Series A – Fifth Sunday of Easter – Sunday, May 07, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:22 | The holy Gospel |
| 0:29 | According to Saint John the 14th chapter [Music] |
| 0:37 | Jesus said let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me in my father’s house are many rooms |
| 0:44 | if it were not so I would not I would would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and |
| 0:49 | I prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also and you know |
| 0:57 | the way to where I am going Thomas said to him Lord we do not know |
| 1:02 | where you are going how can we know the way Jesus said to him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the |
| 1:09 | father except for through me if you had known me you would have known my father also from now on you do know him and you |
| 1:16 | have seen him Philip said to him Lord show us the father and it is enough Jesus said to him have I been with you |
| 1:22 | so long and you still do not know me Philip Whoever has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the |
| 1:28 | father do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me the words that I say to you I do not speak |
| 1:34 | on my own authority but the father who dwells in me does his Works believe me that I am in the father and the father |
| 1:41 | is in me or else believe on account of The Works themselves truly truly I say to you whoever believes in me will also |
| 1:47 | do the works that I do and greater Works than these will he do because I am going to the father whatever you ask in my |
| 1:54 | name this I will do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask me |
| 1:59 | any anything in my name I will do it this is the gospel of the Lord in the |
| 2:05 | name of Jesus amen you guys remember that movie Saving Private Ryan a little tough to watch |
| 2:12 | right one of those historical movies that decided that they wanted to be as accurate as possible regarding probably |
| 2:17 | one of the darkest days in human history a necessary day because of evil if you |
| 2:23 | remember how World War II history works the Nazis had taken over pretty much all |
| 2:29 | of Western Europe no need to conquer Spain the fascists were already in control of of that and so Western Europe |
| 2:36 | had fallen only the United Kingdom stood against them and the Allies the Allies |
| 2:42 | came together and came up with a plan and it required them to take a beach head on the on the beaches of Normandy |
| 2:49 | in France and then from there plan a over land campaign to defeat the Nazis |
| 2:55 | and to free Europe from their oppression and their evil and if you remember the |
| 3:01 | opening sequence of that movie it was hard to watch watching men’s arms and legs pieces of their bodies flying off |
| 3:09 | as they were being killed and murdered kind of the best way to put it by artillery fire and Small Arms fire and |
| 3:16 | everything going off in their faces a terrible terrible day you’ll note this a good way to think |
| 3:22 | about Christianity is with Jesus’s death burial resurrection and Ascension Christ |
| 3:30 | has effectively won the war against Satan I love the way the historians talk |
| 3:35 | about D-Day they say that D-Day is the day when the Allies won the war against Germany but you’ll note it took a lot of |
| 3:42 | battles before the war came to its conclusion the conclusion was Secure there was no doubt about it the Nazis |
| 3:49 | were going to lose same with Christ in his church you’ll note that our hymns today were chosen because they fit a |
| 3:56 | theme one that is not popular today the idea of the church militant and I need |
| 4:02 | to make something very clear here I’m not talking about the church militant in the terms of the Crusaders all right |
| 4:07 | that’s not our call we are not called to go and take territory for Jesus that’s |
| 4:13 | not how this works instead we are called to go and preach Christ and him crucified |
| 4:20 | there’s another kingdom that is coming and we heard in Our Gospel text today Jesus saying to his Apostles I’m going |
| 4:28 | ahead to Heaven that’s where he’s heading to and I’m going to prepare a |
| 4:33 | place for you and then I’m going to bring you to where I am the kingdom of |
| 4:38 | Christ is not something that occurs here on Earth it is Among Us by faith for |
| 4:45 | sure but you can’t plant a flag and say here is Christ’s nation that doesn’t |
| 4:51 | exist today nor will it exist until Christ returns but that being the case |
| 4:56 | like in every good War there are battles that still have to be fought and there |
| 5:02 | are casualties to these battles and you and I we are all part of this great |
| 5:08 | church militant and I have to say this I remember the great line from the uh |
| 5:14 | um The Chronicles of Narnia where Lucy pevensey wanted to be fighting in the |
| 5:21 | battle and Aslan had to basically say the battles are terrible things and they’re not the places for women but in |
