Sunday, August 22, 2021
Acts 6:1-7
“Seven to Serve”
Service Overview: Growth often comes with growing complexity. And while needs were increasing, instead of neglecting prayer and teaching, the apostles diversify the ministry; employing gifted individuals to help meet those needs.
Memory Verse for the Week: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV)
Background Information:
- The problem that opens Acts 6 was a direct result of the church’s growing faster than its leadership could handle. (Phillip A. Bence, Acts: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, Kindle Edition)
- For those who were Jews, there were provisions for meeting the needs of the orphans and widows through the temple authorities. Money was regularly collected for that purpose. But relations were not all that good between the temple authorities and the early Christian community. So rather than depend on the temple authorities to take care of their widows, which they might have had a legal right to expect, these early communities were taking care of the widows by themselves. (James Montgomery Boice, Acts, 112)
- Many pious Jews of the Diaspora had moved to Jerusalem in their later years in order to be buried near it, and their widows would have had no relatives near at hand to care for them as would the widows of the longtime residents. Nor as they became Christians would the “poor baskets” of the national system of relief be readily available to them. So the problem facing the church became acute. (Richard N. Longenecker, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, John and Acts, 330)
- At this point Luke interrupts his narrative with a brief report of progress. Six such reports appear at intervals throughout Acts and serve to punctuate the history. But here, immediately before the account of Stephen’s activity, there is special relevance in Luke’s emphasis on the church’s increase in numbers and popularity. In particular, the fact that so many priests were joining the community meant that the ties which attached many of the believers to the temple order would be strengthened. (F.F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: Acts, 148)
- In the Christian Church there were two kinds of Jews. There were the Jerusalem and the Palestinian Jews who spoke Aramaic, the descendant of the ancestral language, and prided themselves that there was no foreign admixture in their lives. There were also Jews from foreign countries who had come up for Pentecost and made the great discovery of Christ. Many of these had been away from Palestine for generations; they had forgotten their Hebrew and spoke only Greek. The natural consequence was that the spiritually snobbish Aramaic-speaking Jews looked down on the foreign Jews. (William Barclay, The Acts of the Apostles, 51)
- The fact that Luke gives only Greek names suggests that all seven were in fact from the Hellenistic group within the church. (Richard N. Longenecker, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, John and Acts, 331)
The question to be answered is…
What is Luke communicating to us about the early church?
Answer…
The growing and changing church came with growing and changing problems, requiring growing and changing solutions.
The word of the day is… Serve
What key points should stand out to us from this text?
- The changing demographic required changing strategy.
(v. 1 | Exodus 18:21; 1 Chronicles 12:32; Proverbs 11:14; 21:5; 24:3-4; Acts 2:42-47)
The church was experiencing “growing pains,” and this was making it difficult for the apostles to minister to everybody. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, 343)
In times of success, it is easy for us to maintain the status quo, but this is dangerous. Henry Ward Beecher called success “a last-year’s nest from which the birds have flown.” Any ministry or organization that thinks its success will go on automatically is heading for failure. We must regularly examine our lives and our ministries lest we start taking things for granted. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, 343)
- The “both and” regarding the spiritual and material.
(v. 2 | Philippians 2:4; 4:19; 1 Timothy 5:8; Hebrews 13:5; James 1:27; 1 John 3:17)
Acts 6:1-6 is particularly instructive as something of a pattern for church life today. In the first place, the early church took very seriously the combination of spiritual and material concerns in carrying out its God-given ministry. In doing so, it stressed prayer and the proclamation of the Word, but never to the exclusion of helping the poor and correcting injustices. And even when the church found it necessary to divide internal responsibilities and assign different functions, the early believers saw these as varying aspects of one total ministry. (Richard N. Longenecker, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, John and Acts, 331)
- Maintaining proper priorities required diversifying ministry.
(vv. 2-3 | 1 Cor. 12:12-26; Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 4:13; 5:17; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 4:10; )
Since the Apostles had been given a particular mandate by Christ, they could not be involved in the daily care of the lives of the people. In order to be effective in the job to which they had been called, they had to devote themselves to prayer and to the preaching of the Word of God. (R.C. Sproul, Acts, 99)
The reason was not that the apostles thought that they were “above” waiting on tables; rather, they knew that they had been called to preach and teach the Word of God, and that had to be their priority. (Grant R. Osborne, Life application Bible Commentary: Acts, 96-97)
- The result: the spread of the gospel.
(v. 7 | Matthew 9:37-38; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Romans 1:16; 1 Peter 3:15)
The Word of God spread like ripples on a pond where, from a single center, each wave touches the next, spreading wider and farther. The gospel still spreads this way today. You don’t have to change the world single-handedly; it is enough just to be part of the wave, touching those around you, who in turn will touch others until all have felt the movement. Your part, no matter how small, is significant and important. (Grant R. Osborne, Life application Bible Commentary: Acts, 100)
Conclusion…
How does a text like this challenge us as a church?
