Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are picking back up in our study of the book of Acts.

If you’re new to our church, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means is we believe the best way to teach the Bible is to study it book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse in order to understand what the Bible means and how it applies in our lives today.

With that said we are currently doing that through the NT book of Acts.

A book that was written for two purposes.

First, to tell the story of how the church started and the circumstances that surrounded it.

And secondly, and most important, to give us a template for how Jesus intends for us to accomplish the mission of taking the Gospel to the rest of the world.

So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go to MCF.LIFE, where you can listen to all of the messages leading up to today.

Today as we jump back into Acts, we are starting chapter 6 as the church continues to grow despite the opposition it faced in chapters 4-5 with the group known as the Sadducees.

You may recall the Sadducees were a Jewish religious group who felt threatened religiously and politically by the popularity and growth of the early church.

As a result, they had resorted to threats and fear tactics in order to try and stop the early church’s message and growth.

But as we learned last week, after listening to the wisdom and words of a Pharisee named Gamaliel, the Sadducees have backed off for now, leaving the church to continue its advancement.

And now with this battle behind them, the church now faces a new set of challenges, and not from the outside, but from within the church.

So in order to set up where we are going this morning, I want to begin by giving you a few scenarios to consider that I think when combined will help us build some framework for the message today.

That being said, here’s the first scenario:

SCENARIO 1 - Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were trying to accomplish a task, but in the process of completing the task, something or somebody else needed your time or attention, and as a result, you had to abandon or put your task on hold in order to help them.

For example, maybe you’re trying to get an important project done at work, and every time you go to work on it, your co-worker interrupts you because they need your help on something they’re working on.

Or maybe your trying to focus on an important task your boss gave you, but every-time you to go work on it, the phone won’t stop ringing, and apparently you’re the only one that knows how to answer the phone.

Or a customer stops by, and apparently your the only one that is willing to help the customer.

And then before you know it the day is almost up, and you’re not even close to accomplishing the task you were given.

Anybody ever been there?

SCENARIO 2 - Have you ever had a job or been in a situation where you had a specific skill set to offer, but because of the workload or lack of staffing, you weren’t able to function in your skill or gift.

Instead you had to address multiple jobs and positions, some of which you weren’t equipped or even qualified to address.

For example, maybe you were hired out at Landoll’s to weld, something your’e really good at, but then somebody quits in the paint department leaving them short handed, so they transfer you over to paint, something you’re not good at, and now everybody’s wondering why the paint quality isn’t what it should be.

Or maybe you were hired out at Landoll’s to weld, something your’e really good at, but then somebody quits in the paint department leaving them short handed, so they transfer you over to paint, something you’re not good at, and now everybody’s wondering why the paint quality isn’t what it should be.

I think if we all think about it, we’ve all been in a situation where we were equipped for a certain job, but then we got roped into doing something we weren’t equipped to do, which led to a decrease in quality across the board.

SCENARIO 3 - As a parent, how many of you have discovered how quickly your kids outgrow clothing and shoes?

It’s crazy, right?

I mean you buy them a new outfit or a pair of shoes, and next thing you know it looks like they’re wearing high waters, forcing you to spend more money to meet the growing need.

I would say all of us have at some point.

If

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Or maybe you have a teenager, and you’re quickly discovering that 3 meals a day isn’t enough.

No, they have to eat 5-6 times a day as they eat you out of house and home and your food budget goes out the window.

I ask you to consider these three scenarios, because as we come to today, we come to a similar situation.

A situation where certain individuals need to accomplish important tasks, but keep getting distracted to meet the needs of others.

A situation where certain people are equipped with certain skills, but due to a lack of personnel, they are being compelled to work in areas they are less equipped for.

A situation where the early church is growing at such a rate that its leaders are at their limits trying to meet the needs of the growing church body.

A situation where certain people are equipped with certain skills, but due to a lack of personnel, they are having to give their time to areas they are less equipped for.

A situation where the early church is growing at such a rate that its leaders are at their limits trying to meet the needs of the growing church body.

And as a result, the early church is facing the challenge of continuing its mission.

