First Things First

SERMON: 2011-10-10--ac1172--first-things-first SOURCE DURATION: 00:25:05.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with the speaker setting up the main points of the sermon (exposition). The material concludes with a sustained acoustic music interval which marks the end boundary. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:21:38.860-00:25:02.440 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Well, in the time that we have this morning as we look at these first seven verses of Acts chapter 7, I want to try to make three or four observations, lessons that we can learn from these verses that we have just read together. The first is this, with church growth come problems. With church growth come problems. Listen again to verse one, "In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food." As we've seen in the past, the early church had a deep commitment towards community and to looking after each other's needs, particularly as it related to widows. Because throughout scripture, there are three categories of people who are said to be most vulnerable and who most need the support of community, widows, orphans, and aliens. Not aliens from outer space, but aliens who aren't citizens of the land. Widows, because they don't have a husband to look after them and to provide for them. Orphans, because they're lacking both father and mother, and aliens, because they typically have no legal rights and they have no social support network. And so it's not surprising that in the early church, given their commitment to community and to looking after each other, that very early on there develops a very informal program for making sure the widows are looked after by the daily distribution of food. And it's not surprising then that as the church grows, this unofficial program of food distribution becomes a friction point between the Grecian Jews and the Hebraic Jews. The Grecian Jews are saying, "You're favoring the widows of the Hebraic community and you are overlooking our widows." Now by way of clarification, the Grecian Jews were Jews who had scattered throughout the Roman Empire, they had adopted the Greek language and the Greek culture, and they had come back to Jerusalem for the Old Testament feast of Pentecost, and they had heard the message of Jesus, they had been converted, and they had hung around. I always wondered in those days what people did for a living or how they managed to do these kinds of things, but they're here a considerable period of time later. The Hebraic Jews were of course the Jews who grew up in the land of Israel. They spoke Aramaic typically, though many of them might have spoken Greek as well, but they were more conservative theologically and they were certainly less cosmopolitan than their Grecian counterparts. And so while in Christ these two groups had become one body in the church together, they could not hide indefinitely the underlying cultural differences. And so it is then that in the process of time, tension begins to arise between the Grecian Jews and the Hebraic Jews. And that of course is dangerous business because it threatens the unity of the early church. And so with church growth in the book of Acts come a whole new set of problems which they had never experienced before. That's the first lesson that I want to draw from this particular passage. The second lesson is that problems create opportunities for solutions. Problems create opportunities for solutions. For notice how the text goes on, the twelve gathered all the disciples together. Remember now this is thousands and thousands of believers. They're not necessarily all there, but they gather the disciples together and they said it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word in order to wait on tables. Brothers 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. Notice four things that are contained in that passage or alluded to, number one the apostles do not deny there is a problem. That is to say they don't deflect and say well you know these Grecian Jews they're always complaining about something or another. No no they are honest enough in facing the fact that there is tension here and that tension needs to be addressed. Secondly they try to discern where the bottleneck lies and they discern in fact that the bottleneck lies not just with the rapid church growth but with the apostles themselves. Because notice again what verse two says 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. And I conclude from that that up until then the apostles were pretty much running the whole show. I mean they were the original God ordained leaders and up to a certain point they were able to contain it all but now they were beginning to drop the ball. And so they had this tension and we'll talk more about that in a few moments. Are we going to commit ourselves to our primary calling which is prayer and preaching or are we going to have to wait on tables will the urgent draw us away from the important. And so they they identify that there is an administrative there is a structural issue the church has outgrown their ability to take care of things. Thirdly they offer a creative solution. They don't just sit there wringing their hands and saying oh my oh my isn't life difficult. No they offer a creative solution. Brothers 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 we'll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. In other words we're being maxed out here it is time to make a structural change in the way that we do business. As an aside who of you here remembers an Old Testament story that is very similar to this. Moses in Exodus chapter 18. You will recall he's led Israel out of Egypt under God's call and he's the sole judge. So he sits there from early morning to late at night hearing everybody's disputes teaching people the ways of the Lord and then settling these disputes and his father in