It Takes a Team

Introduction

The Olympics are upon us! We’ve waited an extra year for this Olympic games and there have already been some pretty cool storylines play out before us. We’ve seen a 13 year old win a gold medal and several Americans stand on the podium in their respective events as well. One of the strangest things about this year’s Olympics compared to games in previous years/countries has been the lack of fans. Now, we’re kind of used to this because we know that the past 16 months have been crazy. Still, though, it’s kind of odd to be watching a race or a game and to not see or hear any fans cheering the athletes on. One professional basketball player was interviewed about this very thing a couple months ago and mentioned how athletes are used to almost feeding off of the energy in the crowd and now that the fans were not allowed to attend games in person, there seemed to be a lack of energy. That energy had to be produced by teammates. Think of being an Olympic athlete in Tokyo today - whatever sport you’d like to think you’d be competing in right now - and not having your family and friends be there watching you in the games. That would be tough! You wouldn’t have them cheering you on in the most important competition of your career. What would you need in that moment? You would need teammates who support you and cheer you on - you need a good team!

This is what we need in the Church as well. COVID has changed so many things in our world and one of those things has been our interactions with others. As human beings, we are relational and we truly need to interact and talk with others or else we usually end up in a pretty dark, cold place. In the global church, we have had to do things a little bit differently over the last year and a half and change is usually hard! It’s been hard to not see people as often as we’re used to seeing them. It’s hard to not do things that we’re traditionally accustom to doing. Do you know what’s even harder than those things, though? Navigating these uncharted waters without a team. Praise the Lord that, as Christians, we have the Holy Spirit guiding and directing us today - but we know that we belong to Christ and that we have brothers and sisters who are walking this road with us. This is a tremendous blessing in such an uncertain season of life, friends!

What do we need from one another? We need encouragement. We need people to cheer us on. We need one another to lift us up in prayer in the good and bad moments. We need to worship together. We need to study God’s Word together. What is the common word here? Together. We need one another. Why is this the case? Because we are a team. We are not a bunch of isolated individuals. We are a part of a body - the body of Christ. Meaning this: In order to accomplish our mission, we can’t do it on our own. We need the body and the body needs each of us. You are vitally important to the ministry of Morgan Baptist Church and this church suffers whenever you are not here. How do we know this? The New Testament talks about the gathering of God’s people and how we are supposed to emphasize and prioritize that above other commitments in our life. Specifically for us, as we continue in the book of Acts, we find ourselves in Acts 6 and we will examine the reality of the situation. We are gifted differently, but the reason this is the case is because we are facing problems. There are serious problems facing the church just as there were 2000 years ago and God provides a solution to these problems. The solution is for us to unite together as a body and fulfill our purpose of proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples.

We cannot do this on our own. We can’t do this with a group of 2-3 leaders. This takes each and every one of us coming together and saying, “I’m all in!” It takes a team! Are you ready to step to the plate and be a problem solver? Let’s read what God’s Word says in Acts 6.

Acts 6:1–7 (CSB)

1 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.

3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

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

5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.

6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

Churches Have Problems (1)

Unity is all the rage currently in our world. You have people who talk a big talk about being tolerant of all people and all ideas in the name of being united with the human race. What is the biggest threat to unity? Often, ourselves! We know that we are all a little bit different - we think differently, we look differently, we smell differently, and we enjoy different things! Differences are not a bad thing, they are a God-given thing. After all, how boring would church be if everyone looked and talked the same? We read in Scripture about how we are different and how God has gifted us uniquely in order to fulfill our call as the body of Christ. We are called to be united with one another because we are all adopted brothers and sisters in Christ. Psalm 133 speaks to how the Lord delights in this type of unity

Psalm 133:1 CSB

1 How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony!

Now, you would think that it would be easy to live in unity with one another, especially as Christians, because we worship the One true God. We have the Holy Spirit guiding us along life’s journey. We have witnessed the power of God and we know that He has a plan for us! Therefore, unity should be easy - shouldn’t it be?

