The Suffering Church

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 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. And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Acts 7:54‭-8:4 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Stephen was preaching the Gospel. The religious leaders were out to suppress the spread of this movement. They were so threatened they brought forth false witnesses to persecute believers. So they found Stephen and proceeded to threaten him.

A pattern of suffering

We see a church being persecuted. Not only that, but we see it over and over again. Luke writes this to remind us that believers are called to suffer for righteousness. Not just regular everyday  troubles, but rather suffering for the sake of Christ. This is the norm. Even the old testament speaks of this pattern. Joseph suffers because his brothers did not believe him. Moses suffered because the people of Israel did not believe. The way to glory is through the cross. We may not experience this the same way here in the United States. Our lives are not at stake, but we may find threats to our social standing, the respect of our peers, and maybe even a job.

The believers understood that they had to experience the violence of the world to bring peace to others. Not only that, but it sets a pattern for how to respond to persecution. Stephen portrays boldness of witness. Not only that, but he prayed for those who were in the midst of killing him. He loved those who hated him. This reflects Jesus, who also prayed for those who crucified Him.

The example here is both boldness in truth and grace & love for our enemies. We must have both.

How God uses suffering

A great persecution causes the believers to scatter from Jerusalem. The persecution that the religious leaders meant to suppress believers had the opposite effect. There was an explosion of witnessing spreading out from Jerusalem. The Gospel spread as a result of the persecution in that city. This is not how we would approach it. How does it start? The death of a loved one. It comes from a painful and difficult situation. The scattering happens because of the suffering. The Gospel does not spread in spite of suffering; it spreads through the suffering.

God works through our pain. Not only in the Gospel, but that is also how God refines and matures us. He does this to wake us from our spiritual slumber.

Making sense of suffering - Tim Keller

How we endure suffering speaks to those around is. Discovered meaning is when you suffer and then find meaning in the Bible. Created meaning is when you experience suffering and then decide what is worth living for. If we don't have an external source of truth, we must invent meaning for our lives. Keller indicates that created meaning is always less durable than discovered meaning. If we live for our kids, what happens if they die before us? If we live for enjoyment of life's pleasures, what happens if we become bedridden by cancer? We have no more reason to live. This informs how we handle suffering. We can go through the same things as an unbelievers, but still go through it with a sense of hope. Christians can suffer loss, grief, and pain, but not lose hope.

The power to suffer

Why did Stephen die? The religious leaders were enraged, but he may have gotten out alive if not for one thing. Stephen verbalized that Jesus was standing next to God. This was blasphemy to the Jews. That is why they executed him. But why is Jesus standing? Christ is standing as Stephen's advocate. Stephen was testifying as to who Jesus was. Jesus is God. The approval of Jesus far surpassed that of those around him breathing out. Jesus was there to receive Stephen into His arms. When we willing follow Jesus into hard places, places of hostility, it is there that we will most experience the reassurance, power, and love of Christ. We will feel these things most strongly as we suffer with Christ.

The way to truly experience life is not to hold onto it, but rather to lose it. To take up our cross and follow Christ. To love difficult people. To be hated. To have difficult conversations.