WHERE UNITY IS, GOD EXISTS (ACTS 6:1-7)
Today my message is on the real church. It’s been said, “Anyone can love the ideal church. The challenge is to love the real church.”
In the church where I was the pastor to the English congregation of a Chinese church, the aging senior pastor on the Chinese side and some deacons had an ugly church fight. The deacons wanted a younger, more dynamic pastor on staff to replace him, but the senior pastor was not prepared or pleased with others to decide his retirement. The controversy was ugly, the conflict was unbearable and the church was unhappy. One angry deacon even threw a pencil at the table in a meeting and told the pastor he was disgusting, repulsive, and classless. After several months, the matter was resolved when the pastor agreed to retire, two deacons agreed to step down for a year and the younger pastor quietly moved to another church.
The church ordained me after the senior pastor’s departure, the two deacons left with less than a dozen out of 200 people. We grew in numbers and later bought our own property.
It’s been said, “To dwell above with the saints we love, That will be grace and glory. To live below with the saints we know; That's another story!” (Chuck Swindoll, Strengthening Your Grip, 32)
The church in Jerusalem experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in chapter 2, a lame man was healed in chapter 3 and the spread of falsehood was averted in chapter 5 (Acts 5:1-10). The next thing the church had to resolve was internal dissension. The church in Jerusalem encountered its first real problem. When they dealt with it in wisdom, the church was strengthen inside and the church kept on growing.
What causes a church or a group to be united or unstable? Why is unity important? How does a church and fellowship work through disagreement and discord?
We Are Put Together by God in His Wisdom Stop the Bleeding
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. (Acts 6:1-2)
The church I served the longest in the States was Riverside Chinese Alliance Church, a church of 70-80 people in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, an undeveloped place known for her horses and cows, one hour drive from Los Angeles. Most Chinese people who lived there could speak English. The people were from 12 countries include Chinese from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, American-born Chinese, and native Thais and Laotians. On top of that 10% are Caucasians. The sermons that are translated from English to Mandarin must not be too long, around 45 minutes. There was no Chinese restaurant nearby, so we had potluck lunch on Sundays.
As Mother Teresa once said: “By blood and origin, I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.” (12/22/933 quoted; reported Newsweek 8/27-9/5/97)
The real church in Jerusalem was confronted with three challenges that remained even today: culture (Greek-speaking and locals), class (widows) and contingency (daily). The church in Jerusalem was comprised of Greek-speaking Jews and Hebrew-speaking Jews, married people and single people, including widows.
The growing church in Jerusalem is often characterized as the early church, the exemplary church and the excellent church, but they were not without problems because as long as there is growth, there is gridlock. The verb “multiply” is monopolized by the book of Acts (Acts 6:1, 7, 7:17, 9:31, 12:24). The phrase “the number of the disciples was multiplied” is repeated in verses 1 and 7. The number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem greatly (Acts 6:7), then the churches throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria were multiplied (Acts 9:31), followed by the word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). For all her great multiplication (v 7), the church had her fair share of factions, faults and frustrations too.
Here are some sayings about people:
“Where there are people, there will be good and bad.”
“Where there are people, there will be messes.”
“Where there are people, there are risks.”
“Where there are people, there will be mistakes.”
“Where there are people, there is politics.”
“Where there are people there are emotions.”
“Where there are people there is trash.”
“Where there are people there must also be rules.”
The two most:
“Where there are people, there are problems.”
“Where there are people, there is conflict.”
There was a complaint (v 1) because the Greek-speaking widows were neglected in the daily food ministry. In other versions the same noun (complaint) elsewhere in the Bible has been translated as murmuring (KJV), grumbling (1 Pet 1:9, ESV) and grudge (1 Pet 1:9, KJV). A complaint unattended can lead to a controversy, a complication, clash and a chaos.
