Acts 6:1-7: Growth and Grumbling

Pray for Connection Church: October 23rd @ Life Dance Studio

Introduction

It was so good to be with you all last week as we celebrated baptisms. A significant day in the life of those 13, and a significant day in the life of our young church.

But I am very excited this week to jump back into the Book of Acts with you.

Turn with me to Acts 6:1-7 and as you turn there let me share something with you that I believe will help us in our study through Acts.

Scholars date Chapter 6 to 3-5 years post Pentecost.

It is so easy for us to read the narrative of Acts, and assume that this MASSIVE MOVEMENT is happening overnight.

And I don’t want to be dismissive, because the growth of the early church was spontaneous and massive! I mean 3000 in one day; but, we cannot assume it all happened at once.

There was rapid growth interspersed throughout these 3-5 years, but what we don’t see is just the faithful day to day living out the Gospel and being the church in every day life.

Church, be encouraged. God is always working. He works in the fireworks of the miraculous, and He works through the monotony of life as we seek to live for His glory in all we do.

Witnessing isn’t an event, it is a lifestyle. Played out day after day.

So the Book of Acts spans 30 years, and chapter six is just 3-5 years in. But let’s read our passage for today.

Read Acts 6:1-7

Acts 6:1–7 (ESV)

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Another problem has arisen in the church, but also a solution we’d do well to learn from.

A Problem and Solution— that’s the roadmap for today.

Here are the Points:

Problem= Growth and Grumbling

Solution = Declaration & Delegation

Growth

Now in these days...

Luke Begins Acts 6:1

Acts 6:1 (ESV)

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number,

Those days refers to the Growth. And let’s talk about this growth really quickly.

Mild estimates would put the size of the church in Jerusalem at around 30,000 people.

and this growth was occurring through the faithful preaching and prayer of the Apostles.

Preaching and Prayer are the Growth Engines of the Church. and what the apostles have been faithful to in the previous 3-5 years.

Remember:

Before his ascension Jesus spent 40 days speaking with them about this Gospel so that they had it right, and were confident in their witness.

He comissioned them to speak the Gospel. (1:8)

They devoted themselves to prayer for the power to preach. (1:14)

He empowered them to speak the Gospel. (Acts 2)

Peter preached on Pentecost chapter 2.

They devoted themselves to prayer and preaching 2:42

Peter preached in chapter 3. Was arrested.

The church prayed for boldness to keep preaching chapter 4.

And as we saw 2 weeks ago, they were beaten for preaching and left rejoicing, 5:42 “and did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

Preaching and Prayer are the growth engines of the church.”

They were in the 1st Century Church and they are today too.

There is a lot of good worldly, business advice that should not be neglected, but also not trusted upon for church growth.

Marketing, advertising, good social media, professional worship, high tech software, etc. etc. are all tools that can serve the church, but don’t get it twisted PREACHING AND PRAYER are the growth engines of the church.

Missionary, Pastor, and evangelist Paul Washer once said,

The more you trust in the arm of the flesh, the less you will see of the power of God.”

These devices of the flesh can draw a crowd, but only the power of God can change a life.

And what is the power of God!?

“we must not be ashamed of the Gospel for it is the POWER OF GOD for salvation for everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16).

So there was Great Growth in the Early Church because there was faithful preaching and devoted prayer.

But let me remind you: SATAN HATES the growth of the Church.

We have already seen:

He has sought to destory it with persecution, but it only became more powerful.

He has sought to destroy it with sin (Ananias and Sapphira), but it only became more pure.

But now we find, what I believe is his deadliest strike yet: Grumbling.

A spirit of grumbling and complaining kills more churches than persecution.

So let’s look at the grumbling.

Grumbling (vs. 1b)

What led to the Grumbling? What is the problem here.

Well, in one sense it is growth.

In all industries whether the growth of a business, growth of a home, even the growth of a church leads to greater complexity and administrative problems.

James Clear, author and entrepeneur, who wrote the book “Atomic Habits” said this, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

This is StartUp 101, and a little newsflash… this is exactly where we are as a church right now.

