Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our first lesson (Acts 6: 1-9; 7:2a, 7:51-60) read earlier.

"They killed him. Stephen is dead. What a way to die. What a way to die." (Nielsen, 1999)

His trial was a farce. False witnesses were brought against him. The court was biased from the start. He may have been killed simply by the mob without even an official ruling. But the officials were participating in his death. We even learn that Saul, later the Apostle Paul, was present at this mob stoning. Stephen was convicted before he even spoke, but he spoke up anyway, courageously. Stephen spoke the truth. He told the people of their sin, of how they were displeasing their God. You can see the reaction.

Anger. Hate. He had to be silenced.

And he was. The mob was vicious. They gnashed their teeth, they grabbed, they drug him out of town. He was likely half-dead and dying before they even got him there. And then the stones started to fly. Not small stones that sting, but large stones that break bones. It didn't take long. What a way to die. What a way to die.

And why? What had he done that he deserved death? Nothing. Stephen was a good man, a leader in the church. He was full of grace and the Holy Spirit. He was wise. He knew God's Word. He did wonderful things for people. He didn't deserve death. But they killed him anyway.

Why? What had he done? Just this. He told others about Jesus. He spread the Good News that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, the Messiah sent from the Father, planned since before the time of Moses and Abraham. He spoke boldly and plainly that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended back into heaven. There is something about speaking up for Jesus that can bring on attack.

Now, truthfully, we Christians can sometimes be guilty of picking religious fights, especially over matters that are less than the core of the Gospel. Peter counsels us to (1 Peter 3: 15) "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." Stephen was a follower of Peter, so we can assume that he took the Apostle Peter's teaching and counsel to heart. But the way our reading is chopped up Acts 6 & 7 here today, it looks like Stephen starts the argument by calling his opponents: (v. 51) "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" But in reality, we learn in the skipped verses that Stephen had been successfully debating these opponents, but "they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke." Stephen had just proclaimed a much longer sermon recorded in the first 50 verses of Acts 7. That sermon had been direct, but not argumentative. Stephen's was a sermon similar in tone to Peter's at Pentecost we heard parts of last week (Acts 2). Peter's sermon led to the conversion of 3000 new believers in Christ, people whose hearts did not resist the Holy Spirit, whose hearts were cut and repentant. By the time of Stephen's sermon, thousands more were trusting in Jesus, including a growing number of priests. They were leaving their old ways and their old religion and joining with those who were following the Good Shepherd. These conversions angered those who would not follow. Stephen confessed that this Jesus is the only way to heaven, that all other ways lead away from God.

That was his 'crime.' That is why Stephen had to die. There's something about standing up for Jesus that brings an attack. Sounds strange, sounds very strange to us, but it's still happening.

"When Pastor Emmanuel had just concluded his sermon on prayer, 3 radical Muslims armed with automatic weapons stormed the Pakistani church. One of the gunmen demanded the pastor throw down his Bible, but Emmanuel stood firm and refused. The gunmen opened fire. As Pastor Emmanuel fell to the ground, he caught the wide brown eyes of his 4-year-old daughter, Kinza. (In words ironically reminiscent of our text about Stephen) Kinza said; 'When my daddy was shot, he looked directly into my eyes, then he fell asleep. Now he is in heaven… with Jesus.'" (Voice of the Martyrs publication, 2002). 15 of the 75 Pakistani and American Christians worshipping together were brutally murdered that Sunday morning last October 28th. Their crime? Standing up for Jesus. What a way to die. In more than 40 countries around the world, including several of the most populous like China and India, Christians are officially restricted or persecuted for practicing their faith.

But that pressure to be quiet about Jesus comes here in the U.S. as well. I know one woman, over 80 years-old and living in an assisted living facility, who has been cursed and called names by another resident just because she has gently tried to share the Gospel with her aging neighbor.

Lutherans and Baptists and other Christian denominations who publicly state that Christians should try to share Jesus Christ directly with Jewish people are vilified in the press as being anti-Semitic. Individual Christians who try to share Jesus with Jewish people are sometimes cursed and reviled. I know, it has happened to me and to my friends.

Even closer to home, our Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod and other churches are often berated and rebuked for their stands against the religious teachings of "lodges" like the Masons, Shriners, Scottish Rites, Eastern Star, Moose or De Molay. While we can applaud these groups for their civic righteousness, their earthly good works shown through their hospitals and other support for the disabled, our church has asked them for decades to remove their anti-Christian teachings from their rites and membership requirements. These "lodges" teach that all religions are equal, they deny the Trinity and the deity Christ.

They promise salvation by good works and entrance into heaven to their members apart from Holy Scriptures. Our church is then reviled when we insist that our members express a clear confession by not joining such anti-Christian groups. For more explicit teaching on the lodges and our church's gentle but firm position, I invite you to our Bible Study after church.

Today ridicule is common for those who know the truth. You are attacked if you put forward the belief that Jesus is the only way to truth and heaven. People slam you for being intolerant and imposing your beliefs on others. You can guess the reaction if you try to tell someone that what she is doing is sinful or he has done is wrong in God's eyes and they need repentance and Jesus' forgiveness.

"But look at Stephen. Watch as he dies. You'll see how a leader in the church, someone full of grace, power, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit, handles such anger and abuse. First, there is faith in the midst of distress. When the unbelievers started to come after him, he looked up to heaven. He looked to Jesus. And what a sight he beheld.

"Jesus is standing at the right hand of God the Father. He is in a position of power and glory, honor and victory. The one who bore our sins on a tree is ready to defend His faithful follower. The one who suffered injury and insult on Good Friday is ready to welcome his courageous servant. The One who healed our wounds with his forgiveness is there to bring His hurting witness home to Him. The one who has risen triumphantly from the grave is there to give resurrected life to this dying believer. Stephen looked up to heaven, and He saw Jesus there for him.

Yes, Jesus is there for Stephen – and He is there for you and all his followers. So when the attacks come, look up. Look to Jesus. Look at the one who bore your sins, who brought you forgiveness, who rose for you. Look to Jesus who defends you and welcomes you home. He is standing at God's right hand for us, our Good Shepherd looking over our souls." (Nielsen, 1999)

Stephen remains faithful to his Jesus, even right up to the very end. He could have stopped the stones by telling the crowd what they wanted to hear. Instead he witnesses to what he sees. Does he lash out in anger or scream for vengeance? No. Like his Christ before him, he asks his Lord to forgive them this sin.

He says "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Like Pastor Emmanuel nearly 2000 years later, Stephen dies in the Lord.

I thank God that physical violence against Christians is rare in this country. But when you speak of your faith in Jesus, you may be attacked, threatened, in other ways. How will you respond? In anger, revenge?

Or will you show the same gentleness of our Lord, or of Stephen? Pray for those who threaten you. Seek rest and peace in this Lord of Stephen's.

Stephen. What a way to die. Stoned to death by an angry mob. Stephen. What a way to die. Saved by a Savior waiting for him now in heaven. Speak up for Jesus and you'll take some lumps. But Jesus is our Good Shepherd, the Overseer of our souls, standing at the right hand of God. Whatever may come your way, He is your courage, He is your Hope. That is how you will live life to its fullest. And yes, looking to Jesus is the only way to die. But what a glorious way to die it is! Amen.

Note: The structure as well as several paragraphs at the beginning and end of this sermon come from a sermon written by the Rev. Dr. Glenn Nielsen in the January 1999 issue of the Concordia Journal, pp. 86-88.