If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have the worst day of your life, live long enough and you will likely find out. Of course, for millions of people, it is not a thought – it is a rather grim, sad, and current reality. My thoughts go to ‘Bev’, a lady I met in the psychiatric ward in Toronto, battling depression after her son hung himself. Then I think of the family of ‘Tony’ waiting it out in the emergency ward at Toronto Western Hospital. Their young 24-year-old son, busy trying to make a passing grade in Marriage 101, would shortly lose his battle with a Toronto Taxicab rushing to get through a red light. Much further from home, there are not sufficient adjectives to describe the hellish nightmare that millions of refugee Ukrainians are living out at this very moment – forced to make life-changing choices while one man tries to re-assert his regional, even global role.
Of course, believers are not immune to life’s troubles ... and chances are there are some heading your way – and mine, because life is like that. In the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:45, God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on everyone, no matter who they are or what they are guilty of. Thankfully, whatever the worst day of our life might look like we can be assured of this – it is not only possible to trust God, but frankly He remains the only hope for surviving that day.
This is among the lessons Acts 8:1-8 (probably of the whole book of Acts) can teach us and to which I appeal. So here are some general principles for our lives about God's way of guiding both us ... and His church in its mission through challenging days.
1. To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life – Remember that Persecution Serves the Great Commission (v. 1)
“And Saul approved of their killing him [Stephen]. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”
Trouble is nothing new and sometimes it can even happen for obscure, silly reasons. In a trip I took to Chile and Argentina, two months ago, I was reminded by a local that if you travel the Pan-American highway between these two countries, you will see a 26-foot-high bronze statue of Christ, holding out His right hand in a blessing between the two nations. His left-hand clings to a cross. It all sounds so very nice, doesn’t it?
However, back in 1902 Chile and Argentina were close to war over a boundary dispute between the two countries high in the Andes Mountains. The people of the Andes are by and large Roman Catholics. Remembering a November 1st, 1900 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII which called for consecration of the entire world to Christ the Redeemer, the Christians urged their respective governments to settle matters amicably. They agreed to submit the matter for arbitration and war was averted.
An old Mennonite woman once said to God: "Lord, I'm not
surprised You don't have more friends than You do, seeing as how You treat the ones You have."
Monsignor Marcolino del Carmel Benavente, the Bishop of San Juan, suggested the building of a statue to remind the people of Christ's words, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." And so – ‘Christ of the Andes’ was born. Dedicated March 13, 1904, the statue stands in Uspallata Pass, on the Argentine-Chilean boundary. A tablet, added in 1937, has an inscription in Spanish that says:
“Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer.”
Even so, shortly after the statue was erected, the Chileans began to protest that they had been slighted, because the statue had its back turned to Chile. Things were not looking good. Just when tempers were at their highest in Chile, a Chilean newspaperman saved the day. In an editorial that not only satisfied the people but made them laugh, he simply wrote,
"The people of Argentina need more watching over than the Chileans.”
Here in the Book of Acts, Stephen is not having a good day! In fact, given the biblical record before us – only a Philistine would deny that this must surely his ‘worst day’. And while that might even be our perspective, I am reminded that Stephen lets himself be stoned (v. 60). He is killed for trying to raise a prophetic voice within Israel by encouraging a radical recasting of Jewish life to make Jesus the center of Jewish faith, worship and thought. When you speak truth to power, we should not be surprised by the outcome.
In every apparent setback, see the re-positioning for a
greater advantage and fuller display of God’s wisdom, power and love. Believe it!
Notice how the cries of Stephen (Acts 7: 59 - 60) almost mirror Jesus’ words on the cross in Luke 23:34, 46: – “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Sure, the sequence and wording are not exactly alike, but the parallelism is obvious. While it might be going too far to say that Luke wants us to see Stephen’s execution as a kind of re-enactment of the great martyrdom of Jesus – I would guess that Luke wants to show that the same spirit of commitment and forgiveness that characterized Jesus’ life and death was true of Stephen as well.
