WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.760 Morning. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:09.199 Today's text is from the Book of Acts, chapter six, verses eight through fifteen. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:14.800 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:26.160 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:30.399 But they could not withwithstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:55.439 Then they secretly instigated men who said, We've 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, and they set up false witnesses, who said, This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.960 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.159 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:10.560 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.400 My name is James Rathman, I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.920 It's great to gather together with you all on the Lord's Day to worship. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:22.480 Let's pray, and then we'll enter our text for the day. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:45.439 Lord, we praise you that by your work we are able to come to you with boldness, Lord. 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:58.959 Father, I pray that the boldness that we see reflected in Stephen this morning, Lord, that you would teach us how to admire that and even how to strive towards that in our own lives. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:24.240 Lord, especially that we would grow and be full of grace and power just as Stephen was, and that we'd be full of faith and wisdom just as Stephen was, Lord, that we might gain this by looking more closely at your Son Jesus Christ, whom Stephen walks in the footsteps of, Father, and who we look to and admire as we learn his story today, because we admire how he testified to you. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:39.360 Holy Father, I pray that we would see the wonders of the sacrifice of your son reflected in the boldness of Stephen, and then in seeing that we might take confidence to have the same type of boldness in our lives, witnessing to you. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:41.120 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:42.080 Amen. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:55.039 So this is the really the beginning of Stephen's story, although he was just introduced last week as he became one of the seven men who were chosen to be the first deacons in the church. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.439 And the story picks up right with uh Stephen himself. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:03.680 And this is the story of the first martyr in the church. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:11.919 Now, martyr is simply the Greek word for witness, but we don't use the word as simply a word for witness anymore. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:17.759 When we say martyr, we mean somebody who died for what they were proclaiming. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:21.360 And so this is not the story of the first witness in the church. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:30.080 This is the story of the first man in the early church who paid the ultimate price, who gave the ultimate witness unto death, and that is Stephen. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:39.840 Now, just grasping the concept of a martyr in our contemporary culture, I think, feels nearly impossible. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:44.560 Why would anyone be a martyr? 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:58.800 What could make less sense to our current sensibilities than someone witnessing unto death, dying because they wouldn't change the words that they were saying? 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:06.159 This seems like a senseless thing in our school of thought because it is absolutely not pragmatic. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:12.240 It's the least pragmatic option to be the martyr. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:16.639 And yet here we are honoring a martyr when we look at the story of Stephen. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.920 We ought to honor the martyrs that have gone before us, but we don't use the word martyr in an honorable way. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:32.079 In fact, if you are giving someone advice with regards to martyrdom, you are more than likely saying, don't be a martyr. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.639 That's more than likely the advice that you're giving. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.000 Don't be a martyr here. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:41.759 And the advice of Scripture, we know what we mean when we say that, and it's often good advice. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:51.040 It means that like you're probably sacrificing too much in a way that is seeking to be manipulating the people that you're sacrificing for. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:53.439 That's what we mean when we say don't be a martyr. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:00.639 You know, like you're doing a nice thing, but it's too much of a nice thing, and you're doing it just for yourself to put people in your debt. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.480 We mean that when we say don't be a martyr. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:03.839 And that's good advice. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:05.680 Don't do that. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:17.279 But the advice of Scripture, I think even when we had an opportunity, if we had, if we saw somebody who was walking down a path like Stephen, I think our gut instinct would be to steer them away. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:22.160 I think we would we would aggressively steer them away from the martyrdom of Stephen. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:25.439 And that's because our culture is absolutely pragmatic. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:33.920 And we're we're particularly pragmatic with regards to speech and language, with regards to the words that we say. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.000 And I'm not saying pragmatic, I'm meaning this technically. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:48.560 I mean that we have been most influenced by a philosophical school of interpreting language, which is called pragmatism. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:56.639 This is developed by John Dewey at the University of Chicago and not the decimal system guy. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.519 Different, different Dewey. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.000 This man had no system. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:15.279 And he described what they were seeking to do, and this is in the early 20th century, what they're seeking to do is describe language within a Darwinian framework. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:24.480 Now, our ordinary take on language before this was that language was something that humans used to describe reality. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:26.160 Make sense? 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:27.600 Seems sensible? 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.360 Speech is something that we use to describe reality. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.519 But in a Darwinian framework, that doesn't make sense for what speech is. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:51.600 So as they're seeking to integrate this, they develop what they call pragmatism, which means that words, the the nature of words, are best conceived of as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action rather than mirrors of reality. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.680 So our language is merely a tool for prediction and problem solving. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:08.480 Ultimately, this means that it's another tool which can be uh which can support the survival of a species, the passing on of genes, the things that promote survival. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:17.759 But those don't necessarily have anything to do with describing reality or making claims to truth. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:28.319 And so this changes the way that we analyze our language, or better said, the way that we assess our language, the value judgments that we would place on our language. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:39.120 You can consider that within a Darwinian framework, your language becomes assessed by the effects of that language. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.439 In a pre-Darwinian framework, your language would be assessed for truthfulness. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.439 Does this map onto reality? 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:50.079 Does the phrase does the sentence itself match reality such as it is? 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:51.920 Does it proclaim a truth? 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:57.040 But now we think of language as what effects did that language have? 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.759 What effects did that speech have? 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:12.000 Now this explains, because we think of language this way is as merely an assessment of the effects of those words that we say, we we measure it only in its consequences and just as a tool. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:26.800 Well you can imagine why a group of people who thought of language that way, when we developed machines that use language very well and very quickly as tools and we can measure the effects of it, we would think of this as an existential threat. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.720 Because the computers can use words in the same way that we can use words, so we think. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.320 If language is just tools, then the LLMs are coming for you. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.480 And you've been replaced. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.559 I'm sorry. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:51.600 But if there's something beneath our language, if we are mapping reality, if this is what our words do, then these machines are no threat. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.519 Their language can only be assessed in its consequences. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:01.519 It is not assessed in terms of whether or not it maps onto the truth claims of reality. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:20.080 Well, by the definite by that definition of language in this pragmatic sense, where we assess our speech by the consequences of our speech, we do not assess it by its description of reality, then the martyr is the worst type of speech. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:25.919 Because here's what the martyr doesn't do. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.639 The martyr is in a debate with somebody. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.960 They have some sort of interlocutor. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:38.000 And the martyr doesn't convince the person that he's speaking with. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:39.679 He does not convince them. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.840 So let's assess the effects of his language. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.159 Does he convince his opponent? 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:44.799 No. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.679 You know what the martyr does? 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.960 He cements the opponent in his adversarial position. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:10:00.080 He cements the opponent in his adversarial position so much that he drives him to violence. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:02.399 That's what the martyr does. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.840 So let's assess the consequences of the martyr's language. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.919 Have they worked in winning over the adversary? 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:10.879 No. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:14.879 No, the martyr's words don't work. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:29.120 Likewise, did the martyr's language preserve the survival of the martyr himself, such that he would, let's say, be able to pass down his genes. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.480 No, they don't work. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.720 No, the martyr, remember, he gets murdered by his adversary. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:38.320 So he's dead at the end of it. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:42.000 So at the end of the martyr's witness, here's what we have with his language. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.159 Let's assess the effectiveness of the martyr. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:49.679 He has cemented his adversary so deeply in his position that he drove him to murder. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.480 And he himself is dead. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:11:02.480 In a pragmatic view of language, which is the only view of language that our culture has left, the martyr is the villain of the story. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:09.120 He's an absolute failure in terms of the consequences of his language. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:19.519 And he's even causing his own suffering, he's increasing the suffering in the world, and he's eliciting violence from the person that he's talking to. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:33.039 I think that if we were to tell the story, if we were to see, if we were to bear witness to a martyr in our culture, there's no question in my mind, I know with absolute certainty, that we would think the martyr was the villain. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:39.840 Our whole paradigm is structured to assess the shape of the martyr as the villain. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:48.240 And one of the reasons for this, I think, is pointed out by the uh this historian who I've become obsessed with lately, named Eugen Rosenstock Hussey. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:49.840 You don't meet a lot of Eugenes. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:57.200 Yeah, yeah, not a lot of boys named Eugen anymore for the Stephen Wilson Jr. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.200 concert goers last night. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.000 He the Gary is the song where he says that. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.200 Just me up here now. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.799 Sometimes I feel that. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.960 He says this, this uh Eugen says this. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:15.120 Uh this is this is where I want to sort of close with this introduction. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:25.759 The the martyr is perfectly offensive to the modern mind because the modern mind will not get excited or pained over anything. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:32.240 Because it thinks that to be civilized means to do nothing violent. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:38.960 And the martyr is the one who elicits violence. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:42.320 It brings things to a head. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:48.000 Today is the story of the first martyr. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:51.440 It's the introduction of the first martyr. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:13:02.879 And what we'll see is that the Stephen is operating in a completely different framework than we are enculturated to operate within. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:19.919 And what he sees is that there is a truth, there is a reality, which it is so important that it must be reflected, that it is worth articulating even when the consequences are death. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:31.600 But there's even something more glorious behind the story than that, because he sees that this is not an abandonment of pragmatism. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:43.519 This is not something that can't be assessed by its consequences, because he knows the one who has gone forward into death and has come out the other side in glory. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:50.080 And so he has good reason, pragmatically, to bear witness to this truth. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:57.120 And he has good reason because of the say because of the truth itself to bear witness to it, no matter the cost that he faces. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:12.639 I hope that our paradigm, that our sense of what our words mean, of the weight that they carry, of the reflection of the reality of the gospel, is that it that it shifts our minds away from this mere pragmatic way of assessing our words. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.759 So let's begin and we'll look at Stephen. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:20.240 Acts 6 8, and Stephen, full of grace and power, and some of you are saying, begin. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.399 I feel like we're halfway in. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.200 Yeah, we are. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:24.399 Relax, it's not true. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:31.759 Acts 6 8, and Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.440 Stephen is a Hellenist, that means he's one of the Greek-speaking Jews. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:45.360 And we learned this in the last uh in last week, the division that was sort of naturally occurring between the Greek-speaking Jews and the Hebrew-speaking Jews that had converted to Christianity. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:54.399 And that natural division was taking place already just amongst the synagogues and those who weren't converted to Christianity at this time in the early church. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.399 Stephen is described as full of grace and power, and he's doing great wonders and signs among the people. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:10.159 Stephen, exclusively in all of the New Testament, receives this great in describing the wonders and signs among the people that he is doing. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:11.840 He's doing great ones. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.799 There's evidence here of you know what's being fulfilled? 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.879 It's when Jesus said, Greater things than these you shall do. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.320 And he's doing that. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.720 The miracles of Christ did not receive this great. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.399 Well, there's probably a grammar word than I'm looking for. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:31.519 They didn't receive that, they didn't receive that qualifier. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:34.159 But Stevens did. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:46.559 Now, these great signs and wonders that are being done among the people, along with his preaching, of course, draws adversaries. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:16:01.120 In Acts 6 9, it says, Then some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:14.399 So, although Stephen was a deacon, his ministry was not limited to the diaconal office, but we see that he has this public ministry of engaging with people in defense of the faith. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:19.519 And so people from the synagogue of the freedmen rose up to dispute against him. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:25.840 Synagogue of the Freedmen were likewise Hellenistic Jews, just like Stephen was. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:31.120 It is really, uh he is really being attacked by his own in this. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:41.519 The Synagogue of the Freedmen was a group of Jews that were captured into slavery by the Roman army under Pompeii in 63 BC. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:52.639 They were later granted their freedom, and they came from the different regions that they were taken to in captivity, and they found uh they established themselves a home in Jerusalem. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:57.279 There were two synagogues among them that made up the synagogue of the freedmen. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:02.240 There were the North African synagogue and the Asian synagogue, which would be Turkey. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:11.119 And the Asian synagogue, by the way, is likely where Paul was educated and where he would have grown up going to. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:14.000 And he'll come into later in the story. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.200 What we see in Stephen is something like a type of Paul. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:25.839 A ministry to the Greeks. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:42.960 So the question is: why does this opposition come so hotly against Stephen from within the Hellenists, from within the Greek-speaking Jews, when Stephen himself is a Greek-speaking Jew who has converted to Christianity? 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:48.640 Well, we aren't given exactly the details, but I think from the information that we have, we can tell something of a story about it. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.720 We can offer some conjecture. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:58.559 We know already that there is a natural division between the Hebrew-speaking Jews in Jerusalem and the Greek-speaking Jews in Jerusalem. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:03.279 It is likely that the Hebrew-speaking Jews would look down on the Greek-speaking Jews. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.920 They didn't deal with the text in its original language. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:10.160 Instead, they preached and taught from the Septuagint, which was translated into Greek. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.920 They were likely accused of being more Greek than Jew. