Sermons Recorded in Scripture)

Title: The Victorious Life Text: Acts 6:8-15, 7:54-60

Thank you for joining us today. We are all looking forward to the Word of God being put on display in just a moment. Our aim is to treasure the Word of God here at Calvary Hills Baptist Church. We do that by listening with open and receptive hearts, and believing in the power of God’s Word to aﬀect us and change us.

As a church, we are studying The Book of Acts, the history of the ﬁrst church and the things that the Apostles of Jesus did in those early days of the growing church.

Last week we covered Acts 6:1-7, a moment where the Apostles were confronted with the ﬁrst moment when they were overloaded with burdens, realizing that they were unable to do everything well. The Greek widows in the church were being overlooked in the charitable food ministry - so rather than hindering the preaching and prayer ministry of the Apostles - the church decided to appoint 7 men to deal with this task.

In Acts 6, one of those 7 men that were appointed to handle the food ministry that was full of wisdom and of the Spirit was called “Stephen.” Stephen, yes, was qualiﬁed as a deacon to serve the church - but also gifted debater and a bold proclaimer of the gospel. For the next two weeks, we are going to look at the ministry of Stephen. This week - we are going to see what got Stephen into trouble with the Jews, and next week we will look at his address to the Jewish council (one of the longest sermons recorded in Scripture).

I want to show you today that Stephen, the ﬁrst martyr in the New Testament church, lived a life of victory.What does it mean to live a victorious life today in our culture? If someone said - “I am the picture of success, of victory,” what would you picture? What does it mean that someone is “winning at life?”

I did a bit of searching on the ol’ internet and I can just give you a brief summary of what our society believes success and winning the victory over life is…. 1. Financial security (comfort and secure living) 2. Having high status (home, car, job, trophy spouse) 3. Fulﬁllment of pleasure and happiness (doing what makes you happy) 4. Having successful children 5. Freedom and ability to travel the world and gather experiences

1 There are countless other ways that people deﬁne success and victory in this life. But what I noticed about most of the views of success in this life is that they tend to be completely limited to this life. Most people’s views of victory in life tend to be manifestations of their worldview of time and eternity.

Here’s what I mean - if you believe that you are a product of evolution, and that you are nothing more than a system of complex chemicals with no soul or spirit - then you are being completely consistent to say that victory in this life is a game of competition to acquire more than the next guy for breeding rights and personal satisfaction that you are at the top of your hierarchy. That’s what soulless animals do - and if we are just primate 2.0, then that makes complete sense. You have to cram as much value into this little 90 year (if you’re lucky) window - to “get all you can - can all you get - and sit on the can” - until you die and someone else riﬂes through your stuﬀ.

But the Christian worldview - with its framework of a purposeful and loving God making you in His image - in time and space - with a soul that will continue after death - with our bodies that will be raised at the return of Christ - and with a promised future in a recreated heaven and earth…. deﬁnes victory and success quite diﬀerently.

I would argue that those who are striving after the world’s deﬁnition of success will receive a crown that will last only as long as the breath in our lungs, and will decay quickly as they pass away. But there is another crown that lasts that I want to tell you about today. Actually there are 4 crowns mentioned in the New Testament that we will talk about today.

Why do I mention these 4 crowns today when we are studying Stephen in Acts 6? It’s because Stephen earned every single one of those crowns. And I think that we can learn about what the purpose of life is from studying Stephen. I think we can better understand what exactly is “victory” in life by looking at Stephen. At the end of the day, Stephen should be an encouragement to us all. He’s not Jesus. He’s not even an Apostle. And yet he lived a full life of victory that rivals anyone else in Scripture.

And so I invite you to look at your life today and examine your deﬁnition of victory, or success. Let’s pursue the crown that is awarded for true victory.

(pray)

2 Our story begins in Acts 6:8. We are going to read the beginning of the story, and the end of the story - but we will save the big sermon from Stephen until next week. So we are looking ﬁrst at Acts 6:8-15.

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel

This story (by the time we get to the end of it) marks the literary conclusion of the gospel witness to Jerusalem, and Judaism (in Acts). If you remember Acts 1:8 as the outline verse - the church was to be a witness in Jerusalem/Judea, Samaria, and the Uttermost parts. After this story, Phillip goes to Samaria, marking a “moving on” transition. This story today is the “coming to a head” moment that has been stirring in previous chapters. The tensions between this new Jesus-church and the old Jewish guard will violently collide on this day.

