God’s Dream Team
Acts 6:1-7
Intro: [Define synergy & relate how the body of Christ can accomplish much more together than separately.]
Prop: God wants His people to work as a team as they go about His unstoppable work.
Interrogative: How can we do this? How can Christians be team players as they do their part in furthering God’s work?
TS: I’d like to look at four thoughts from our text as we explore this idea of teamwork and working together to see God’s purpose fulfilled in our lives and our world.
I. Team Players Must Be Willing to Step up and Help Meet the Need
-The apostles had been in leadership training for 3 years under the greatest teacher this world has ever seen. They were students of Jesus of Nazareth, and had learned a lot about helping people as they watched Jesus at work. So, it is not surprising that after Jesus left them with a mission and sent the HS to help them accomplish it that the disciples are found distributing food to the many widows who had come to believe on Jesus. They helped distribute food when Jesus fed 4000 and then 5000.
-We read in Acts that some of the Christians in the early church sold extra property and laid the money at the feet of the apostles. The purpose for this money was to help meet the physical needs of those in the church who lacked what they needed. So for an unknown period of time, the apostles worked hard at meeting the genuine physical needs of people they ministered to. The largest group of those in need were widows.
-Scholars tell us that many foreign Jews who lived in other lands would move to Israel, especially Jerusalem, in their old age because that was where they wanted to be buried. Consequently, there seemed to be a large concentration of displaced widows in Jerusalem. Jews typically provided well for widows in obedience to the OT, which instructed them to take care of widows. However, there weren’t enough foreign synagogues in Jerusalem to adequately provide for these non-native Jewish widows.
-That is where the church came in. Many of these widows were receiving the gospel and turning to Jesus. Peter and the other apostles were doing their best to meet the needs, but the church by this time could easily have been 10,000 people strong. Even 12 leaders could not keep up with all the demands of providing spiritual leadership, along with making sure everyone had enough food to eat.
-But the point to be made is that the apostles had stepped up and were meeting this need the best way they knew how.
-The lesson for us is this: We will face times when people need help and we are in a position to help them. Ministry will need to happen, and if we do not step up and just do it, then the need will go unmet. This is common in both small churches and large churches. Sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and get to work- even if you are not especially gifted in that certain area.
-I appreciate how many of you have stepped up in this church and helped when there was a need. Some of you have been willing to teach, or visit, or call people, or clean, or drive, or all of the above – just because it needed to be done. Thank you for doing that. I believe God will bless you for it.
-However, I want to point out that we are all wired differently. God has gifted us all uniquely so that we can do certain things better than other things. So, through our willingness to serve and step up and meet the need, we may find ourselves tied to an area we are not really suited for long-term.
-That doesn’t mean that we should panic and bail out, but let’s look at this 2nd principle that the apostles had to grapple with.
II. Team Players Must Recognize When It Is Time to Get Out of the Way
-There may come a time when we need to make room for the gifts of others. Maybe God has been using us in a certain area, and we’ve been faithful to do the best we can, but we know we are not using our God-given abilities to their fullest.
[Use example of Principal/Teacher/Youth Pastor in Baker. There came a time when we needed to get out of the way so someone else could step in and take the youth to the next level.]
-This requires honesty and humility, and I would say a willingness to stay with it until God releases you. The apostles apparently weren’t doing an adequate job of distributing the food. They were not really equipped to run a food distribution center themselves. However, there were others who would be able to put the time and energy needed into meeting the physical needs of the Christian community.
-The apostles knew exactly what they were called to do. They did not consider themselves above serving others or helping widows. However, they knew that they were being pulled away from the word of God and from prayer. Their days were being filled with making sure that hundreds of people were adequately cared for. It was exhausting and endless work. Perhaps their prayer lives were suffering. We rarely think of people in the Bible struggling with their prayer lives.
-So, the apostles presented the idea to the church that they should select 7 faithful men who would be able to serve the Lord by taking care of the food distribution.
