When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground
their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the
Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing
at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I
see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Acts 5:54-56
Stephen was the first martyr of the
church (other than Jesus) and as he stood before an angry mob with rocks in
their hands, he was at peace. Stephen
had a vision of God in the midst of great personal danger and from the
scripture we can only imagine that at that moment he had no fear or anxiety,
but a profound sense of God’s presence and peace. Stephen spoke God’s word to those who were
gathered, he spoke prophetically and powerfully. The crowd chose to respond with anger and
hate, rather than to receive his words in faith. But Stephen boldly proclaimed the word and
gave complete trust that God would handle the rest. How can we develop this kind of trust? How can we have this deep and abiding sense
of God’s presence which produces peace? I believe the story of Acts gives us
clear picture of how this kind of faith journey develops.
As the apostles gathered and waited in
Jerusalem for Jesus’ instructions, they had no idea what the future might
entail. After the promise of the power
of the Spirit (1:8) is fulfilled in the Pentecost story (2:1-13), they began to
proclaim the word as the Spirit gave them ability. 3,000 people responded and the church was
formed, with the believers sharing all things in common and growing in faith,
by the power of the Spirit (2:37-47).
Peter then heals a crippled man in the name of Jesus (3:1-11) and
defends the proclamation of gospel before the religious leaders (chapter 3 and
4). Conflict then embroils the early
church as hypocrisy (5:1-11) and division (6:1-7) threaten to derail the unity
of the nascent believers. But the Spirit
interceded and provided ways forward which allowed the conflicts to be resolved
and for the church to continue to grow.
From this, the early church would have developed a profound sense of God’s
work in their lives. They would have
witnessed miracles, deliverance from danger, lives transformed, and new leaders
emerging. The early church was filled
with the presence and power of the Spirit and everyone would be aware and
attentive to it. From this emerged
Stephen, who was chosen from the Hellenists to be a leader, who as a witness to
the Spirit’s work and from the great storehouse of faith and trust goes forward
to boldly proclaim the gospel. Stephen
was not extraordinary and did not develop his faith overnight, but over time
the Spirit helped him discover his potential and embolden him to follow and
serve.
And so it is with us. We may not all be called to become martyrs of
the faith. But we all have a high and
holy calling in our lives. We are
created in God’s image; created for a purpose; created for something bigger
than ourselves. In order to get there we
must develop a deep and abiding faith in God.
We must allow the Spirit of God to lead us to places we would never go
on our own. We must trust that God’s
presence will surround us even in the midst of great adversity and danger. This kind of faith is transformational for
our lives and the lives of those we touch.
May God gives the courage and strength to trust God and develop into the
person we were created to be.
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