The Seven Servants Acts 6:1-7 21st June 2009 HPC Evening [Introduction] When Christine and I came to HPC, we could see lots of opportunities that this church has to embrace the surrounding community. We were excited about working alongside the people here as we obey God s call to take the gospel out. However, after 2 and a half years, we ve found this is actually a really tough job. The needs of the community both outside the church as well as internally keep changing. This is challenging us to be sensitive and to think hard about how we can reach out accordingly. I think undeniably this is one of our major challenges - how to reach those around us with the Gospel in a culturally sensitive way. Tonight s passage from Acts 6:1-7 is just the right medicine for us from Dr. Luke s prescription. [Context] The story of the Choosing of the Seven begins with a problem. In v.1, it says, In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. At this point, the early church in Jerusalem is established and has been experiencing remarkable growth. In the first five chapters, Luke frequently highlights the growth of the church: 2:41: Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day. 2:47: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 4:4: But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about 5000. 5:14:...more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. What an amazing movement!! However, the Early Church wasn t ideal. As the Apostles continue to preach Jesus, they start to encounter opposition. We ve talked about the persecution from the religious leaders in ch. 4 & 5. Last week, we saw how Satan tried to stop the movement by using Ananias and Sapphira, the corrupted couple. Tonight, we read of another challenge to the movement - the problem of the daily distribution of food. The complaint concerns the welfare of the widows. [The problem] The Bible tells us to care for widows. In Exodus 22, Moses made it clear that looking after widows and orphans was the social responsibility of the Jews. Widows couldn t support themselves if they had no close family. In contrast to Gentile cultures, the Jews took this responsibility seriously. The church had taken on a role to distribute food daily to the widows. But, the problem is not about lack of food. The real problem is the uneven distribution of food between the Grecian Jews and the Hebraic Jews. The conflict is between these two cultural groups. Coming from a Chinese church background, I probably can understand this conflict a bit more. See, both Christine and I are ethnic Chinese. In appearance, you might think we re from the same people group. However, Christine was born in Australia. She is an ABC - Australian born Chinese. Some ABCs can speak Chinese, but most of them can only speak English. And culturally they are much more westernized as they have grown up here. I grew up in China. English is my second language. I 1
only immigrated here less than 10 years ago. There is a big difference between us. In most of the Chinese Churches in Sydney, there are more than two congregations - an English speaking congregation and a Chinese speaking congregation. These two congregations have very different cultures. Sometimes they even find it difficult to associate with each other. It s like there are two separate churches meeting in the one building. The difference between the Greek-speaking Jews and the Hebrew-speaking Jews is not just language. In fact, they probably all spoke Greek, since Greek was the common language in those days. The Hebraic Jews were the native ones who had always lived in Palestine. The Grecian Jews were those who were dispersed throughout the world and had now settled in Jerusalem. Although the Hebraic Jews could speak Greek, they were deeply immersed in Hebrew culture. The Grecian Jews, on the other hand, thought and behaved like Greeks. The Greek-speaking Jews found it difficult to worship with the Hebraic Jews so they had their own synagogues even in Jerusalem itself. Why did the Grecian Jews move back to Jerusalem? They believed they must die and be buried in the land of Israel. So, many foreign Jews would come to spend their last days in Jerusalem, then die and leave widows. Some Palestinian rabbis provided a funny theological which encouraged more immigrants. According to one common teaching, the dead would be resurrected only in Israel. So for those faithful ones who died in other countries would have to roll the entire way back to Israel underground at the resurrection day, and they thought this would be a horrible experience. So, this explains why there were so many foreign Jewish widows living in Jerusalem. There were lots of foreign Jewish widows living in Jerusalem, but there weren t enough foreign Jewish synagogues to adequately look after them all. And this is where we get the problem that the new church had to handle. The real issue is not about the food. It has to do with church unity because of its multicultural composition. [The Solution] The Apostles saw the issue was serious, so they reacted immediately. They gathered all the disciples together and shared the problem with them. In v. 2, It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. Does this mean that the Apostles think social concerns are inferior to the ministry of the word? I don t think so. The Apostles realized that there were a range of tasks the church needed to fulfill. The church not only reconciles people to God through the gospel, but also reconciles believers to each other so they will have genuine fellowship. Material and physical needs are to be met through the grateful generosity of more affluent Christians in order to show the richness of God s grace. Christ s saving work doesn t just overcome the separation between sinful people and the Holy God. Jesus also heals the broken world which is full of financial need, sickness, sorrow, suffering, conflict and death. These two aspects can t be separated from each other. The Apostles knew this. They also realized that the two aspects had to be distinguished from each other. It was a matter of priority. They wanted to make sure that each ministry of God s grace was entrusted to leaders who could give it their undivided attention. There are two types of ministries here: waiting on tables and the ministry of the word of God - meeting the physical hunger of widows, and the spiritual hunger for the word. These two ministries needed to be done by God s servants who were filled with the Spirit and wisdom. The Spirit of God will equip His people to serve others. He gives people words to declare God s truth and the Spirit enables others to serve in a way that displays God s compassion. Here in ch. 6, a second group of 2
