15. Called to Serve

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Hymns: RHC 445 O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee 413 Rise Up, O Men of God! 409 Take Time to be Holy

Acts 6:1-7

1 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.

Called to Serve

OUTLINE

  • The Work/Service (v1-2, 4)
  • The Workers/Servants (v3, 5-6)
  • The Word/Spread (v7)

INTRODUCTION

Acts 6:1-7 – Called to Serve. Serving God is man’s greatest honour. We serve God because He first saved us. He took us out of the depths of sin and shame. Through grace, He opened our spiritual eyes to our spiritual depravity. He stirred our hearts through His Spirit so that we will take Him at His Word and repenting of our sins, we find forgiveness and our sin-burden lifted. And He puts us on a higher plane, to live a life freed from the bondage and ravages of sin and enjoyed the beauty of holiness. We embark on this journey of spiritual growth. We spend quiet time in the meditation and study of God’s Word so that the mind of God can become our mind. God’s love becomes our love, our love God’s will, our will, God’s kingdom work, our willing, voluntary work. And as we grow spiritually, we become aware of the needs of the fellow believers and others still outside God’s kingdom, to care for them, to reach out to them with God’s Word. We are willing by the spiritual strength that God lays upon our hearts to be a servant, a worker in His vineyard for the extension of God’s kingdom.

This was the progressive picture of growth in the infant church in Jerusalem.  The word of God was preached and the Spirit of God had free rein converting, saving thousands of souls. And the church was thriving and marching forward. 

Externally, we saw the persecution that came so vehemently to frustrate the progress. But we also see that this work is of God and wise man like Gamaliel, warned the persecutors of the church, “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” (Acts 5:39).

The apostles were beaten and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus and they counting the cost, endured the pain, rejoiced, that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s name.

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. The body of disciples, the word means “learners” continue to multiply and grow and as the Apostles continued to preach and teach, the people began to grow spiritually in stature and maturity.

Internally within the church, as one pastor puts it, “there were growing pains”. In Acts 5, we saw Peter confronting Ananias and Sapphira for lying concerning their giving and how God’s judgement came swiftly, Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead, causing great fear amongst the believers and non-believers the reality of God judging us after our sins.

As one pastor observed well, “The initial unity of the Church had been threatened in chapter five by hypocrisy and now with internal murmuring. The toleration of hypocrisy would have undermined the church’s message and internal division would have weakened its strength. Satan again seeks to attack from within the saints, but now he attempts another method, but still using motives of selfishness concerning material things. Now, the Church faces problems within and without. A church can split over practical issues as well as doctrinal issues. Satan had attacked the early church with verbal intimidation, physical persecution, contamination, and now with internal divisions.” 

Here in chapter 6, we see the needs of the members of the church growing, we see the needs of the widows who needed special care and there was a need for more hands, volunteers to serve the needs of the people and to care for them.

  • The Work/Service (v1-2, 4)
  • The Workers/Servants (v3, 5-6)
  • The Word/Spread (v7)

(1) The Work/Service (v1-2, 4)

1 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. 

As one pastor Adrian Rogers said, “You see, when God wants to multiply, the devil wants to divide.”[1]

Now, what had happened in this church was that there were two types of Jewish widows. 

These were Jews of the diaspora who had grown up in Greek cities and colonies and were heavily influenced by Greek culture and language. Those widows who returned were poor as women had few legal rights.  Probably they depended on the Jewish population to support them through alms.

There were Grecian Jews who spoke. They were Hellenistic Jews. They spoke Greek. And then there were the Hebrew widows, and they spoke Hebrew. But they were both, the Greeks and Hebrews, were both Jews and they were widows. 

Now, in that day it was absolutely incumbent that the church takes care of the financial needs of the widows. They had no other way to take care of themselves. And so, the church was helping to feed these widows. 

And the Greeks, because they spoke a different language, felt like they were outsiders, and they felt that they were being neglected. They began to murmur. Now, the problem—their neglect was a legitimate problem. 

