St. Matthew’s Ev. Lutheran Church + Benton Harbor, Michigan

The Festival of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

December 26, 1999

Text: Acts 6:8-15, 7:1-2,51-60

“A Gift Worthy of Him Who Gave Us All”

By Pastor Timothy H. Buelow

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. ⁹ 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, ¹⁰ but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. ¹¹ Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.” ¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. ¹³ They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. ⁷ Then the high priest asked him, “Are these charges true?” ² To this he replied:… ⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² 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— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.” ⁵⁴ When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ 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. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ 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. ⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ 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.

Dear Friends in Christ, Merry Christmas once again.

It’s rather nice, wouldn’t you say, that today is a Sunday? Usually the day after Christmas brings a mad rush back to the stores to exchange gifts and the materialism that leads up to Christmas just continues. At least we get a little reprieve this year. Once upon a time Christians celebrated Christmas in church three days in a row. The first day, second day and third day of Christmas. Well today, we’re following another ancient practice. We’re commemorating the feast day of St. Stephen, set on the calendar for December 26^th, the day it is said he was stoned outside the walls of Jerusalem these many, many years ago. It doesn’t happen often that his day falls on a Sunday, so we didn’t want to miss it.

And it’s appropriate, because St. Stephen’s gift to Jesus on December 26^th would qualify as the greatest gift a Christian can give his Savior. He gave his life in the service of his Lord: “A Gift Worthy of Him Who Gave Us All.”

1. How Appropriate To Celebrate St. Stephen’s Day The Day After Christmas

Christmas is such a neat and clean holiday, increasingly prepackaged for mass consumption. What the whopper is to restaurant cuisine, Christmas is to Christian holidays. But we Christians know that the celebration of Jesus’ birth marks the beginning of a not so neat and clean history—the story of God the Son’s life here on this earth. In order to really appreciate why St. Stephen was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Jesus, we want to take a moment to meditate on the greatness of the sacrificial gift Jesus gave to us that first Christmas.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Christ gave us all. In order to be our Savior, God had to give up heaven. He had to exchange his throne at the right hand of his Father in order to enter the womb of a lowly, poor, young maid living in difficult times in a conquered land among subjugated people. Jesus exchanged the royal garb of heaven, for the wrappings of human baby diapers. He gave up the wine of the heavenly feast for the breast milk of the virgin Mary. He gave up the adoring company of countless legions of angels for the companionship of cattle.

He gave up eternity in heaven to enter our mortal, time-constrained existence. The all-knowing God had to go to school. The creator of the universe watched as a little boy, while his father taught him to build furniture out of the wood of trees that he himself had brought into existence. He was tempted by the devil, whom he had once lovingly created as an angel of light. He was ignored, scorned, ridiculed and finally crucified by the very people whose forefather he had formed from the dust of the earth and whose great-grandmother he had lovingly formed from the rib of her husband-to-be. Humiliating as all this was, it was equally painful, as Jesus died a gruesome death on the cross. These are the gifts that Jesus came to bring on Christmas. Our neat and clean Christmas holiday commemorates the beginning of a painful and bloody story. Already on the eight day after his birth when Jesus, perfectly fulfilling the law in our place, was circumcised, the aged Simeon, overjoyed at meeting his Savior in the temple, prophesied: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Lk 2:34-35)

It wasn’t long before that prophesy saw its first fulfillment in the slaughter of the innocent children of Bethlehem. John the Baptist lost his head as a result of his faithful testimony about the Lamb of God. After Christ’s own painful agony and death, St. Stephen was the first in the early New Testament Church to be killed as a witness to the resurrected Christ. Before his generation would pass away, 11 Apostles would die the death of martyrs. Thousands more met their death in the circus at the sword of the gladiator, in the mouths of lions and in many other devious ways contrived by the depraved minds of those who hated the one born as the babe of Bethlehem—your Jesus and mine. And it continues still today. Christians still take their lives in their hands by worshiping the King of the heavens in such earthly kingdoms as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, China and Afghanistan. Those who would celebrate the 2000^th Anniversary of the Savior’s birth in the city where he was born are warned by the US State Department to be on guard for their lives.