law Jethro comes along and he looks at that and he says Moses that's not sustainable. The people are unhappy because they have to stand around all day waiting to get to you and you're unhappy because you can't keep this up and so Jethro of course comes up with a solution delegate leadership put people in charge of thousands hundreds fifties and tens and let them deal with the everyday issues but the difficult ones let them climb to the top and so Moses agrees to that and that becomes the new structure for Israel and again it catches two birds with one stone. The people are satisfied and life is sustainable for Moses and that then is what the apostles recommend here and there's a very important lesson in that of course and a lesson that applies not only to churches but to institutions organizations and businesses. As churches institutions organizations and businesses grow their governance model always has to change because businesses and institutions are typically founded by people with an entrepreneurial gifting that is to say people who have vision people who have drive people who have a sense of calling they know how to get things done they surround themselves with people who help them get things done and stuff gets off the ground but then when it reaches beyond a certain point they discover the very gifts that make them entrepreneurial that enabled them to breach new territory and take the kind of risks that need to be taken in order to get somewhere are not sufficient to look after the sustaining of the organism or the organization that they have created and the big choice that leaders in that kind of situation have to make then is will they delegate management responsibility to people who are uniquely gifted in that particular area if they can pull off that transition an organization can continue to grow because all of its needs are met if organizations cannot make that transition then it becomes root bound and it suffers loss and the the disciples here were the apostles understand that and so they call for the creation of the office of deacon and they say they can look after the waiting on tables we will continue to emphasize the preaching of the word and our primary ministry of prayer and so here you have two birds caught with one stone the needs of the Grecian widows is addressed because now you have a special group of people who are looking after those needs and the apostles don't have to worry about widow so-and-so is going hungry and I really ought to get out there and look after her but but what about my primary call to prayer and the preaching of the word and so it's no wonder as that passage concludes then that the church grows and multiplies because internally and externally it has reorganized in order to do its ministry more effectively can you imagine how that church would have suffered if the apostles would have said well we're the ones that are running the show and we're not going to delegate anything to anybody and that's why lots of churches in the world today when they reach a certain size recognize they need to make the structural changes that are necessary in order to facilitate the work of ministry so problems create opportunities for solutions the early church recognizes that with church growth come problems third observation I want to make on the basis of this passage then is that qualifications for leadership matter listen again to verses three and four brothers 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 ministry of the word just very quickly notice for qualifications for the office of deacon that are spelled out here in this particular passage apart from the fact that they're called to be men in this context later on in the New Testament we find that women serve also in the office of deaconess notice these four things they need to be men of proven track record choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and so on that is to say these leaders that are going to wait on tables in this community need to be part of community but they need to be known to you and one of the reasons for that of course is that you can't lead a people from the outside they need to know that you belong to them they belong to you you have their hearts and it takes years in some way to know what a person's true character and nature is that's why when new pastors come to congregations it takes about four years at a minimum for there to develop enough trust between leadership and a community of faith that things can really start going places instead of just you know courting each other and trying to discern are you trustworthy do I like you do I have a relationship with you so these are known people not only but they also have to be filled with a spirit choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit luke you might recall really in scripture is known as a theologian of the holy spirit he refers to the spirit of god more times in his writings than just about anybody else in his gospel he talks about the spirit 36 times in the book of acts he talks about the spirit 70 times I think he was a an early charismatic he probably encountered the holy spirit in such a way that his life was forever changed and to be filled with the spirit is to be sold out to jesus it is to be baptized in the power of the holy spirit so that the holy spirit not only lives within you but the spirit of god comes upon you with spiritual gifting and spiritual authority and spiritual power because as paul says later on in the new testament speaking of his own ministry who is sufficient for these things who knows the mind of the lord who knows how to address human needs who knows what the real needs are versus the fake needs and who has the perseverance to see it through when all hell breaks loose they need to be filled with the spirit sets the stage as I pointed out earlier for stephen who later on in this chapter becomes the first martyr because