Can You Make Him Stand? By Rev. Teja Smith

 

Can You Make Him Stand?

Acts 7:54-60 NLT

Triumph Baptist Church

1648 West Hunting Park Ave.

The Sacred Desk

4/22/2021

Rev. Teja Smith

“The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ⁵⁶ And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” ⁵⁷ Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him ⁵⁸ and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.” Acts 7:54-60 (NLT)

Today we are going to focus on the last seven verses of Acts 7, but Stephen is the focus of the whole chapter. He addresses the high priest personally but ends up preaching to the whole crowd. With his face shining brightly as an angel (Acts 6:15), and being full of the Holy Spirit, he begins to preach a sermon. His Spirit-filled words are convicting and cut to the very hearts of his listeners. It is their deep-seated conviction, which turned to rage, where we pick up our narrative of Stephen being stoned. In this portion of the text, it would be very easy for us to overlook the fact that Jesus was standing when Stephen saw Him. Perhaps you still don’t think it is that big of a deal. Jesus was standing, so what?

Well, to understand the significance of Jesus standing to receive Stephen we have to understand where He is now, and what He’s doing. Right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in heaven. As a matter of fact, every time we see Jesus mentioned in Scripture after His ascension, we see Him seated. Indulge me for a few minutes as I emphasize the significance by giving multiples Scriptures that repeatedly show our Savior seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command.  When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him.  This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:19-20

“Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

“Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:9-11

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” Colossians 3:1

“Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him.  He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.  He is the kind of High Priest we need because He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin.  He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.” Hebrews 7:25-26

“Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.” Hebrews 8:1 

Throughout the New Testament, we see Christ seated in the place of highest honor, which is at God’s right hand.  He has been seated since He finished the work of the cross, that God had given Him to do (John 17:4).  So, we know that Jesus is seated and we see here that when Stephen saw Him, He was standing.

Why would Jesus be standing? Let’s think for a minute of the kinds of events that make someone stand to their feet.  It’s usually excitement isn’t it?  When we are flooded with intense emotion, especially excitement, it can be difficult to stay in our seats.  Usually when we are seated, we are relaxed, chilling, maybe talking.  You may even be working from a seated position, but if we go suddenly from sitting to standing, usually it is something that has caught our attention and caused a level of excitement that provokes us to change our posture.

This is what happens in our text. Jesus is watching, and there was something about the way Stephen was handling this situation that made Jesus stand to His feet! This brings me to my title and the question that I have for you. “Can you make Him stand?”

Not sure? Let’s start with your biography.  If God wrote your biography, what would it say?  If we want to know if we are living in such a way that it would make the Master stand, we may get some insight by taking a look at our biography. 

If God wrote out your biography, what would He say?  Remember now, it’s not another human being like me or you, writing it. You aren’t being interviewed by another human being, where you can just reveal what you want and leave out what you want.  If God, the One who searches the heart and mind, wrote your biography, what would it say? 

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.  Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable.” Hebrews 4:13

As you take a minute and think about what God would likely say about you, let’s look at what He said about a few others, starting with Stephen, since he’s the one who got Jesus to stand! The Bible says that Stephen was “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 6:5b) We also could look at Jabez, who got called out for a shout out in the middle of a genealogy. “There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers.” (1 Chronicles 4:9a) We can go to the hall of fame in Hebrews 11 and find a whole list of favorable biographies. But, we must remember that all biographies aren’t good. That’s the thing about biographies – it’s just a detailed description of a person’s life, whether good or bad.

Manasseh is one such king whose bio was not favorable. “² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. … Manasseh led them to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land. … ¹⁶ Manasseh also murdered many innocent people until Jerusalem was filled from one end to the other with innocent blood. This was in addition to the sin that he caused the people of Judah to commit, leading them to do evil in the Lord’s sight.”  (2 Kings 21:2, 9b, 16)

We find biographies all through the Bible but we are going to closely examine Stephen’s today because he made Jesus stand, do you get that Jesus, the Son of God, gave Stephen a standing ovation!  We are going to take a close look at the biography that God wrote about him and a look at his life.  Stephen was:

Well-respected. (Acts 6:3)  We cannot overlook this.  This is crucial because it speaks to his character.  We all have spiritual gifts. They are given to us by God, but they are just that – gifts. Character is different. Godly character is developed.  You can be gifted and not be well respected.  Respect is earned, and it is easily lost. The Bible didn’t just say that Stephen was respected, it said that he was well-respected.  Would that make it into your biography? Are you well respected? 

Full of the Spirit (Acts 6:3) You can be saved and not full of the Spirit.  A believer who is full of the Spirit is no longer controlled by their impulses and fleshly desires.  They walk in the Spirit, and don’t fulfill the lusts of their flesh (Gal. 5:16).  Their mind is transformed (Romans 12:2) and as a result, they have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5).  They begin to hate what God hates and love what God loves

Full of wisdom (Acts 6:3) Wisdom, simply put, is knowing how to apply the knowledge you have.  So Stephen didn’t just know the Word, and he did know the Word, but he lived it. He knew how to apply it to his life.

Full of faith and power (Acts 6:8, KJV) If you are full of the Spirit, you will be full of faith and power.  They go hand in hand.  We see the power of God being made manifest through him as his face shone like an angel, as he preached a powerful, spirit-filled sermon.

Full of the Word (Acts 7:2-53) We know that Stephen was full of the Word because you can’t be full of faith unless you are full of the Word because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).  But not only that; the Word of God also teaches us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34), and this man of God preaches with out notes for 51 verses!  God will speak to you and through you but He draws out of you, the Word you have put in you (John 14:26).  God promises to bring back the Word to your remembrance when you need it, but for Him to bring it back to your remembrance means that at some point, you put it in there.  Stephen preached from Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1& 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos, and he didn’t even have a manuscript!  He preached the Word from 13 different books of the Bible and they only had the Old Testament then!  You don’t get that kind of Word down on the inside of you from just attending Sunday morning service.  Stephen allowed the Word of God to dwell richly in him with all wisdom (Colossians 3:16).

Stephen was just a man. He wasn’t perfect, but his testimony encourages me that it’s possible. It is possible, child of God, to live a life before God where He won’t just say “Well done, my good an faithful servant.” But, I am persuaded that if Stephen could make Him stand, then you and I can too. I am persuaded that if you love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength, and live a life of single-minded obedience, then no matter what you are called to do, when He calls you home, He will stand to receive you!