Priorities For Ministry Series

Introduction

Christians are not immune from trials and difficulties just because they are Christians. Conversion to Christ does not cause our problems to evaporate and disappear.

Part of the reason for our continuing trials is that we have an enemy, Satan, who constantly works to cause us to sin.

But Satan not only works against individual Christians; he is at work against churches as well.

Satan hates Christ, and he hates the bride of Christ, the Church.

And so, throughout history, Satan has been at work to overthrow the church of Jesus Christ.

Satan is not very imaginative in his attacks. Over the years he has not changed his strategy or his weapons; he is still in the same old rut.

A few weeks ago, I noted that Satan attacked the first-century church community on three fronts.

Satan’s first and crudest attack was persecution; he tried to crush the church by physical violence (Acts 4:1-22).

Satan’s second and more cunning assault was moral corruption. Having failed to destroy the church from the outside, he attempted through Ananias and Sapphira to infuse evil into its inner life, and so ruin the church community and Christian fellowship (Acts 5:1-11).

Satan’s third and most subtle ploy was distraction. He sought to deflect the apostles from their priority responsibilities of prayer and preaching by preoccupying them with church administration, which was not their calling (Acts 6:1-7). If he had been successful in this, an untaught church would have been exposed to every wind of false doctrine.

So, these then were the weapons of Satan—physical (persecution), moral (corruption), and priorities (distraction).

Of Satan’s attacks against the first-century church, the third was the cleverest.

Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried distraction.

If he could preoccupy the apostles with church 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 defense against false doctrine.

Part of our study in the book of Acts is a study of the work of the Holy Spirit.

It is also a study of the work of Satan.

Satan still attacks churches today in the same way in which he attacked the first-century church.

Today, we are going to study Satan’s third attack on the first-century church, and we are going to learn how the church can thwart Satan’s attack of distraction by concentrating on its priorities for ministry.

Scripture

Let’s read Acts 6:1-7:

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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 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.

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.

Lesson

Acts 6:1-7 teaches us about Satan’s attack of distraction and the church’s priorities for ministry.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. The Problem (6:1)

2. The Solution (6:2-6)

3. The Result (6:7)

I. The Problem (6:1)

First, let’s look at the problem.

Luke tells us about the problem in verse 1. He writes, “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 problem quite simply was that certain widows in the first-century church were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

The church had a responsibility to take care of widows (cf. Exodus 22:22ff; Deuteronomy 10:18) who had no relatives and were unable to support themselves (cf. 1 Timothy 5:13-16). And so, apparently, a daily distribution of food was made to them.

Now the Jerusalem church in those early days was a multi-cultural church (cf. 2:9-11). It was made up of Hellenists and Hebrews.

The Hellenists were basically dispersed Jews from other countries who had come to settle in Israel, and they spoke primarily Greek.

The Hebrews were natives of Israel and spoke primarily Aramaic.