Serving for the Gospel
Serving for the Gospel
Acts 6:1-7
“I will either find a way or make one,” said Hannibal, the great military leader of Carthage in 200 B.C. Hannibal is best known for crossing the Alps in the dead of winter with North African War elephants winning the first battle against the mighty Roman Empire, the Second Punic War. Hannibal is still being studied for his military strategy as he would determine his opponents respective strengths and weaknesses with an intricate web of spies he would employ to gather intelligence. He would often attack his opponents with an unpredictable surprise maneuver like forcing the Romans to fight in the dead of winter and at night. Hannibal exemplified the phrase, “Better 10 men wisely led than 100 with a fool at the head,” for he consistently won with a smaller army. One scholar noted that Because his armies were almost always smaller,
Hannibal augmented his arsenal with weapons of nature: forcing the Romans to cross the frozen Trebbia River, hiding his armies in the fog above Lake Trasimene, driving captured cattle with torches tied to their horns to fool the Romans into thinking he was on the move at night at Volturnus, making the Romans face the blinding dust and sand blowing from Africa at Cannae. He even confused the Romans at Cannae with some of his troops outfitted with captured Roman gear.
Hannibal was a cunning, wise military strategist.
The only Roman general to beat Hannibal was the one who respected Hannibal more than any of his Roman colleagues. Scipio Africanus studied and learned Hannibal’s tactics and would eventually use that knowledge against him. Scipio was able to defeat Hannibal because he respected him as a military strategist, he never underestimated him and he was ready for his attacks. Military historian Theodore Doge called Hannibal the ‘father of strategy’ for the Romans would adopt his tactics to build their empire. Although Hannibal was a formidable opponent, our adversary is more cunning, more knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses, and must never be underestimated. The great Adversary of the church is always working to undermine and destroy her witness.
We, like Scipio of Rome, can overcome our enemy by studying his tactics and standing against them. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” In the early chapters of the book of Acts, we see the church attacked through two of Satan’s schemes, persecution from outside the church (Acts 4:1-22) and moral corruption from within (Acts 5:1-11). Both of his attacks failed to destroy the church, but as a cunning adversary he moves to a third scheme. John Stott writes,
The devil’s next attack was the cleverest of the three. Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried by distraction. If he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration, which was though essential was not their calling, they would neglect their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defense against false doctrine.
Satan, the father of evil strategy, is always working to undermine the gospel, but we are not unaware of his schemes for with the Word of God and Spirit of God we can stand against his attacks.
I pray as we walk through this passage of Scripture, you would be sensitive to the Spirit asking if you are being outwitted by Satan or how you have been distracted by worldly things and how you can help protect the gospel witness of this community for the glory of God.
A Complaint Arises Threatening the Gospel
The apostles were just arrested and beaten for the gospel. They were charged not to speak in the name of Jesus, but they left the council rejoicing 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.” The apostles continued their mission to be witnesses of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The Lord is prospering the church but as often happens with growth there are challenges. Acts 6:1,
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 church is growing and a complaint arises from the Hellenists against the Hebrews. The church in Jerusalem, although almost exclusively former Jews is a multi-ethnic church. Remember how Jews from the diaspora, spread throughout the world, from the east, west, north and west, heard the gospel at Pentecost and believed. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews who would have been more Greek in their culture. As one scholar notes, “The linguistic and social differences produced cultural differences” and those cultural differences created a growing division in the church.
The church was responsible for caring for widows who did not have families to care for them. They provided them with food, clothing and possible money so they could live (1 Timothy 5). The Greek speaking widows were being neglected. There may be some ethnic tension between the Greek-speaking and Hebrew-speaking believers or the problem may be more based on the lack of administration of a growing church. We want to be careful not to read too many things into the text, but regardless there is a growing “division endangering the joy of redemption.” And the apostles work quickly to address it.
Beloved, as a church grows, there will be challenges to the unity of the church. Some may be neglected, some may feel forgotten, or some may feel overlooked. The complaint being raised by the Hellenist of their widows being neglected was a good and right complaint to bring forward. We should never want anyone to be neglected. I do believe the faction-ing of the church is unhealthy. There is no longer Greek or Jew, slave or free, male or female, we are all one in Christ Jesus. We have to be on guard in our own hearts for seeds of division. We want to view ourselves primarily as Park Baptist Church and not the seniors of Park, or the youth of Park, or the homeschoolers of Park, or the hispanics of Park, or the redheads of Park.We are all Park. The world is about division, the church is about unity. Division is a threat to the gospel. Guard your heart against all sorts of divisions you are setting up in your hearts for they are dangerous to the gospel.
But hear me, that doesn’t mean, we do not share our complaints when we see them. There may be things we as a church body and we as church leaders can do better to adorn the gospel of Christ in our body. If you feel there are areas we can grow in please share them but do so with the aim to adorn the gospel and not with a spirit of criticism. I have made it a regular practice to ask what areas we can improve, how can we grow as a church, how we can better shepherd you as elders? But know this, when you share your “areas of growth,” we may ask you to be the ones who meet those needs. God has gifted you with the Holy Spirit and with spiritual gifts to be used to build up the body of Christ.
