STEPHEN The Ultimate Sacrifice
STEPHEN LEARNED that doing the work of God—even in the power of God—didn’t make him immune to the savage attacks of liars bent on opposing the Kingdom of God. As he stood trial with his life on the line, Stephen chose to point his persecutors back to God and to remind the Jewish leaders of God’s faithfulness throughout the generations rather than to defend himself. Hatred had provided him an audience, and Stephen seized the moment to proclaim God’s goodness. Stephen’s personal pain and frustration took a backseat. But the people’s response was not the repentance for which Stephen hoped; instead, it was an immediate sentencing to death by stoning.
As stone after stone took its bloody toll on Stephen’s body, Saul, who was actively persecuting Christians, stood nearby. A short time later, after his dramatic conversion, Saul (later known as Paul) would experience his own suffering on behalf of our Savior (9:16). These two early Christ-followers learned that living in an atmosphere of hatred, suspicion, and fear did not mean that their lives could not glorify God. To the contrary, they shined brightest when surrounded by deepest darkness (Matt 5:14-16).
When we trust God in the midst of pain, persecution, and death, people take notice
Things don’t need to make sense for God to be present and evident. When we trust God anyway—in the midst of pain, persecution, and even death—people take notice.
Throughout history and continuing to the present day, Christians everywhere have faced anger, evil, and injustice fueled by a mob mentality that seems to triumph over reason. Yet Stephen, the first martyr of the early church, died as he had lived, sacrificing for others and for his Savior. He pleaded for mercy—not for himself, but for the very ones who continued stoning him.