You take a couple of people, who have an idea, and throw their collective energies in turning that idea into a reality. And in this start-up phase, there are no systems. It’s the wild wild west man. Decisions are made from the hip. In hallways, or in our case in kids classrooms 10 min before or after services.

There is no data, just a dream, a vision, with a lot of energy from people bought into the vision.

And eventually your growth outgrows the startup phase, and the lack of systems begins to reveal problems.

And this is what we have here in the early church.

And their growth led to grumbling.

The Neglected Widows

What was the grumbling about?

Membership consisted mostly of Jews.

But even among the Jewish Christians there wre cultural/ethnic diversity that led to some disunity.

Hellenists

The complaint or grumbling was raised by the “Hellenists” who were Greek Speaking Jewish Christians.

These were individiuals or families that had left the land of palestine and were part of the Diaspora Jewish community spread all across the Roman, Greek Speaking empire. And as Jews they’d return to Jerusalem for various festivals, and many widows in their old age would move back to Jerusalem to live out their remaining days in the “Holy City.”

Hellenist Jews were of such population that history records numerous Greek Speaking Synogogues scattered throughout the city.

Hebrews

Among the church there was also a large, if not majority of Aramaic speaking “Hebrew” Jewish Christians.

Ethnic and linguistic barriers.

And evidently one party, the Widows of the Hellenists, weren’t getting their fair portion in the daily distrubtion.

Or meals provided to meet their needs.

There was no medicare or medicaid programs.

No insurance. No pensions. No retirement.

And without family in proximity, these Diaspora widows were fully dependent upon the church to meet their food needs,

And this is a responsibility that the Church took very seriously as we saw in Acts 4, and as Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 5.

But the word used for “neglected” suggests that the “overlooking” wasn’t intentional.

The apostles cared for all the widows! But the neglect was a consequence of a congregation of their size.

It was inevitable that someone’s needs would be overlooked.

And yall, Satan is such an opportunist.

After he tempted Jesus in the wilderness we read, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

Satan saw Jesus alone and hungry, and seized an opportunity, and he does that in your lives as well.

Ephesians 4:27 ESV

and give no opportunity to the devil.

opportunity. Another word here is “foothold”. A crack in the door. Don’t even give him a crack, because he will weasel his way in!

And here in the early church there is an opportunity.

There was already an ethnic and cultural gap in the church, and the Hellenists were being neglected.

Regardless of intention. The apostles cared, so they were right in their hearts, and the Hellenists were right in their facts… perfect conditions for dissension and a church-split!

So a complaint arose… Let me dissect this “complaint in the greek.”

The Grumbling

The word here for complaint is Gog-Goos-Mas and one commentator wrote that nothing is quiet as soul destroying to a pastor as a bunch of gog goos massers.

Because the word isn’t just “complaint”, but implies a prevailing murmuring. A Grumbling!

This was an issue that was being talked about, and growing, and spreading. It was a hurt that was secretly spreading among the ranks of the church.

This is lethal to the church ya’ll!

Let me break this down. I like to put it this way:

We all have bruises. Hurts from our pasts. Insecurities. Wounds that remain tender.

If I’m at the grocery store, and I have a bruise on my shoulder and you accidently bump that bruise, how will I likely respond. We react.

But our hearts and souls have bruises too. And it doesn’t matter how well-intentioned someone is, when they bump our bruise it hurts.

And Satan the opportunist will start whispering…

“They don’t care for you.”

“They care more about their own then you.”

“You’re alone. Nobody is going to meet your needs.”

“I bet if you started your own church, that would show them.”

“Others can care better than these guys.”

And you swallow that bait: hook, line and sinker. And start grumbling. You become a Gog-Goos-Masser.

For them it was daily-distribution? What is it for you?

What bruise has been bumped by our new church? By me? By your husband or wife? By your kids? Your boss? Your neighbors?

Are you Gog-Goos Massing? Have you started murmuring?

Because there’s a choice here church.

BRIDGE OF TRUST

You can deal with your bruise.. own your response, and fill that gap with the benefit of the doubt. OR…

You can gog-goos-mass, which leads to you rallying other Gog-Goos-Massers to your side.

That’s right… there are sides now.

The Hellenists vs. the Hebrews.

