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Acts - 17
Acts 6:1-7
Introduction
In grad school I researched and wrote a paper on the rapid growth of the Church during the second century.
Sounds riveting, right?
After the Church is established in the first century and takes off, as chronicled in the Book of Acts, what happens next?
Once the New Testament record ends, how do things progress further?
The second century proved to be the season of the Church’s life in the world when it grew the most (percentage wise).
More rapidly than in any other period of Church history.
Why?
Church leaders made dramatic shifts in how the Church was going to be led.
It became more lean and agile, able to make quick decisions and respond quickly to issues it was facing.
This speed of leadership decision-making enabled the Church to ‘turn on a dime’ and maneuver through all the crises it faced.
Because, while this was a season of rapid growth, it was also a season of rampant problems.
The Church faced two primary issues, one external and one internal.
The external problem was continued persecution.
Once persecution started in Acts chapter 4, it just continued over the centuries.
Christians were being arrested, killed, ostracized, and kicked out of the Roman Empire.
This obviously made the Church more agile in its decision-making because they didn’t know who was going to live through the week or if someone would be in jail.
So power couldn’t be centered on just one person in case that one person was no longer around.
The internal problem was false teaching.
Countless false teachers arose and would lead people astray.
Though the New Testament letters were all written by then, they were not all readily available to everyone.
They couldn’t just email copies of Paul’s letters around.
They had to make copies of it by hand and then hand-deliver it across the world.
That takes time.
So in the meantime, some Church leaders are teaching what makes sense to them.
What they want to be true.
Not necessarily biblical truth.
The Church needed ways to be able to quickly step in a remove those false teachers to protect the purity of the Church.
The Church’s response to these two problems was to enable quick decision-making to fix the problems.
And because they were successful in their strategy, the Church took off and exploded in growth.
God’s Church has always had its problems.
And when they are faced head-on, and leaders make good decisions, it enables the Church to continue to thrive.
That is what happens in Acts 6.
So far, the Church’s problems have mostly been external…persecution.
Now they will face a huge internal problem.
One that will force the leaders to change their tactics.
Acts 6:1-7 - Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
3 Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need.
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.”
5 And this word pleased the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
6 And these they stood before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
TS - let’s take a few minutes and walk through the text together.
We begin with…
THE PROBLEM (V. 1)
Notice how the account begins…v.
1 - Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number…Herein lies the problem they are facing…they are growing in number.
People are placing their faith in Jesus all around them.
People are taking an ownership to grow their faith.
The disciples are multiplying in number.
And that can create problems.
You have a bunch of non-Christians running around exploring the faith.
They have questions that have to be answered.
They still hold on to some of their non-Christian ways that have to be addressed.
On top of all that, you have a bunch of new Christians, ones the NT calls ‘infants’ in Christ.
You ever been in a room full of babies and toddlers?
It’s chaos.
They are trying to walk and falling down.
They are breaking stuff.
They are making messes.
That is what is happening in the Church.
All that has to be dealt with by the leaders.
Their growth created some administration problems.
End of v. 1 - there was a grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
A grumbling?
Gee, that is surprising, church people never grumble!
It is a grumble, a complaint, from the Hellenists against the Hebrews.
Who is that?
Hellenists are Jews who speak Greek.
They were either born in Israel and had moved somewhere else in the Roman Empire and picked up on Greek culture, or they were born elsewhere in that pagan environment and now have moved to Jerusalem.
The Hebrews are the Jews who speak their mother tongue, Hebrew.
When they were still worshiping with their fellow Jews, there were different services for them in their respective languages.
They are still Jewish in the cultural sense, but have placed their faith in Jesus for salvation and are now part of the NT Church.
And one group’s widows aren’t getting their fair share like the other group’s widows.
Widows were especially vulnerable in ancient cultures.
All inheritance went to the sons to continue the family name, never to the wife or daughters.
So if a husband dies, and especially if she has no sons, she is in trouble.
No social programs to help her.
The ancient Israelites obeyed God’s clear laws to care for widows in their midst.
And the NT Church carries on that same pattern.
The NT carries much teaching on caring for widows, orphans, and the vulnerable who are in the Church.
Already, the Church obviously has some sort of benevolence program to provide daily food to widows in the Church.
Why are the Hellenists being overlooked?
Two possibilities: first, it could be intentional.
There is a very real race issue here.
This is those who are true Israelites with that heritage and those who come from a pagan heritage.
Insiders and outsiders.
Hellenists could come from any of the various cultures within the Roman Empire.
They are foreigners in Jerusalem.
Or maybe it isn’t race, but spiritual elitism.
The Jews who grew up speaking Hebrew were considered the most pure in their faith.
It was a badge of honor.
In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul offers a spiritual resume.
In it he refers to himself as a “Hebrew of Hebrews.”
This is what he means by that…he spoke ancient Hebrew.
Meaning, his family were devout and pure in their faith.
Very much unlike those who speak Greek, the common language of the day.
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