Following Jesus Can Be Dangerous |08.11.24| Actions Speak Louder! pt9
Acts 6:8 – 7:60
Pastor Drew Williams
One of my favorite book series is the Chronicles of Narnia, and if you haven’t read it or seen any of the movies, it’s a fantasy story about ordinary children who stumble into a magical world with talking animals, mythical creatures, and epic battles between good and evil.
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And in the first entry in the series, the children experience an adventure about faith, courage, and friendship – and meet the lion Aslan, who is a Christ-like figure guiding and protecting the children throughout their journeys.
And one of my favorite descriptions of Aslan is from before the children meet him:
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Aslan is the author’s way of describing God, as a Lion who is the King, leading and protecting all his people and the way of life in his kingdom.
And he isn’t safe, but he’s good.
And for much of my life, and for many of the Christians I’ve talked to, this isn’t the description of God they have. This isn’t the description of the Christian life they have.
We instead often talk about the Jesus way of life being the Best way of life. Full life. Abundant life. And that’s true.
But in my experience, that usually means that we’re talking about a Comfortable life. A Good life. A Blessed life.
As in, when life is hard, or we are experiencing hurt, we don’t think THAT is included in the good life of God’s kingdom. We start to wonder what happened to the goodness of God. We start to wonder where God is?
We start to wonder if this pain we’re experiencing means that God is punishing us, or has abandoned us.
If you’ve ever experienced that, I pray our message today gives you hope even in the face of doubt and darkness.
Because Jesus didn’t promise our ease or comfort. In fact, he actually promised the opposite, but he also promised his presence, to never leave us.
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And if you’ll open your Bibles to Acts chapter 6, which can be found on p94 of the NT in the black, seat-back Bibles, we’ll read a story of how to hold onto hope even when we realize that following Jesus can be dangerous.
As you find it, this story picks up very soon after the message we heard from Danny last week. The young church, the group of people who were all trying to follow Jesus, was growing and they were getting more people involved in using their gifts so that they could make sure everyone was being taken care of.
One of the people who had been getting involved was a guy named Stephen, who was part of the group of people picked to help oversee the care of widows in the church. He was focused on helping people who needed help, but that wasn’t the only way he was following Jesus with his life. Let’s read…
[ACTS 6:8-7:1]
[SLIDE 4] v8
Okay, keep your Bibles open, because we’re actually going to be covering the rest of chapter 7 as well, but we’ll go through it bit by bit. As I said before, one of Stephen’s responsibilities in the church family was to oversee the care of widows, but he’s not boxed in to that role.
We all have different spiritual gifts, and God has created each of us in specific ways that we get to discover and grow and use in joining Jesus in his work. And every first Sunday of the month, we actually hold Discover New Life here, where you can discover your spiritual gifts and start to figure out how God designed you and where he’s calling you to join in his mission.
And Stephen is no different, he’s not only serving IN the church family, he’s also interacting with people out in the community, and it’s getting attention for Jesus.
[SLIDE 5] vv9-10
Unfortunately, there’s a group of Jews, called the Freedmen, who get into a disagreement with Stephen. These are probably Jews who had either been slaves or indentured servants, or their parents or grandparents were. A good modern equivalent would be groups of people who claim their great-grandparents heritage, like all being German, or Scandinavian, or Dutch, or when 2nd and 3rd generation hispanic people still hold on to the fact that their family is Dominican or Cuban or Mexican.
So this group of Freedmen try to argue with Stephen, because they don’t agree that Jesus is the Messiah, but they can’t stand up to the wisdom that God’s Spirit is giving him.
[SLIDE 6] vv11-12
So they play dirty, and get some sketchy characters to start spreading lies about what Stephen has been talking about. They can’t beat him, so they turn to deception in order to hold on to their traditional beliefs.
And as long as THEY aren’t the ones spreading the lies, as long as someone else is doing the dirty work, they can hold on to pretending to be good followers of Yahweh.
[SLIDE 7] vv13-14
So they grab him and bring him before the Jewish council and claim that Stephen is speaking against the Temple and the Law, the Jewish Bible (what we have in the first two thirds of our Bibles that we call the Old Testament).
And they bring in the name of Jesus, because it’s still only been a few months since Jesus was killed, so everyone can remember how chaotic it got with Jesus seeming to be someone who could take over and change things.
And I just want to point out the two main things that these people are claiming Stephen and the message of Jesus are threatening: the temple and the traditional customs handed down through their scripture.
