Acts 6:8-12   Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-- Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

We were introduced to Stephen last week.  He was one of the 7 chosen to run the meals-on-wheels program for feeding the hungry Greek widows.  He was chosen last week because he was filled with the Spirit and wisdom.  Note a couple of things about Stephen:
-He is the first person in Acts to do miracles, beside the Apostles. 
-He is doing more than feeding widows and more than wonders.  He is witnessing to his fellow Greek-Jews. The Synagogue of Freedman Jews, these out of town Jews, are his people.  He is engaging them about Jesus.  But these Freedman Jews hated to loose an argument, so they cheated and lied about him and now Stephen is in trouble with the Sanhedrin. 
-First, it was Peter and John for healing a crippled. They got off with a warning.  Then it was the Apostles, they got off with the beatin’.  Now it is Stephen and he is not going to get off… at all. The story is escalating.

Acts 6:13-15  They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.   

Now don’t picture a cute pudgy-faced cherub; like Henry.  Picture a mighty, in-control, very serious angel.  That is the end of chapter 6.  For 53 verses of chapter 7 we have the longest sermon, of many, recorded in Acts.  This sermon was delivered not by an Apostle, not by one of the superstars of the faith, not by one who had been with Jesus for three years, but by this regular guy, who was filled with, the not so regular, Holy Spirit.  This longest sermon in Acts becomes a pivotal point in the development of Luke’s epic story of the early church. 

Let’s skip the actual sermon for a moment and cut to the chase.  Let’s read what happened at the end of the sermon.

Acts 7:57-60  At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Wow.  That is hard to understand.  What would cause a group of respected religious leaders to go ballistic?  What would be so important that emotions get out of control?  The Sanhedrin seems to be mentally unbalanced.  The Sanhedrin and the crowd go crazy with vigilantly anger and stone Stephen to death; without any due process of law or any judgment or even like Jesus who was taken to Pilate to be crucified.  Jesus’ death seems almost sane compared to this riotous scene. 

And on the other hand, Stephen brings on this riot with his sermon and then seems content to die for his beliefs.  Surely, he knows that what he is saying is going to really upset them.  He knows he is sitting on a powder keg and he is just lit the fuse.  Then as they drag him out of the city he knows he is dead. And as the rocks are thudding into his body, he serenely quotes Jesus himself, “Receive my Spirit” and “Do not hold this sin against them.”  What is going on here?  Has everyone in this chapter lost it?  Last week everyone seemed quite rational.  They had a problem they came up with a solution and they fixed their meals-on-wheels and everyone seemed normal.  This week it is Looney tunes. 
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We Americans enjoy our safe religion.  We have religious freedom.  We can choose to worship, or not, in any way we choose.  We have a mostly polite religious environment.  We believe what we believe and we allow others to believe what they believe.  We are very civil in our practice of faith.  We are mentally well balanced.  We have our jobs and our families and our recreation and our schools and sports and all stuff of American life and our going to church. Everything is quite compartmentalized and certainly we would not allow our faith beliefs to upset the equilibrium.  And I don’t think we can relate at all to what is going on in Acts chapter 7. 

We see terrorist strapping bombs to their children and blowing things up.  And we scratch our heads and think they must be insane.  We see people who are willing to “kill the infidels” and we say, “Come on!  Get a life and get over it. What in the world do you think you are doing?”  We see people willing to die for their religious beliefs and we can’t relate; we can’t connect, we can’t understand, at all. What would cause someone to really take their faith so seriously as to be willing to die for it? 

But secretly, never to be said out loud, we wonder if we are missing something.  We wonder what would we do if we had been Stephen? Wow, what would it be like to have that kind of faith?  I have never experienced that kind of passion for anything.  Our hearts call out to care, to really care, but we scared to death of being committed to death.  We are attracted to such passion and repulsed by such passion.  These people in Acts 7 thought their religion was worth death.  Wow, my religion is just a safe part of who I am.  I wish I had that kind of zeal.  But I would never say that out loud.  People might think I am a… kook. But what would happen if our congregation had Stephen’s faith?  What would happen if we had that kind of passion? Let’s secretly go back and look at this longest sermon in Acts and see if we can catch a glimpse of what it was that fired Stephen’s passion.
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Stephen has been charged, basically, with two things; speaking against the Temple and against the Law of Moses. 

Acts 6:13 - 7:1 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.  For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.  Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"

Stephen doesn’t directly answer these charges. Instead he gives them a history lesson.   Beginning with Abraham, Stephen recapped Jewish history while making a devastating point. Abraham was faithful, but his descendants sold Joseph into slavery.  Moses was chosen to bring God’s people out of Egyptian slavery, but the chosen people resisted Moses.  God engraved the 10 Commandments, but the people made a golden calf.  They were led to the Promised Land, but refused to enter.  God does not dwell in any building made by human hands, but they built the Temple for Him.  Stephen then gets to his devastating point. 

Acts 7:51-53 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

Here is his point; the Sanhedrin is just like their forefathers.  They always resist what God is doing. Throughout Jewish history there were those who resisted what the Spirit was doing.  This time is no different.  They are resisting God’s Spirit. They have even murdered Jesus, the Righteous One!  At this point the Sanhedrin is mad, but not murderous. 

Acts 7:54  When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

Through our history there are two kinds of people; those who are doing God’s will and those who want to stop it.  Stephen’s point is the Sanhedrin is repeating history.  They are trying to stop him from doing God’s will. I might add there are actually three kinds of people.  The third kind are those who watch from the sideline; those who aren’t passionate either way. 

But what happens next is what sends the Sanhedrin over the edge and is what we must come to really believe, if we are to move off the sidelines and be filled with Stephen’s passion. 

Acts 7:55-58  But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

This is what made the murderous difference!  This is what filled Stephen with the courage to face the stones?  This is what we need to believe to stir us to action; the resurrected and exalted Jesus!  “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing beside God!”  Can we say those words?  Can we join with Stephen in full conviction that Jesus is at the right hand of God?  That is the belief which changes everything! 

This being Easter Sunday what better point can I make? Our religious passion is directly proportional to our faith in the resurrection.  Let me say that again.  Our religious zeal our fanaticism is directly related to the amount of conviction we have in the resurrected and exalted Jesus.  How can I stay on the sidelines if I really believe in the resurrected Jesus? 

Here is the thought I would like to leave with you this Easter morning.  Stephen became Christ.  Did you catch that? He began in serving the widows.  Jesus began a simple life of service. Stephen moved to miraculous ministry, hey, just like Jesus.  At first everyone loved Stephen and Jesus but then they met with controversy and debate.  Stephen ended up just like his Lord before the authorities and then death and ultimately Stephen too was resurrected to a new life!  That should be us as well.  This story is our story.  We become just like our Lord in service, in witnesses, in power, in death and especially in his resurrection.  If we believe this, really, really, believe in the resurrection, then we will have the passion of Stephen!