| 5:27 | the church militant I would note that we’re all soldiers and we must remember that we do not battle against flesh and |
| 5:32 | blood there ain’t nobody on planet Earth who really truly is our enemy they may be |
| 5:38 | under the power of the enemy but they are not our enemies instead we fight against the powers and principalities of |
| 5:45 | this present Darkness if you’re not sure what that looks like just read Revelation 12 and 13 it’ll give you |
| 5:50 | nightmares that’s kind of the point the devil is Raging and seething and seeking to destroy his church last week in the |
| 5:57 | book of Acts we heard how everything was idyllic the newly baptized Christians were so in love with the with the Lord |
| 6:04 | so smitten with love for each other they were selling property giving it to the |
| 6:09 | poor nobody had any need they were all dedicated to the apostles preaching the prayers the breaking of bread and the |
| 6:16 | fellowship and everything was going fantastic but let me ask you a question |
| 6:22 | since that we know that the devil is seething and raging against Christ and |
| 6:28 | his church and he’s Waging War against his Saints how does Satan effectively |
| 6:36 | wage war against the church by causing problems internally |
| 6:43 | and externally and our first reading today brings this to light so now things |
| 6:50 | have had a little bit of time to settle and now here comes the first church conflict and it’s a conflict over of all |
| 6:58 | things the distribution of food the Distributing food is not a requirement of the Gospel this is something that |
| 7:05 | happened out of people’s generosity and love for each other but you’ll note that we human beings have this thing that we |
| 7:11 | do we like to divide up based upon it’s really kind of surfacey things like you |
| 7:18 | know skin color language and stuff like this but in Christ’s Church do such |
| 7:23 | things have any meaning or bearing art we should we show partiality to other |
| 7:29 | believers because they share our Norwegian or German or polish heritage |
| 7:35 | no not at all and so something is going terribly wrong here it reads in the |
| 7:41 | opening of our text now in these days when the disciples were increasing a number a complaint by the Hellenist |
| 7:47 | arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of course I’m looking at |
| 7:53 | this going who’s stupid enough to let this happen right how long do you think that’s going |
| 8:00 | to last and you’ll note that things are being divided up kind of racially here you have the Hebrews people who are |
| 8:06 | descendants of Abraham the hellenists are people who are descended from those of a Greek Heritage that are separated |
| 8:12 | by language and culture and as a result of it somehow the Hebrews have got the |
| 8:17 | upper hand here and the hellenists well those widows there was just nothing left sorry you Greek ladies no soup for you |
| 8:24 | right and this is how this was going and it’s not good so the 12 do something |
| 8:31 | that I think is brilliant in this church conflict they |
| 8:37 | don’t decide that they’re going to just rebuke the people who are doing the bad thing they decide that they’re going to |
| 8:42 | set up a system whereby it’s going to be impossible for this bad thing to keep going on right and so the 12 said it’s |
| 8:51 | not right that we should give up the preaching of the word of God to serve tables the apostles have important work |
| 8:57 | to do so it’s time for distribution of Duties therefore Brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute full |
| 9:03 | of the spirit and of wisdom whom we will appoint to this Duty but we will devote |
| 9:08 | ourselves to prayer into the ministry of the word and what they said please the whole Gathering and they chose Stephen a |
| 9:14 | manner full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and listen to the rest of the list if you know the difference between |
| 9:19 | Greek and Hebrew you’re going to recognize there are some Greek names here and there’s some Hebrew names here |
| 9:25 | this is an interesting list so they chose Philip procurus nekanor taimon |
| 9:31 | parmeneus Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch so now these men are going to be a sign |
| 9:38 | they’re going to have hands laid on them and they’re going to become the first deacons of the church and they’re going to be responsible for this and here’s |
| 9:45 | the thing there’s Hebrews and hellenists among those who are deacons and so |
| 9:52 | they’re going to make sure that the distribution is handled equitably it’s a beautiful solution if you think |
| 9:59 | about it because if anyone complains after this whoo boy have they got a |
| 10:05 | problem can you imagine some of the Hebrews saying well I don’t understand why why we have to distribute everything |
| 10:10 | equitably I mean I’m not getting as much as I used to I mean what’s what’s wrong with that somebody starts complaining |