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:20.160 And that accusation, I'm sure, didn't sit well with the Greek-speaking Jews, with the Hellenists. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.720 And so there's a bit of an opportunity here. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:36.880 If Stephen has stepped out from the ranks of the Hellenists, then the Hellenists can offer Stephen to the Hebrew-speaking Jews who are in charge of the Sanhedrin and in charge of running the temple. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:46.880 And they're able to say, see, look, we are standing against Stephen here, and we're standing together with you against Stephen. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:19:01.759 Now all of a sudden, this disparity in the second-class citizen sort of nature of being a Greek-speaking Jew is resolved because they're able to come together with the Hellenists and the Hebrews against Stephen. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:06.799 And that's especially possible when you're offering up one of your own. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:08.960 And that's what's taking place here. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:20.079 They do, of course, oppose Stephen, but it is worth noting that opposing Stephen makes them closer to the power structure of the Sanhedrin. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:29.440 So there is a political gain that we can't gloss over that's available to the Hellenists when they offer up Stephen. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:34.000 So Stephen is debating them, and they're standing against him. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:42.799 And in Acts 6.10, it says, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:52.240 They could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen was speaking. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:10.319 The picture you should have in your mind is when Christ is spending all of that time in the temple and the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, and it's just like, here comes a Pharisee, here comes a Sadducee, and Jesus is like, done, out of here. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.720 Just every argument that they bring to him, he is like, Yeah, let me tell you a little parable about that. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:23.920 And they walk away humiliated and ashamed because his teaching and the clarity of his teaching was full of the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.160 They're like the very words of God. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:40.319 And when the Sadducees and the Pharisees were attacking him with their clever arguments that they had organized in such a way perfectly to take him down, and Jesus is able to overcome every one of them. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.359 That is what Stephen is doing. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:49.200 They are coming in with these arguments against Christ, with these accusations of what he is saying. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:52.880 And Stephen is clearly explaining, no, look at what happened here. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:55.440 Look at the plainness of what the scripture spokes to. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:21:07.920 Look at how the Old Testament, which they would have just said, look at how the testament looks exactly towards what we have, these promises that we have that have obviously been fulfilled in Christ. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:12.240 And I don't know if you've met my friend Peter, but he he bore witness to this. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:18.160 They have spent time, we have seen with our eyes, they've seen with their eyes the resurrected Christ. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:22.240 And what happened is they were they were overcome. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:40.240 The Hellenists that thought they had this political opportunity to stand against Stephen, instead, in approaching him, they find themselves humiliated at the wonder of his grace and power, and they are unable to withstand his wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:48.720 Now, what what Stephen is walking in here is precisely the fruit of the promise that Jesus had given to his disciples. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:22:01.039 In Luke 21, 15, Jesus says to his disciples, For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or Or contradict. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.000 That's exactly what Stephen has. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:09.359 The promise that Jesus gave to his disciples, Stephen is just walking in it. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:14.480 Exactly as the church was said to unfold, Stephen is participating in that. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:19.119 And so they stand as adversaries against the proclamation of the gospel. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:27.119 And Stephen has a mouth and wisdom which none of his adversaries are able to withstand or contradict. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.880 They can't withstand it. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:34.160 You know what that means is that they were disputing in public, probably around the temple. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:49.440 And there was a moment in the argument where everybody knew that the Hellenists' argument was silly, and that it didn't make any sense, and that there was this contradiction in it that didn't land and it didn't work. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.119 And everybody knew. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:10.880 Stephen's testimony, his argument, it was more sound, it was more plain, it was more fundamentally true, and they had to walk away. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:18.720 And they likely walked away humiliated or with questions of their own that they did not want to face. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.799 So this is the promise of Christ that Stephen is walking in. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:33.279 But you notice that this promise, I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:39.279 This promise is the very same promise of persecution. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:42.720 This is where the persecution begins. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:54.400 I think many of us Christians think the reason that I don't want to get into a dispute with regards to the veracity of Christianity is because I don't want to lose. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:06.880 I think that's a false fear. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:13.839 And honestly, I think it's a fear that often masks our true fear. 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:32.559 I think that we we often shy away from disputes that we perhaps ought to engage with, not because we're afraid we'll lose, but because we're afraid we'll win. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:52.720 But because we're afraid that what would actually happen if we went down this road with this person and we shared the veracity of the claims of Jesus and the reality of the gospel and the truthfulness of our faith, what we know would happen is it would be like wielding a sword in this conversation, and it would bring this relationship to a point. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:54.960 Like swords do. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:57.839 Swords bring metal to points. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:00.559 That's what that's the definition of swords. