Jump Start # 1312

Acts 6:3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

  Our verse today comes from an interesting setting. There was a complaint that came from some of the brethren. Now, that doesn’t happen these days does it? There seems to always be a complaint. The temperature isn’t right in the building. Someone is sitting in my seat, as if we had assigned seats. The sermon is long. This isn’t right and that isn’t right. Folks are quick to complain.

This is the first recorded complaint in the early church. The complaint surrounded the area of neglect. Some were being left out. The widows were being fed by brethren. The Hellenistic Jews (those that lived outside of Jerusalem, spoke Greek instead of Hebrew, and were “Hellenized” ) were complaining to the Hebrews (those that lived in and around Jerusalem and spoke Hebrew) that they were being neglected. The apostles looked into the matter and came up with a plan. They decided that seven qualified and godly men would take care of the problem. The church was to choose the seven and they were put in charge of this task.

Now from this, a few lessons.

First, the apostles looked into the complaint. Not all complaints are legitimate. They didn’t ignore it. They didn’t tell the people to leave them alone and work it out. Leadership means leading and often it means leading through storms, trials and troubles. Not to look into this would be insulting to the Hellenistic folks and would quickly divide and destroy the good that was taking place. Sometimes leaders don’t want to be bothered. Sometimes they present themselves in such a way that others are afraid to approach them. Not in God’s kingdom. Shepherds are to be among the sheep. They are to be walking among them and noticing tension and trouble.

Second, the apostles didn’t pick out the ones to do this job. They came up with the number that was needed, seven. The church had to decide who would be able to do this. The apostles gave some guidelines. It wasn’t just anyone, but men who were proven, trustworthy and capable. The church came up with seven names, not five, not eight. These were not to be your seven best friends. These were not to be seven guys who you fish with. There was spiritual guidelines given. These seven were to meet that.

Third, these seven were put in charge of the task of taking care of the Hellenistic Jews. They were not “junior” apostles. They were not to run the church. They were given one job and that was the job they were to do. However, they were put in charge of that task. It was up to those seven to come up with a game plan   on what to do and then actually do it. The apostles were done with this. They did all that they were going to do. They had other things to do. These seven were given the authority to do this. It was now in the hands of these seven to fix the problem.

Too often, today, this is where we fumble the ball. Servants or deacons are chosen by the congregation, but too often, they are not put in charge of the task. The shepherds are still in charge of it. They can’t let it go. So, in typical settings, the shepherds tell deacons what to do and the deacons come with several options and the shepherds pick out the option that they like the best and then they assign the deacons to start doing that. And many times the shepherds are right there with the deacons doing the job because they can’t let go of it.

Is that what happened here in Acts 6? Did Peter tell these seven where to buy the food to feed these widows? Did John cut out coupons and drive the cart so the seven could run into the store and get the food? Did Thomas make a spreadsheet about how often the widows should be taken care of? And, did James designate which widow should be fed first and the order in which all of this should be done? Did the other apostles drop in to see how it was going and to make suggestions? Did that happen or did the apostles put these seven in charge of it?

There are two factors that keep us from doing what these apostles did.

First, there is a power issue. We feel that someone has to be over others. The American business model has someone at the top. That model has filtered into the church. So, it is felt and believed that elders or shepherds must micromanage and be involved in all aspects of everything that happens in the church. The quick and ready answer that many give is that the elders oversee the church. That is true and that is Biblical. The church, however, is the saved people. It’s not the parking lot, the bathrooms, the budget, the building, the copy machine and the electric bill. We say to our friends that the church is the people. But among ourselves we act as if the church is the structure and all things that are done within it. Biblically, the elders oversee the wellbeing of the members. They are to watch, fed and see that they are healthy and moving in the right direction. Deciding whether it’s time to repave the parking lot doesn’t have a lot to do with the well being of the sheep. This has become a problem in our fellowship today. Elders have elevated themselves to being CEO’s of the corporation rather than shepherds of the flock. There is a difference.

Who was in charge of feeding the widows? The chosen seven. Was the apostles eventually over them? Not from the context. You don’t see that. What if these seven messed up? They would have to fix it and make it right. This is why the call to put in the right people was made. The right people with the right hearts will do just fine.

Second, there is a trust factor. Sometimes we have a hard time letting go of things and allowing others to do  something. If these seven chosen men were qualified, gifted, talented, proven, let them shine. Let them do what they can do. Get out of their way and allow them to serve. This is a problem today. In far too many places, deacons don’t know what to do, and in many places they don’t do anything. They are just a title for something that is never needed. It amazes me that a man must be married, qualified and appointed by the church to the role of a deacon and his sole job is to unclog the toilet at the church building. Why have we made deacons janitors and that is their sole jobs? Is it a trust issue? They shouldn’t be in the role of deacons if they are not trusted.

Back in the first century, the early church had deacons (Phil 1:1). However, the early church did not have church buildings. Today, if we took away church buildings, most deacons would have nothing to do. They were doing something back then and they didn’t have church buildings. Could they have been the trusted messengers that carried Paul’s inspired letters back to the congregations? Could they have carried money from the church to Paul? Maybe they were doing more spiritual work than we allow today. Maybe they were doing more than unclogging toilets.

Power and trust—those two things misunderstood, can limit a church and get the leadership all confused about who is supposed to do what. When someone asks, ‘Well, who are over the deacons?’ It is the same answer as to who is over the elders, Jesus. ‘What if they mess up?’ What if the elders mess up? The deacons will have to clean up the mess, learn better and do better. It’s what we all do.

The apostles put the seven in charge of the task. What is interesting is that we never hear again of this problem. I expect it got taken care of. We can learn from this example. We can do better.

Roger