How can I love the unworthy?

“The Horrible Moment”

(Acts 7:51-60, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 11, 2011)

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

The Lord spoke through Moses at the dawn of the period in Israel's history when the Law was given, and He called God's beloved people “stiff-necked.” Almost 1000 years later the prophet Jeremiah was used by God to give them the same message. He also said that they were “uncircumcised” in their hearts. Stephen tells us what Moses and the prophets had recorded for centuries in their writings; that Israel would not hear and obey the Lord's voice in His Word. They resisted the Holy Spirit.

In former days when people resisted the words of Moses or the prophets, when they would not receive the truth that ultimately came from heaven and heaven's God, they did not appreciated being confronted by God's messenger. They resented the correction of the Lord through His appointed representative. They persecuted the prophets. When the Messiah came, this very tribunal examining Stephen had plotted to destroy the Righteous One. They accused the Lord Jesus of blasphemy and had determined that the sinless Son of God deserved to be put to death. They were guilty of the murder of Jesus and now they were ready to murder His servant Stephen.

They claimed to love the Law of God. They revered it as a gift delivered to them by heavenly messengers. Yet they did not keep it. This is why Jesus came. If people were so good at receiving God's law, what would have been the need for the cross? But He died for sinners.

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

Stephen's indictment of the Sanhedrin and his accusers from the Synagogue of the Freedmen was in the same Spirit as God's words through His earlier prophets. This was not a new message that should have been surprising to those who knew the Law and the prophets.

But now the Messiah had come. Not only had these leaders rejected God in person; they continued to persecute His followers. Even those listening to Stephen that day were enraged. They gnashed their teeth in their anger against this great man. What was it about this typical prophetic message that drove them to murder the messenger? He dared to tell them plainly what the cross tells us today. You have not attained favor with God through law-keeping of any kind. You are law-breakers, and you need another way to be right with God, since no one can be saved through observing the works of the law. This message filled them with a murderous rage.

55 But he, 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 he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

It is very difficult to love the hateful. Stephen showed us how to live and how to die as followers of Christ. First, he was full of the Holy Spirit. He had God in His soul, filling Him. The heart, mind, and will of God were filling the heart, mind, and will of Stephen. God knows how to love those who hate Him. If we want to learn how to do this, we need Him in us.

Second, Stephen gazed into heaven. He looked to heaven in order to gain the perspective that he needed in order to suffer as a Christian on earth. He knew the connection between heaven and earth according to the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms and the other sacred Hebrew writings. He knew this from the Word and from His experience. Heaven was relevant to Stephen.

Third, Stephen saw the glory of God. He saw that God was far above all the other beings in heaven and on earth. He saw the incomparable greatness of God in the excellence of His being. He saw His brightness as He rested upon His heavenly throne. He saw that God was great.

Fourth, Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand of the most glorious God. He saw the connection between the man of sorrows who died for Him and the God of glory who reigns over all. He saw that the Jesus of the resurrection was the right hand man of the Almighty. He knew that Jesus was with God and with him in this immediate battle to live and die as a Christian.

Finally, Stephen spoke out what he saw. He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” He gave verbal witness to what he knew to be the source of all His hope. The long expected Son of Man was reigning in the heights of heaven.

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

This record of what Stephen saw and what he said is a pattern for us. It is not the way to be applauded by people. It is the way to find divine strength to love the unworthy. This is the same strength that Jesus had when He came to die for you. He had the strength to love the unworthy. This is how Christians can live with heavenly power. They find the strength to love the unworthy from a place beyond themselves and then, shockingly, from within themselves. God in us...

The horrible moment had come. Stephen had spoken the Word that could direct His enemies heavenward through Christ. But they would not hear his words. They rushed together at him. They cast him out of the city. They stoned him. They killed him.

And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Through it all, a man was watching whose story would fill the great majority of the remainder of Acts. That young man Saul would be the apostle known as Paul. He would be the author of thirteen of the letters in the New Testament, many written when he was a prisoner because of his work in the Lord's service. He would suffer greatly for the cause of Christ, picking up the message that Stephen preached that day, the message that Jesus speaks in your hearing today.

59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen died that day as a man who knew that there was life beyond hatred. He knew Jesus as the resurrection man who could receive his spirit. He said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He prayed for the vicious unworthy mob that killed him as our Lord prayed for you when he died the death that we deserved. “Do not hold this sin against them.” Jesus prayed that for you. Won't you receive God's mercy and love the unworthy? Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. God calls us to hear His Word now and to receive it. Today, if you hear His voice, do not resist His Holy Spirit.

1. How did Israel treat the Old Testament prophets?

2. How did Israel treat the Messiah, the Righteous One?

3. Why were they enraged at Stephen?

4. Consider Saul, Stephen, and Jesus as presented in these verses.

OT Passage: Psalm 31:5 and Psalm 32