Stephen: 5 Important Lessons from an Ordinary Christian

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. You know, one of the outworkings of the gospel is that it will inevitably reorder your value system. Things that weren't important become important, and all of the other stuff kind of fades into the background. This is exactly what we find in the book of Acts as we continue our teaching series called Sent. And it's what we see in the life of an ordinary man named Stephen. He realized the value of the gospel and was willing to risk everything to preach it. It's because of common people like Stephen that the early church grew. Today we'll explore Stephen's ordinary life and his impactful ministry.

So grab your Bible and a pen and let's get started. So if you have your Bible and you want to take it out and open it or turn it on to Acts chapter 6, we are going to come today to the story of the very first Christian martyr. The very first Christian martyr, and in the story of this man, you are going to see the profile of the ordinary, if I could say that, the profile of the ordinary Christian man. This guy is not an apostle, he's not a church leader, he's just an average guy. But it is because of guys and girls like him that the church grew so quickly. You see, in case you can't remember what happened in Acts 1-5, by this point the church has become a huge movement. The Jerusalem church at this point is more than 10,000 people big at least. And that's all in one city, Jerusalem, the population of which could not have been more than 40,000 people. We know that from this point it's going to spread like crazy all around the world, so the question that you have to ask is, why is it growing like this? Kenneth Scott-Latorrette, who was a noted history professor at Yale University, said, never, in so short a time, has any other religious faith, or for that matter any set of ideas, religious, political, or economic, ever achieved so commanding a position in such an important culture without the aid of physical force or social or cultural prestige. Other movements spread by conquest or politics, but that's not true of Christianity.

They had no congressmen, they didn't have any actors, they didn't have any people of influence, they were a group of, if you will, blue-collar people that changed the world. How and why? The answer, in part, is the profile of the man that you're going to see today. Stephen has one principle that he lives by, one principle that makes him the kind of guy that's going to hold the church together when it's in real danger of fracturing, I'll show you that in a minute. He's one principle that causes him to help everything keep moving forward when the enemy is pushing with great strength against them. That one principle, I would say, has probably made him a lot of fun to be around. It's a principle that if you've ever met somebody like this, you recognize it immediately in them, that principle I would summarize in one statement, it's this, he said, it's not about me.

He knew from start to finish, you'll see this in his life, it's not really about me. Acts chapter 6 verse 1, now in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists, which refers to Jews that come from Greek cultural roots, the Greek word Hellas refers to the geographic region of Greece, so a complaint against the Greek cultural people arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Now, this is a pretty dangerous problem because there's an edge to it, isn't there? It's a racial problem. There's a group of people saying, you're prioritizing this group over here, over this group over here because of their cultural ethnicity. You see, I would say there are two problems with this complaint, one, they assign motives that they have no way of knowing. You see where it says, the text says, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews. In other words, they assumed that the Hebrews were leaving them out for racial or cultural reasons. Second, they never brought this to the apostles. When the text says a complaint arose, it implies there was this general murmuring and backbiting going on that finally surfaced.

There's a lot of conversations happening in small groups that were like, well, you know they don't care about us. Church, this is a significant threat because there is nothing that is used by Satan more effectively in a church than distrust and resentment. This is, by the way, Satan's third major attack on the church. Acts 4, Satan attacked it through a persecuting government. In Acts 5, he attacked it through the embezzling hypocrisy of one of its leaders, Ananias and Sapphira, his wife. Now in Acts 6, he pulls out his most insidious attack and that is he attacks it through an inward spirit of grumbling, distrust and backbiting and this might be the most serious threat that endangers the church.

In fact, this is a tad bit off topic, but you might want to jot this down. A spirit of grumbling and complaining kills more churches than persecution. They survive Acts 4 and 5 just fine.

Acts 6 threatens to undo them. Some of you have been from churches where you've seen this happen, have you not? It was not persecution that killed your church, it was a spirit of distrust and backbiting and murmuring.

Right, because that's just some of the cultures that we come out of. Some of you know all too well what it's like to be in a church where you saw this kind of distrust and murmuring destroy the church. Do you understand that when you speak evil of your brothers and your sisters in Christ, especially when you judge their motives, you are being used by Satan? And I'll tell you something that, there's a couple of rules that I live by, because I hate the work of Satan so badly.