| 10:16 | like that ah it’s time for a full-on rebuke right you see what I’m saying it’s just it’s beautiful because the |
| 10:23 | solution solves the problem and everybody’s sin gets to be just pushed |
| 10:29 | down due to the fact that the right thing is happening right so they set these men before the apostles they |
| 10:36 | prayed and laid their hands on them and listen to this wonderful wonderful next verse and the word of God continued to |
| 10:44 | increase the word of God continuing to increase that doesn’t mean that the Bible got thicker it just means that the |
| 10:50 | word of God was being preached more and more and more people were hearing it and the number of the disciples multiplied |
| 10:55 | greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith |
| 11:00 | now that’s a fantastic detail and I pointed this out in the men’s Women’s Bible studies last week but I gotta hone |
| 11:07 | in on this again because think about it for a second the high priests there were two of them and they would trade off |
| 11:13 | duties year after year one would do it one year then one would do it the next year and that was Annis and Caiaphas |
| 11:18 | these are the guys who conspire to have Jesus crucified so can you imagine some |
| 11:24 | levite who’s working in the temple who’s hearing all the buzz about the Risen |
| 11:30 | Savior Jesus Christ the one who’s crucified for our sins right and they |
| 11:35 | then are doing the duties of the Old Testament in the temple with the gospel still ringing in their ears because all |
| 11:41 | their neighbors have told them about Jesus and there they are they go and they sacrifice a lamb or a bull or a |
| 11:49 | goat and they’re sitting there going oh my goodness this is all pointing to Jesus right and what do they do |
| 11:56 | they become a Believer well as soon as that happens you can just see Anderson Kaif is going no no no no no no no no |
| 12:02 | out get out get out get get out you cannot have a bunch of believing priests right that would just mess everything up |
| 12:08 | so you can only imagine the gospel has really created a problem as far as a |
| 12:14 | labor pool of Levites to do the work of the temple it’s things that were getting disrupted it’s a |
| 12:20 | beautiful sentence and then it goes on and says that Stephen Full of Grace and power was doing great wonders and signs |
| 12:27 | among the people you’ll note that Stephen is one of the few lay people in the New Testament who can legitimately |
| 12:33 | operate in signs and wonders this was a gift given to him by the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands of the Apostles |
| 12:40 | and this guy if he were to think of him in terms of well spiritual combat right |
| 12:47 | work with me here all right the the armor of the spirit right near the armor |
| 12:53 | that we as Christians have you know we got the shield of faith and and all this kind of stuff but what’s our one |
| 12:58 | offensive weapon the word of God okay so the best way I can describe what |
| 13:05 | I’m seeing here in this text is that Stephen is Zorro this guy can wield the |
| 13:12 | sword of the spirit like nobody’s business I mean he is a warrior of |
| 13:18 | Warriors and this true Christian sense so it says this some of those who belong |
| 13:24 | to the synagogue of the freedmen as it was called and of the sirenians and of the |
| 13:30 | alexandrians and those from solician Asia they rose up and they disputed with Stephen but they could not withstand the |
| 13:38 | wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking right you got to stop telling us that |
| 13:45 | Jesus is the Messiah and he’d whip out his Bible from his memory how do I know this because what follows next this guy |
| 13:53 | knew the scriptures and so he was able from the scriptures from memory to |
| 13:59 | absolutely oppose those who were opposing him and they couldn’t even get an angle on him they would come to |
| 14:05 | attack him and they would leave bloodied and wounded in a spiritual sense here |
| 14:10 | all right so they hate this guy and I’m going to note this and that human |
| 14:16 | history is full of men who like Stephen are speaking the truth of God and when |
| 14:25 | they cannot be overcome their opponents decide that they’re going to resort |
| 14:31 | resort to murder in the name of God |
| 14:36 | for the purpose of getting rid of their opponent so they simply secretly instigated men who said we have heard |
| 14:42 | him speak Blasphemous words against Moses and God uh-huh and so they stirred up the people and the elders and the |
| 14:49 | scribes and they came upon Him seized him and brought him before the council |
| 14:54 | and they set up false Witnesses who said this man never ceases to speak words |
| 14:59 | against this holy place and and the law for we have heard him say that this |
| 15:04 | Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the Customs that Moses delivered to us another point that |
