Acts 6 Final

ACTS: THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD SERIES (TALK 8/13: SEVEN CHOSEN TO SERVE) SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CONNECT: How is God using you on your front lines to make disciples? WARM-UP 1. Have you ever been chosen, commissioned, and sent to do a special task? What was it like? 2. Is it more important that the church shares the Gospel or that it cares for people in need? READ Acts 6:1-4 3. What is the problem the church is facing? Why is this a good problem to have? 4. Why was it so important for the apostles to solve this problem equitably and swiftly? How do churches face similar challenges today? 5. What characteristics were the apostles looking for in choosing these deacons in v.3? 6. What role do you have to play in ensuring the church can care for people and share the Gospel? READ Acts 6:5-7 7. All seven names listed in v.5 are greek names, therefore those chosen probably came from within the greek community. What does this tell us about the kind of people chosen to serve the widows? 8. How are these men commissioned to serve in their ministry? What does this tell us about the value placed on their duty? 9. What role did these seven servants play in allowing the church to increase in number in v.7? 10. How can we encourage and equip our sisters and brothers in Christ for ministry in God’s church? READ Acts 6:8-15 11. If Stephen was meant to be serving widows, why is he doing wonders and signs in v.8? 12. The Jews mentioned in v.9, had greek backgrounds. Why did Stephen’s message challenge them? What pattern do you see emerging in Acts between evangelism, opposition, and church growth? 13. Where does Stephen’s power, authority in preaching, and shining face come from? How can this truth inform our prayers as we commit to being disicple makers this year? 14. How can we be more proactive in equipping and sending out disciple-makers around us? APPLY: Write a list of gifts you have been given and ways you can exercise these gifts to communicate the gospel with those on your front-line.

PRAY: Sending God, thank you that you raise up all sorts of people to serve your church in all sorts of ways. Help us to work together to spread the gospel and make and mature disciples of Jesus. Amen!

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ACTS: THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD SERIES (TALK 8/13: SEVEN CHOSEN TO SERVE) GOING DEEPER RESOURCES On Your Front Line this Week • Who is the one person you are praying that will become a disciple? Write their name on the Disciple Maker tree and pray for them each day.

For Families • ‘God’s story: Stephen’ by Crossroads Kids Club https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9eN72iFjo Audio and Video • ‘The universal priority’ by Phillip Jensen https://phillipjensen.com/sermons/the-universal-priority/ • ‘Ministry and Growth’ by Daniel Gifford https://stjohnsvancouver.sermons.io/sermons/ministry-and-growth • ‘So the word of God Spread’ by John Stott https://www.allsouls.org/Media/PlayMedia.aspx? download=file&media_id=50833&file_id=57683 • ‘Servants full of the Spirit’ by Thabiti Anyabwile https://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library/servants-full-of-spirit • ‘Godly Leadership and Sacrificial Service’ by Wayne Schuller http://www.holytrinitydoncaster.org.au/resources/sermons/?sermon_id=326 • ‘Seven Chosen to Serve’ by David Jackman https://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/talk/51091/audio/

Other Helpful Books, Articles, and Courses • ‘Serving the Word and Serving at Tables are equally valuable’ by Theology of Work https://www.theologyofwork.org/new-testament/acts/a-clash-of-kingdoms- community-and-power-acts-5-7/the-spirit-and-the-worker-acts-61-7/serving-the-word- and-serving-tables-are-equally-valuable • ‘Wating on the Widows (Acts 6:1-7)’ by Bob Defﬁnbaugh https://bible.org/seriespage/10-waiting-widows-acts-61-7 • ‘Acts 6:1-7 - Commentary’ by Richard Niell Donovan https://www.sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/acts-61-7/

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17/3/19

Acts 6:1-15

Matthew Skelton

A few weeks ago I began my first day of pastoral care training at Toowoomba Hospital. I went in, met the other carers, and was shown up to the surgical ward where I was set loose to visit patients. Before I knew it I was alone in a busy ward just feeling absolutely petrified… As I’m then walking through trying to muster up even the slightest grain of courage to talk to someone, from behind me I hear, “Hi Matt”! It’s Kriscara, who comes to church here. We catch up for a moment, she gives me the heads up of who may need pastoral care, and then we both go on our way…

• It was immediately clear to me that God had placed her there for a reason. • It was immediately clear to me that God was with me. • And I wonder if you find yourselves in places or times where you don’t feel God’s presence. This could be anywhere; o Your job, at home, wherever you volunteer. o When you’re tired, feeling out of your depth, or like you’re not making an impact.

