The Necessity of Sevanthood
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
“Church on the Move”
“The Necessity of Servanthood”
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.
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
As we read through the book of Acts it feels like an emotional roller coaster. As we watch the early Church on the Move, there are times when it seems like the movement is steamrolled by massive momentum. At the day of Pentecost it says that 3000 souls were saved. The last verse of chapter 2 says that the Lord added to their number day by day those that were being saved.
In Acts 4:4 it says that the number grew to 5000 men.
The momentum and the growth had to have been exciting to say the absolute least.
But, even in all of the growth and the movement, there were obstacles. There were speed bumps, and to say the least they had to have been extremely difficult and discouraging.
Some of you know that we have a golf cart, and that is one of the primary methods we use to exercise Maverick (our dog.)
A lot of times while I am running him with the Golf Cart I will make a loop around the square, and let me tell you, the suspension on that golf cart is not good…AT ALL…maybe nonexistent!
It never fails that we will be going real good, and I’ll come around the corner headed south on the west side of the square, and I will nail that speed bump going far faster than a golf cart should be going when it hits a speed bump.
And all of you know what I am talking about. Maybe not that specific situation, but you know what it’s like to hit something like that going too fast.
So for a minute, imagine what it was like for Peter and John, when they were thrown in jail for healing the lame man at the gate beautiful.
I imagine it was a massive metaphorical speed bump!
It was likely a good jarring for the church to see their leaders persecuted for doing good.
What they would continue to find is that Persecution and Growth go hand in hand!
Unfortunately, the devil will get his hands in it whenever the church starts to flourish. When souls are being saved and lives are being changed, The devil gets angry to say the least.
Often times the enemy of our souls will use religious organizations to come at us the hardest.
It was the temple leaders: the scribes, pharisees, and priests that arrested Peter and John for the healing of the lame man.
Of Course they didn’t outright come at them for a healing or for talking about Jesus…instead they brought them in on something like “Disturbing the peace.” They brought them in to try to scare them, and stop something that was a definite threat to their religious system.
Even in saying all of that, let me also say that we have to be careful about accepting or instantly dismissing new ideas! We MUST weigh EVERYTHING against or BY Scripture!!!
So, Peter and John are arrested, questioned, warned not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, AND THEY ARE RELEASED, but even in their release they are apprehensive.
Going forward, they could face some real jail time.
BUT THEY KNOW THEY HAVE A MANDATE TO BE WITNESSES.
THEY HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH THE VERY SPIRIT OF GOD
THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED POWER!!!
They return to the other believers knowing that they have to continue doing what God instructed, but they also know that they need to be refueled and refilled!!!
They pray TOGETHER, they are refilled, and directly following we are introduced to Barnabas, and the need for encouragement.
IT’S ALWAYS IN THOSE DOWN TIMES THAT WE NEED SOMEONE TO REMIND US OF GOD’S GOODNESS.
TO REMIND US THAT PAIN AND DISTRESS ARE TEMPORARY.
EVEN IF THE REST OF THIS LIFE WILL INVOLVE PAIN AND DIFFICULTY, WE FACE AN ETERNITY OF GRANDEUR AND PERFECT PEACE!!!
Continuing through the story of the early church we get to chapter 5 and see more bumps in the road. More issues and situations that could potentially slow down the progress of Church Growth. Another situation that makes us scratch our heads and say,. WHY.
The situation follows the story of Barnabas and it seems that there is another couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who have decided to sell property and bring the proceeds to the apostles.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this this morning, but long story short, they didn’t have to sell it, and even after they did, they didn’t have to bring all…OR ANY…of the proceeds to the church. The problem was they lied…not only to the humans around them, BUT THEY LIED TO GOD!!!
The results were that “great fear came upon the whole church…”
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
The results were that the apostles continued doing apostolic things!
They continued being used by the Holy Spirit to do signs and wonders.
They continued to see people saved, healed, and delivered.
They continued seeing the Church on the Move.
BUT AGAIN, the enemy hates to see these things happening.
SO AGAIN, The Apostles are arrested and thrown in jail, BUT THIS TIME THEIR FREEDOM COMES SUPERNATURALLY.
THIS TIME AN ANGEL OF THE LORD OPENED THE DOOR OF THE PRISON.
AND AGAIN, THEY ARE REMINDED THAT THEY HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY AND AN HONOR TO SHARE THE WORDS OF LIFE.
THROUGH THE UPS AND DOWNS, THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS, THROUGH THE TIMES OF ACCELERATION AND THE TIMES WHEN THEY DIDN’T THINK THEY WOULD MAKE IT OUT OF JAIL…THEY KEPT GOING!
THEY KEPT MOVING THE CHURCH FORWARD THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
In spite of the warning to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, Acts 5:41-42 …
Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
BUT, in all of the growth and all of the movement, they continued hitting speed bumps.
They continued to realize that they needed to streamline some processes.
They needed to get more people involved!
They needed people to see the value in serving others!
When I read Acts 6:1-8 I am reminded of a story I read about a church in Dallas. The situation led to 2 groups from the same church in court arguing over rightful ownership of the church property. The judge, feeling he had no jurisdiction in the case referred the matter up the chain to the denominations leadership. When all was said and done, one group was awarded the property, while the other group left and formed another church.
Not completely satisfied, the denominational leadership continued investigating the root cause of the problem. What led to such an ugly, bitter, conflict that would be shared with all that cared to read about it in the newspapers?
HAM! A slice of stinking ham!!! The entire conflict started at a church dinner when a church elder noticed that a child had been given a bigger slice of ham than he received!!!
As we have gone through Acts 2, 3, 4, and 5 we see that in each of those chapters, there are outside forces trying to stop the church. The religious, and civil leaders have tried to stop the gospel from being preached.
Other Jews have mocked the power of God in the lives of the believers.
And I briefly talked this morning about the story of Ananias and Saphira lying to God…trouble was already evident within the church.
AS LONG AS PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED THERE WILL BE SOME LEVEL OF TROUBLE!!!
We are all flawed humans. I told someone one time, If you ever find the perfect church, don’t go there, you’ll mess it up!
But we can avoid many of these problems.
AND EVEN IF THEY SHOW UP, WE CAN CHOOSE TO NOT LET THEM DEFINE US!!!
The First Church of the Ham Slice in Dallas TX allowed a problem to define it!
EVEN BETTER YET, WE SHOULD LET THE PROBLEM DEFINE US, BUT WE SHOULD DO SO ACCORDING TO THE EXAMPLES OF JESUS!!!
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.
The first thing we need to understand is that this was a legitimate complaint. Too often we have a tendency to dismiss people’s concerns as complaints and never really deal with them.
These were real people that had real needs.
Why were they being neglected?
It could have been a type of class discrimination.
The early church was made primarily up of Jews. This fulfills the desire of God from thousands of years ago to create a nation of priests through the seed of Abraham.
Later in 1 Peter 2:9 Peter would describe us as a…
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
But it started with the Jewish People…
But there were 2 kinds of Jewish people…
Hebrews and Hellenists.
The Hebrews were like the pure bread stallions. They didn’t cave to the culture. They had stayed close to Jerusalem, and close to God.
The Hellenists were, as their name describes, more akin to change with culture. They spoke Greek, they likely lived away from Jerusalem and possibly outside of Israel. They had accepted more of the Greek and Roman culture.
Looking back through Acts we have to remember what was happening…
People were selling their possessions and bringing the proceeds to help the needy.
So there was a daily, where food and money would be given to those in need.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
This daily distribution was intended to demonstrate this PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION, BUT…
But we are all human…
As this new church was moving forward a lot of what was going on was probably happening in inner circles.
Not that that is a bad thing…If I already have a defined relationship with John, it is going to be easier for me to communicate with John what needs to happen.
But John has some prejudices… John sees these Hellenists as infidels. Maybe they are going through this hardship as a way to purify them from their past sins of leaving the Jewish culture…
BUT THAT ISN’T JOHN’S TO DECIDE!!!
THAT ISN’T MINE TO DECIDE!!!
WHAT IS MINE AND JOHN’S TO DO, IS TO CARE FOR THE ORPHANS AND THE WIDOWS!!!!
We have to acknowledge that there are going to be times when our hearts and minds aren’t completely made new. There will be times when our past situations, experiences, traumas, hurts, and hangups keep us from doing EVERY JOB VERY WELL!!!
There isn’t one person in this room that can ever be GREAT AT EVERYTHING!!!
That’s why there is a diversity of gifts, but ONE SPIRIT!
We all have a role, we all play a position, we all should be serving a purpose.
BUT THE ONLY WAY WE CAN SERVE A PURPOSE, IS TO START SERVING.
The apostles understood this, and they understood their purpose!
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.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
UNDERSTAND YOUR PURPOSE!!!
"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
The Apostles “Understood the Assignment”
They knew that serving tables and seeing to the distribution was important, BUT THEY KNEW THAT WASN’T THEIR JOB, IT WASN’T THEIR PURPOSE.
I heard or read a great quote one time. I wish I could remember where it came from, but it said this… “Let others do what they can, so you can do what they can’t.”
The premise is this, use examples from the audience…
Gail let’s me preach and study the Word, because I don’t know anything about raising cows!
KNOWING OUR PURPOSE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!!!
The next step can be even harder!!! We have to recognize the purpose in others.
I say it’s the harder because even the Scripture shows that the apostles weren’t going to touch that part with a 10’ pole.
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.
Remember, the apostles have dedicated themselves to study, preaching, and prayer!
They are certainly engaged in fellowship with others, but there is no way they can know everyone, especially the Hellenists. It wasn’t racial, or classism, it was simply the differences in cultures.
SO, the apostles did what was wise…
Pick from among yourselves…
You know the people that exhibit great character. You know the ones with the gift of organization. You know who has an amazing gift of being able to diffuse conflict…
YOU KNOW THE ONES THAT SEEM TO BE CONNECTED TO GOD
YOU KNOW THE ONES THAT ARE FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
YOU KNOW WHO PEOPLE LOOK UP TO…
PICK THEM!!!
Whatever the job, look for the right person to do it.
Jim Collins – Good to Great
You have to find the right person to be in the right seat on the right bus at the right time!
IT’S ALL ABOUT PURPOSE.
BUT IT’S ALSO ABOUT TIMING!!!
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Long story short, this guy named Haman (which probably means Hitler in German) is trying to have the Jews killed. He is literally trying to start the first Holocaust 500 years BC.
But in God’s Providence and Sovereignty there is a young girl named Esther in the Kings Harem, and she has the ability to speak to the king.
But taking advantage could get her killed…NOT LAUGHED AT, BUT KILLED!!!
She is understandably hesitant, but her uncle replies to her…
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
So what happens when you don’t step in to fulfill your purpose?
Whatever that purpose is?
When you don’t do what God called you to do, Someone else will step in to do it, and YOU WILL MISS OUT ON THE BLESSING!!!
SO, WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?
I PROMISE YOU THE PURPOSE IS ALWAYS TO SERVE OTHERS!!!
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
In the verses leading up Mark 10:43-45 James and John are trying to slide their way into importance, but Jesus ends the conversation with a great life lesson for all of us.
But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
To further illustrate this we can go back to the passage we all love to read and claim when it comes to healing and salvation.
Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Specifically, Isaiah 53:11
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
FINALLY!!!
Service will cost you something!!!
Stephen is taken into custody, and stoned!!!