| 15:12 | bears repeating here how many of you have ever heard it’s a new thing that the deconstructionist |
| 15:18 | Liberals are talking about okay if you’re ever scrolling through social media and somebody says have you ever |
| 15:24 | stopped to think that you know uh the the the the first Christians they didn’t |
| 15:30 | have a new testament so like why do we need to use the New Testament to teach people about God huh they didn’t have |
| 15:37 | one said we don’t need one either right and I of course I make him sound like a complete idiot surfer dude from Southern |
| 15:43 | California with sandy blonde hair and a puka shell necklace that’s a whole other story it’s part of my therapy I’m |
| 15:50 | working through some things here but all that being said those people I would like to basically say hmm really they |
| 15:57 | had no New Testament are you sure about that well what do you mean dude well |
| 16:03 | what I mean here is have you noticed that Stephen’s response he is giving us |
| 16:09 | theology that we find in the gospel of Matthew chapter 24. where do you think he got that from well |
| 16:17 | it didn’t get it from the New Testament dude well maybe if you think about it for a second Matthew wrote what the |
| 16:23 | gospel of Matthew who do you think Stephen was listening to oh are you saying that he heard the |
| 16:30 | gospel of Matthew before it was even written let me go valley girl on you for a second duh right |
| 16:36 | exactly that’s the point you’ll see here that this he’s hearing the gospel of |
| 16:43 | Matthew before Matthew ever took out quill and Papyrus or whatever he wrote |
| 16:49 | initially on he’s hearing it from the mouth of the Apostles themselves don’t ever tell me that the earliest |
| 16:56 | Christians never had the New Testament who do you think they learned new testament theology from from the |
| 17:01 | eyewitnesses from the apostles and how many of them were there 12. that’s quite a bit right and you’ll |
| 17:09 | notice we know from church history these guys traveled they went around preaching |
| 17:14 | and teaching and telling everybody so the earliest Christians were discipled the New Testament theology before the New Testament it was written by the guys |
| 17:21 | who wrote the New Testament it’s sorry I’m on a high horse here let me move on okay |
| 17:27 | so here’s what happens next and that is |
| 17:33 | they a fascinating detail I missed this one okay so Stephen was gazed they were |
| 17:40 | gazing at Stephen and all who sat in the council saw his face and his face was like the face of an Angel interesting |
| 17:47 | thing here remember when Jesus was on trial Jesus did not defend himself at |
| 17:53 | all Jesus just remained silent but the scriptures teach us that when we are put |
| 17:58 | on trial we don’t need to worry about what we’re going to say this is a promise given to Christians |
| 18:04 | because God himself Christ promises that when we are on trial he will give us |
| 18:09 | words to speak and here’s the interesting bit is that what follows next is not a defense given by Stephen |
| 18:18 | as to why you shouldn’t Stone me that’s not what Stephen is doing at all |
| 18:23 | trusting in Christ he now has given words inspired by the Holy Spirit given |
| 18:30 | as an answer to the promise that Christ gave us when you are on trial don’t even worry about it all give you words and |
| 18:36 | these are words from God himself and who is God putting on trial here not Stephen |
| 18:42 | but the people who are bringing these false charges against Stephen |
| 18:47 | and what happens next is just brilliant you know I’ve got nothing better to do |
| 18:53 | on a Sunday afternoon what do you think we do a little bit of Bible reading right okay I know it’s unheard of but |
| 18:59 | let’s do this let’s take a look at chapter seven and walk our way through it because this is one of the greatest summaries of the Old Testament given in |
| 19:06 | all of the scripture and it’s not in defense of Stephen it’s spoken in |
| 19:11 | opposition to as a rebuke against those who are about to put him to death |
| 19:16 | so the high priest said are these things so Stephen and Stephen said brothers and |
| 19:22 | fathers hear me the god of Glory appeared to our father Abram when he was in Mesopotamia before |
| 19:29 | he lived in haran and said to him go out from your land and from your kindred |
| 19:35 | and go into the land that I will show you and then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in haran and |
| 19:42 | after his father died God removed him from there into this land in which you |
| 19:48 | are now living yet he had he gave him no inheritance in it not even a foot’s |
| 19:55 | length but promised to give it to him as a possession into his offspring after him though he had no child you’ll note |
| 20:03 | that this Theology of Stevens here comports with what we hear in the book of Hebrews and that is is that Abraham |
