Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

A. Trial By Fire: A test of one’s true character or ability by means of a difficult or dangerous circumstance or task.

1.Believed to have originated in Medieval time when one’s guilt or innocence was determined by being subjected to some sort of ordeal like walking barefoot on burning coals.

2. Today you see it used in many different contexts

a. Sports: When Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright was about to face a formidable hitting line up of the Kansas City Royals after being on the disabled list for 3 weeks, it was described as trial by fire.

b. When newly appointed Boston fire chief Freddy Dusseault faced a huge downtown fire that threatened stores as well as the high school from where he graduated; when Jay Birmingham decided to leave his successful law firm to join the NASCAR racing circuit both those experiences were called trial by fire.

c. When the Exeter Presbyterian Church was destroyed in a 2003 fire, it was called by the news report as a trial by fire.

d. Even in this cartoon (used with permission)

B. In the Scriptures we see a similar idea when is uses the imagery of refining out impurities from metals using fire.

1. Psalm 66:10; Isaiah 48:10; 1 Peter 1:6-7

C. We see this played out in opening chapters of Acts

1. Religious authorities, the same who ordered Jesus to be crucified, are now clamping down harder on the church as they see it’s explosive growth and influence in Jerusalem.

2. Only matter of time, opposition would turn deadly. That time comes in our passage today which follows the ministry and ultimate death of Stephen.

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

Acts 6:8

A. Stephen is described as “full of God’s Grace and Power

1. First time a non-apostle spoken of a having healing powers.

2. “Full of God’s grace

B. Grace? Ability to respond to “difficult people” with the same patience and love that God has extended and continues to extend to us

1. Trait Stephen used in distribution of food dealing with all issues that would raise.

2. Full of the Spirit (6:5) displaying fruit of the Spirit which fuels gracefulness.

3. Jesus in John 1:14

C. Writer Stacy Reaoch:

A. It was only a three-minute escape. Listening to my name being chanted over

and over, louder and louder, with greater urgency, along with pounding on the

door, you might imagine me to be a rock star. But in reality, I’m the mother of a

toddler who has decided he is only content when he is in my arms. My escape

was merely a trip to the bathroom in which I took a deep breath behind the

locked door before re-entering my world of diapers, blocks, and Daniel Tiger. And

even though I love this little guy with all my heart, at times he can definitely be a

difficult person to keep showing love to, especially in the midst of tantrums and

tears.

There are difficult people all around us. The coworker who is willing to do anything to get ahead, including taking credit for your ideas.

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

The in-laws who always seem to be peering over your shoulder, critiquing your parenting skills, and offering “suggestions” for improvement. The child who knows exactly how to push your buttons to leave you exasperated and flustered again. The person in your ministry who is constantly complaining about your leadership, who thinks he has better ideas and communicates them with a sharp and biting tongue. The passive-aggressive friend who is kind one moment and gives you the cold shoulder the next. So, what do we do with these people? With constant strained relationships? Our natural tendency is to want to run the other way, to avoid them as much as possible. But is that what honors God in these hard situations?

1. Pray for your own heart (Colossians 3:12–14).

2. Pray for them. (Philippians 1:9–11).

3. Move toward them, not away from them.

4. Find specific ways to bless and encourage them.

5. Give them grace, just as God extends grace to you.

In the middle of her list, it is the starting point. Eph. 1:6-8a Find

Christians who excel in graciousness? Look beneath the surface, people

overwhelmed with God’s grace to them.

6. Realize that you too could be the difficult person in someone else’s life!

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

Transition: Needed all this to administrate distribution of food. It was really going to be tested now

Acts 6:9-10 Fire begins to heat up

A Debate with people form the Synagogue of the Freedmen

1. Synagogue in Jerusalem made up of those freed from slavery

2. Debated with Stephen but were unsuccessful because of wisdom and Spirit, by whom he spoke

a. Acts 1:8; 4:8

Acts 6:11-14 Fire gets hotter

A. False witnesses/testimony

1. “blasphemy against Moses and against God.” (6:11); Against the Temple (6:14)

a. John 2:18-22; Matthew 24:1-2

2. Ominous about charges is that Jews were not allowed by Rome to carry out death penalty unless had to do with some violation of the Temple

a. Warning sign: No stranger is to enter within the balustrade (railing) round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.

Acts 6:15-7:1

A. Face like an angel

1. When you speak of heaven, let your face light up. When you speak of hell, well, then your everyday face will do." Charles Haddon Spurgeon, to his students

Val to me.

B. Asked are these charges true?

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

Transition: Luke records in great detail what Stephen said. Over 50 verse from 7:2-53. How did Luke know? Best guess from Paul (Saul) who very well could have been part of the Sanhedrin. Some criticized the sermon as being rambling and incoherent. In fact, there is a strategy in not only answering the charges but in so doing, Dismantling the basis of their own religious confidenc.

Land: We have the God-given “Promised Land”

Throughout their history God often spoke to them and blessed them when they were not in the Promised

Temple: “The Temple where God dwells is in our midst!”

God cannot be confined to any physical structure as illustrated by the fact that He met and dwelt with his people outside any Temple

Moses: We have Moses and God’s Law he brought

Our people often rejected God’s law and prophets. Besides, didn’t Moses also say to look for one to come who was greater than he?!

