Well, we are studying our way through the book of Acts.
We're learning about this first church, the Christian church, as it was forming, sometimes called the early church.
And this early church has become amazingly generous, joyful, unified, bold, brave.
And all of this unity lasted for about 30 seconds or so until we get to Acts 6, verse 1.
Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, so they're growing, good things, good things, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
So here's what it looks like happening here is we had converted Hebrew Jewish people, converted to Christianity.
There's a group of people, and there's some sort of distribution going on to the widows to take care of the widows.
And those were those people were doing just fine.
They were getting their distribution.
The Hebrew Jewish widows.
But these Hellenists, the Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews, and in this situation, converted to Christianity, a part of the church.
Those widows are being neglected.
Now, some people say, some of the competitions say, oh, this was an administration problem.
Like as you grow, there are administrative problems that pop up.
That is very true.
We know that as a church.
But also, these two groups of people have had prejudice toward each other for a long time.
So maybe it's an administration, maybe there's some prejudice, maybe a little bit of both.
We have to remember this story of Jesus is moving out from the Jewish tribe to all people.
Right?
God's not just welcoming one sort of person or one sort of people group.
You have to have the right resume or something like that.
No, no, no.
God doesn't demand you to climb up the mountain, right?
This is what we've been saying.
He comes down the mountain to us.
And the law has led us to our need of grace, and the outsider is welcome.
And so this message of love and welcome, God's pursuit of us, this message is going out from that temple and the Jewish tribe to all people, to these outsiders that are waiting for a message like this.
And so it's growing, the church is growing.
And can you believe it?
Can you believe it that when the church is growing, that everyone and everything doesn't work perfectly?
Well, of course, you know, you already know that.
Not new.
That's not new.
So that issue is brought up to the leadership.
And the good news here is the leadership does their job.
They don't blame, they don't deny, they find the solution, they bring restoration, and they move on.
It just sort of moves on pretty quickly here in the storyline.
And then we jump straight into the story of this guy named Stephen, because at the same time, Stephen's doing amazing things.
He's teaching about Jesus in Acts 6, 8.
It says, and Stephen, full of grace and power.
There's probably everything we need to know about Stephen.
Where's everything coming from with this guy?
This amazing guy that we read about in Acts 6 and 7.
Full of grace and power, is doing great wonders and signs among the people.
Full of grace and power.
The word grace is the Greek word peastes, meaning faith, assurance, conviction of belief in Christ.
So some translations, yours may say full of faith and power instead of full of grace and power.
A few weeks ago we had our monthly elder leadership meeting.
So that's the governing leaders of our church, and I'm in there with them, and we prayed and we had a devotion and we talked through different congregational care concerns, and we moved into some more practical financial talking and different issues talking about it.
We're always running up on things.
And somebody will always say, I've been in these meetings, 10 years I've been in these meetings.
Somebody will always say, Well, God's faithful.
God will provide.
God's with us.
God will help us.
You know, and I'm kind of good, I'm sitting there, I'm you know, pastor, you know, like, amen, amen, brother.
It's wonderful.
But I'm sweating it.
Like, I'm sweating it.
Ten years of God's faithfulness to us, I still default to worry.
That's my that's my starting point.
I'm good at that.
I still feel like all this could fall apart.
Just next week, and I show up and nobody else does.
Like, I mean, I still feel that way.
I mean, so I read like full of faith and power, and I'm like, ugh, I don't know.
Like, like, anything's based on my, the strength of my faith or the volume of my faith.
I'm kind of like, uh, we we're in trouble.
Like, things aren't gonna go well.
That's why I love the passage where Jesus says, you know, just faith like a mustard seed, and I'm like, got it.
I'm in.
Like now I'm good.
Like I can work with that.
Thank you for working with me.
I think Jesus is saying, like, we don't have to measure our faith or compare our faith.
Like, it's it's not necessarily about the volume or the strength of our faith, it's about where our faith rests.
That's the point.
The point is, is where is the faith resting?
And that's why I think the debate of this word, like full of grace and power, or full of faith and power, is actually really wonderful.
Because it's by grace that we have faith.
Like our our faith is created and sustained out of grace.
That's why there's power.
It's because our faith is in something greater than us, in something outside of us.
Not faith in our own faith or faith in the strength of our own faith, but actually faith in his sufficiency for us.
The word power is the Greek word donymus, dunymus, meaning might or power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature.
Right?
You get it?
So it's not faith in your own, the power is not from you, the faith is that it's in residing in a thing by virtue of its nature.
So point number one is this we are empowered by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
I read this week.
Grace alone means that God loves, forgives, and saves us, not because of who we are or what we do.
We can all just exhale right there.
But because of the work of Christ.
See, the Holy Spirit uses that truth.
