Acts 6:15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
There are some moments in history that I wish there had been a camera to record exactly what happened. I wish I could see moment the Pilgrims landed. I imagine there was joy and relief on their faces. Nobody knows for sure.
But I don’t want to see the horror on the faces of those who faced their final moments in the gas chambers of the Nazi regime. That horror would be too much to take. Let’s keep the cameras away, unless it would have helped stop the horror.
I would love to have seen the faces of the shepherds when they came in from those fields when Jesus was born. Or the faces of the wise men when they arrived. Or the face of Pilate when the Jews refused to allow Jesus to live. I guess frustration would have been seen.
Our text gives us a verbal picture of an event that took place almost two thousand years ago. The scene is this. The Church is growing and the first specialized workers are being set apart to take care of this growing group of believers. The Church’s desire to meet the needs of the poor came face to face with the limited resources of the Apostles. So the Apostles assign some others to take care of the physical needs of the poor.
Stephen was one of those disciples. Earlier in this chapter his character is described as “a man full of God’s grace and power.” But being surrendered to the will of God meant that the power of God flowed through him and he performed miracles. And he was also filled with wisdom and confidence to defend Jesus’ resurrection. And it is this boldness that gets him in trouble.
The opposition uses the power of a crowd to push their agenda. Just like today, crowds are easily swayed toward the worst human behavior, and that is exactly what happens to Stephen. He is seized and brought before the ruling council of the Jews, essentially a Jewish court.
But as the ‘trial’ begins, as the witnesses begin to throw their accusations, hoping one will stick, something happens. They are staring at Stephen and his face tells a message. This is where I wish I had a camera that had recorded that expression. They saw what looked like the face of an angel.
We don’t know what an angel’s face looks like. But we know that Stephen was a man filled with God’s grace and power. What would a face filled with grace look like?
There have been a few people I have come across in my life that were filled with God’s grace. You could see it. Their faces exuded peace, calm, acceptance. Something about them drew you into their circle. You wanted to know more about what was happening inside them.
I have also met many people who showed condemnation on their faces and in their words and actions. There are lots of those faces shouting at us these days, aren’t there! But how many faces do you see that are filled with God’s grace and power?
Our faces should be reflecting our contact and connection with the grace and power of God. Since we are on the right side of history, the history that He started and that He is bring to a conclusion. We know who wins, so why are we so afraid to extend grace? What will we lose if we allow the grace we have received to be the grace that gets shown?
We lose nothing by extending grace and we gain everything. So today, work at showing the grace that we have experienced. Allow it to shine through the frustration and helplessness that so many of us feel. God is still on His throne. He isn’t taken by surprise.
Show grace!
The Arnold Journey 