| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Victor F. Antoine" |
| Date: |
25 Sep 2005 11:08:01 PM |
| Object: |
WHY WAS JESUS STANDING? (Part One and Two) |
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DAILY DEVOTIONAL SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2005
(Acts 7:54-60, 8:1)
***HURRICANE RITA! We are praying this morning for all those people whose
lives have been touched by Hurricane Rita. At the time this Devotional is
going out, Hurricane Rita is making land and we pray for all who are in her
path. May God watch over and protect the people of Texas and Louisiana who
are in the path of this great storm. We are praying.
WHY WAS JESUS STANDING? (Part One and Two)
Why was Jesus standing? I have always been intrigued by the 55th and 56th
verses in the 7th Chapter of Acts that tells about the stoning of Stephen.
In those verses, it tells us that Jesus was "standing" at the right hand of
God. Not once, but twice for emphasis. The reason these verses have always
challenged me is because they are the only verses that say Jesus was
"standing." Every other reference to Jesus after His ascension have him
SITTING at the right hand of God. Mark 16:19 , Luke 22:69, and Ephesians
1:20 all have Jesus "sitting." So I began to ask God why Jesus was
standing, and here is what the Holy Spirit showed me.
Jesus was standing to see man's gross wickedness. We live in a time when
because of the mass media, we are exposed daily to every kind of sin and
evil imaginable. The media feeds us a steady diet of abuse, rape, murder,
death, destruction, corruption....nothing is hid from our eyes. Even though
we have become immune to all of the evil around us, every now and then,
something so wicked happens that we can't believe it.
We can't believe how a Jeffrey Dahmer could do the horrible things he did.
We can't believe how someone could kidnap, sexually abuse, and then kill a
child. We can't believe how a mother could drown her very own children. We
can't believe how a dictator like Kim Il Jung in North Korea could allow
millions of people to starve to death while he does nothing to help them.
We can't believe how a great nation like the United States could allow the
slaughter of millions of innocent babies every year. As much pain and
suffering and evil as we are exposed to every day, from time to time we are
still horrified by man's gross wickedness.
One reason Jesus was standing was to see the gross wickedness of the
religious leaders as they killed an innocent man. Not only had they put
Stephen on trial with trumped-up charges, but they committed the ultimate
act of killing a man who was guilty of no crime. But never forget my
friend, God sees everything we do. He says in His Word, "my eyes are on all
their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my
eyes." God sees all that we do. What men think they do in secret, God is
watching.
Jesus stood and watched the religious leaders turn into a pack of wild
animals. The Word says they "gnashed their teeth at him." They were
literally biting Stephen. It says, "they covered their ears, yelling at the
tops of their voices." It is like a little child who doesn't want to listen
to his parents and how he will cover his ears and yell so he can't hear what
mom and dad are saying. These religious leaders were under conviction and
didn't want to hear the truth. There have been many times over the years
when I have been preaching and in the middle of the message have watched
people literally get up out of their seats and leave under the conviction of
God. I have no doubt many people who read the Daily Devotional delete the
message half way through under the conviction of the Holy Sprit.
The Bible tells us that they "dragged him out of the city and began to stone
him." For what? What did Stephen do? He boldly defended Jesus! He
rebuked the religious leaders for their unbelief. He denounced their
fathers for killing the prophets and accused them of killing Christ, the
righteous one. Jesus stood and watched as these religious leaders killed an
innocent man for telling the truth and defending Him!
A second reason that Jesus was standing was to see who consented to this
murder by their silence. James 4:17 tells us, "anyone then, who knows the
good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." It is in the anchor verses
from Acts 7 that we are first introduced to a young man named Saul. This is
the same Saul who would later meet Jesus on the Damascus Road and have his
name changed to Paul. This is the same Saul who would live perhaps one of
the most powerful Christian lives ever documented. This is the same Saul,
who under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit would write nearly half of the
New Testament.
Saul's only job was to watch the coats of those who were stoning Stephen.
