Acts 7 – Lessons We Can Learn From Stephen

Stephen is a foundational and monumental person in the history of our faith and there are some lessons we can extract even in the short mention of him in the scriptures. Read through how he postured his heart in the face of persecution. Let these lessons empower you and I to respond as we follow Jesus within the context of our own community.

Stephen faced his accusers alone, and no one intervened.

Stephen stood alone before his accusers in the Sanhedrin, but because he was looking to Jesus instead of for an escape route, he was not alone and even proclaimed, “I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). 

When Peter and John stood before this same council, Gamaliel intervened. There was also the time an angel released them when these Jewish leaders had them held in jail. Later in Acts, an earthquake broke Paul and Silas out of prison as well! (Acts 16). 

But God didn’t send an angel, a Gamaliel, or another last-minute intervention for Stephen, and God won’t always have a lifeline ready for us when we walk through trials and difficulties. 

We all love the stories of last-minute deliverance, but how do we face these moments alone, and no rescue is in sight?

Do you get the sense from Stephen’s life and commitment to speaking the truth and demonstrating the Kingdom that he was never looking for a way out? He was there because following Jesus was enough for him, and as a result, he saw Jesus with him. A moment that could have been filled with despair, regret, or fear, was marked by Jesus’ nearness. 

In our difficulty, let’s look to Jesus instead of a way out! I believe we’ll be surprised by how close and how ready to make himself known He is. 

Serving didn’t limit Stephen’s purpose or opportunity! 

When a schism developed in the early Church between Hebraic and Hellenistic Jews over the allocation of food for widows, the Apostles looked for people who could lead them back into unity. 

Stephen was one of the men the Lord highlighted for this task, even though he already had much notoriety within the community of faith, and running a soup kitchen/food pantry probably wasn’t the best utilization of his gifting! Stephen could argue the Jewish temple scholars to a standstill and saw supernatural miracles take place when he prayed for people! Yet, he jumped in to serve and help the underrepresented! He could have said, “this is beneath me,” but he didn’t! 

It wasn’t his giftedness that he put on display; it was his humility.

We can learn from Stephen that serving in humility doesn’t limit God’s ability to use us, nor does it hinder the development of the call and purpose in our lives. Serving refines and releases our gifts and passions much more than it will ever restrict them! 

If it’s “below us” to serve others, care for those in need, be generous with our lives, in obscurity, how can God trust us to be released into any prominence or notoriety? 

But if we remain humble and available, God will elevate, move, and use us as we pursue and serve Him (and others) wherever we are. He brought King David from the back fields to the throne. I’m sure He can position our lives as well! 

Serving doesn’t limit our assignment or the activation of our gifts. If we’re serving, whether the task is “beneath” or not, God entrusts us with increased prominence in our sphere of influence! 

When we move from our serving assignment to our influence assignment, there can be pushback or persecution.

If you had a group of friends that God instructs you to connect with by loving on them, you would try to show up and serve them however you could. Maybe that would be a listening ear or helping out with things when their life is a bit overwhelming, building something or running errands together, or having them over for a meal. Eventually, as you remain present in their lives, opportunities to influence them would grow out of your willingness to serve them. 

In gaining influence, you can speak the truth about a habit that keeps tripping them up, an attitude that is harmful to their ability to achieve their goals, or maybe something in their marriage that is unhealthy and needs someone with sight and influence to speak into it. 

But, when you gain influence and begin to speak the truth in love (reflective of your wisdom and revelation from your relationship with Jesus), they may hear you – or, you may be ignored, belittled, or even cast out of the group and punished.

This simple example with friends makes sense because we know the social dynamics of school or friend groups. But, this also holds on a larger scale – in your workplace, marketplace, and city. As you serve, your influence grows, and you must not be afraid to speak and live in the Spirit when those opportunities arise!

If we say, “there’s no real persecution today,” it might be revealing that we are only focused on serving. Stephen served needs, but he wasn’t limited to that!

We need the Spirit to lead us from serving into moving in “God’s grace and power” like Stephen. He “performed great wonders and signs among the people” and, because of that, found himself standing in places of prominence, speaking the truth of Jesus for all to hear!

Persecution revealed that Stephen’s focus was on Jesus! 

When Stephen faced his last moments, he said, “I see Jesus!” He didn’t panic and he was at peace.

When he faced ridicule and accusation, then a physical attack narrowed his focus onto what was important. Persecution, difficulty, and trial can be a gift as it refines our focus and reduces the distractions that may pull our attention regularly. 

It can also reveal to us that Jesus doesn’t always hold our attention. Suppose we encounter a setback in our circumstances, breaking in a relationship, unexpected tragedy, or even an attack on our faith or character by someone. In that case, it’s revealing to ask ourselves, “where did my attention immediately go?” 

