Sermon 07 - Acts 6,1-7- Serving Widows, Preaching the Word, and Winning Priests
INTRODUCTION:
1. ((illus)) In 1992 Word Perfect was the #1 computer word processor with over 7 million registered users. In poll after poll, it was the word processor of choice among computer users.
a. It wasn't that Word Perfect's product was superior to anything else on the market. It wasn't that the price was lower.
b. Word Perfect was #1 because of its superior service.
c. One-third of the company's employees, 750 in total, were trained and equipped to handle customer questions and problems.
i) They dealt with more than 16,000 toll-free calls each day at a cost of half-a-million dollars in long distance charges per month.
ii) Word Perfect's operators were on call 11 hours per day and could be reached at over 25 different 1-800 numbers.
iii) Corporate policy was not to have any customer on hold for more than 60 seconds.
d. Twelve years later very few people use WordPerfect anymore.
i) The word processing market has pretty well been sowed up by Microsoft Word.
ii) What happened?
e. In 1994 WordPerfect was sold to a company that decided service was not important.
i) They eliminated most of the 1-800 numbers and operators were on call only during business hours.
ii) And, at the time, they decided not to develop updated versions of the product. (That has since changed.)
2. SERVICE
a. Service is as important in the church as it is in the business world.
b. The church is committed to service – the service of each other as well as the service to the broader community.
3. No where is that seen more consistently than in the book of Acts and in our text for today.
4. Acts 6:1-7 (page 930)
1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. “We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said.
3 “Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business.
4 Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”
5 This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian).
6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7 God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
5. Here was a church that just continued to be effective, no matter what was thrown at them.
a. Why?
b. Because of Godly leadership – here the apostles.
i) It all rises and falls on leadership
ii) Especially a leadership that keeps right priorities as here - service.
iii) ((illus)) Matthew Henry went to London, met a young lady of the nobility, who was also wealthy, and they fell in love. She went to ask her father if she could marry him and he said, "He's got no background, you don't know where he's come from." She said, "Yes, I know, but I know where he's going and I want to go with him."
c. Look at how they exercised their leadership:
SERVING WIDOWS, PREACHING THE WORD
AND WINNING PRIESTS
Acts 6:1-7
1. THEY WERE COMMITTED TO COMMUNITY
a. They took seriously the fact that when people are reconciled to a right relationship with God, they are also called to live together and to be reconciled to right relationships with each other.
b. ((illus)) Cartoon “…the church board voted 5 to 4 to pray for your recovery.”
c. The Christian life is not just a matter of turning your life over to Jesus and then sitting in church as a warm body waiting until Jesus returns.
i) We are called to grow together
ii) To worship together.
iii) To be a model of faith for newer believers
iv) To get outside the holy huddle because God is always sending his children where there’s a need.
v) To bring glory to Jesus.
¨ It happens now in a small measure on earth and will happen for all eternity.
d. That’s why, when you miss some one on a Sunday, you have the freedom to care and to call.
2. THEY LISTENED
a. They were willing to listen to who were saying things aren't going all right.
b. Here, it was within the church family.
i) :1 - … there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
ii) There was the appearance of discrimination.
iii) It doesn’t appear to be deliberate, but rather an oversight.
c. People were hurt.
d. The Hebrew speaking believers were the Jews that lived in Judea and chiefly of Jerusalem.
i) They spoke the Hebrew, or rather the Syriac language;
ii) The Greek speaking believers were the Grecians, or Hellenists, are Jews who were born, and had dwelt, in some parts of Greece, and spoke the Greek language, and used the Septuagint version of the Bible created around 200 B.C. in Egypt.
¨ These were the minority group and they sensed discrimination.
¨ They felt that their widows were being deliberately neglected
e. For those of US IN RECOVERY, this is a constant temptation.
i) Because we struggle with our own self image,
ii) It’s easy to believe others don’t care.
f. Whenever you have a successful time, there's a danger that your not going to listen to people who have something negative to say
i) because you are going to say, oh my, you know they are not with the program.
ii) They are not supportive of these incredible things that God is doing. Maybe they are very supportive. But maybe they see a real problem.
iii) It doesn't mean that everything negative that you hear is true, but one of the responsibilities of leadership is to listen carefully and they did that.
iv) And so they took a response, and they called together a group of people in order to deal with the problem.
g. We must learn to listen to one another like these men did heree:
i) They not only listened to the words, but they listened to their hearts.
ii) They heard the pain and responded.
h. ((illus)) Statistics tell us that the typical U.S. married couple spends four minutes a day in "meaningful conversation" with each other. That's 0.3 percent of the hours in a day.
i) I read stuff like that and I choose to redouble my effort to give others my ear, to give them a smile, where possible and appropriate, to touch them.
ii) I think people today are desperate to be listened to.
iii) This is where the church comes in.
THEY WERE COMMITTED TO COMMUNITY
THEY LISTENED
3. THEY WERE FOCUSED
a. They listened, but the next thing THEY SAID WAS NO, we are not part of the solution.
i) They said no to something good.
ii) One of the biggest struggles of leadership is learning how to say no to other good things that will start to spread you too far out.
b. It's not that these new things didn't need to be done, but the apostles were saying that someone else is called to do this because they have a prior commitment.
i) It might not be a more important commitment, but it's a commitment that they alone can fulfill and so they said, no, it would not be right to neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer in order to this other good ministry waiting on tables.
ii) And so, they propose a solution.
c. ((illus)) It's easy to see how leaders can't do everything. You know, just imagine with me. You are on a plane, you are at 35,000 feet and you are going close to 600 mph. Somebody in the cabin has a heart attack. Immediately flight attendants begin to try to help the person and they might even call out, is there a doctor on the plane in order to help and give special skills to help deal with this. Under no circumstances however will both people from the flight deck come out and try to help. It doesn't work that way. There's a plane that has to be kept in the air for the safety of the whole group.
i) Now that's obvious.
ii) But all leadership involves these sorts of choices.
iii) It might not be life and death like this, but it does sometimes mean the success or not of the enterprise.
iv) And so they had to say no.