Why is maintaining unity so difficult? Because we are people. More specifically, we are sinners. Each and every one of us are sinners and, because of that, we often are tempted to quarrel with others rather than to play well with others. Sometimes non-Christians look at churches and Christians and think that we’re a bunch of hypocrites because we talk a big talk about how we love Jesus and we love others, but whenever people look inside a church, what do they see? They see bickering. They see meanness. They see gossip. They see many problems. What is the church full of? People. People naturally have problems. The only way to have a problem-free church is to have no one inside. Every single church, regardless of size, shape, denomination, and tradition, has problems.

So far in the book of Acts, we’ve seen that this church has remarkable unity and they’ve experienced remarkable growth as well. This has been a beautiful thing to witness as people of all shapes and sizes have become united under the Gospel of Jesus Christ - isn’t this what we desire to see in our church today? We desire to see people who are lost come and know Christ as Lord! We desire to see people grow in their walk with Christ and become discipled. We want to see the Kingdom of God expand! This is church-growth. We naturally want our church to grow. Some people care a little too much about numbers because they think that the numbers you have are representative of how good you are at something. Think of the business world, if you are good at your job, in a fair market, you will be compensated accordingly and the numbers will back up the fact that you’re good at what you do. Some people feel the same way with numbers at church. Church growth can turn inward really quick to the point that we’re all about numbers and not about discipleship or Gospel faithfulness. On the flip side, some churches aren’t interested in church growth because they’re comfortable with the status quo. They like things the way that they are and they don’t want someone new to come in and shake things up a bit.

I knew a large church like this that was located in a growing area of a large city. They were all about reaching the lost with the Gospel during VBS and other activities, but whenever people started coming to church and whenever they acted a little differently compared to the current members, the church stopped trying to reach this demographic of people entirely! Friends, our goal as Christians is to reach people with the Gospel and to make disciples. Just as you can have a large church be unhealthy and unfaithful, you can have a small church be unhealthy and unfaithful to the Gospel mission as well. Likewise, you can have a small church and be healthy and faithful, and you can have a large church and be healthy and faithful. Luke documents the fact that this church is growing - there might be as many as 20,000 people in the church by this point in time! This is a great thing - not the numbers themselves, but the reason that people are joining the church. The church is prioritizing the Gospel above all.

Whenever we put an idea or tradition as our #1 thing, as Christians, and as a church, we are in the wrong. Our opinions, traditions, preferences, and ideas are good and fine - but the Gospel has to be front and center. The Gospel should be what drives church growth! Why does this matter so much? Because whenever there is growth, there will be problems. Whenever there are people present, there will be problems. But whenever the Gospel is front and center, there can be unity in the midst of problems.

What is the problem facing this early church? We read that there are some Greek speaking Jews who are complaining that the Hebrew speaking Jews aren’t assisting the Greek speaking widows as they should be. Is this a problem of doctrinal accuracy? Is this a Gospel-related problem? No. This is a practical problem. This is a cultural problem. This is a situation with tension involved. How were widows cared for in this time? By the church. By people coming together and pooling their resources together in order to help those with needs. My parents came up on July 18th and shared about their recent trip to Guatemala and they noted how in that culture, it was common for grandparents to be in the same house as parents and grandkids. This is common in many countries today as well - this was also common back in the ancient world. Families would take care of their elderly family members and provide housing and food for them. What was happening here was that you have Greek-speaking Jewish widows who were joining the Christian church and they genuinely had no one to take care of them. They had no family. They had left the Jewish synagogue and now they were in a place of need and the Jewish speaking Christians were not exactly their best friends. There was tension here and it resulted in people being hungry and in a position of great need.

This was a genuine problem! Are we facing genuine problems in the church today? Are there areas of great tension in our world right now? There certainly are! Just as these groups of Jews didn’t exactly get along very well, there are polarizing issues in our world today that make people get divisive, and frankly, hateful towards the other side. We are facing problems today just as the early church faced problems. The fact that there are problems today shouldn’t come as a surprise or a shock, it should be seen as the reality of the situation. We can’t just keep on going throughout our day, though. We have to stand up and address the problem. Have you ever held a grudge against someone for a very long time? Isn’t that absolutely exhausting? Consider all the time that you waste away thinking about a certain situation and being angry for next to no reason. Doesn’t that wear you down over time? The Bible tells us

Ephesians 4:26 CSB

26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,

Yet, there are times whenever we have a problem with someone that we simply let it stew and we meditate on the problem and, friends, we sin when we do this. What should we do whenever there is a problem? The Bible is clear - we solve the problem. We talk things out - we don’t act like 5 year olds, we don’t fight fire with fire like the world does. We are united in Christ and we are called to maintain that unity. How can we do this?

