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David Stellwagon
As the early church began to grow in Jerusalem, some problems
started to crop up which demanded immediate attention. The Apostles
were too busy with the study of the scriptures and the imparting of
spiritual treasures to be able to consume their time dealing with
each of these problems. They decided upon choosing seven men that
were of the seventy sent out by Jesus to preach and perform
miracles, written about in Luke chapter ten, to be assigned the task
of dealing with these types of needs in the Church. One of the seven
men that was chosen was Stephen. What an asset to the ministry he
was! In Acts
6:8 we read:
"And Stephen, full of grace and power, was
performing great wonders and signs among the people." He was
a powerful preacher and the Lord was using him mightily with signs
and wonders and many were coming to Jesus. Well, this Stephen ends
up being arrested and questioned before the Jewish leaders who end
up getting angry at what he said to them about their continued
stubborn resistance to the Lord and they ended up stoning him to
death. It must have seemed like such a great and tragic loss to
the early church. One of their great ministers was taken away from
them. What a set back. But God had a plan. This stoning would be
used as tool to increase the spread of the Gospel."
One of the things that happened after the stoning was that
persecution of the church increased greatly and the believers who
were congregating in Jerusalem became scattered abroad and as a
result we read in Acts11:19-21:
"So then those who were scattered because of the
persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their
way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no
one except to Jews alone. But there were some of them, men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the
Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord
was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the
Lord."
The Gospel needed to spread throughout the earth, and this began
the process. But there was another great plan in the working. When
we read about Stephen's stoning we find there was a certain man that
was watching it happen. In Acts
7:58 we read:
"When they had driven him out of the city, they
began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the
feet of a young man named Saul."
We all know what became of Saul later on. He is known to us as
the Apostle Paul. He was giving his full consent to the death of
Stephen. But there was something that impacted him greatly about
that stoning, which we can deduce from his actions immediately
following the stoning. In Acts
7:59-60 we read:
"They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the
Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' Then falling on
his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this
sin against them!' Having said this, he fell asleep."
How could this man act with such love? He was asking God to
forgive the ones that were stoning him. This action must have really
started a struggle in Saul's heart. He became enraged against anyone
who believed in the Jesus that Stephen believed in. He was so eaten
up with rage that he started going from city to city searching out
believers and dragging them off to prison and having many put to
death. That doesn't sound like he was impacted. But I believe this
very action shows that he was deeply moved in his heart.
The tugging of the love of Jesus on Saul's life must have become
very strong following Stephen's stoning. Why do I say this? Because
when someone is fighting with something in their heart, they will
become the most extreme in fighting it in other people and in their
surroundings. No one was more zealous than Saul in rounding up
believers. We all know the story in Acts
9 where Saul was met by Jesus in a bright light on his was to
Damascus and ended up blind for three days before Ananias, a
believer in the city, was sent to heal Saul and baptize him. In the
meeting, Jesus said something to Saul to indicate to us that he was
truly struggling inside. In Acts
26:14, Paul recounting his experience says:
"And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice
saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the
goads.'"
In other words, "You can't fight this in your heart forever.
It's time to give in, Saul." Well, Saul did give in. And he
ended up being a sharp sword in the battle for the souls of men.
What an instrument he was. Trained in the Old Testament under the
instruction of a great teacher named Gamaliel and having an
"all or nothing" type of personality, he was used by God
to instruct the early church in the depths of our salvation walk and
the plans of God, and to spread the Gospel to large numbers of
cities and peoples, and to even share the Gospel to kings and to the
workers in Caesar's palace! He still speaks to us today in the
letters he wrote which have become a part of the New Testament.
Countless numbers have been inspired, challenged, instructed and
transformed by the words that were penned by Paul. The tragic
stoning of Stephen was greatly instrumental in bringing this great
vessel to the Lord.
We may face things in our lives which seem like a great loss or a
horrible thing to us, but it may be that this very thing or event
will be used by God to bring about something far greater than we
could imagine. "And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose." Romans
8:28.
David Stellwagon and his wife Kathy were missionaries to Japan
for 11 years. David is the son of life-long missionaries to Japan
and David and Kathy's three sons were also born in Japan. David and
Kathy returned to the states in 2000. David currently teaches Sunday
School and the New Testament Bible Survey in our School for
Christian Workers.
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