Conroe is a 1½ hour drive from Southwest Houston, unless one is trying to get there during rush hour; it takes 2 hours.

Pastor Borghardt presided over Vespers again, and Pastor Quail preached the sermon, “The Glorious Effect of Faith in the Savior”, using Acts 7:54-59 as the text. Each of the Wednesday services for Advent focus on a different saint, this one being St. Stephen.

This is somewhat close to what I heard in the sermon. Standard disclaimer applies to imperfect notetaking.

St. Stephen was the first martyr. He was one of the seven in Acts 6:1-6, whom the disciples chose to distribute food to needy Greek widows. He didn’t have any personal property; all was given the disciples for use in spreading the Gospel. Stephen performed great signs and proclaimed the Gospel to these Greeks (v. 8). He ended up being stoned by the Greeks.

The Church celebrates the faith of St. Stephen on December 26. An episode of martyrdom may seem to quench the joy of Christmas so soon afterwards, but it’s instead a demonstration of the glorious effect of faith in the Savior. Faith gives us assurance of God-with-us—Immanuel. Are we sure God is with us? We don’t see Jesus among us like the disciples did, but we see Him in Word and Sacrament. Christ grew up, suffered, and died, for you and me. We are assured that he didn’t leave us. Sometimes we suffer severely, but because Christ suffered he will not leave us.

Faith takes hold of the Church and gives us courage to confess Christ. Sometimes we marvel at Stephen’s death. Some wonder if Stephen could have avoided it, if he just would have tempered the message he preached. He didn’t, because he loved his countrymen and his Christ that he gave his life. He wanted others to see Christ as the Savior, and he wasn’t preaching in a safe place. We may be embarrassed that we don’t go into dangerous places or face ridicule in the public square. We do not confess as boldly as we should.

How can we find courage like Stephen? Our Savior promises His Spirit given in baptism and assures us He is still with us. When we suffer, instead of looking around us and at us, we need to look up as Stephen did. Even pastors prefer to preach in safe confines. Our embarrassment leads us to the foot of the cross. We ask for courage to teach the salvation that comes.

Faith assures us that all things work for good, even when it doesn’t appear so. Was martyrdom good for Stephen? Wouldn’t it rather have been good for Stephen to save his life? “Good” in our terms would be to stop any suffering we encounter. Stephen’s death did turn out to be good. His death was the first of a period of early Christian persecutions. The disciples had to leave their safe haven in Jerusalem and scatter. They set up new churches in their new locales. Another good was that in verse 58, a young man named Saul witnessed the stoning of Stephen. He would later go on to become Paul, the great missionary who preached to the world. A third good was that Stephen had direct revelation of his eternal life in Heaven.

There is good in our suffering as well. When something doesn’t work or feel the way it should, it causes us to trust ourselves less and to trust God. Sometimes what we feel should be done may not be what God has in mind. We depend on God, who is always there. He has created, redeemed, and forgiven us for Christ’s sake. We are assured that all things work for good for those who love Him.