Seven Servants Chosen to Serve

Seven Servants

Seven Servant Chosen to Serve…

“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.”

A.W. Tozer once said “One hundred religious people knitted by unity and by careful organization do not constitute a church anymore than twelve dead men make a football team.”

The early church set the example for a living, interdependent, growing organism. Their unity and power gave them a testimony that swept Jerusalem off their feet. Multitudes had come to faith in Jesus Christ. No persecution, no purposeful opposition, no powerful plan and no painful suffering could stop the spread of the gospel of life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The believers’ love for one another, expressed in the sharing of meals, material goods, money and a common mission to know Christ and to make Him known was clearly evident.

It has a profound effect and a great impact on the entire community. As a result even unbelievers held the church in high regard.

, “None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,”

Is this not the type of church we are praying to God to become?

The church’s explosive growth had brought with it the need to further organize, though it was somewhat organized, they held services together from house to house, they shared the Lord’s supper, and they distributed money, food, and goods to those whom had needs. But as they grew the needs changed and the structure of the church had to change with it.

This is an important principle: Biblical church organization always responds to needs and to what the Spirit is already doing.

Many Christians want to organize a program and then expect the Holy Spirit to get involved in it; but that is like putting the cart before the horse. We cannot nor should we dare try to force the Spirit to fit our mold, but we must be lead by the Spirit and molded into its vision and desire for true ministry.

The church of Jesus Christ is not an organization you join; it a family to which you belong, a home where you are loved and a hospital where you can find healing.

Let us pray…

The compelling complaint

, “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.”

The text tells is this, “Now in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number…” another problem arose. This problem stems from their rapid growth. Just how large the church had become is not known, since they no longer kept an accurate count. The last figure given was 5,000 in and this apparently included only men. To that figure given we must add women and children who had joined the church since . Taking all of that in to consideration the church was probably 20,000 or more at this point. Think about this, without means of mass communication, email, text, or phones. The leadership of the early church found themselves in the midst of administrative problems with such a large congregation. To merely meet their spiritual needs and to deal with their sin must have been a really daunting task. Then you need to add on top of all of that the caring for their physical needs as well. Not only did that size of the church create problems, but also it explosive growth left them little time to adjust. As a result compelling complaint arose also. The text says it this way

“…A complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Here was an issue that Satan could use with devastating force against the church. He had already attacked them through persecution, , “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.”

But this attack only resulted in the faster grow of the church.

Next Satan sought to cripple the church by introducing sin directly in the Body of Christ through Ananias and Sapphira and their lying about giving. But when the Holy Spirit struck them both dead it only showed the church to be a pure church and make it more effective in the spread of the gospel. Having failed twice through persecution and corruption, Satan now decides to use dissension within the church. So Satan played the race card and culture card and carried it into the church.

Churches that are dealing with internal conflict between believers whom trust Jesus yet find division amongst themselves due to ethnicity. Will also find it message lost in conflict, its energy dissipated, and its focus hindered.

Before the church could fully evangelize to the Gentile world, it would have to deal with any division within its own ranks.

So pastor, who were these “Hellenistic Jews”?

The Hellenistic Jews were those of the Diaspora, these were Jews who were scattered to other countries outside of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity. The Babylonian captivity or exile refers to the time period in Israel’s history when King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon took Jews captive. It is an important period of biblical history because both the captivity/exile and the return and restoration of the Jewish nation were fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies.

God used Babylon as His agent of judgment against Israel for their sins of idolatry and rebellion against Him. There were actually several different times during the period (607-586 B.C.) when the Jews were taken captive by Babylon. With each successive rebellion against Babylonian rule, Nebuchadnezzar would lead his armies against Judah until they laid siege to Jerusalem for over a year, killing many people and destroying the Jewish temple, taking captive many thousands of Jews, and leaving Jerusalem in ruins. As prophesied in Scripture, the Jewish people would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. That prophecy was fulfilled in 537 B.C., and the Jews were allowed by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Israel and begin rebuilding the city and temple. The return under the direction of Ezra led to a revival among the Jewish people and the rebuilding of the temple. The Babylonian captivity had one very significant impact on the nation of Israel when it returned to the land— the idolatry and false gods of the surrounding nations would never again corrupt them. The captivity made them pure again.

The seventy-year period of the Babylonian captivity is an important part of Israel’s history, and Christians should be familiar with it. Like many other Old Testament events, this historical account demonstrates God’s faithfulness to His people, His judgment of sin, and the surety of His promises.

These Jews used the Septuagint instead of the Hebrews Scriptures because they spoke Greek they had also absorbed some of Greek culture as well. These changes in language and culture made them suspect to the Palestinian Jews, especially the Pharisees. “According to the Talmud, the Pharisees made little secret of it contempt for the Hellenists, they saw them as second- class Israelites. As often happens when we see people as something other than we see ourselves neglect happens.

