EXPANSION
fellowship community ¡V 3 Nov 2002
Acts 6:1-7
INTRODUCTION:
As we come to God¡¦s precious Word today, I have titled today¡¦s message: ¡§Expansions.¡¨ Now, there are some good types of expansion and some bad. For example, when a business expands that¡¦s a good example, but when my taxes expand, we would say, that¡¦s bad expansion. On the other hand, when an economy expands, we say that¡¦s good, but when my belt size expands, we know that¡¦s not good.
Well within the church expansion can be both good or bad. Let me explain by this personal illustration. Growing up in a home that emphasized athletics, I remember the time I wanted to play the organ and play sports at the same time. My dad gave me some advice that still stands today.
He told me, Paul, you¡¦re going to have to decide whether you want to play sports or a instrument. To do both is just too difficult. As much as that hurt then, I have come to realize my dad was right. You can do some things well, but you can only do many things mediocre.
It¡¦s really no different in the church. I have seen churches that have done a few thing really well and they have stuck to those few things. I have also seen churches try to be everything to everyone and have ended up doing nothing well. They were mediocre churches.
Like my ambitions of yesteryear, they tried to do too many things and ended up doing nothing well. So, how do we determine as a church what things we will do and what things we will either wait to do or not do at all? What will criteria? Who will set the priorities? Today, our goal is to understand¡K
BIG IDEA:
NEW MINISTRIES WILL BEGIN, WHEN WE ALLOW GOD TO MAKE IT A PRIORITY
BY ALLOWING GOD TO MAKE THE PRIORITIES¡K
1A. NEW MINISTRIES WILL BEGIN OUT OF TRUE NEEDS (6:1-2)
The Hellenistic Jews were from outside Jerusalem and spoke Greek and not Aramaic or Hebrew like those within Jerusalem. They probably used the Septuagint (Greek translation of OT), while the Jews living in Jerusalem remained faithful to the Hebrew text. This set a barrier between the people. Now it moved from a language barrier to a ministry barrier. Because the widows didn¡¦t understand where to receive aid and the Hebrew speaking Christians didn¡¦t appear to know they were being overlooked, these widows were now being neglected. This caused a true need within the church.
So, a need was raised and the result we are about to see would resemble two circles intersecting one another, yet having portions of those circles exclusive to each other. What God was pointing out to the Jerusalem church was this: you have a great thing going (Acts 2:42ff; 4:32-36), but now I want you to begin a new circle to make sure these folks who are being neglected experience the family love you have.
We need to stop here and apply this. that is our goal at fellowship. We long to extend the love the Father has given to us. That is why on our invitation cards you will see this phrase, ¡§where Christ is exalted and you¡¦re family!¡¨ we want people to experience what family love is like and that occurs right here within God¡¦s family!
One family member that is easy to overlook both then and now are widows. But, caring for widows is incredibly close the heart of God. Just to illustrate this a little, listen to these verses¡K
Psalm 68:5
A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
1 Tim. 5:3 (NASB-U)
Honor widows who are widows indeed;
James 1:27 (NASB-U)
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
So, here we have a true need, and out of this true need, the ministry of the early church will be expanded, because they are trusting or allowing God to set the priority. What the church was experiencing in Acts 2 and 4, God was not directing them to make a reality with these Hellenistic Jews.
But how were these widows being neglected? The text states they were being ¡§overlooked in the daily serving of food.¡¨ This word ¡§overlooked¡¨ gives the idea that when help was being distributed each day, these widows received nothing. They were being neglected. This raised a true need within the church.
We also need to realize the last two words were added by the translators. They are not in the original, meaning, so there is room for interpretation. So instead of being neglected in the daily distribution of food, some scholars believe is the they were being overlooked in the daily distribution of the funds needed to live (Acts 2:45;4:34-36). These funds may have missed some of these widows due the barriers we mentioned earlier. Again, a true need has risen. So, what is one to do with a true need?
A true need must turn to true actions. In other words, who is going to take care of this need? That¡¦s where the Apostles are made aware of this need and determine the next step (read v. 2). The next step was evaluation.
True needs help us evaluate what we are doing and determine if there is anything we need to stop doing and attend to this true need? It also affirms what we are doing and we continue on with our role. Such is the case with the apostles. They realized their primary role is not to neglect the word of God in order to serve the widows in this capacity.
Now, when I first read this, I had a similar reaction as some of you may be having¡K I thought, surely these guys can stop for a moment and help these widows. Are they too important to do such a task now?
Then, I re- read the verse and realized God made the priorities for the apostles (John 15), and this true need would have to be met by others¡K So, the Apostles declare they cannot ¡§neglect,¡¨ literally, to no longer not care about the preaching of the word of God.¡¨ They could not afford to become lethargic towards God¡¦s Word to serve this true need.
Now wait a minute that sounds like elitism, Paul? Well, let¡¦s think about that? Are there not things you do at your home that no one else does? What about your work? Are there things you and only you are responsible for? The main and sole role of the apostles was prayer and the word of God.
Let me take some time to apply some thoughts here for us.