On the day that Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr, God makes persecution serve the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20. To this point (Acts 1-7), all ministry has taken place in Jerusalem, but Jesus had said in Acts 1:8 that the coming of the Holy Spirit with power was to give a missions thrust not only in Jerusalem, but Judea, Samaria and beyond. Clearly this had not yet happened. Indeed, here in Acts 8:1 exactly the same two unreached areas [Judea and Samaria] are spoken of again – even in the same order! Why? My view is that the Church was slow in coming to terms with her mission of reaching out beyond the walls of Jerusalem.
Would the Church of Stephen’s day have awakened to her calling without persecution? The evidence suggests not!
What is written with factual clarity is that God used persecution to move His people into the mission He had given them, for “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all, except the apostles, were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” (Acts 8:1). And to solidly confirm this missionary purpose of the persecution, Luke writes in Acts 11:19-20:
"Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.
Some of them . . . went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.”
In other words, the persecution of the church sent the church not only to the Jews of Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1) but beyond them to the Gentiles as well (Acts 11:19). Indeed - Persecution Served the Great Commission.
I sometimes wonder if the real threat to the church is our prosperity – not our persecution. To illustrate, did you know that the richer believers are - the less money they give? According to the authors of Behind the Stained Glass Windows, (Sylvia and John Ronsvalle) Christians typically give 2.58% of their income to their church. Loren Mead, author of Financial Meltdown in the Mainline shows that only three percent of Christians give ten percent or more. Wow! Talk about cheap!
"... the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful." (Parable of the Four Sowers; Mark. 4:19)
Thankfully, God is sovereign and though comfort, ease, affluence, and prosperity have a way of making the people of God inert, He can turn setbacks into victories, as the record of Acts demonstrates:
2:41 Peter addresses the crowd after Pentecost and 3,000 are added to the Kingdom;
2:47 The Fellowship of Believers broke bread, praised God and prayed; “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”
4:4 Peter and John are seized and jailed for proclaiming Christ, yet “many who heard the message believed and the number of men grew to about 5,000”
5:14 The apostles perform numerous signs . . . “and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number”
6:1 “In those days the number of disciples was increasing”
6:7 “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.”
Great! Wonderful! Yippee! However, just as the Christians were no doubt happy of the spiritual success they saw happening before them, suddenly life declared open season on believers. Stephen’s funeral only promised more funerals. Indeed, people like Saul were willing to travel 125 difficult miles (either on foot or donkey) to arrest Christians even in Damascus. Here is a truism: Nothing in the Bible and nothing in the nature of God suggests that bad things will not happen to believers.
Thankfully the worst day of our life does not change the nature of God or the nature of God’s love for us, for He can use persecution to serve His greater
purpose for us and our world.
The worst day of our life is precisely that – the worst day of our life. But it does not negate our existence or diminish God’s opportunity to do something wonderful through that circumstance. To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life – Remember that Persecution Serves the Great Commission.
2. To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life – Remember It Would Be Wrong to Conclude You Are to Blame (v. 2-3)
“Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”
It seems clear that the persecution in Jerusalem started because of Stephen and Acts 11:19 confirms this: “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen ...” So, it would not surprise me if some well-meaning kingdom people ‘blamed’ Stephen personally, saying things like “You can’t go around calling people stiff-necked, with uncircumcised hearts and ears” ... or telling them “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (7:51) - even if it is true.” “Come now Stephen, there has to be less inflammatory ways of defending the truth.” That 1st century crowd is still around.
Let us admit that this would be our version of the story! What is God’s version?
Luke describes Stephen as “full of God’s grace and power” (6:8)
Luke describes Stephen as “full of the Holy Spirit” (7:55) – a description in line with 6:3, 5, 8 and 15 – so we are given a clear signal here of the character of Stephen.
