Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:54-60This is probably a peculiar passage for me to choose when discussing this topic. However, I chose it because I think it applies. See, we know Jesus is our High Priest constantly making intercession and prayers before the Father on our behalf, but here we see something different. Here we see someone faithful to Jesus who just gave a wonderful testimony and Jesus is standing for him. When one of Jesus' own is killed He doesn't just sit back, he doesn't look away, but He stands. Whether to welcome, out of love, or encouragement I don't know, but Jesus is standing to receive one of His own.
We also note Saul, a young man who would go on to become Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. While here, he is persecuting one of Jesus' own, it will become apparent how much Paul will grieve his acts of persecution later in life. However, here we see Stephen's testimony before him. A testimony of who Jesus is and what He has done. Stephen did not testify of himself, but rather his Lord.
Finally, we see that Stephen went to sleep. He did not die, he went to sleep. Just like Lazarus in the tomb, the little 12-year old girl, and all believers before the rapture (1 Thess 4:13), he fell asleep. In Greek there are two words for death, the final death, thanos, which no believer will ever experience and necros, the decaying of the body which everyone experiences since the fall of man. However, you can be certain that no believer will ever experience thanos. Jesus Christ paid the cost, death has no sting.
What then shall we say of our dear brother and church leader Clint who went to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon? I say that just like Stephen, Clint's eyes were focused on Jesus. He did not point to himself, but rather to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He did not give a testimony to Jewish rulers, but rather a testimony to his fellow believers that faith without works is dead. We don't elevate him, but rather we elevate who he elevated. At this present moment we cannot know how many young Sauls Clint had an impact upon, but we can be certain whoever they are, they heard about Jesus from him. And lastly, we know that Clint did not die, he did not experience thanos, no but rather he experienced joy everlasting when he met his Savior face-to-face. Clint now knows, even as he himself was known.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us honor our beloved brother by honoring who he chose to honor. Let us serve as he chose to serve. Let us worship who he chose to worship. That will be his legacy, and I pray it will be ours also.
