Acts | Chapter 6

 

Acts Ch 6 Suffering servants

“Looking For a few good men”

Vs. 1-7 Seeking servants

Intro.

Now you will recall that the early Church was about four things according to Acts 2:42

• Studying the Word of God

• Sharing with the people of God

• Celebrating the work of God

• Communicating with the person of God

Because of the Holy Spirit energizing these four things in their lives growth took place. In the 2nd chapter of Acts we are told twice (41, 47) that the Lord added to the Church, then again in chapter 5:14 we were told that after God’s judgment of Ananias and Sapphira again the Lord added multitudes of men and women to His Church. Simply put, numeric success was taking place and it was happening in spite of Satan’s best efforts. Now we have already seen three of his tactics:

PERSECUTION: (4:1-31, 5:17-41) He tries to intimidate the Church to stop telling the world about Jesus. Now this of course only causes the Church to grow stronger as well as larger.

CORRUPTION: (5:1-11) Next Satan tries to get the Church to fake spirituality by wanting to appear to be something when in reality they were not. But because this was a pure Church all this did was keep out those who were not serious about following the Lord and again the Church increased.

DISSENSION: (6:1-7) The third and potentially the most dangerous is here before us in this section of scripture. If Satan can’t crush the Church or corrupt the Church, he will cause conflict within the Church. Folks, more damage to furthering God’s kingdom has been done through conflicts within the Church than any other single attack outside. There are very few Churches that have not gone through a split of some kind in their history.

We are blessed to see how the early Church handled such a conflict and as we shall see this too did not hurt the Church but rather caused it to multiply. Hey, folks, if we can see here the tactics of Satan and how the Church overcame them then we can apply the same principles today can we not? We can bet that Satan will try to get us off track by one or all three of these things.

Vs. 1-7 Seeking servants

Vs. 1a Before we get into the reason for the conflict look at this statement; “the number of the disciples was multiplying”. Now I call attention to this because the Lord has a funny way of doing math doesn’t He? I mean He is adding to the Church as He sees fit then in chapter 5 He subtracts two before He multiplies. Let me put it this way, the Lord subtracted to add which led to His multiplication. I find this not only true in the Church’s life but also in an individual Christian’s life. I mean we are going along being blessed growing in the Lord seeing advancement when, “bam” we come to some subtraction. Now this ought to encourage you and I as we remember that the Lord often subtracts in our lives before He multiplies!

Vs.1b Look again at this verse, when did this conflict come? Well it came right on the heels of God multiplying His Church. But read on down to verse 7 and see what the Lord did as a result of this conflict, “the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” I don’t know about you, but I may not like the mathematical equation that the Lord uses but I sure do like the outcome!

         This is our first introduction to this group called Hellenists. No, they were not hell-raisers. They were a group of Jews who had grown up outside of Israel and had been heavily influenced by the Greek culture that Alexander the Great had spread when he had conquered the world. They used the Greek old testament instead of the Hebrew scriptures  dressed, thought, and acted more like Greeks then they did Jews. Now in Judaism there was no small division between these two groups, the Pharisees held them in contempt seeing them as second class citizens. The Hellenists in turn saw their native born Hebrew brothers and sisters as holier-than-thou legalists.

Folks from both of these groups became Christians and of course every prejudice was automatically gone. No way! Hey folks, God takes us out of the world and into His kingdom in an instant but it often takes a lifetime to get the world out of us! Luke does not tell us if this was a deliberate act on a part of the Hebrew Christians but he does say that the Hellenists certainly saw it that way, (their widows). Prejudice is an ugly thing anywhere it is seen but it is nowhere more repulsive than when it is seen in the Church. In verse 9 we see that these two groups had already split from fellowshipping with each other in Judaism, as they were meeting in separate Synagogues. This was now threatening to split this young but growing Church.

