“They grabbed Stephen and dragged him outside the city where they began to stone him. And his accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul, later called Paul.” (Acts 7:57-58)

Food For Thought: Tertullian was a former pagan who turned to Christianity. He lived around 155–230 AD, and became a well-known Christian apologist. As he reflected on the first two centuries of horrible persecution against Christians—and in spite of that persecution, the amazing growth of the church—he noted, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” In AD 197, he wrote to Roman leaders in defense of Christianity that the more Christians were “mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.”

That had been true from the earliest days of Christianity. Great persecution broke out in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen, and believers scattered throughout the region. But wherever they went, they took the message of life with them, and the church grew. Astoundingly, within 300 years, Christianity—without ever fielding an army, without political representation, without mounds of financial backing, without ever having the tide of popular opinion in their favor—took over the very Roman Empire that had once been so hostile to it.  All these Christians did was love and serve one another—and die!   The blood of the martyrs…

Interestingly, it was their chief persecutor who ultimately became their chief spokesman. Saul, who was complicit in Stephen’s martyrdom, was marvelously converted and began to go after converts with the same passion that he had once used to silence them. He had been the most effective tormentor of the early church; now he was its most eloquent evangelist and theologian.

You never know when your worst enemy and most hostile persecutor will become your greatest spiritual ally and closest Gospel partner. But how you respond to them when they are your enemy may very well determine if and when they come to know your Savior. I suppose Stephen’s gracious spirit as he was being stoned made a lasting, perhaps a haunting impression on Saul, and was one of the keys to his conversion.

Are you facing someone who is a real challenge to your faith today? How are you responding to them? The best way to deal with your enemy is to turn him or her into a believer! And the best way to turn them into a believer is by loving, serving and laying down your life.

On this day… In 1992, the Auca Indians of Ecuador received the translation of the New Testament in their language. In January of 1956, headlines had been made when five missionaries had been slain by these very Indians. Amazingly, it was several of the family members of these missionary martyrs who had continued to pray, evangelize and translate that kept the seed of the Gospel watered, eventually leading to a spiritual breakthrough among this once hostile tribe. One never knows when God will turn the worst enemy into the closest brother. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Prayer: Dear Lord, dealing in a Christ-like way with those who are hostile to me is easier said than done. It is easily to read about people like Stephen or the families of these five martyred missionaries and nod approvingly—it is much more of a challenge to live like that in the real world of my everyday faith. I ask you for a fresh dose of grace today to respond to my enemies so that perhaps they may be transformed into my spiritual allies. Help me to live like the early believers did, even being willing to die living out the values of the Gospel. Enable me to be the living proof of a loving God for those who need to be convinced of this Good News that you have sent me to proclaim. Amen.

So God’s message continued to spread and the number of believers rapidly increased in Jerusalem … But opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen … and they had Stephen arrested and brought before the high council.” (Acts 6:7-12)

Food For Thought: It’s interesting that as the first church in Acts was riding the crest of a phenomenal church growth wave, God allowed another wave, a wave of persecution, to crash down upon them. Though there had been previous signs of hostility toward the Apostles, the arrest of this Godly, Spirit-filled layperson, Stephen, and his subsequent execution, marked the beginning of some extremely difficult times for the church.

Why would God allow those good times to be interrupted with such harsh times? Perhaps one of the reasons is found in the phrase “in Jerusalem.” The good times were rolling — “in Jerusalem.” The church was growing—some scholars say there were as many as 50,000 believers, up to half of the city’s population — “in Jerusalem.” Many of the Jewish priests had become Christians — “in Jerusalem.” But not too long before this, Jesus had given his followers a compelling commission: Go into all the world with the Good News. He promised that the Holy Spirit would empower them and enable them to be his witnesses starting in Jerusalem, and then radiating outward to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. God’s plan was to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the witness of the church, but, understandably, this first church was fairly content to enjoy the good times they were having in Jerusalem.

It is said that an eagle will remove the feathers from the nest, leaving only thorns exposed, so that her eaglet will be motivated to get out of the nest and learn do what eagles do best—fly. So also, God will sometime remove the cushions from a believer’s life in order to motivate that believer to do what believers do best—get out of their comfort zones and take the Gospel to the rest of the world.

Perhaps God is exposing your soft, comfortable nest to a painful thorn today. Rather than resisting it, leverage it. Allow that discomfort to cause you to take a fresh look at the new opportunities that God may be opening up for you to share his messages with others. Let your disappointment be his appointment for you to serve his purpose. Your thorn may be the best thing to ever happen to you, so offer thanksgiving to God for it. Who knows, today’s thorn may be tomorrow’s rose.

Let me suggest that you pray the prayer below that was penned by George Matheson, the Scottish theologian who went totally blind by age 20.

Prayer: “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross: teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” Lord, today I will gratefully embrace my thorn as your appointment for something good in my life. Take it and make it into a fragrant rose, for your Kingdom’s sake I pray, amen.

