Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Acts 7:59-60 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
THE SPOILS OF VICTORY -- MARTYRDOM
Persecution was a reality for the early Church. Some, like Stephen, paid the ultimate price by offering up their very lives. This too, was a result of living in and for the resurrection victory of Jesus. If Christ had not risen from the dead, there would be no Christian faith. Without the Christian faith, there would also have been no persecutions or martyrs.
Some might scoff at the idea of martyrdom being a spoil of victory. What kind of victory is it if you are killed for your faith? It's not what you suffer that makes it a spoil of victory, it's what you receive from Jesus. Stephen was calm and controlled in his moment of death, not because he was enjoying being stoned, but because he had peace from His Savior. He was so at peace that he wasn't even concerned about what was happening to him; instead he prayed for forgiveness for his murderers. Sound familiar to someone you know?
The ability to sacrifice your life for Christ, to literally offer all you have, is a great blessing. It's a blessing that was made possible by the resurrection and a blessing that shows the amazing change that the resurrection makes in a person's life.
It's at the martyr's grave that we see the greatest contrast between the spoils of earthly victors and the spoils of victors in Christ Jesus. Believers are not concerned with gaining more and more for this life. They are concerned about preserving, rejoicing in, and sharing life in Jesus, even if that means suffering death.
