adds an otherworldly note: “his face was like that of an angel”. What on earth could that mean? A couple of clues. First, it evokes Moses’ face after he’d come down from Mount Sinai and spoken with the LORD. It also carries echoes of Jesus’ face at the mount of transfiguration.
Second, based on the accusations against him, that he speaks against the Law of Moses and the temple, the writer is hinting that Stephen is about to say something incredibly important about both Israel’s relationship to the Law and its place of worship. What’s the place of the Mosaic law in light of Jesus? And what’s the place of the temple in light of Jesus? As mentioned, Stephen’s response is the longest and arguably most pivotal speech in Acts. Join us next week as we learn more.
Transfigured
Let’s focus today, however, on a singular point, and that is the only thing we ever really learn about Stephen which makes him stand out. We know he’s a Greek speaking Israelite chosen to help manage the feeding program. But what makes him truly influential? Three times Acts tells us. Stephen is significant because of his trust in the LORD, and the role of the Holy Spirit in his life, which translated to undeniable power.
As modern people, we are very interested in what makes us significant or influential. The data grows yearly, the research rapidly commercialized for mass consumption. In the past decades there were books, seminars and programs developed to help us discover our significance and build up our influence.
Today, we’re blending psychology, sociology and neuroscience with almost real time case studies. We’ve got personality tests coming out of our ears. Birkman, Strength Finder, Enneagram, DiSK, Myers-Briggs, birth order theory. You name it, we’ve got it; every kind of tool to help harness what makes us special or add value. We’ve now added podcasts, micro-learning platforms and life coaches into the mix. We’re obsessed with what makes us unique, gives us an edge, leverages our potential for influence. And most recently we’re rushing to develop our proficiency with AI lest humanity itself be swept aside into complete irrelevancy.
We pair it all with drive, an obsession with a super-human work ethic. Know yourself, play to your strengths, apply the latest data-proven focus techniques and productivity methods to get the most and the best out of yourself, your relationships and your business every day. Build healthy habits, exercise, journal, breathwork, see a therapist, not too much screen time, vitamins, electrolytes, plenty of fiber, sunlight, cold plunge, and don’t forget to plug in your salt lamp.
So much of it is fine. So much of it is helpful. But so much of it is also so relentlessly focused on us. Even believers can become so obsessed with ourselves that we begin to believe that our lives, maybe even the fate of the world and the kingdom of God, is all on us.
We know precious little about Stephen. He left no letters, no disciples, no model to follow. We don’t know his personality type, whether he was an introvert or extrovert, his IQ, EQ or educational background. We can’t even be sure about his spiritual gifts! (You mean to say Stephen didn’t take a spiritual gifts test? How did he ever make an impact?!) All we know about Stephen, the entirety of his influence was marked by the power of a person beyond him – the Holy Spirit coursing through his life. The Scriptures tell us the most important thing about Stephen wasn’t Stephen at all. It was the Spirit of Jesus in him.
Now, I love the research, the data, the personality tests. I’m a certified coach myself. There’s a place for that stuff. But I only exist on this planet to begin with because of the breath given me by my Creator. I am beginning to wake up to the reality, that nothing can replace the grace and power of God’s Spirit in me and through me.
Our community is full of incredibly gifted, clever, hardworking people. Some among us are global experts in their fields. Collectively we’re probably about as rich, smart, innovative and hard working as they come. Is that what we’ll settle for? Or, all of that aside, could we be a people most of all marked by Holy Spirit? People with such trust in the Lord, such grace, wisdom and power, that if someone ever bothered to write about us, the overriding highlight would be the fullness of the Spirit from which we lived.
Stephen is a special New Testament figure. But the most impressive thing about him is the fullness. That same Spirit is at work in us today. Stephen isn’t some unattainable example, but an inspiration, directing us to the feet of Jesus. His life dares us to welcome the fullness of the Holy Spirit too. That our lives, our faces, might also be transfigured.
Luke Knight 