As we read last week, Peter and John got in trouble again and again by preaching Jesus Christ crucified. But Stephen is the first martyr for caring less about life than Christ. So how did Stephen get to be a deacon or servant of the Church?

As we consider the growth of the church, we may think it is limited to Jerusalem in the beginning. We must remember the Jews were a critical part of the commerce of the period. They existed in all major centers and as the Christian faith spread throughout the Jewish community in Jerusalem, it also spread to the Jewish communities throughout the empire. As the community grew and covered widespread areas of the known world, new situations developed.

Christians like their Jewish forebears took their social responsibilities seriously. The need of an individual was considered the responsibility of the group. As the group increased and the work of the preaching and teaching ministry expanded, the relief work was neglected. Complaints were sent in by the overlooked widows. While some complaints are little more than bids for attention and sympathy, these complaints started Stephen on his way.

The apostles told the disciples to select seven men of honest report who were full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom to handle the responsibility of administering relief to those in need. Stephen was noted as being full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. We noted that it was the Grecians who complained to the Hebrews that they were overlooked in the distribution. Note that all seven men had Greek or Hellenistic names. The Greek Christians were complaining to the Hebrew Christians that they not getting their share. So the apostles appointed men to take care of those needing relief.

The apostles prayed and then laid hands on them to indicate their authority to act on behalf of the apostles. There is no indication that this was an act of apostolic succession because the apostles granted no authority to grant authority to others. The first result of this appointment was the increase in the number of disciples in Jerusalem and an increase in the number of (Jewish) priests obedient to the new faith.

Verse eight states that Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. There is no further clarification as to what wonders and miracles Stephen did among the people. It is obvious he was not satisfied with simply distributing relief to those in need. He was selected to meet the requirements of an emergency for the apostles. He grew well beyond the need of his assignment. Emergencies are often the situation that drives a man out of his comfort zone into a great deal more than he thought possible.

Jesus began as a teacher in the local synagogue and ended as the Savior of the world. Stephen began as a server of tables and ended as the first Christian martyr. Paul began as a man struck blind on the Damascus road and ended up turning the world upside down with his Epistles. Wesley began as a convert to the Anglican faith and took the whole world for his parish. The critical point is not a man’s beginning. It is his development that counts in the end.

So Stephen was not satisfied to do nothing but relieve the necessities of the poor. He soon became well known as a debater for Christ. Men argued questions involved in Jewish law in the synagogues. Stephen carried on arguments in the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians and Alexandrians for a very different cause. He soon met the same sort of opposition that Peter and John and their colleagues had met already in Jerusalem. When they could not resist his wisdom and the spirit by which he spake, they instigated men to speak against him in the council.

Stephen ran into two obstacles, nationalism and traditionalism. He was accused of blaspheming Moses which was an offense against nationalism. He was also accused of blaspheming God which was an offense against religious traditionalism. The combination of charges was serious enough to put him to death. His attack against Moses was against the Holy Land. He taught that God had not confined his actions to a patch of holy land. He dealt with the patriarchs in Haran, Egypt, and Midian. He taught that the temple was antedated by the tabernacle which was built by divine instruction.

Stephen saw that Christianity was bigger than any single nation and that Judaism could not contain it. He offended the nationalists by challenging their constitution which was the Pentateuch. That would be like saying our constitution was outdated and must be discarded. There are those who say that is exactly what is being done by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of our government. If our government openly admitted they were out to change our constitution, we would surely revolt. Furthermore, Stephen taught that the temple would be destroyed. Between the two, you might wonder that they even gave Stephen a chance to speak in his own defense. That defense we will hear in the next chapter.

There are similarities between Jesus’ trial and Stephen’s appearance before the council. Furthermore, it appears Stephen really caught the spirit of Jesus. Jesus, from the beginning, assumed that the truth was continually and everlastingly revealing itself. He knew that truth was not a deposit, but a growing discovery made possible by the ever-increasing self-disclosure of God to men. He had no faith in system as such and we must guard against it as well.

The Jewish faith was an elaborate system, developed through centuries of experience, for the purpose of saving men and women from the powers that threaten their existence. It was a system of law and ceremony. The law in itself was essentially good, and the ceremony in itself was a true representation and dramatization of the Jewish idea of sacrifice. Jesus saw that instead of saving men it was enslaving them, and instead of making them good it was simply making them dull. He took the laws about the Sabbath and made them serve the spirit of reverence for the Lord of Hosts and the spirit of compassion for the needs of humanity. He took the law concerning moral behavior and made it serve the spirit of human sympathy and understanding. He did not discard discipline; he enlisted it in the service of the spirit.

Jesus did not promise to leave his disciples a book of rules which would tell them what to do in every conceivable situation. Neither did he promise to leave them a code of laws, nor a final court of authority. He promised to give them a spirit – the Spirit of Truth – and that spirit would guide them into all truth.

In one way of speaking, Jesus was destroying the temple because He was replacing the laws and ceremony that had overshadowed the original spirit. Stephen was following in his footsteps. The church has frequently preferred to be led by a system that does not allow any deviations from the path of salvation. On the other hand, a spirit is more risky. You can endow a man with a spirit, and tell him to surrender his mind and soul to it and to be ready for every new intimation and fresh advance. You must also tell him that he does not yet know all truth, and that he may have to make revisions and corrections in what he already believes. If you tell him these things, you lead him into dangerous ways. If you tell him anything else, you lead him to certain and final death.

Jesus promised the Spirit of truth and that is what we must seek. We must remember, it is not the temple, nor the law, nor the land that saves. These are simply instruments of salvation and will change from time to time. God’s truth is unchanging but our understanding of that truth must change. As God reveals himself to us, a clearer picture of his truth is visible.

The last verse comments on Stephen’s countenance as he faced the council. Stephen was reflecting the light of Christ as he awaited an opportunity to defend Christ’s teachings. Herein is a lesson applicable for us today. If things around us are dull and uninteresting, it could be because they really are dull and uninteresting. The other possibility is that we are missing the light required to reflect the beauty around us. If we do not reflect the light of Christ, we cannot expect to see his beauty around us.