„« The leaders are not to meet every need within the church
„« A need, even a true need, does not designate a call. A true need, however, is an invitation for someone else to begin serving others.
So, we see out of true needs, God not only makes the priorities, but expands the ministries. How does he expand them? That¡¦s our next point in our application¡K
BY ALLOWING GOD TO MAKE THE PRIORITIES¡K
2A. NEW MINISTRIES WILL BEGIN OUT OF LEADERSHIP MULTIPLICATION (6:3-6)
They multiplied the ministry by placing an oweness upon the congregation to find 7 men. Why seven? I am not sure and there is much speculation about this, but more than likely, it was to ensure proper care for the widows.
When you figure the size of the church was close to 20,000 people at this time and only 12 Apostles leading this. Surely 7 additional men to help lead this would be minimal. But that¡¦s the number Luke records for us.
There is something interestingly unique about all seven of these men. There names are all Greek, indicating the church saw the weakness and the true need to have men from that culture to meet the true need of these widows. While we do have further records of Stephen and Philip, we do not have any record of the other five.
Now, some may argue these seven men are the first deacons. While it can be argued they are doing the work of a deacon, the noun form ¡§deacon¡¨ is never used here. Moreover, after Stephen is martyred, one would think they would have replaced him as they did with Judas as an apostle, but no such thing is done. In addition, while these men handle physical needs as deacons, they are also shown sharing the gospel or should I say, preaching the gospel. Stephen does so in front of his would be murderers in Acts 7, and Philip preaches the gospel to an Ethiopian Eunich in Acts 8.
So , who are these seven men? They are men just like the men in this church ¡V men who are full of the Holy Spirit and faith, who are disciples of Jesus Christ, desiring to serve their king in a very selfless way, even it means laying down your agenda for the cause of Christ. These men weren¡¦t looking for a title to serve the church. They were, however, being equipped to serve within the church.
Notice the Apostles didn¡¦t get their hands involved in this ministry (v. 4). They knew their role and stuck to it. This is a lesson many pastors need to understand, yet less apply. We often get so busy doing the ministry and because we see what all needs to be done, we end up doing the work of ministry instead of multiplying leaders to do the work of ministry. See our role according to Ephesians 4, is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry
Ephes. 4:11-16
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
To do anything more or anything less is a disservice to you and dishonoring to Jesus Christ. In other words, God wants his leaders to multiply themselves into you, so that the church begins to minister to one another through ordinary people like these seven men; like folks that are before me today. God wants to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things!
I cannot say it enough, family, God desires to use you, but before he can use us, we need to be equipped. Equipped in what way? Well, notice the qualifications of these men: they were to be full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom. Meaning they were Spirit ¡V filled Christians and knew how to take the word of God and apply it to various situations. That is a equipped individual; that is a mature individual; that is a true disciple.
We are also to train men and women to understand how the Bible¡¦s principles relate to the real world. Again, that is why we spend so much time teaching the Bible. We don¡¦t do this to make us smarter sinners or to help us become more knowledgeable about the Bible. Knowledge by itself causes pride (1 Cor 14:1). But it is when we take that knowledge and apply it to the needs in front of us, the questions we are asking , the problems we are facing us, etc. and allow the Bible to filter our responses instead of our emotions. That is what they refer to when they say look for a man full of wisdom.
Now, before I loose you, just realize, it is our responsibility as leaders to equip you. Well how do we do that? We do that by what we are doing now¡K clearly presenting God¡¦s word as it is to people as they are! We do it during Sunday School; we do it on Saturday morning with the men at 7:30 a.m. we do with the youth during Sunday School, and our goal is to expand doing it with the women as we continue to pray for a Bible Study leader for our women.
With these key discipleship training outlets in place, we know God will begin new ministries, because we are multiplying leaders, and its just a matter of time before he shows us a true need. And when he does, our goal is to place qualified leaders in that ministry. How will we do that? Look at verse 6.
Our goal would be to bring them before you in a service like this; explain their role; their ministry and point you to them, if you would like to join them in this ministry or come to them, if you have a question about that ministry.
One last thing before we move to our third point. Observe how the apostles remained steadfast with their roles (v. 4). They didn¡¦t waiver. They did what they had learned from the Master: When ministry begins to grow, multiply the leadership in order to care for the true need. Jesus did this when he commissioned the twelve in Matthew 10 and the seventy in Luke 10.
Illustration: In my past ministry experiences, I had primary responsibility to oversee over 200 small groups. Question: did I actually meet one on one with all those leaders? not on you life! What we did was develop what we called ¡§coaches.¡¨ These men took oversight of five groups and so we had some forty coaches. It was their role to encourage, train, equip and develop these small group leaders. the result was we had better communication between groups, better training than we ever had, and a better flow of people getting into small groups. Over all it was a success.
By allowing God to make the priorities, new ministries will expand out of true needs, out of leadership multiplication, and¡K
BY ALLOWING GOD TO MAKE THE PRIORITIES¡K
3A. MINISTRIES WILL EXPAND OUT OF OBEDIENCE (6:7)
When we recognize genuine needs and multiply, we will be obeying one of the key commands of our Lord Jesus before he left earth. What was that command, you ask?
.
