Playing Your Part - Acts 6:1-7

© May 4th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Acts

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of hearing several of our local school bands play at different events. One of the challenges of school bands is that you have to work with what you’ve got. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you end up with some gaps in your band, and band directors have to be creative in finding ways to work around those gaps. A couple years ago, one of the local bands didn’t have any trumpets. On songs like the Star-Spangled Banner, missing trumpets is very noticeable! The band did their best to compensate for the lack of trumpet players, but they were never going to be as good as they would be if they had people playing all the parts. When you have people trying to cover gaps, they’re never going to be as effective as if they were just playing their part.

What is true in a band is also true in the church, and we will see that illustrated in our passage today. Today’s passage reminds us that there is no such thing as a perfect church, but it also gives us some principles for how best to work together, so that we can serve the Lord to the fullest extent possible.

The Problem

Our passage today begins with a problem the early church was facing.

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. (Acts 6:1, NLT)

The church was growing rapidly. This is a good thing! But it also meant there was likely to be some conflict. In a short period of time, the church went from, from a dozen or so to nearly 10,000 people! When you get new people together, there’s usually a honeymoon period where everyone is nice and gets along, but eventually people’s true nature comes through, warts and all. That’s where we are with the early church now.

Luke says there were “rumblings of discontent.” The word used here means the people were complaining to one another behind the scenes. They weren’t coming out and talking about the issue, they were just grumbling to one another.

This is a common approach to conflict in churches—but not a healthy one! When we just complain to each other but don’t talk about the issues with the people involved, we are not moving toward a solution, we’re building a coalition! This is a dangerous approach, and many churches have split after people follow this pattern. When people build a coalition of supporters without working to resolve the real issue, divisions can happen very quickly.

In this case, the issue was that the Greek-speaking believers felt that their widows were being neglected or discriminated against in the church’s daily food distribution. They felt that the Hebrew-speaking believers were ignoring the needs of their widows.

Jerusalem was made of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Many who had grown up in Israel their whole lives spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, the common language of the Jewish people at the time. Others who had lived in other places and returned to Jerusalem spoke Greek, which was the common language of the region. It is not difficult to imagine that there would be some conflict between these two groups in the church.

We don’t know what the reality of the situation was. We don’t even know specifically what the church was doing for these widows, though it appears they were trying to ensure they had food. It could be that the Hebrew-speaking widows were continuing to be cared for by the local synagogue, while the Greek-speaking widows were not. Maybe they were both being cared for by the church, but some of the Greek-speaking widows were overlooked. It is possible that there was a genuine attempt to discriminate against one group, but it seems more likely to me that something happened due to an oversight, and someone felt slighted. That person then began to sow seeds of discontent with other people, such that every misstep was interpreted as evidence of an attempt to discriminate against them.

Most conflicts in churches arise over these kinds of divisions. They usually start because someone feels slighted or overlooked. Sometimes the slight is real, other times it is imagined. But Satan is keen to sow seeds of discontent among the church, convincing people that others are out to get them. When we don’t try to resolve the problem by seeking clarification or addressing the hurt, it allows the hurt to grow. And as we involve others who aren’t part of the problem, we begin to create factions.

The Solution

If the apostles didn’t do something, it wouldn’t be long until they would have the First Church of Jerusalem, with the Second Church of Jerusalem across the street! Fortunately, they were wise enough to recognize they needed to do something, so they gathered the church to solve the problem.

2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” (Acts 6:2-4, NLT)

The apostles said they should appoint leaders to oversee the food program, because they (the apostles) should spend their time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. In a way, this sounds arrogant, like they believed they were too good or important to provide for the widows. Is that what they were saying? Were they saying that running the food program was beneath them? Were they saying the widows were not as important as teaching the word?

I don’t think that’s what they were saying at all. I think they recognized the reality of the situation. One of the chief goals of the church was to carry out the ministry of the word. The apostles were uniquely gifted to do that task. Others could handle the food ministry just as well as they could, maybe even better. So, it made sense for them to delegate responsibility for the food ministry so they could focus on their unique skillsets.

