It is Not the Position We Hold, It is the Person Who Holds Us - Acts 7-8

Acts 7:59-60 (ESV)

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The story of Stephen is one of the most beautiful and at the same time, tragic, in the book of Acts.   Stephen was selected to “wait on tables.”  In the early church they had a great concern to care for the members of the church; all the members.   One group of the church was the widows and Stephen was one of the men who was selected to care for them.   But, his official “position” in the church did not limit him in his “service” to the church.  He was not limited to giving food to widows and expanded his ministry to give truth to those he would come into contact.   That day there were seven men selected.  But shortly after this is what is says about Steven:

Acts 6:8-9 (ESV)

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

He was willing to not just serve, he was willing to speak. That put him into a persecuted role that would end in only one sermon ever preached.   The results of his speaking the truth about Christ would cause the above events; his being stoned by the crowed.   One could have all types of emotions and behaviors in a situation like this.   Probably one of the last things most of us would do was what Stephen did.    He forgave them.   We have trouble in our churches today with people forgiving others for the most minor of things.  And this is brother to brother.   Yet, here we have a man of God, selected to wait on tables, willing to forgive and pray for his assailants and ask that God forgive them.   This is the gospel message.   God would exalt Stephen in his role in the church because Stephen had exalted God in the role of his life.   We need not think of our lives in relationship to our position in the Body of Christ.  Instead we ought to think of our lives in relationship to Christ.   As we allow Him to control us, He will be the One who controls our lives.   Stephen had the spirit of Christ in him.  As Christ died for us on the cross He asked God to forgive His assailants.  So too a man filled with the Spirit of Christ.