| 20:10 | and Sarah and the Patriarchs of the Old Testament they all died not receiving |
| 20:15 | the inheritance because they were all looking forward to a city a city whose founder and Builder is God himself Jesus |
| 20:22 | you’ll note is the one who makes reference to that City when he says I go ahead to prepare a place for you have |
| 20:29 | you ever stopped to think how absolutely awesome it is that Jesus the son of a |
| 20:34 | humble Carpenter from Nazareth who probably learned his Papa’s trade right |
| 20:39 | is the one who is preparing a place for you you know I think of Nate I mean he’s an amazing Carpenter the work that he |
| 20:46 | does in construction stuff like this it boggles the mind for me Amir Layman when it comes to just enjoying things like |
| 20:52 | this but Jesus knows this trade well his hands were probably callous like every |
| 20:58 | good hard-working Carpenter and day laborer is and he is the one who’s preparing a place for you and for I |
| 21:05 | right and so here we hear in this great dissertation given by Stephen that even |
| 21:12 | Abraham and Sarah they did not have an inheritance in this lifetime and God |
| 21:18 | spoke to this effect to his offspring that they would be sojourn as a land in a land belonging to others who would |
| 21:25 | enslave them and afflict them for 400 years but I will judge the nation that they will serve said God |
| 21:31 | and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place and he gave him |
| 21:36 | the Covenant of circumcision and so Abraham became the father of Isaac and the circumcised him on the eighth day |
| 21:42 | and Isaac became the father of yahuov and yahovah the twelve Patriarchs and the Patriarchs jealous of Joseph sold |
| 21:49 | him into Egypt but God was with him and rescued him out of all of his afflictions and gave him favor and |
| 21:54 | wisdom before Pharaoh the king of Egypt this is a master class as far as the summary of the book of Genesis and |
| 22:00 | exodus it’s brilliant who made him ruler over Egypt and over his household now there came a famine |
| 22:07 | throughout all of Egypt and Canaan and great Affliction and great Affliction and our fathers could find no food but |
| 22:13 | when yaakov heard that there was grain in Egypt he sent out our fathers on |
| 22:18 | their first visit and on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph’s family became |
| 22:24 | known to pharaoh and Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all of his Kindred 75 persons in all and yahov went |
| 22:33 | down into Egypt and he died he and our fathers and they were carried back to |
| 22:39 | shechem and laid in the Tomb that Abraham our father had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of hamor and |
| 22:46 | shechem and at this point you can see the Jews are going what’s he getting at where is this going what’s the punch |
| 22:52 | line here because yeah so far we don’t disagree with anything he’s saying well it’s all leading somewhere because |
| 22:58 | you’ll note that as a good disciple of the Apostles Stephen was also very |
| 23:03 | familiar with that hour three hour long Bible study that those Disciples of |
| 23:09 | Jesus had on the road to Emmaus right so he knows the Bible’s all about Christ so |
| 23:15 | he continues but as the time of the promised Junior which God had granted to Abraham the people increased and |
| 23:22 | multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph he dealt strudely with our race |
| 23:29 | and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive at this time Moses was born and he |
| 23:36 | was beautiful in God’s sight and he was brought up for three months in his father’s house and when he was exposed |
| 23:43 | Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son and Moses |
| 23:49 | was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was mighty in his words and deeds when he was 40 years old it |
| 23:57 | came into his heart to visit his brothers the children of Israel and seeing one of them being wrong he |
| 24:03 | defended and oppressed the man and Avenged him by striking down the Egyptian he supposed that his brother |
| 24:08 | would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand but they did |
| 24:14 | not understand I want to point something out here that is information you don’t get in the |
| 24:21 | book of Exodus when it gives the account of Moses striking down that Egyptian we are never |
| 24:28 | told what Moses was thinking in his heart where did Stephen get this information |
| 24:33 | from could it be that God is speaking through him now that’s the point is it not these are |
| 24:40 | inspired words from the Holy Spirit written for our instruction and now we have a fuller picture of even what |
| 24:46 | happened in the book of Exodus that you couldn’t get just by reading Exodus and on the following day Moses appeared to |