It's powerful.
Because the guilt trip's over.
That's what it means.
The guilt trip's over.
Shame cycle.
We don't have to keep doing that.
The busy be good enough.
Then God might approve of me or love me today.
Like, we can let go of that.
It's powerful.
It begs the question you know, full of grace and power.
What are you full of?
Don't answer that a lot.
I know how some of you want to answer that.
Be appropriate, you know what I'm saying?
What are you full of?
The word full is the Greek word clearis.
Now that means a hollow space filled up.
You felt that, I felt that.
As to the soul, covered in every part.
Last week everybody in our house was getting ready for bed.
And Christy and I got in our bed in our room, turned on the TV, and then the girls climbed in the bed with us, and we all squished together.
Queen size bed.
All of us were in there.
I'm like half on the nightstand.
We got Seinfeld on, was I controlled the television in our house.
And we're watching that, and we're all snuggled together.
We're laughing, and you know, Kramer has us cracking up a couple times, and we're snuggling, and my heart is full.
I mean, these are the people I love.
I love them, they love me.
And we're watching Seinfeld.
I don't need anything.
Like, I mean, Jesus and Jerry, take me home.
That's all I need.
I don't need anything else in this world.
I'm full.
The hollow spaces are filled up.
We know the difference.
We feel like I'm all hollow inside and like I'm full.
It's the feeling I don't need anything else.
It's the feeling like I'm okay.
Like I'm okay today?
Or I'm at peace.
Now we know that in moments, right?
I just told you a moment.
But much better than like one great moment is a soul.
A tired, anxious, needy soul, weary, that can have peace because it has faith in something beyond itself.
And it's not because you're perfect.
It's just because you're loved perfectly in Jesus without conditions.
Now being full of that, like that's powerful.
All those hollow spaces can be filled up.
We are already completely filled by Christ, and we are all still learning the implications of such love.
Acts 6, 10 through 15.
But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit which he was speaking.
The Stephen starts to speak truth to them about Jesus.
Verse 11.
Then they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God, and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.
They set up false witnesses, who said, This man never ceases to speak words against the holy place and the law.
For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.
And gazing at him, all who sat on the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
So chapter 7 begins with the high priest questioning Stephen.
And Stephen reacts with no fear.
Stephen knows something that we talked about last week, Acts 5, 29.
We must obey God rather than men.
And here's the point that we made last week coming out of that, because I think Stephen knows the same thing.
Point number two, as we rest in our forever approval in Christ, that that part of your life can be settled, that you're already approved.
As we rest there, we grow free from being a people pleaser.
I mean, how easy for Stephen in this moment, under this pressure, to back down or water something down.
To want their approval or avoid their wrath.
Right?
He could have lived out of fear or people pleasing very easily in this moment.
Do you like me?
Do you approve of me?
Do you respect me?
Remember, we read last week this quote by Scotty Smith.
On one hand, there are people to whom I attach my umbiblical cord, metaphorically speaking, and look to them for life.
Their praise is like an elixir of joy, sometimes more so than the gospel, and their disappointment or rejection can taste like a potion of self-contempt, causing me to withdraw, retaliate, or medicate.
Nobody deserves that much power over our hearts.
Because the gospel is true, I can freely confess these things.
Because the gospel is powerful, I have hope for change.
I think Stephen knows something about this truth.
He goes on to give them a speech.
He tells them their own story.
The story of being enslaved in Egypt, the story of the giving of the law, the story of Moses liberating them.
And then he says, hey, you guys are missing it.
You're missing it.
You're stiff-necked.
Jesus is the true liberation.
Point number three is this.
In Christ's love, fear fades and bravery grows.
See, now we can deliver truth with love.
Now we can deliver truth without love, right?
You can be right and you can be a jerk.
Been there.
Now you can also love someone and avoid speaking truth.
Been there.
But people full of grace and power, looking at this Stephen, looking at the life of Jesus, they're learning how to live from love out of compassion for people and a boldness that speaks truth because it's true.
Jumping to verse 54, Acts 7, 54.
Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Isn't that amazing?
It's almost annoying.
Because I would have had other words.
A lot of other words for this group of people that is stoning me to death.
Right?
Like I know what I'm full of.
And a lot of that would have started seeping out a little bit here.
And this guy falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against me.
I mean, how do we hold this kind of compassion toward people?
To ignore us or belittle us or harm us.
Point number four.
In Christ's love, judgment fades and compassion grows.
A few weeks ago, Brad O'Kelly preached hard against the Prius.
I don't know.
If you were here, I was like, man, he is going hard at the Toyota Prius, preaching hard against the Toyota Prius.
Ruthless.
So I was really surprised this week when I was walking down Church Street.
And I looked up and I see Brad just.