We ever we see other people by the flesh instead of seeing them in the spirit, and then two happen.

(1) We treat people different because we see them as different.

(2) We treat people differently because we prefer some people to other people this is called partiality.

We treat people different because we see them as different.

Paul warns us against such a practice against such prejudice, we Christians have all been adopted in the family of God and are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. We should see one another through the lens of our Holy God in whom we are made in His image.

This is called the Imago Dei, the image of God. On the last day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (). Thus, He finished His work with a “personal touch.” God formed Adam from the dust and gave him life by sharing His own breath (). Accordingly, humanity is unique among all God’s creations, having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit.

Having the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms that we were made to resemble God. Adam did not resemble God in the sense of God’s having flesh and blood. Scripture says that “God is spirit” () and therefore exists without a body. However, Adam’s body did mirror the life of God insofar as it was created in perfect health and was not subject to death. The image of God (Latin: imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity. It sets human beings apart from the animal world, fits them for the dominion God intended them to have over the earth (), and enables them to commune with their Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

When we treat people differently because we prefer some people to other people this is called partiality.

The Bible teaches that we should teach all people the same because all people share in the image of God. When we treat people otherwise we are treating people from our own preferences versus treating people by the principles and the pattern that God prefers we do.

Look at James,

, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

The Hellenists complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. Care of the widows was traditional in Jewish society.

,“And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.” Later in the New Testament Paul would defined the taking care of widows as the responsibility of the church, , “Honor widows who are truly widows.” Providing for widows was an important role for the church from its earliest days. The primary concern in this passage is to identify which widows the church should provide for. There are two key indicators: not having other family and godliness.

Given the natural dichotomy and division between the Hellenists and native Palestinians, this issue could have easily split the church. Certainly the Hellenist Jews collectively saw this as a deliberate neglect.

So when the Hellenists brought their compelling complaint the leadership of the church did not ignored them but gave their complaint careful consideration.

The careful consideration

, “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.”

Then the twelve apostles summoned the full number of the disciples… So, pastor what is the difference between an apostle and a disciple?

Every apostle was a disciple, but not every disciple was an apostle. Every person who believes in Jesus is called His disciple.

records Jesus saying, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The Greek word for “disciple” simply refers to a learner and is used throughout the New Testament to refer to people who believed in Jesus. For example, says, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.”

The word “disciples “simply means “believers” or “Christians” in this context. The Greek word for “apostle” literally means “one who is sent” and can refer to an emissary or anyone sent on a mission for by God and for God.

An apostle is given the authority of the one who sent him. All of the apostles were disciples—they were among the many believers in Jesus—but only a select group of disciples were chosen as the Twelve Apostles. This included the original twelve disciples (although Judas Iscariot eventually reversed his loyalties and rejected Christ) and Paul, who was later chosen by the Lord.

That there is a select group of twelve apostles is seen in the foundations of the walls of the New Jerusalem: twelve foundations, each inscribed with a name of an apostle,

, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” In summary, every person who believes in Jesus as his or her Savior is a disciple of Jesus. However, only a select group of early believers were chosen as apostles and given authority to perform signs and share the revelations found in the New Testament.

So, here is the text the Hellenists complained to the twelve and they summoned all the other disciples to seek a solution.

But listen careful to what they said, “…It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” These apostles recognized the gravity of the problem, they had compassion for the validity of the complaint, yet they did not have time to correct the complaint and continue in the preaching, teaching, and study of God’s word.

For them to involve themselves in the details of serving meals would take them away from their true calling. Instead they wanted to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word of God.

So they created a front line task group to handle the details of member management. The text now reads, “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among your seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

The apostles commanded the believers to select from their own ranks seven men. This word select is from the verb to oversee or to supervise. The congregation was to look over the men who were respected and present their choices to the apostles. The apostles would make the final decision regarding their appointment to the task. This verse list five required characteristics for those appointed to church ministry. First, those who would lead the church at this juncture were men. Later on in the church will see Dorcas, Lydia, Phobe, Priscilla, and Philip’s daughters were greatly used by God, and some call deaconess. Nevertheless, God design for the church is that men assume the leadership roles.

The second requirement is that they should be from among you. This indicates more than the obvious truth that those who lead the church must be believers. Churches should seek to develop their leadership from within their own ranks. By hiring pastors away from other churches, they often overlook the gifted men God has raised up in their own congregations. A church’s committed to the ministry of edifying and equipping its members will not have to look elsewhere for its leaders.

The third requirement for leaders is they must be men of good reputation. They must be men of integrity, above reproach, as is required of elders and deacons in and .

