God will win, often in ways that you never asked for...

“The Trial and Triumph of Faith”

(Acts 8:1-4, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 18, 2011)

1 And Saul approved of his execution.

Two of the most intriguing and important people in the Book of Acts were the preaching Deacon, Stephen, and Saul of Tarsus, who would become the Apostle Paul. They both seemed to have very important ties in the community of Greek-speaking Jews in Jerusalem. One, Stephen, was preaching the Christian message, and the other, Saul, approved of Stephen's execution.

At the beginning of Acts 8 they held completely different positions on the question of Jesus Christ. The question of Jesus was the most important question in Jerusalem in the year when Stephen was stoned to death. Stephen was completely convinced that Jesus was the ascended Messiah, the fulfillment of every Old Testament hope, the King of the Jews, and the Son of God. Saul was completely convinced that this same Jesus of Nazareth was an imposter, and that his followers, men like Stephen, were a scourge upon Judaism that needed to be eliminated.

Saul was watching the coats of those who put Stephen to death. He approved of this execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem,

The power of evil can be very formidable. It can appear to be unstoppable.

Perhaps there were some among Stephen's murderers who began to question their actions after the great man breathed his last. Had Stephen done anything wrong that was actually deserving of death? Had those who cast stones at him followed the right procedures in their mad rage against him? Were the demeanor, words, and actions of this Stephen so dangerous that his heart had to stop beating in order for Jerusalem to be safe?

If there were those who had these qualms of conscience, we have no testimony of their anguish from that day when he was killed. The evidence was contrary to this. The power of evil was not content with the elimination of only Stephen. Evil insisted that all Stephen's kind be stopped. Therefore a great persecution arose against the church of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.

… and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

There were two groups of Jews in Jerusalem at that point. Thousands believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Thousands more believed that He was not. The group that saw what Stephen saw was correct. Stephen had seen Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven's heights. Yet this right group that “saw” their hero Jesus in His position of heavenly power and authority were the ones who would be forced out of Jerusalem and treated like the defeated ones.

This is the trial of faith that has continued down to the present hour. “Jesus shall reign where'er the sun, doth its successive journeys run,” yet right now, we do not see everything in submission to the One who is the King of kings. See Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2. Christian Jews in Jerusalem were right about the power and authority of Jesus, yet thousands of them would be pushed out of the city. How could that be? If Jesus reigned did His people lose?

Yet the very trials that appeared to be our worst losses throughout history were used in our Master's hands in order to show His greatest triumphs. As Saul would later learn, the power of Jesus Christ is made perfect in weakness. See 2 Corinthians 12. The apostle Paul would boast in his weakness, and He would glory in the cross of Christ. The ascended Lord who saved us through the weakness of the cross had determined that his church would triumph in weakness.

2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

The losses that the church faced would be as real as the horror of the cross. Devout men with many tears would bury Stephen, a man full of grace and the holy Spirit who had been put to death by religious zealots who thought that they were serving the God of the Jews. These murderers would not receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The man who watched the coats would be spurred forward with more and more evil. He would go after the church, find them where they were worshiping in houses throughout Jerusalem. He would drag people out of those gatherings of worship. Men and women would be committed to prison as Saul plotted against the church and put his evil plans into action.

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Where is the victory? Is the Resurrection Man ruling over heaven and earth?

If you have the eyes to see it, you will find evidence of God's power in verse 4. Those who were scattered went about preaching the word. The apostles were left behind in Jerusalem for a time. God had other plans for the proclamation of the gospel. The time had come for the church to begin to do what Jesus had commanded before His ascension.

Remember the words of Christ at the beginning of Acts, words that the church did not understand: “You will be my witnesses.” They would find heaven's strength from heaven's King in the moment of their greatest weakness. They would be kept in the faith. Yes, they would be scattered, but rather than that violence serving the purposes of the persecutors who were trying to snuff out Christian Judaism, the very persecution that was such a trial of faith for the church would be the means that Jesus would use for the triumph of the message of the cross.

The word would not be limited to Jerusalem. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They needed a push in order to move forward with the command to make disciples of all nations. God used the enemies of the cross of Christ to give the push that would move the church out of the comfort of a placed that they loved. They would go to the rest of the region, Judea. The Lord would send them north to the Samaritans. Then in the greatest turnabout, he would use the man who hated Stephen, the man who was approving of Stephen's murder, to bring the message of the King of the Jews not only to synagogues all over Turkey and Greece, but even to Gentiles, and even to the capital of the empire in Rome.

The man who was putting everyone in prison would do some of his most important work while under arrest. He would even write these words about the trial and triumph of faith that would inspire the persecuted flock of Jesus throughout the centuries: “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

1. How does Saul respond to the death of Stephen?

2. What is the inclination of the church in Jerusalem after the murder of this great man?

3. How was it that the church was forced to move beyond Jerusalem?

4. What is the meaning and significance of this “preaching the word” that came about at this difficult moment?

OT Passage: Psalm 8