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Firebrand noun
1.a piece of burning wood. (that ignites something or marks something with fire)
2.a person who is passionate about a particular cause, typically inciting change and taking
radical action. synonyms radical, revolutionary, agitator, rabble-rouser, troublemaker
Anyone who takes a strong, provocative stance and challenges people with heated rhetoric might be
labeled a firebrand. What it takes is guts and a willingness to stir things up.
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Movements of all sorts are led initially by firebrands.
Revolutionary ideas go nowhere without revolutionary people.
Big Ideas are instigated by rabble-rousers.
I remind you that this community…this church rallies around a Big Idea…the revolutionary
movement… the Kingdom of God. The invasion of this world by the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
Today I want you to understand that that movement, that big idea needs firebrands.
The Kingdom of God will not expand into this world without a little bit of crazy.
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the reign of God will not sidle into town sweetly or discreetly
justice does will roll with political correctness
salvation will not cease the day through polite invitation
The Kingdom of God will not expand into this world without a little bit of crazy.
And nobody does crazy better than a firebrand … an agitator, a revolutionary
Today we will meet such a man. A man who believed in the church and the kingdom of God and
above all Jesus, his Messiah
He believed so much that he gave his life for it. He was one of the first martyrs in church history.
Again, I will be upfront with you about the application to this story:
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I hope by looking at his story it will inspire a few firebrands to be born from among us. Maybe
not a few…
If this church is going to be… The church is the most influential, powerful, life altering, soul
changing, nation saving social institution in the history of the world. ….some of us have to get
agitated. Some of us have to become firebrands.
The Kingdom of God will not expand into this world without a little bit of crazy.
How crazy are you willing to be?
The story of a firebrand - Stephen. Acts 7:58 ____________
Let’s go to the tail end of the story first…
Context: a trial before the Sanhedrin…the very same people who tried Jesus under the very same
high priest Caiaphas. Trying Stephen for blaspheming the name of God and Moses.
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and look how it ends: 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the
witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning
him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried
out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:5460
That clearly doesn’t end well. Stephen the firebrand is murdered. The first martyr in the history of the
church.
HOW did we get here? HOW did Stephen come to be?
It began several months before this moment, so, let's go back in time ….
A few months…probably before Stephen is even in the picture.
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Jesus on the eve of his arrest made a startling prophetic comment. A frightening prediction. He
sets the stage for the revolution to follow.
They will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and
you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. You will be betrayed
even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will
hate you because of me.
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my friends…things are about to change…it’s going to get ugly. Some of you will pay the
ultimate price. So…I’m telling you now…
If you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy
one. It is written: “And he was numbered with the transgressors”; and I tell you that this must be
fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.
Luke 21:12,16-17; 22:36-38
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this is much debated…did he mean a real sword?
Regardless of whether he was speaking metaphorically or literally…”you better get your game
on”
This prophetic word became the seedbed of Kingdom revolutionaries… the ideas behind the rise of
Firebrands like Peter and Stephen…men and women who swim upstream of their cultures.
It didn’t take long for Jesus predictions to materialize.
Peter fired the first shot of the revolution in his first sermon when he said: With many other words he
warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”Acts 2:40
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The church’s first firebrand Peter called out 1st century Roman ruled Pharisaical culture as
warped and perverse. You better surrender to Jesus and get out of this mess!
He was real chippy about it…had an edge about him…
Acts 3 – healing of crippled man
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Peter and John going to the temple
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see a crippled man being placed to beg
the man asks for money
I’ve got no money but what I have a I give you in the name of Jesus get up and walk!
people freak out
Peter goes off: (my paraphrase of Acts 3:11ff:
o What’s the matter with you? Why are you surprised?
o You think WE could do this? JESUS did this.
o Too bad you killed him. “You killed the author of life”, but God raised him from the dead.
We saw it with our own eyes
o So repent, have your sins wiped out or you’ll be cut off from God.