he's so full of the spirit he doesn't wait around to wait on tables he becomes a preacher and sure enough this we'll see later on gets into big trouble because he is proclaiming the good news of jesus filled with the spirit is one of the qualifications for leadership another qualification closely aligned to that is not only are we to be full of the spirit but also full of wisdom wisdom is much different from knowledge I know all kinds of very smart people who are very stupid because just because you know a lot doesn't mean you know how apply it and to be filled with wisdom is to know and to understand the heart and the mind of god the principles by which god has established life and how to apply them in a very specific instance and I often think about that with reference to our deacons and by extension our benevolence team because you know you get people coming in off the street with a measure of regularity and you want to be compassionate for people who have genuine and authentic needs and that's part of our struggle because while there are those who have genuine and authentic needs there are also those as any deacon or benevolent team member can tell you who know how to play the system you know I'm not a baby formula for my child and if you don't give me money real fast this poor child's going to die or my car is stalled in the 401 with a pregnant wife that I have to get to the hospital and and can you please give me money and so part of wisdom is to discern when do you authentically help somebody in a real place of need and when do you become an enabler what does love demand and that's not only true for deacons that's true for elders that's true for any ministry leader in any conversation with anybody in this spiritual journey of helping us grow up in Christ to become what we need to be what does wisdom demand when do I say something when do I not say something how do I say the right thing how do I avoid saying the wrong thing do you understand how important wisdom is and the good news the gospel by the way James makes it very plain that wisdom is there for the asking and so if you find yourself in situations where you're just befuddled by how complex things get to be and you know you hear a story here and hear a story there and and you wonder where in the world does the truth lie wisdom is available for the asking but it's available not to make you feel smart or so you can hold your own in somebody's conversation no no wisdom is available so you know the heart and the mind of God not only for your own life but also for the lives of the people that you're responsible for whether that's your children or your grandchildren your business your ministry your church even in areas of government all of those are critical issues so they have to have a track record they have to be filled with the spirit they have to be filled with wisdom and then they need to be able to handle responsibility we will turn this responsibility over to them and to exercise responsibility is to take ownership and to say yes this is my area of responsibility I'm called here to hear what God has to say to me where he wants me to go with this and one day I'm going to stand before him and I have to give account I have to give account with what I have done with the gifts that God has given me then there's one more quality that isn't so much a quality of character as something that happens to them and that is to say these deacons then are publicly acknowledged and empowered and we find that in verse six where the Bible says concerning them they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them there's nothing worse than being given responsibility without authority and if you've ever been in a situation where you're given responsibility but without authority it is a recipe for disaster it makes a nervous wreck out of you if you're going to put somebody in charge of the ministry then give them authority and power within the parameters that are needed so that they can flourish and exercise their ministry there and the laying on of hands and we're going to do that in a few moments when we install these new brothers is a commissioning and while there are a lot of people who say that there is no more than symbolism to the laying on of hands I don't buy that at all because I think in scripture the laying on of hands is the impartation of the gifting of the Holy Spirit in order for people to [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:21:38.860; remove through 00:25:05.000] be able to [CUT] fulfill their mission and their calling. I call on Christ our captain for now the wreath say that they are strong in the strength that God has given with shield of faith and belt of truth will stand against the devil's lies an army bowl whose battle cry is love reaching out to those in darkness. I'll call to war to love the captive soul but to rage against the captor and with the Lord that makes the wounded whole we will fight with faith and valor when faced with trials on every side we know the outcome is secure Christ will have the price for which he died an inheritance of nation. See the cross where love and mercy meet as the Son of God is stricken let's see his foes lie crushed beneath his feet for the conqueror has risen and as the stone is rolled away and Christ emerges from the grave his victory march ten years till the day every eye and heart shall see him. So spirit come for strength in every stride give grace for every hurdle and man may run with faith to win the prize of a servant good and faithful as saints of old still on the way returning triumphs of his grace hear their calls and hunger for the day when with Christ we stand in glory as saints of old still on the way retelling triumphs of his grace hear their calls and hunger for the day when with Christ we stand in glory. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:25:05.000; resume after this marked segment]