A number of years later, Paul gave instructions to the church in Ephesus that contained the same basic wisdom.

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, NLT)

The task God has given to the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers is to equip God’s people to do his work and to build up the church. This should be the primary focus of all people who are called to full-time ministry.

Unfortunately, many times pastors and other church leaders end up getting bogged down in too many other things, and they then begin to fail at their primary task. Sometimes this is due to a “messiah complex,” where a pastor believes they are essential to every task, so they refuse to delegate to others and instead seize control of everything. This “control freak” mentality isn’t beneficial or biblical. It robs others of the opportunity to use their unique gifts to serve the Lord.

Other times, churches place too heavy of a burden on their pastors, expecting that he will do all the things they don’t want to do. These are the places where you hear statements like, “Isn’t that what we pay him for?” While the cause might be different, the result is the same: a person who is so busy running in a hundred different directions that they don’t do anything well and end up neglecting the primary task to which they were called.

This is what the apostles were trying to guard against. They were saying, “Our gifting is in teaching and discipling others. We should keep focusing on that. There are others in the church who could make this their ministry, and would do as good, if not an even better job than we would. Let’s let them use their gifts, so we can focus on using ours.” There is great wisdom in this approach. The more different things you have to split your time and energy among, the less you have for each of those things. The disciples didn’t want to short-change the work they were doing, but they also saw the importance of ensuring the widows in the church were cared for as well. They weren’t saying the food ministry wasn’t important, just that it shouldn’t be their primary focus.

The solution they came up with was that the church should select seven men who would be worthy leaders of the ministry, and then they could oversee it and make sure things were handled properly. Notice the criteria they laid out for these men though. They didn’t ask for people with food service experience, financial management skills, or anything like that. While those skills are important, the apostles understood that the more important qualifications were about character. They wanted to select men who were well-respected, and full of the Spirit and wisdom. They wanted men who were committed to the Lord and were living out their faith. They wanted to ensure these men would behave fairly and justly. If the people had confidence in these men’s character, they would be confident that they were trying to do what was right as well.

The word Luke uses for this food program is the Greek word “diakonia”, which means serving, and is where we get our word “deacon”, which means servant. There is debate on whether the apostles were establishing a formal office of deacon in the church by appointing these men to run the program. Regardless, this is the attitude each of us is supposed to have in the church—we are supposed to be servants of one another, helping to carry the burden. When each of us plays our part well, it enables others to focus on playing theirs. When we neglect our gifts, we leave others to pick up the slack.

The Outcome

After the apostles asked the church to identify some men to lead the food ministry, that’s exactly what they did.

5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. (Acts 6:5-7, NLT)

The church identified seven men, just as the apostles had directed, and appointed them to this position. It is noteworthy that all seven of the men seem to have Greek names. Maybe they weren’t all Greek-speaking Christians, but it seems likely they were. Whatever the case, the church agreed that these seven men would be able to handle the responsibility laid upon them.

We don’t know much about most of these men. We will hear more about Stephen in the coming weeks, and we know Philip later became known as Philip the Evangelist. We have no other biblical information about the other 5 men in the group, but I think it fair to conclude that they served the Lord faithfully, as we don’t hear any more about the problems between the Hebrew- and Greek-speaking Christians.

The apostles laid their hands on them and prayed for them, which was a common way of setting someone aside for ministry. We might call it ordination or commissioning today. Whatever you call it, the apostles were formally recognizing that these men would now be responsible for the task of ensuring all the widows in the church were cared for appropriately. Rather than giving the impression that this was a secondary, unimportant task, the apostles communicated that this was a very important and solemn task that they should carry out with great care and integrity.

The result of all of this was that God’s message continued to spread. A church split was averted, and the church continued to grow. People in Jerusalem kept coming to Christ, and Luke tells us that even many Jewish priests began to trust in Jesus as well. The early church wasn’t perfect, but they did seek to be obedient to the Lord in everything. When we do that, I believe the Lord will bless our efforts.

Conclusion

This passage gives us another interesting page in the history of the fledgling church, but I believe it also teaches us a lot about how our churches (and our membership) should function today.