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We can see why they think this is a big deal, right? If the accusations are true, Stephen is saying that the Temple, the PLACE where God is met, where his people offer sacrifices, where his people pray and connect with him…it’s just a load of garbage. He’s got no respect for it. He thinks it’s a big ‘ol scam. And he probably thinks that our God is a scam, too, because he’s also saying things against our Scripture!
He’s saying that we don’t have to follow the commands in here anymore. He’s trying to change the Bible! He’s trying to throw it out!
We can see why this feels like a really big deal, right?!
[SLIDE 9] vv1-3
So the high priest and the judiciary council look to Stephen and let him explain himself: “Is this so?”
And Stephen replies in just a (chef’s kiss) masterful way. “Brothers and fathers, hear me.” He starts with nothing but respect, and he shows that he’s a Jew just like them. And then he starts walking through a condensed history of the Jewish people.
“God appeared to Abraham, and gave him a dangerous message: leave your country and your family and follow where I’m sending you.” Let go of what you know, and follow God.
[Acts 7:4-8]
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Stephen says, “we all know the story of Abraham, yeah?” It’s a story of God appearing to someone OUTSIDE of the promised land, and brought him on a journey of leaving behind what he knew. And he gave him a covenant, a promise, and that promise was passed down along the generations.
And then we get to Joseph.
[ACTS 7:9-22]
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Apparently, God’s people have gone through some STUFF. And leaving behind what they once knew is a THEME. But God has always been WITH them, from Joseph to the enslaved Isrealites to Moses.
Stephen tells how Moses got into a scuff with an Egyptian who was mistreating one of the Israelite slaves, and Moses killed the guy. Word got out and he ran away from everything to a place called Midian, where he started a family and started over.
[ACTS 7:30-41]
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Moses, who had done awful things, was still used by God to rescue his people out of slavery. And Moses was one of the first to prophecy about a prophet who would be raised up from an unlikely place to be used powerfully by God.
But the Israelites didn’t want to listen to Moses. Instead, they wanted to return to what was familiar, what was comfortable. Even though Egypt meant slavery, and the Egyptian gods mean oppression, it was all they knew, and they preferred to return to that lifestyle.
[SLIDE 13] v42-43
So God decreed that they would be conquered by Babylon at some point in the future.
[SLIDE 14] vv46-47
And the the tent that the Israelites built for God, the tabernacle, the spot they worshiped him and did their prayers and sacrifices, came with them into the promised land until the time of David, generations later. Only THEN did a temple get constructed. But read this next part, where Stephen quotes one of the famous prophets, Isaiah…
[Acts 7:48-53]
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God’s story with his people was over and over again a story of moving FORWARD, leaving what was familiar to join his new plan. And through it all, God was present in a voice, in dreams, in a drought, in slavery, in a bush, in plagues, in the tabernacle, and yes, in the temple.
All this concern for the Temple isn’t even a concern for God. There’s nothing extra special about the temple, since everything in creation was built by God as a way for him to connect with us.
And Stephen even points out that all their consternation over the Law isn’t even valid, because they themselves don’t keep the law. They missed the savior that God sent, and instead they killed him. And the group doesn’t like that one bit…
[Acts 7:54-60]
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The group was threatened because of the new growth of the followers of Jesus. And they didn’t want to let go of what was familiar to them. They didn’t want to let go of their power and influence. They didn’t want to let go of the place they had in society. They didn’t want to let go of their prominence and admit that they might have missed it with Jesus.
They were holding on to power. They were holding on to control. And when that was threatened, the tight grip of control led their hands to violence.
But Stephen, who had chosen to hold firmly to Jesus, was executed even as he was forgiving his killers. The tight grip of Jesus led his hands to love.
After narrating the tragic history of God’s people having only a partial acceptance and a partial rejection of God’s message, Stephen gives his life to provide the most recent evidence that the Israelites are indeed stiff-necked, not submitted in their hearts, and forever opposing the Holy Spirit.
And as we read this tragic part of Scripture, I can’t help but ask, where do I find myself in this story?
Would I be like Stephen and the early church, so incredible devoted to Jesus that every part of my life exudes with the confidence and truth of the Spirit? In the face of true, actual persecution and violence, would I keep my eyes focused on Jesus?
Or would I defend myself? Would I cow-tow? Would I bend, lie, skirt around the issues, in order to preserve and protect myself? My way of life? My comfort?
Or do I find myself with more in common with the religious Jews of the day? I’ve got my faith. I go to temple. I saw my prayers. But until someone starts calling into question the validity of my faith, it’s just a “part” of my life. One of the things I spend my time on.
And when that comes into the light, I don’t like how it feels to be scrutinized. I don’t like being told that I’ve got it wrong. That I’ve missed God.