And to be honest, this is a challenge for any church that is committed to reaching people with the gospel.

Because at some point the growth overcomes its leaders causing them to have to shift their focus and gifts in order to meet growing needs within.

And and as a result, the ball gets dropped in some critical areas as church leaders struggle to accomplish more than they are equipped to handle.

So, with with that as our basis, we have three goals this morning.

So, with with that as our basis, we have three goals this morning.

First, we’re going to read through the passage and find out what the situation is and why there is a problem.

Second, we’re going to go back through the passage and learn how the disciples addressed it.

Finally, we’re going to discover how this passage applies to our church as we continue to grow.

So, with our goals set, lets pick back up as Luke introduces us to this new challenge the early church is facing.

Beginning in chapter 6:1, Luke writes:

Luke not shifts from the focus of outside persecution to the challenges of growth within the church.

And in doing so he highlights four key principles for church growth that we need to understand.

Principles that if not understood and addressed could cause a church to move backwards instead of forwards.

So, for the next few minutes, I want to share these principles with you, and then we’ll discuss how they apply to our church.

The first principle is this:

As a church grows, ministry opportunities and needs grow with it.

Luke writes:

Acts 6:1

Couple of things Luke says here that I want you to notice.

First he says, “In the days when the disciples were increasing in number...”

What Luke is highlighting here is the challenge he’s about to address isn’t necessarily a negative challenge.

It’s just a challenge that comes with reaching people.

A challenge that results when more and more people come to faith in Jesus in the church setting.

I think that’s important for us to understand, because as we talk this morning about the current challenges of our church, I want to make sure everybody understands this isn’t a negative challenge.

But a challenge that result when a church get serious about reaching people for Jesus.

It’s just the result of reaching more people.

Second, after giving context for the challenge, Luke tells us what the challenge is.

He writes:

Luke says as more and more people come to faith in Jesus, there are some administrative and logistical problems that have arisen.

Specifically concerning a group of new believers who are being neglected.

How are they being neglected?

Well, Luke implies here that the early church had what we might call a food pantry or food distribution system.

A place where people in need can could go and get food.

But apparently not everybody was getting access to it, specifically a group of widows who were in need.

And as a result, people within that group were starting to complain that their needs weren’t being met.

And again, this is often the natural result of a growing church.

And the problem isn’t that nobody cares about these widows.

The problem is in the midst of growing numbers, the established church leaders are running low on capacity.

Administratively they can’t handle all of the ministry needs.

And as a result, some people are falling through the cracks.

To be honest, this happens all the time in growing churches and can become a significant problem.

Because if not addressed, it could send the message to those in need that the church doesn’t care or the church has gotten to big to care for needs.

And when that happens, people begin to get critical and complain that the pastor or pastors are just too busy for them, and maybe they need to find a smaller church that cares.

But the truth is, it’s not that the pastors don’t care, or that the church is too big, it’s that with the growing ministry, the pastor or pastors have reached administrative capacity.

Because as a church grows, the needs of its people grow with it.

I know this has been a challenge at MCF over the past several years.

For example, when I took the Lead Pastor position at MCF, we had one service and a weekly attendance of 110 people kids and all.

And to be honest, pastoring 110 people and caring for the needs of 110 people is doable for most pastors.

And for the most part, as long as people shared their needs with me, I was able to help meet minister and meet their needs.

But as our church began to grow, meeting everybody’s needs became a challenge.

In fact, just learning everybody’s name became a challenge.

Because by the end of my first year at MCF, the church had two services and was running over 200 people on a weekend.

And then by the end of my third year the church was running over 300 people.

And now seven years later we are averaging around 340-360 people on a weekend, and that’s just the average number that shows up week to week.

The truth is, we have a church roster of over 1000 people who call MCF their church home.

And the reality is, even with our full time staff of 3 pastors, we struggle to meet the needs of every attendee in our church to the degree we’d like too.

And if I’m honest, some have fallen through the cracks.

Some have been overlooked.

And as a result, some have complained, some have gotten upset, and some have left because they felt like MCF has gotten too big to meet their needs.