Maybe you are here visiting and have always been resistant to the church because all you see is the complaints. Friend, the church is not perfect. She has her wrinkles and blemishes. But we pray you will look through your complaints against the church to consider how we admit our faults and weaknesses as a sign of our need for Jesus Christ. Let me encourage you not to merely look at the complaints you have against the church, but the complaints that God may have against you. Friend, we are all sinners and all need a Savior. The reason we want to grow in our weaknesses is so you will see a better reflection of Christ. Jesus had reasons to complain about you and he still chose to leave heaven and come to earth to die on a cross. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. And Jesus not only died, but was raised from the dead to save sinners. To save those he had legitimate complaints about. Friend, consider Christ today. Do not look at the faults of the church, but look to the One without any faults.Hannibal said, “I will either find a way or make one.” I am glad that Jesus Christ made a way to heaven when there was no way. Look to Christ and live.
A Calling Arises Protecting the Gospel
The twelve do not ignore the complaint but they quickly respond to address it. They call a members meeting. Acts 6:2–4 says,
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.”
The Apostles, or the Twelve, did not make the decision outside of the disciples (first time the term is used as a noun of Christians). They most likely had prayed and sought the Lord for wisdom before gathering everyone together. They begin by saying, “It is not right,” meaning “It would not please the Lord.” The apostles have been given a specific task to teach and preach the gospel so it would not be right, i.e. wise, for them to cease from preaching the Word of God to serve tables. The apostles knew they must be devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Good leadership always has to prioritize activities.
Be careful not to mishear the apostles. They are not pitting spiritual ministry and practical ministry against each other. Everyone has different roles in the body of Christ. The apostles focus on the church's spiritual welfare as well highlight the importance of serving tables. We cannot elevate one calling and downplay the other calling. The same Greek word, diakonia, is used in both callings. The calling to deacon or serve tables and the calling to deacon or serve the word are both essential to the health of a church. And even notice how the Apostles are not asking just anyone to serve the tables, but men, “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” One writer notes,
To modern sensibilities, “serving tables” sometimes connotes a low-level, demeaning position. A person waits tables when he or she is working through college, or passing time until a career takes off. People regard it as a necessary sacrifice to makE ends meet.
But how different it is in the Lord’s church! The apostles under the inspiration of God’s Spirit appear to have created an entirely new office in the church for the specific purpose of serving tables. And the loftiness of the office is seen in (a) the character of the individuals required to fill it (‘full of the Spirit and wisdom” v. 3). (b) the fact that this facilitates the ministry of the Word and prayer, and (c) the unifying and strengthening effect it has on the whole church. The deaconate is important!
The apostles are officially forming a new office but are laying the ground for it. They know there are tangible needs that must be met in the body so they set aside godly men in order to meet those needs.
Both servants, the servants of tables and the servants of the Word, protect the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are two formal offices in the church: pastor/elders and deacons. The elders take the role of the apostles to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it as seen in Titus 1:5-9, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 1 Peter 5:1-4, and Acts 20:18-36. Deacons take the role of lead servants as seen in 1 Timothy 3:8-12.
I won’t get into the weeds this morning on whether or not women can serve as deacons. The word translated for wives in 1 Timothy 3:11 could be translated as women making that text read, “The women likewise must be dignified not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things.” It does seem odd that Paul would give requirements for deacons’s wives and not for elders’s wives. In Romans 16:1-2, Paul writes,
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant (or deaconess) of the church at Cenchrae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.
Many scholars believe this was commending Phoebe as she carried the letter to the Romans, a very high honor indeed.
Women are highlighted throughout the Bible and specifically in Luke/Acts as faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ who were responsible for protecting the gospel and laboring to advance the kingdom. My dear sisters, you are precious in the Lord’s sight. God wants you to use your strength, wisdom and grace to adorn the gospel of God in all your service for Christ. I have been so grateful to see so many of you stepping in to serve the women in the overflow shelter. We see you and are so abundantly grateful for your service.
Most scholars believe Acts 6 is where the early lay the groundwork for the offices of deacons and elders. And here they do command the church to specifically choose seven men. Seven was the number appointed by the Jews over cities to judge smaller matters where the full number of 70 handled the weighty matters. Seven was also the number of the ruling council in Hellenistic cities. These men were vital for the health of the early church. As the unity of the church was being threatened and the gospel may be obscured, God called these men into action.
Beloved, the gospel must be protected and adorned in the church. We need everyone using their gifts to serve the body for the sake of Christ and the gospel. The apostles knew they needed to set aside their time and energy to prayer and the ministry of the Word. As Matt Smethurst points out, “the apostles recognize a fundamental truth: a church whose ministers are chained to the tyranny of the urgent–which so often shows up in ‘tangible problems’--is a church removing its heart to strengthen its arm…A church without deacons may lack health, but a church without biblical preaching cannot exist.” Elders and aspiring elders, we must not forsake prayer and the ministry of the Word.