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:04.480 That metal which brings itself to a point. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:13.440 And we know that the Word of God is a sword, and so it brings things to a point of division. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:23.119 If you lose the argument, even if you tie, you don't have to experience being brought to a point of division. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:29.279 It can actually be relationally better to lose the argument. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:36.240 It can be relationally better to not overcome the adversaries of the gospel. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:47.759 But the promise that Jesus has given us is that our words in the proclamation of the gospel are not able to be withstood. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:51.519 That they come like a sword. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:26:04.319 And that's why this promise, that I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict, flows into this attendant promise in the next verse. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.799 You will be delivered up. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:14.640 Luke 21, 16, even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:21.599 We're fools if we think, oh, I hope if I lose the argument, then I will be in a vulnerable position. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:22.240 No. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.440 If you lose the argument, you're safe. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:35.519 If you have words that cannot be withstood, if you have words that cannot be overcome, prepare to experience wrath. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:42.079 You know this. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.039 Many of you have experienced this in your relationships. 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:53.119 Where the truths of the gospel have been brought to a point, and now there is division within the home. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.880 There's division within your family. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:00.640 Jesus promised this. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:02.720 He promised this. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:07.039 It is a painful reality of our faith. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:11.839 You must know that it is that it is possible, that it happens. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:15.920 Our Lord promised us that it would. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:25.759 So, having been overcome by the arguments of Stephen, they resort, they begin to express their wrath towards him. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:27.440 This is not hard to imagine. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:40.559 They've been humiliated in the public square by a man who has better arguments than them that threaten their whole way of life, and at least threaten this plan to get close to the power structure of the Sanhedrin, which would be nice in Jerusalem. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:44.480 And so they begin to attack him in Acts 6, 11 through 12. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:52.079 Then they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:28:00.640 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. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.079 They are unable to defeat him with argument. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:12.000 They are unable to overcome his words by their words without exposing their own contradictions. 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:20.079 And so now they must move in secret to do what's called, we destroy a little reputation. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:29.279 And so they secretly instigate men to spread this rumor, saying, You know, you know Stephen? 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.680 It's like, yeah, yeah, I've heard some people talking about Stephen. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:33.440 They're kind of liking what he has to say. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.200 He's one of our own, you know. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:36.880 I've known Stephen for a long time. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:37.599 He's not so crazy. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.200 Sorry, his boat's a little rocky. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:40.559 He's not so crazy. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:44.480 And perhaps this stuff we should maybe hear him out. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:50.000 And so now they have men who, when somebody starts to talk like that, they say, you know, he's a blasphemer. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.519 And you know what blasphemer is? 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:55.200 That's a catch-all. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:58.480 Those are the words that work. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:04.720 You call someone this, and once they're called that, you can't touch them. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.480 You can't engage with them in any way. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:15.359 You don't have to engage with or hear out or understand the arguments of a blasphemer. 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:16.480 You don't need to. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.960 It's enough to know that they're just a blasphemer. 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:25.279 Can you imagine someone today using such a tactic? 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:27.440 It's almost incomprehensible. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:31.519 This is so distant, it's so far from us, this ancient text. 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:32.160 You know what I mean? 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:37.759 So we have to do all this work to imagine how human nature is so different now. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:56.559 So they secretly instigate men for the charge of blasphemy, and with this charge of blasphemy against Moses and God, they stir up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they come upon him, and they seize Stephen, and they bring him before the council of the Sanhedrin. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.000 Do you remember this pattern? 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.880 This is exactly what happened to Christ. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:10.640 What Stephen is doing is he's just following in the footsteps of our Lord amongst the same people with the same proclamation that Christ is Lord. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:26.400 This is the whole story of Acts, is that you will see the apostles and those within the early church just so invest their lives in the faith of Jesus that his story becomes their story in the very pattern of their lives. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.720 It's Jesus happening at the scale of the church. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:38.960 So they gather together this cohort who is able to arouse the support on these charges of blasphemy against him. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:49.359 And then in verses 13 and 14 it says, And they set up false witnesses, who said, This man never ceases to speak words against the holy place and the law. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:31:00.079 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:04.480 These are the very charges that were brought against Jesus. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:11.200 Jesus is finally charged with the accusation that he said that he would destroy the temple. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:20.720 Now it has this attendant part of it, which is that he will destroy the temple and he will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:31.200 Now what we see in this accusation is that there is an it's a precise accusation, but it shows a very intentional misunderstanding. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:38.160 It shows that that worst quality that we have as people when we encounter an argument that's better than ours. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:45.039 When I encounter an argument that's better than ours, you need to give me at least 15 minutes to pretend not to get it. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:49.759 Because that's what my fleshly sinful heart is like. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:32:03.359 When I encounter an argument that I know makes the way that I thought about things senseless and absurd, then it's going to be at least 15 minutes, maybe six months to a year, of being like, I don't I just don't like that argument. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:04.799 I just don't think I understand it. 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:06.000 And that's what's happening here. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.759 There's a pretending not to get it. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:19.039 Because what Stephen was certainly explaining was the very thing that Jesus was teaching when he said, This temple will be destroyed, and in three days it will be raised up. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:24.079 They knew that the temple that he was talking about was the temple of his body. 00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:36.640 And so what Stephen could say in the public square was, yeah, you've made this accusation against me that this Jesus of Nazareth says he's going to destroy this temple, the temple of his body. 00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:38.319 I can explain he has. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:42.079 He himself was destroyed. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:46.000 And then three days later, he himself was raised up. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:54.000 And he is the one in which the Holy Spirit dwells, and he has distributed his spirit among his body, which is the church. 00:32:54.160 --> 00:33:02.640 The church is the temple now, and it has been raised up, because look at the signs and wonders that are taking place through us. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.119 This is evidence of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.000 And then the Hellenists would say, Yeah, I don't really get it. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:10.480 I feel like I don't really get exactly what you're saying here. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:16.960 It's sound what I heard, when you said that, I get, you said that what I heard was, you're gonna destroy the temple. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:20.000 And I don't like it when people say destroy the temple. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:21.839 You know, we've worked pretty hard for this. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:27.119 Likewise, you're going to change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:41.920 This is, this is, this means that he is striking at the vitals of those systems which hold together the whole of their culture. 00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:48.480 The whole of their identity is held together by the laws that have been handed down by Moses. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:54.640 And so that is why these are the places of their accusation against him. 00:33:55.680 --> 00:34:11.519 The accusations, the adversaries of Christ, they always take place along the terms that most threaten the power structures or the status quo that a culture holds to. 00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:27.199 Like it's it's rare that if you're engaging with someone and you sense that the conversation turns adversarial, which it doesn't have to, Jesus has many conversations where he shares the gospel and it's not adversarial. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:33.360 But when it's with an adversary, it is adversarial. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:37.119 You'll have many, you there are many types of ways that this happens. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:48.239 Not every conversation is adversarial, but but I think I think that we ought to know that there is the category of adversary, where somebody is standing opposed to this. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:50.800 He doesn't treat the woman at the well like an adversary. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:55.599 He's very clear with her, but I don't think we could say that he treats her adversarially. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:58.320 He doesn't even treat Nicodemus adversarially. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:01.519 He mocks him, but that can be fine. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:05.760 He says, You, a teacher of the law, you don't know you don't understand any of this. 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:12.079 But it seemed like they had the rapport where Nicodemus would think, I think I don't. 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:14.079 And I'd actually like to learn this. 00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:16.079 That's one way conversations can go. 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:25.119 Other ways conversations can go is someone reveals themselves to be an adversary, at which point you should think, this person is an adversary. 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:28.400 I should treat them adversarially. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:40.960 I should bring this to a point, and I should seek to destroy their arguments, so that it will be revealed what the truth of the matter is here, rather than them have their desires, which is to cover the truth and keep it hidden. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:42.800 Does that make sense? 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:49.360 Do we we need to have these categories and be able to move through them with wisdom? 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:52.559 So, where was I? 00:35:52.800 --> 00:36:03.119 These always take place at the at the when you're engaging with someone adversarially, it we you will find that it takes place at the at the sites which our culture holds the most dear. 00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:14.880 It is unlikely that you'll sense a conversation in your in your family or or or uh a dispute, which is these things will be close. 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:16.559 They will be close. 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:21.519 You know, for Stephen, it's it's his people, it's the Hellenists. 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:25.119 You should you should not expect that these will be far away. 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:29.039 Jesus teaches us these will not be far away, they will be close. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:30.960 This is not news for so many of you. 00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:31.840 It's within your family. 00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:38.800 This is the danger, this is the risk of holding clearly to our faith, is that it disrupts the relationships that are closest to us. 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:40.079 It's where that happens. 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:54.800 But when that becomes adversarial, it's unlikely in our current culture that they'll be like, you know, the hypostatic union, one person and two natures. 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:56.960 I don't think so. 00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:07.119 I don't think that there's two nature, that there's a human nature and a and the nature of God within one person, and then your family's gonna split. 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:08.559 It's unlikely. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:14.480 If this were like 325 AD, maybe. 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.880 You know, there was a lot of threat to the cultural cohesion with regards to that part. 00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:30.159 But with our, in our culture now, the accusations against Christianity are not the accusations that we have a wrong ontology. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:31.920 Nobody cares. 00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:39.440 That God can't become a man because their view of God is so high that they cannot imagine an incarnation. 00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:41.119 Nobody cares. 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:43.519 Nobody cares about that. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:48.880 The threat of Christianity is where our culture war is. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:54.000 Christianity always brings a culture war. 00:37:54.480 --> 00:38:05.920 That doesn't mean all culture wars are about Christianity, but it does mean that Christianity always brings to whatever culture it comes to, a culture war. 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:10.079 Sometimes people say that's just culture war stuff. 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:15.360 And then I think, yeah, yeah, because people always fight for stuff that's not their culture. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:18.159 You know, it's like all war. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:19.679 You know what I mean? 00:38:23.599 --> 00:38:33.760 And so you ought to expect that the difficulties that you see where Christianity is not it, where Christianity is reviled in our culture, they will come into your family. 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:37.039 Those pressures will come into your friends. 00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:41.920 Those pressures will come into your workplace, the relationships that are closest. 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:43.199 We we know this. 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:47.679 Because that's the very pattern that Stephen experienced. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:55.920 He threatened a whole worldview, a whole way of understanding the temple, the whole mosaic structure. 00:38:56.800 --> 00:39:09.840 If you threaten feminism, well, do you see this threatens a whole worldview, a whole framework, a whole a whole way of self-understanding. 00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:37.679 If you threaten that there's there's one sexual ethic that's described in the scriptures, well, this threatens a whole concept of what it means to grant rights or prohibit rights, of what the advancement of culture looks like, what the progress of culture looks like, of how it is that we signal enlightenment to one another or backwardsness to one another. 00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:41.519 You see, there are stakes in these places. 00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:47.519 And that means that what is adversarial at what given moment will be moving around. 00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:53.599 It is not that you can just memorize arguments and that they will work, you know, once for all time. 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:54.639 It's not like that. 00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:59.440 You need to be sensitive to where they will be, and they will move as the culture moves. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:03.920 But that is where the the places of the argument will always be. 00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:15.440 And you can tell where they are because it is the place where it is riskiest to bring a matter to a point, to bring a matter to its to its head. 00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:23.519 If if the matter is brought to a point here, we know that the relationship is at risk. 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:26.480 And we know that it can turn. 00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:40.800 If we examine our language from a pragmatic perspective, then we would consider it is never worth it to bring our words to the point. 00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:50.159 It is always inappropriate to bring it bring it to the point, to the to the to the matter. 00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:56.320 And yet Stephen does. 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:09.360 Stephen receives the fullness of the promise after he is arrested and these false accusations are brought against him. 00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:17.119 He will make a grand speech, and this speech, which we'll spend some time in, will bring matters to a direct point. 00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:26.800 It will bring matters to a point such that it will galvanize his adversaries and result in his murder. 00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:42.159 He receives the fullness of the promise of Christ in Luke 21, verses 16 through 19, which continues, after you receive the promise, there's not an argument you won't be able to win. 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:44.239 Hooray! High five. 00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:45.599 What are the results of this? 00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:50.320 Jesus continues, and some of you they will put to death. 00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:57.119 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 00:41:58.159 --> 00:41:59.679 But listen to this. 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:03.280 But not a hair of your head will perish. 00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:08.239 By your endurance, you will gain your lives. 00:42:08.639 --> 00:42:09.920 Why is it? 00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:22.079 Why is it that Stephen would, through this speech, after his arrest, facing these adversaries, bring his words to such a point of the gospel of Jesus Christ? 00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:29.840 It is because he trusted that if he was put to death, not a hair of his head would perish. 00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:31.280 How can that be? 00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:33.119 You know, it's very strange. 00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:35.519 I don't know what it means for hair to perish. 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:41.280 But it seems very strange that if you're put to death, not a hair of your head would perish. 00:42:41.920 --> 00:43:04.719