The Messenger of Acts 6:15

Delivered to the council. What can we liken this to in our day and age? We have the security of balanced government. A general public acceptance of law and order. There is nowhere in the Western world where you could be accosted publicly, falsely accused and then put to death in one fell swoop. And, in even greater context, over a free speech issue. A public declaration of religious freedom.

This would be similar to you going down to the city hall, in say: Stafford, England; Hastings, New Zealand; or Nanticoke, Canada. All cities with populations on the order of first century Jerusalem (about 60,000). At city hall you would make your declaration, to those passing by, that in the future we would never have to pay fines, and that for certain, this building was coming down.

That is a very gross simplification of course. I am not here to parallel legal systems, or societal changes. Just give you the flavor of scale, and context. Free speech, even inciting a movement that threatened the authority of the religious government, that is what made the Pharisee fearful. They loved power, prestige, even loved the Law itself. But they did not know God, or His Son. Furthermore, they did not know His messengers either.

Imagine you at the city hall telling everyone about how they can be free of fines, and taxes. Then all the suits and ties come out and drag you inside to a conference room, where they will interrogate you, then stone you to death. We don't live in the same world saints. God has led us forward societally. Oh we still have the poor. And we still have the Pharisee. We have the legalists, idolaters, magicians and the like.

Sin is still there for every individual, in every age. But God has blessed us, made us fruitful in the physical as well as the spirit. Now, on earth, there are places, cities, kingdoms and countries where this could happen. And does. Many Christians give up their lives each year for the gospel. Yet we are largely insulated from that in our world.

Some of us have become fat spiritually. Fat and lazy till we can not move in the spirit at all. We sit in our pews, listening to what God can do for us this week, giving our money. Then back to the couch, where we waste away the precious hours left in amusement, denying that He wants to work through us. Oh, God isn't going to call everyone to perform such a singularly magnificent display of Christ as Stephen did. But He is calling, no, He commands each of us to lay down our lives for the body.

The only way to do that is to function as a member locally. Stephen was chosen to wait tables. And in a high place in the Spirit for that ministry. No, not everyone is capable of doing that. You must be filled with the Spirit first, then recognized by the body. Do you see it? You will get no where without being filled with the Spirit. From glorious martyr to 'lowly' table help, any job in the Kingdom has the same requirement, being filled. To get that means desperately wanting Him, like you have never wanted anything else. If you don't have this desire, just ask Him to transform your emotions. He is faithful.

They looked upon him, "fastened" their eyes on him. I like to think that the context here indicates that they could not look away. The Spirit came upon Stephen to the point where it emanated from his being. The window to his heart, his face, was so clear that he appeared as a holy messenger.

If I plunked you out of your chair right now, and set you down in front of the mayor of your city, and the chief of police, plus a few councilmen, then accused you of plotting the destruction of city hall, what would you do? Deny the accusation? Get extremely nervous? Or let loose with a prophetic word so sharp it drove the listeners to madness?

Yeah, I have a hard time imagining it too. But I can get that sense, that taste, the gentle breezy sensation of the Spirit, with infinite power underneath. I can see where Stephen tapped into the Lord, even in my own heart. He stood up in the power of Christ to the subduction of his own soul, his own mind, desire, choices. And let the invisible wind guide. I can only perceive a rough sense of this, but its there. Do you sense it?

God wants to send messages to the lost. To those in the nations trapped by darkness. And He will cleanse you, and fill you, and use you do deliver that word. Let us ask for it together. Lord, fill us with Your Spirit. Fill us until we have nothing but the glowing image of a holy messenger to present to the world. We believe it, accept that it is Your plan. Do it in us for Your Glory!