How appropriate to celebrate the feast day of St. Stephen the day after Christmas. How appropriate for us to consider this day whether we would be willing to give the greatest gift for him who gave us all. How important that we recommit ourselves this day to pray for our fellow Christians who are suffering for their faith wherever they may be in the world today.

2. Who Was Stephen?

Who was Stephen? Acts 6 answers that question: “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Stephen was a layman, chosen to facilitate the ministry of the Word, by taking care of other important work of the church. He was chosen, we’re told, because he was “full of the Spirit and wisdom”. And the Scriptures make it clear just how one becomes “full of the Spirit and wisdom.” The gift of the Spirit comes through the means of grace. Stephen was one of those wonderful laymen pastors so long for and love to have in their congregations—men who are dedicated to studying the word of God, to worshiping and communing at the Lord’s altar. Stephen was a layman who took his faith seriously, and put it into practice by serving his Lord through serving the church. He knew how important the ministry of the Word is, so he did everything he could to enable the Jerusalem congregation’s pastors and apostles to devote themselves to the work of preaching and teaching and praying for the people and the work of the kingdom.

Today, as we look at the wonderful example of St. Stephen, is a wonderful opportunity for each of you to ask yourself such questions as, “Am I filled with Spirit and power?” Do you make it your overarching goal in life to be a spiritual man or woman through supreme dedication to God’s Word and worship? Do you facilitate the ministry of the Word at St. Matthew’s by helping with the many things that need to be taken care of here so that the ministry of the Word can be carried out? For example, we too have widows who need tapes of the sermons dropped off and who need your friendship. We need people who can help maintain the facilities either as regular trustees, or as volunteers when the trustees need help. We have great need of those who can call on members who are drifting away—not just our regular elders, but those who simply are willing to lovingly be their brother’s keeper.

These are all lasting gifts you can give to Jesus who gave all for you. What a Christmas present it would be for Christ today, to rededicate yourself to being “filled of the Spirit and wisdom” through a renewed commitment to worship, to communing together with God’s saints here at St. Matthews, and to studying the Word of God. What an ongoing gift to Christ it would be, to facilitate the work of his kingdom here, by pitching in wherever needed, so that the work of the ministry is not hindered by these necessary things, that don’t necessarily have to be done by a pastor, vicar or teacher, or even by a member of the church council.

3. His Martyrdom

All these gifts that Stephen gave to his Lord through his dedication to Christ’s Church came to their culmination in the greatest gift of all, when Stephen gave his life for his Savior. The word “martyr” means witness in the Greek language. St. Stephen was a martyr before he gave up his life. Despite the fact that he was the deacon, not the minister of the Word, Stephen made use of every opportunity to share his faith with those around him. He witnessed by how he lived, setting an example for Christian laypeople through every generation since. When he was dragged before the Jewish ruling council to answer for his crime of Christian faith, he witnessed from his vast storehouse of Bible knowledge to how Christ was the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. His entire sermon is recorded in Acts 6 but was not included in our text because it’s such a lengthy and thorough review of Old Testament history and such a wonderful presentation of Law and Gospel. Finally, Stephen gave the ultimate witness by his death. He witnessed how firm a foundation he had for his faith, in the immutable promises of Christ, as the hymn writer said: “How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word, what more can he say than to you he hath said, who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.” Not for a minute did Stephen doubt what he must do. He knew that to those who are faithful even unto death is given the victor’s crown of life, and as he died he saw the Savior himself, the heavens opened, bidding him welcome home. To this day, the death of Stephen and of all the martyrs serves as a witness to the eternal, indestructible, saving faith on which we too have placed all our hope.

May our lives also, like Stephen’s, be an ongoing witness for Jesus. What a wonderful gift for him who gave us all. May we strive to know our Bibles as well as this layman and deacon, Stephen, so that when called upon we too can give a thorough Biblical testimony to the indisputable truth of our faith. May we be willing, like Stephen, to sacrifice our time and efforts in service to the newborn King. And may we be willing to suffer all, humiliation, shunning, even death for the privilege of being a marturo", a witness to our faith: “A Gift Worthy of Him Who Gave Us All.”