Stephen is a man that lived life to the full. The Scriptures record that Stephen was full of the Spirit, full of wisdom, full of grace, and full of power. This was a man who was indeed playing with a full hand, full of life.

And just brieﬂy so that you understand what was happening in this passage - Stephen was going into the various (non-traditional Hebrew) synagogues in Jerusalem to share the gospel of Jesus with the people. And when the Rabbis and various teachers stood up to defend Judaism, they openly and obviously lost the debate. Stephen’s arguments were too persuasive, his wisdom too strong, and his spiritual insight too powerful.

Rather than continue to lose the debates and the crowds, the synagogue leaders began to work the crowds and whip them into a frenzy against Stephen. False witnesses were set up, potentially paid off, to testify against Stephen and the Jewish council.

And now we look at the ﬁrst of four crowns I’ll show you today that Stephen earned.

3 1. THE CROWN OF OBEDIENT SERVICE.

Look with me to 1 Cor. 9:25.

The ﬁrst crown I would like to tell you about comes from the writings of the Apostle Paul. It is a consistent theme in his writings. Paul likes to use imagery of an athlete that performed in the old style Olympic games of Greece wherein a wreath (often formed from olive branches) was woven together and placed on the head of the winner, like a crown. It was given AFTER the contest had been performed as a crown of achievement, or victory. The crown was a symbol of honor bestowed upon the winner. Listen to Paul.

1 Cor. 9:25 says 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Ok so that word “wreath” is sometimes translated as crown, and sometimes as wreath. The reason is because of those Panhellenic Greek games I mentioned. The winners wreath was worn as a crown. But in this context, Paul is using the athletic contest to say that - in a race - you run for the purpose of winning the prize in the end. You do it to wear the wreath. Today we might say that you do it for the gold medal or the championship. But the point was the same - the point of the contest is to win and to receive the crown.

Now Paul modiﬁes this word “wreath” with an adjective - what does he use in v25? Perishable. It’s a perishable wreath that the athlete runs toward.

Well, that kind’ve puts a damper on the concept doesn’t it? It’s like that moment in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie says, “I bet that golden ticket makes the chocolate taste terrible.” That’s what Paul is saying. Yea you won the contest - but that wreath you worked your whole life to win is going to wither up and die. It’s a perishable wreath.

Sometimes we need that hard dose of reality in our lives. Someday you’ll likely be forgotten. Someone will take your job. Someone will sit in your seat. Someone will change everything you worked hard to accomplish. Most people don’t remember their great great grandparents… so that gives you like 2 generations of being remembered after you’re gone. All your possessions will either be given away, or sold, or thrown in the trash.

4 And here’s why we need to say things like that. It’s not because it’s fun to be dismissive and mean. It’s because Jesus said things like “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (that was the King James just for fun) - and also - Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven

And So Paul says - don’t even worry about the wreath that perishes. Don’t labor for the wreath that goes away and dies. That’s what those with no god do. Paul reminds us to labor for the imperishable wreath.

Stephen labored for the imperishable wreath, the crown given for things that last. How did Stephen spend his time? He served Jesus. He went out into the synagogues where the people were that needed to hear about Jesus - and he engaged them. He got off the sidelines and into the race that matters. He spoke with people and persuaded and debated when necessary.

He worked at living an exemplary life that none of his opponents could point to his open sin and put him to shame. He labored at having an excellent reputation and acquiring wisdom. He probably spent time in the Scriptures and in prayer to ensure that he was ﬁlled with the Spirit.

He served Jesus with his time and energy, and he earned the crown of obedient service to Jesus that Paul referred to again in 2 Timothy 4:7-8.

7 I have fought the good ﬁght, I have ﬁnished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Like Stephen did with his life, labor for the crown of righteousness and service to Jesus.

Well that’s just one crown that deﬁned the life of Stephen. The second is

2. THE CROWN OF OTHERS SALVATION.

There’s something that has to motivate a person to discomfort. Though there are unique times in unique eras in the life of a church - the typical scenario is that most church gatherings are primarily made up of Christians that gather together to worship and study and pray together.

5 There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s actually exactly what is supposed to happen. However, the challenge is the same in every church…

You’re worshipping and singing and hearing sermons and going to prayer meeting - and - you’re fellowshipping with the church family - and you’re getting to know people deeper - and you’re getting to know God deeper - and you’re growing in your faith - and all is well. Except… you have that one friend… that one neighbor on your street… that one family member that has no involvement in church, or maybe they are a part of another religion. What happens to them? Where’s their church family?

