I have the privilege of shepherding a Jr. High ministry. With this comes the opportunity to teach weekly on Sunday mornings. I am currently teaching through the book of Acts. I thought I would start using some space on the old blog here to recap our study from Sundays. I’ll probably try to post a recap each Monday morning if you’re interested in our study. I pray that this will be a blessing to you!
~ The most deadly attack that any corporation, family, athletic team or church can undergo is internal quarrelling. Nothing is more destructive than disunity and fighting from within. How many sports teams have we seen fall apart from internal quarrelling? (See LA Lakers). In Acts 6, we see a potentially deadly attack on the church from within its members. Satan has already tried a few different methods of stomping out the infant church. The leadership has been the target of persecution from the Sanhedrin (chs 4 & 5), Satan attempts to infiltrate the church with the sin of individuals (Ananias and Sapphira – ch 5), and now we see another attack – quarreling amongst the members.
The church is going to have problems, as long as there are people in it. Spurgeon once said if you ever find the perfect church; do not join it because it will no longer be perfect.
The Problem (1)
~ The church is experiencing incredible growth. Despite the attempts to stop the work by the Sanhedrin and others, the ministry is flourishing. An exact number of believers aren’t known. The last number given in Acts is in 4.4 where we learn that church had grown to at least 5000 men. That’s not including women and children. Some scholars believe that the church could have been as large as 20,000 people at this point. With this mass of people, some problems arise. A complaint starts with the Hellenistic Jews against the native Jews of Jerusalem. The Hellenistic Jews were Greek speaking Jews who had settled in Jerusalem later in life, perhaps some older people who wanted to live the last years of their life in the Holy City. They spoke little, if any, of the common languages, Aramaic and Hebrew. They would have been in the minority in the church. The compliant arises that the Greek speaking widows are being overlooked in the distribution of the food in favor of the native Jews. When you have people, you have problems.
The apostles hear the complaint, and interestingly, they don’t deny it. Perhaps it was valid, perhaps it was not. Whether it is valid or not is irrelevant, something needed to be done. So the apostles get together and come up with a plan to solve this potentially bad situation.
The Priorities (2-4)
~ The apostles are undoubtedly the leaders of this group. With this leadership came massive responsibilities. As the church was blessed with exponential growth, this presented administrative challenges to the apostles. There were only 12 of them and literally hundreds if not thousands of people to care for. Given the massive amount of people, there was much to do. The apostles found their time being pulled to many different directions and they were no longer able to spend time doing what was most important for them: the Word and Prayer. They knew that their priority had to be on the spiritual realities. They must be about the business of teaching the word of God. They must be in study and in prayer for the people. If this was neglected over administrative tasks, the church would soon turn into nothing more than a social club with much administrative overhead.
This story strikes a chord in my heart. I understand that I’m not an apostle but the principle remains. If you are in ministry, how much of your time is consumed with administrative tasks? Are you neglecting the Word and prayer to run the machine? I can get so busy planning youth events, camps, activities, trips and services but all too often I do this to the detriment of feeding first my own soul and then the precious sheep that God has entrusted to my care. Be careful that you day doesn’t get so administratively heavy that you neglect the Word and prayer. Study hard, be a man of prayer.
The Plan (5-6)
~ The apostles do not dismiss the complaint as previously noted but rather they decide to form a committee (for my SBC readers). They take the issue and place it back in the hands of the people. They give parameters for this new structure that is to be set up. They are to choose 7 men who will run the widows ministry. A few features of their instruction stand out. 1. They are to be men, 2. They are to be of good reputation, 3. They are to be full of the Holy Spirit, and 3. They are to be full of wisdom. Too often when we have a problem at church, we look for the most gifted person to fix it. Spiritual leadership is always character based. God is picky about who’s in leadership, He always has been. Character is first. We are so easily enamored by ability. We need budget help, go find the most successful businessman and put him on the elder board, or the budget committee. Leadership in the church is about spiritual qualifications, not worldly accolades.
This plan is accepted and implemented. Interestingly, the 7 names that are mentioned are all Greek names. Why is this significant? It was the Greek speaking Jews who had the issue. Some of the names were common and perhaps not all 7 were Hellenistic, but chances are, most of the men were. That is great. The people put the responsibility of fixing the problem in the camp who had the problem.
The Progress (7)
~ After this situation is dealt with, the work of God continues to spread at an incredible rate. It speaks of the Word of God going forth – through people – with many accepting the message of the gospel. It notes that many of the priest were becoming ‘obedient to the faith.’ The power of the gospel is unstoppable. God’s Word can penetrate any heart. Even the most unlikely of candidates – the priest were being converted by God’s Truth. Even with the High Priest being adamantly opposed to this work, still the power of God was at work.
This serves a practical challenge for me. Is there anyone in your life that you feel like is beyond the reach of the gospel? You just think they will never repent. They are too cool for the gospel, to intellectual, or too hardened. Just remember that God can change any heart with his Sovereign hand. Never lose hope. Be faithful to the gospel because IT has the power of salvation, not your own words or wisdom.
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