A Choosing Arises Displaying the Gospel
The apostles laid out the plan to the full number of the disciples and then the congregation responded. Acts 6:5–6 says,
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. [6] These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
The disciples chose the seven men. And notice that the seven men are all Greek names. Again Smethurst helpfully writes,
The very minorities feeling the sting of unfair food distribution are the ones given a voice, tasked and empowered to make decisions on behalf of the whole church…The Hebrews in the church apparently prized unity so much that they bent over backwards to care for their Hellenist sisters–even to the point of entrusting their own widows to these brothers from an unfamiliar Greek culture.
Love does not insist on its own ways but true love drives us to outdo one another in showing honor. Do we prize unity that highly?
I remember a conversation I heard in my early years at Park after a Sunday where the music was slightly more contemporary. We were talking at our bi-weekly senior saints Bible study on a Tuesday morning and I asked, “What did you think about music last Sunday?” One of the saints replied, “It was not my cup of tea, but if others like it, I am good with it.” How many times in the life of the church do we have to say, “It may not be more choice, but for the sake of the gospel and the unity of the church, I am good with it.”
One of the reasons we ask for nominations in our members meeting for deacons and elders is we want to honor the wisdom in the congregation. Our process for nominating and presenting deacons and elders begins with looking around the congregation for those who have a good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom. We are constantly looking to and fro to see who God is raising up in our body. When then ask the congregation for input to affirm if the Spirit is leading our congregation as a whole in the same direction. We pray and lay hands on them, setting them aside for service in the church.
Do you see how the choosing of the seven displays the gospel? Do you see how it honors those who are serving faithfully in the church? Those first seven had to be willing to serve Christ by serving tables. Being a servant of Christ Jesus is a beautiful thing. Paul begins Romans by writing, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” I loved how Paul viewed himself as a servant of Christ first. He was a servant of Jesus Christ and would do whatever he asked him to do. Paul was called to be an apostle. He was called to be beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned and to preach Christ and him crucified. Phoebe was a servant of Christ Jesus and was called to give generously paying the way for ministers to preach and teach. Both were set apart for the gospel of God.
God set apart these seven men and the twelve apostles for his glory. God has set apart our nine deacons and our six elders for his glory. God has set apart all 315 members of our church for his glory. We are all servants of Jesus Christ and we should rejoice in whatever role he calls us. For whatever role we serve in the body is for the gospel of God. It is to adorn or display the gospel to one another and the watching world And we all view ourselves as servants of Jesus Christ, the Word of God increases.
A Church Arises Continuing the Gospel
There is always a purpose for our service. The order and structure of the church and the home are not arbitrary but designed by God so that his Word may increase. 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.
Satan tried to persecute the church and to corrupt her. He then tries to distract the church from her mission of being witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the church was ready for that attack. And because they were ready the Word of God continued to increase.
I do not believe this is a mere add on by Luke. I think it is intentional to keep the mission front and center for his readers. The church in Jerusalem continued to grow not merely in numbers but in disciples. And even a great number of priests became obedient to faith. I think Luke is using that language specifically as we remember Peter’s word to the priests in the previous chapter, “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,who God has given to those who obey him.” Some priests received the Holy Spirit of God because they obeyed Jesus Christ. Why? Because Peter and the apostles were able to go to the temple every day and from house to house to preach and teach that Jesus is the Christ. Why? Because the church was willing to meet each other's needs and some were set aside to serve their practical needs.
Do you see how the whole body is working together? Paul sums this up well in Ephesians 4:11–16,
[11] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
When each part is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it is built up in love. That happens because pastors/elders teach sound doctrine so the church is not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by the craftiness of deceitful schemes. The sound doctrine taught by the pastors strengthens the church for service so the Word of God increases. A church whose leaders have to care for the practical needs may be a church that is exposed to the deceitful schemes of the evil one.
Beloved, do not dismiss the work of “helps” in the church. Do not dismiss nursery workers, and those who click the powerpoint. Do not diminish those who count the offering and those who run the sound. Do not belittle those who take out the trash and those who wipe down the toilets. Do not put down those who visit shut-ins or those who call the sick. Beloved, the labor of “helps” will resound into eternity. Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And hearing happens because of those who serve.
Don’t we all want the Word of God to continue to increase. We want more men and women, boys and girls, to know Christ. We want more people to believe that Jesus died for them. More to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. We want more to believe that Jesus Christ will return in all his glory for his church. Beloved, every single act of service whether seen or unseen will be rewarded by God. Every single one. One day when you and I get to heaven we will see how our serving and our sharing helped to increase the Word of God by helping to call people out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Corinthians 3:6–8, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”