GROWING PAINS
We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or be used for a sermon group discussion.
Sermon Title: GROWING PAINS
Main Scripture: Acts 6:1-7
Summary:
With growth comes growing pains. As the church grew in size, the need for organization grew. The leadership had their hands full trying to preach and reach, meanwhile care for the widows needed some intervention. Let's see how the church handled their growing pains…
Notes:
Acts 6:1-7 NLT
V. 1
As the church grew at a rapid pace a group of Jewish widow believers who primarily speak Greek were being inadverntantly overlooked. This short summary from Luke does not give us many details and many commentaries agree it doesn’t appear to be purposeful discrimination. One commentator noted that the widows who spoke Greek often did not live in Jerusalem so when they moved into the community they were unfamiliar where as those widows who lived in Jerusalem (Hebraic speaking Jewish believers) frequented the benevolence tables of that day.
This may seem like a small thing but many mole hills have become mountains and according to scripture, ministry to widows is no small matter…
Psalm 68:5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
Psalm 146:9 The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
There very well could be more reasons contributing to the situation such as:
The obvious: The need for more leadership with the growth of the church. The church simply grew quicker than the apostles could handle.
The not so obvious, the devil stirring up conflict by using differences in their language barriers and backgrounds or human nature of self rather than sacrifice for one another.
The situation was dire enough that it reached the Apostles and they quickly intervened. The apostles immediate response to call for more help indicates that this neglect is an oversight, not intentional discrimination, otherwise they would have rebuked the discrimination.
V. 2-4 The Apostles Call Up
The Apostles understand their primary calling is to share and teach the word of God. The church was growing so fast that they too could not neglect their duty to handle this other full time task. So the apostles wisely call the church body to select reinforcements from within the fellowship to serve the benevolence tables. Please note the apostles did not choose. People had to be willing to step up.
The need: leaders to serve or wait on the benevolence tables.
Their function will be to wait on tables, in this case, money or food distribution tables. Luke does not use the word “deacon” to describe the seven men, but the word used to wait on tables is diakonein trapezais; lit: to serve at tables [money tables]. Some theologians believe this would set the stage for deacons later on and the practices of handling money, caring for the needy, and other practical matters of ministry we see in 1 Timothy 3.
The word “deacon” (diakonos) never occurs in the passage. The word “ministry” (diakonia) does occur several times, but it is applied to both the ministry of the daily distribution (v. 2) and the ministry of the word, the apostolic witness (v. 4). In fact, the word “deacon” never occurs in Acts. The office generally referred to is “elder” (Acts 11:30; 14:23, et passim). Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 182). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
The apostles desire to delegate and continue their call to preach and pray is not to undermine the call to serve at tables, but simply to be faithful to what they were called by Jesus to do. They were called to deliver the bread of life…(Jesus).
What a great place to serve, a mark of a true believer is one who does not seek the stage or popular position but willing to feed and care for the needy. The great Samaritan’s of our day are great in God's eyes and usually never get a following.
V. 3 The apostles set the qualifications and the people looked over the congregation to see who met them. There must have been some kind of election.
Seven Men. In the commentaries I searched, gender did not seem to be the focus of qualifications as much as their character and the quality of their spiritual life. Later, female deacons were mentioned in church leadership such as Pheobe (Romans 16:1-2). It was already custom to pick seven men to handle this type of business... It appears the apostles chose to use this avenue here…
Selecting seven men may go back to the tradition in Jewish communities where seven respected men managed the public business in an official council. Toussaint, S. D. (1985). Acts. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 367). Victor Books.
Why respected? A good, honest, and reputable history tells the people you can trust these men with donations and distribution.
Why “Full of the Spirit and Wisdom”? Benevolent needs require organization, leadership, encouragement, wisdom, servant leadership, etc. These are all gifts of the Spirit that would work and flow from those who live by the Spirit.
The phrase, “Full of the Holy Spirit” expresses a continuing condition within a Christian's life that results from an overflow of the Spirit’s presence and power in his or her life (Fire Bible Notes, Pg. 1712). The terms “filled with the Holy Spirit” is used in three ways (a) to refer to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 2:4; 9:17; 11:16); (b) to refer to the empowering of a Christian on a specific occasion to speak under the impulse of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8; 13:9; Luke 1:41-45, 67-69); and (c) to refer to a general prophetic ministry (preaching to people to respond to God) under the inspiration or empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31-33; 13:52; Luke 1:15).
After receiving the baptism in the Spirit, individuals who faithfully follow the Spirit’s guidance and continue to show the Spirit’s power over their sinful human nature (Romans 8:13-14) are described as “full of the Holy Spirit.”
Again, this appointment would allow the apostles to dedicate themselves to distributing spiritual food and give them peace that these important needs are being met. (I speak from experience here. I am so grateful for our dream team [serve team] members).
V. 5-6 The Seven
Interestingly enough, EVERYONE (Jewish and Greek speaking) chose the greek speaking jewish believers. But again, greek speaking jewish believers were not the qualifications… The qualifications were being known as full of the Spirit and wisdom . Being overlooked should not be an issue moving forward.
The apostles laid their hands on and prayed for the seven, commissioning and blessing them for this specific task.
V. 7
This spirit-led decision to be better organized worked out the kink if you will and the number of believers greatly increased.
A well oiled (Spirit-oiled) church brings great results!
Even priests who once stood against Jesus and His followers believed and became obedient to the faith.
NIV: 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.
3-5 years of planting seeds in the midst of persecution and trials before the Sanhedrin and now we reap what we sow, salvations has come to the same leaders who crucified Jesus!
Takeaways:
We can be Spirit-led and organized at the same time.
Organization and structure is a good thing. The Holy Spirit helped the church get organized as it grew.
God wants things to be done in decency and order. (Consider the books of Leviticus and Numbers). Chaos and disorder is not a reflection of God but of sin. God brings things into order, sin breeds disorder.
However, we should be careful not to structure or organize the Holy Spirit out of our lives, churches, and decision. The Spirit leads organization but the Spirit will not be compartmentalized. Remember, Luke is showing us how the Spirit led and worked in the church. Today’s scripture is another example of the Holy Spirit leading the organization, not the organization dictating the Spirit.
Be Spirit-led in your organizing and planning of your life. Have you prayed and asked the Lord to lead and guide you on decisions and plans you are making?
Practical tip: ask the Spirit and a person gifted at organization to help you get organized so you maximize your time and life to be present for the Lord and others.
The church needs men and women full of the Spirit and wisdom.
Notice what skills were not on the list of qualifications? (Organization Consultants, accountants, etc.)
The Holy Spirit empowers men and women for the task of caring and mentoring those the Lord saves and adds to our church.
The church grows when the whole church takes ownership for its growth.
In our scripture today, the church took ownership for the need and gladly rose to fill in the need. The church grows when the church serves.
The church can only grow as far as the growth of its people. In other words, without a strong base we can't reach the many and handle the spiritual and physical care for all.
Discussion:
What did God use in this sermon to speak to your heart or situation?
What part of the scripture stuck out to you and why?
What does Pastor Ryan mean when he says we need to be careful not to organize the Spirit out of our lives, churches, and decisions?
Why was Spirit-led organization helpful and how could getting your life organized help you too?
Where do you see yourself serving and helping in the vision of Calvary?
What other notes did you highlight or write down that you would like to share?
The most important decision you will ever make!
If you’re ready to trust in Jesus for salvation and eternal life we encourage you to process this decision with a strong believer and when you’re ready say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, Amen!
We would love to know if you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Let us know here.
Pray Together
We hope you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!