A perfect recipe for dissent, ressentment, and disunity.

And you know who the last people to know these murmurings are?

THE LEADERS!!!!

But eventually it makes its way up the chain, and the Apostles hear of it.

Let’s look at their Response.

Acts 6:2 ESV

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

So Part 2: What is the solution? How did the apostles respond?

Declaration and Delgation

Went Toward It

The first thing we find the apostles do is “summoning the full number”.

This may have just been a “Helennist” complaint, but due to the issue at hand and the murmuring that has occurred it is not a CONGREGATIONAL ISSUE.

What encourages me about this is that the Apostles could have responded to this in a variety of ways:

They could have ignored it. Chosen passivity. Pretend like its not really there, and hope and pray it goes away.

They could have dismissed it. “Are you kidding me… another petty complaint. I mean we are busting our tails here, preaching, teaching, and healing… I mean for crying out loud we were just flogged and these guys want to concern us with the meals on wheels program?

But that isn’t what they did. They immediately addressed the issue, with the whole congregation because they valued the whole congregation.

Church, just because the Apostles were busy with many things doesn’t mean that the growing needs of a growing church should go unmet.

So the apostles cared and went toward it, and issued a Declaration.

Declaration

Acts 6:2 ESV

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Now hang on: I thought you said they cared, but their declaration here seems pretty calloused.

But this isn’t a calloused declaration,

the “not right” means= “It would not be pleasing to God.”

And serving tables is another way of saying “daily distribution”

They are saying, “It would not please God, we would not be obedient to God if we stopped preaching in order to meet this need.”

There are some deep truths we need to learn from this declaration.

Their Declaration shows Clarity of Calling

God had given the apostles a specific ministry of prayer and preaching.

Church, if you do not possess this clarity you WILL ALWAYS bow and to the “tyranny of the urgent.”

Urgent needs will always pop up, and without this true north, or clarity you’ll constantly say yes to them… and here’s another principle:

Everytime you say yes to something, you are inevitably saying no to something else.

And we need to evaluate if we are saying NO to our primary callings.

If the apostles said yes to the tyranny of the urgent they would have served the ministry of meals on wheels, all the while saying no to prayer and preaching.

Pasotral Burnout

I believe that this is one of the reasons pastoral burnout is at an all time high. Pastors lack clarity of their primary calling.

So they say YES to everything that sounds good, and honestly most initiavites or programs ARE good… but they say yes to the urgent and inevitably say no to the important. They live and work outside of their core callings, and eventually burnout.

But this isn’t what we see in the life of Jesus.

At the conclusion of his life on earth Jesus prayed, “I have accomplished the work you have given me to do.” (Jn 17:4). THAT’S A REMARKABLE STATEMENT!

Had he healed all those with infirmaties or deformities?

Had he raised all the dead?

Had he fed all the hungry?

Had he saved all the people?

NO… but he did accomplish the work the Father had given HIM to do.

We get so distracted by saying YES to work that isn’t for us.

We get out of alignment with the primary calling God has on our lives we burnout.

But church I’ll be honest with you… another reason so many pastors burnout is because of unrealistic expectations of the congregation.

This was almost our story. When we realized that God was leading me to Pastor the American church we interviewed with 4 different churches.

Some established churches. Other plants. Others revitalizations.

One that I was interested in was a revitalization, but I began noticing the laundry list of expectations they possessed of their pastor.

On call for all hospital visitations, and the hospital was 45 min away.

Attend all Friday Night football games.

Bring unity to the deacons who have been disunified for centuries.

Preach on Sunday mornings, sunday nights, and Wednesdays.

Help get the food pantry up and running.

Support the youth by showing up to all youth events.

And to top it off I’d need to play on the church softball team…

P.S.: That’s an easy yes… yet, P.P.S. I don’t like church sponsored sports because some of ya’ll don’t know how to act.

But I’m sitting in the car on my drive home talking to God and thinking:

Lord, when would I pray? When would I study?

How could I be a husband that didn’t cheat on my wife with the mistress called the church?

When would I be a present, and available father?

The Calling that was laid out was incompatible with the calling God had placed on my life.