You might think this is naive, you might think it's overreaction, but I think it's appropriate given how our enemy operates. Here are two of my life rules, I try to teach them to our staff team as well. Number one, always give people the benefit of the doubt in the church about their motives when you can. Until you prove to me that your motives are bad, I'm going to assume they're good. Right, so when I read your email, I'm assuming their motives are good, so I'm going to answer it as if their motives are good.

Number two, my second rule that I try to teach our team to live by, it's when you do it, you have a problem, always go straight to the source. Do you know how much disharmony you would avoid if you operated that way? So how did the church leadership respond?

Defensively? Oh, no you didn't. How dare you? Verse two, and the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, it's not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Four brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, and what they said, please, the whole gathering. Now please don't hear that as the apostles saying, this is beneath us. In fact, think about this, the fact that they had to call these extra leaders to do it when the load of widows got larger than it had been implies that the apostles had been the ones doing it in Acts one through five.

You see that? They were the ones that were doing it in Acts one through five. That's why they had to call in reinforcements when the load got larger. The apostles were doing that because they thought of themselves as servants.

They were followers of a man who had washed their feet. So when there were widows that needed to be taken care of in Acts one through five, naturally they assumed that's our job. But now they realize that the load is too heavy and it would consume their time. And they know that the greatest act of service they can provide the church is teaching the word accurately, seeking God's face for the will of God for the church in prayer and teaching other people to teach the word as well, right? They know that's the greatest act of service they can do. And so they've got to focus their time on that. They're not graduating out of service to some higher level.

They're just focusing on the most effective kind of service that they can give. But that means that somebody has got to do this other part of the church ministry. So they chose Stephen, verse five, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip and a bunch of other guys whose names are really hard to pronounce, verse six. Then they set these before the apostles and they prayed and lay their hands on them.

What's the result? Verse seven. And the word of God, instead of a church split, the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Here's a question. Why the specific mention of priests? If a great number of people are coming to faith, why single out this one group and comment on them?

I have a speculation that I think is accurate. You know whose job it was in the Old Testament to take care of poor widows? Priests. Now you've got an entire nation of people, the church, acting as if they're priests, doing the job that priests do. The priests, the Jewish priests, had been very antagonistic toward Jesus, had they not? They were the ones who led in Jesus' crucifixion. Now their hearts are changed from being antagonizers of Jesus to instead being believers in Jesus. How did they change? Was it because of some unbelievable apologetic sermon that Peter got up and preached where he defended the resurrection?

No. Their hearts were changed by seeing the church pour out itself in service to the poor around them. That's what changed the hearts of the antagonist. Verse eight. And Stephen, who was one of those guys full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Evidently, Stephen was personally involved in a lot of the conversions of many of these priests.

Well, these conversions, as you can imagine, cause an uproar. When the city council gets saved, that causes an uproar. So Stephen gets called before the other religious leaders, which is another group of priests, to answer for this. And in response, he preaches a sermon. That's going to be Acts chapter seven. Acts chapter seven. That's the longest sermon, by the way, recorded in the book of Acts, which kind of makes me laugh that the longest sermon in the book of Acts is preached by a lay person, not like a professional.

Right? Cause you always complain about how long I preach. One of you gets up here, it's going to be an hour and a half, I guarantee it, all right? But Stephen preaches the longest sermon in the book of Acts, and in that sermon, Stephen makes basically two major points. Number one, Israel, you've always resisted the prophets that God sent to you. And number two, your law can't save you because, A, you've never been able to keep it. And B, the law can't give you a new heart, which you desperately need. And then Stephen ends that long sermon with this rousing word of encouragement, verse 51, you stiff neck people, uncircumcised and hard in ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

All right. Stiff neck. That's a Jewish metaphor for somebody that hardens their heart against God. I think I've told you this story before, but I was at a church leader gathering where there was a guy speaking who they worship, I guess, a little differently than we do, get a little, you know, they kind of probably have running lanes built around the church and, you know, things will swing on. And, and so at the end of his talk, he said, I want every church leader to come up here because I'm going to pray for you. And so I, you know, I'm a church leader, so I walked up there and I was about, you know, I noticed him praying down the line and I noticed that everybody he prayed for would collapse on the floor. And he was coming toward me and I grew up in a little conservative Baptist church.

And so we don't, we don't play like that. So he's coming to me and I was like, I said this to God, I'm like, God, if you want to knock me on my back, knock my shirt off and tattoo Jesus loves me on my chest, I will gladly receive it. I will, but I'm not letting that man push me down. All right. And so he comes, goes on me, he prayed, grabs my head, starts praying over me, starts praying. He gets a little more intense and I can feel his hand pushing me backwards. Kind of my, bro, that's not the Holy Spirit. That's you.