Problems Require Solutions (2-4)

We must come up with a solution. This is what we see the apostles do in our text as they meet together and plan how they can address this specific problem while continuing to share the Gospel message with the lost and making disciples. Think of how we go about solving problems today. Some people don’t know how to solve problems and they allow things to fester and eventually, the problem gets a whole lot worse than it originally was. Others are avid problem solvers and they aren’t shy about telling you how to solve your problems, if you catch what I’m saying. Then there are many people in between who experience varying levels of success in problem solving. We know that there are things in our life that we simply have to address, even though it might not be the easiest or most convenient thing in the world. I once heard a story from a wonderful couple who served as co-Sunday school teachers in my old youth group about how they handled problem in their newlywed stage. Apparently the husband did something that upset the wife and the wife genuinely didn’t talk to her husband for days. Not just 1 day but we’re talking like 3-4 days! Did this help the situation? Absolutely not, especially as newlyweds. Eventually they talked about what had happened and they were able to apologize and move on - what did they have to do? They had to solve their problem before they could move deeper in their marriage with one another. Similarly, there are times in our lives where we are facing a problem and the easy thing to do might not necessarily be the right thing to do. Again, like we discussed last week, it’s a whole lot easier to be upset with people who disagree with us about something or to call them names, but that’s not what we’re called to do as Christians. We’re supposed to go about our mission of proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. This means that whenever there’s a problem, we can’t pout and not talk with someone for long stretches of time, instead we have to go about solving the problem. This requires hard work and possibly some difficult conversations, but it’s always worth it to solve the problem rather than allowing Satan to drive a wedge and bring in division.

In our text we see that the Christians gather everyone up and say that there are people in need but that there are too many people for the 12 apostles to take care of everyone with needs. What is the solution to this administrative problem? Simple: Let’s select 7 people who will handle these responsibilities!

The church is growing rapidly, which is a good thing! But there are times where churches run into legitimate problems and these problems must be addressed. Notice, whenever the complaint arose to the apostles, did they lash out? No. They didn’t get defensive at all - they acknowledged that the need must be met and they were also obedient to not taking on more than they could chew. How many of you have ever been guilted into adding responsibilities to your already full plate? Sometimes we simply have to do this, but there are other times where we have to seriously pray and consider what God desires from us. The apostles weren’t saying that serving was beneath them, by any stretch! They were simply saying that they have to preach the Word because the harvest is full right now and rather than accepting these duties and neglecting to preach, they delegate these duties to other Godly leaders.

This is how a church operates, isn’t it? Whenever there’s a problem, we talk about it. Whenever there’s a need, we address the need and we seek to meet the need and solve the problem. Church can’t be about 1 person or a small group of people. It’s been estimated that in the average church, 10% of people do 90% of the work and give 90% of the funds. Now, before you lash out and say that’s not true, I’m just reading you statistics of the “average” church. Even though our church is a little different than the “average” church, consider where you fall in this ratio. Are you a sitter or a servant? Understand the difference here. We are all called, as Christians, to serve in the church! We are all called to proclaim the Gospel and be witnesses for Christ. There’s not levels to the Kingdom where only people at the top have these responsibilities and everyone else is just a spectator - there is no such thing as spectators in the church! Lots of churchgoers like to declare our allegiance for Jesus when it benefits us. We’re good to “sit” at church and say we’re apart of Christ’s Kingdom. But we’re not called to sit… We are called to be servants in His Kingdom.

Ask yourself, how can I be a better problem solver in my own life and how can I be a better servant in the life of Morgan Baptist Church? It takes a team - friends! You need the body and the body needs you to step up and play your part and use your gifts.

The Result: Gospel-Centered Growth (5-7)

What is the result whenever the team steps up to the plate and fulfills their respective role? We see that the Word is shared, disciples increase, and people become obedient to the faith. What happens whenever the church fulfills her purpose? We experience Gospel-Centered Growth.

