1. GIBC (Baptism Sunday – 31 Aug 2025)
1. Intro
People are rarely indifferent to the Christian faith. It usually arouses feelings of admiration even among non-Christian people or feelings of negativity. There will always be some who are indifferent and maybe they are in the minority.
1.1. The Positive Feelings: happen when people see the good works of Christian churches and agencies. They see them alleviating poverty and hunger; they see the establishment of schools, orphanages, and hospitals. These works have been there from the earliest. The early Christians went to the garbage dumps to retrieve and save abandoned babies. People see a high ethical standard and that has formed a big foundational pillar of the West and even if it is not fully understood, the world admires Christian love because they see grace, they see mercy. They see Christians going the extra mile. These are a bunch of humans who have been transformed. Stephen shows incredible boldness just before his death but he was not like that until something came upon him. Peter wasn’t a courageous guy but he showed tremendous guts and became a powerful spokesman for the faith after the Holy Spirit came upon him in power. They were each gripped by something bigger, stronger, and life changing.
1.2. The Negative. There is this thing called the offence of the Gospel because when Christians speak of salvation it can attract but it can also cause resentment. Some just don’t want to be preached at or change the way they are. They feel a sense of intrusion when these Christians come and turn everything on their head. These people are happy to remain the way they are regardless of what the Christians are saying. Of course, they are entitled to their own view of life and faith cannot be forced or pushed.
1.3. There’s Choice: The logical part of me says, if the Christians have got it wrong and there is no God who created heaven and earth; and the world just came together by chance; and if there is no spiritual world, and all that matters is matter; then the non-believers have lost nothing by their refusal to accept. If that were the case, then the Christian faith and the church have been guilty of pulling the biggest con job in the history of humanity. But, if the Christians have got it right and there is indeed a creator of the universe and there is a spiritual world, and there is salvation from the atoning work of the Cross, then the non-believers are missing out on what must be the most important part of what life and death are all about. It is all the more so, as this creator God wants to have relationship with every one of His Creation!
Its not just the hereafter, that interests us, it is the difference that believing in Jesus makes to the way we live this present life. Let’s look at the early church.
2. Incredibly Bold or Foolish?
2.1. Stephen was the First: But, he won’t be the last. Throughout history, repressive governments have been quick to persecute others who stood for something different. The Jewish establishment went after Stephen and the Romans would follow this for about 300 years off and on by sending Christians to the lions. It is also said that Nero used Christians as human torches to light the way to his palace. The Christians had the choice to refuse death and deny their faith, and probably some did but many didn’t and felt that what they believed in was important enough to die for. Either they were mentally imbalanced or it is the case that they found something worth dying for. Something bigger than life itself must have gripped them and transformed them.
2.2. The Pearl of Great Value: Jesus tells a story metaphorically. It is called a parable. This parable is the Pearl of Great Price. He speaks of a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one - He is an expert on the value of pearls - he goes and sells everything he owns in order to buy this special pearl! (Mt 13:45-46). Stephen and so many others found that great pearl and were willing to be killed for it.
3. Stephen’s Narrative
3.1. Jesus Mediates Humanity and God: even before the Christian era, in the Old covenant, the people would persecute the prophets. But, the latest was Jesus, who they crucified. The difference is this. The arrival of Jesus was part of God’s will for the salvation of the world. This means God has been engaged in reconciling himself with humanity because there has been an estrangement. You see it in today’s world. In fact, throughout history. Can anyone look at the world today and say that humans are living in a way that they should be living? War in Ukraine, killing in Gaza, and mass starvation in Sudan. Jesus then becomes the intermediary between God and humanity, a role that he still fulfils today as the Great High Priest.
A simple Q: do you believe that God wants reconciliation with the people of planet earth? Is Jesus the way to achieve reconciliation. Can we get reconciliation by human effort alone or do we need Jesus?
3.2. The God of Love: This is where opinions clash as everyone has his own ideas of what God is like. Many who are uninformed or ill-informed assume that God is a great killjoy ever eager to send lightning bolts to humans because of our many imperfections! Such opinions are formed in ignorance by people who are more comfortable with urban legend because they have not read scripture to come to grips with what the faith actually stands for or worse still, they have not experienced God’s love. God is also holy. But, his holiness is balanced by his greater quality and that is being the God of love. Slow to anger but quick to forgive. He loves his creation so much that he sends his Son to die to achieve this reconciliation. Let me give you an example of that grace with the story of the woman who was caught in adultery. They drag an adulterous woman before Jesus asking him the rhetorical question of what the penalty or sentence should be for adultery. (They know full well that the penalty is death by stoning!). Jesus does not condone her sin but flips the Q to her accusers: if they are without sin then go ahead and stone her. All humans are sinners and it is a very silly person or a very dishonest one who dares to condemn another person. We worship the God who loves us more than we can ever love him.
3.3. The Holy Spirit: Twice in these 10 verses Luke refers to the Holy Spirit. In the 2nd reference, he states that Stephen is “full of the Holy Spirit.” That is a very important expression. What it means is God has placed his presence with us and in us i.e. those who believe in the atoning work of Jesus on the Cross. That means God’s Spirit is around as well as within. But here, the expression is being filled with the Spirit. Christians who are not filled with the Spirit are ineffective and make little difference to this world. It is in being filled with his presence that gives Stephen the boldness and strength to defy his accusers. The presence of the Spirit in the human is a sanctifying one if he is allowed to fill the human. Inside a willing host, we have the coming together of the divine creator upon the host and the Spirit’s work is one of guiding, empowering and transforming. It is in being filled that people are empowered to overcome sin and other bad habits. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight but is gradual. There are times when there are miracles and people are freed from habits and addictions. We are told to be filled with the Spirit continually. How? Do we want God glorified, lifted up, and evident in the lives of his people? Are we willing to confess our sins, repent and be reconciled with God? Then, confess that we have lived apart from God; be willing to turn in the right direction and resolve to be a child of God believing in the death of Jesus to redeem us of our sin. When that happens, a process is on the way whereby the divine Spirit bears witness to the human spirit. You see in 7:59 when Stephen exclaims just before death: “Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit.” You see similar words used of Jesus as he dies on the cross: Matthew records “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit” (Mt 27:50).
Q: What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
We humans just don’t have the power to bring about change. We are too addicted to our neurally- established patterns of addictive behaviors. We need the Spirit of God to fill us. He doesn’t do the work for us but he leads and empowers. So, what does that mean? He brings conviction of right and wrong, he regenerates our human spirit, he leads us to the truth of life, he gives spiritual assurance, (some would call that assurance having “the peace that passes all understanding”). The early disciples were filled with the Spirit and they changed the world.
Q: How do I be filled with the Spirit?
It starts with a realization that we are sinners and can’t help ourselves. It also starts with a sense of contrition that on my own strength, I am going no where. In fact, very often, the realization is one of there must be more to life than job, 3 square meals and family holidays. Or for Christians, who have never been filled with the Spirit, a realization that they have been ineffective and unempowered and they want to do more for God and to take their faith more seriously. Its the realization that they have this marvelous inheritance - God’s presence in them - but they are still living like paupers! ****