Servants must be qualified spiritually regardless of their position in the world or their human ability. Those who would lead the church must be also full of the Spirit. They must be yielded to His control in every area of their lives.

Such men were Stephen and Barnabas. The final requirement was that they possess wisdom. They must have biblical and theological knowledge, and practical wisdom to apply biblical truth to the situations of everyday life. They must be men of sober, righteous judgment. Think for a moment about the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” -Martin Luther King Jr.

Now the question becomes can these seven servants be properly viewed as the first deacons. They performed many of the functions of the later deacons and the word used here is {Dee/Ark/ Co/Nos} diakonos, which always used to describe the ministry of deacons. Of the seven Stephen and Philip are never called deacons, Stephen and Philip later ministers are that of an evangelists.

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the to ministry of the word.”

The apostles knew their priority was praying, preaching, teaching, and studying the Word. They would let nothing, however pressing, however pervasive, and however purposeful could or should take precedence over prayer and the ministry of God’s word.

In other words could you please serve the tables while we serve up the Word of God? Many today have left the emphasis on prayer and the Word of God. They are so involved in the administrative details of their church that they have little time left for true prayer and study. Yet what does the Bible say in

, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Prayer and the ministry of the word are inseparably linked. Prayer must permeate a pastor’s sermon preparation, or his sermons will be superficial and dry. He must also pray constantly that his people will apply the truths he teaches them. The man of God must also pray that he would be a pure channel through which God’s truth can flow to his congregation.

The greatest proclaimer of God’s Word who ever lived, the apostle Paul, was a man devoted to prayer. He assured the Romans that “God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, in my witness as to how unceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. And the apostles’ pledge to devote themselves to their ministry set the pattern for all to follow.

We must embrace the words of Paul to his spiritual son Timothy in , “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Preaching is not what you do as a pastor, but preaching is who you are!

The ministry demands total commitment everything a man has to give. There is no substitute for hard work and discipline.

A young man once said to the gifted expository preacher of God’s Word Donald Grey Barnhouse, “ I’d give the world to be able to teach the Bible like you.” Looking him straight in the eye Dr. Barnhouse replied, “ Good because that’s exactly what it will cost you.” Dr. Barnhouse knew gravity of careful consideration

The correct conclusion

, 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.”

Note some that is very revealing here of the seven servants that all have Greek names, implying that they might all be Hellenists but yet the permanent order of the deacons for the Jerusalem church would include no native Palestinian Jews. Here is an important principles, true humility allows you to placed in leadership those that you previously disregarded.

The apostles’ plan found approval with the whole congregation, and seven servants were appointed to the ministry. Again that all seven bore Greek names suggests that were all Hellenists.

This was a demonstration of the loving unity of the church, since they had felt slighted. God spoke to their hearts and told them to appoint seven servants, which have been under-represented in the larger body. This action thwarted Satan’s attack and the church did not split.

Stephen was to play a pivotal role in the spreading of the gospel beyond Jerusalem. It was the persecution connected with his martyrdom that propelled the church out of Jerusalem. The commendation of him as a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit was well founded.

Philip also plays a prominent role in Acts. He took the gospel to the Samaritans and to the Ethiopian eunuch. Four of his daughters became prophetesses. No much is known about the other men, Prochorus will connect with John as his amanuensis when he wrote the gospel. All that is known for certain about Nic/Co/Lay/Us is that he was a proselyte. ( a Gentile convert to Judaism) from Antioch.

“These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”

Laying on of hands" is a biblical action; however, there is no biblical mandate requiring the physical laying on of hands for a particular spiritual ministry. Jesus certainly laid His hands on many of those He healed; however, He also healed without laying His hands on people. In fact, there were times when He was nowhere in the vicinity of those He healed. describes Jesus healing the servant of the centurion without going near the centurion’s house.

says, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure." The thought here is not so much in cautioning the physical action of laying on of hands but to urge care in bestowing the responsibility of spiritual leadership (however it is done). It is not to be done "suddenly" or without due consideration. Undoubtedly, the laying on of hands in the early church was a means of connecting the message with the messenger, or the spiritual gift with the gifted giver. It provided a "sign" authenticating him through whom the physical manifestation of a spiritual gift was bestowed. We need to understand very carefully that there are no magical biblical formulas for the ministry of the church. Laying on of hands has no power in itself. Laying on of hands is only used by God when it is done in agreement with God's Word.

This is the first occasion in the New Testament of laying on of hands signified the identification and affirmation of the church with these men, and the support of their ministry. Elders, deacons, and all who served in the early church were ordained this way.

Although little is known about most of these men, they played a crucial role in the foundational history of the church.

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.”

As a direct result the word of God kept spreading from the preaching and teaching of the apostles’