Sermons
The Commitment
The Commitment
Acts 6:8-15
Introduction:
1. Stephen is a man described as full of faith, full of grace and power, and the Holy Spirit.
2. He spoke out boldly teaching that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. But he was opposed. False witnesses were put forward that condemned him of saying things he did not say. He was brought before the Sanhedrin. There he presented the history of the Jewish nation and concluded they had always resisted the Holy Spirit. But he went further. He boldly said his hearers were doing the same thing (7:51-53).
3. Ultimately, they stoned him to death as he prayed for their forgiveness (7:54-60).
4. Such was the level of commitment that Stephen had in communicating the message of God. Do I have that level of commitment? Do you?
5. Difficult questions for those of us who have never faced a situation like Stephen’s. Some might ask, “Why didn’t God deliver Stephen from his enemies?” A question never asked, nor answered in the text. We are just left with the example of Stephen’s commitment.
6. But he is not unique in the biblical record. It seems the same kind of commitment was prominent among others.
Discussion:
I. In Acts 4 Peter and John were threatened and commanded to speak not more in the name of Jesus (18, 21).
A. The prayer of the congregation in Jerusalem reveals that they expected such
opposition and regarded it as prophesied by David.
B. They regarded allegiance to God’s purpose as their priority. “But what about
their families?” “What about their financial circumstances?” “What about their
businesses?” “What about their lives?”
C. They prayed, not for deliverance, but that they might speak the word of God with
confidence.
D. “The place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak the word of God with boldness.”
E. What an incredible commitment!!!
II. This was the level of commitment that Jesus expected His disciples to make.
A. In Mark 10 James and John come to Jesus asking to sit one on His right and
one on His left in His glory (35ff).
1. Jesus asked them a question.
2. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism
with which I am baptized?”
3. What is He asking them?
4. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this
cup pass from Me” (Matt. 26:39). I take this to mean the cup of suffering
associated with the humiliation and shame associated with the cross.
5. The baptism is the baptism of suffering.
B. Are you able to give yourself to this level of commitment?
C. This may give us insight into the meaning of 1 Cor. 15:29-32.
1. Baptism for the dead here seems to speak to the commitment of our lives to
the purpose of God.
2. Paul speaks of being in danger every hour.
3. Of fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus (Acts 19:28ff).
4. The resurrection is the expectation of those who give their lives to the
purpose of God and the communication of His message.
III. We are getting a flavor for what this level of commitment looks like.
A. Further details of what it looks like are evident in 2 Cor. 11:23-29.
B. It is one thing to commit yourself in this way and another to call on others to
commit themselves in the same way. But this is exactly what Paul does to
Timothy.
1. 2 Tim. 2:2-3.
2. 2 Tim. 3:10-4:7.
a. Antioch (Acts 13:14, 45, 50).
b. Iconium (Acts 14:1-7, 19).
c. Lystra (Acts 14:8-20).
C. More evidence of what this commitment looks like (Heb. 10:32-39).
IV. The hope promised.
A. The resurrection hope (2 Cor. 4:7-18).
B. The crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 2:10).
Conclusion:
1. We have need of endurance (Heb. 10:36-39).
2. We have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Do not grow weary and loose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin (Heb. 12:1-4).