Maybe you’re driving down 1604 (in our immediate area) in your car one ﬁne day and you’re doing some mental math. You’re looking at all of these people, and all of these new houses, and all of these apartment complexes… you’re at HEB and Walmart and you’re noticing how crowded it is getting around here. And then then you think about how many of these people you’re seeing are actually believing in the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, trusting in grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And so you might think about the number of faithful Bible preaching churches (surely the existing churches in our area can handle things right?). How many faithful churches are there?

What would be the total seating capacity of all Bible preaching churches in, let’s just say, zip code 78251, 78253, and 78245 (the three zip codes immediately adjacent to our church property). I don’t know the answer to that question, but let’s shoot high and grant that there are three very large gospel preaching churches of 2000 (each) in attendance, 5 moderately large gospel preaching churches of 500 in attendance, 10 gospel preaching churches of 250, and 10 gospel preaching churches of 100 - all in our little slice of town here on the west side. That would mean that these gospel preaching churches could hold - 12,000 people on a given Sunday in zip codes 78251, 78253, and 78245.

Do you think there are more gospel preaching churches or less than what I guessed? I truly don’t know - so for fun - let’s just triple my estimate. Let’s say the seating capacity for gospel preaching churches on a given Sunday is 36,000 people.

Now here’s why that shouldn’t excite you. The number of people that live in these three zip codes adjacent to our church building is 185,000. That’s just our little slice of town guys.

6 If you feel like our piece of San Antonio that runs about a 3 mile radius is full of churches and the people are all Christians - that signals that you live a sheltered life wherein you talk to the same pool of people over and over again that is not representative of this area.

Our area is statistically easy to remember - 1/3 of that 185,000 people have zero faith involvement whatsoever - that’s 62,000 people right off the top that have no framework for spiritual things and don’t care to, and don’t plan to. They aren’t dropping in here on a Sunday to check us out.

Another 1/3 of that 185,000 people have moderate faith involvement, meaning that they care sometimes and may attend a religious service of any kind on a holiday or a wedding or funeral. That’s another 62,000 that may be asking spiritual questions, may like Christianity, may drop in on Easter or Christmas.

And the last third are those that have a strong faith involvement, meaning that they attend a religious service of any kind at least once per month. Is that gospel preaching? Not necessarily, that’s anything spiritual. Our 36,000 estimate looks fairly accurate at this point.

Why am I telling you all this? Stephen wasn’t just satisfied with gathering with his church family. He went out into the turf of those that disagreed with him, and he sought to persuade them. He brought the light into the darkness where it can actually do something. He brought the salt of the earth out of the salt container and into the food. He went toward the fight when it was much more comfortable to avoid the fight. And we are told they they couldn’t withstand Stephen.

The Christian went into the Jewish synagogues and debated their priests. Judaism was the majority religion at the time. But Stephen dared to cross boundaries and go where the people were that needed to hear the message.

Do you that in our area of town - Catholicism is the dominant religion at around 62%. If we aren’t trying to engage Catholics and persuade them to trust in the true gospel that a person is justiﬁed by grace through faith in Christ, and that it is not of works - then are we really making a dent in our area?

One out of every two people is hispanic. If we aren’t making a conscious effort to reach half of the population - are we really making a dent in our area?

7 Stephen went after those that needed the message most in a hostile situation. He pursued the crown of other’s salvation.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Church these words - 19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy.

Paul says that those that we lead to Jesus are like a crown of joy to us.

He says so again in Philippians 4:1 my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand ﬁrm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

If you are looking for a crown that lasts well into eternity, Paul says those whom you lead to Jesus are a crown that you will get to see in heaven. Stephen knew this, and he lived this. And I would challenge us all to live this way.

What if we labored for the crown of others salvation in the same way we labored for other things in our life?

Stephen earned the crown of obedient service, of others salvation, and also…

3. THE CROWN OF OPEN SHAME.

Acts 6:11 onward tells us that the people turned on Stephen. There was a coup against him. They called him a blasphemer. False witnesses spoke against him. They sought to shame him because of his statements about Jesus.

And this reminded me of another crown in the New Testament. Listen to what happened to our Savior, Jesus, as I read Matthew 27:27.

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

8 Luke, the author of Acts, purposefully puts the image of Jesus in our mind as Stephen stands on trial. The accusations are almost the exact same. So in a way, it was really Jesus who was on trial, not Stephen. Stephen was standing in for Jesus.