The way that they dealt with the problem was not legitimate; it was wrong. They murmured. And murmur is an ugly word. Murmur. Sound ugly, doesn’t it? And it is ugly.

What is murmuring? Murmuring is a half-uttered, half-concealed complaint. And, you see, when we murmur, we really are speaking against God. 

As one pastor observed, “murmuring” – (goggusmos indicates a secret complaining and is a mild form in Greek). No matter how great the blessing of God is we have the tendency to discontentment inherited from our first parents in Eden. Such discontentment may begin with murmuring but this can lead to outright division.  There likely was evidence of at least some grounds for suspicion that this was happening. This partiality towards Judaism would manifest itself all the ways through the Book of Acts. There is always a tendency to favour certain types of people in the Church. Some people are not easy to like!” 

Remember what Moses told the Israelites in the wilderness when they murmured in Exodus 16:8? He says, “For that the Lord heareth your murmurings, which ye murmur against him. For what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.“[2]

Numbers 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

And these Greek widows were really murmuring not against the apostles. They were murmuring against God who gave them the apostles. And God, in the Bible, does not treat murmuring as a small sin. As a matter of fact, God ranks murmuring with idolatry and fornication. 

1 Corinthians 10:7-10 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Now he mentions here idolatry, fornication, and tempting Christ. And then he says, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”[3]

No wonder the apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” That’s a command from God. If you’re a murmurer, go to God and repent of murmurings, half- concealed, half-uttered complaints.

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.

The church organises itself better to care for the needs of these widows, seeking volunteers of godly men.

But there are certain needs that have to be taken care of, certain acts of service, and so God said, “Choose some deacons.” 

And as you read this passage of Scripture there are several Greek words that cluster around a Greek word diakoneo, which means “to serve.”

And so, He said, “Seek out some servants, some people with a servant spirit.” I believe these were the first deacons in the church.[4]

The deacons are not there to free the pastor from work. They are there to free the pastor to work, to do the work that God wants done.[5]

4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

All pastors should give themselves to primarily this ministry. The idea of “continually” is “intense and persevering” in Greek. Note how prayer is put before preaching as the success in the latter is always determined by the former. 

Ephesians 4:11-16 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

(2) The Workers/Servants (v3, 5-6)

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.

Men of integrity, with proven testimony without and within the church! It is not just in the church but externally having a good testimony, in the family and in the work place.

The three criteria are honest, Spirit-filled and wise men. Honesty speaks of men who can be entrusted with a task and with integrity to do the work. Men who are not encumbered with the things of the world, but given themselves to serve the Lord, being accountable to the apostles.

The Bible says is the mark of a man full of the Holy Ghost. Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” That’s what a deacon ought to be. 

You’ve just heard a description of a deacon. He is a man full of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance because he’s full of the Holy Ghost.[6]

Wisdom is the application of God’s Word in everyday life. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge. And knowledge may be proud that it knows so much, but wisdom is humble that it knows so little.

They needed to know how to apply God’s Word to practical, everyday situations. Such wisdom does not come apart from maturity and experience.

Too often when we select leaders in our churches based on worldly criteria such as relationship, social status, academic achievements, wealth, public speaking abilities etc. This has never been God’s order and we would do well to follow the early church. If not, we may end up agreeing with the Charles Spurgeon who quipped, “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you; resist a deacon and he will fly at you.”

 These men were identified with the spiritual qualifications, recognized in the church, before they were appointed by the apostles.

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. 

(3) Word (v7)

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.

Truly, as one pastor observed, “When this crisis was met in a spirit of meekness and grace by the power of the Spirit of God, the blessing of the word of God increased, the number of the disciples multiplying greatly. Indeed, a large number of priests were converted to “the faith” a striking proof of the power of preaching the Word.” Amen.

CONCLUSION

  • The Work/Service (v1-2, 4)
  • The Workers/Servants (v3, 5-6)
  • The Word/Spread (v7)

[1] The Adrian Rogers Legacy Collection – The Adrian Rogers Legacy Collection – Sermons.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid. 

[6] Ibid.