The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-03-03
INTERNATIONAL.
NNMSGOM,
LESSON
Dy 4. O. eELI4ERS. Acting Director Oh
1nDtitUto.)
Copyright 1919. western Newspaper Unioa.b
LESSON FOR R s
THE A or srEPHEN.

aeAfn ana ! viii give thee the crown 6f
This lesson closely follows that OF
last Sunday. There are some battles
OF life that are not fought with lists
or weapons. The boy who holds his
temper 10 more manly than the one
who goes into q fight simply to win.
Paul tells US how and what to fight
(Eph. 6:11, 12). We must show the
scholars clearly the two great bat
ties stephen fought and the victory
he o as described in todey's les
son. The charges made against
stephen were made by false wit
nesses.' This does not mean men
who invented false words, but men
who took isolated statements. distort-
ed them and by innuendo used them
Tor their own end Stephen was
charged with three things: (a) Bias
phemy against God (6:1l-13). (b)i
That no had said Jesus would return
and destroy the temple (6:14). (c)
That he claimed that Jesus would de-
stroy or abrogate the law $40. This
great passage of Scripture 10 10 pro-
found and SO closely connected that
we hesitate In trying to separate It
into divisions or sections. We much
prefer to note the logical argument
n presentation Stephen the Spirit
anointed deacon made to the Sanhe-
drin.
!. Stephens Defense. Stephen was
a Grecianized Jew. whose name
means "a crown" He answered the
charges Of these foreign a%ccusers.
made before the Sanhedrin, seriatim.
His point Of contact was to respect
fully remind the council that he
was an orthodox Jewish believer and
w~orshiper ". y. He called the coun-
Gil Men, brethren and fathers" They
were common believers and all were
standing before the God-appointed
leaders Of Israel. Stephen in his re-
ply showed that he reverenced God
and Gods prophet Moses, thereby IN
swering the first charge ". ~, and
while he reverenced the temple he
showed that it vas not essential to
worship ~(7:47:49). This last was I'm
answer to their second charge (6-14).
In answer to their third charge Ste
phen then turned upon his enemies
and by direct and indirect charges he
convicted them of certain facts. In
directly, by skillful repetition of Jew
ish history, and q review of the
prophets, he discloses the vacillation
and sinfulness OF Gods chosen people
(23, 29). Directly he accuses these
leaders Of having been subservient to
certain customs a. being superior to
the law they professed to obey. Ste
phen's accusers were, as we have
seen, from without Jerusalem (6:9,
10Y. and his first battle was concern
ing the truth about Jesus. His second
great battle, and M Of his ultimate
victory, was with these avowed enc
mics of Jesus (6:11-8:3).
u. Stephens Death. The real con-
test of this occasion was Satan VS..
the Holy Spirit. Stephen put to out
these men from the foreign synagogue.
hence the Jewish authorities deter
mined to take hold of the problem
themselves and put a stop to this
Christian teaching. Stephens sud
den application OF the Scripture to his
judges caused intense anger. He
preached the word of God in the DEM
onstration of the Holy Spirit, and such
preaching always either produces con-
viction of sin, OF else arouses anger
at the preacher. These men could not
deny the truth of his accusation: they
therefore turned upon him in anger.
Being full Of the Holy Spirit" Is an
abiding condition and inevitably in
wolves a conflict with Satan. It led
Stephen to look up and not about
him, and in his hour Of testing he saw
q wonderful vision of heaven-'"The
glory Of God and of Jesus standing"
Let US accept the testimony Of his
dying man as a literal fact. This
sight strengthened him for his suf-
fering and for his witnessing. Death
had no more terror for Stephen and
he was faithful and ~steadfast to the
end. No narrowing thought could stop
his testimony, for he had seen Christ
after his resurrection. yea, he saw
into heaven itself thence he had I'M
doubtedly Q the risen Lord ascend.
Jesus as God was incarnated John
1:14. l Tim. 2:5), and when he re-
turned to heaven he went as "Son OF
Man" as we'll as "Son of God" In the
glory he manifested his interest in
this his servant by arising (Eph. 1870.
Heb. 1919 to strengthen Stephens
testimony and to receive his spirit as
it left his crushed and bleeding body
wv. Sc, 50, CO.,. When men harden
their hearts against the truth and
resist the Holy Spirit, nothing daunte
them and speedily they go from bad
to worse. Giving full vent to their
anger these men stop their ears" at
Stephens words, q prophecy of what
many are doing even today. With
out the gates" (Heb. 1879 Stephen
fell asleep" An interested and per-
haps q delighted spectator was Saul OF
Tarsus. He was one who never for
got Stephens words, for they were to
prick his heart (Acts 26:14). What q
majestically simple prayer and what
q wonderful repetition Of our Masters
petition on the cross. were these
words which pricked Paul's heart ".
so, Luke 23:3446).
lii. Stephens Burial. These men
o~verreached themselves, for persecu-
ton simply scattered those who gave
Christfan Testimony a wider md