Acts 6:8-15, 7:51-8:3
A father was trying to teach his three sons to do their fair share of the house cleaning. The first place that he started was the bathroom.
Dad crammed the three boys into the room and proceeded to clean the toilet in front of them.
Alright, I’ve showed them, the father thought. Next time, they can do it.
So, the next Saturday came, and the father set the boys to work. They wiped off the counter tops, cleaned the mirror and then stared at the toilet.
“How does that work again, Dad?” “Will you show us one more time?”
Dad got down on his hands and knees and cleaned the toilet again for their benefit.
Next Saturday… same situation… The boys couldn’t or didn’t want to learn how to do it.
So Dad got an idea. He called in the eldest son and showed him how to do it. Then he had the oldest son repeat what he had done – only on the clean toilet.
The following Saturday, Dad brought the oldest and the middle son into the bathroom.
“Okay son… now you teach your brother how to clean this toilet. Show him, what I showed you.”
Lo and behold, the toilet got clean!
The next Saturday, Dad had his middle and youngest sons come into the bathroom.
Again, the older child taught the younger one what to do, with no problems.
Having run out of children, the next Saturday, Dad took the youngest son and their dog into the bathroom. “Alright son, teach Rufus here how to clean the toilet.”
The father never had to clean another toilet again!
What we find in the scriptures is a very familiar story.
Jesus spent the entirety of the gospels showing the disciples how to live.
He is like the father who gets down on his hands and knees to clean the toilet.
This is what you should be and do.
This is how you should live.
Feed the hungry.
Love the sinners.
Seek the lost.
Take care of one another.
And if we follow the story of the disciples through the gospels, they don’t get it.
Jesus keeps showing them again and again and again.
Like the three boys in the bathroom staring at a toilet, we faithful believers often find ourselves staring at the Way of Jesus and don’t quite know what to do.
Ever pass by a homeless person on a street corner and pray: “I just wish you would show me how to help that person, God”
Or get into a fight with someone you disagreed with and said: “Jesus, just show me how to stand up for my beliefs in love!”
The task is daunting.
It is overwhelming.
It is messy and real.
We don’t want other people to see us on our hands and knees like that.
And so keep saying… Will you show me again?
GK Chesterton once penned, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
Eventually, we must stop watching and start doing.
As Jesus told the disciples in John 14, “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.”
Faith or belief is not about having the right theological opinion.
It is about placing your life in God’s hands.
To believe in God… to believe in Jesus… means to trust that God is already working through your life and that God has given you everything you need to love or serve or pray.
Faith equals action.
I’m giving you this task, Jesus says. And you can do it. I don’t have to show you anymore.
But even more than that… not only can you do it… but you can help others to do it.
As Jesus tells them in the Great Commission:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20).
Go. Do. Teach.
That is the story of the book of Acts.
It is the story of how the apostles stopped asking Jesus to show them and started to do.
They accepted the gift of the Holy Spirit into their lives.
And they got up in front of everyone and started to teach and share.
Because they did, others began to see… and do… and teach in turn.
Others began to follow the way of Jesus.
Including a man named Stephen.
Stephen seems to appear pretty suddenly on the scene.
He is one of the seven people who were set apart to serve the widows, as we talked about last week.
But there was also something that really stood out about this particular guy.
He got it.
He was full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit… which meant he was full of action.
Stephen didn’t sit back, watching… He did it.
He trusted God was with him, that the Holy Spirit had his back, and that he was called to act.
He served tables.
He cleaned toilets… or he would have, if they had toilets like ours.
He made sure that the neglected were cared for.
Just as Jesus promised, Stephen started to do amazing things in the name of God.
And just as Jesus has experienced, all of those wonders and signs began to stir up opposition.
If you have been following along with our daily readings, you know that this isn’t the first time that these early followers of Christ got in trouble.
The high priest and the Sadducees had already arrested the apostles and threatened them to stop talking about Jesus.
But they stood firm in their beliefs… in fact, celebrated that they were worthy to suffer, as Jesus had.
They were let go… that time… but in doing so, they showed people who came after them, like Stephen, how he should respond to slander and opposition.
Trust in God. Hang on to the faith. Speak your truth.
When people began to conspire against Stephen, he didn’t back down and wait for someone to show him what to do next.
He trusted. He believed. He opened his mouth and let God speak through him.
We didn’t take the time this morning to read ALL of Stephen’s speech before the Jerusalem Council… but in it, he renounced the false rumors and retold the story of God’s people from the Torah.
Stephen compared these leaders to those who rejected God’s prophets and calls them out for being too focused on the things of this earth.
In doing so, he claimed they were fighting against the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, as it moves among the followers of Jesus.
What is different about Stephen’s story is that the Council no longer has any patience for this rebellion and these comparisons.
Like Pharoah whose heart was hardened, they would not let him go.
And suddenly, Stephen realizes the path that lies before him.
He watched as Jesus gave up his life and now it is his turn to go and to do.
Even as these leaders react with anger and fear, this young man responds with love and grace.
“Accept my life, Jesus,” he cries out. “and don’t hold this against them.”
Jesus showed these first Christians what it meant to live according to the Kingdom of God.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen claimed his ability to go and do likewise.
What Stephen may never have anticipated is that his death taught others how to keep going.
This was a turning point for the early church and opposition began to come from every direction.
Even as the community in Jerusalem began to scatter, they carried with them his story.
They learned from his witness and found the ability, themselves, to stand firmly in the faith.
And not just those who were on God’s side…
Standing there that day was a man named Saul who not only approved of Stephen’s murder, but led the charge to persecute the church.
But unbeknownst to him, seeds of truth were planted in his heart that day.
A spark that would forever change his life.
In a few weeks, we are going to talk about his journey from Saul to Paul but for today let us simply say this…
We are not called to sit back and watch.
Our job is not to keep asking for Jesus to show us how to live.
We are called to go and do likewise.
You know what to do… reach out your hand and do it.
Trust that God is with you and speak the words you need to say.
And bring others along with you, teaching and showing them how to do it, too.
Jesus said that we would do even greater things that he did.
And I think that is true because as the Body of Christ, the people of God, we will reach farther and wider than one person every could… holding, guiding, encouraging, learning together how to make the Kingdom of Heaven a reality here and now.
We have already been shown how.
Now, we just need to go… and do… and teach.
May it be so.
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