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
The responsibility Jesus left to his disciples was to multiply disciples. So, returning to Acts 6:7, we see the disciples increased, which tells me, the church was being obedient to this final command of our Lord Jesus.
The early church obeyed the Lord, not out of obligation, but out of admiration and this led to multiplying disciples and disciples become servant leaders.
So, how does this apply today for us?
First, if you have a widow in your family, the Bible calls us to meet her need (1 Tim 5:3-8). Illustration: Helen and Shannon and their family how they loved, provided and cared for Helen¡¦s mother, Martha Durham.
Second, these seven men were selected for a specific task. After the need was met, it appears the position also ceased. Thus, realize, that ministry does change after a period of time. The way we do Sunday School today is different than how it was done 10 years ago. And it will be different 10 years from now. Methodologies come and go, but principles are eternal.
Third, don¡¦t be afraid to say ¡§No.¡¨ The Apostles realized their limitations as well as their responsibilities. So, they delegated this ministry to equipped men.
Fourth, when it comes time to delegating ministry, be sure the persons are spiritually qualified. Be careful of giving someone authority before their character can be thoroughly examined.
Fifth, young ladies, when you are looking for a young man to come court you or date you, here are two great qualities to look for in a man: full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom. In fact, have your parents involved in evaluating whether those qualities are true of that young man you have your eyes upon.
Sixth, our role as spiritual leaders is to disciple this local body of believers. But having read that this week, I asked the Lord this question. ¡§how do we do this? Where do we begin discipling people? And as I prayed that prayer, look at the text with me and see how God answered me¡K
¡§Select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom¡K¡¨
What I sensed from God was that we are to train folks what it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I want to take a moment and walk through that process.
Col. 3:16
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Ephes. 5:18
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Galatians 5:16
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Galatians 5:25
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
By allowing the word of God to dwell within us, this provides the avenue by which the Holy Spirit can and will fill us. Then as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can then walk by the Spirit.
All of this is to be taken by faith ¡V to rely totally upon God, His Word, and His Holy Spirit to fulfill what His Word promises.
Seventh, before we place anyone into ministry, there is a qualifier that is often overlooked in most churches. Look back to the first part of verse 3¡K
¡§select from among you seven men of good reputation¡K¡¨ In 1st Timothy 3:8ff, deacons are to be tested first before being made deacons. In any ministry; in any position, in any business, in any family, before someone is given new responsibility, they are tested first to see if they can handle the work load, the stress, the responsibility. If they do well, then that position is awarded to them. If not, then either more training is needed or they are moved to a position where they can excel with their gifts, talents and abilities.
Principles:
1. Where we can be challenged the greatest is in an area that we were once strong (Acts 2:42ff; 4:32-35). There are no plateaus in our individual lives or in the lives of churches. either we are progressing or regressing.
2. Relational struggles are often based upon some form of misunderstanding: Cultural, language, economic (1)
3. Remain focused on your God ¡V given calling ¡V The Apostles remained at prayer and the ministry of the Word. If what you are doing is not fulfilling your role, than why are you doing that?
4. What appears to be problems are actually opportunities to expand the ministry ¡V 6:1-2
5. Before there can be servants, God wants us to be his disciple (1, 7).
6. God calls certain men to lead the church and are required to demonstrate faithfulness and commitment in the execution of those duties (3).
7. In any situation when delegating, give not only responsibility, but also the authority (6:3,6)
8. All roles, whether in a family, a business, or a church are important, but God has granted some positions with greater authority, and with that greater authority comes greater responsibility.
9. When delegating roles and responsibility, be clear(3). Say it out loud before you give it to someone. If it doesn¡¦t make sense or isn¡¦t clear, than we can expect it will not be completed as you want.
10. As your pastor, I must constantly tell myself my role is to equip you to do the work of ministry. So, you can hold me accountable to that.
Challenge:
1. If you are new to the understanding of being filled with the Holy Spirit, let us equip you more on this issue. It really is the key to joy-filled service and to living a fulfilled life. If you would like to know more on that, pull me aside today or Mike and we¡¦d be thrilled to sit down and discuss this further.
2. If you are aware and are experiencing the Spirit filled life, than I want to commend you and invite you to consider serving in some capacity within fellowship. Want to know what are some current needs, again, contact Mike or me and we¡¦d be overjoyed to discuss some options with you. But I will mention a few:
„Ï Women¡¦s Bible Study leader
„Ï A shepherd for the Nursery is needed for the service and Sunday School hours.
„Ï Power point
„Ï Producing and folding the bulletins
„Ï Caretaking the landscape and facilities
3. If you see a genuine need within this church, please come and speak to either Mike or me. Let¡¦s talk about either multiplying the leadership or delegating some leaders to begin that ministry. But most of all, let¡¦s get together so we can pray, asking God to make a priority list for us and then we can begin those new ministries.
WE started this message by addressing a serious issue within many churches ¡V that is trying to be all things to all people. People can¡¦t do that and neither can churches. In order to see any new ministries begin, we have to allow God to make the priorities. Then by allowing the Lord to make the priorities, we will not only see new ministries begin, we will see the church grow as well!