Well then…THAT did not go over well with the authorities!
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They are arrested and brought to the Sanhedrin (same guys who put Jesus on trial)
If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how
he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you
healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by
which we must be saved.
Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot
help speaking about what we have seen and heard." from Acts 4
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here’s another insight into firebrands – they are driven by holy conviction. They cannot help
themselves. Persecution becomes fuel for their fire.
So this is how it went for weeks…more public preaching, more arrest, and even some
beatings…tensions rose…and the revolution was heating up
And it’s in this context that the firebrand Stephen is “born”
6:1 In
those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them
complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily
distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right
for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven
men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this
responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." 5 This
proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also
Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They
presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 8 Now Stephen, a man
full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
The person of Stephen:
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Stephen was Greek by culture but Jewish by faith. At some point either he met Jesus
personally or was introduced to Jesus by an apostle.
Regardless of when His spiritual growth was rapid, so much so, that in a short time He was
noticed.
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He was assigned the task along with 6 other men for caring for the underprivileged of the
church.
Apparently he was quite the public communicator and through him God did miracles –
probably healings.
He was a very, very powerful man with an extraordinary graceful spirit about him.
o 6:3 full of the Holy Spirit and wise
o 6:5 full of faith
o 6:8 full of grace and power
o 6:8 did great signs and wonders
He became one of the young guns of the church…a public firebrand. And it got him in trouble…
6:9 Opposition
arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia.
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The Jewish synagogue of the Freedman, was where former slaves met along with others who
were born outside of Jerusalem. This was the place where sparks began to fly.
As we’ll see…the argument that transpired was over Jesus. Stephen maintained that He was
the Messiah and that God’s Kingdom had come. And that the old order of Jewish worship had
to end. The law was now trumped by Jesus teaching. The Temple sacrifices no longer
necessary.
And of course the established religious leaders saw this as heresy of the worst kind. But even
though they fought back they kept getting hosed by Stephen and since they couldn’t win the
debate they had to resort to Plan B….
These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the
Spirit by whom he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard
Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." 12 So they stirred up the people
and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the
Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against
this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will
destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." 15 All who were sitting in the
Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
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Plan B was to set him up with lies in court. Get him killed. That was the punishment for heresy
against God.
Fascinating Vs. 15 – his face…don’t think sweet think fierce and frightening and off putting.
Remember: The Kingdom of God will not expand into this world without a little bit of crazy.
the high priest (Caiaphas – the same as what condemned Jesus) asked him, "Are these
charges true?" 2
7:1 Then
To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! (A command: Hear me!)
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what follows sounds like a history lesson. And perhaps a little boring to our ears…but he was
making his case and the place was electric with tension.
His big idea: God is not restricted to any one building, one land or one people – you do not have an
exclusive claim to God anymore.
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The Temple system and what it represents must end. The Law has been trumped by the coming of
God into this world. Relationship with God is no longer based on nationality but on Jesus.
And then he gets personal and way up in their face…
51 "You
stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You
always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even
killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and
murdered him-- 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not
obeyed it." Acts 7:48-53
You obliterated the great hope of this world. You killed God.
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they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the
Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged
him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a
young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he
had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 3:1-7:60
What did Stephen see just prior to dying?
I see Jesus :
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literally “the son of man” (only person in the NT other than Jesus himself to call him
that….Messiah
I see Jesus standing:
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Could mean - Jesus standing in the place of power and world-wide dominion
But I wonder if Jesus was standing for him!
o to assure him of his presence?
o to applaud him and honor him?
o to come and get him?
I think it’s quite possible that this is what Jesus does for those for his heroes. For the crazy ones. the
firebrands and revolutionaries of the kingdom. For those who lay it all on the line for him.
Jesus stands.
My friend: The Kingdom of God will not expand into this world without a little bit of crazy.
How crazy are you willing to be?
We need some firebrands around here…to ignite in us the fire of the kingdom of God. Could that be
you?