Scripture: Acts 6:1-7
Video Link: https://youtu.be/E0fq28Wa49A
Structure:
- Introduction
- The problem
- The proposal
- The growth
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Most weeks we find a police car in our church car park watching the roundabout. Or at least I think they are watching the roundabout. They might be staking the church out for criminal activity. Brodie’s name is known to the police.
Sometimes I talk to the police. Once I asked them what they were looking out for and they said, people using their cell phones while driving. Driving while distracted is a major contributor to car accidents in New Zealand.
Driver distractions include things like talking with passengers, using cell phones, looking at scenery, eating, smoking, or searching for objects in the car.
According to transport New Zealand statistics, in 2023 there were 15 fatal crashes, 98 serious injury crashes, and 796 minor injury crashes where driver distraction was to blame. Distraction can be a dangerous thing, not just with driving, but in life generally.
Today our message focuses on Acts chapter 6, verses 1-7. The book of Acts tells Luke’s account of the early church and the spread of the gospel. In Acts 6 we read how the apostles avoided distraction and saved the church from crashing.
From Acts 6, verse 1 we read…
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jewsamong them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men of good standing from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
There’s a lot going on in Acts 6:1-7; it would be easy to become distracted.
To give you a road map, the church in Acts 6 faced a problem. The apostles came up with a proposal to sort the problem and the outcome was growth.
Let us begin with the problem.
The problem:
One person you almost never see on an airplane flight is the pilot. If the captain in charge of the plane started walking down the aisle handing out boiled sweets, the passengers would likely feel quite disturbed, and rightly so. If the pilot is in the back with us, who’s flying this plane?
Although the pilot is the person in charge, they don’t usually fly the plane by themselves. The co-pilot supports the captain and the navigator makes sure the plane stays on course.
It is important for the pilot to not be distracted while flying, especially when taking off and landing. Those in the cockpit also need to keep an eye on all the dials and gauges to make sure fuel levels, cabin pressure and other vital systems are as they should be.
The pilot could not do their job without the flight attendants. It’s the role of the flight attendants to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers. If the passengers have a problem, then the flight attendants deal with it.
Say for example, one of the passengers had a medical emergency. The flight attendant would help that person. If the pilot had to respond to the medical emergency themselves, that would put the lives of everyone else on board at risk. The pilot cannot afford to be distracted.
In Acts 6, verse 1, we read how the early church had a problem. The church was growing quickly, which was a good thing. But fast growth also comes with challenges.
The apostles were not aware of the problem at first. It only came to their attention when frustration boiled over into complaint and grumbling. There were at least three aspects to the problem. An organisational aspect, a cultural aspect and a welfare aspect.
The cultural aspect was the deeper underlying issue. Before addressing the organisational and welfare concerns, the apostles had to deal with the cultural disconnect.
At this point the Christian church was almost entirely comprised of people of Jewish descent. However, not all Jews of the first century were the same.
There were basically two cultures in the early Jerusalem church. The Hebraic Jews and the Hellenistic Jews. Hebraic as in Hebrew and Hellenistic as in Greek.
The Hebraic Jews were those Israelites who had been born and raised as Hebrews living in Palestine. They mainly spoke Aramaic. Jesus and the apostles were Hebraic Jews.
The Hellenistic Jews were those Israelites who had been born and raised outside of Palestine. They grew up speaking Greek and had been immersed in Greek culture for most of their lives.
The members of the Jerusalem church may have all been descended from Abraham, but they did not think or communicate in the same way. I suppose in contemporary terms it would be like the difference between Middle Eastern Jews and American Jews. Same ancestry, different culture.
The Greek speaking Jewish widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The daily distribution of food was sort of like a food bank for those in poverty. This was the welfare aspect of the problem.
Widows were especially vulnerable in the first century. There was no social security benefit from the government and work opportunities were often limited for women. If a widow did not have a way of supporting herself or if her family wasn’t able to help, then the church provided for her.
That the Hellenistic widows were being overlooked was probably unintentional. The disconnect was likely caused by a cultural misunderstanding. Some cultures have no difficulty speaking up for themselves, while other cultures feel it is rude or impolite to ask for help or to put themselves forward.
Perhaps the Hellenistic Jews expected the Hebraic Jews to read between the lines and see what was needed without having to be explicitly told. When that didn’t happen, tensions rose.
The twelve apostles were like the pilots of the plane; they could not afford to be distracted from their work of bearing witness to the risen Jesus. They could not deal with this concern themselves without putting the whole church at risk. This was the organisational aspect of the problem.
What would they do? It is to the apostles’ proposal we turn now.
The proposal:
A hospital is a complex organisation. There are many different jobs needing to be done by different people, all of them vital to the health and wellbeing of the patients.
The surgeon’s role is essential of course. What is a hospital without doctors.
It is imperative that surgeons not be distracted from their work, especially while in theatre. And when they are not in theatre, surgeons are often on call, needing to be ready to respond to emergencies.
It would not be right for the surgeon to spend their time and energy changing bed sheets or emptying bed pans. That would be a waste of their training and skill. More good can be achieved if the surgical team are allowed to focus on doing operations.
This is not to imply that the role of nurses, orderlies and cleaners is somehow less. If no one changed sheets or cleaned up bodily fluids, disease would spread, patients would suffer and the doctors’ work would be undermined.
In verse 2 we read how the apostles called all the disciples together to address the problem. They did not react defensively when people complained. Nor did they sweep the problem under the carpet or minimise it. They faced the problem with humility and wisdom, dealing with it in a timely manner.
Another thing we notice here is the way the twelve apostles functioned as a team. Just as it takes a team of people to fly a plane and a team of people to perform a surgery, so too it requires a team of people to lead a church.
Notice too how the whole church was asked to come together. Now, it is not necessary or wise to involve the whole church with every pastoral problem. As a rule, you address the issue with those who are affected. If just two or three people are affected, then the whole church doesn’t need to know about it.
But the situation in Acts 6 did affect the whole church and so the apostles wisely included everyone in discussing their proposal. This was a big deal. If left alone the issue threatened to split the church, which would not be good for anyone.
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The church’s greatest witness for Christ is the way its members relate with each other.
The apostles start by saying to the congregation, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.”
Ministry is simply another word for service. A ‘minister of the word of God’ is someone who serves God’s word, like a prophet or a preacher or an evangelist. A minister of God’s word seeks to understand God’s message and communicate that message to others.
Usually this is done by prayerful study of the Scriptures. As the minister reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit illuminates God’s word in the Scriptures. Other times God’s word comes to the minister through providence or in a dream or through another person or by divine inspiration.
As ministers of God’s word, the apostles were like surgeons on call, needing to be ready to respond to God’s word and Spirit.
When God’s word does come, there is usually a process of discernment, which takes time. God’s word is a weighty thing; it carries a lot of meaning. And it often has sharp edges, like a scalpel, so it needs to be handled with care.
It requires a high degree of concentration to deliver God’s word. You cannot afford too many distractions.
For the apostles in Acts 6, neglecting the ministry of the word of God to wait on tables would be like surgeons neglecting the operating theatre to change bed pans or the pilot neglecting the landing of the plane to hand out biscuits.
It’s not that waiting on tables or serving the poor is somehow less important than preaching. Both are important. Indeed, those who cared for the widows gave credibility to the apostles’ message of love.
But the apostles had been entrusted by God with a special task. The twelve knew Jesus personally, had heard his teaching first hand and had witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection. It would be a waste of their training and experience to wait on tables when others were able to do this.
The apostles did not want to become distracted, like Martha. They wanted to remain attentive to Jesus, like Mary.
In verses 3 and 4, the apostles present their proposal saying…
“Brothers and sisters, choose seven men of good standing from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Wow, this is impressive. The apostles do not impose a solution on the church. Nor do they try and fix the problem themselves. They propose a democratic approach; they admit their own limitations, trusting the congregation and the Holy Spirit to find the right team of people to handle this responsibility.
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
The interesting thing about this list is that they are all Greek names, most likely from a variety of different places. This is a multi-cultural group. The Hellenistic widows would not be overlooked now, because the people in charge of the foodbank had the cultural understanding to meet their needs.
What has God given you to do? When we are young and have lots of energy, the temptation is to try and do everything ourselves. But as we get older, we learn to be more strategic with how we spend our life.
