Acts 7:54-8:1
Last week we looked at Stephens defense before the Sanhedrin. Stephen used the history of the Jewish people, which the members of the Sanhedrin were so proud of to convict them of the very crime he was on trial for. He caps off this attack with cutting accusation that they did not keep the Law that was so precious to them.
This accusation went to the very heart of what they believed. They had elevated the Law to such a height that in some ways it was their god. Stephen’s approach to them was harsh and direct. This stands in direct contrast to Peter who always offered them a way out in is sermons. Peter let them claim ignorance of what they were doing, while Stephen pointed out that they of all people should have known better. The very prophets whom they now held highly and whom their fathers killed predicted the coming of Jesus so the members of the Sanhedrin were with out excuse.
Without question, what Stephen said to them was very direct and offensive. Today in our politically correct society we do not like being offensive. We like trying to be nice, and think of nice ways to say things so that we do not offend. We try to find ways to be kind to everyone, and put on a nice smile like the world is okay. This all sounds good, but there is a critical problem with it.
The problem is simply that the Christian message is very offensive. The reality of what the Bible teaches is that either you are a real Christian, or you are going to suffer in Hell for eternity. The Bible also teaches that people are basically bad and need saving from their evil lives. This means that no matter how good your intentions are, no matter how good of an organization you may be part of, if your not a Christian you are going to Hell. There are no other options; it is truly all or nothing. Jesus himself clearly states that you are either with him, or against him (Matthew 12:30). Stephen understood this truth and made no attempt to hide it or sugar coat it.
The Sanhedrin was obviously, and understandably very angry in response to Stephen’s attack. Their anger is very apparent in the descriptions of the scene. Stephen however is very calm while the crowd rages around him. The text tells us that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. The tense of the verb translated as “being” suggests an ongoing and continuous action, not a completed one. Stephen was able to withstand this most gruesome of trails because he was continually with God and following God. Stephen could not have done what we read he did unless he has lived his life for God, and spent time with God long before knowing he would be on trail. It’s the times spent with God in study, prayer, or worship that prepare you for the very real trails that will come in your life.
Being full of the Holy Spirit Stephen looks towards Heaven and is granted a glimpse into what is going on up there. He describes what he sees for the crowd, which further infuriates them. What he sees is the “Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” This is very problematic for the Sanhedrin because Jesus told them that this where he would be. So now they could either admit they had been wrong, or they would have to kill Stephen.
There is an interesting detail in this scene. That is this is the only place in scripture that speaks of Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Everywhere else He is seated. When one thinks about it, when a person has completed all his tasks he will often sit down some place. While there is yet more work to be done he is often standing. That means we could take this passage to mean that Jesus had some more work to do, which is now complete. Another option, and the one favored among commentators is that Jesus stood to welcome Stephen in to Heaven. The Bible does not tell us why, so all we can do is speculate.
After Stephen’s vision of Heaven the mob rushed him. The word used to describe this rushing is the same word that was used to describe the demon filled swine of Mark 5:13 as they rushed to their deaths. This was not the picture one would expect of the highly dignified rulers of the Jewish people. This was a lynch mod crying out for blood.
The Sanhedrin had no legal authority to kill Stephen (John 18:31) but they knew by now that they did not have to fear Pilate as they had successfully controlled him during Jesus’ trail. They do make some effort to follow their own law, as they take Stephen out of the city before they stoned him. The text also states that the “witnesses” were there, which is another attempt at following the Jewish law as Deuteronomy 17:7 requires the witnesses cast the first stone. We must assume that these are the false witnesses from Acts 6:13, who have now transitioned from merely lying to taking part in murder.
There is a lesson in this, one that should serve as a warning to everyone, Christian or not. The witnesses here went from merely misrepresenting the facts about what Stephen said to actively helping to kill him. The Jewish leaders when from allowing John the Baptist to be killed, to attempting to discredit Jesus, and finally to demanding Rome execute him. From there they moved to beating Peter and John, and now we see them killing Stephen. In both cases we see that the sins started small and grew.
If we think back to the Old Testament story of King David, we can see this same pattern there. He starts off by skirting his duties to go lead the troops. Next he is watching a neighbor’s wife sunbath and that leads to a series of events that end up with King David ordering the murder of her husband, the death of David’s children and a rebellion in the kingdom. In our current text the Jewish leadership will soon move from this one murder to an open and widespread attack on anyone that claims to be Christian.
The pattern that we see here is a simple one. Small missteps lead to bigger missteps. It is not the normal case that a person is going through life, doing everything perfect and then falls in to some big sin. Instead what happens is tiny little comprises, and so-called white lies, start to pile up. Over time each little comprise leads to a little more compromise. This continues to build until suddenly you find yourself doing something that not that long ago you would have not even conceived of. In the same way that a river slowly brushing away at rocks can eventually carve a canyon, tiny compromises can destroy a person.
This lesson should serve as a warning to us. We put up protections against the “big crimes” in our lives, and that is a good thing. What we need to also do is watch for the tiny compromises that creep in to our lives. These tiny little compromises will eventually carve away at the protections from the “big crimes” so that we not only risk destroying our own lives and the lives of those close to us, but also destroying our witness for Christ.
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