In our day, we are consumed with desire to please men. We are driven to make our peers to think well of us. We buy our clothes and cars so we can please men. In our conversation we say things so we can please men. As tragic as that is, it is more tragic if we don’t live with the urgency to please God. As we come to Acts Chapter 6, we see a man who is not consumed of pleasing man, but he was driven and consumed of pleasing God. Stephen was the first Christian martyr sent out from the church. He gave his life for his faith; he gave his life for the cause of Christ. More than likely, we will not be given the privilege of dying for Christ. But here’s the thing we know, every one of us is given the privilege to live for Christ & so many times we’re wasting that privilege.

In Acts 6, we can see five evidences of Stephens desire to please God:

1. The CHARACTER of Stephen
Notice Acts 6:5 “The whole group liked the idea, so they chose these seven men: Stephen, a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit.” Stephen was not full of self, not full of pride, not full of anger, not full of bitterness, not full of worry, he was full of faith. How can we be filled up with faith? Romans 10:17 “Faith cometh by hearing & hearing the word of God.” Stephen was a man full of faith because he was filled with scripture. He knew his Bible. He spitted out the scripture over & over again. If we don’t read the Bible everyday, if we are not consumed by it, we will not develop our faith. So many times we run from our trials, hide from them, instead of rejoicing with them because God wants to work through them. This is because we are not well founded from the scriptures.
Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice Acts 6:5 “Stephen, a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit.” When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you demonstrate the fruit of the Holy Spirit found in Gal. 5:22 “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, and self-control.” Stephen was greatly used by God because he was controlled by the Holy Spirit. He was submissive and obedient to the Holy Spirit. In our day, so many times we just go through life & we ignore the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus was beside the disciples when they were together, the Holy Spirit is residing in our lives. We are not to ignore him, not to resist him, we must submit to him.
Notice Acts 6:8 “Stephen, full of power, did great miracles and wonders among the people.” He was a man full of power. God gave Stephen supernatural power. He did some things that were impossible in man’s eyes. Why? He was full of faith, he took God’s word for what it meant; and he was obedient to the Holy Spirit. And the evidence of being full of faith & of the Holy Spirit, he was full of power.

2. The CONFLICT of Stephen
In Acts 6:9-10, Stephen has the divine help in confronting his attackers, those religious leaders who were opposing him. And they could not defeat him nor discourage him. Why, the Holy Spirit has given him wisdom; he was grounded in scriptures; and Gods hand was upon his life. Notice their argument in v. 11. They could not defeat Stephen in argument, so they took him by force. In v.13, they set up their false witnesses to lie against Stephen. In v.15, Stephen’s appearance had the glow of an angel, very different from the appearance of his accusers. You and I should do the same way. When we are attacked or accused falsely, we shouldn’t get angry, we should not wrap up to fight, we should have an angelic glow.

3. The CONFESSION of Stephen

In succeeding verses of Chapter 6, Stephen elaborated his arguments how the Jewish ancestors blasphemed the law, Moses, and Jesus. His defense was the scripture. He also presented application of scripture. In vs. 51-53, he was saying, they were stiff neck and stubborn. Their hearts were impure and wicked; outwardly, they look good, but inwardly they were miserable. They were not only impure in heart, but they were also impure in ears, they didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit. They were listening to trash, they were listening to gossip. And the last charge which was the greatest of them, they always resist the Holy Spirit, they ignore the Holy Spirit, they debate with the Holy Spirit, they grieve the Holy Spirit.
Before we make our judgment to this people, just think about ourselves, at times or maybe oftentimes we’re just like them, we’re stubborn, stiff neck and rebellious. All we care about is what we want. Our ears are also impure, we listen to garbage, we listen to gossip, we listen to things in radios and watch TV shows that are not pleasing to God. The greatest charge, we resist the Holy Spirit. We grieve the HS with our actions. All we care about is our outward appearance. Our outward appearance is very important but it should flow from our inward submissiveness to the Holy Spirit.

4. The CONDEMNATION of Stephen

Acts 6:54 “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart.” This is what the Holy Spirit does, it convict us. We have been trying to please men more than God. When the Holy Spirit cut us to the heart, we either repent or we rebel. Notice vs. 54b. “They were cut to the heart and they were so mad grinding their teeth at Stephen.” They rejected the truth, they rebelled against the truth, they resisted Stephen telling the truth so they grind their teeth at him.
So many times were just like them. We have this preconceived made up of ideas of what spirituality is and if there is something that would make us feel uncomfortable we just ignore it. We stop at our ears to listen to the Holy Spirit, we stop our ears to listen to the messenger God sent into our lives.
In vs.58, Saul has given his approval for their accusation to Stephen and they stoned him. How do you respond when you are being stoned and lied about? How do you respond when you are attacked unjustly. Notice vs.59. In his death, while he was being stoned unjustly, he was not retaliating, he was praying. How could he not retaliate? How could he not pick up his own stones and throw them back? The battle was not his, the battle was the Lords.
In vs. 60, he kneeled down and cried a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” In his death, he was not attacking his accusers. In his death, he was praying that God would forgive them. The only way that he can pray for God to forgive them was because he has already forgiven them in his heart. Matthew 6:14, “If you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you of your sins.” Do you expect forgiveness from God? Then you must extend forgiveness to those who wronged you. If you want to remain in right standing with God, you must forgive your fellow men. That’s what Stephen did.
To forgive means to release, to let go, not to remain any charge against somebody. So many times when we are mistreated, we might say the words, “I forgive you” but we haven’t release it, we are still holding on to it. Peter came to Jesus Matthew 18:21-22 and Jesus response was we are to forgive and forgive and forgive. You might say, you don’t know how I gone through, you don’t know how my heart is broken, the pain that caused me. Stephen experienced that yet he has forgiven his accusers.

5. The CORONATION of Stephen
In vs.60, “He was at rest in the arms of his Father” People normally die the way they lived. If you live with rebellion, bitterness, anger in your heart, you will die like that. The way he felt asleep in the midst of being attacked, he had forgiven his accusers. In vs. 55, why did God showed his glory? It was because Stephen was a man of faith, filled with Holy Spirit, and full of power. In vs.56, Jesus was standing from the throne to congratulate Stephen and welcome him in his home.

Brethren, we are placed in our position to glorify God while we still have breath. We can do this by not being stiff neck, not being rebellious, not being impure in heart & in ears, & by not being unforgiving. Instead of striving to please men, we should strive to please God.