Acts 6 verses 1-7

John Stott, "Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption (Ananias and
Sapphira), he now tried distraction. if he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration,
which 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 defence against false doctrine"

The law stated in Deut 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in
the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the
widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Jewish obedience called on the Jews to look after widows, orphans and strangers or travellers.

In the first century Barclay tells us that "In the synagogue there was a routine custom. Two collectors
went round the market and the private houses every Friday morning and made a collection for the
needy partly in money and partly in goods. Later in the day this was distributed.... providing up to 14
meals.

The Church made not a weekly but a daily distribution. The twelve didn't have time to do it all. The
only time they could give up was the time to pray and the minister the word. That could not be given
up.

Barclay "In addition to (the Friday collection) a house-to-house collection was made daily for those
in pressing need.
It is clear that the Christian church had taken over this custom. But…. In the Christian Church there
were two kinds of Jews.
There were the Jerusalem and the Palestinian Jews who spoke Aramaic ... There were also Jews
from foreign countries who had come up for Pentecost and made the great discovery of Christ. Many
of these had been away from Palestine for generations; they had forgotten their Hebrew and spoke
only Greek. The natural consequence was that the spiritually snobbish Aramaic- speaking Jews
looked down on the foreign Jews. This concept affected the daily distribution of alms."

It may have been unintentional but the Greek speaking (Hellenistic) Christians felt badly treated. The
church was not perfect but it was sensitive.

Jesus had said; If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25

Most church leaders would feel duty bound to add the distribution to their job list - and probably sigh.
Who could turn away from the cry of a poor defenceless widow?

Verse 2 it is not right - Not pleasing to God that they change their priorities of prayer and preaching.
But the problem needed to be solved.
If the apostles became personally involved they would be neglecting their pastoral priorities, the
worthy cause of helping widows was a distraction. They were not saying that relief of the poor was
beneath them, but that God had committed them to a specific ministry which must have priority.

The church, the body of Christ here called, the disciples, are invited to select 7 men from their
number for this one particular task.

Henry Jacobsen writes: "Too many Christians who are willing to serve the Lord with their time and
energies are taken advantage of in the church. ’If you have a job to be done, give it to a busy person',
may be good psychology; but it has been the downfall of persons who don't know how to say no.
Many Christians are so overloaded with work that they cannot do any of it well. Some finally reach the
point of exhaustion - mentally, physically and spiritually - and drop out altogether.
Others struggle along for years, robbing their families of needed time, and finding little of the joy God
intends us to have in serving Jesus."

The people were to select seven men.

Choose = inspect or examine. Not just ask for volunteers.
Qualified - "full of the Spirit and wisdom"; To be full simply means to be controlled by. Did not look
first for those efficient in human terms, but those who were dependent on God. Not moving in own
natural strengths.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.5 There are different kinds of service, but the
same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
1.Cor.12:4-6

To serve in obedience to God's will, under the Lordship of Christ in the power of the holy spirit.
Full of wisdom - in the daily distribution wisdom, love, and kindness were needed - a supernatural
grace to rise above prejudice and passion. To act in accordance with the mind of Christ.

We will turn this responsibility over to them

To be selected by the fellowship, but the apostles reserved the right to appoint or veto.

The church selected the seven men -all of whom had Greek names. Not a representation from the
minority but all of them. An extra seven miles!

Ryrie comments:"The names of all seven are Greek; and although it does not necessarily prove that
they were all Hellenistic Jews, it does show that they were chosen in the interests of the Hellenists,
who had lodged the complaint. "

Henry Jacobsen adds: This was an expression of love and trust on the part of the Hebrew believers.
They did not demand equal representation on the 'Board of Deacons'. It also showed that any
oversight which had taken place was unintentional. The Hebrew believers were willing to go the
'second mile' to remedy the situation. They trusted their Hellenist brothers in Christ.

Stephen and the others - dependent on God the Holy Spirit, fulfilled their particular task obediently
and well.

So instead of a spilt the result was, the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem
increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Church growth - when the word is proclaimed faithfully and the practical tasks were done not maybe
in the most efficient way in the eyes of the world but in obedience and with dependence on the Holy
Spirit.

Conclusion

The early church had the best spirit filled strong leaders - and still the church had problems.
It is wrong to ignore real needs in the fellowship.

We are here for each other Eph 4:11-12 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for
works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

In most churches there are many more widows than young people. But when did you last hear of a
church appoint a youth pastor? A widow director?
John Stott, "Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption (Ananias and
Sapphira), he now tried distraction.

Are there ways Satan distracts us from worshipping the Lord, from learning from God's word, from
genuine fellowship, from really expressing our faith to others?

How can we know if a good cause is an opportunity or a distraction?

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to him.

How often are we tempted and even do exceed our limits in trying to do good things God has not
actually called us to do?

We can be so busy with secondary tasks that we create a spiritual deficiency in our lives and in the
life of the church.
How do we discover the priorities God wants for our lives, and how do we stick to them?

Unless otherwise identified scripture references are from the New International Version © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible
Society.

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