By Bryan D. Gill, D.Min.
Director of the Office of Faith, Learning and Vocation, Samford University
Stephen: A FAITH THAT ADVANCES GOD’S KINGDOM
Acts 6:3–15
We are all too familiar with the word “contagious.” It’s a word that makes us keep a safe distance from others and reach for the disinfectant. However, not everything that is contagious is bad. Joy and happiness can be contagious. Resilience and toughness can be contagious as well. Proverbs 13 reminds us that the community we belong to can be contagious. Verse 20 says, “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.”
The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, not in isolation. We should bear each other’s burdens, we should share in each other’s joys and we should encourage one another in the faith.
When we are part of a faith community, we can be contagious to others in the faith. In our lesson for this week, we look at how Stephen’s contagious faith impacted others.
A life of faith impacts both the church and community. (3–7)
Our passage for today illuminates a significant piece of early Church history. In Acts 6, the number of Christians was growing so fast that they could not serve everyone sufficiently, specifically the widows.
The leaders gathered and chose seven servants to help in these matters. The Greek word for “to serve” or “to wait on” used in verse 2 is “diakoneo” and where we get the term “deacon.” These deacons were expected to be the chief servants to the congregation’s physical needs.
Stephen is traditionally viewed as the first deacon of the Church. He cared for the physical needs of the people. Like Stephen, we are called to love and serve others. Our faith should impact our churches and communities through the way we serve others. We might not have the title “deacon,” but we have the responsibility to serve.
A life of faith invites God to work through us. (8–10)
Stephen’s faith was evident in how he served and also in the words he spoke. I love how Luke never describes Stephen apart from his relationship to God. All of Stephen’s attributes were the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Like Stephen, when the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, our lives are used for God’s glory.
God will use our service to Him as well as the words of wisdom we speak to others. A faith that is dependent on the Holy Spirit will advance God’s Kingdom through actions as well as the verbal proclamation of the gospel.
In Romans 10:17, Paul says, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” Like Stephen, we should be servants who know God’s Word and speak it unashamedly in grace and love.
A life of faith often meets opposition. (11–15)
Stephen is not only considered the first deacon of the Church but the first Christian martyr as well. The truth Stephen spoke against Jewish leaders angered them so much that they stoned him to death. Saul — later called Paul — was one of them and approved of the killing. While Stephen’s death was horrific, Acts 8 shows how God used his death to scatter Christians and spread the gospel far and wide as a result.
The story of Stephen is encouraging to Christians across the globe who are persecuted for their faith. God has not forgotten them, and their pain and suffering is not wasted. God receives glory even when our faith faces opposition.
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