WHO ARE YOU?

In class this past Sunday, the teens were studying the life of Stephen. I have spent the past couple of days since then looking at his life more closely. We aren't given very much information about Stephen in the Bible, and yet, the information we are given speaks volumes. Acts 6 & 7 comprise his life story. Acts 6:3 tells us that Stephen was chosen, essentially as the first deacon of the NT church, because he was a man of “good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”. Then verse 5 tells us he was a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit”. Wow! He wasn't mentioned in the Bible as a good guy or a nice guy. He was labeled as “full of the Holy Spirit”, wise, “full of faith”, and of “good reputation”. That is some description!

Being “full of the Holy Spirit” or filled with the Spirit is a biblical command. Eph. 5:18 tells us to be “filled with the Holy Spirit”. This is an ongoing, daily reality that God wants in our lives. It is the Spirit controlling every aspect of my daily living, not my fleshly desires controlling my daily living.

Spirit-controlled living (being filled by the Spirit) goes hand in hand with wisdom which is the application of biblical truth. For a person to have the label of “ a wise man/woman” they would need to be daily applying biblical truth to their lives. We will only be productive at applying biblical truth when the Spirit is in control of our choices, decision, and thought processes.
When we are living biblical truth through the filling of the Spirit it impacts our faith. Heb. 11:1 explains that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. We have a God-given assurance of our future reality. This is a trust in God for Who He says He is and what He says He can and will do!

We see a building of these principles toward the climax of our reputation. As we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we apply the truth of God's Word in our lives because we believe it and Him. This builds my faith. This then impacts my reputation. Reputation is “the general estimation in which a person is held by others”. (Webster's Dictionary) The Bible tells us in Prov.20:11 that “even children are known by their actions...” and then in Matt.7:16 Jesus said that false teachers will be “known by their fruit”. Actions or fruit are the by-product of Who or what is controlling us. We allow control of our lives from that which we believe or accept as truth. When the Spirit is in control of our lives our reputation with look like Gal. 5:22-23.

All of this then begs the question: How would people describe you? Would your reputation look like Stephen's in the Bible or would it look more self-serving and self-absorbed? May we all strive to have a reputation like Stephen's!