This week in Christian History… Dorothy Sayers, English mystery writer and apologist, is born in 1893 in Oxford, England. She once said, “Man is never truly himself except when he is actively creating something.” Sayers was a good friend of C. S. Lewis and on occasion, would join Lewis along with J. R. R. Tolkien at meetings of the Socratic Club.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself” … As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died … Instantly, his wife Sapphira fell to the floor and died … Great fear swept the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened. (Acts 5:3,5,10-11)

Food For Thought: In most churches today, we count visitors and salvations rather than dead bodies. We pride ourselves on being visitor friendly and seeker sensitive, not a danger zone. Our vision statement is “living proof of a loving God” not “enter at your own risk.” We have greeters and ushers instead of pallbearers. We have a gymnasium and a nursery, not a cemetery.

How different things were for the first church in the book of Acts. The church was growing and God was doing great things among the people. Of the many wonderful marks of spiritual awakening that characterized this church, amazing generosity was one of the most impressive (Acts 4:34-37). There were no needy people among them because everyone was so willing to share what they had with each other. In particular, a man named Barnabas had been prompted to sell his property and give all the proceeds to the apostles to be used for the benevolence ministry, and the church was greatly encouraged by his generosity.

Ananias and his wife Sapphira saw what had happened, and the response that Barnabas received, so they, too, sold their property. But they came up with a plan to give part of the proceeds to the church leadership while claiming they had given it all (they claimed to be “tithers” but were really only “tippers”). That way, they would get the accolades of the church and have some cash in pocket as well.

Bad move! Peter, discerning their hypocrisy and selfishness, pronounced judgment on them and they fell over dead…right there in church. Now as a pastor, I can tell you: That would put a damper on a church service!

What is the point of this unusual Bible account? Among other things, perhaps the most important is that we need to take God seriously. In this age of viewing God as our best buddy or as our ticket to health, comfort and prosperity, we need to remember that he is still a holy God who expects our reverence and full obedience. And we ought to let this story remind us that he sees into our lives with utter moral clarity—that nothing is hidden from him, even though we may be quite proficient in hiding things from everybody else. So we would do well to acknowledge those areas of sin and compromise and selective obedience in our lives, ask him for forgiveness, and truly repent of them by changing our heart and our behavior.

Oh, one more thing: I think we’re all glad that God hasn’t dealt with us like he did with Ananias and Sapphira! If that kind of thing still happened today, every church would need to have a funeral home instead of a fellowship hall.

Prayer: Lord God, I am so grateful for your mercy and grace; for your patience and kindness. If it weren’t for your great love, I would have been consumed already. But your compassions never fail—they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! Lord, you are holy, and you desire holiness in me. I pray that you would examine my heart and cleanse me of everything that is displeasing and dishonoring to you—every thought, every habit, every word, every action that stands in the way of your Lordship over my life. Destroy in me, O God, those things that could destroy me. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

On this day… in 1959, English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter, “If we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a ‘wandering to find home,’ why should we not look forward to arrival?” (Taken from StudyLight.org’s “Today in Christian History”)

“There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Food For Thought: It seems the thing to do these days is to accuse Christianity of being narrow and Christians of being intolerant. To be labeled narrow and intolerant is now, arguably, the worst sin in our culture. Now for the most part, those accusations are unfair. In reality, Christianity is quite broad—we love everybody and believe everybody has a right to hear the truth; Christians are very tolerant—we have tremendous patience with people who are wrong.

Narrow and intolerant? Hardly! Except when it comes to the way of salvation. God’s Word is very clear that the forgiveness of sins, right standing with God and eternal life comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not attained because we work hard for it, because we are good people who obey the Ten Commandments, or because we piously follow some other religious teaching. Salvation is by grace through faith in the saving work that Jesus performed on our behalf when he died on the cross…period!

I, like a lot of people, do a fair amount of flying these days. The last time I noticed, the runway on which those big jet airplanes land is very narrow. I’ve also noticed that the pilot is very intolerant about alternative ways to bring the aircraft in for a safe landing. The pilot has one way, and is pretty fanatical about that. And I, for one, am very glad for that narrowness and intolerance-it gets me home in one piece. So it is with God’s narrow plan to get us safely home. There is one way, and one way only to salvation. It is through Jesus Christ.

Why don’t you be a little narrow and intolerant today and speak that truth to someone—in love, course!

Prayer: Father, thank you for loving the world so much that you gave your only Son to die for our sins and make a way for us to receive eternal life. We didn’t deserve anything from you except judgment and punishment. But in your mercy, you withheld what we deserved—hell, and in your grace, you freely gave what we could not earn—salvation. Those of us who have receive the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ will be eternally grateful for what you have done. Now Lord, give us opportunity today to share this Good News with another person! Help us to have the courage and the grace to share this truth in love. And may others come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior through our witness. Amen.

On this day…in 1882, blind Scottish Presbyterian clergyman George Matheson penned the words to the hymn, “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.”