• The two stories in Acts 6 give us encouragement that God is with us wherever we are. • But apart from the presence of Stephen in both stories, they don’t seem to be connected. o One is about organising care and service for the widows. o The other about Stephen being arrested and falsely accused by the Jewish hierarchy. • But while Stephen is in both stories; he is not the main actor. • Instead, as we see throughout the book of Acts, what draws these stories together is the presence of the Holy Spirit. o The Spirit who is unseen but is equipping, growing, preparing, and guiding the early believers for everything that they will face. • So – as the followers of Jesus face challenges that come through growth and persecution, the Holy Spirit

o Gifts us for service o Grows the church, and o Guides us in to the world.

Look with me at verse 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.

• Despite their leaders being beaten up and thrown in to prison as we heard last week, the church in Jerusalem is growing. • But, growth of any organisation or organism comes with great challenges. • This is what the disciples are faced with here: o As we’ve heard earlier in this series, the believers had everything in common and provided for one another. o Sadly here, one group – the Hellenist widows – begins to be overlooked. o The Hellenists were Jews who were very faithfully Jewish, but had some Greek background and customs. o But here in this verse - as demonstrated throughout human history, when resources are at stake, communities divide often down cultural or ethnic lines. • Which is why it is important that we pay attention to the disciples’ response:

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. 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 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.

• The disciples respond immediately to resolve the situation, they are determined to fix this problem. o But, they way they do it demonstrates that they are aware of God’s bigger plan in all of this, and that they are aware that the Holy Spirit: 1. Gifts each of us for service.

• I suspect that verse 2 might unsettle some of us:

o Some may be thinking that the disciples thought of themselves as too important to serve those in need, something Jesus constantly called us to do. o On the other hand, some may be thinking that this is perfectly acceptable: preaching always takes precedence over other ministries. • But the point here is not for us to tussle over which is more important. • The point here is that the disciples recognised that God had gifted them for the ministry of the Word. Yet, God had also gifted others for the ministry of serving the widows. o When the disciples say “it would not be right for us” they’re not saying that it would be beneath them. o The sense of this phrase the original language is that “it would not be pleasing to God”. • The disciples are determined to please God in two ways: o To continue in the ministry of the word that the Holy Spirit had gifted them for, o And to cater to the needs of the widows by appointing servants to ensure they are cared for. • We know from history that the church’s care for the poor, the sick, and the outcast has been notable to those outside the faith. • We also know that when our actions don’t meet up with the gospel, the world notices our hypocrisy. • The Holy Spirit has gifted the church so that the church can grow, o From preaching the gospel and seeking justice o From evangelising and caring for the widow, the oppressed, the stranger. § Because the needs of the Widows were important, § Because as they continued to grow the needs would become greater, § Because the care they had for each other proclaimed the gospel § And if they were to neglect the widows that would impede the gospel • So it should be no surprise to us the high requirements for these servants: § Full of the Spirit § Full of Wisdom § And this is reinforced by the account of their commissioning:

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. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

In an episode of one of my favourite comedies, the main character gets locked out of his home and is stuck trying to find shelter on a rainy night. He goes in to a burger joint to be told to leave because he wasn’t eating anything, as he turns to walk out he sees a ‘now hiring’ sign and it immediately cuts to a scene of him, unceremoniously standing at the register without any care for this job let alone any idea how to do it.

• This is the total opposite: • “Waiting tables” isn’t used in a derogatory way, because it is clear from the language that this is an valuable ministry. • So the seven are carefully selected. o They are commissioned with prayer and laying on of hands. o They are full of the Spirit and Wisdom o …They are gifted for this role. • God has gifted each one of us as well, for wherever we are and whatever we do, to build the kingdom. • God is with us, and the Spirit gifts us. • And when we serve God through these gifts the Holy Spirit:

2. Grows the Church.

When I’m outside with my son Thomas, he sometimes gets cranky when it’s windy because it blows his hair about. He puts one hand on his fringe and holds the other out and goes, “STOP WIND”. Now, each time he does this I remind him that Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit”

• Now I don’t give cryptic answers to everything Thomas does but Jesus does have a point for us here: • Nothing will stop the church from growing, but when the church exercises its gifting the result is momentous. • As we see in verse 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.

