No: The Biggest Yes

Saxophone

In 4th grade I picked up the violin. In 5th grade I played the stand-up bass. But in 6th grade I discovered the saxophone. Inspired by the greats like Kenny G and Michael Bolton, I was going to be a saxophone legend.

Now this isn’t the saxophone I had in sixth grade, this is a new saxophone my parents gave me for Christmas many years ago. It has followed me from house to house… and I would now like to share with you my saxophone prowess.

Just kidding. I can’t really play the saxophone. I had ambitions of relearning alongside Logan when he started on the trombone… he eclipsed me in a couple months.

I want to learn the saxophone. And I am a musician… I could learn to play the saxophone. And I even have a saxophone.

Why am I not Kenny G.?

Book

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. 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.

This is a pivotal moment in the early church and one that shapes the way we church today. So we are going to spend some time in depth here.

Look

Church Split

Acts 6:1 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.

Everything is going so well.

First time the early followers are called “disciples” (learners) in the book of Acts. They are growing in number, but they are “learners” as well. It’s going great!

… and another potential crisis raises its head.

The “hellenists”. Either Greek speaking Jews (from the Diaspora) or possibly, less likely, God-fearing Gentiles now converted to be Christ followers.

Thousands upon thousands have come to Christ. We are at least at 10,000 men, so we are looking at thousands of widows, hundreds of them perhaps are these Hellenists. This is not a small problem, this is an organizational administrative nightmare.

OF COURSE some people are getting slighted, neglected, missed out.

And it’s a bit racist. There is a natural “my people first” default that seems to be preferring the Hebrews over the Hellenists. This is the kind of institutional racism that shows up wherever humans are humans.

It’s gross, it is sinful, and it’s a problem.

So we have a crucible moment for the church. Split or grow in unity?

What will they do?

I got kind of fixated on this this week… such that we are going to spend a couple weeks launching off from this point.

The Solution - What they did

What the apostles actually do is fantastic. They create an administrative role that we call deacons. They call 12 men of great reputation to that ministry, they pray and lay hands on them. And that “serving” role, “deacons” (which is a transliteration of this word which means to “serve”) it becomes a major role of leadership within the church in the following decades. And that idea lasts to this day such that we have people in our church we call deacons who are called to serve in a special way.

And the greatest miracle of all… is that when the apostles have this idea, they bring it to the church (there’s a model of congregational polity there) and… one of the greatest miracles in Scripture:

Acts 6:5 ESV

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.

“What they said pleased the whole gathering...” Amazing. And there was great rejoicing!

We are going to dive into the actual solution and the men who were put in that role next week.

The Process - How they did it

But this week I have been fascinated by the wisdom and the focus demonstrated by the apostles in this moment, this crucible of leadership.

The Apostles - Called to Serve

They, the church, the aggrieved members of the church, they bring this brewing division to the apostles, to the 12.

Acts 6:1 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.

This problem is brought to the apostles.

Why to them?

To date, they are the only leaders the church has. In a church of thousands, a community of maybe 10s of thousands… there are 12 guys leading the pack.

No one else has the authority, no one else has the vision, no one else has the big picture.

In fact, if I am sitting in their shoes, my first reaction would be to solve the problem. They bring a readily fixable problem and I am a problem-fixer by reflex.

Tell me: some Hellenist widows aren’t getting enough food. That’s the problem. What’s the solution?

GIVE THEM MORE FOOD! Tweak the process. Maybe oversee it for awhile. Yeah… that doesn’t sound right, let me take over the distribution of the food for a bit and we will get this sorted out.

After all, the apostles are called to serve in the humblest ways. It wasn’t that long ago Jesus sat at the table, teach them what “greatness” means in the kingdom of God.

Luke 22:25–26 ESV

And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

The “one who serves” is exactly this word.

Jesus himself “served” them at table and washed their feet. You can imagine the inner dialogue among the apostles. This too is our “Christian” responsibility. What, are we too good to serve tables, to serve the widows, isn’t that righteousness? Isn’t that good.

This word “serve” or “diakoneo” is the same in all these places. So this is an opportunity for humble service.

And if we read this text and the apostles went that way, wouldn’t we be impressed at their humility and service?

But they don’t jump at the chance to “serve”. To serve “widows” even, which, along with orphans, is the most explicit and commanded service opportunity there is!

Instead, they gather all of the disciples, all the “learners” and give them this answer.

What is their answer? “No”.

“No”. Not going to do it.

Acts 6:2 ESV

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.

It isn’t right that we should serve tables. Why? Because, they have the wisdom to see, serving tables comes at a cost. A great cost.

