Structure For the Mission

Introduction:

Open your Bibles to the book of Acts again this morning

Acts chapter 6 found on page 859 in the black church Bibles under the seat in front of you

When we started this book, we noted the outline of the book that was born from Acts 1:8 when Jesus gave the mission to the church

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When we take a look at the book from a high vantage point - an overview - we see that Luke lays out the book in these segments

The mission of the church to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ; first to Jerusalem, then expand that reach to Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth

Luke shows us this in segments, and ends each segment with an assessment of the mission

A statement that lets you know how the mission is going and sets the stage for a shift to the next segment

We find the first of these in our passage this morning

The concluding verses is a summary of how things are going and the beginning of the transition from Jerusalem to Judea

I share this as a progress report - the unstoppable mission is facing massive attacks and yet is is moving forward at breakneck speed

The church is in it’s infancy, and yet booming

The people of the city are flacking to the portico of Solomon to hear the Word of God preached - they are repenting of sin and believing in This Jesus

This Jesus that they crucified just a few months prior

The Church is growing exponentially in spite of the attacks of satan

In fact, we have seen a pattern showing up here in the early church - a pattern of attack that the evil one still applies today

He attacks from outside with persecution and then attacks from inside with sin and false teaching

As we have moved through these last several chapters, we have seen the church leaders attacked and arrested for preaching the the Name of Jesus

The Scripture tells us that the religious leaders were greatly annoyed by this preaching

So, they threatened and warned and commanded the Apostles to stop preaching in the name of This Jesus - yet, by the boldness granted from the Holy Spirit, they continued to preach

And the church grew - and they were known by their love for one another - their generosity flourished and the needs of the believers were met by the believers.

Then, as we moved into Acts chapter 5 we found the attack moving from outside to inside - The exterior persecution did not stop the mission, it enhanced it - so the evil one now shifts tactics and sends into the church a couple of hypocrites

We learned of Ananias and Sapphira - that married couple who loved the applause of men and conspired to lie to the holy Spirit

They sold a piece of property and claimed to have donated the whole amount , so that they might get the praise of being generous, while secretly holding balk some of the money

Their sin was supernaturally exposed and the died when they were confronted

Sin was purged, fear fell on the hearts of those who believed and those who were outside the church

And the church grew - multitudes of men and women were coming to faith in Jesus as the Christ

So the devil shifted his attack to persecution from outside

The religious leaders were stirred with jealousy this time - and they arrested the Apostles - they charged them again, not to preached

This time, they didn’t just threaten them, the beat them and then released them

The desired affect was for the followers to be frightened and disperse - fall away - the religious leaders longed fro this following to die off the way the others all did

When the leader was killed, the followers soon dispersed - but not so this time

For this time, they were following the true Messiah - the movement was not of men, but of God

And the Apostles were not swayed from preaching, they were emboldened - they walked away from the beating “rejoicing that they were counted worth to suffer dishonor for the name” (5:41)

Now, as we move into chapter 6, we will see the attack shift again to inside the church - sin was crouching at the door - tension was rising and needed to be dealt with

So, what we find is the ordering of the church - Structure for the Mission

Let’s take a look at the text together

Stand with me if you are able, for the reading of the Word of God

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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 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. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 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.

This is the Word of the Living God

Pray

The two pronged pattern of attack on the church that Luke is showing us involves both the external and internal

Now, there is nothing that we can do about the external persecution - it is going to happen, because the world hated Christ and therefore they hate the followers of Christ

John 15:20-21 (ESV)

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you… 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

The only thing we can do regarding the persecution, is to endure… and Rejoice

We know that it is coming, because Jesus told us it was coming - so we prepare for it and expect it - and prayerfully endure it

That is what the Apostles and the early church did

When they were first confronted by persecution the went straight away to prayer - asked God for boldness to endure and then continued to obey God rather than man

When it came again, they rejoiced - why? I think in part because it was conformation that they were in fact children of God

They were truly disciples of Christ, because they were persecuted for His name’s sake - and they endured it!

