The Word This Week
Acts 6:1…
By now the church was multiplying rapidly. It must have been amazing to be there in those days.
But because of the sheer size, it was no longer possible for the twelve apostles to manage everything going on while at the same time preparing messages and spending the time in prayer needed to teach and to bring the needs of the fledgling church before God.
The problems faced in church plants, especially those with no real examples to follow, can be many.
Imagine the problems faced in the very first Church plant, with absolutely no model to follow after – because they WERE the model.
Of course disputes would arise. They would need God’s guidance to settle the issues because every church is comprised of people who have a fallen nature. All at once, they were all learning to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit at the same time. Leaders as well as followers were learning to hear God’s voice - and all of them desiring to reflect God’s will.
One of the great problems they faced was the admixture of people groups that had not necessarily gotten along so well prior to coming to faith in Jesus. On one hand you had the Jewish Judeans and Galileans who were of Hebrew culture and background, and on the other hand you had those who were Jewish but had a Greek background – called ‘Hellenists.’
There was sort of a ‘natural’ divide to be overcome, and it was challenging to do away with the perceived differences and prejudices whether real or imagined.
The very first dispute we see arising in the first Church was about money. Interesting. This would have been a huge issue had not a solution which seemed to satisfy all parties been arrived at swiftly. While the Holy Spirit is not directly mentioned, it does appear as if the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the gift of a word of wisdom which brought about a solution to the issue.
It seems - due to the time spent by the apostles in prayer and study - it was perceived they were not meeting the needs of the Hellenist widows in their number. This broke along natural lines, as the unspoken implication is they WERE meeting the financial needs of the Hebrew widows.
The decision they arrived at was two-fold: The apostles would NOT spend less time in study and prayer to serve the Hellenist widows. Instead, they would allow the people to recommend Godly men of character to accomplish that good and necessary work. These men would be the first ‘deacons’ in the Church, identified as those who would serve the physical needs of the Body, while the apostles would continue to serve the spiritual needs of the Body.
And all agreed with the grace and worthiness of this decision – and so we can know the Holy Spirit guided their thoughts in arriving at this solution – and it continues to be the model for our church to this day.
Pastor Bill
By now the church was multiplying rapidly. It must have been amazing to be there in those days.
But because of the sheer size, it was no longer possible for the twelve apostles to manage everything going on while at the same time preparing messages and spending the time in prayer needed to teach and to bring the needs of the fledgling church before God.
The problems faced in church plants, especially those with no real examples to follow, can be many.
Imagine the problems faced in the very first Church plant, with absolutely no model to follow after – because they WERE the model.
Of course disputes would arise. They would need God’s guidance to settle the issues because every church is comprised of people who have a fallen nature. All at once, they were all learning to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit at the same time. Leaders as well as followers were learning to hear God’s voice - and all of them desiring to reflect God’s will.
One of the great problems they faced was the admixture of people groups that had not necessarily gotten along so well prior to coming to faith in Jesus. On one hand you had the Jewish Judeans and Galileans who were of Hebrew culture and background, and on the other hand you had those who were Jewish but had a Greek background – called ‘Hellenists.’
There was sort of a ‘natural’ divide to be overcome, and it was challenging to do away with the perceived differences and prejudices whether real or imagined.
The very first dispute we see arising in the first Church was about money. Interesting. This would have been a huge issue had not a solution which seemed to satisfy all parties been arrived at swiftly. While the Holy Spirit is not directly mentioned, it does appear as if the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the gift of a word of wisdom which brought about a solution to the issue.
It seems - due to the time spent by the apostles in prayer and study - it was perceived they were not meeting the needs of the Hellenist widows in their number. This broke along natural lines, as the unspoken implication is they WERE meeting the financial needs of the Hebrew widows.
The decision they arrived at was two-fold: The apostles would NOT spend less time in study and prayer to serve the Hellenist widows. Instead, they would allow the people to recommend Godly men of character to accomplish that good and necessary work. These men would be the first ‘deacons’ in the Church, identified as those who would serve the physical needs of the Body, while the apostles would continue to serve the spiritual needs of the Body.
And all agreed with the grace and worthiness of this decision – and so we can know the Holy Spirit guided their thoughts in arriving at this solution – and it continues to be the model for our church to this day.
Pastor Bill