The cost of serving tables means that they would “give up preaching the word of God.” There are only so many hours in the day.

Instead, choose seven men (more about that next week)… but as for us, we say “no” to that service opportunity SO THAT we can say a bigger YES to this:

Acts 6:4 ESV

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

The apostles say “no” to a good ministry in order to be an all in “yes” to what God has called them to do.

This is their one sentence job description. It is still “diakonia”, service, but service of the word, not of tables. In that sense the apostles are still “deacons” (literally). Deacons of the Word, where the 7 become Deacons of the Table.

They devote themselves to Prayer - Talking to God, spending time with Him, in communion, following the model of the Master who regularly retreated from them to spend time alone with His Father.

Devoting themselves to intimate prayer and service of the Logos, of the Word. The Living Word, certainly at least including the Scripture...

and then we see above the preaching of these things, presenting the outcome of both of those to the church.

The apostles say “no” to a good opportunity to serve in order to say the bigger “YES” to

The knew the center of their calling, the center of their passion, the center of their ministry. It was this: devoted to pray, study and preach the Word.

They said “no” in favor of a “bigger yes”.

To add anything else in would detract from that. They show amazing discipline and wisdom here.

The “no” of the apostles opened up greater opportunity for others and a better future for the church. The passage starts with “the church was growing” and then “uh oh, a crisis” but ends with

Acts 6:7 ESV

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.

Just Say No

I am the worst at this.

I LOVE saying yes to things. I have worked with many of you in leadership for years and many of you have lovingly helped me push back against this tendency.

“We need someone to update the website” “I’ll do that!” “Should you do that?” “… no...”

The worship desperately needs someone to learn and play the saxophone! Okay, let that be me, too!

I love saying yes to things. Because I “can” do them. I am willing. And in the moment of consideration I think so optimistically about the time involved and the time I have available. Of course I can add that one tiny thing that won’t ever take more than a minute! What could go wrong?

What ends up happening? Not only might I not accomplish the new thing I added… in trying all my other responsibilities and commitments may suffer.

I have a one sentence job description: “I will lead and feed my family and church.”

Anything that doesn’t meet that criteria… what should my answer be? “No.” It should be no.

Pray for me in this, because I have A LOT of things that I am presently committed to that don’t fit this. They don’t contribute, they distract and confuse and I am learning how to say “no”. I want to do it as wisely as the apostles, handing it over to trustworthy people who will then go and do an amazing work… and everyone is better for it. Everyone wins.

I need to say “No” to all these good things so that I can say my biggest “yes” to what God has called me to.

A few weeks ago, I said “no” to 3.8 billion women so that I could say my biggest “yes” to one. “Forsaking all others, devoting myself to her.”

The Biggest Yes

What is your big “YES?” What is the center of you passion and calling?

If you don’t know that yet, we are going to pick that up a bit next week. How do you discover that?

But if you know what God has called you to. You know what passion he has given you, what ministry he has called you…

What do you need to say “no” to in order to “wholly devote yourself” to that service? To “deacon” in exactly the way God has called you, made you, prepared you?

What “good” things do you need to say “no” to in order to say that biggest “yes”?

They may be great things. Church things, even. And we want to say “no” wisely as the apostles did. To find the right people to take that torch, to take that ministry, to meet the need. That may be a process, and that’s okay. It’s absolutely a process in me...

Can you imagine a community where everyone is doing exactly what they are called to and passionate about? I get that that seems and sounds unrealistic. We have all picked up pieces and roles that aren’t our favorite. But imagine a person called and designed, gifted for every purpose. Doesn’t that start to sound like the Body of Christ as Paul describes it?

The “no” of the apostles opened up greater opportunity for others and a better future for the church… and allowed them to say their biggest all-in Yes.

What do you need to say no to in order to say your biggest “yes”?

Nehemiah on the Wall

I have a picture of this in my mind of Nehemiah. He was called by God, gifted with a vision to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and then supernaturally equipped to accomplish that vision. There he is up on the wall as it is starting to go up around Jerusalem. And the enemies of Jerusalem send messengers calling him to come parley, come talk, planning to betray and kill him.

But Nehemiah simply could not be pulled away from seeing the vision God had given him accomplished.

Nehemiah 6:3 ESV

And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.

I am wholly devoted to the service God has called me to. In order to say my “biggest yes” to the vision and calling God has given me… I must say no to everything else, the bad and the good.

May we be wholly devoted to the ministries God has and is calling us into. IN order that, just as in the church in Jerusalem

“The word of God may continue to increase and the number of the disciples be multiplied greatly in [Thornton].”