ACTS 6:1
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose
Mo people, mo problems!
It's not surprising that as the number of saved sinners increased that trouble at some point increased as well. Everyone is a sinner. Christians are saved sinners, but they're still sinners, so it's not surprising that even in a community like this where they are loving each other, sharing bread, homes, money, etc... that they still have problems. If they couldn't pull off a perfect church back then in that world, we shouldn't expect to do so in ours.
So, good news! if you're a sinner, you are welcome to join. You won't ruin it, you will just be joining the rest of us sinners. But don't join thinking being part of a church will solve all of our problems. It won't and you'll be disappointed!
ACTS 6:2-4
“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.”
Many of us read this and are offended. Our natural response is to say, "Why don't they care more about justice and widows?"
But notice, no one in their town reacted to it that way. They didn't respond by accusing the apostles of shirking their responsibilities. They were happy that the apostles took this seriously enough to appoint a group of good and godly men to address it.
This WAS the apostles caring about it. So we get it exactly backwards. We accuse them of not caring when in fact this is the height of their concern.... it just wasn't their role.
They took RESPONSIBILITY for it by appointing others who were more imminently qualified and gifted to address it so that they could focus on what they alone were most imminently qualified and gifted to do.
And the result?
Acts 6:7
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.
When God's people use their gifts to serve the body, everyone wins, everyone grows and more are added and disciples are multiplied in number and in maturity. This is a model of lay leaders and regular church members getting after it and going work. Too many churches expect their vocational pastor staff to do everything, but here we see that that is NOT Healthy and the church actually grows (wider and deeper) when pastors get other people into the game (Eph 4:11-12)
This would require a transition to an emphasis on lay leaders, committed members, and faithful Christians in every corner, not just on stage or in the back office.
Acts 6:8-15
This lay leader is a living representative of Jesus and an ambassador for Him out in places where only lay people go (to work, to their homes, to their neighborhoods, etc..)
Acts 7:1-53
Stephen is not a vocational minister, but he is NO SLOUCH! Preach! Brother read his Bible, understood theology, cared about it and remembered it and if you pricked him, he bled it. He wasn't afraid to call sin out and He was not afraid to lift Jesus up as our only hope.
Acts 7:54-60
And so the first recorded martyr for the Christian faith is an ordinary man filled by an extraordinary Spirit, a regular church attender who waited tables while reading His Bible. He has the HIGH privilege of being the first to shed blood in Jesus' name. He is the first fruits of many more who would come after.
What the church needs more than anything is not more superstar celebrity pastors, but more regular, committed members who celebrate, connect, and contribute at the local level faithfully for God's glory, their neighbor's good and their own personal growth.
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