“People to meet in heaven: Stephen”
Acts 7:54-60
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
It was a quarter to eleven in the morning, on Sunday, July 15, 2012, as the Rev. Dr. Jerome E. McNeil stepped into the pulpit to welcome his 6,000 member congregation. He was 63, and had already served his church for twenty-one years. The title of his sermon that morning would be, “I’m better than I used to be.”
And McNeil was a much-loved, hard-working man. He earned a doctorate in Counseling Psychology and used it to serve troubled youths and families in crisis.
He was active in his state and community. He was the assistant director for the Dallas County Juvenile Department as well as a family court investigator and counselor. He served on the executive board of the Texas Alliance for Good Government. He even served as an instructor for the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Arlington. He was a nationally known evangelist, counselor, author, teacher and speaker.
And as he preached that morning in July of 2012, walking down the aisle like he always did, he was as strong and spirited as ever. And just as soon as the service was over, he walked back down the aisle to greet the people, passing by a plaque with a quote from a 16th century preacher. It said: “Preach as never to preach again. As a dying man to dying men.”
Little did anyone know that he himself would be dead in a matter of minutes.
For as he made his way down the aisle to stand in the back of the sanctuary, all of a sudden he collapsed to the floor, dead of a heart attack.
“He was a great man,” his assistant pastor said. Another said, “It’s hard to have sat here on Sunday morning, not thinking it was going to be the last sermon he would ever give.”
Our text today from the book of Acts chapter 7, reminds us of just that. For in these words, we find the last sermon a man named Stephen would ever give.
Please turn with me in your Bible to page 1163 as I introduce the words of our text. I’ll being at chapter 6, verse 1: “Now in those days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists, (the Greeks), arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables. Therefore, 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 pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”
Here in the words of Acts chapter 6, everything was all brand new. Just as soon as Jesus died and rose again, and ascended into heaven, the church began to carry out His great command—to teach all nations and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And on Pentecost, as the Spirit came so powerfully in wind and fire and tongues, Peter began to preach: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” And that very day, the Bible says, three thousand people believed.
And soon came more—lots more. Acts chapter 2 says, “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 4 says, “Many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” And Acts chapter 5 says, “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” And as the people brought the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, the Bible says all were healed.
It was a time of great power and wonder and Spirit-filled gifts.
But it soon became clear that the church had grown far too large for the apostles to care for it themselves. They would need others, other Spirit-filled men, to lead and guide the church.
Verse 5: “And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”
Think about this for just a moment. Upon the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of those who now believed in Jesus, they chose seven, only seven men, and Stephen was one of them. He must have been a remarkable man!
And the qualification? Verse 3: “Men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.”
What does that tell us about Stephen? It tells us he was a man of great faith, of wisdom and courage, that the Spirit moved in him and directed his every step, and that more than anything else, he loved his Savior Jesus. And that’s why we want to meet him in heaven!
Even more, look at verse 8: “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” By his hand, the lame could walk, demons fled and the sick were healed.
But it didn’t take long for some to stand up against him. Verse 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. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”
So they stirred up the people, said he blasphemed against God and against Moses, then seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews.
Chapter 7, verse 1: “And the high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’””
High priest? Which high priest? Caiaphas. The same one that beat Peter and John in Acts 4, that bribed the guards in Matthew 28 and that condemned Jesus to death.
Then for an entire chapter, some fifty-two verses, Stephen preached the last sermon he would ever preach.
Turn a page and go to page 1165, to chapter 7, verse 51 and listen to what he said. “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 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, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
And just as soon as they heard his words, verse 54 says, “They were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.” And verse 58: “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”
But as he died, he called out, in verse 59, “’Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 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.”
What can we learn from Stephen? If we will do as Stephen did and live as Stephen lived, then this is what we must do. We must walk with the Spirit.
That’s what Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
How can you be filled with the Spirit? Let Him be your wind, your breath and your song. Let Him fill you, move you and direct your every step. Let the name of Jesus be the very first name on your lips every morning and the very last name every night.
And just like Stephen, speak His Word with power and conviction, believing and knowing full well that He, and He alone, is your Savior from sin.
May God help us to be just like that.
In September of 1968, a missionary named Phil Masters volunteered to hike into a remote mountain valley to reach the Yali tribe of cannibalistic warriors to share the gospel. He knew the risks. So did his wife and children.
They had already given up so much. They lived half a world away from family and friends, and they’d given up conveniences like plumbing, electricity, schools and grocery stores. But they did it for the privilege of sharing the gospel with those who had never heard it. “We went because we knew that was what God wanted us to do,” they said.
And as they lived and worked among the Dani people, a tribe of some twelve thousand, it didn’t take long to grow accustomed to seeing boar tusks drilled through noses and skin layered with pig grease. And they learned about blood feuds, human sacrifices, and the fear that evil spirits watched over everything.
Phil helped them with their gardens, built air strips and hiked into unreached valleys to contact tribes who had never seen a white man. And he worked on speaking and writing tribal languages.
And in September of 1968, as his wife, Phyliss, was pregnant with their fifth child, Phil and another missionary, Stan Dale, hiked into the Seng Valley to make contact with the tribe known as the Yali, to look for a place to build another air strip.
But the Yalis were different than the Dani. They were masters of jungle warfare who killed and roasted their victims in banana leaves. They rubbed their skin with layers of lard and soot and lived in constant fear of the spirits they tried to appease.
And as Phil and Stan left, more than four hundred Danis came to see them off, many of them crying.
Phil said, “Dry your tears. You have the gospel. They don’t.”
But as they made their way deep into the valley, they were suddenly ambushed by the Yali. Dozens of arrows flew from all directions as the warriors screamed, “Die!” Until finally, both missionaries lay on the ground amid heaps of bloody, broken arrows.
And afraid they would rise from the dead, the Yali stripped their bodies and cut them into pieces.
And just as soon as Phil’s wife, Phyliss, heard what happened, what they did to her husband, what did she do? What would you do?
She chose to stay and to pray that God would use her husband’s death to soften the hearts of the people.
Then, three months later, a plane carrying another missionary family crashed in the same valley. And the only one to survive was a nine-year-old boy named Paul. He crawled out of the burning wreckage and stumbled onto the hut of a Yali. And believe it or not, the Yali saved him and protected him. And seeing it as a sign, they asked the missionaries to come back.
Five years later, the first thirty-five believers in the Seng Valley were baptized. Today, there are more than a hundred churches that not only lead their own worship. They send missionaries to minister to others.
And it’s all because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the words of a hymn: “Lord, give us such a faith as this, and then whate’er may come, we’ll taste e’en now the hallowed bliss of an eternal home.”
We thank You, dear Lord, for Stephen and all that he means to us and to the church. Grant us a faith just like his, never doubting, but always believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen