ACTS: Overwhelmed!

         The church is now beginning to form and as is always the case, leadership of any group has to become more organized the larger the group gets. It was sufficient for Moses and Aaron to call the people of Israel out of Egypt by word of mouth, “we leave tomorrow morning.” But once they were across the Red Sea and out in the wilderness near the location of the burning bush, Jethro, had to step in and help Moses become more organized in his leadership. Even now, if you get a group of people together, the first thing they have to do is decide which leader they will follow. 

 

In chapter 6 of Acts we see the beginnings of organizational structure emerge and the 12 apostles become overwhelmed with all the work of the church and the need of others to share the load of ministry. They know they were called to teach the words of Jesus and to preach the good news to the world, but in this passage, we find, they were not very good at doing their primary work and adding the serving of food at the daily food bank. 

 

Acts 6:1 As the group grew in numbers the complaints began to show up as well. This time it came from the Jews who had adopted many of the Greek customs and practices. They began to say that the native Hebrews in the group were getting a greater share of the daily food distributions than their own widows.  

 

It is comforting to know that there was division in the church even at this early stage. In this case it was related to the distribution of food. All of the people coming to follow Jesus were leaving their work and lives and joining with this crowd of believers. Many sold their property and came to stay. This placed upon the church, i.e., the apostles, the responsibility of supporting the daily needs of this group. Hence, the distribution of food. 

 

The cultural difference between those who were Jewish by birth and those who were from lands of the Greek empire were vast. Those differences were obvious in the way people talked and the customs they lived by. And of course, there was animosity between the two groups, long before people started joining the ranks of Jesus’ followers. Here in this passage, we see that the prejudice continued within the group of people who were following Jesus and filled with the Spirit. We would want to think that all of that would just go away once the Holy Spirit arrived into a person’s life. Because of these prejudices, some people were being neglected I the daily distributions.

 

It is fair to say that in some churches today and more so from church to church, these divisions still become an issue. Customs and habits are hard to break but our hope is that the teachings of Jesus help us all to see value in every human person in the same way that Jesus did. After all, He died for all mankind not just for me and my friends. 

 

I wonder who the people are who get neglected in our churches today and how important it is to deal with them and their needs. And more importantly, how do we treat the spokespeople for these groups when concerns are raised? I would say, in my experience, we, as the church, have not done a very good job of loving those who are different than us. We have not excelled in loving one another. 

 

Acts 6:2 The twelve disciples gathered the congregation together and said, "We are becoming overwhelmed with all the serving and are neglecting our responsibility to the Word. 3 "We believe the solution is for you to select seven men from your number, and we will put them in charge of the serving. Pick people who have a good reputation, have a real sense of the Holy Spirit, and would be considered spiritually wise. 4 "Then we can concentrate on prayers and the teaching of the word." 5 All of the people who were gathered thought this was a great way to handle the situation and they put forth Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit and faith, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. 6 When these seven were brought before the apostles, they prayed for God's wisdom and laid their hands upon these new servants. The word for servant in Greek is “Deacon.”  

 

It seems that there were two groups of Jews in the early church, those from Hebrew background and those from a Greek background who were called Hellenists. We do not fully know if the Hellenists were Greeks who had become Jews or Jews who had adopted Greek ways, but we do know that the influence of the Greek culture had become so much a part of their lives that they were often seen as separate from Jews and possibly even scorned because they were not “real” Jews. The Greek culture had been ingrained into the area of Israel for over 300 years through various different outside political situations. 

 

Many believe as I do, that this story is located in the Book of Acts by Luke because he was more interested in introducing Stephen into the story than to talk about church structure. Unfortunately, we have so little teaching directly from Jesus about how to organize the church that we seek out any little idea in the Bible that might help us structure the church according to the ways of God. 

 

When the widows of the Hellenistic Jewish group, were not receiving the proper care from the leadership of the newly founded church, some grumbling began, and some individuals were designated to take this matter up with the apostles. This is much the same as the “discussing” between members that goes on in the church today. Often these discussions are not trying to find a solution. People might just desire to have someone to listen to their ideas. Whatever the reason for the grumbling, I have found it best to listen clearly to people and help find a solution that works for both the impacted people and the church as a whole. 