I was told the other day by an ex-pastor that his Church split apart because they disagreed on the color of carpet in their new sanctuary. Several years ago when we first started there was a gal from the south that attended our fellowship with her husband. She found out that we were looking to move to the South side of town and informed me that if we did she would not be going with us because she did not want to be around “those people”. After a few minutes of trying to address her prejudice to no avail, She left our Church for an all white fellowship that was permanently on the North side of town.  

So what did the leadership do?

Vs. 2-6 What we see is that this complaint traveled quickly up the ladder to the 12 apostles and they called for a general meeting. May I just suggest to you that this is great wisdom.

 So what was the solution:

Vs. 2 Heard the complaint: Don’t pass over this too quickly. These guys did not say, “Hey it will all blow over!” No these men were men of action and first and foremost they wanted the believers to know that they knew of the situation.

Vs. 2 Set priorities: The apostles expressed their need to maintain faithfulness to their main calling, “the word of God”. The words, “serve tables” in the Greek is not just a place where food was set, instead it describes a table used to exchange money. In other words the apostles recognized that their main ministry was not administrate but rather it was the teaching of the Word of God. It is far too great a danger for pastors to get all caught up in the running of the Church instead of the feeding of the sheep. Simply put a good pastor is not a businessman he is rather a rancher! Now that does not mean that they are never to do anything besides study, pray and teach. What it means is that no matter what they do it should never be at the expense of prayer and the Word! Why? Well because my main job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, (Eph. 4:11-12). Simply put I’m to get you all involved in serving Christ. D.L. Moody once said, “It is better to put ten men to work than to do the work of ten men!” 

Vs. 3 Delegate responsibilities: Here they were saying, “If you are not a part of the solution then you are a part of the problem!” Do you see that? They told them, “Get involved!” The Church does not need people whose sole job is to point out problems. No, it needs people whose sole job is to fix the problem. “Hey, Pastor Dale, are you aware of such and such?” “Well I was just wondering what you are going to do about it?”  Now if you come to me saying something like this, get ready for me to say, “The question is not what am I going to do about it, rather the question is what are you going to do about it?” If God has made you aware of the problem it is because He wants you to be part of the solution.

May I just take the opportunity right now this morning to say something to you all? Most Sundays after I’m through teaching, people come up to me and express their appreciation for the teaching of the Word and it encourages me greatly. Yet with that said if it was not for my wife, Tom, Nancy, the elders, deacons, Sunday school, worship, etc. I would not have had the time to prepare the message. So you can come to me and show your appreciation but please don’t forget to come to those that faithfully serve. So go up to Butch or Carlos and say, “Man, I just want to thank you for the message today, It really spoke to my heart!” Finally I want to challenge the rest of you who are not involved in serving the body, hey why not be a blessing to someone?

Vs. 3 Here The apostles give the charge of overseeing the selection of seven men to the body at large. Again note the wisdom, the body would be the best ones to recognize those that they wanted to serve, So all the apostles did was suggest characteristics of what the servants should be.

They should be men:

From among you: Now I think this carries with it two ideas, they must be born again Christians. Above all they must have a relationship with Jesus. All too often Churches have placed in leadership the professional businessman who has little or no walk with Jesus. The Church needs, above education and experience, folks who have demonstrated the priority of placing Jesus first and others second in their lives.

They ought to be from the local body: Not only should they be believers, their faith in Christ ought to have been demonstrated to the local Church body. It is always a good practice to look within the walls of the Church for the leaders of the Church. Hire within your own ranks whenever possible. If the Church is a healthy Church then it is equipping believers to serve from within. I’ve got to tell you as I look over this little Church and see those who are serving everyone of them has come from this little group and other churches in town would love to have them serving on their body.

Good reputation: They must be people of integrity, above reproach. These folks are those that I can point to and say, “Hey follow their example!” I love talking to those who know our leadership outside of the Church because hands down they always say what great people they are. I mean I would love to have them as my neighbors, “You all don’t have any cats do you?” By the way as we continue to grow in numbers the leadership team has to grow as well in numbers so it my prayer that many of you will fill those future roles.

Full of the Holy Spirit: The word “full” means, “to be controlled by”. The servant of the Lord must be controlled by the Holy Spirit and not the desires of the flesh. The person who is to lead and serve people must be a person who seeks to follow and serve the Lord! Now this speaks to me that they needed to be spiritually minded. 

Full of wisdom: If the above is spiritually minded then this refers to the practical application. That is able to apply spiritual and biblical truth to everyday life situations. I love hanging around Ranger Jim, now he is continually in the Word as of lately, but you know what, the man just drips with wisdom in everyday life.

Now look at what they go on to say , “whom we may appoint over this business”. Did you see that? “You catch em well clean em!” The final decision was up to the apostles, not the congregation. Remember, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called!” 

Vs. 4 Again look at the priorities of the apostles and it ought to be my priorities as well, continually praying and the ministry of the Word! That is my main job, but again it is all the rest who serve that ought to be thanked as well for without them I would be consumed with other things. This time they add prayer to the ministry of the word. Anyone who would teach the word ought to first pray it into his life.

Vs. 5-6 Here we are given the roster of the seven men they chose and you will notice not a Hebrew name among them. Now that does not mean that they were all Hellenists, but they were all certainly going by their Greek names. Now what is cool here is that they handled the prejudices of the people without compromising principles. Again I see the wisdom of God here, I mean you have some complaining about unfairness in a situation so what do you do? Well, you give them the keys to the bus man. Why? Because when you do this you will see if they have the character to serve or are just troublemakers!

Steven: We are going to be reading more about him over the next few chapters. His name means crown, but it’s not the “royal crown” worn by those who inherit the throne, it’s the “victor’s crown” worn by those who have run the race to win. He becomes the first of those who according to Rev. 2:10 who was “faithful until death, and given you the crown of life.”

Phillip: He is going on to become an evangelist in Samaria then he preaches to the Ethiopian and Word of God comes to Africa. He will father four daughters and all of them are going to be prophetesses. What is cool is to see how these first two men who are just servants, table waiters end up being used to spread the word of God all over the world. 

Prochorus (Proc-ur-us): Church history tells us that he later became an assistant under the apostle John and after his death went on to be a prominent  leader in the Church.

Nicanor (Ni-ca-nor): His name means victorious but we know nothing of him.

Timon (Ty-mon): His name means worthy.

Parmenas (Par-men-us): Again Church history tells us that he was martyred in Philippi and was a leader there.

Nicolas: His name means victory over the people. Some have sought to make him the father of Heresy called the doctrine of the Nicolaitan’s but there is no real evidence of this. 

Vs. 6 So they bring these guys before the apostles for confirmation. But look at this order if you will, “when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.” So? Well a lot of time we appoint leaders to their position before we pray and seek God to see if they are the right person. Perhaps we are far better off seeking the Lord before we ever lay hands on them? In fact Paul warned the young Pastor Timothy, “not to, lay hands on anyone hastily”. Pastor Chuck has long said, “It is easier to get a man into a position in the Church then it is to get them out!“

Vs. 7 At any rate the outcome was incredible:

And a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith: Wow did you hear what Luke is saying? There were some 8000 Jewish priests attached to serving at the temple and many of them became true believers. These men had to be of a certain class of people, not everybody could just be a priest. In other words those who were devoted to a religious lifestyle abandoned it for a life in Christ. And all of this was because the body of Christ stepped up to the plate and appointed servants to meet various needs of the body.

The Word of God spread: Because of the work of these seven taking care of the needs of the people the apostles were freed up to teach the word. Hey, is that your desire to see God’s Word spread throughout our area? Maybe you’re not sure what you can do to help facilitate that because God has not called you to teach the Bible. May I just say that as you serve here at Calvary Chapel you enable me to “Spread the Word of God”. Soon we will have our radio station up and going and we will need many of you to step up and serve. Your tithes help spread the word of God, so all that we do working together in which each person’s gifts flows furthers the spread of God’s word.

