Acts 7:54-60 

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

“Lupang Hinirang”

The Philippine National Anthem, “Lupang Hinirang” is a very inspiring patriotic hymn for those who fought for the country’s independence.

The last phrase of it, “Ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo,” literally translated “To die because of you” depicts absolute dedication to fight for the country.

How many patriotic Filipinos are still there who would truly fight for their country?

Unless, there is invasion from other nation, it would be hard to know, for now.

Freedom is the most cherished occasion for a person who has been a slave all his life. A slave is bound to obey and act upon the commands of his master.

When we carry on something right, we are considered slaves to righteousness. But if we carry on something wicked, we are considered slaves to sin.

The way we react or act upon something reveals if we are slaves to righteousness or sin.

1.  Slaves of Sin

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.  ⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

After Stephen called the Sanhedrin “stiff-necked people who killed the Lord Jesus,” they were furious and resolved to put Stephen to death. The Sanhedrin executed Stephen because they were driven by sinful desires. Stephen pointed out that they killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And that they eventually murdered the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.

And so the same evil desire that motivated them to kill the prophets and Christ, [that sinful desire,] has enslaved them to get rid of the Stephen.

At some point, we have acted like the Sanhedrin wanting to get rid of a person who would bring out or talk about our wrongdoings.

Well, we can easily smile and appreciate when someone tells good things about us. Yet, when someone mentions about our mistakes we can easily be angered.

If others gossip about you for being always late for appointment, it is not pleasant to the ear. If our officemates gossip about our laziness at work, that is not a very pleasant to bear.

That furious feeling of not wanting to be in the negative spotlight has been felt by the Sanhedrin when they killed Stephen. They were enslaved by wickedness and unmindfully obeyed sinfulness as their master.

Hamlet

In the tragic story of “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, the king of Denmark was murdered by his own brother, Claudius. Claudius became king and married his sister-in-law, his brother’s widow. His evil desire to become king enslaved and commanded Claudius to kill his brother.

Throughout history, not a few leaders, kings, or presidents of nations have been murdered or killed because of the evil desire to gain power, wealth, and glory. Politics has earned a negative connotation because many of those who were and are involved in politics use illegal or notorious ways just to win the election.

Were not power, wealth and fame the very same things that the devil used to tempt the Lord Jesus in the wilderness?

Power, wealth, and fame are very attractive assets promising an enjoyable kind of life. Power, wealth, and fame can give some sort of better life temporarily but only lead to desire for more power, desire for more wealth, desire to be on top of the world.

The true satisfying kind of life can only be found in the satisfied eternal Creator. When a person is a slave to righteousness, true satisfying kind of life is experienced.

Whatever social status you have, rich or poor, powerful, popular or ordinary citizen, as long as righteousness reigns in your heart, you’ll have a very satisfying kind of life.

2. Slave of Righteousness

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen became a slave to righteousness when the Holy Spirit was in control of his life. While dying, he exhibited himself doing righteousness by praying for the welfare of his killers. He was merciful to his killers and did not hold grudge against his tormentors. He took pleasure in his death and asked the Lord of righteousness to take his spirit.

His death opened the door for Stephen to experience the eternally satisfying kind of life. Death is a pleasant welcome to a person who is completely enslaved by righteousness.

When death is still a scary thought, a person is not yet completely enslaved by righteousness.

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.  ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The members of the Sanhedrin were righteous in their own eyes. They thought that it was right for them to kill the person who humiliated them.

Stephen for sure sensed the negative reaction of the Sanhedrin after his speech. He could have easily concluded that the Sanhedrin was upset and furious at him. But Stephen overlooked their hostile attitude and focused his attention to the vision God gave him–the gates of heaven was opened and he saw Christ standing not sitting.

Heaven’s portal was opened and Stephen ignored the anger of the Sanhedrin. Stephen was completely enslaved by righteousness and was transported to God’s kingdom.

If we look at the real meaning of freedom, humans have no liberty to do or act upon something. All humans are either a slave to sin or slave to righteousness. The motivating factor to act upon something is the master enslaving the person. The human sinful nature enslaves man and commands him to commit sin.

The person who is a slave of righteousness acts upon the command of righteousness. Believers whom Christ has ransomed from the slavery of sin are slaves to do righteousness.

Sour Spaghetti!

How can I determine if I am living a life of slavery to righteousness, you might ask?

Do you love to cook?

If you cooked your favorite cuisine, say, “Spaghetti,” and someone said, “It’s too, sour!” Do you feel offended or do you take it as a constructive criticism for improvement?

If you feel offended and react negatively, then you are obeying your human sinful nature? If you are thankful and take it as a constructive criticism to make some adjustment in you combination of ingredients, then you are obeying righteousness as your master.

The command to give thanks in all circumstance has come true in your life. Only slaves to righteousness can truly have thankfulness of heart when criticized.

God places us in situations for us to check if we are growing in righteousness or not yet. By the time we trusted in the Lord Jesus, we have become slaves to righteousness. But since we were former slaves to sin, being a slave to righteousness is a new experience.

Similar to the experiences of immigrants to Canada: Life in Canada is relatively a new experience for all immigrants. Filipino immigrants find it tough to adjust in speaking English with Canadian accent. Filipinos are good English speakers but there is much difference with Canadian accent. To fully have a Canadian lifestyle, an immigrant should adapt to Canadian accent.

Similarly, even before becoming a Christian, we have known what’s right and what’s wrong. Before becoming Christians, we were more prone to doing sinfulness than righteousness. Even the righteousness we were doing when we were not yet believers are considered sinfulness in the eyes of the righteous God.

Therefore, to do a righteous thing before God, we need to do it according to the prescription and instruction that the Lord wants and not they way we want. We should do righteous things not according to our human understanding of righteousness but according to the righteousness God has prescribed in the Bible.

You may hear me speaking in English and I can insist that my Filipino English accent is the right English accent but to a true blue Canadian, my accent is not a Canadian accent. Therefore, if we follow the righteousness that God has prescribed in the Bible, it’s like using the accent in speaking the language of the kingdom of God.

Again, only when the Lord Jesus is completely in control of our life that we can truly live a life of righteousness acceptable to God.

Christ has lorded completely over Stephen’s life and he tasted the sweetness death. Stephen was completely living a righteous life according to the prescription of God that he felt compassion to those who were killing him.

Our reactions and actions when we are offended reveal our status if we are living a righteous life as prescribed by the Lord completely or partially – partially living a righteous life feels anger against those who offended us or, completely living a righteous life reacts and acts in compassion to the offender.

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