They made it through - And they still believed - and they still obeyed

There is nothing we can do about the persecution, except endure and rejoice to be counted worthy of it

But the second attack is the one that comes from within - and most of the time, that is an attack that is born within the sinful hearts of man

Hypocrisy is the sin of lying - pretending to be someone you are not - striving for the approval of man and with no regard for the approval of God

It is a self-love, selfish sin that seeks to steal the glory that belongs to God

It will fracture a church - as all selfish behavior does

Since it is a form of lying, it is from the god of the world - the father of lies and not from the God who is TRUTH

Today are going to see the sin of division and discord show up - a sin that is an abomination according to Proverbs 16 - I tis something that the LORD hates

Yet, it shows up regularly in churches and often stems from simple things - like carpet color or paint choice or window drapery

Many years ago I had a lady complain about the blinds on the windows here - she said they were “obscene” - We had put them up because on Sunday morning the sun shines bright through the east windows and blinds people on the west side - and on Wednesday nights, the opposite occurs

Yet, she did not care about that, she thought they were obscene and that we should take them down

It served as a pebble that bothered her - annoyed her, until other things began to fester

If left unchecked, and unconfessed, it will lead to disunity and discord - it will cause fights and wars

That is what James tells us in…

James 4:1–2 (ESV)

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel…

This is sin - it is a sin that we find in our text - rising up in the early church as a tactic of the evil one with the intention to destroy the church

While we cannot do anything about the persecution that comes our way, we can address sin in the church

There are four segments to our text this morning

The Complaint

The Problem

The Solution

The Result

Let’s take a look at the internal attack of Satan and how the Apostles handeled it

As we do, we will see the structure for the Mission begin to take shape - a structure that will enable the church to grow and function and complete the mission that Christ has given us

We start with the…

1) The Complaint

1 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.

Before we jump into the actual complaint here, I want you to notice the word that Luke chooses to use regarding the believers

He calls them “disciples” - they won’t be called Christians until chapter 11 in the city of Antioch

But here, Luke notes that they were called disciples

I point that out, because it signifies who the early church goers were - they were disciples - we sometimes use that term to signify a second level of Christianity

Like, you come to Christ first and then later you can choose to become a disciple of Christ when you dedicate your life

There is no record in Scripture of that two pronged form of Christianity

You don’t get to be a Christian and then decide on discipleship - it is not an option - the two terms are synonomous - If you are a believer - a Christian, then you are a disciple - a student of Jesus - seeking to imitate him and wholly committed to Christlikeness

In fact, the end of our passage uses the phrase “obedient to the faith” - that doesn’t just imply belief in Jesus - it impies obedience to Jesus - It implies one who is following after Jesus and, by faith, serving Him

To be a disciple cost

Sometimes it cost everything - you were cut off from family, culture, and even business

This left some of the early believers in great financial peril - no opportunity for work and no food to eat

There were also those who were already cultural outcasts - remember the lame man from chapter 3 - he had never entered the Temple, because he was an outcast

The believers of the early church - the Disciples - with new the Spiritual life of Christ in them - were followers of Christ and imitators of Christ - and what they found, is that they were merciful… Like Christ

So, they reached out to the outcasts and the marginalized

They ministered to those in need and gave generously

As early as Acts chapter 2 we find the church giving to those in need - by chapter four, they are even selling houses to give to the church to be used for those in need

One of the most vulnerable classes of people in the ancient near east were the widows

They were left with no one to care for them - no one to feed them - and no way to provide for themselves

Now, here is the complaint in the early church - as the church is growing (and we know that it is growing in multitudes of both men and women - 5:14) - the Hellenist complained about the Hebrews

Who were these people? - two different ethnicities

The Hebrews likely refers to those who were native of Jerusalem - they would have spoken Aramaic (or perhaps Hebrew) as their common home language and Greek as their business language - remember, Greek was the common language of the world

The Hellenists were likely Jews of the dispersion - those who’s families had left Jerusalem, but now returned for the feasts - they had forgotten Hebrew and only spoke Greek

We are so prone to division over nationality and culture - we like those who are like us and hate those who are different

I was trying to think of a cultural example that might fit this scenario - and I remembered that we have quite a number of folks who are of dutch decent in our church - some of you are only one generation removed from those who immigrated to this country

YOu have learned a lot of dutch culture and even some of the language

If you were to return to Holland, you would probably find many things that are similar to what you parents or grand parents talked about - in some ways you would feel at home… But you are really more American than you are Dutch - and if you stayed, that would begin to show up

And while you speak some of the language, many of the natives of holland would speak both English and Dutch - and there would be a bit of a division - for while you have dutch heritage… your still American

In our text we are being shown a cultural division amongst cultural differences

This cultural difference was creating factions - as it always does

The groups were beginning to rub on each other - and it seems that the evidence of this division was showing up in the daily distribution of food to the widows

Now… note this… so generous was the early church, that the widows were being fed EVERY DAY!