THEY WERE COMMITTED TO COMMUNITY
THEY LISTENED
THEY WERE FOCUSED
4. THEY EMPOWERED OTHERS TO SERVE
a. The apostles were not afraid to let other people make real decisions and do real ministry.
b. 3 “Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. 4 Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”
i) Here they are, they are ready to give real ministry away.
ii) The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.
iii) ((illus)) In a museum at Greenfield Village, Detroit, Michigan, there is a huge steam locomotive. Beside this complicated piece of machinery is a sign showing boiler pressure, size and number of wheels, horsepower, lengths, weight and more. The bottom line indicates that 96% of the power generated was used to move the locomotive and only 4% was left to pull the load. Some churches are like that.
iv) Now, think about the risk involved in this.
c. One of the most amazing things about this passage doesn't show up anywhere really except in the names of the people that they pick out.
i) :5 - Here are the names again. Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas from Antioch.
ii) These are all Greek names. None of these people are from the Hebraic group, the old part of this community.
d. Now, think about the risk here.
i) There are thousands of people and there is a very good chance that the apostles didn't even know these people personally. We can't be sure.
ii) Thousands of people there, and only a few months to get to know them.
iii) :3 - And so they give over and they say, you choose from among you the people that will do this service well and are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they allow it to happen.
¨ That was an incredible risk.
e. That's not the way churches normally work.
i) Churches would normally go back to the original 120 and try to find a few additional people from there to lead because they are the trustworthy folks that we know well.
ii) ((illus)) I was talking to one pastor who told me that in his church of 50 people the leaders have instead that there be 7 deacons because there were 7 in this first grouping. Not much flexibility or realism.
f. I’m glad that GCC is not like that.
i) Most of you were not here 5 years ago when we started.
ii) The leaders have been able and willing to recognize some of the gifts in people and to give that ministry away.
iii) We want to be a church that gives permission for its people to do ministry.
iv) To lead a ministry you must be a member and if you have a vision for that ministry come share it with the Elders. Tell us how it fits into the vision of this church and who you have in mind for that ministry.
v) It may be something new or exciting, but something powerful might happen. That’s the risk.
¨ Every member should have a ministry.
¨ This church is filled with as many ministers as there are believers.
g. By the way:
i) Later in the NT Paul and others talk about two offices to lead the church – Elders and Deacons.
¨ The Elders to teach and minister the Word & pray.
¨ The Deacons to serve the people.
ii) These functions are seen as being defined for the first time here in this passage.
¨ Apostles – as Elders, giving over all spiritual direction.
¨ The 7 – serving and fulfilling the office of Deacon.
(a) We commonly call these seven men of Acts 6 “deacons” because the Greek noun diakonos is used in Acts 6:1 (“distribution”), and the verb diakoneo (“administering”) is used in Acts 6:2.
(b) However, this title, “deacon,” is not given to them in this chapter, although you find deacons mentioned in Philippians 1:1 and their qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3:8–13.
(c) The word “deacons” simply means “a servant.”
h. These seven men were humble servants of the church, men whose work made it possible for the Apostles to carry on their important ministries among the people.
i) The people chose wisely.
ii) They didn't choose a bunch of people with axes to grind, they chose people filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom because they realize that even practical ministry, hands on ministry required mature people.
¨ Because people were hurting.
¨ People were confused.
¨ There was mistrust in the community, so they selected mature people.
CONCLUSION:
1. :7 - God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
2. A part of our vision for this church, the center of our vision, is that we would be a church without walls.
a. To be a church, to be the church where we work, where we play, where we live.
b. To see people coming to Christ and growing in Christ through small groups, through ministry groups, through contacts that people have with members of this church.
c. To have such an impact in this community that people are really glad we are here in Englewood.
3. But to do that, we need leaders.
a. Lots of leaders.
b. Not just the leaders like elders and deacons and pastors that are real visible and real official.
i) We need people who realize that even if they are students or managers or doctors or lawyers or teachers or housewives or parents, that all of us can be called to lead in our circumstance and to serve there.
ii) We need people who are sensitive to that. And so, life like that doesn't necessarily always look like what we expect.
4. Through out the NT, you note that leadership in the church was always plural.
a. There were no lone rangers.
i) Phil 1:1 - This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. It is written to all of God’s people in Philippi, who believe in Christ Jesus, and to the elders and deacons.
5. ((illus)) Don’t be like this lady. One day while walking with some children, Queen Mary was caught in a sudden shower. Quickly taking shelter on the porch of a home, she knocked at the door and asked to borrow an umbrella. "I'll send it back tomorrow," she said. The queen had deliberately disguised her appearance by putting on a hat that partly covered her face and by wearing some very plain clothes. The householder, reluctant to give a stranger her best umbrella, offered her a castoff she found in the attic. One rib was broken and there were several holes in it. Apologizing, she turned it over to the monarch, whom she did not recognize. The next day she had another visitor--a man with gold braid on his uniform and an envelope in his hand. "The queen sent me with this letter," he said, "and also asked me to thank you personally for the loan of your umbrella." Stunned, the woman burst into tears. "Oh, what an opportunity I missed that I did not give her my very best," she cried.