This is intimidating. For me to stand before you is intimidating. If you think about it, this whole situation is a bit unusual. Think about it.
I am standing up here talking to you. You are gathered and are sitting quietly and listening for a word that I have for you. This is not a daily occurrence in our culture. You might occasionally have a conference or hear a stand up comedian, but not weekly. You might tune into the news and hear someone read to you a recounting of the events written by a team of people. But none of that is quite the same. In fact, I can't think of anyone but pastors that have to compose and then present an original creation each and every week. Lawyers do it for trials. Salespeople and politicians have a set number of presentations which they give over and over again. I suppose teachers come the closest, although the interaction is quite different.
This is also quite intimidating because your expectations are probably high. You don't want to just be entertained or merely informed. You don't want to hear my perspective on the world or hear me tell stories from my life.
You want more than that. You want to learn about God and even here from God. That is what we are all here for today.
I once went to a service at a nearby church for the installation of their new associate minister. As I listened to the sermon, I was struck by the lack of reference to the Bible. It was like the pastor was just sharing from his own experience in life. It reminded me of that old Saturday Night Live skit, "Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy." I have to say I was not completely shocked when I learned that same pastor left the church and the ministry shortly afterward. I can't imagine the pressure of having to share wisdom and deep thoughts from your own experience week in and week out. I can tell you right now, I am not that wise or deep. I would probably have a nervous breakdown if I had to do that. Fortunately, I don't have to. Because what we are here to do today is to hear from the Scriptures which we believe are inspired by God and our sole standard in matters of life and faith. We are listening in to God's Word in the book of Acts.
Last week we looked at the appointment of the seven men who were to act as deacons in the early church to care for those who were at the margins of society. One of those was a man named Stephen. The Spirit was a work in a through Stephen. He was doing great things for God and so he also drew the opposition of those who wanted this new movement of Christ-followers to just go away. Much like in a political campaign they took the things that he had said and twisted them, so that he came off as saying something scandalous. They said that he was speaking against Moses and against God. They accused him of being against the temple and the law of God, as well as changing the customs that Moses handed on. Bringing change will always bring opposition.
Acts is the history of the early church. It tells of the brave and marvelous deeds of Jesus' first followers. But if you read through the book of Acts you will be surprised at how much space is given over to these long speeches. For a book of deeds and actions, there is a lot of talking. The reason for this is that the words are part of the action. You could say, in a very real way, these words are the center of the story. The story of the book of Acts is the story of the these words, this good news, this message from God about Jesus, and how the message spreads. The story spreads from person to person, across barriers, across cultures, until finally it spreads across the empire. At the end of the day, the message is the hero of the story, not the Apostles, not Stephen, not even Paul. The good news, which is another way of saying the Gospel, is the force that changes lives. The apostle Paul, in Romans, says that the gospel is the very power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. It is the word that has the power.
This story about Stephen demonstrates this dramatically. Stephen had been brought up on charges. The religious leaders had all of the political power. They had the power to arrest him, the power to put him on trial, to convict him and punish him. He was helpless before them. Or, so it seemed. But Stephen didn't behave like someone who is helpless. He stood up in his own defense, but really he is not defending himself. He is defending the truth about Jesus. It is worth paying attention to how he goes about it. He relies on Scripture.
In Stephen's defense he goes back and retells the story of the Old Testament. He is not relying on his own wit or cleverness. He is not using grand rhetorical tricks. His focus is on what God said and did in Scripture. Stephen knows that the Word of God has power. Against it no earthly power can prevail. He is not intimidated or afraid. He is boldly confronting the religious authorities with the truth of God's Word. He is letting it speak for itself. The Word of God accomplishes what it describes.
If find this truth and Stephen's example to be of great comfort to me personally, as I have the task of standing up before you each Sunday as you are looking for words of life. I know that I do not have them. Fortunately, I know where they are to be found. That is why I try to have a Biblical passage as the centerpiece of each message. Other preachers I know present three points on a topic of common interest, and they back those points up with verses from around the Bible. I am not saying that this is illegitimate. But to me it feels like walking on a narrow path on a mountainside. I worry that the points might just be of human origin. After all, you can find a Bible verse to back up anything you want. I just feel on firmer ground by choosing one passage and trying to listen closely to what it has to say.
I see my job as something like a tour guide. I take time to go over the passage before, thinking and praying about it, and consulting what scholars have written. Then, on Sundays I just try to lead you over that ground, pointing out landmarks and sights for you to experience for yourself. I only want to be an interpreter that presents the idea of the speaker in a different language. You would be a horrible translator if you intersperse your own thoughts and sentences into the conversation.
All of this is because Scripture speaks for itself. It has the power within itself. The Gospel is the very power of God for salvation. Scripture does not just describe what God has done or what he promises to do, it actually accomplishes it within us.