B. For us, we are not dealing much with people like members of Sanhedrin, might not be as relevant to us as we share with others. But, his strategy is in that he challenges and dismantles their false assumptions

1. Positive Deconstruction:

“The process is deconstruction because I am helping people to deconstruct (that is, take apart) what they believe in order to look carefully at the belief and analyze it. The process is positive because

this deconstructing is done in a positive way - in order to replace the false belief with something better. The process recognizes and affirms the elements of truth to which individuals already hold, but it also helps them discover for themselves the inadequacies of the underlying views they have absorbed. The aim is to awaken a heart response that says, ‘I am not so sure that what I believe is right after all. I want to find out more about Jesus.’ At last they are taking their first steps along the road toward faith in Christ.”

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

2. Example? “I try my best; I’m a pretty good person (6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10). Therefore, I think God will let me into heaven

a. Agree with assessment (if true!)

b. Can you say every time you failed – said something, did something, thought something – that you “tried your best? That there was nothing more you could have don’t?”

c. How do you know if you are good enough. Maybe you’re a 4.5 or 5. Is that good enough? How do you know?

3. Only 10’s go to heaven. Jesus only 10 but credits it to us.

7: 51-53 Turns the table on them

A. What happened to old “angel face?”

1. Sometimes love is expressed by a direct challenge and warning

2. Jesus who was full of God’s grace yet still cleared the Temple and called the religious leaders hypocrites and white washed coffins.

Ending

A. 7:54-58

1. Authorities were angry, and Stephens about to make it worse.

2. Filled with Holy Spirit; Vison of Jesus

a. Right Hand – Place of power and authority – Abraham wasn’t there; Moses isn’t there, King David not there. Affirms his message.

b. Not sitting, but standing – A witnesses or advocate

3. 1 Peter 2:20-23 Faced with all the threats and lies and abuse, he did not retaliate, but basically said, “God is the only perfect and righteous judge. In the end how he judges me is the only thing that matters!

3. Jesus is standing for you as you suffer and experience rejection because of him.

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

4. Stoning hard work. Witnesses (false ones) Took off robes a lot of work

a. Side comment - Saul

B. 59-60 Final minutes

1. 2 things he says both said by Jesus

a. Luke 23: 34 and 46

2. In spite of the slow and excruciating painful way to die, Once again shows the power of the Spirit to create something in us that on our own could never exist. Doubt that? Let me introduce you to 6 year old Ruby Bridges

In 1960 she was the first black child to attend an all white school.

For days she would walk up the steps into the William Franz Public School in New Orleans, through the gauntlet of an angry mob shouting curses and threatening her with death. Someone even had a black doll in a coffin. There she’d spend the school day, only child because white families withdrew their children.

Then every afternoon she went down the steps through a gauntlet of an angry mob shouting curses and threatening her with death. One day a Harvard child psychiatrist saw this scene and thought, “I need to meet this child. I need to know what an experience like this does to a six year old.

So, over a period of time, he watched waiting for the some the effects he’d expect to see in a 6 year old. And the effects he expected never materialized. One day Coles was told by Ruby’s teacher that as she watched Ruby walk up the stairs, she stopped, said something, then walked in. The next time Coles met with Ruby, he asked her about that. She said, “I wasn’t talking to the people.” Who were you talking to? I was talking to God. Why were you praying to God? I was praying for the people on the street. Why were you doing that Ruby? Because I wanted to pray for them. Why would you want to pray for those people? (eyes widened) Well don’t you think they need praying for? Where did you get that idea? Mommy Daddy and Minster I pray for them every morning and every afternoon.

Trial By Fire Acts 6:8-7:70

Ruby they are so mean and nasty to you. Surely you have other feelings about them. I just keep praying for them that God would be good to them. What do you say in the prayer Ruby? I always say the same thing. Please God forgive them they know not what they are doing. Heard that in that kitchen in that extremely impoverished house. And it silenced me because I had no more questions to ask.

Conclusion

Joni reading Malachi 3 where the prophet calls to attention the image of the refiner who stokes the flames and watches the dross burn away until he can see his reflection in a cauldron of pure gold. This old illustration describes how the Lord refines us in the fire. He turns up the heat on our trials until all the impurities, sins, and selfishness comes bubbling to the surface of our soul. And then, like a refiner of gold, God skims off the dross until he can see the reflection of his face in our lives.

One day as I read this verse, one little word caught my attention. It says, “He will sit like a refiner.” What an encouragement the “sit” was to me! It means that God is not going to get up and walk away from whatever trial I’m going through. He’s not going to get distracted or wander off into something else while my trial is heating up. God is going to sit there, carefully tending to the circumstances around me.

This comforting thought encouraged me so much in this wheelchair of mine, because some days it’s so hard—sometimes the discomfort takes my breath away. But no pain can match the overwhelming comfort in knowing that God sits over my trial. He will let that discomfort go on for only so long; and my goal is to lean my lesson, confess whatever sin, refocus my faith, or quit wandering off the path—whatever God’s purpose might be. I want to agree with my Refiner, the Perfecter and Purifier of my faith. I want to do everything I can from my end so that God really can see the reflection of his Son in my life.

If you’re facing a trial today, remember that the Lord doesn’t wander away while you’re in pain. He won’t take a vacation; he will sit there, watching over you until your faith is refined like gold. That’s a promise from the Lord, our Refiner.