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fifth in a series of sermons on" The Acts
of the Apostles. ”
HE condition of the church at the time
of which we are studying was such as
to make it necessary to have a commit
tee to look after the needy that were in
the congregation and membership of the
church. You will remember that the
churches had a most marvelous and a
most phenomenal growth, and that the
people who formed its membership were
T
of the poorest of the poor, as well as some of the
well-to-do. As you will remember, everybody sold
their belongings and had one common fund. People
who had land sold it and brought their money and
put it in the general fund of the church. There
were widows in the church, needy widows, and they
had to be looked after; the apostles felt that it
was their duty to teach and preach in order to estab
lish and spread the Kingdom, and they felt that they
could not afford to neglect this in order to look after
the needs of the poor and so they instruct the church
to select seven men for the purpose of taking care of
these needy widows of their membership.
Now, we want to see the character of the men
that the Apostles wanted to have charge of this
special department, for the character of these men is
a very great consideration. They are to be the
representatives of tne church in a most important
matter —over-sight of the needy. They are also to
supply this need out of the common fund, so it is a
very important matter as to the kind of men that
are to take charge of this part of the work of the
church, so the instruction is given that they are to
select seven men “of good report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom.” Please note these elements in
the . character of these men. They are to be men,
first of all, that have a good report; second, men
“full of the Holy Ghost”; third, men that are full of
wisdom. This word wisdom is a word which might
as well be translated, common sense; indeed, I think
common sense wmuld be a better translation. But
somebody says, Why the requirement that they
should be possessed of common sense? Isn’t it enough
to be full of the Holy Ghost? No; it isn’t enough. A
man may be full of the Holy Ghost and then be lack
ing in common sense. I think I know men and wo
men who are Spirit-filled, who are totally lacking
in common sense. They do some very strange, foolish
and childish things. The instruction given to the
church when it was to select these men was that
they, first of all, must be men of good report. I
am afraid our modern churches have not been
as careful with reference to this matter as the early
church was instructed to be. The average church
of today, I am afraid, when it comes to the work
of selecting its standard-bearers, its deacons or offi
cers, look out for the man first of all that has a
good standing in the social and business walks of
life. If his social and business standing is good
then he answers to the first requisite for an official
place in the church; and if his contribution to the
work of the church is liberal, then he fills the second
requisite. It is not so much, I am afraid, a question
of how he got his money and where it came from
or whether it is somebody else’s, it is a question as
to whether he turns it loose at the call of the church.
FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST.
The second requirement was that they should be
full of the Holy Ghost. How many of us when we
think of selecting deacons ever stop to ask, “Is he
a Spirit-filled man?” What does he say about it?
Does he lay claim to the filling of the Spirit? If he
does profess this infilling, does his life bear the
fruit of a Spirit-filled life?
Third. They must have wisdom, or common
sense. Oh, how we do need men in official position
in the church that have common sense. Brethren, it
is one of the most serious things in this world to
accept the position of an official representative o.
the church of Christ. The very best of men may
well afford to tremble and hesitate before they dare
THE lIRST MARTYR
1 abernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. Broughton, D. D.
Stenographically reported for The Golden Age.—Copy right applied for.
to accept such a charge.
They were to select from their number seven men.
What their method of selection was we are not told.
They may have selected them through a committee
named by the church who retired and took into con
sideration the body of the church, and they may
have been selected in open meeting by nomination.
We simply know that they finally presented to the
apostles the seven names; and when the apostles
heard these seven names called, they required that
these seven men should present themselves, and
then the apostles prayed, and as it is said, laid their
hands upon them. It is well for us to stop here
and interpret the Scripture lest we should be led into
error. The laying of the apostles’ hands upon the
heads of the deacons was nothing more nor less than
a vote of apostolic endorsement. It was the method
of voting, just as today some of us have the method
of the uplifted hand, some the method of standing
up; some the yea and nay. We have fallen, in
some places and in some churches, into the error of
supposing that that laying on of hands was a kind
of transmission of power, and as those men there
ordained, ordained others, and so on, that there was es
tablished a sort of apostolic battery which kept up all
along down the line. The apostles never dreamed
of such a thing. The literal rendering of this Scrip
ture is nothing more nor less than a simple vote of
apostolic endorsement. It was simply a vote of the
hand; no ordination as today we regard an ordina
tion. Such a thing as the ordination of the deacon
in the Apostolic church was never heard of and I
am going a bit further and say that in my judg
ment such a thing as the ordination of a minister
was never heard of. That is, as we have ordina
tion today. I say this is a position created by the
church. The men were elected by the church. They
held their position subject to the church. There are
churches who believe that a deacon once set apart
and ordained is a deacon for life. That is not script
ural teaching. They are elected to fill a definite
position for as long a time as the church may see
fit, but they hold their office subject to the church
that elects them, and only so long as the church
sees fit for them to hold it. He is a deacon as long
as the church sees fit to recognize him as such. If
he changes churches, in the church where he goes
he is not necessarily a deacon, for they have never
elected him a deacon.