It is like what Grammarians call a "performative" because it performs or accomplishes what it says. For instance, if I say, I like you or respect you, I am describing how I feel. But if a teacher says, "You are excused," or the governor says, "You are pardoned," or a judge says, "You are innocent," something has happened. The utterance actually affected the result. The situation or the relationship of the other person is changed by the words themselves.
Of course, not just anyone can say those words and have them have the same affect. I could say, "You are innocent" or "You are excused" and it wouldn't' make any difference. The words get their power from the authority of the speaker. It matters who is behind the words.
This is true for books as well. Getting a novel published is an extremely difficult affair, especially if you are an unknown author. One freelance writer named Chuck Ross decided to test this maxim in an unusual way. Ross took a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, titled Steps, which had won the National Book Award six years before. Ross retyped the first 21 pages of Steps and sent them out to four publishers, using the name Erik Demos as a fictitious by-line.All four publishers rejected the manuscript. Two years later, he retyped the novel Steps in its entirety and submitted it, again credited to Erik Demos, to several more publishers, including the original publisher, Random House. It was rejected by all with unhelpful comments, including Random House, which used a form letter. All told, 14 publishers and 13 literary agents failed to recognize a book that had already been published and had won an important award.
Noah Lukeman, The First Five Pages (Simon and Schuster, 2000), p. 165
Often our approach to Scripture is the same. We glance at it and pass over it. We don't recognize it for what it is -- the words and power of God. God has poured himself into the Bible. When we open it up, we have the opportunity to encounter God in a special way. This is the real purpose of reading the Scriptures -- to meet God.
So often when people read the Bible they get caught up with what they don't understand. Maybe this has happened to you. You get put off by the names or terms. You feel like we will never be able to make sense of it all. Let me put you at ease. When you read it, you don't have to make sense of it all. You don't have to understand every term or passage. Mastering the knowledge of the Bible is not the point. Meeting the author behind it is the point. He did not give us the Bible to put us off. He gave us the Bible to draw us near. He wants to meet us and to be found by us. In fact, he promises that if we will seek him, we will find him.
So I encourage you to dust off your Bible, to make some time to read it. Start in the Psalms or take one of the gospels and read about the life of Jesus. If you do encounter some confusing parts, you need to know that there are so many helps. There are more study aids available to us today than to anyone one else in all of history. We have no good excuse.
We just need to remember that the story in the Bible is the very power of God to us.
Does God's Word prevail? If you read though the end of the chapter, you might wonder, for it doesn't look that way. It looks like God's Word fails. No sooner does Stephen finish his message than they drag him out of town and take up rocks in order to stone him to death.
If you knew that you were facing your death, what would you do? You might try to talk them out it. You might tell them that you really didn't mean it or that there was a gross misunderstanding. Stephen didn't. Instead, he chose to bear witness to the good-news of God with his very life. The last things that he did and said were this:
Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.
There was no vindictiveness. There was no malice. His last words were a prayer to ask God to not hold their sins against them. His words echo the words of Christ spoken from the cross before he died. Stephen was truly Christ-like. How did he become that way? I want to suggest that it was his long exposure to the Word of God. Given all that he said, he clearly knew the Scriptures. He had spent hours pouring over them, reading, studying, and praying over them. As he did so, he was exposing himself to God's presence and revelation. And if we will let our lives be exposed to God's presence, he will make us more like him. He will change and transform us. He will knock away the junk that is in our lives. He will make us shine with his glory.
In the end, God's Word triumphed. For in the crowd that day was a man named Saul. He was zealous to persecute and kill all of the Christians. But Stephen's speech was the first step in moving him from a God-hater to a God-lover. We will learn how in two weeks. However, this Saul went on to become the greatest missionary in the church and did more to spread the good-news of Jesus to the world than anyone else. Never underestimate the power of God. Not in your life and not in the world.
Baseball star Roger Clemens has been in the public eye recently for reasons that he would rather avoid. He is becoming a negative example for kids should do and be. But this wasn't always the case. Early in his career, he experienced a turning point. It was on July 15, 1986 that Clemens, the sizzling right-hander for the Boston Red Sox, started his first All-Star Game. In the second inning, he came to bat, something he hadn't done in years because of the American League's designated-hitter rule. He took a few uncertain practice swings and then looked out at his forbidding opponent, Dwight Gooden, who the previous year had won the Cy Young award. Gooden wound up and threw a white-hot fastball past Clemens.With an embarrassed smile on his face, Clemens stepped out of the box and asked Gary Carter, "Is that what my pitches look like?" "You bet it is!" replied Carter. Although Clemens quickly struck out, he went on to pitch three perfect innings and be named the game's most valuable player.From that day on, he later said, with a fresh reminder of how overpowering a good fastball is, he pitched with far greater boldness.
Craig Brian Larson, Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 2
Clemens had not realized the power at his disposal. He was focused on the power and the speed of the batters that he was facing. But his whole perspective changed when saw his power from the receiving end.
We need this kind of awakening. The Word of God is real power. It changes people. If we will allow ourselves to be exposed to it, we will be changed.