I am reading in Acts chapter 7. Stephen, who was one of the first deacons, and who was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, was being persecuted by Jews who were libertines, who were lacking in moral principles. So, they secretly instigated other people to accuse him falsely of what he did not do, and they also seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses against him.
So, when asked if the accusations against him were true, he
then preached a lengthy sermon on the history of the Jewish people followed by
calling his persecutors, “stiff-necked people” who “always resist the Holy
Spirit.” And he accused them of betraying and murdering the Righteous One,
Jesus Christ, which was true. And even though what he said about them was true,
this angered them. In fact, they were so enraged, they ground their teeth at
him. For they did not take kindly to his truthful remarks.
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (He died) Acts 7:55-60 ESV
Now Stephen was a godly man who was full of the Holy Spirit,
so he was not being hateful nor nasty to his opponents. He was confronting them
with their sins in much the same way in which Jesus confronted the Pharisees,
and had some choice words for them, too. So, it really is okay if a person is
one who practices lies, to say that person is a liar. And if one makes adultery
his practice, it is perfectly okay to say that person is an adulterer. You are
not being mean. You are speaking the truth in love.
For “in love” doesn’t mean that you soften the message or
that you water it down to be less offensive. You still must speak the truth,
and watering it down helps no one. You can certainly find gracious and kind
ways of saying things as long as you don’t pacify the sinner and help him to
lessen his sin so that he doesn’t feel bad about his sin. He should feel bad
about his sin, especially if he is lying and cheating in practice while he
professes Christ as Lord and Savior of his life. The Scriptures speak boldly on
these subjects.
But if you do speak the truth of the Scriptures in love, and
you don’t dilute what they say, but you share them the way the Scriptures teach
them, you are not going to make a lot of friends, and you aren’t going to have
a lot of people flocking to you, unless maybe you are someone really famous who
can get away with it. For so many people these days are diluting the truth, and
so they are demonizing those who are speaking the truth boldly and frankly, and
who are not smooth-talking so people won’t be offended.
Now Stephen’s godliness and his commitment to Christ and to
the truth of the gospel and his walk of faith and obedience to the Lord was an
offense to his opponents, and so they stopped up their ears so that they did
not have to hear what he said. And we will have people who will do that to us,
too, who will ignore us or fight against us or reject us because they don’t
want to hear the truths of the Scriptures, unless they are Scriptures taken out
of context that make them feel good about themselves even in their sin.
And they won’t even listen to what we have to say, for their
minds are already made up, and they are already disposed to not listening to us
but to only listen to messages which do not confront them in their sins and
which do not call them to repentance and to obedience to the Lord. But they
will go headstrong into defending the lies and refuting the truth, usually
because they are holding on to sin and they do not want to let go.
Now, not all of us will be murdered for our stand on the
truth of God’s Word, but many of us will be martyred for our walks of faith in
Jesus Christ. And if we are not physically murdered, we can be killed with
words and with silence and with rejection and with being tossed aside as though
we don’t matter, as though we are not important. And we can be killed with lies
said about us and against us and to us. But God is our refuge and our strength,
and so we have to turn all of this over to him and trust him with our
circumstances.
For we are not to be people who retaliate and who get even
with others and who refuse to love and to forgive our enemies. But we should
all be like Jesus and like Stephen in how we respond to unjust treatment and
persecution and lies spread about us. For we are to love our enemies and pray
for them and do good to them and say what is beneficial to them, and we are not
to trade tit for tat, no matter what evil they do against us.
Hear my Voice
An Original Work /
July 9, 2012
Based off Psalm 27
The Lord is my great
salvation.
He’s the stronghold
of my life.
When my enemies
attack me,
My heart will not
fear at all.
Though a war break
out against me,
Confident in Christ I’ll
be.
Of the Lord, I ask
that I may
Live with Him
eternally.
Hear my voice, Lord,
when I call you.
Merciful to me
You’ll be.
Though my relatives
forsake me,
My Lord God will
receive me.
Teach me Your way, O
my Jesus.
Lead me in Your
righteousness.
I will sacrifice to
my Lord.
I will sing with
joyfulness.
I am confident that
I will
See the goodness of
the Lord.
All the richness of
His blessings,
My Lord has for me
in store.
He asks me to be of
courage;
To be strong and to
take heart,
Patiently as I wait
for Him,
And from Him to
ne’er depart.
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