 

When the word of the grumbling finally became known to the apostles, they took a step of leadership. I find it fascinating that they did not solve the problem but decided upon a particular direction and then took it back to the congregation. Far too often in my experience the leadership hears about the grumbling and takes far too long to respond. Often because they think it is a problem they have to solve, since they are the leaders. 

 

Leadership does not always have to have the answer, but a smidge of guidance towards the answer that will bring people together. To do nothing or to take so long that it appears you are doing nothing, usually results in prolonged and increasing grumbling. And Paul says that is not something that should be a part of a Christian’s lifestyle. “Whatever you do, do it without questioning, grumbling or complaining.” (Philippians 2:14 EBV) 

 

Maybe the model we use in the future should be for the leadership of the church to hear the complaint, look over some potential solutions, and take the best idea or even ideas back to the people who are grumbling for further input. Then they could be supportive of the potential solution. As much as possible we need to involve other people in the solution process, so they feel like they have been heard and look forward to cooperating. 

 

In the case here in the Book of Acts, the apostles decided they were in over their head. They were working outside of their area of giftedness. They had been called and gifted to pray and teach, the serving of tables clearly fell into another category of giftedness. They saw how they needed to take a step back and let the congregation find the best solution. Someone else should be doing the serving of the widows so that the apostles could continue to do what they have been called to do. This is a simple awareness of differing gifts that the Spirit has distributed throughout the body to help us learn to work together.  

 

When they brought this idea to the people, it was well received. And the people chose seven of their number to be “deacons,” i.e., servants. The names of the seven suggest that some were Jewish in background and some were Greek. This suggests they divided up the responsibility between leaders in “both camps.” Once the people had chosen the seven, they came to the apostles and, the apostles prayed for them, sending them out to do their tasks. Thus freeing the apostles to focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word. 

 

What was the decision process that the congregation used? Did they cast lots? Or have a big discussion? Was it easy to find the Seven or did they struggle to pick some? We seem to think that everything in that time period worked almost effortlessly; whatever needed to be done, just materialized. I think they had a congregational meeting, just like many churches do today, with a wide variety of opinions and possibly some controversy, but through it all, God was at work. And they came to a decision that people were comfortable with. 

 

Today, it is important for us to look around us and find the Christians who might be neglected. Hopefully, we can do this before any grumbling might start. Since we are called by Jesus to love one another, we are called to look out for those who might not be in the mainstream of the church and take notice of their needs. That used to be an easier task, when the habit of church people was to be at every event held. And the standard church week included Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening gatherings. Now the average church member attends worship 1.5 to 2 times per month versus in the Acts story where they probably met together on a daily basis. 

 

Can the board and the ministry leaders of today begin to think of themselves as people who relieve the pastors of the daily tasks of serving, so that the pastors can concentrate on prayer and the ministry of the word? My experience has led me through times when most of the members wanted the pastor to do everything around the church because “that is what they hired him to do.” I have even had people overactive in the church until the day I arrived to work and then they resigned from everything they were doing and often even went to another church.

 

At a time like this in the church it would be helpful for everyone to have a deeper understanding of the workings of the Christian “body.” We are not all mouths, or ears, or fingers, but we all have a single goal, to spread the love of Jesus to the world. How can we, with our different gifts and passions, work together to accomplish the task before us. Far too often we try to do too much and work in areas that truly belong to someone else’s calling. 

 

I do not have all the answers to this, but I do know we often have a tendency to become overloaded or overwhelmed. When that happens, it is always time to seek the help of others. Definitely time to pray and ask for God’s help, but always keep in mind that God has someone waiting in the wings who is gifted to do what needs to be done. Do not neglect those who need to be involved. 

 

I bless you in the name of Jesus, with a heart free of grumbling and complaining, and a clear sensitivity to people who might be on the fringe of your church. 

Pastor Edd