The verb “neglect” (paratheoreo) made its only appearance in the Bible, is derived from the verb “look, see, perceive” (theoreo).NASB correctly translates it as “overlooked” because they were disregarded, distanced, deprived and discriminated. The problem could not be ignored because of the people involved – disciples, the Grecians, the Hebrews, widows (v 1), the twelve, the multitude (v 2), brethren and men (v 3) caught up in it.
We Have to Pray Together for One Another As We Work
3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:3-4)
I read an article many years ago that asked “Are you a potential church-splitter?” and listed of seven traits:
1. Between forty and fifty-five years old.
2. Male
3. Nearly twenty years of involvement in church
4. Church board member
5. Cause of trouble in a former church or at some previous time in his present church
6. People of significant personal accomplishment
7. Respected for their leadership ability by others in the congregation.
There is one imperative in the whole passage, which is “choose/look out (epi-skeptomai), which is derived from the word “scope,” to mean inspect, observe, focus. The responsibility is for the multitude (v 2), the brethren (v 3), at least eight thousand (Acts 2:41, 4:4), not including women. They were responsible for the candidates, but the criteria was given – decency, development, discernment; respected, reverent and resourceful; whether they are good, godly or gifted; their standing, spirituality, sensibility; if they are principled, pious, prudent; their relationship to others, God and oneself.
The verb is “give attention/give continually (KJV)” to prayer (4), the same for Acts 1:14, when the church, the apostles and the ladies “continued” in prayer and supplication. It means to be resilient, resolute and relentless in prayer. A church is not without problems, but the answer is always prayer. The early church was a praying church and they prayed together for one another.
We Have to Pull Together for Unbelievers By Our Witness
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 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. (Acts 6:5-7)
A pastor shared about his understanding of the church upon graduation from a seminary. Larry Osborne said: “When I entered the pastorate, I had a good understanding of original sin. Six months later, I had an excellent understanding of original sin.” (Stopping Conflict Before It Starts, Leadership Winter 1995)
God provided the people, the plan and the peace when the church prayed. They appointed seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (v 3). The plan was to be inclusive (v 5). All seven deacons had Greek names and Nicolas was a proselyte from Antioch, which means he was a Gentile converted to Judaism. God provided the peace. The statement found approval with the whole congregation (v 5).
The church in Jerusalem was also a diverse, democratic and decentralized church guided by the principles of friendliness, fairness and faithfulness. The people were pleased (v 5), meaning their views, voices and voices were heard and respected. The true church is not measured by people’s race, resources or refinement.
How do the verbs “spread” and “increase rapidly,” translated as “increase” and “multiplied” in KJV differ? First, “increase” refers to the word of God, and “multiply” concerns the disciples. Second, the former (increase) is always in the imperfect tense in the Bible (Luke 1:80, 2:40, Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20, 1 Cor 3:6), which is equivalent to the present tense (continual action) in the past,” whereas the latter (multiply) is also in the imperfect tense (mostly aorist elsewhere) but PASSIVE voice, meaning God gives the growth – both verbs crediting the word of God or the work of God. The imperfect (in the past) means uncontrolled, unchained, and uncountable. Third, to the second verb “multiply” is added an adverb (how much) – “greatly,” an exception with the how the verb is used regularly without the need for an adverb (greatly). Four, the first can be translated as “grow” (matt 6:28), but the second as “abound” (Matt 24:12). The first is fitfulness or formation, the second is fullness, and the last is fruitfulness. One is the advancement, the other is the abundance, and the last is the amount. One is content, the other is the count, and the last is the crossover. The last verb depicts a “great company of priests” were “obedient” to the faith.
Finally the “word of God” (13x) makes its most appearance in the book of Acts. There is no stopping, slowing or sabotaging God’s word, His work, witness and wonders.
Conclusion: Written on the town hall in Basel, Switzerland, are these words: “Where unity is there God lives.” God MATCHES His people together in a church:
Ministering to one another
Admonishing one another
Trusting one another
Complementing one another.
Helping one another.