• The church has been growing, and the word of God has been spreading around Jerusalem since Pentecost. o But, this increase had caused a problem that had the potential to inhibit their growth and undermine the gospel. • Luke seems to place this summary here as if fixing this problem and serving the people helped the church continue in growth. • Was it because the apostles were free to continue in their ministry of the word? • Or was it because of the care that was shown to the Hellenist widows? o We know from Paul that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ”. o But we also know from Jesus that “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. • Can you imagine what would have happened to the church had the apostles given up their ministry for this service? o It would have stopped growing! • But, that was not to be because the Holy Spirit was there, gifting each person for their ministry, be it preaching or serving.

• Sometimes it can be really hard for us to see how what we do helps the kingdom of God grow. o But the reality is that the Holy Spirit is always with us, equipping us and using all that we do to grow the church.

• Now just as Spirit is with us as we serve and face challenges: when we face opposition the Holy Spirit: 3. Guides us in to the world.

Verse 8:

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—

6 who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

• Stephen, one of the seven chosen to serve, finds himself in a bit of hot water. • But it is nothing that he cannot endure because the Holy Spirit is with him. • It is probably a host of reasons that Stephen gets into trouble with this group of Jews. o This synagogue was a Hellenistic one, and is likely losing members to the Christian movement because § Of the care demonstrated to the Hellenist widows § The evangelism and miracles of Stephen o And also the likelihood that Stephen (whose name is Greek) probably came from this community or one like it. • But when the opposition comes, Stephen is equipped to handle it. • He has the Holy Spirit who guides his conversation.

• I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where you’ve said something: either in and evangelistic conversation, or in pastoral care that seemed to make a crucial difference in the conversation? • But I often have… but I find myself reflecting… where did that come from? • What we can learn from Stephen’s encounter is that it is the Holy Spirit, leading our conversation. • Now of course this doesn’t happen all the time but the more we are filled with the Spirit, the more we are in prayer, in God’s word the more likely this is to happen. o Because when we do that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us to serve God. o We allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in to the world.

• However, Stephens story doesn’t end here, verse 11:

Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” So they stirred up the people and the elders and the

7 teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

• The opposition against Stephen now takes a sinister turn. o Fed up with Stephen’s answers and ministry, and not willing to believe the gospel, they spread misinformation in order to get him arrested. o Their charge? That Stephen is speaking against the temple and the law. o For the Jews there were four ‘pillars’ of belief: the law, the temple, the land, and their identity markers (such as circumcision, diet, and the sabbath). • So what was it about the temple that that is so significant for the Jews? o The temple represents God’s presence on earth. § After the fall, Israel would meet with God in the Temple § Of course God wasn’t restricted to the temple - but for the Jews, this was where God dwelt with them § They had it made – the God of the universe was in their own back pocket. § They acted at times as if they had God in a box. o This is why it was so stunning to them when Jesus came talking about “destroying this temple, and rebuilding it in three days”. o They didn’t understand that God was doing a new thing – God was coming to dwell with them in person – in Jesus. • This is no doubt why Stephen was accused of blaspheming the temple: because he believed in this Jesus o And to the Jew’s claiming that the temple would be destroyed was unthinkable. o But, what the Sanhedrin couldn’t understand or what they refused to accept is that Jesus was the true temple, § That it was his body that was destroyed and rebuilt in three days in his death and resurrection. o Then on Pentecost, Jesus was the one to send his Holy Spirit to dwell within us, each of us a temple of the Holy Spirit.

o Tom Wright sums this passage up well; o “In the middle of arguments, controversies, false accusations, and now a serious charge before the highest court, (Stephen) found himself standing, as the temple claimed to stand, at the overlap of heaven and earth.” § The Church – that’s you and me – is now the symbol of God’s presence on earth.

• It’s no coincidence that as the Apostles proclaim the gospel – the good news that God dwelt with us in Jesus through whom we are reconciled to God – they have been consistently evangelising in the temple. o Who sent them there? o The Spirit of course! o Even though God wasn’t dwelling in that temple anymore, the Holy Spirit was dwelling in them, gifting and guiding them to minister there. o This place where the people of Israel had always gone to seek God, God had now sent the apostles, full of the Spirit, to spread the good news. o The good news that Israel – that we – that the whole world needed to hear; o That our hope of salvation comes not from a building, or ourselves and what we do, but from Jesus Christ – God with us.

• Wherever you are this week, wherever your frontlines are, it can be scary to think that you are there to present Jesus. o But you’re not alone. o You’ve been sent by the very one who gifted you, who guides you, and who grows the church through your service: the Holy Spirit.