And though they did not put a crown of thorns on Stephen’s head, he did subject himself to shame for the name of Jesus. If you’ll remember two sermons ago - the Apostles rejoiced after they were beaten with rods - that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus. Now Stephen metaphorically dons the crown of thorns as he endures shame. He now could say that he had identiﬁed with Christ even in shame and suffering.

The crown was typically a symbol of victory and accomplishment - but when the Roman guards placed it on the head of Jesus, it was to induce pain, as well as to make a mockery of His claims to be a King.

Part of what it means to identify with Christ is that we are willing to endure shame for His name. We covered this in detail a couple of weeks ago so I would encourage you to look at that message called “Strengthening your suffering muscle” to really see this entire picture. But the point is this - we should not order our lives in such a way that we avoid shame for following Jesus.

Enduring shame for Jesus is a way that we identify with Him. When we are persecuted or made fun of or shamed by those around us for following Jesus - when we feel those little sharp thorns press into our scalp - remember that this is what it means to follow Christ. It is our honor to share in His suffering by wearing the crown when necessary.

Stephen certainly wore the crown of shame.

But there is one more crown available to the everyday Christian. And this is a crown that I hope (on one hand) that none of us ever have to wear, but (on the other hand) it is the most glorious of all crowns available to us. It is one that, if you have never read this story - you are about to see that - Stephen did earn.

4. THE CROWN OF OFFERED SACRIFICE.

We are going to skip ahead in the story, to Acts 7:54. Because of its length, we are saving Stephen’s actual message until next Sunday. I ﬁnd this to be one of the most moving texts in all of Scripture.

9 We pick up immediately after Stephen concludes his sermon, telling the Jews that killing the prophets sent by God is something they always do - so it makes perfect sense that they killed their own Messiah when Jesus came. Read Acts 7:54-60 with me for the fallout of Stephen’s stand.

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 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.” 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. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 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 offered himself as a martyr for these people.

I want you to understand how momentous a moment this is as far as Scriptural precedent is concerned. When v55 says that a living person in the New Testament era gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God - you have to understand that this is extremely rare even for Old Testament standards.

Secondly, He actually sees Jesus in His place of glory. That which he preached, he was afforded the privilege of seeing as his life was being taken from him.

Third, Jesus is standing. Every Bible scholar knows that phrasing for what Jesus is doing in heaven is that He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Stephen sees Jesus - standing. I can’t prove it, but I believe that Jesus stood up from His throne to receive Stephen, to afﬁrm him, and to welcome him as a good and faithful servant. Stephen took a stand for Jesus, and Jesus took a stand for Stephen.

And as the life was beaten out of Stephen, he uttered many of the same words as Jesus did on the cross - praying that God would forgive his murderers.

In Revelation 2:10 in the letter to the church of Smyrna enduring persecution - Jesus said - Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Stephen did not fear the crown of sacriﬁce, and neither should we.

10 Even if something like this does happen to us, we can know that Jesus sees and welcomes us into His arms - as He will the millions of Christian martyrs through the years that have been killed for their faith in Him.

So we have talked about Stephen and his full life - how he earned the crown of achievement and obedience, the crown of salvation as others came to Christ through his ministry, the crown of shame as he identiﬁed with Christ, and the crown of sacriﬁce as he was martyred for his faith.

There’s actually one very moving thing that I learned this week as I studied, that I want to share with you as we close.

As I did a word study on the Greek word behind all of these examples of “crowns,” I sounded it out. The Greek word for “crown” used in each of the four points that I gave you today is “stephanos.” And this just so happens to be the name Stephen. Stephen’s name literally means “crown.” And that’s why I structured my message today in the way that I have.

Stephen lived a full life. Full of the Spirit, of grace, of wisdom, and power. The man named after the crown earned every crown as he followed Jesus. This is the picture of victory that I want you to have for your life.

It is the exact opposite picture of worldly victory.

He put others before himself. He stood for Jesus when it was difﬁcult. He lived a godly life and was an active witness for Jesus. He was faithful and spoke truth. He forgave those that persecuted him.

Stephen would not win any awards in our culture today but he has the only awards that matter. And I have the feeling he has already placed them at the feet of Jesus. But the fact remains that Stephen helps us to deﬁne success and victory in the Christian life.

What does it proﬁt a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? It doesn’t. And that’s the difference between worldly victory, and Christian victory.

(pray)