We see several names in verse 5 as the church selects these 7 men to serve and fulfill this specific ministry duty. We recognize the first 2 names on this list as people who will be mentioned in the coming chapters in Acts. Stephen is given the most recognition by Luke here as it states that he was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and we’ll see this on full display in the next chapter as Stephen preaches a powerful and convicting sermon. We also know that God uses Phillip in a might way in Acts 8 as he proclaims the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch and the Ethiopian repents of his sin and is baptized. While not as much is known about the other 5 individuals, we see that God uses them to solve the present problem in the church and they fulfill their obligation of serving and proclaiming the Gospel. Notice this. Stephen and Phillip were selected by the church to “wait tables” and serve the widows. Does this mean that that’s “all” that they were supposed to do? No! We see these men preaching about Jesus and explaining Scripture to the lost. Isn’t this our call as well? It doesn’t matter who you are or what your gifting is, you are supposed to be a witness for Christ wherever you go. Some see these individuals as being the first deacons in the church. We know that the New Testament talks about 2 offices in the church (elder/pastor and deacon). The word deacon doesn’t appear in the text, but we see a clear example of people selected by the church to serve the church and this is what deacons are called to be and do!

This is what we are all called to be and do - we serve and we proclaim. What happens whenever the church of Jesus Christ is all-in on fulfilling its respective purpose and using the gifts that He has given it? We see 3 things:

Christian teamwork leads to the Word of God being shared

Christian teamwork leads to the conversion of the lost

Christian teamwork leads to disciples being made

Whenever we fulfill our purpose, the Gospel is faithfully preached and taught in the church and by church members outside of church. We genuinely live this out. We also see that the lost are found whenever the church works together as a team and lifts high the name of Jesus Christ. Third, we see that a large number of priests in Jerusalem became obedient to the faith. What does this look like? I love how Luke words this. They became “obedient to the faith.” So many times we place a high emphasis on praying a prayer and on conversion - understandably so! Conversion is beautiful as we see someone place their faith in Jesus and repent of their sins. This is huge - but is the Christian life a sprint? We see the preacher of Hebrews use language indicating that we are running a marathon because he says this

Hebrews 12:1 CSB

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,

Why do we run with endurance? Because it’s a long race. It’s a long process. We become obedient to the faith. This is called discipleship - this is how we die to self, grow in our trust and understanding of God and His Word, and make more disciples. See, the command by Christ isn’t ever to make converts. It’s never about leading altar calls that generate lots of prayer cards. You know the altar call wasn’t even a thing in church life until about 300 years ago, right? What’s the call by Christ? To make disciples. To make people who are obedient to the faith. This is the result of Christian teamwork. This is the result whenever a church is all-in for Jesus and strives to solve problems in a Christ-Centered mindset rather than in a self-centered one.

Conclusion

Church, it’s all about Jesus. While it might be hard to see at times, we know that Christ is building His church and He promises to do this. Our responsibility is to faithfully tell others about Christ, serve in the church, and love others as Christ has loved us. Consider a couple pieces of application from this text

Whenever there’s a problem within the body, speak up!

Jesus speaks of this truth in the Sermon on the Mount as He talks about people offering sacrifices and says that if these people remember that they have something against a brother or sister, or a brother or sister has something against them, that they need to quickly go and be reconciled before continuing with worship. Why does He say this? Because problems build and grow like magma in a volcano. We’re people. We are sinners. We’re going to have problems but don’t let them fester. We’re living in a day and age where people let problems grow and they don’t talk to people and they hold grudges - let this NOT be the case in the church! Just as these Christians did in Acts 6, speak up when there’s a problem. Go to the person in private and talk things out - from personal experience, I almost guarantee that it’ll go better than holding it all inward.

Pray for your church family

We see great unity in this early church and we pray for unity in our church as well. Whenever we face problems and differences of opinions, one of the best ways to navigate those issues is to pray. It’s hard to hate someone that you’re actively praying for.

Be Gospel-above-all Christians

Whenever the Gospel comes first and not our traditions, opinions, preferences, ideas, or backgrounds, we are able to be united as a team. The Gospel unifies diverse people and gives us the same call - to go and make disciples. Be Gospel-above-all!

Teamwork is hard at times. Life is hard at times. In a strange season where there is division, hatred, name-calling, and insensitivity left and right, let’s come together and leave those things at the door and see what our Savior has in store! After all, His plan is infinitely greater than ours. Trust in Him and be unified with one another.