All right. And so he's pushing. And so I start pushing back. We just got this little moment and for about 20 seconds, we just kind of had this and he just keeps praying louder.

And then he walks, moves to the next person. And I heard him, I think murdering something about me being stiff necked, you know, like, like I'm resistant because yeah, I'm stiffening my neck cause I'm resisting when he's trying to push on to me. And he, what Steven is saying is that's how you've been toward God is really, you've always resisted. You stiffen your neck and what God was trying to do with you uncircumcised. That's kind of a vulgar statement, isn't it? When you say that about somebody's heart or their spirit, you're uncircumcised in heart like your fathers did. That's what you do. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered you who received the law as delivered by angels and you never kept it. You want the truth?

You can't handle the truth. That's basically how he ended that. This is Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. For more information about this ministry, visit jdgreer.com. You know, following Jesus doesn't always seem easy. And if you're like me, you've run into a lot of questions along the way.

But I've got good news. That's why we created a free resource we've recently been telling you about that's available on demand. It's called the Ask the Pastor podcast. Each episode is about 10 to 15 minutes and features a question from listeners just like you about life, relationships, theology, the Bible, and so much more, along with a wisdom filled answer from Pastor J.D. You can listen on your morning commute, during your afternoon workout, or anytime that you want to hear honest questions and quick answers from a biblical perspective. To listen to the Ask the Pastor podcast, visit jdgreer.com slash podcasts or search for it on your favorite podcasting app. And new this year, you can also subscribe and watch this podcast on YouTube by searching for atj.d.greer.

It's a great resource to share with others as well. So continue your growth in the Lord by utilizing this fun and valuable resource. Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor J.D.

Greer here on Summit Life. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth at him. What was that like?

I have no idea what that means, but you get the image, they're pretty ticked off. Verse 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. And he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. Here again, we see this theme of priests emerge because in Israel, the priests were the only ones who were allowed to go into the presence of God and only once a year. And now here is Stephen, not a priest, not an apostle, not a church leader, a regular guy who has direct access into the presence of God, that which was reserved for a special class of people in the Old Testament priest has now become standard fare for every believer in the new. That which was the responsibility of priest in the Old Testament, which was taking care of the poor has become the responsibility of every believer in Christ in the new.

That which was called priest in the Old Testament has been transferred onto the church in totality in the new. Verse 57, but they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and they stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. That's a strange little detail.

Is it not? We'll see this young man that they laid their clothes down at his feet, their coach to stone him. Saul is going to undergo his own conversion in a couple of chapters and God is going to change his name to Paul. Verse 59, as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus received my spirit and falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Father, forgive them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. There are five lessons that we can learn from the life of Stephen.

Here they are. Number one, the core of Christian commitment is service. Five lessons that you can learn from the profile of the ordinary Christian.

Number one, the core of Christian commitment is service. Stephen is introduced to us as a servant. His job was not glorious. He waited tables for widows. He obviously was a capable leader, a gifted theologian and a good preacher, but he did not say in Acts 6, well, I'm going to need something a little bit more in line with my gifts and my passions.

No. He said, it's not about me. And if this is how I can serve the body of Christ best, I gladly will do it. And that service, though it seems insignificant to you and me, had a huge effect on the church. Not only did it preserve church unity at a time when the church was threatened to be torn apart, it also led to the conversion of some of the chief antagonist to the church, the priest, and would lead to the conversion of the chief persecutor of the church, which was Saul. It's probably why Francis Schaeffer said, love on display is the church's most effective apologetic. Apologetic just means defense of the faith. That is why Summit Church, our desire at this church is to be a place that is characterized by its service. More important to me than this being a place characterized by its great music or its preaching is that we be known in our community as a place that watches the feet of everybody.

That's why. Because I know that in our community that has the more powerful apologetic persuasion than even me standing up here preaching sermons that prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus was raised from the dead. I was talking to some of our campus pastors this week, and one of them shared a story with me. There was a family of six that was loosely connected to our church. They'd been a couple times. Something bad financial happened in their life, and they lost their home back in November. Another Summit family knew about this, and they said, hey, we've got two or three families together.

We're getting you a place to live. They moved them in the week before Christmas. This campus pastor said what was most impressive is, A, I had nothing to do with it.