Luke says that “godly men buried him and mourned deeply” (8:2)
I notice here that Acts 8:2 says, “Godly men” (‘devout’). That is the same word that was used in Acts 2:5 to describe the Jews at Pentecost who were open to the working of God’s Spirit ... the same adjective Luke used in 2:25 describing old Simeon in the Temple ... and the same word Luke will use later in Acts 22:12 to describe Ananias of Damascus. My point is simply that here were devout Jews, open to the Christian message and who in the midst of persecution volunteered to bury Stephen’s body – much as Joseph of Arimathea did for Jesus (Luke 23:50-53). These men honor Stephen; they do not blame Stephen.
The worldly worry about losing out, but the devout thinks
the way Jesus does, who said “For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16: 25)
I cannot help but be remined here of a stanza from that best loved hymn of the Protestant Reformation, “A Mighty Fortress.”
“That word above all earthly powers, No thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours, Through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.”
When we are doing our best. When our priorities have God at the center and we are giving faithful, God-honouring obedience to Him, here is a little free advice from Luke -- To Survive that Worst Day of Your Life – Remember, It Would Be Wrong to Conclude You Are to Blame.
3. To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life – Allow God to Continue Working Through You (vv. 4 - 8)
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went .... When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said .... So, there was great joy in that city.”
If you want to be inspired ... I mean really inspired ... I encourage you to read the biography of Wilma Rudolph. She did not get much of a head start in life. At the age of 4 she contracted polio. It left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls’ basketball team, but did not make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team at Burt High School in Clarksville, Mississippi – but only because the coach wanted Wilma’s older sister. When a college track coach later saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By the time she was 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the United States.
In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy, Rudolph won three gold medals – tying the world record in the 100 meters ... set a new world record in the 200 meters ... and brought her 400 meter relay team from behind to win gold.
Charles Spurgeon, the great British Baptist preacher was right: “By perseverance the snail reached the Ark”
Perseverance is exactly what Stephen had – and it cost him his life. Yet, if Stephen had not died; if the Church had not scattered – Christianity might well have stayed in Jerusalem forever and that evidently was not what God had in mind. Here in Acts 8, persecution .... brings joy ... and the ’Good News’ is advanced -- moving into Samaria (8:4-25) ... into Africa through an Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40 ... and to the gateway of Europe through Damascus - Syria (11:19-30)
In Acts 8:5 we are told that Philip “went down to a city in Samaria.” This Philip is thought to be the same one spoken of in Acts 6:5 – one of 7 deacons selected to serve the church. He appears again later in Acts 21:8. What I find fascinating (and it is subtle) is that in Acts 6:5 Philip’s name appears right after Stephen’s. I wonder! I wonder if they close friends? I wonder if Philip hurt to see Stephen killed? And, I wonder if Philip was crippled by that experience – unable to move forward in his life? Evidently not! Instead, Philip did what each of us needs to do to survive the ‘worst day of our life’. He kept breathing for himself ... moving towards others ... and living for God.
If we were to read Acts 8:5 in isolation – we would never know that Philip has just had his heart cut in two; just come out of the darkness of a staggering, unnecessary death of a godly friend. When the ‘worst day of our life comes’, let’s agree that we are forced to make decisions about faith and practice. Either we take the faith step – or abandon it as useless. There is no middle ground.
To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life – Allow God to Continue Working Through You . . . and that is precisely what Philip did. He proclaimed (Acts 8:5) “the Christ.” In Acts 8:12 we read that his preaching content included the “Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.”
As I read the many stories in the Book of Acts, I discover that God chooses to use us in His plans – even in those ‘worst days of our life.’ We are designed to grieve . . . hurt . . . cry . . . and panic and for most of us it will take time for the grief to work its course, the hurt to heal, the cries to dry up, the panic to settle. Still, if in those moments we will put one step in front of the other and trust an unseen God to a known future – then we will find the power for living that we need -- and Make the Best of the ‘Worst Day of Your Life.’ “OnlySaying…”
Comments