WHEN THE CHURCH BEGAN TO MULTIPLY…
ACTS 6:1-7: And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
INTRO: “WHEN THE CHURCH BEGAN TO MULTIPLY”
Songs: Do Something New / Be Magnified
Illustration: I am reminded of the story of the husband who always fell asleep during the pastor’s sermon. The wife had decided to keep him awake - so she took a sharp object with the intention of sticking him with it when he nodded off. Sure enough, right in the middle of the pastor’s message, he nodded off. It was just at the time that the Pastor asked a question. He said, "Now who was it that made the heaven and the earth?" Just about that time she jabbed her husband with the pen. He just up out of the pew and screamed, "Good God, Almighty". The pastor said, "That’s right Brother – that’s right". Sometimes even confusion can work out right.
SUFFERING, CONFLICT, CONFUSION PREDICTED AS A PART OF THE CHURCH:
1. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise his heel."
2. Matthew 5:10 Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
3. 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
4. 1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
5. Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
6. John 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
7. Psalm 119:71: It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes.
8. Psalm 119:67: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.
9. 1 Peter 2:19 19 For this is commendable, if because of commitment to God one suffers wrongfully. 20 But what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.
10. 1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
WHAT KIND OF CHURCH DOES THE DEVIL ATTACK: SEE THE JERUSALEM CHURCH.
1. They Were A Waiting Church. Acts 1:4-5. 4 Jesus commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about…”
2. They Were A Praying Church. Acts 2: In one accord they waited for the Holy Spirit.
3. They Were A Witnessing Church. Acts 4:10-13: After being beaten and told not to preach, Peter & John told the Sanhedrin Council "We ought to obey God rather than you."
4. They Were A Giving Church. Acts 4:32-35 They sold and shared everything they had.
5. They Were A Missionary Church. Jesus told them to be mission minded at all times. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses...”
6. They Were A Holy Ghost Filled Church. They sought the leading of the Holy Spirit.
7. They Were A Saving Church: Thousands were getting saved every day.
8. They Were A Fellowshipping Church: They went from house to house.
HOW SATAN ATTACTS A CHURCH.
To Us As Christians Here Is A Fact Of Life: Whenever God’s people are doing something good for God, Satan the enemy of God tries to destroy. From the moment the church was born, Satan began to fight to destroy the church. The church was growing by the thousands…
1. Sometimes The Devil Attacks With Mockery: Acts 2:13 Holy Ghost – drunk men…
2. Sometimes The Devil Attacks With Arrest & Imprisonment: Acts 4:3 Paul & Silas.
3. Sometimes The Devil Attacks with Threats: Acts 5:4 “We must obey God rather than men.”
4. Sometimes The Devil Attacks With Accusations: Acts 2:1-13 Against Caesar…
5. Sometimes The Devil Attacks With Sin: Acts 5:1-2 Ananias and Sapphira died.
6. Sometimes He Engineers Strong Opposition To The Gospel: Uses witchcraft – Elymas the Sorcerer (Simon Barjesus) – Barnabas & Paul - Sergius Paulus (in Cyprus) / Simon the Sorcerer.
7. Sometimes He Engineers Murder To Silence The Church - Then Herod murdered James.
8. Sometimes The Devil Attacks with distraction: Causes the leaders to be so occupied with secondary things - priorities become neglected.
9. Sometimes The Devil Attacks With Success: So what did the Devil do? He attacked from another angle – made Christians fight among themselves. Just when the church was growing – 1000’s were being added - a dispute arose within the church: Problem? Success.
A NEW STRATEGY: INTERNAL STRIFE – CHURCH CONFLICT
Illustration: Satan Had A Meeting – Murmur
Illustration: 10 Persons Hold Hands, 1 In Ring – I Try To Enter. Break From Inside.
Church Conflict Is Inevitable: Church conflict is the devil’s delight! God is into addition and multiplication. The devil is into division and subtraction. Conflict often increases as a church is growing. It may begin with a whisper (secret murmuring) and grows from there. It might beget factionalism (family v/s family, nation v/s nation). It places the name of the church and God in jeopardy within the community. But if handled properly, it separates weed from wheat.
Jesus Says: A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand. This is not a message about church only: It is about families, couples, individuals, organizations, etc. Why should your family succeed? Why should this couple make it? Why should you be blessed? James 3:16: For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. After all the Jerusalem church has come through, the devil is now about to bring chaos through internal divisions. Where persecution failed and moral bankruptcy prevented, there is now a clash of personalities & interests. If we cannot be bullied into unfaithfulness, bewitched into insincerity, then perhaps disunity works.
A LOOK AT THE PASSAGE: 10 WORDS ON “INCREASE” MENTIONED.
