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Acts 6:8-15 A short passage. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%206%3A8-15&version=NLT

It seems like Stephen in particular was being used by God.  We are told he was filled with God’s grace and with his power.  God’s power had been working in the apostles, and now we see that other disciples also were demonstrating the power of God in supernatural ways.  This is amazing, but this morning I am captured by the concept of being filled with God’s grace.  What would it look like if I was filled with God’s grace.  If someone watching  my life characterized the grace I gave people as something supernatural – I don’t know how to end that sentence.  I would like that.  I would like to be supernaturally gracious.  

Whatever that looked like, it obviously drew people to Stephen.  Not surprising.  I think I would seek out opportunities to be around someone who was full of God’s grace and power.  

Of course, whenever people draw a crowd and regardless of the reason, others become jealous.  A particular group, who were known as the synagogue of the Freedmen, really took exception to Stephen.  They would publicly debate him, but because Stephen was also given great wisdom by God, he defeated every argument.  Since the debates were public, so was the defeat, which annoyed them.  

Since they couldn’t beat him honestly, they decided to get people to lie about what he was teaching and accuse him of blasphemy against Moses and God (basically denying that the things Moses and God had said were true).  They dragged him before the Jewish council with witnesses who outright lied about what Stephen was teaching.

Stephen is going to make his defense, in which he doesn’t really even bother defending himself, he just preaches one of the most powerful and convicting sermons of all time. But before we get there I want to notice a couple of things.  

One is something Luke overtly states.  The members of the council look at Stephen and his face looks like the face of an angel.  If you have spent any time reading about angelic visits in the Bible, this passage isn’t suggesting that he looks like a handsome, young movie star.  Angels were often described as being so bright they were hard to look at.  They almost always terrified the person to whom they appeared.  And anytime we see them portrayed in heaven, they are truly freaky looking majestic creatures – sometimes covered in eyes or multiple sets of wings or having multiple faces like different animals.  I don’t know exactly what Luke meant when he said Stephen’s face looked like the face of an angel, but it’s a safe bet it looked unusual.  

Everyone in the room saw something supernatural.  I personally wonder if he bore any resemblance to Jesus during the transfiguration.  There’s no way of knowing, but this is going to be the topic of one of many coffee dates I hope to have with biblical characters in heaven.  

The second thing I notice is how similar Stephen’s experience is to Jesus.  (Again, if you haven’t read at least one of the gospels, that has to be next on your summer reading list)  Like Jesus, Stephen is full of grace.  He is demonstrating God’s power.  He speaks with incredible wisdom.  People are jealous, but every attempt to humiliate him is turned around on his accusers.  When they can’t find anything of which to accuse him, they get people to lie in court. 

I also notice one significant difference.  When Jesus was accused, he was silent.  He didn’t bother to explain himself.  He had come to this world for the purpose of dying for us.  He had already said all he needed to say.  His purpose was to be convicted.  He was no longer there to teach and change people’s hearts.  He had arrived before the council with the purpose of being crucified.

Stephen? Not so much.  We will see that he did not demonstrate any fear of dying.  But he also felt no compulsion to be silent.  The Holy Spirit was living in him, empowering him to testify about the truth of who Jesus was and to show people the way to God.  He found himself through no fault of his own in front of the Jewish high council and he had a message to share.