Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever been chosen?

What did it feel like?

Were you chosen for a position in the company that many people wanted?

Were you chosen on a sports team.

Was it a competition or did you meet basic qualifications.

Where you chosen because of someone you knew or your own merit.

To be chosen is a part of life, This morning we are going to discover the story behind the choosing of leadership within the early church outside of Jesus calling of the disciples that became apostles.

Let’s open the text this morning,

Turn with me to Acts Chapter 6 and I will be reading the first seven verses.

Let’s Pray

The Church Was Growing

Have you ever been a part of a movement that began to grow.

I mean at the beginning of that movement.

Some movements over time have taken off and we celebrate that they happened and others we wonder why.

Some are social movements, political movements, media, and even entertainment.

Some are driven around a person, some an ideology, some and more recently with the rise of social media, group think.

Some are confined to a geographical location while others the movement becomes global.

If you study movements there is a pattern to all of them.

There is a beginning, a growth period, a sustaining part, and like most earthly movements there is a decline and often a demise.

Most movements, and I can say almost all, can be graphed on a curve

and the look of the curve changes from one movement to another.

Along the curve there comes a critical moment.

In some cases it can be described as a crisis in that movement.

That crisis changes the tagetery of the movement moving forward.

For some that crisis has a decline in the movement, while others rockets them off to better and greater things.

You don’t have to look too far around us to see various movements and with the rise of the instant information of the world around us they are going to increase more and more.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with our text, well we are looking at a movement developing the the book of Acts.

Words can influence, so let me say a few things.

I don’t believe for one moment when I call the church a movement that there will come a time where it will cease.

The church and it’s mission was established by God and it will never cease.

The how and effect may look different, but God will never let it go.

I use the term movement in the book of Acts because it parallels some to the same characteristics of a movement because God for some reason has chosen to involve us, his creation to be a part of the working of God.

You see, every movement has a crisis and how they group deals with the crisis affects how they move forward.

Last week we saw in this movement a crisis in the lives of the people.

Sin of deception caused a quick response by God and later in the chapter, the leaders of this movement were arrested.

Look back quickly to Acts 5:38-39

we jump into the text as the Jewish leadership were discussing what to do with Peter and the rest of the Apostles where now in great trouble for preaching the Good News.

The leaders saw a movement of what they termed as a movement.

Acts 5:38–39 (ESV)

38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan(movement) or this undertaking is of man, it will fail;

39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You might even be found opposing God!”

So they took his advice,

What happened, they were beaten and freed from Jail.

Would you join a movement if there is great cost to you.

When we stand up for Christ, there may be a time where this will cost us dearly.

When you join with your full life, and you are willing to give everything to God, your life will change.

It did for the people in the story of Acts.

Look what Luke says now just coming out of the context of someone being punished by death for their deception and the leaders imprisoned and beaten.

Acts 6:1 (ESV)

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number

Over the many years of being in leadership in ministry I have noticed one thing.

When you raise the bar of what believers should hold to be true and live their lives, there is always growth.

When I look at scripture and challenge myself along with other believers to hold to the truth and live out the Word of God there is always a growth in our lives.

Seeking God leads to a growing to be more like Christ and it drives us to go and give

The early church was experiencing this as well

There was a growth as the disciples went every day to church and house to house.

But, look at the second part of verse 1

Acts 6:1 (ESV)

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

The Problem

A problem.

It’s no wonder that there was a problem.

People were being added to the group.

In one of my former ministries, as leaders we were excited at the launch of a new ministry that was intended to reach out into the community with the Gospel.

If the methodology that we planned worked and God worked among the people, we would find ourselves like that of the early church and our numbers would double.

We were all excited.

We were praying for growth.

We even opened up or wallets as there was a financial cost to this

So I then asked a sober question.

If this program is successful, are we ready to have a change in our church as the people we reach that come will change the makeup of our church.

Church was about to get messy......

The early church began to get messy....

Every church if they are willing to view their ministry in light of God’s economy, ministry will get messy.

The messiness of the church developed a problem.

People were being overlooked.

It began the long standing discussion among many churches today.

Us vs them

The Us and them in many churches are different depending on the church.

For some Us are the regulars, while them are the visitors

Us are the faithful while them are the so so committed

Us are the Members while them are the adherents

Us are the believers them are the non believers

Any church can fall into a trap of Us vs them

For the early church, Luke states “Hellenists vs Hebrews”

Us vs them.

Ironically, if you were to go into a deep search into who were really the two people groups, theologians over time have debated this and are in conflict.

IT really is a us vs them

You see, as we come to Christ we come with our own understanding, background, and even in some cases prejudice with others that can cause the messiness of church life.

This conflict can truly be summed up this way

But since attitudes and prejudices formed before conversion are often carried over into Christian life—too often the unworthy more than the worthy ones—some of the problems between the Hebraic Jews and the Hellenistic Jews in the church must be related to such earlier differences and prejudices.

The Response of the Leaders

One thing we know for sure is that the Us vs them came to the attention of the leaders.

A complaint arose.

IT really begs the question

how does a healthy church addresses complaints, and folks, there can be many,

the healthy church deals with complaints as they are working together to be like Christ.

Town Hall Meeting

The first thing that the Apostles, the chosen leaders, chosen by God, held a town meeting.