| 24:52 | them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying men you are brothers why do you wrong each other |
| 24:59 | the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside saying who made you a ruler and a judge over us do you want to |
| 25:07 | kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday and at this retort Moses fled and became |
| 25:12 | an exile in the land of Midian where he became the father of two sons now when |
| 25:17 | 40 years had passed an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush when Moses saw |
| 25:25 | it he was amazed at the sight and as he drew near to look there came the voice of the Lord I am the god of your fathers |
| 25:32 | the god of Abraham the Itzhak of yachov and Moses trembled and did not dare to |
| 25:38 | look and then the Lord said him take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is Holy Ground I |
| 25:45 | have surely seen the Affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning and I have come down to |
| 25:51 | deliver them and now come I will send you to Egypt so this Moses whom they’ve rejected |
| 25:57 | saying who made you a ruler and a judge this man God sent as both ruler and |
| 26:02 | Redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush this man LED them out performing wonders and signs in |
| 26:09 | Egypt at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years this is the Moses who said to the Israelites God |
| 26:17 | will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers oh |
| 26:23 | did he just do that he just did that he just invoked the prophecy from Deuteronomy 18. that God would raise up |
| 26:31 | a prophet like Moses I can see where this is going it’s not going to end well for Stephen but the whole point is God’s |
| 26:37 | the one who’s putting Stephen’s persecutors on trial with his word |
| 26:43 | this is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the |
| 26:48 | angel who spoke to him it’s Mount Sinai and with our fathers he received living |
| 26:54 | oracles to give to us our fathers refused to obey him but thrust him aside |
| 26:59 | and in their hearts they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron make for us Gods who |
| 27:04 | will go before us and as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt we don’t know what’s become of him and so |
| 27:10 | they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands |
| 27:16 | but God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of Heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets did |
| 27:23 | you bring me to bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in |
| 27:28 | the wilderness so House of Israel you took up the tent of moloch the star |
| 27:34 | of your God refin and the images that you made to worship and I will send you into Exile Beyond Babylon our fathers |
| 27:42 | had the tent of witness in the wilderness Justice he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the |
| 27:49 | pattern that he had seen our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they |
| 27:55 | dispossessed the Nations that God drove out before our fathers so it was until the days of David who found favor in the |
| 28:02 | sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for God the god of Jacob but it was Solomon who built a house for |
| 28:10 | him yet the most high does not dwell in houses made by hands as the prophet says |
| 28:16 | interesting we hear those same words next week from the Apostle Paul when he speaks before the areopagus when he’s |
| 28:23 | condemning their idolatry and calling them to believe in the crucified and Risen Savior so here Stephen quotes from |
| 28:30 | the scriptures where he says Heaven is my Throne the Earth is my foot still what kind of house will you build for me |
| 28:36 | says the Lord or what is the place of my rest did not my hand make all these things and here it comes |
| 28:44 | you’ll note again Stephen isn’t defending himself |
| 28:50 | there’s no pretense of it even at all these are words given to him by God as |
| 28:56 | promised by Christ and the people who are on trial it’s not Stephen |
| 29:02 | it’s them you stiff-necked people |
| 29:10 | uncircumcised in heart and ears you always resist the Holy Spirit as your |
| 29:15 | fathers did so do you which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute |
| 29:20 | and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and |
| 29:28 | murdered you who received the law as delivered by angels and you did not keep |
| 29:33 | it and off in the distance you can hear the low rumbling |
| 29:39 | getting louder and louder and the Earth is shaking and the volcano now erupts |
| 29:46 | because the Trap is sprung they have been found wanting by God |
| 29:53 | using the word of God Stephen has condemned those who murdered |
| 30:00 | and betrayed Christ and he has pointed out that despite all of their pretenses of Holiness and |
| 30:06 | righteousness they haven’t kept the Torah as they would like people to believe and they have even murdered the |