leaders are publicly recognised alongside the Apostles. Each area of need in this fast-growing church receives the leadership and attention it requires. So the Apostles plan is accepted, This proposal pleased the whole group. (v.5), and seven servants were selected. Take note of the seven names - they are all Greek names. This suggests that the seven servants were probably already the recognized leaders of the Greek-speaking believers in the church. One wasn t even a Jew by birth - Nicolas from Antioch, was a pagan but now a follower of Jesus. These seven were chosen not just to be in charge of the food distribution. They are later used to take the gospel into Gentile territory. Remember Steven, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit? He is the first martyr of the Early Church. Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch and shared the gospel to him. These men were scattered from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria and, through Antioch, to the ends of the earth. [The Result] And so now the problem has a solution. What s the end result? As Luke writes Acts, he wants to show how the Early Church overcomes many obstacles and keeps growing. Did you notice that the story begins and ends with a reference to growth? v.1, In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.... v.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. A threat sandwiched between these two statements is now overcome. The solution to the problem results in a new breakthrough in the entire gospel ministry. Even priests start responding to the Word of God and obeying the faith. The Early Church had been tested. She had overcome the obstacle by caring for the widows and guarding the Word. And God honoured this triumph by adding more people and power to His church. [Applications] What lessons can we learn from this story tonight? Firstly, the story helps us to realize the reality that to love the unlovable is hard work - but itʼs Godʼs work. As I closely examined tonight s passage, I found the issue is deeper than I first thought. In their hearts, the Hebrew-speaking Jews possibly looked down on the Greek-speaking Jews. They were the ones who were proud of their heritage. They had endured all the difficulties living in Jerusalem. And now, these Grecian Jews want to come back just to get the assurance of resurrection after they died. They d been away, and now they are back to take what belongs to the Hebraic Jews. Maybe they thought, Why do we have to give you more than you deserve? Just recently one of our Aussie friends shared about her struggle in reaching out to the mums in her community. She goes to a church like ours, located in a multicultural community. The church wants to open up to the community by inviting mums with young kids to Mother s Group. Our friend was asked by the church to minister to these new mums. But as she attended the group, she found she was in fact a minority. Most of the mums were either Chinese, Indian or Korean. They tended to stick together in their own groups speaking their own languages. She felt quite isolated. What s the point of me coming, she thought, I want to meet some like-minded young mums to share our experiences. It s really hard to find common things to talk about with these people. They don t even want to talk to me and it feels like they re just using us and taking the church facilities for granted! 3
Does this sound familiar? We all want to come to church for our own benefit. We all want to feel loved, and comfortable, and welcomed and have our own needs met. We all want to meet people who are similar to us. Many established churches are often unwilling to change practices in their church in order to welcome outsiders. Forms of worship, styles of music, the time of the worship service, and so on, may need to be adjusted to accommodate people from different cultural groups, but we don t want to pay the price of bringing in the harvest. But, do we need to be reminded tonight that church is a place where grace reigns? God has generously and abundantly given to us who deserve nothing. Think about what God has given us - He s given us life, purpose, hope, fellowship, contentment, freedom, forgiveness- I m sure you can think of many more things. But have we fallen back into our sinful, selfish, childish ways always expecting to have our needs met without serving others? The reality is that at church there will be people that you find hard to love. There are people at church that you may not be able to relate to because of difference - maybe in language or culture or age or family background. To love the unlovable is hard work. But it s God s work and it has been done! Christ sacrificed Himself for you and me - sinners who were unlovable because we rejected Him. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is God s work. He loves the unlovable. And He calls us to love as He loves. He calls us not be comfortable, but to witness to everyone about Jesus. As we mature in His word, then through the Spirit s power, it IS possible for us to overcome our selfishness. As we humble ourselves and remember just how much we have been given by God, let s ask God to make us willing to serve others without an expectation for return. Secondly, the story helps us to realize that we need to take a holistic approach to ministry. In any ministry, proclaiming and teaching the word of God must be central, as we can see from this story. The greatest need of the weak ones - widows and orphans, as for all of us, is to be reconciled to God. What makes Christian social involvement distinctly Christian is a commitment to reconciling everyone to God by proclaiming the gospel. The most loving thing we can do for the needy is to proclaim the good news of eternal life through Jesus. If we don t focus on the eternal, then the immediate needs will force their way to the top of our agenda and we will betray the gospel and the people we say we love. But at the same time, we need to have a right balance between evangelism and social action. Often at church we talk about evangelism being the priority, but this suggests a list of activities that we work through from the top down - preaching, Bible study group, training, mission program, prayer meeting, etc. If we don t have time for things like social involvement and concerns, then we tend to neglect these. The danger is that we create a split between the word ministries and serving. But, tonight s story shows how the Apostles dealt with these two areas. They prioritised. They didn t simply teach. They did their best to create a loving, serving, caring church so the widows could experience life as a blessing. Hear what Paul says to the Thessalonians on this issue - We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us (! Thessalonians 2:8) Brothers and sisters, both the Word ministry as well as the ministry of serving those around us are important. How can we take a more holistic approach to living out the gospel in our ministries? 4
One way we are doing is through the Easy English ministry. Not only are we able to reach out to many through teaching English, but we are also able to serve through loving, caring friendships that reflect our love of Jesus. Our different languages can make it difficult to relate at a deeper level, but through offering a meal, or opening our homes or assisting in a practical way - this is one way we can serve those whom God is bringing in to our church. In fact, this does not just apply to our International friends. How can you serve those sitting around you? Have you been encouraged by someone who has lived out what it means to be loved by God? What can you do to create a loving, serving, caring church so others can experience life as a blessing? Tonight, as we ve learnt this precious lesson together, let s pray that God would enable us to love others as He loves us. Let s pray that we can be bold to proclaim His Truth and at the same time delight in serving those around us, even strangers. 5