Acts 7:55
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
I want to be able to do that. Of course I don’t want to do it the same way Stephen did it. He did it as an angry hoard of men were about to take large rocks and hurl them at his head.
Stephen had been recently “ordained” by the Apostles to go and serve as a deacon. Stephen did quite a few other things as well. He was gifted in his ability to use the Bible to prove that Jesus was the Son of God. His opponents didn’t like it, and they consented to that age-old adage – “If you can’t beat ‘em,… kill ‘em.” So that’s what they did. They made up some familiar lies to get him in trouble with the Jewish court. During his defense, he gave a great summary of much of the Old Testament. Then with an incredibly abrupt end to his history lesson, he ties all of Israel’s rebellion against God to those guys standing in front of him. He was unflinching in his communication of what they needed to hear. To say Stephen was a straight-shooter, is an understatement.
If you are like me, you don’t ever intend to be in the same situation he was, but if God saw fit for us to have to die for our faith, how could we do it? How do you tell someone who has a gun pointed at your head, that they are stubborn, arrogant, lying murderer’s? The answer is above in italics …he gazed intently into heaven…
I do believe he got to see a literal vision, and no, I’m not saying that all of us need to also have the same experience. The only way, however, to speak from God with that kind of clarity and power of the Spirit, is to regularly be gazing into heaven through prayer.
I want people to like me. I’m a nice guy, and I want everyone to think so – or else! That is often a good thing, but the times it becomes a bad thing is when someone needs to hear the blunt, un-sugarcoated truth. Some people thrive on those encounters, I don’t. That’s not to say I can’t do it, but it requires that I do some extra “heavenly gazing”. In fact, the most effective things that have come out of my mouth have always been after I’ve had to spend a lot of extra time praying.
When do I do that extra praying? When I’ve got a full bank account? When I’m ahead for all my work during the week? When my family is acting like they live in Mayberry? No, it’s usually when life feels like it did when Stephen had his experience. A hoard of people are gnashing their teeth at me, and it feels like I’m about to get dragged out of the city and turned into a rock target. I wish it weren’t that way. I want to be someone who is always desperate in prayer… when things are good and when they are bad. Unfortunately, my pattern isn’t always that way. When I do make those extra times a priority, I get to see what he saw – that Jesus is at God’s right hand. If I can maintain that gaze, then I become more afraid of God than of the people I need to talk to.
That respect of God’s message, God’s power, God’s eternity, and God’s judgment, gave Stephen the tenacious ability to confidently confront the most powerful men in Israel. His story, of course, ends with the ultimate sacrifice one can make – martyrdom. Maybe someday that will be our fate also, but for now, the consequences of saying the words of God aren’t likely to be so severe. We may have people get mad at us, turn their back on us, say a few rude things, or maybe, receive Christ as their savior. The results are up to God, but the privilege and responsibility speak for him and to gaze into heaven… To gaze into the eyes on the one, that’s our call for now.
See you Sunday (With Mom)
Brad