Number of the disciples multiplied: Not just converts or church attendees but students of Jesus. At the teaching of the Word of God the body of Christ grew more in love with the Lord. Do you see this? This is the key to Church growth and ministry expansion, the simple expository teaching of the Word of God. The words, “spread and increased” are in a tense in the Greek that means “continuously”.

Acts ch 6:8

“The Spirit by which he spoke”

Vs. 8-15 Earning a crown

Vs. 7:1-8 The land and Abraham/

Vs. 9-16 The Land and Jacob

Intro.

Luke, having shown the tactics of Satan against the Church, PERSECUTION, CORRUPTION, and DISSENSION, again shows how God can and does use these to further His work in the world. You will recall how the fleshly prejudices that existed outside the Church were carried into the Church which could have led to a split over the distribution of funds and food. But God’s wisdom prevailed and servants were appointed to oversee this ministry.

         Having been given a general description of the inward characteristics of the servants, (6:3-7) Luke now takes us to how these characteristics operated in the life of Stephen. Over the next six chapters Luke’s focus is going to be on the transition of Christianity as a sect of Judaism to that of the “great commission” (Matt. 28:19) which is “Going and making disciples of all the nations”. Luke’s going to show us that to fulfill God’s plan it is going to take the right MEN and the right MESSAGE! Now at the end of chapter six we are going to be given a more detailed look at the inward character of the men God would use to reach the world. Then in chapter seven we will focus on the message they proclaimed.

Having read this passage several times this week I’m amazed at its brilliance in light of the fact that Christianity is only two to three years old and Stephen is younger in the Lord than that. I suppose I should not be surprised in light of Jesus’ promise in Luke 12:11-12 “when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” There is a word that we use to describe Stephen’s speech, “apologetics” which means, “to speak in defense of something”. In 1 Peter 3:15 we are told to “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 

So “apologetics has two parts to it:

• “Give a defense”: Defending the faith against those who would attack it.

• “A reason for the hope that is in you”: Presenting the truths of Christianity to unbelievers.

Stephen does both of these in chapter 7 in what is perhaps the greatest example of “apologetics” in the Bible!

Vs. 8-15 Earning a crown

Vs. 8 Now Luke focuses on one of these servants, Stephen. First we are told four qualities that made up his Character. Did you get that? Before the Lord speaks of a man’s deeds He always places his works under the work of the Holy Spirit as seen in his character! Simply put, “Measure a man’s character not by his deeds, but rather measure his deeds by his character!”

Vs. 5 Full of faith: CONTROLLED BY THE WORD OF GOD. The word “full” means to be controlled by. Steven was a guy that was controlled by his trust in God and His Word. As we saw in 5:13 concerning the early Church, and thus with Stephen, who was a guy who was a professional Christian not just a hobbyist. God was controlling his life, as 1 Cor. 6:19-20 says, “you are not your own, for you were bought at a price”.

Vs. 5 Full of the Holy Spirit: CONTROLLED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. Not only was he a man who was controlled by his trust in God, the Holy Spirit gave him the will to obey it in his life. So Stephen trusted in the Word of God and submitted to the leading of the Spirit of God. He was a guy who not only knew the Word he ordered his life around it!

Vs. 8 Full of Grace: CONTROLLED BY THE GRACE OF GOD. That’s how the N.I.V. puts it. The word means “spiritual charm”. Thus nothing controlled Stephen’s temperament except grace. In fact as we shall see he will be gracious even at his death. How? Well because he allowed God to control his life. Or if you will, long before the stones of hatred took his life Stephen had died to himself. Paul would later state it this way in Gal. 2:20; “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”    

Vs. 8 Full of Power: CONTROLLED BY THE POWER OF GOD! Wow what an incredible combination is it not? May I just say that if you are not controlled by the Word of God, you will not be controlled by the Spirit of God and that will mean you will not be controlled by the grace of God and the power of God!