As Stephen Covey said, “true inner peace comes when our calendars reflect our values.” I’d change it to say, “true joy, peace, and satisfaction comes when our calendars reflect our callings.”

But ya’ll, I do not want to be dismissive and act like this is simple or easy. THIS IS HARD.

Some things on your calendar are outside of our control… but you can control what you can.

Being willing to say no to good things in order to be available to the best thing is HARD. But ultimately, I promise it leads to deep, deep satisfaction.

What do you need to say no to, in order to say yes to a core calling?

I’m worried about us guys.

We are soooo busy as a people, and yet we wonder why joy, peace, and satisfaction consistently alude us.

Is it perhaps because we’ve let the urgent crowd out the important?

Is it perhaps because we aren’t even aware of what is actually important?

What is important in life? What are your primary responsibilities dictated by God? What do you need to say no to, in order to say yes to that calling?

The Apostles knew. They had clarity of their calling and issued the declaration.

But they didn’t stop there. Let’s quickly look at the delegation.

Delegation

Acts 6:3–4 ESV

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Now again, they did not ignore or dismiss the issue but instead delegated the issue.

Just because the daily distribution was not the core calling of the apostles, did not mean the needs could continue to go unmet.

The daily distribution was an essential ministry.

In vs. 1 the daily distribution is the greek word diakonia which means ministry.

It is the same word used in verse 4 “prayer and the ministry of the word.”

As much as the prayer and preaching were essentail ministries to the church, so was the meeting of widows needs.

The key idea here is that both ministries are given by God, performed for God, with a heart unto God.

So certain people are called to various ministries within the church. Although the apostles weren’t to spend their time in this ministry, they needed others to own it.

Same for us today. The pastors and elders cannot, nor should not drive and own every ministry of the church. “It is not right…” or “it would not be pleasing to God.”

However, we are expected and tasked with equipping the saints for the work of various ministries to build up the church (eph 4).

What has to happen therefore, is delegation. But not just to anybody. There’s some qualifications.

Good Repute.

Full of the Spirit— for the ministries of the church are spiritual work.

Full of Wisdom— able to solve practical problems.

In this case, men able to organize the meals on wheels.

So the apostles proposed the solution in the form of delgation, and laid out the qualifications.

And the people made the selection.

They choose 7

Stephen and Philip the first 2 because they will play a major role in the next few chapters.

Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus.

But what is super interesting about this list as that every name is GREEK. These are Hellenists, not just traditional Hebrews.

And it makes a ton of sense why the church would choose these 7.

They would be better suited to know the needs and communicate the plans to the Hellenist widows.

They nominated these 7, and ultimately the apostles confirmed them by praying and laying their hands on them.

Conclusion

Growth led to grumbling. But the declaration led to delegation, and consequently…

Acts 6:7 ESV

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

We want to be a church that continues to grow. Not because numbers are our aim, but souls ignited with the truth of the Gospel, and lives changed with the power of the Gospel. And like the early church, we have to be strong in the declaration and wise in the delegation. But we all must also watch our grumbling. But the biggest takeaway I want you to leave with today is this:

Are you aware of your core callings?

What do you need to say no to, to ensure you are saying yes to them.

When we function individually and corporately within these principles, we too will see growth spiritually individually and corporately.

Now, before we transition to a time of praise in song, we are going to take communion.

Communion

We seek to take communion or “The Lord’s Supper” once a month here at CBC Richmond Hill.

Communion was instated by Jesus himself at the last supper that he shared with his closest disciples before his imminent betrayal and death.

It is a tradition and sacrament for all who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, so if you are not a Christian I kindly ask to just let the plate pass you by.

On the night Jesus instituted Communion we have to remember that it was a very somber moment in the upper room

But he commanded them and consequently us to continue the ordinance and “to do it in remembrance of Him.”

So Communion is something we do in order to remember Jesus.

To commemorate his death for our sins.

To remember his body that was broken for us, and to remember his blood that was shed for us.

The bread and the juice are tangible, visible reminders of Christ’s love.

Communion then is also a chance to commune.

To grow still for a moment and bring ourselves before the Lord in order to examine our lives, and to remember His.

So take a moment as we pass out the elements, and in a moment I’ll lead us to take the meal together.