Title: The Day I Die/Acts 7:54~60
Content - The day I die - (Acts 7:54~60)
Everyone has different interests. When you come to church and listen to what they talk about, you can see that their interests are different, such as politics, economy, real estate, and sports, and their preferences are also diverse.
My field of interest is 'death'.
So I tend to read books and articles about death relatively carefully. For, among many, nothing is more important and solemn than preparation for death.
That preparation must be done while you are alive now. Where can we get wisdom to think more seriously about death?
The wise man advises us like this: “It is better to go to a house of portraits than to go to a banquet, for this is the end of all, so that the living will be heeded” (Ecclesiastes 7:2).
“Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sorrow on the face makes the heart happy” (Ecclesiastes 7:3).
Just as a lazy person can go to an ant and get wisdom about 'laziness', in order to get wisdom about death, if you go to the scene where the body has turned cold, you can learn a vivid lesson there.
So today we see in front of the death of a person. Stephen, his death is truly horrific and tragic.
Why? It is because the body is crushed by the stone and is suffocating.
It's a pity to die of old age and sickness, but what a horrifying thing!
But on closer inspection, the family is nowhere to be seen.
No parents, no wife, no children, no, they may not even be married.
He is stoned to death, who does not appear to be old, has no worldly power or status, and has no one to mourn for.
In fact, it seems that it is very rare to find people around us who die such a tragic death.
So he looks like a life loser without a doubt. Really?
Looking back at his death, how does he face death?
First, he is dying in the filling of the Holy Spirit.
“When Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven, and looked up, and saw the glory of God, and that Jesus was standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
His usual appearance (Acts 6:5) and his state of affairs during ministry (Acts 6:10) and the appearance at the end of his life (Acts 6:55), his life was truly 'filled with the Holy Spirit'.
What is the Lord's desire for us? “Do not get drunk, for this is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
It's okay for all of us not to be wealthy and healthy at the last minute.
Because these are of no use at the last minute. Only the Holy Spirit leads us to God until the last moment, and only the Holy Spirit will defend us when we are afraid and trembling before the Judge, so we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit only (Romans 8:34). .
Filled with the Holy Spirit, this should be what we look like before death, and this should be our wish.
Are you now armed with the filling of the Holy Spirit, who do not know when you will be called?
Second, he died in the vision of the Father and the Son.
What a glorious and thrilling moment, “Stephan, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven, and looked up and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
Stephen is already facing death while seeing the results of the judgment.
It's a really unfortunate death. Seeing our Lord Jesus, the Lord of Heaven, standing at the right hand of the throne is the pose that welcomes Stephen into the kingdom of heaven. (Romans 8:34)
No one can help but tremble in the face of death because everyone instinctively knows that there is God's stern judgment after death.
“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
Third, he died in the likeness of the Lord.
What is our lifetime wish? (Hymns 376).
It is to be like our Lord. In what form and how did the Lord live, and how did the Lord die in the end?
Stephen longed to be like the Lord all his life, and followed the Lord even to the point of death.
"They stoned Stephen, and Stephen cried out, "Lord Jesus, receive my soul." And he knelt down and cried aloud, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:59-60) )
Fourth, he died while working.
die at work? And there is nothing more rewarding than the fact that you die doing what is most valuable and rewarding.
Of course, death never goes my way.
Enoch was walking with God, and God took him, Job also died of old age, and when Moses died, his eyes did not flow and his strength did not fade.
However, if there is a more blessed death than this, death must be in the midst of God, but I think that it can be our wish by doing God's work and standing before God.
Fifth, he died from a single rotting grain of wheat.
The 2,000-year history of Christianity is a history stained with the blood of countless martyrs.
The source of that blood is the cross of Golgotha. Peter, James, and Philip, who were disciples of Jesus, were all martyred, but Stephen, the deacon, was the first to receive the blood of Jesus and start running.
However, many people do not want to become grains of wheat for the Lord and the gospel.
Most of them simply have the easy thoughts of going to heaven and enjoying eternal life after simply believing in Jesus and living a life of faith.
Even if you believe properly and do the ministry, if you go to the ministry with that kind of spirit, God will not be pleased and you will not be able to taste the work of God.
Dear saints, what are you risking your life for now?
What are you eating to live a better life? How much do you think it will prolong your life?
More important than thinking about life is thinking about death.
It is preparing to die in order to become a person who can die well.
We must pray that we all receive a holy challenge through Stephen so that death that pleases God is acceptable.