You may say, "well he didn't throw any of the stones." Let me tell you
something, he didn't throw any of the stones but he is just as guilty in the
eyes of God as those who did. Jesus was standing to see who consented to
this brutal murder of an innocent man by their silence. It is no different
today. When you are at school or in the office and classmates or co-workers
are telling dirty jokes, if you sit and listen you are just as guilty as
they are.
When you hear people trashing Jesus, blaspheming the name of God, tearing
down the church, if you sit and listen you are just as guilty as they are.
When a friend calls you on the phone and starts telling stories about other
people and you sit and listen, you are just as guilty as the person who is
gossiping. The Bible tells us, "and Saul was there giving approval to his
death." Saul's approval was in the form of standing there and doing nothing
to stop the killing of an innocent man. God not only sees those who commit
the act, but He sees those who watch and do nothing to stop it.
Why was Jesus standing? I have always been intrigued by the 55th and 56th
verses in the 7th Chapter of Acts that tells about the stoning of Stephen.
In those verses, it tells us that Jesus was "standing" at the right hand of
God. Not once, but twice for emphasis. The reason these verses have always
challenged me is because they are the only verses that say Jesus was
"standing." Every other reference to Jesus after His ascension have him
SITTING at the right hand of God. Mark 16:19 , Luke 22:69, and Ephesians
1:20 all have Jesus "sitting." So I began to ask God why Jesus was
standing. Yesterday, I shared with you the first two reasons the Holy
Spirit showed me, here is the third reason and the powerful conclusion to
this message as well as a challenge for your life.
The third reason Jesus was standing was to welcome His servant Stephen into
Glory! When you are at a football game and your team scores a touchdown,
what do you do? YOU STAND AND CHEER! When you are at a baseball game and
your team hits a home run, what do you do? YOU STAND AND CHEER! When you
are at a basketball game and your team scores the winning basket, what do
you do? YOU STAND AND CHEER! Jesus stood and cheered His servant Stephen
as he defended Christ and welcomed him into Glory!!!
In concluding this message, I want to challenge you today. The goal of
every follower of Christ is to make Jesus proud of us. If you want Jesus to
be proud of you, act like Jesus. A doctor is proud of his child when that
child follows in his footsteps and becomes a doctor. A businessman is proud
of his son or daughter when they choose to follow in his footsteps and take
over the family business. JESUS IS PROUD OF HIS CHILDREN WHEN THEY CHOOSE
TO FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS! If you want Jesus to be proud of you, act like
Jesus!
Right before he died, the Word tells us that Stephen cried out, "Lord, do
not hold this sin against them." Now, most people would have been cursing
those who were unjustly killing them, or pleading for their life, or even
cursing God for allowing such injustice. But with Stephen's last breath he
was asking God to forgive those who were killing him. Who else did that?
Of course it was Jesus, on the cross just moments before He died asking God
to forgive those who were crucifying Him. Jesus was proud of Stephen
because he acted like the Master! My challenge to you today is to make it
your goal for Jesus to be proud of you. The way to do that is to act like
Jesus!
I love you and care about you so much. I don't know about you, but the
account of Stephen's martyrdom challenges me. You see, my goal each day is
to try to be more like Jesus. I never forget for a minute what Jesus did
for me and what He has brought me through. I serve Him because I love Him.
I serve Him because I want to please Him. I serve Him because I want Him to
be proud of me. I serve Him because all of those years I served myself He
never left me. I serve Him because all of those times I rejected Him He
never rejected me. I serve Him because when I had nowhere else to turn He
was there for me.
I serve Him because I was once blind but now I see. I serve Him because I
was once bound by sin but now I am free. I serve Him because it is not me
that lives, yea it is Christ that lives in me. I don't live for earthly
rewards but for Heavenly crowns. I don't live to please man but to please
the Master. I don't care about the applause of people only the cheers of
the angels in Heaven. My greatest desire when my life is over is to see
Jesus STANDING and hear Him say, "well done thou good and faithful servant."
I will be praying for you today. Praying that you will take this challenge
to make Jesus proud of you by acting like Him. Praying that your ultimate
goal in life is to please our Lord and that like He did for Stephen, have
Jesus STAND and welcome you into Glory!!!
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at
bkeller@liveprayer.com
***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will
die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord
or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your
creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html
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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved
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