Now, when Brad and Mandy and their three girls pack up their Prius, their new Prius, to go to the beach, they all pack in that Prius, all their beach stuff.
Three girls are in the backseat, tight together.
Brad and Mandy from Indigo Girls is going.
When they're packed up, the night before, Brad has to plug that car in, right?
All night.
Because the car has to have power from somewhere beyond itself.
Brad's Prius can drive because of power provided to it, right?
Not because of power the Prius has in and of itself.
It has to have power outside of itself given to it.
That's the point.
Picture's still up there.
Let's take the picture down.
I'm trying to segue to a more serious moment.
Right?
That's the point.
Power from outside of us given to us.
First John.
We love because he first loved us.
Full of grace and power.
Here's what I think Stephen knew, what we're discovering.
Because of Christ's righteousness for us, we no longer have to defend ourselves with self-righteousness.
It's very difficult, very free.
As we grow more astonished to our forever welcome and approval and righteousness in Christ, we are free from trying to earn that or prove that.
And we can begin to be less judgmental.
We can begin to be more compassionate, and we can begin to be free to speak truth without fear.
Last week at my family went to River Dance at the Fox.
That's not a joke.
We really did go to River Dance at the Fox.
I'm not a big river dance guy.
Hadn't been watching a lot of videos of River Dance, not up to date on River Dance, but I can tell you this there's a lot of people that are.
They were at the Fox Saturday afternoon last week.
A lot of people, and sure enough, we sit down and a river dance die hard fan.
She sits right behind me.
And the whole show, just loud enough for us to hear, just loud enough for me to hear, definitely.
Just stuff like, oh, here it comes.
Oh here she oh here he comes.
Oh he oh he did it.
Oh he did it.
And you do you know river dance?
Like the upper body's completely still, the lower body's just doing all sorts of clogging and stuff like that.
And oh here he comes, there she goes, there she is, there she comes, she did it, she did it, oh he did it, he's gonna do it, he's gonna do.
Just laugh, I mean it's just just enough, just to, and I am in good old-fashioned judgment upon this moron, right?
Like I am, and everything she loves, just just I'm judging everything about her and all the things dearest to her.
And then you know what happened?
The just the worst thing happened, and that's just like these Irish people just kept on dancing.
And then a bagpipe guy came out and played a solo, and you know, it's like, ooh, man.
I mean, that almost made me cry.
Then they're out there dancing, the whole line, they're in a line, and pounding, pounding, and then there she comes.
She's the lead lady, she comes out, she just kind of dancing, prancing across the stage.
And yeah, and then they had me.
I was hooked.
I loved it.
It was awesome.
It was totally awesome.
And then the thing that happened, which I didn't plan on, is I sure wasn't planning on having compassion on that lady behind me.
All of a sudden she wasn't annoying to me.
Right?
The power of the river dance, my conversion to river dance, something outside of me, and then suddenly the lady behind me just wasn't as annoying.
And I would have never had compassion on her.
I was gonna be very happy to sit in judgment the entire time.
But once that conversion happened, suddenly she wasn't so annoying at all.
Right?
We could say, take the sermon illustration, leak with me, right?
Like we could say, I've been loved so I could love.
A power outside of me.
That's what we're talking about, full of grace and power, full of faith and power.
We're talking about that there's a power outside of us that we are loved by, rescued by, forgiven, and righteous, whole, validated.
That changes everything else.
It creates compassion, creates boldness to speak truth.
I close with this, just to clarify where this love originates from for Stephen and for me and for you.
This was in an article I read this week, older article on the Mockingbird website.
So, what is love?
And here's what the author wrote: even with Jesus, I still worry about protecting myself.
Even with the Spirit's help, I can't always overcome or get my ego in check.
Or as Paul puts it so aptly in Romans 7, although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
So what do we do?
Or better yet, what is love?
Love is Jesus being humiliated, mocked, slapped, spit on.
Love is Jesus being taken advantage of, derided, misused, taken for granted.
And then turning around, giving us everything.
Love is this record imputed to loveless, egoistic, megalomaniacs like us.
You're free.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for your grace and mercy.
Thank you that the power that we have is because of grace alone and faith alone, Christ alone.
Thank you that we are not reliant upon all of our own selves and our own abilities to pull up our boots, climb the mountain to you.
But as we see and understand our sinfulness by the law that we cannot get our acts perfectly together, we see that you are perfect for us.
All of our sin has been put upon the cross, and Jesus' righteousness is given to us.
May this create a rested heart and soul.
May all the hollow spaces be filled up.
May we be completely filled by Christ, and may we be on the journey of those implications for our lives.
May we as a people learn what it means to love more, be less self righteous, be less judgmental, and grow in our bravery and boldness of what is truth.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.