-Most scholars agree that since the names of these 7 men are Greek names, that they were probably Greek-speaking Jews from other places who had relocated in Israel. In other words, they were from the group of people who were complaining that the needs of the widows among them were being neglected. Rather than selecting Jews who were natives to Jerusalem, they chose foreign Jews to oversee all of the food distribution. The church was not worried that their own interests would not be served. They just wanted to see that the need was met.
-Well, the 7 men they picked were apparently very godly and trustworthy men who would deal fairly in all that they did. That brings us to the next point.
III. Team Players Should Seek Qualities That Will Enable Them to Help Others
A. Spirit-filled (Present tense) These men were full of the Spirit in the here and now. It doesn’t say that they had been filled with the Spirit and that it was a done deal since they had spoken in tongues. No, they were known to be full of the Spirit. No doubt the fruit of the Spirit was evident in their lives (love, joy, peace, etc.). The power of the Spirit was evident in their lives as they shared the good news with others.
-Folks, we need to be full of the Spirit! We need to seek God on a daily basis and ask Him to fill us with His Spirit so that we can be and do all that He has called us to be and do. If you have asked God to forgive you of your sins and to be the leader of your life, you have the HS living inside of you. However, we should seek to be filled with the HS continually so that we have something to give to others. If you’ve been seeking but have not received the fullness of the HS, don’t give up! Keep seeking and you will find. Keep asking and you will receive. How can you help others? Stay full of the Holy Spirit.
B. Full of Wisdom- Seek God’s wisdom to effectively do what He calls you to do. James 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
C. Full of Faith- We will be looking at the life of Stephen in the next couple of weeks, but he is singled out as being full of faith. He believed God for the miraculous, and God used Him mightily. Acts 6:8 tells us that he was “a man full of God’s grace and power, [and he] did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” That gift is available to the church today, and maybe one or more of you have it! Cultivate it. Let God develop it to maturity in you.
-Well, what was the result of the apostles and believers working out the wrinkles and perhaps disagreement amongst them? We see it in v.7, which leads us to the final point.
VI. Anointed Team Efforts Result in the Growth of God’s Kingdom (7)
-Someone said that a lot can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets the credit. Ultimately God gets the credit, because it is His church, His people, and His work. He wants us to learn to work together to reach lost people.
-Because God’s people were willing to obey Him and work as a team, we read the result in v7:”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.”
-In ch.5 we talked about the unstoppable work of God. We can be part of the team that is about our Father’s business, but we do need each other. If we try to go it alone and just do it my way, we might make it, but we will have missed the mark of effectiveness and we will have missed the joy that is found in close fellowship with other believers.
-Anointed team efforts are efforts that are empowered by the Holy Spirit. If we somehow were able to create a good team effort on our own, we would not be effective in producing lasting spiritual growth. Only the Spirit gives life, and we need Him more than ever.
Conclusion: As we close today, think about this: We are part of something that is God’s idea to win this world. We are part of the ultimate dream team- the church- doing the will of God together. As we seek to do what God has called us to do, sometimes we will need to just step up and do whatever needs to be done- even if we are not really gifted for it. Times may come when we need to realign ourselves with God’s purpose and get out of the way if we are operating outside of our giftings. All the while, we need to be cultivating the qualities in our lives that will help us help others. We need to stay full of the HS, and God’s wisdom, and walk in faith and confidence in the Lord.
-Maybe you’ve never really joined God’s team. You’ve watched a few games and have talked with the players, but you haven’t committed your life to God or to the rest of the team. I hope you will do that today. Here is how we commit ourselves to God. First, we ask Him to forgive us for the wrong things we’ve said and done. Then, we commit our past, present, and future to Him, and ask Him to lead our lives. You can do that before you leave here today if you’ll just begin to talk to the Lord and tell Him what is in your heart.
-Maybe you have other areas you need to work on today. Maybe you need to ask God to help you be a better team player. You need your teammates, and they need you. We are in this thing together, so let’s get together and do what God has called us to do in this church and in this community.
-If you would like to pray or be prayed for, please take a few moments to do that. You may want to ask someone around you for prayer or come to the front to be prayed for. God will meet you where you are and help you.