And instead of trying to discover if that’s right, if there is an invitation for me to follow God here and now, I respond with anger, fear, rage. I respond with violence to maintain the feeling that I’m still in control.
Maybe I wouldn’t do physical violence, but it’s really easy to use verbal violence to get people to shut down. It’s pretty easy to destroy people on social media. It’s pretty easy to turn my heart cold towards “people like that.”
When I hold tighter to my own sense of control, or hold tighter to what I’m comfortable with than anything else, it’s pretty easy for my hands to turn AGAINST others.
The Jews held more tightly to their traditions than to Jesus. And that makes sense for them. But what about for us? The ones who supposedly are trying to follow Jesus? Is there any routine or ritual or “way we have always done it” that we hold tighter to?
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I mean, the real question is “Are we willing to hold tighter to Jesus than anything else?”
Because following Jesus can be dangerous. It can be dangerous to our comfort. Jesus often calls us out of comfort in order to join in his work. In order to reach someone, serve someone, embrace someone. Jesus often calls us out of our comfort in order to be a comforter for someone else.
Following Jesus can be dangerous to our traditions. Because he won’t allow our preferences or routines to exclude someone from the love of God. And he doesn’t want us to hold so tightly to was is “known” that we fail to follow him on mission.
Because we can see all throughout the story of God in the Bible that the people of God are people who GO. Followers of Jesus don’t “STAY”.
We don’t stay just as we are. We spend time with Jesus with spiritual habits so that he can transform us to become more and more like him.
We don’t stay in our old ruts and sins. We daily come before God’s grace to receive his forgiveness and the power of the Spirit to bring healing and change in our lives.
We don’t stay in our little comfortable groups every minute of every day. We hear God’s call to GO… go into all the world, go make disciples, go be my witnesses. For the sake of others.
Our church was formed 14 years ago by people COMPELLED by God for renewal, leaving behind comfort and tradition so they could more fully follow Jesus. And that is an incredible part of the DNA of our church, but we can get stuck again and just as easily miss the call of God today.
Are we willing to hold tighter to Jesus than anything else? Because following Jesus can be dangerous to our safety. There are times when faithfully following Jesus might bring threat to us. Thankfully, not the threat of death in this country, but there are members of Jesus’ family around the world who ARE under that type of threat, even today.
But we can still be under threat. So will we cower because our trust is in our own power? In our ability to defend ourselves? Or will we trust that God is with us, wants to work through us, and humbly point to the glory of Jesus?
[SLIDE 18] 6v5
Stephen is such a wonderful example to us, because he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He was full of grace and power, as our Scripture started with today.
What am I full of?
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Myself? Ambition? Good food and leisure?
Anxiety and stress over the things I can’t control? Fear of threat?
Hurt and disappointment, always looking back and rehearsing my loss?
We are what we love. What we spend most of our time and attention on. And when our focus is on ourselves, what WE like, what WE are used to, what WE find comfort in…it’s easier to think that following Jesus is too dangerous sometimes.
It’s easier to just settle for coming to church sometimes, saying our prayers, and letting our faith in Jesus just be a PART of who we are.
But the only way for us to continue on the path of becoming apprentices of Jesus is to have deeper and deeper love for Jesus. Deeper and deeper trust in Jesus.
The only way we loosen our grip on these lesser loves is to grow more love for Jesus.
The only way to follow Jesus’ call forward is to release our grip on things that keep us staying put.
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So what I want to invite you to do is this: Ask for God to deepen your love of Jesus. “Jesus, help me love you more. Help me trust you more. Help me hold tighter to you than anything else in my life.”
Paul, the incredible follower of Jesus who was there the day that Stephen was killed, experienced his own whole-life transformation and wrote this prayer as encouragement to the church in Philippi…
Phil 3:10-12
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me.”
I press on to hold tight to the ONE who has died for me, the One who has reached out and held tightly to me.
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I want to love Jesus more today than yesterday. But I need his help. “God, please deepen my love of Jesus.”
I want to trust Jesus more today than yesterday. But I need his help.
I want to be distracted from him less. I want to share his love with more people.
God, please help me.
I need God to show me the parts of my life that keep me back from him. I need God to give me the strength to let go of them. I need God to give me the friends to help me let go of what is holding me back.
I need God to give me people in my life who point me to Jesus all the time.
I need God to help me see the people he’s putting in my path that I get to point to Jesus.
I need God to give me peace from his presence to be able to trust him more, love him more, follow him more, and obey him more.
If you need that, too, let’s turn now to the Lord in prayer…