And here is the complaint - the hebrews are showing favor to their own

We should also take a moment to note that the text does not tell us if the complaint was true or merly perceived

It might be that the Hellenists just thought they were getting shortchanged - and grumbling started to flow

Or it could be that the Hebrews were in fact showing favoritism to those who were native to the land

We aren’t told, and both scenarios are plausible

What we do know, is that we are dealing with selfish hearts that will lead to discord and division - Covetousness that is causing fights and quarrels (Js. 4:2)

If it is not addressed, the church will fracture

There is division in the body

So, what do we do about

We hear the complaint, but we have a…

2) The Problem

2 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… 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The Apostles - who are the Elders of the church - have commited themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God

Remember, they were commanded not to preach by the religious leaders, but commanded to Preach by Christ - and they chose to obey God

Faced with persecution, they devoted themselves to prayer - for if you do not devote yourself to prayer, you might fall prey to the persecution - you might find that you lack the boldness to preach what the Scriptures teach

You might be tempted to water down the Word - to soften the Jesus that is in the Scriptures for one that the religious leaders would be satisfied with

You might find that your preaching is powerless and ineffective

If you fail to minister the Word of God - then you fail to give what the church needs most - you fail to give the food that changes eternity - the Bread of Life

There is an interesting play on words here by Luke - in the way that he records the event

The issue at hand centered around the failure to serve food to all that had need

The Apostles do not want to abandon the ministry of the Word

Now, because our english translators have chosen to use two different words, the comparison is a bit murky for us

But, in the Greek (that is the language of the NT), the word is the same

Luke uses the same word to describe serving food and serving the Word

It is a word that refers to a waiter - one who serves tables - delivering your food

It is as though the Apostles were saying.. we cannot give up delivering the Bread of Life to deliver the bread of men

That does not mean that it is not important to deliver the bread of men to the hungry - it means that they were incapable of doing both

The church was growing and so were the problems and the 12 Apostles could not do it all - they needed help with practice and necessary service

This is nothing new - Moses faced as similar situation with the multitudes of Hebrews in the wilderness - He needed help and his father-in-law, Jethro, suggested that he select leaders to help

Exodus 18:17–21 (ESV)

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

Just as Moses needed help with the practical day to day ministry, so too the Apostles needed help - not with a lessor ministry, but with a different ministry

They needed Godly men to serve the people - helping to assure that the service was done right

That is the role of the deacon

The Greek word used here is from Diakonos - which is where deacon comes from

The role of the deacon is a spiritual role of leadership - One that manages the practical issues

It doesn’t mean that they do all the work - it means that they lead the work - they supervise it

There is no way that 7 men could serve the tables of thousands every day - but it does mean that they could lead the work and make sure that it is being done in a proper and Christlike manner

So that the Apostles could continue to devote themselves to serving the Word of God

This is the primary role of the Elders - to serve the Word of God - I am often amazed at the job descriptions that churches list when seeking to hire a pastor

Duties that include, but are not limited to… “leading Sunday worship services that encourage participation from all ages, giving sacraments, arranging pastoral visitations, directing and supporting mission, youth and fellowship activities, and supporting operations and planning in collaboration with the church council/leadership. He will be focused on developing relational equity while instilling the core cultural identity of the Church. He will lean into the local community and neighborhood needs , partnering with businesses and community organizations. He will be the chief cheerleader and lead blocker for the staff and congregation. This includes strategic planning, finance, legal affairs, administration, human resources, and operations…” (compilation of actual descriptions)

Oh… and also we want him to preach… just not too long and not about anything that is too divisive

How far we have drifted from being devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word

The Problem was that the Apostles could not and would not give up the calling to serve the Bread of Life - and yet there was a real need to manage the serving of the bread of men

With wisdom granted by God, the Apostles offer…

3) The Solution

3 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… 5 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. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

The Solution was to have the congregation select men who’s reputation was good - men who were full of the Spirit and the wisdom of God