Did it go to fixating on what else could go wrong? How to get back at those who hurt me? Did I narrow in on the injustice and let myself move into anger? Did I lash out? Or did I see Jesus? Are my eyes on ‘the author and perfecter of [my] faith” in a way that allowed me to see Him clearer? Or are my eyes typically off of him in my day-to-day life already? Is that my normal state? If so, this unexpected rough road can be an invitation to lift your eyes to Jesus and hold Him as your central focus! Adverse events shouldn’t mean laboring to get our eyes on Jesus; they should reveal more of Him if our eyes are already on Him! 

Trials and persecution reveal where our focus has been, and they clarify our vision of Jesus.  

Forgiveness was his response, even while they were stoning him! 

John 13:35 says we will be “known by our love.” 

Matt. 5:44, Jesus implores us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

This is what Stephen demonstrated for us! Just like when Jesus hung on the cross, His prayer to the Father was to “forgive [those who are putting me to death], because they don’t understand what they are doing” Stephen released forgiveness to his attackers while the attack took place! 

How often in our lives does it take days, weeks, or months to forgive someone who has wronged us? How often do we withhold that process until they ask for forgiveness? This isn’t what Jesus or Stephen modeled. They carried so much mercy they accessed it and released it while they were dying. 

Imagine if we understood the depth of mercy we have in Jesus, and we didn’t wait for time to pass to access it? 

What if we didn’t wait for someone to apologize before we began pulling on God’s provision and releasing it through our lives.

When mercy and grace flow through us like a river, they wash offense, confusion, bitterness, hurt, and anger out of us too! 

Stephen didn’t even want to take the heavy burden of unforgiveness with him into eternity, and yet we willingly carry it with us in our day-to-day lives! Imagine the weight our soul is under and how our mental health is encumbered when we allow this stuff to remain with us and think forgiveness is something we can work toward in the future instead of something immediate! 

The problem with offense is that the longer we hold it, the more internally attached it becomes! 

When is the last time you truly forgave someone who crossed you, viewed the world differently than you, attacked, gossipped, or spoke against you while it took place?

Can we forgive this culture when we are persecuted for professing and demonstrating Jesus? 

We may be dismissed, diminished, and delayed in our pursuit of making Jesus known. How will we respond? Can we access and release mercy and forgive in real-time so that we don’t carry offense from encounter to encounter, allowing it to snowball into something that encumbers our ability to love and honor the people around our lives that Jesus is pursuing? 

If we are ready to change our world, we must walk in the type of radical love that Stephen and Jesus modeled, and release mercy, extend grace, and demonstrate love to people instead of withholding them.

“My kindness leads to repentance.” We serve a God who withheld nothing from us. Imagine how we look when we are withholding from others? 

“Give as freely as I have given to you.” – Jesus

Even in tragedy, God is up to something! His plans cannot be defeated. 

Stephen was a “rising star” of the church who had a gift for understanding Judaism, Old Covenant Law, and Jewish History, preaching and defending the Way of Jesus while seeing signs, wonders, and miracles flow through his life.  

He was a powerful representative of the needs of converts to Jesus from Hellenistic Judaism. He was most likely raised in Roman culture and spoke multiple languages, meaning he was uniquely positioned to carry the Gospel out of Jerusalem and throughout the region. He demonstrated that he could teach the early believers their place in the story outside of Jesus outside ritualized Temple and Law (Old Covenant) centric religion.

As Peter recedes from the story of Acts, this vital handoff to Stephen in Acts was beginning to take place. But the forces that were gathering in opposition to the preaching of Jesus as Messiah were able to remove Stephen. 

We don’t know what God’s plan was for Stephen and if he and Paul would have become an incredible tandem at the foundation of Jesus’s Church. But what we see is defeat, knowing that’s what the early believers would have felt! 

“Now what, God?” Have you ever had a “now what” moment with God, where hopes and plans crumbled around you? 

What we see now when we look back at the story is a profound miracle. The “young man” (Acts 7) (meaning under 40) who held the cloaks of those who killed became the one who carried Stephen’s mantle. (If Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin alone, who would have reported to Luke all that took place? No doubt there would have been witnesses there that day who would have shared with the early church what took place, but who could have repeated his discourse and final moments so clearly? It is not too much of a stretch to consider that the in-depth account of Stephen’s preaching before the Sanhedrin and final prayer was relayed to Luke by Paul himself! 

Even as the enemy dealt a blow to the early church by killing Stephen, God’s replacement was already standing there unbeknownst to everyone! 

God does His best work at dead ends. Don’t look for them, but don’t avoid them either! Even in tragedy, God was up to something! His plans cannot be defeated, and even when they (seemingly) are, He orchestrates victory. 

When our best plan gets broken into pieces, God still creates masterpieces.