| 30:13 | one that was promised by the prophets the righteous one the Holy One Jesus Christ Messiah and King |
| 30:20 | now when they heard these things they were in raged and they ground their |
| 30:27 | teeth at him I always think that says a weird sentence what does that look like |
| 30:33 | you could get some dental work yeah you got a cavity there dude how does one grind their teeth at somebody they |
| 30:40 | ground their teeth at Stephen and here’s where we’re and it’s going to throw in something a little side note |
| 30:48 | do you remember right before Easter this year Our Gospel text was the Gospel of |
| 30:54 | John chapter 11. Lazarus had died he’s been dead for four days Jesus decides to |
| 30:59 | show up four days after he he’s gone and the first to come and see Jesus of that |
| 31:05 | lazarus’s sisters is Martha and Martha finds Christ just outside of Bethany and |
| 31:12 | she said to him Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died true words by the way but even now I know |
| 31:18 | that whatever you ask from God God will give to you so Jesus said to her your brother will rise again and Martha said |
| 31:23 | to him I know that he will rise again in the Resurrection on the last day perfect catechism answer just well done here |
| 31:31 | she’s decided to sit and listen to Jesus rather than banging and clanging dishes right so Jesus said to her I am the |
| 31:39 | resurrection and the life I am the resurrection whoever believes |
| 31:44 | in me though he die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and Believes In |
| 31:50 | Me shall never die do you believe this |
| 31:57 | huh do you believe that you will never die |
| 32:03 | Jesus said so I’m going to go with yeah I believe I don’t know how this works out but I like |
| 32:10 | to think of what is happening now in this last part of our text is what Jesus |
| 32:16 | meant by saying you will never die because the last words of this of this text say nothing about Stephen dying let |
| 32:25 | me explain Okay so full of the Holy Spirit Stephen now |
| 32:31 | gazes into heaven and he saw the glory of God and Jesus |
| 32:38 | standing standing at the right hand of God |
| 32:45 | what does the Creed say he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the father |
| 32:57 | this is a huge detail so there’s Stephen he’s about to lose his life and all of a sudden he can see |
| 33:05 | Christ the veil is lifted Jesus is fulfilling his promise I go |
| 33:12 | ahead of you to prepare a place for you and I will bring you to where I am |
| 33:18 | he says and now this is happening for Stephen |
| 33:24 | and moments before he is about to be stoned to death |
| 33:29 | he can now see the face of Christ and Jesus isn’t sitting on a throne |
| 33:36 | with a scepter and a sword he’s standing |
| 33:50 | that detail makes all the difference in the world it really does |
| 33:57 | to have the king’s attention like that precious in the sight of the Lord is the |
| 34:03 | death of his Saints the scripture says do you think Jesus can just casually sit |
| 34:08 | and watch well the very first Christian is about |
| 34:13 | to be martyred for the faith |
| 34:18 | not at all do you think you’re death no matter what it is will escape the notice of Christ |
| 34:28 | we are his blood bought children |
| 34:33 | all of our sin has been washed away by his blood we are the bride of Christ |
| 34:40 | collectively we are the bride of Christ we are the apple of his eye we’re the love of his life |
| 34:48 | if your spouse was in danger would you sit and casually do nothing |
| 34:58 | but he stood I see |
| 35:03 | Heaven the glory of God and I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he |
| 35:09 | said I behold I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing at the right hand of God but they cried out with a |
| 35:15 | loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him and then they cast him out of the city |
| 35:21 | and they stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul |
| 35:27 | and as they were stoning Stephen he called out with a loud voice Lord Jesus |
| 35:33 | received my spirit and then falling to his knees and by this time he’s bleeding hard |
| 35:38 | he cried out with a loud voice Lord do not hold this sin against them |
| 35:44 | how can somebody pray such a prayer while he’s being murdered because nobody on Earth is our enemy |
| 35:52 | we do not battle against flesh and blood and he recognizes that even these men are under the grip of Satan himself |
| 36:00 | and so are your neighbors and so are mine do not hold the sin against them and |
| 36:07 | when he had said this what does the text say he fell |
| 36:13 | asleep |
| 36:18 | I am the resurrection and the life Jesus says whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live and everyone who |
| 36:25 | lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this |