There are a couple of practical observations here that affect the way that we operate as a church - the pattern for selecting deacons is given in this text

The church congregation os to select the men and put them forward to the Apostles (to the Elders)

The church body is to examine the men in the church - looking for those who are Godly men - with a reputation for Godliness - and put them forward - as trustworthy men to lead in these important ministries

This is how we operate - we seek the input from you the congregation - asking you to pur forward the names of men that you see as Godly men who can serve the congregation

And then the Apostles appointed them

We follow this pattern too - in that the Elders appoint the Deacons

And then the Elders and Deacons lead the church in doing the work of the ministry

Here is a modern problem that I don’t think was a problem in the early church … yet

The deacons were to lead and manage the serving of the tables - they did not serve the tables themselves - they made sure that it was being done properly

They made sure it was being done

Today we have adopted a faulty ideology that says… the Elders and Deacons do the work of the ministry… oh not so…

Paul told the Ephesian church that leadership was given…

Ephesians 4:12 (ESV)

to equip the saints for the work of ministry…

That is, that the church body - the members are to do the actual work of ministry - the Elders are to teach - equipping - and the deacons are to lead in serving - the church is to do the ministry - that is all of us together

I am confident that 7 men did not served the tables of the widows every day - We also know this, because they were also busy evangelizing (as we will see in the chapters to come

Rather, these 7 men were to manage the serving of the tables - to make sure that it was done properly and without discrepancy

Who were the men that they selected?

The first is Stephen (or Steffon) - As the book transitions and the gospel moves out of Jerusalem, we will find Stephen as the transition point

The rest of chapter 6 and chapter 7 deal with him - he becomes the churches first martyr when he is stoned to death for teaching in the name of Jesus

This would be the catalyst for the church spreading to Judea and Samaria

Philip is the next in line - he is mentioned again in chapter 8 - indeed, he is the chief evangelist of chapter 8, taking the gospel to Samaria and eventually (through the Ethiopian) to Africa

Not much is known about the rest of the men - other than what we find here - they were men of good reputation - Spirit filled and Godly

There is a note that Nicolaus was a proselyte of Antioch - that means that he was not a Jew by birth - but rather a Gentile

Some have noted that the names of the other men are Greek names and may imply that they were Hellenist - this would be amazing - and a testimony of the early churches faith as the Hebrews deferred to the lessor number - this is not how the world would do things - we would want an even number - a balanced number so that both parties could be represented

But these were Godly men - the church would trust them

The attack of the enemy has come in the form of selfish hearts - the sin of division is crouching at the door of the church - but instead of division, we see unity

Instead of selfishness we see deference

And Godly men rising up to lead - so that the serving of the Bread of Life is not interrupted by the serving of the bread of men

How did this turn out?

4) The Results

7 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.

The Apostles were able to focus on ministering the Word of God - the deacons focused on ministering to the needs of the widows and the disciples grew

The church greatly multiplied - remember, we are well over 20,000 now - this is not dispersing and scattering - it is not failing - the followers of Christ (His disciples) are multiplying greatly!

The city of Jerusalem - the city that Jesus wept over on Palm Sunday - was now responding to the call of the gospel

Those who had cried “crucify Him” just a few months earlier, were calling Him LORD

This city was being turned upside down by the power of the Gospel as the church served together

So much so, that even the priests “many of the priests” were obeying the gospel call of faith

Conclusion:

When the church functions as the church is designed, the mission is unstoppable

The Gospel is proclaimed and mercy is ministered - and people obey the Faith

They obey the call of Christ

This is the gospel - we are to obey the call of Christ

The voice of Christ is calling us to follow Him - to trust Him as the way the Truth and the Life - the only entrance into the Father’s House

We are to obey the gospel in faith - beleiveing that His sacrifice is sufficient to cleanse all of our sin - and to give us new life

Paul opens and closes the book of Romans with the phrase “obedience of faith”

It is the same language that Luke uses here to describe the transformation of the priests - they were no longer trusting in the sacrifice of bulls and goats - int he keeping of the Law - they were obeying Christ in Faith

Friends, the gospel call is not an option - it is a command - and true salvation is to obey and believe

Wont’ you believe today…

Pray

Benediction:

Philippians 4:7 - (May) the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.