Text: Acts 6:1-7, Title: Demonic Attacks 101—Church Conflict, Date/Place: NRBC, 9/23/07, AM
A. Opening illustration: see illustrations page, Acts 6 ill in ill file
B. Background to passage: We left Acts 5 with the church still moving on the mission at hand. Reminder: our mission is ever before us, and we can always ask if we are doing it. And even here in the beginning of Acts 6, growth is still taking place. Satan tried to attack with misunderstanding in 2, persecution in 3-4, sin within the body in 5 as well as persecution, and now he will try in 6 with internal conflict. And just like sin and unholiness was a major problem for the church, disunity and conflict within the church does great harm to the church and to its testimony. Come back tonight for the rest of this text that deals with what the pastor and what the deacons are supposed to be doing.
C. Main thought: In our text we will see the problem, the solution, and the results to internal church conflict.
A. The Problems (v. 1)
1. The problem faced by the church at this point was multi-faceted. And the facets were very similar to many that we see today in our churches. 1) The core problem was racism/elitism. Exp who the Hellenists and the Hebrew widows were, and why the conflict. 2) Failure to minister. Sooner or later in a growing church needs will get overlooked. Surely this was not intentional, but simply an oversight. But when the church fails to minister, it creates a foothold for demonic activity. 3) Complaining and grumbling was the third aspect of the problem. The Hellenists became disgruntled. They didn’t use the proper channels to deal with problems, they just gossiped. 4) Distraction for evangelism was another part of the problem. Church is growing before the conflict, then it grows after it is dealt with, but gets distracted in the middle. Inward focus destroys our outward mission.
2. Gal 3:28, James 2:1-7, Num 14:27, Philip 2:14, 1 Cor 10:7-10,
3. Illustration: As some of you know, we have about 200 people on a list from the church roll that we don’t even have addresses for them. Tell about the woman who enter the store and became the one-millionth customer, and when asked what she came to purchase, she announced to the crowd that gathered that she was going to the complain department. Finally, his very observant son said, “Dad, you’ve got to admit it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”
4. 1) Here in the south we still deal with racism and elitism far more than we ought. It was a blight upon the early church, and it still is. Partiality based on a person’s ethnicity or financial prosperity or lack thereof is a sin. And I know that it is in part cultural, and that we are all prejudice to some extent, but it is something that we should be making war against. The church of Christ should be the one organization that flourishes with diversity in race and economic classes. It should set the example for the world. And the church that exhibits racist and elitist tendencies is an embarrassment to Jesus and His Kingdom. If you are a racist, you are in sin, and external shows, attitudes, and language will not be tolerated here. 2) How many ex-churchgoers do you know that feel forgotten or slighted by the church? We must do a better job at keeping up with people. All of us. We must meet the needs in our congregation before they become crises. How many of you get a call from your deacon, or from someone in your SS class once a month just to see how you are doing? How many of you make such a call? Do we leave the visitation of the shut-ins to that committee and the pastor? Thank God for some of you who do these things, many others of you should follow suit. 3) The real culprit in many of our conflicts is gossip. One person tells a story, and then the next person tells it with a little interpretation, then before you know it, it has turned into something that it never intended to be. And by the time the story gets back to me I have to go and correct the misconceptions in about 25 people. So verify the details of stories, go to the source, especially if you are offended in any way, and then keep them to yourself. Don’t be so concerned about personal preferences or agendas or comforts, etc. 4) Have you every noticed that when a church gets really hung upon internal issues, you don’t see much growth? How could you? All the effort is wasted in trying to figure out what side to be on in the conflict. The best thing that you can do during a conflict is to keep your focus where it needs to be.
B. The Solution (v. 2-4)
1. The apostles and the church took some steps to help take care of the problems. 1) First, they dealt quickly, decisively, and directly with the issue at hand. They didn’t ignore it and hope that it would go away. They didn’t gossip to everybody about it. They didn’t formulate a committee and let them meet and then have two or three monthly business meetings to get the process started. 2) Secondly, the defined the problem and their priorities. The apostles tried to iron out any misconceptions and clearly put into focus what we are dealing with and what they know are the most important issues. They had one passion, one standard, one goal to serve and honor Jesus Christ. 3) Thirdly they made sure that they righted the wrongs. They told the church to select seven godly men to supervise this ministry. And they chose seven Greek Christian men. Wise decision to assuage the slighted faction of the church.
2. Col 1:18,
3. Illustration: “Good leaders always distinguish themselves by their ability to skillfully confront troublesome issues and to be decisive…Fearful leaders who refuse to confront problems have demoralized many churches and organizations.” –Strauch, “It’s the Ross Perot method of problem solving—have a problem, graph the problem, fix the problem, move on to the next problem.”
4. My dad’s philosophy of dealing with all problems was to pretend like they don’t exist, and hope they go away. But as leaders, and as a church, we must deal with problem issues promptly. Tell about the church that couldn’t decide the divorced deacons issue, and how it ran off several pastors one way or the other, until the wise interim told them they needed to deal with it, before they moved on. We must be confrontive if necessary and decisive. Secondly we must understand problems when they arise. We must go to every effort and every length to make sure that we see it from all angles. And since compromise and creative solutions are sometimes in order, we must know what our ultimate priorities are. I was asked on the ACP the other day if the bulk of our members could define the goals of our church ministries. Finally, we should go the extra mile to right any wrong in the current crisis. Be open to permissible compromise. Be flexible on your agenda for the Church’s sake.
C. The Results (v. 5-7)
1. The results of this well-handled conflict were three-fold. 1) Everyone was pleased. This had to be a miracle, or maybe they really weren’t Baptists. The congregation was involved in the decisions make in this circumstance. The widows that were overlooked were especially delighted now, because they could eat. Ministry happened. 2) The church was made up of several ethic groups and worshipped together. 3) Finally, after the crisis, the church got back to growth and evangelism. Churches that deal with conflict thoroughly and refocus with get back to growth.
2. Acts 2:41, 47, 4:4, 5:14, 9:31, 13:49, 16:5, 19:20
3. Illustration: when I used to umpire little kids baseball I just knew that I couldn’t, and wouldn’t make everyone (coaches, players, parents, fans, other umpires, etc) happy…the story that I read about the missionary trying to figure out how to minister to the two language congregations, and the appreciation that he gained with they came together in worship. Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago with over 70 different language groups represented every Sunday,
4. Can you imagine going to a church of about 20,000 and they were all happy. This miracle can still happen today under the right conditions and maturity. Can you imagine going to a church where everyone’s true needs were being met? Where ministry was abounding in people lives? Can you imagine going to a church where many different language groups are singing together? Heaven is going to be a lot like that. If you think that we will have the white, middle-class, Southern Baptist section of heaven you are wrong. Some of you may not like heave all that much, if you don’t get right. Or you may not make it. Until we deal with the conflict within our own church, this church will never reach its full potential. And we all know that its there, and everybody looks around when we have a message like this to see if anyone is going to acknowledge it. You need to step up and do your part to resolve any leftover conflict. I will go with you and help you, or if it is with me, I will be glad to sit down with you and work through it. But dealing with it IS that important. You may be withholding NRBC from growth.
A. Closing illustration: Compare New Hope Baptist Church with the story of FBC Woodstock, GA
