English Standard Version (ESV)
Seven Chosen to Serve
6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
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What’s the most important thing?
Anybody remember the movie City Slickers? It had Billy Crystal in it and came out
several decades ago, so the answer may be no, but in it Jack Palance taught
Billy Crystal that there was a most important thing. He never told Crystal what it was, but
eventually Crystal figured out that we each had to figure out what was our own
most important thing.
It changes, too, depending on what’s
going on around us.
For example, let’s imagine you work
at a bobsled track. What’s the most
important thing?
Not standing in the track when
bobsleds are coming down it. On
Thursday, a man forgot this important thing and was found standing in the track
when a sled came down it, breaking both his legs and giving him a concussion. He’s lucky to be alive. For unknown reasons, he had ignored the
warning given to clear the track and remained there on the track, just before
the finish line, when he was struck. He
forgot this important thing.
Each activity has its own most
important thing. If you’re the type of
person who likes to throw yourself out of airplanes recreationally, the most
important thing is to have a working parachute.
Nothing else really matters if that doesn’t work. If you’re a parent, my first rule is to never
wake a sleeping baby. If you’re in a
relationship, remembering a card on Valentine’s Day may well be the most
important thing. It depends.
What about the church? What’s the most important thing for a church?
We can say, without debate or
equivocation, that keeping the Gospel at the center of our life together is the
most important thing. We simply cannot
afford to let Jesus Christ slip away from the center of our congregation, be it
in worship, fellowship or service. It is
vital, because it is Christ who defines us, it is Christ that redeems us, it is
Christ that promises to lead us forward into a future with hope. If we allow Christ to slip from our view,
then we are no different than any other social gathering. If our gatherings are not defined by the
presence and worship of Christ, we may as well stay home and watch the
Olympics, right? The life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important thing for us. It was Paul that said that if the
resurrection is not true, then Christians are to the be the most pitied of all
peoples, for we would have set our hopes on a false thing.
The early church recognized
this. Here in Acts 6, the Greek Jews
have started to complain because their widows were being neglected when the
other widows were being cared for daily.
They brought a complaint to the Jews, and this is a critical junction. What could have happened is that the church
could have chosen to focus all of its energies to alleviate the complaints of
the Greek Jews, which were perfectly valid complaints. They could have directed a whole church
effort to care for these widows, and certainly the widows and the Greek Jews
would have been alleviated.
But then another concern would have
cropped up, and the church would have shifted its vision once more. And then again. And undoubtedly again, until the church was
being constantly jerked around by whatever the conflict of the day was. They would have become firefighters, consistently
going from conflict to conflict in the hopes of alleviating everyone’s
concerns. It would certainly have been a
nice group of people doing good works, but they would have lost sight of the
most important thing.
The disciples, however, did not
choose this approach. Instead, they
recognized that the church was growing, and that it was doing so because of
their proclamation. They were preaching
the Word and living the Word, and because of the fact that the Gospel was the
center of their fellowship, the disciples were increasing in number. So when they heard of this conflict, the
first thing they did was acknowledge that the preaching of the Gospel had to
continue. They would not stop this
activity, for it was the lifeblood of the church, and it was the way others
were coming in to the church. They kept
the Gospel at the center and allowed the most important thing to continue.
But, while doing that, they also
acknowledged the importance of feeding all the widows. They knew that the preaching of the Gospel
and the existence of the church led them out into the world, and so they set
apart separate resources to serve the community. Notice, too, that they didn’t just take the
leftovers—they picked men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom, men with good
reputations to do the task well. They
weren’t going to do anything halfway, so they fully committed themselves to the
task of feeding the widows. They
intentionally set aside resources, some of their best resources, for service to
others.
And having done so, they continued
to preach the Word, to keep the Gospel at the center, and the number of
disciples continued to grow. It was an
ongoing miracle that God was doing, and you and I are legacies of this
tradition. Because the early church
committed to keeping Christ at the center, the church continued to grow, and
its legacy spans millennia.
So what does this mean for us
today?
I think it means that we, too, need
to be aware of the fact that the Gospel needs to be in the center of our
lives. There are so many distractions
vying for our time and attention, and we often chase them, from one minute to
the next, and we drift through our everyday lives like that, constantly chasing
things and feeling like we’re behind. We
are called to be a people with intentionality, keeping Christ at the center and
going throughout our day with an ever growing awareness of his great love with
which he loves us. We are called to be a
people with our minds, hearts and bodies focused on glorifying God. We don’t want to chase distractions, but
rather we want to go with purpose and focus.
So how do you keep the Gospel at
the center? Does your day begin with a
reminder to let this day be God’s? Do
you let Scripture start your day? Do you
focus yourself first thing? How do you
remind yourself throughout the day that the Gospel needs to be at the
center? And how do you let the Gospel
guide your big decisions? Do you pray
through things, trusting the Spirit’s wisdom to lead you?
And when you’ve done this, do you
let the Gospel lead you into service? Do
you set aside some of your best resources to serve others, to meet the needs of
those around you? Do you serve others
with intention? Or just hope that a good
opportunity arises?
Friends, we need to let the Gospel be
the most important thing. We need to
keep the Gospel at the center, and to serve those who are around us. If we do so, we are doing our job and we’re
letting God do his job. How did
disciples join the church? God brought
them in. God opened their ears and their
hearts. God was doing a mighty work
here, and the disciples allowed their lives to be centered on that. We don’t have to have all the answers. We just have to let the most important thing
be just that.
Let us pray
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