When I was growing up my parents had a set of three large records called The Auca Story. When I got sick I would listen to the story of five American missionaries who were speared by Auca Indians in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956. As many of you know last year (2007) Pastor Bae Hyun-Kyu was killed in Afganistan. There have been more Christians killed in the last 100 years than there was in the 1900 years after Jesus came. In Acts 6 and 7, we have the story of the very first Christian martyr. His name is Stephen. We begin in Acts 6:1

1. THE SELECTION: STEPHEN THE SERVANT (6:1-7)
Verse 1 tells us that the disciples were multiplying. But “there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.” In Jerusalem at this time Christians were sort of divided into two groups. There were the Hebrew Christians who were born and raised in Palestine - mostly from Jerusalem. They spoke Aramaic, which is a form of Hebrew. Then there was the Hellenist Christians who were Jews but they were born and raised in foreign countries outside of Palestine. Many of these had been away from Palestine for generations; they had forgotten their Hebrew and spoke only Greek. And the Hebrew Jews looked down on the Hellenist Greek-speaking Jews. And the Hellenist Jews who had moved back to Jerusalem were complaining that their poor widows were not receiving any help or aid (especially food).
So in verse 2 the 12 disciples called the other disciples and said, “It is not good that we should stop preaching and teaching the word of God and serve tables (which included taking care of the poor widows). So you should choose seven men to become the leaders to do these things.” In verse 3 it said that these were to be (1) men (the word men here, andras, means male. Later in Scripture there were female deacons but not here in the beginning. They were to be (2) believers, from among yourselves. They needed to have (3) a good reputation. They needed to be (4) solid spiritually, full of the Spirit. Finally they need to be (5) full of wisdom.
Verse 5 says that everyone liked this idea. And then it says, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. So Stephen was one of the guys chosen to serve tables. And he appears to be the leader of the group. On a personal note, this passage is special to me because my parents gave me the name Stephen because of this man, Stephen. But as I was studying for this message I also noticed that another of the seven men mentioned here was Nicolas. And my family name is Nicholes and some of my great-great grandfathers actually spelt our family name the same way it is spelt here.
It is interesting that these seven men here all have Greek names. Meaning, they were probably all Hellenist Jews. So the Hellenists came to the apostles, who were all Hebrews and said we’ve got a problem. And the apostles said, “Why don’t you guys choose seven leaders from among yourselves to solve your problem. In verse 6 it says that they laid their hands on them, which means they were saying, ‘These guys are one with us. We are on the same team. We are equal partners in ministry.”
And then verse 7 tells the result. It says“the word of God spread, the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Josephus tells us that there were about 8000 priests living in Jerusalem at the time. So many Jews, even Jewish leaders are becoming Christians.

2. THE SEIZURE: STEPHEN THE SURROUNDED (6:8-15)
In verses 8-15 we see “Stephen, full of faith and power,” doing “great wonders and signs among the people.” He speaks in the synagogues with such wisdom that they couldn’t argue against him.
And verse 12 says that the Jewish leaders “came upon him, surrounding him and seized him, and brought him before the council.” This is the same council that condemned Jesus to death. Now back in Luke 21:12 Jesus had prophesied that this was going to happen to His disciples too. He said, “...they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony ... and I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist ...” So what Jesus said would happen is happening here.
And they, with the help of false witnesses, accuse Stephen of two things. (1) Speaking against the holy place, the temple (6:13,14). ‘He says that Jesus will destroy the temple.’ Now Jesus didn’t say He would destroy the temple (Mark 14:58; 15:29). Jesus said, “IF you tear down this temple, in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19) And He said that one day the temple will be destroyed (Luke 21:5-6). The temple was the central focus of the Jewish religion. It was where the sacrifices took place. It was where they celebrated all of Israel’s main festivals. To remove the temple from Judaism was like taking the heart out of Judaism.
The second thing they accused Stephen of was (2) Speaking against the law of Moses (6:11,13,14). He says that Jesus will change the customs of Moses. (???)
Finally it says that “all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.” This is very interesting because they had just accused Stephen of being against Moses but when they look at his face he is shining like an angel, just like Moses was when he came down from receiving the 10 commandments from God (Exodus 34:29-35).