THE SELECTION.
The next thing we come to consider is the ministry
of Stephen. We find the stamp of the church’s ap
proval placed upon him in his being selected out of
their number as a man bearing the qualifications
specified. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith
and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus,
and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nico
laus. You will see, further in the sixth chapter, the
eighth verse, “And Stephen, full of grace and full of
power.” Here are four things—“full of the Holy
Ghost;” “full of faith;” “full of grace;” “full of
power.” Let us see the work done by a simple
layman, endowed with these. Immediately after his
selection and installation in the place for which
they had chosen him, he did a work that startled the
community. He did a work that amazed them;
a work of wonder, and following his work were signs
of such a character as they could not interpret. A
man full of the Holy Ghost is always a man marked
in any community in any church. A church full
of the Holy Ghost is marked above all others. The
criticism of the modern church is that it is too easily
explained. It has not enough of the supernatural,
of the indescribable about it. There isn’t enough
mystery in the average church world today; noth
ing to make it stop and ask questions, and until
there is, there will be no great swaying of the world
through the influence of the church. Stephen was a
man full of the Holy Ghost, full of faith, full ot
grace, full of power; a man like this is bound to
be a wonder, an enigma, an interrogation point.
Because of this, the first persecution came. The
leaders of the Jews had their attention called to the
stir that was being made over this new religion;
The Golden Age for October 6, 1910.
Stephen was becoming the cynosure of all eyes on
account of the mighty work he was accomplishing
and hence they began this persecution of Stephen.
He was arrested and brought before the tribunal oi
their people; their complaint was that he was teach
ing and preaching a doctrine which was contrary
to their established creed and faith. They entered
into an argument with Stephen and it is said that
“they could not resist his wisdom and Spirit.” The
word Spirit begins with a capitol “S”, which indi
cates that the Holy Spirit was referred to. They
could not resist the common sense of Stephen, nor
could they resist the Holy Spirit who directed him,
and when they found that they were unable to resist
him, they sought another method by which they
might convict him. They went into the market of
men and hired men to come in and bear false witness
against this mighty man of God. How the world
has ever had its teeth whetted to gnash upon the
Spirit-filled men of the church. They could not
find anything against him, and they hired men to
come in and falsely testify against him that they
might get rid of him. The testimonies that they brought
against him were that they had heard him speak
blasphemously against Moses. You can read Stephen’s
defense in chapter seven, verses one, through fifty
three. If you have a legal mind at all, read that
defense; you will enjoy it. They charge him with
rebelling against the law of Moses. He begins with
Abraham, traces the covenants and promises and
then the law and the prophets all through the Old
Testament, and then connects the law and the
prophets and the covenants and promises with Jesus
Christ and shows how Jesus is the sum and sub
stance of it all, and then he turns upon his accus
ers, with this: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy
Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of
the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And
they killed them that showed before the coming
of the Righteous One; of whom ye now have be
come betrayers and murderers; ye who received the
law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.”
There is the strength of a simple layman brougnt
up against the mighty leaders of his people; what
is the explanation? He was “full of the Holy
Ghost.” “Now when they heard these things, they
were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him
with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit.,
looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
<of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.”
Can you picture such sublime courage? Such tower
ing strength. Here he is affirming to these influ
ential men, these men who governed, that One whom
they had condemned and put to death was now
standing at the right hand of God. Are you sur
prised that they rushed upon him and carried him
■out of the city, with all of a mob’s cruelty and
violence, and there stoned him?
A COMPARISON.
I want to call your attention to a very interesting
comparison in connection with the death of Steph
en and the death of Christ. For instance, take the
charge that they presented against Christ. It was
that He blasphemed ; they said that He reflected
upon the law of Moses and that He reflected upon the
temple, saying “Destroy this temple and I will build
it up again in three days.” They thought that He
referred to the material temple. Take the charge
presented against Stephen. The charge was that
he reflected upon the law of Moses, and that he
reflected upon the sanctity of the temple.. See the
similarity between their deaths? Listen at that
prayer of Jesus: “Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do.” Listen at the prayer of
Stephen, “Lay not this sin to their account.” Is
there not something very striking about this? Oh.
' my brethern, a Spirit-filled man is a very close man
to his Lord. Watch Him and you will see the
Christ portrayed in his life. Watch him when he
meets his enemies. Forgiveness is the highest
(Continued on Page 11.)