First, every person in the church matters. The world plays favorites, giving some people preferential treatment because they feel they have more to offer. That’s not how the church is to function. Jesus’ example is for us to care for “the least of these.” That means we care for people even when we don’t think they have much to offer in return. We should care for the poor, the elderly, the young, the sick, the imprisoned, the outcasts. We shouldn’t only care for the people who look like us, talk like us, think like us, or are in a similar situation as us. We should work to ensure every person is cared for. We will not be perfect at this, but that should be our goal.

Second, each of us has a part to play. God has given each believer unique gifts and abilities we can use to serve Him. We should be honest with ourselves about what our gifts are and then look for ways we can use them to serve the Lord.

Sometimes that may mean getting involved in an existing ministry in the church, other times it may mean seeing a need and finding a way to meet it. It could even mean starting a ministry that doesn’t even exist yet! The challenge is for us to say, what am I able to do to serve the Lord? And once we have an answer to that, we should do it!

Third, not every role is flashy, but every role is important. Being the guy in front of everyone is flashy—everyone sees what you do and (most people) value your contribution. But just because no one pays attention to your role doesn’t mean it isn’t important. There are a whole bunch of jobs people do in the church that nobody notices…until they don’t do them!

I always think about the guys running multimedia—their goal is to make it so no one even thinks about what they are doing back there. Nobody thinks about who vacuums or picks things up, or cleans the toilets, but we would sure notice if those things weren’t done! You may not think about the people who ensure the lights are working, the air conditioning is functioning, and the doors all close until one of those things malfunctions. And you may not pay any attention to the plants around the building until you see them dying…and then you realize someone’s been taking care of them all along! Or think about the nursery. You may not appreciate the people who serve quietly each week watching children during worship…until you hear an unruly child in worship!

But this goes beyond taking care of things in the church—most ministry is done behind the scenes. Nobody may see the note you send, the conversation you have, the gift you give, or the time you spend with someone in need. Nobody may ever see the way you share the gospel with others or the way you try to be a light in your workplace, but that doesn’t make those things any less important. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that just because what you do is unnoticed by others that it is unimportant. It’s not.

Fourth, the most important qualification for any leader is their character. In any position of leadership in the church, our goal should be to first identify people who are seeking to grow and live out their faith. We aren’t looking for perfect people, but people who are seeking the Lord wholeheartedly. It doesn’t matter how skillful or winsome someone is, if they are not seeking the Lord in their daily life, they will not be nearly effective as someone who is. Our greatest power comes from the Holy Spirit, so we should be seeking to identify (and be!) people who are seeking Him. Skillsets are important, but not nearly as important as character. We should focus on developing those kinds of traits in our lives, so we can be as effective as we can be.

Fifth, solving problems usually means working together to find a solution, not just complaining. Let’s be honest, it’s far easier to complain about a problem than it is to be part of the solution. Usually, solutions are messy and uncomfortable. Sometimes it requires us to see things from a different perspective, or even to admit we’re wrong. Many churches have been damaged by the whispers of people behind the scenes. Such whispers spread problems, not solve them. We should love each other enough to be honest about the problems we see, to hear each other out, and to work together to find a solution.

Finally, when each of us plays our part, we are all freed to serve fully. There is an old adage about the church that says that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. The reason it’s an oft-repeated adage is because it’s often true! A small group of people can keep things going for a time, but they will eventually burn out. And if they don’t burn out, they will probably find that while they can do all of the things, they don’t do any of them as well as they could. When we each play our part, we enable each person to give their best to the things they are doing, rather than trying to pick up the slack we are leaving behind.

My challenge for you is to find a way to serve the Lord. Think about what your gifts are and look for ways you can use them to serve Him. Look at the needs you see in our church and in our community and ask yourself, how can I be part of the solution? You may feel that what you can offer isn’t that important, but the church vitally needs you! God has given us all unique gifts and abilities, and when we each use them, we discover that He can use us in ways we might never have expected. When we all serve the Lord faithfully and fully, we can see some truly amazing things happen for God’s Kingdom!

© May 4th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Acts