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Aug 16, 2024 06:00am

Troublemakers

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There’s always a troublemaker.

They bounce from office to office, or maybe it’s in the assembly line at the factory you work in, or it might be in the coffee shop, or these days, on social media – they spread gossip, seed little half-truths, and these little lies create a stir, disunity, and dissension. It could even be in the church.

We’ve all encountered them.

What you hope is that they just go away. Maybe they will quit. Maybe they will transfer to another department or even better, another location. Or wouldn’t it be great if they recognized what a problem they were and changed? Yeah – that doesn’t happen often, I know.

You question how leadership can allow this to continue. You know they’ve been made aware of the situation, or in some cases the many situations that have been caused by this troublemaker, and yet, there’s no action taken against them. Maybe it’s because they’ve made some important friends here or there or maybe they’ve got some dirt on the boss that causes them to keep them around. Whatever the case is, the troublemakers continue their pot-stirring.

Acts 6:8-14

“Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.
10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

Sound familiar?

Not only do we feel like this is something we may have experienced in our own lives, but these accusations were the same that were brought against Jesus that resulted in His death.

When Jesus faced His false accusers He didn’t try to convince them of His innocence. He didn’t fight them, I mean, He could have called fire down from Heaven. Jesus could have simply said “silence!” and their mouths would have been sealed shut.

But, He didn’t. He did the will of the Father.

And so did Stephen. These were lies. These men had found people who would lie for them to convict Stephen. He responded by taking the opportunity to share the truth, the very thing God had called and empowered Him to do.

Acts 6:15 says “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

He was filled with the Holy Spirit and surrendered to the will of the Father as he spoke. Acts 7:1-51 gives us the account Stephen shared with this counsel.

Tomorrow, we will dive into how the religious counsel responded. But today, let’s look at what our response should be. When faced with troublemakers, we should follow the example of Stephen and Jesus, our Lord.

Do the will of the Father. Maybe that means you let the truth come out on its own. Or maybe it’s an opportunity for you to share an even deeper truth and allow others to see Jesus in you.

When the accusers looked upon Stephen, he wasn’t worried, angry, frustrated or trying to defend himself. Instead, he had the peace and assurance that God was with him. He had the face of an angel.

Could others say that about us?

A great leader once said, “I’m going to do what God called me to do and I’m going to let Him deal with the rest.”

There could be consequences. There could be a great cost. But is it worth it to stand firm in the Lord and His truth?

Jesus trusted the Father. Stephen trusted the Father. No matter the cost. Will we?

Following Christ is a completely different way of life than what this world offers or says is right. Go to follow.lifeword.org to learn more.