Organization 12/13
Sermon Series: Acts β Faith Explosion
Title: Organization
Text: Acts 6:1-7
“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. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, βIt is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 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. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.β 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. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 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.” (Acts 6:1-7, ESV)
Introduction: In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t.
“What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus.
“These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”
“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
Charles Schultz.
Transition: As the Church had reached huge proportions in Jerusalem, Satan changed his tactics in attacking the Church there. He first tried simple persecution among the leadership, when this only strengthened the body, he tried to attack through corruption as Ananias and Saphira acted out their deception. This attack failed miserably as well. He then brought a new wave of more intense persecution which backfired even further. Finally in this passage we see him try another more subtle form of attack, a program which he continues to use to great affect still today in the Church, he attacked through distraction.
As we study this passage we need to be reminded of a couple of things:
1) The church has increased to a pretty formidable number by this time in Jerusalem probably in the mid thirties A.D. There may be as many as 20,000 believers living in the Jerusalem area. There was certainly several thousand by this time.
2) The only mechanics to administer at this time seems to be the 12 Apostles. I cannot imagine how they were managing to do all of the preaching and teaching necessary to accommodate this many people.
In this passage we see how this early Church handled the first major administrative problem which the Church faced and managed to keep the main focus clear.