Growth Matters: 4 Things Concern me On Tuesdays: Number Of People Attending; Number Of People Being Saved; Amount of people committed, Amount Of Offering. Those The Devil Hates.
1. “And In Those Days…”: There Were More People Being Added To The Church Which Meant More People For The Apostles To Minister To. The Apostles were dividing the food. It was getting overwhelming for them. And it was starting to show among the people. Some were starting to feel neglected and began to complain. The Greek word for complain here is gongusmos meaning murmuring or complaining but not openly, but loud enough to be heard - grumbling. The Greek Jews weren’t going to the Apostles with their complaint. They were just grumbling and murmuring among the people. This is just the kind of thing that Satan can use to destroy the church. Attacks from the outside have not been working. When people start to fall short of expectations, Satan doesn’t want the people to give the benefit of the doubt to the Apostles and think they need more help. Instead, Satan whispers in their ear that “Nobody cares about you.” “Look at other people’s needs being met, but not yours.”
2. This Was The Headquarter Church In Jerusalem & That Problem Of Prejudice Could Destroy The Work. That issue could have altered the direction and focus of ministry in the early church. The problem was not racial prejudice but rather you spoke Hebrew or Greek? The church still consisted of an entirely traditional Jewish audience that spoke Hebrew. The Grecian Jews were true Jews, but were considered to be inferior or not as spiritual because of speaking in Greek instead of Hebrew. They gained their accent when the Greeks conquered Jerusalem. Those with their culture were looked down on. We like to pretend that in the church there is never such a thing as discrimination or any other problem, but sinful nature can come to church.
3. Perhaps The Grecian Jews Had A Legitimate Complaint, But They Turned It Into Murmur. We don’t know how true it was, but serious enough to want to split the church. Their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. This was their only source of provision. Widows, children and the elderly were to be provided for according to the Torah. Never play with people food, power, sex. You make them angry. Illustration: Pastor Beating Wife With Broomstick.
4. The Way To Handle Complaint Is Not To Murmur And Complain Among Themselves Or To Others. They needed to go directly to the Apostles and not let it just get back to the Apostles through the grape vine. We have an obligation, if we think someone has wronged us in some way, to go to them and speak with them personally. Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
5. Refuse To Get Discouraged When You Hear Complaints, Criticisms, Or Accusations. The disciples were convinced that the Lord would fulfill His promise to build His church in quantity and quality regardless of the kind of problems they might encounter. Every time God is about to do something in your life, an interference will come. Some get caught up in the interference and sacrifice the work. No! Remain focus.
6. Handle Problems With Discernment The Way The Apostles Did. Illustration: There was a preacher who was president of his local ministerial alliance. That alliance had a meeting at one of the area churches in which all the churches in town were invited, but no one from that preacher’s church came to the meeting. The next Sunday he was upset about it. He blasted his congregation that 1st Sunday from the pulpit and refused to take communion with them. Philippians 2:14-15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” They handled a growing concern with discernment and did not ignore the problem. Remember, they did not take the complaints to the Apostles. It was among themselves. The Apostles could have easily justified in their heads: “Well, nobody is coming to us with this complaint. If it was really so bad, someone would coming to us directly.” They could have ignored because they had too many other responsibilities than to deal with these complainers. When they realize that there is a problem they begin to deal with it.
7. They Could Have Handled The Problem By Resenting The People. “Those Greek speakers are just a bunch of complainers.” “If they don’t even have the common sense to come and let us know directly, we aren’t going to do anything to help them and their widows out.” The Apostles recognized that despite the way the people handled the situation, there is a legitimate concern that needs to be dealt with. They don’t resent them; they love them as Christ would. We should do the same but set limits as to how far they can cross. Some people prey on the strengths of the church that we should love people. Do good for everyone. They manipulate these attributes.
8. They Didn’t Over-React To The Problem: They don’t drop everything and start fixing the problem themselves. “The Greek speaking widows aren’t being cared for, so let’s solve this problem right now and get over there and feed them.” Over-reacting seldom solves the problem. It may put a temporary bandage on and silence these particular people that are complaining, but by over-reacting, you have most likely created another gap somewhere.
9. The Apostles Realistically Assessed The Problem: They met together and assessed the problem. Notice that by the time they called together the church, they already had in mind the solution they would offer and the reasons for it. This conflict did not occur in one afternoon or probably even a week. It may have taken weeks or maybe even months to get from verse 1 to verse 7. Some issues we must deal with gently. Others we must deal with swiftly.