| 36:31 | it’s true so what what does this have to do with us |
| 36:37 | brothers and sisters we live in treacherous days and we have since Christ’s Ascension |
| 36:43 | have you noticed the insanity of the world and it’s only getting crazier and every |
| 36:48 | week that I say this it’s gotten significantly worse there may be a Time coming when you will |
| 36:57 | be arrested a call to confess Christ or deny him or die |
| 37:04 | this this is not a hypothetical situation for Christians this is always a real danger in a threat and again and |
| 37:11 | again the Temptation the Temptation and such persecution is to save your own |
| 37:18 | skin to basically decide I’ll just lie so that I can live longer and then I’ll |
| 37:24 | make it up by preaching the gospel double on the other end of that okay Jesus is very clear that the one |
| 37:31 | who desires to save his life will lose it the one who loses his life for Christ |
| 37:38 | will have it saved and there’s a reason for that because the one who loves his life above Christ |
| 37:45 | is an idolater their true God is themselves the true God that they worship is their |
| 37:52 | own life their own skin their own image in the mirror and we are called to repent of idolatry we are to deny |
| 37:59 | ourselves and take up our cross and follow Christ and you’ll note the Temptation is always |
| 38:05 | strong to do something different but we’re here we have so many fulfillments |
| 38:11 | of promises given by Christ not the least of which is this is Jesus taking |
| 38:17 | Stephen home to be where he is and there’s a day coming when Christ |
| 38:24 | will come for you as well but you do not know the circumstances of that and is none of your business to know it anyway |
| 38:30 | when it arrives it’ll arrive the way God intended it from before the foundations of the Earth |
| 38:36 | so Jesus says to his disciples I go to prepare a place for you and I |
| 38:42 | will come again and I will take you to myself that where I am you may be also Thomas of course goes uh Lord we don’t |
| 38:49 | know where you’re going how can we know the way Jesus is the way |
| 38:54 | I am the way the truth and the life Jesus says no one comes to the father except for through me if you had known |
| 39:00 | me you would have known my father also and from now on you know him and you have seen him it is this Jesus who has |
| 39:07 | bled and died for all of our sins including our self-idolatry he has |
| 39:12 | clothed Us in his righteousness this Jesus whom the world hates the stone |
| 39:17 | that the builders has rejected this Jesus is the Cornerstone and he is for |
| 39:23 | everybody outside of Christ a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and the reason why they stumble and they hate |
| 39:29 | Jesus is because they disobey his words as they were destined to do |
| 39:34 | but here we see another thing in our epistle text that is helpful here we we who are in Christ and listen to |
| 39:43 | the words we are a chosen race |
| 39:49 | what about the Jews somebody who’s genetically Jewish is not a chosen race of God |
| 39:56 | the one who is the chosen race of God are the Believers in Christ who share the same Faith as Abraham of itsak and |
| 40:03 | yaakov you are a chosen race you are a royal priesthood you are a holy nation you are |
| 40:10 | a people for God’s Own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness |
| 40:18 | Into His Marvelous Light you’ll note that each and every one of |
| 40:24 | us is the part of the church militant we are called to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus our crucified Risen Savior the |
| 40:33 | husband of the bride of Christ the one who loved us so much that he laid down his life so that we can be forgiven and |
| 40:40 | reconciled to God once we were not a people we were just a rabble of sinful Humanity but now we are God’s people |
| 40:48 | once we had not received Mercy but now in Christ we have received |
| 40:54 | Mercy so may God through the example of the first |
| 40:59 | Christian martyr the first turmoils that show up in the Christian church |
| 41:04 | grant us strength through his holy spirit soundness of mind to recognize |
| 41:10 | that this is our lot that we stand with Stephen and may we not love our lives to |
| 41:16 | the point of denying Christ but hold this faith in Jesus even unto death |
| 41:21 | knowing that our death is just the day when Jesus is drawing us to himself and |
| 41:27 | that day where he will finally show us what he has been preparing to give us |
| 41:34 | hmm sounds so easy |
| 41:39 | but it’s so hard and spirit is willing the flesh is weak |
| 41:45 | Lord I believe please help my unbelief in the name of Jesus Amen |
| If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to: Kongsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Ave NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message, and, again, thank you for listening. |
LutheranLectionary.org 