People wonder why we are not more effective for the Kingdom today? Well, it’s right here in the qualities seen in Stephen. Look at the balance he was:

• Godward: “Trusting in the word of God, yielding to the spirit of God.”

• Manward: “Gracious towards others, manifesting power to help them.”

Did you notice that Steven is also doing signs and wonders, so it was not just the apostles that God used this way. In fact the key to God’s doing the miraculous in your life is seen in the above four things. So don’t be blaming it on the end of the apostolic age or something it is because we have not allowed:

• God’s Word to guide us!

• His Spirit to empower us!

• His Grace to surround us!

• His power to flow through us! 

Vs. 9-10 We are told Steven’s opposition came from the Synagogue of the freedmen. In Jewish writings it is said that there were over 480 Synagogues in Jerusalem at this time. Synagogues were meeting places where the Jewish community would come together to read the scriptures and worship. They started during the Babylonian captivity when the exiles could no longer come to the temple to worship God. 

Furthermore Luke lists for us what specific regions they were from:

• Freedmen: These were descendents of Jewish slaves captured by the Roman general Pompey in 63 B.C. They were taken to Rome where they were granted their freedom and formed a Jewish community.

• Cyrenians and Alexandrians: These two names are actually two cites in North Africa. Cyrene you will recall was where Simon who carried Jesus’ cross was from. They both had large Jewish populations. 

• Cilicia and Asia: These two names are Roman provinces in Asia Minor, which is now modern day Turkey. Simply put, all of those listed would come under the heading “Hellenists”.

The word “disputing” does not mean to argue but rather it describes a formal debate. We are not told what they debated, only the outcome, “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.”  Now if you were to look on a map you would discover that Cilicia is the region where a city by the name of Tarsus is located. And as you may well remember that it was from this city that Saul (now called Paul) was from. Yeah? Well I don’t think that it is a stretch based upon 7:58, “And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul”, that Paul was one of the fellows that debated with Stephen and could not resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. It was not Stephen’s wisdom, logic or passion that cost Paul and the others the debate. No, it was the Spirit by which he spoke! Oh dear Christian you want to be more effective in your witness? Surrender your life to the Spirit of God!

Vs. 11-15 So after they lose the debate with Stephen they do four things none of them good:

• Secretly induced men to say: They prompted people and coached them to say that Stephen spoke blasphemy.

• Stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes: Since the people were threatened they did not have a hard time to get all these opposing groups together around the phony charges.

• Seized him, and brought him to the council: They took him with great violence.

• Set up false witnesses: These false witnesses did not out and out lie about what Stephen said they just misrepresented what he said.

We are told in verse 13 that they said Stephen, “did not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.” In other words this was not just a one time thing They claimed that Stephen was doing this all the time.

Their misrepresentations of his words centered around two things:

• Vs. 13, 14 The law, customs that Moses delivered to us: Against Moses, because they cited what Stephen said was taking away the validity of the law as a standard for righteousness.

• Vs. 13, 14 Holy place, destroy this place (temple): Against God, because he appeared to be setting aside the importance of the place of worship, the temple. 

The gist of their hatred against Stephen is to be found in verse 14, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Vs. 15 The charges are the same ones they laid on Jesus. It’s no wonder that Stephen looked a lot like the One he proclaimed. As far as countenance was concerned Stephen’s face was not one of evil but of love and grace. God put His face upon the face of Stephen if you will. How ironic is this? They accused Steven of speaking against Moses but as He stood there before them His face looked like Moses had after he had spent time in the presence of God on Sinai. Is it not cool that we can serve the Lord and glow? I think C. H. Spurgeon put it best when he was speaking to future pastors he said, “When you teach on heaven, let there always be a glow on your face, a gleam in your eye, and a grin on your lips. When you teach on hell, your normal face will do fine!”