10. They Realized That The Devil’s Real Target Was To Stop The Word Of God. Why? It Is Prophetic. Isaiah 54:1-7 1 “Shout for joy, O barren woman, she who has not given birth; break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]! For the sons of the desolate woman will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord. 2 “Enlarge the site of your tent [to make room for more children]; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them; lengthen your tent ropes and make your pegs (stakes) firm [in the ground]. 3 “For you will spread out to the right and to the left; and your descendants will take possession of nations and will inhabit deserted cities. 4 “Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame, and do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood. 5 “For your husband is your Maker, the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of the whole earth.
11. So The Apostles Met Together, Talked Over Their Priorities, The Things God Called Them To. They knew that God called them to lead the church, but their main priority if they were going to lead the church effectively was to be praying and ministering the word, sharing the gospel and teaching others sound doctrine. So they knew that they could not take on this role of sharing food and arbitrating thousands of people. But who? So they called together the disciples and lay out realistically what the problem is: "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. We see that this is an issue that needs to be resolved, but it would not be right for us to neglect what God has called us to in ministering the word. So they had realistically assessed the problem. Well, after assessing it realistically, they could now come up with solutions to solve it. So they needed a special team. We cannot do everything. This Trouble Identified The Role Of The Pastor. Acts 6:4 …we will continually give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Illustration: Man’s wife died. Pall bearers tripped on stone, she awakens. Lived 10 more years Na dies. They come to same stone.
12. They Handled The Growing Issue By Delegating: Acts 6:3-6 The Apostles did not try to do everything themselves. They recognized what the priorities were and focused on those and were willing to delegate to others. Others Got Involved In The Ministry: Before the problem, the apostles were doing everything. After the problem, people were chosen to do part of the work and some of them even shared in the preaching work of the apostles – Stephen and Philip. But Who To Delegate To? You cannot just delegate to anyone…
13. What Were The Requirements That The Apostles Laid Down Here? Acts 6:3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of Good Reputation, Holy Spirit-Filled, Full Of Faith & Wisdom. Character Counts - If God has given you gifts and a desire to be a servant leader, then you need to make sure that your life matches your talk and let God get the glory. 1 Timothy 3:7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
14. This Problem Caused The Church To Become Organized. Efficiency and effectiveness are two important words when it comes to problem solving. We are stewards of God-given time, treasure, talents and truth. We cannot, and should not waste what He has entrusted us with.
15. They Trusted The Team To Come Up With A Solution. Trust the team. Look at what they said, "We will put them in charge."
16. We See That Handling Growing Concerns Produce Dividends: Acts 6:7 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. The church grew even more because they handled these growing concerns in a God honoring way.
17. The End Results Of This Trouble Was Harmony Among The Membership. Acts 6:5 …It pleased the whole multitude.
18. It Brought The Church To Prayer. Acts 6:6 …when they had prayed. 21-Day fast/prayer.
19. It Caused The Word Of God To Increase. Acts 6:7 … the word of God increased.
20. It Led To people Saved & Joining Church. Acts 6:7 …the number of disciples multiplied.
21. It Influenced The Religious People To Get Saved. Acts 6:7 …a great number of the priest were obedient to the faith.
22. This Trouble Ended Up With Signs And Miracles Being Done Among The People. Acts 6:8 …did great wonders and miracles among the people.
23. This Trouble In The Church Brought About A Missionary Spirit. Stephen and Philip turned into preachers and went everywhere preaching.
CONCLUSION: 4 LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES - TO APPLY IT TO YOUR LIFE.
1. See Every Crisis As An Opportunity To Get Better.
2. Spend Your Time Doing What You’re Good At And You’re Called To. They said, "We should spend our time preaching and teaching, not administering a food program."
3. Do Not Be Carried By Gossipers or Murmurers. Addicts addicted to drugs. Alcoholics addicted to alcohol. Gossipers addicted to gossip.
4. Never Help Someone Else Flame Their Conflict. Proverbs 26:20 Where there is no talebearer, the fire goes out.
5. Choose The Right People and attitude To Tackle The Problem. We get people involved in conflicts who can add no value when it comes to resolving them.
6. They Weren’t Necessarily Experts In The Problem That Needed To Be Solved. "Give us people who are full of character," because character trumps talent every time.
7. You Will Recognize That You Can Do Greater Things When You Start Properly Handling Problems. Good things will grow and increase.
INTERCESSORY PRAYERS
Prayer For Unity. Rebuke Against Disunity And Its Propagators. Do Not Let Satan Use You To Carry Out His Schemes By Destroying Churches And Peoples.
1. A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel (Pro 15:18).
2. A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends (Proverbs 16:28).
3. The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper (Proverbs 28:25).
4. An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins" (Pro 29:2).
5. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Matthew 18:16).
6. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24).
7. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court… (Matthew 5:25-26).