3. THE SERMON: STEPHEN THE SPEAKER (7:1-53)
Now we come to chapter 7. And here Stephen gives the longest sermon recorded in the book of Acts. It is full of Scripture. It begins in verse 1 when “the high priest said, "Are these things so?" In other words, Is it true that you are speaking against the temple? Is it true that you are speaking against the law of Moses?
Now we don’t have time to examine each verse here. But I would like to trace the main ideas the Stephen is talking about. And the first thing Stephen shows is that God never wanted to be limited to a building. In verse 2 he explains how that from the beginning God didn’t need a temple or a house. The glory and presence of God appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia (7:2). He was with Abraham in Haran (7:4). He was with him when he entered the promised land (7:4). God was with Abraham wherever he went. And God was with Joseph when he was rejected by his brothers, when he was in Egypt in the prison and when he was in the palace (7:9-10).
When Moses was born in Egypt God was with him (7:20). God appeared to Moses in in the wilderness of Midian (7:29-30). Here Moses was in the middle of the desert and God told him to take his sandals off his feet because he was standing on holy ground (7:33). God met with Moses on top of Mount Sinai (7:38). God met with all of His people without having any house or temple to live in.
But the children of Israel rejected God and went after other gods. So God instructed them to make a portable tabernacle to show that He wanted to be with them in the middle of their lives, wherever they went (7:44-45). During this time God was with Joshua as he drove the giants out of the land (7:45). David enjoyed God’s favor (7:45-46) and wanted to build God a temple but God did not allow him to. God was with Solomon and did allow him to build the temple King David wanted (7:47). However Stephen points out what Solomon said in 1 King 8:27f that the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet (Isaiah 6:1-2) says:'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?' (7:49-50). There was a temple but Solomon repeatedly said that God would hear from heaven (I Kings 8:30,32,34,36, 39,43,45,49). God was not limited to a building. So Stephen in basically saying that his view on the temple is the same as God’s and that the Jewish leaders are limiting God to one place.
Secondly, Stephen was accused of was speaking against Moses. Here Stephen shows that the leaders of Israel had rejected Moses and God’s prophets. Moses was rejected by his own people when he first tried to deliver them from slavery in Egypt (7:23-28, 35). When Moses was getting the 10 commandments on top of Mount Sinai the people rejected him and started making their own gods (7:38-40). They didn’t follow Moses as they wondered in the wilderness for 40 years (7:42). For their disobedience God sent them to Babylon (7:43). Moses even prophesied' The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.' (7:37). Then in verse 51 Stephen directly says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! This is what God called Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 33:3,5). You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? (Name me one prophet that your fathers did not persecute -ouch; I Kings 19:10; Nehemiah 9:26; Luke 11:47-51; 20:9-19; Hebrews 11:35-38: Uriah - Jeremiah 26:20-23; Jeremiah by stoning - Jeremiah 38:1-67; Isaiah cut in two - 2 Kings 21:16; Amos - Amos 7:10-13; Zeachariah - 2 Chronicles 24:20-22; Elijah - 1 Kings 19:1-2) And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, (You killed the Just One, Jesus) who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." In other words, the problem is not that I am speaking against Moses or the law of Moses but the spiritual leaders of Israel rejected Moses from the beginning and have not kept his law. And when a prophet speaks out against them they just persecute and kill the prophets. They permitted John the Baptist to be killed. They demanded Jesus to be killed. And now they will kill Stephen with stones in their own hands.

4. THE STONING: STEPHEN THE SAINT (7:54-60)
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart ...55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven ... 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" This is almost exactly what Jesus had said to this same group just a few weeks earlier (Matthew 26:64). 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city ... 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
If a person lives to be 82 years old, he or she lives about 30,000 days. If each day was represented by $1.00, this is what a lifetime would look like. (Hold up picture of three $10,000 bills). They don’t make $10,000 bills any more but they did in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. (Hold up $1.00 dollar bill) This is a $1.00 bill. If I brought 30,000 one dollar bills it would stand 10 feet (or more than 3 meters) tall. (Hold up the picture of stacked bills)
Now sometimes God asks us to go out and spend the $30,000 all at one time. This is exactly what He asked Stephen to do. This is what He asked the Koreans in Afganistan to do and the five Americans in South America and thousands of others. Each of these people were asked by God to put everything down at once. But for most of us, God asks us to spend our life one dollar at a time. (Hold up the $1.00 bill) He gives us 30,000 one dollar bills – they are called days – and He asks us to go out and spend them individually.
Believe it or not, you have been called to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. Paul talked about this in Romans 12:1-2 when he says; "I urge you therefore brethren, ... to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship”. We’re not all called to die for Him but we are all called to live for Him, to spend our lives "one dollar at a time."
When we feed the hungry - we spend a dollar
When we listen to someone hurting - we spend a dollar
When we make friends with our neighbors - we spend a dollar
When we share God’s story - we spend a dollar
When we comfort the sick - we spend another dollar
When we teach a Bible study - a dollar of our life goes to God.
ARE YOU LIVING FOR CHRIST OR JUST FOR YOU?
The children of Israel worshiped things they could see. What do you worship? What do you adore? What do you think is the most awesome thing? Clothes, games, friends. Or do you and I really worship God. Every day other stuff is fighting and competing for our attention and is trying to push God into a smaller place in our lives.
Stephen was full of faith, full of wisdom, full of the Spirit. Are you, am I full of those things too. Or are we just full of ourselves. The Holy Spirit cannot fill you until you are empty of yourself. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have a full life” (John 10:10). Stephen did. How about you?