I just kind of watched it all unfolding as regular people were taking care of this. When they moved them in, they already had it decorated for Christmas and presents bought for all the kids under the tree. This happens repeatedly at our church, and I love it. I love it because it is how God uses us to show the love of Christ to our community. We want the people to feel that same spirit of service the moment they step foot on any of our church campuses. It's why we tell people that the way we serve people when they come, they come to church here.

George Barna, who's a church researcher, did this study. Seventy percent of new people coming to a church decide within the first seven minutes of being on a church campus whether they're going to come back. Seven minutes. That's a long time before I get up here.

That's a long time before the music starts. That's why we always say the sermon starts in a parking lot. The sermon starts as we're receiving their children and taking them in. It's why we want everything we do to say you are loved, you are honored, God cares about you, and you are important.

We want that spirit of service to overflow into the streets just like it did here in Acts 6. One of the fiercest persecutors of early Christians, the Roman Emperor Julian in the second century, whom the church affectionately called Julian the Apostate, admitted in disgust in a letter, a very famous letter. He was trying to explain to a friend that they couldn't stop the church from growing. And here's how he said it. He said, these infernal Galileans, like Jesus of Galilee, these infernal Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own. That's why we can't stop it from growing. Eberhard Arnold, the historian, says most astounding to the outside observer was the extent to which poverty was overcome in the vicinity of the churches.

Christians spent more money in the streets than the followers of other religions spent in their temples. Everyone in this church should serve. You say, well, how do I know exactly where to serve?

Here's a little grid that I use that I would commend to you. Any one of these three places is where you should serve. A place of skill, a place of passion, or a place of need. A place of skill, a place of passion, or a place of great need.

They might all three come together in one or they might not. So let me comment on that last one for a minute. A place of great need because I'm not sure, listen, that waiting tables for widows was a passion or a skill for Stephen. And the reason I say that is because we have a lot of you around here who do serve, but we've got a whole other group of you who don't do anything in our church because you're like, well, it's beneath me and it's inconvenient. I don't think my talents and my teaching ability and my business skill and my general awesomeness are being recognized in this church. And so I'm just saying, I'm not taking care of kids and I'm not standing in a parking lot. In fact, you don't recognize how awesome I am and give me a job that's important. I'm going to another church.

I'm just going to go ahead and tell you. This was probably below Stephen waiting tables for widows. He didn't do it because it was a place of skill or passion. He did it because that was a need was, and he was a servant. I can assure you that washing feet was below Jesus's pay grade, right?

He didn't do that because it was a play. Nobody's got a passion for feet. Oh, I just never feel so alive when I'm washing feet. I mean, nobody says that.

He did it because he was a servant and you ought to make room in your life, particularly here in the church to do things that you don't necessarily thrill to do so that you maintain the role of servant. That's why I love pulling into our parking lot on Sunday and being greeted by guys with PhDs in orange vest. Why?

Because that's their way of washing feet. We give you chances to do that. All right. By the way, that applies to me too. What I do up here is supposed to be an act of service, not self exaltation. It's like I pointed out to you, the apostles were servants before they were leaders. So when they quit waiting tables, it wasn't because they were too important to serve.

They just found a greater need for their service. If God can use an ordinary guy like Stephen in such a mighty way, it serves as a reminder that he can use us too. If you missed any part of today's teaching, don't forget that you can always catch up at JDGrier.com. While you're on the website, we'd love for you to check out the variety of resources available to you free of charge, including our entire library of Summit Life sermons, the accompanying sermon transcripts, as well as Pastor JD's blog, our daily devotional. All of it is possible because of the generosity of our donors and especially our gospel partners who are a special group of people who give generously each month to support this ministry and to make our mission of sharing the gospel all over the world possible.

Every month we curate a special premium resource that we send to our faithful supporters who give $35 or more, and this month we are sending Pastor JD's latest book, 12 Truths and a Lie, and the accompanying discussion guide that goes with it, designed to help you unpack the truth found within the book on a whole new level. We'd love to send it to you as a gift to say thank you for joining our gospel partner team or for your generous one-time gift this month. To become part of our team, just call us at 866-335-5220. Or you can always give online at jdgrier.com. If you'd rather mail your donation, our address is JD Greer Ministries, P.O.

Box 122 93, Durham, North Carolina, 27709. I'm Molly Vidovitch, and thanks for joining us today. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we finish our look at what the book of Acts has to say about Stephen and how God used an ordinary man in extraordinary ways. See you Tuesday here on Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.