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Stephen & Martin

Oct 31, 2005 Print This Post

//MOOD: In Between

//ITUNES: Let’s Stick Together from the album “Down In The Groove” by Bob Dylan

I mentioned a few days ago that my friend Brent gave a great thought about Stephen’s stoning in a message I heard last week. He was talking about roadblocks to our faith and what to do when we encounter them.

First, he shared about Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and how when they were thrown in the furnace for not worshipping Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel 3, God rescued them.

Then, he went to the example of Stephen and how he stood up for his faith. But this time, God didn’t rescue him. Instead, he allowed him to be dragged into the street and stoned to death. Here’s the passage:

Acts 7:54   The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

Acts 7:57   Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Acts 7:59   And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.

Brent shared that this is the only time in the Bible that Jesus is pictured as “standing at the right hand of God.” He said that while Jesus did not rescue Stephen from being stoned to death, he stood because he was so pleased that Stephen did not back down.

Last night, I watched Luther. I have been wanting to see it for awhile. It struck me in a lot of ways. Again, it struck me that here was a man who would not back down. Here is an excerpt from his speech at the Diet of Worms:

Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.

On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me.

Amen.

One of the other things that really struck me watching the movie last night was Luther’s passion for the Word. I think I take it so for granted that I don’t dig into it the way I should. I don’t treasure it the way I should. I don’t stand for it the way I should.

Then, hearing about Kyle Lake’s death this morning, I was struck with the extreme shortness of life. He was one year younger than me and POOF he died. I want my life to be characterized with following Jesus unabashedly like Stephen, Martin, and Kyle.