If you don’t know yet what your niche is in God’s purpose, you might ask yourself: What am I good at? What do I enjoy doing? What can I do that most other people can’t?
The apostles did not try to do everything themselves. They did not allow themselves to become distracted. They kept the main thing the main thing. They gave themselves to God’s calling on their lives and it resulted in growth.
Growth:
In verse 7 of Acts 6 we read of the growth that happened in the early church. The word of God spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
When we look at this verse, we probably notice the numerical growth before anything else. Afterall, it talks about the number of disciples increasing rapidly and a large number of priests coming to faith. Numbers have their place, but they don’t tell the whole story.
We also read how the word of God grew (or spread). The word of God is like seed planted in the soil of the human heart. Just as a seed grows into a plant which is good for the soil, preventing erosion, so too the word of God grows inside our mind and is good for the soul, giving integrity to our inner life.
Hearing God’s word may stop someone from doing something bad or it may prompt them (on an unconscious level) to perform some kindness, without them realising God is in it. Christian values (inspired by God’s word) influence our secular society for good, in ways most people are not aware of.
The other type of growth we read about in verse 7 is growth in the obedience of faith. Faith is not just an idea we agree with in our head. True faith leads to action. If faith is the root, obedience is the fruit. How is your fruit? Are you growing in things like kindness, faithfulness, patience and generosity?
The kind of growth described in Acts 6 does not happen by human effort alone. Yes, we have our part to play in sowing the seed of God’s word and in being obedient to the faith, but ultimately it is God’s Spirit who makes our efforts fruitful.
Conclusion:
With today’s message I’ve highlighted the dangers of distraction. But I also need to acknowledge the benefits. Sometimes distraction can be a good thing, something helpful for our wellbeing.
Watching cricket in summer provides a pleasant distraction for Robyn and I. Kane Williamson is perhaps the greatest batsman New Zealand cricket has ever produced. He has played 105 test matches, scoring over 9,200 runs at an average of 54.9. This is to say nothing of his records in other forms of the game.
Kane is wonderful to watch. He plays the ball late, finding the gaps in the field. He seems to go into his own little bubble, blocking out all distractions and staying calm. You wouldn’t put Kane in to bat at number 10 or 11; it would be a waste. He does more good higher up the order, batting at 3 or 4.
I once saw Kane in person walking around Mount Maunganui. He was pushing a buggy with one of his children in it. He acknowledged me with a nod and a smile. I smiled back but I didn’t interrupt him. It gave me joy to see Kane spending time with his kids. I’m pleased he has a life outside of cricket.
If Kane (or anyone else for that matter) were focused on cricket all the time, it would do their head in. As human beings we need other interests. We need to spend time connecting with people and nature, doing things unrelated to our work. Too much of anything is not good for you.
At the end of the day the pilot and the surgeon need time away from the cockpit and the operating theatre. Just as the preacher needs time away from the Bible and the pulpit.
Some distractions are bad, some are good, and others are unavoidable.
Even though the ministry of God’s word was Jesus’ main priority, he often turned aside to heal people. How can he ignore human need. Jesus’ words were accompanied by miraculous deeds of power. The ministry of God’s word goes hand in hand with the ministry of God’s compassion.
The risk with miracles, of course, is that they can distract people from the message. Discernment is required.
We need to ask ourselves, is God in this distraction?
It appears at least two of the seven chosen to take care of widows were distracted from their task of managing the food bank. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, both Stephen and Philip became ministers of the word of God, preaching to people in Jerusalem and Samaria.
Focus on what God wants you to do. Give your life to it. But remain open to the Spirit. Sometimes God may want to distract you; he might want to restore your soul or lead you to something new.
May the Spirit of God make us fruitful as we abide in Christ. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Discuss / reflect on the apostles’ response to the problem in Acts 6. Why do the apostles choose not to get involved (in a hands-on way) with the daily distribution of food? What can we learn from the apostle’s response?
- What has God given you to do? What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What can you do that most other people can’t?
- Are you doing what God has given you to do? What sorts of things distract you from God’s purpose for you? How might you avoid these unhelpful distractions?
- What kinds of distractions are helpful to you? How might we discern when God is wanting to distract us?
- How is your growth in obedience to the faith going? Are you growing in the fruits of the Spirit?
Tawa Baptist 