A. By challenging us ALL to get in the game when it comes to caring for others.
(Prov. 19:17; Mat. 20:26; Gal. 6:9-10; Phil. 2:3; James 1:27; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 John 3:17)
A Christian church is a caring community in which we consider what happens to someone else to be every bit as important as what happens to ourselves. (Phillip Graham Ryken, City on a Hill, 86)
As you become a blessing, you set yourself up to be blessed. One of the reasons we lose hope is that we become concerned about one person only … and guess who that one person often is. (Tony Evans, God Is Up to Something Great, )
B. By doing what we can to support the ministries of preaching, teaching, and prayer.
(Acts 20:28; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Tim. 4:13; 5:17; 2 Timothy 4:2; Hebrews 13:17; James 3:1)
We have to stop viewing church leaders as people who minister to us. God clearly explained their role. It was not to coddle you but to equip you. Think personal trainer, not massage therapist. (Francis Chan, Letters to the Church, 90)
Years ago, a member of my church approached me saying, “Pastor, you emphasize prayer so much I’m afraid you’re making prayer a substitute for action.” I responded, not knowing if it was original or if I’d heard it somewhere, “Prayer is not a substitute for action. It is an action for which there is no substitute.” (Thomas J. Ramundo, The Prayer Life You’ve Always Wanted, 10)
C. By being active in the mission of spreading the gospel.
(Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Romans 1:16; 10:10-17; 1 Peter 3:15; 4:10)
Make no mistake—one of Satan’s favorite tactics is feeding us an unworthy, dull, and distorted view of heaven. He knows we’ll lack motivation to tell others about Jesus when our view of heaven isn’t that much better than our concept of hell. (Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity: Perspectives on Heaven, 3)
The Word of God spread like ripples on a pond where, from a single center, each wave touches the next, spreading wider and farther. The gospel still spreads this way today. You don’t have to change the world single-handedly; it is enough just to be part of the wave, touching those around you, who in turn will touch others until all have felt the movement. Your part, no matter how small, is significant and important. (Grant R. Osborne, Life application Bible Commentary: Acts, 100)
Gospel Application…
Jesus is the hope of the world and by design has conferred the transmission of this hope on a diverse collective of people called the church.
The life of the church, dispersed into the world through its members, is the only hope for healing the social structures and power structures of our world. It’s the only hope for healing neighborhoods and promoting brotherhood throughout our world. If we are not practicing body life, if we are not truly loving one another and using our spiritual gifts, then we are not having an effect on our world as God intends us to. (Ray C. Stedman, God’s Unfinished Book: Acts, 88)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- Have you ever met a person who tried to do too much? What do you notice with those kinds of people? What might have been the result if the apostles had lost their ministry focus regarding the word and prayer?
- What principles do you see about the way the church should function in relationship to problem-solving? How about in relationship to call to ministry?
- The apostles delegated the social work in order to concentrate on their pastoral priority. What were the results of this action?
- How are you involved in caring for others? Especially those more vulnerable in our population? How can you be more involved? What shifts do you need to make in your life to make this happen?
Quotes to note…
Would you say that prayer plays any meaningful role in the life of your church? If prayer isn’t vital for your church, then your church isn’t vital. This statement may be bold, but I believe it’s true. If you can accomplish your church’s mission without daily, passionate prayer, then your mission is insufficient and your church is irrelevant. (Francis Chan, Letters to the Church, 62)
Every year, seventeen thousand ministers in America leave the ministry. A primary reason is that ministers in the modern church are not encouraged, equipped, enabled, or allowed to devote themselves to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Today a minister is expected to be the CEO of a corporation. He is expected to do the administration and the work of development; he is expected to be an expert in counseling and pastoral care. As a result, we have raised up generations of pastors who are jacks of all trades and masters of none, and one of the reasons why they do not open the Word of God for the congregation on Sunday morning is that they do not know how. They have spent their time learning everything else but the texts of Scripture. (Sproul, Acts, 99)
God intends the Church to be a living organism, but nothing in nature is more highly organized than a living cell. When it loses its organization, it dies. Likewise the church must have organization, with a division of labor and delegation of authority and responsibility. A mark of true leadership is the ability to find ways to put others to work using their Spirit-given gifts. (Stanley M. Horton, Acts, Kindle Locations 3120-3123)
The ministry of the Word should never be neglected because of administrative burdens. Pastors should not try, or be expected to try, to do everything. Instead, full-time ministers are called to “equip God’s people to . . . build up the church” (Ephesians 4:12 NLT). That’s the New Testament model: in every church each and every member is a minister! By getting believers involved in this way, churches are able to utilize and enjoy the gifts that have been given to each person, thus multiplying their impact. (Grant R. Osborne, Life application Bible Commentary: Acts, 98)
Throughout the years various so-called restorationist movements in the church have attempted to reach back and recapture the explicit forms and practices of the earliest Christians and have tried to reproduce them as far as possible in their pristine forms, believing that in doing so they are more truly biblical than other church groups. But Luke’s narrative here suggests that to be fully biblical is to be constantly engaged in adapting traditional methods and structures to meet existing situations, both for the sake of the welfare of the whole church and for the outreach of the gospel. (Richard N. Longenecker, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, John and Acts, 331)
Satan often divides Christians by prompting them to complain to other people but not to the people who can solve the problem. When you complain to people who are not involved in the problem and can’t help solve the problem, you spread bitterness and dissension. That’s sin, and it’s deadly to the church. (Ray C. Stedman, God’s Unfinished Book: Acts, 86)
We have not been told anything about any distributions of food thus far. This is because in Luke’s day everybody just naturally understood what was involved. One of the duties imposed on Jewish people by law was care of widows and orphans. There were times when this was neglected, of course. The minor prophets frequently chastise the people of their day for this failure. But generally one could not just pretend to be a pious Israelite while neglecting the care of these persons. (James Montgomery Boice, Acts, 112)
