June 30, 2025 • 29 mins
When discrimination emerged in the early church, it sparked a revolutionary leadership model that still challenges us today. This message examines a pivotal moment in Acts 6 where Greek-speaking Jewish Christians complained their widows were being overlooked in food distribution by the Hebrew-speaking majority.
Rather than dismissing these concerns or implementing top-down solutions, the apostles responded with remarkable wisdom. They recognized that the most effective response would come through empowering members of the marginalized community themselves. The seven leaders they commissioned—all bearing Greek names—demonstrate how the early church prioritized cultural competency and representation.
This passage invites us to reconsider what it means to be "Pentecost people." While many contrast Pentecost with Babel, viewing one as unifying and the other as dividing, closer examination reveals both affirm diversity. At Babel, humanity's uniformity was scattered into beautiful multiplicity. At Pentecost, this diversity wasn't erased but transcended—people heard God's praises in their native tongues.
Today's church faces similar challenges with discrimination along racial, gender, and sexuality lines. Acts 6 offers a powerful corrective, showing that authentic Christian community doesn't erase differences but empowers diverse voices. The criteria for leadership—being "full of the Spirit and wisdom"—applied equally to those preaching and those distributing food, challenging hierarchical notions of ministry.
What would change if we followed this model? How might our churches transform if we recognized that sometimes holy complaints reveal places where the Spirit wants to work? Join us as we explore how embracing both cultural and spiritual diversity reflects God's heart for a church where everyone has a vital role to play.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so, kicking off, this morning, we are going to be
talking about Acts, chapter 6.
And if you're listening onlinefrom Madison Church Online, we
welcome you in as well.
Today we are talking aboutdivision in the church.
In fact, we're talking aboutdiscrimination in the church.
We're talking about what itlooks like to commission others
(00:21):
on behalf of the Spirit.
We're actually going to seetoday that the office of the
deacon is created in the passagethat we're going to look at and
that's going to be in Acts,chapter 6, verses 1 through 7,
if you want to pull up a Bibleor your app today, now we are in
a mini series with Kyle.
Stephen's not here next week andhe's not here today.
So, conveniently enough andhe's already mentioned this a
(00:44):
couple of times for the next twoweeks we're going to talk about
the person Stephen in the Bible, and so it's funny how today
and next week, both scripturesare talking about Stephen, and
so I asked myself is this apromotional?
He decides to leave and then Iget to hype him up for two weeks
.
That's one of the things.
The other thing is, I wanted tothrow the word steven in greek
(01:06):
up on on the screen, so it'sstefanos and uh, my, one of my
jokes for steven right now isthat he's pronouncing his name
wrong.
So I think that we should justreally encourage him that he
should switch over to stefanos,for, you know, forever we just
start calling him that.
My other joke is that, becausethis looks so cool, this is
going to be my first tattoo, Ithink, if I just get like
(01:28):
Stephanos.
You know, and then I'm justkidding, but don't tell me with
a good time.
This week we are talking aboutsome internal strife inside the
church, and then next week we'regoing to talk about Stephen and
what it meant when Stephenbecame the first Christian
martyr.
So if we organize ourselves inthe two the next two weeks today
(01:49):
we're talking about thecollective ministry of the
church and then next week we'regoing to talk about what it
means to be a faithful witnessand the cost of being a faithful
witness as well, and so it hassome serious implications for us
.
But overall, there's just onequestion I want us to consider
for the next two weeks what doesit mean to be a Pentecost
people?
If Pentecost was so important,if the Holy Spirit indwelling
(02:13):
each individual believer, whatdoes it mean for us to be a
Pentecost people?
And so, as an introduction fortoday, we see a conflict in the
early church, but a deeper truthis revealed Everyone matters
and everyone has a part to play.
The apostles don't try to fixthe problems themselves.
(02:35):
We're going to see themcommission others to go out and
help do the work, to beempowered others through the
spirit, to let them lead as well.
And this week is also aninvitation for us to discover
what our role is.
There are no spectators, thereare no sidelines, just a Spirit
activated ministry calling ourname right now, today.
(02:57):
So let's look at the text.
I'll put it, we'll put it up onthe screen for you Acts 6,
verses 1 through 7, it says this.
Put it up on the screen for you.
Acts 6, verses 1 through 7, itsays this but as the believers
rapidly multiplied, there wererumblings of discontent.
The Greek-speaking believersHellenists in the Greek
complained about theHebrew-speaking believers,
hebrews saying that their widowswere being discriminated
(03:17):
against in the dailydistribution of food.
So the twelve called a meetingof all the believers the word's
actually disciples of all thedisciples, and they said we
apostles should spend our timeteaching the word of God, not
running the food program.
And so brothers select sevenmen who are well-respected and
are full of spirit and wisdom,and we will give them this
(03:37):
responsibility.
Then we apostles can spend ourtime in prayer and teaching the
word.
And everyone liked this idea,and they chose the following our
time in prayer and teaching theword.
And everyone liked this idea,and they chose the following
Stephen, a man full of faith inthe Holy Spirit, philip
Prochorus, nicanor, timon,barminius and Nicholas of
Antioch, an earlier convert ofthe Jewish faith.
These seven were presented tothe apostles, who prayed for
them as they laid their hands onthem, and so God's message
(04:00):
continued to spread.
The numbers of believersgreatly increased in Jerusalem,
and many of the Jewish priestswere converted too.
And so that's the passage.
There's a lot that's happening.
There's a lot of time thatpasses in these seven verses as
well, because we see a problemarise.
It didn't happen overnight.
We see a solution happen, butthat also didn't happen
overnight.
The church is growing, and withthat came different problems.
(04:23):
There's an internal division,discrimination, it sounds like
ethnic division, and it's aroundsomething good.
I don't want us to get lost onthat too.
It's the daily distribution offood to widows.
They were trying to have amissional, incarnational impulse
, which is one of our valueshere.
But at the same time, conflictarose, because that's a natural
(04:44):
part of being part of the churchto be living in community, to
live in authentic relationshipwith one another.
Sometimes things arise that wehave to overcome together.
Now I find what the church doesis fascinating, because they
commission others, they empowerothers.
It's not a hierarchicalapproach, it's how do we get
everyone involved, and so that'swhat we're going to dive into
(05:06):
today.
Here's how we're going to do it.
First, I want to catch us up onwhere we are in Acts.
Whenever we evaluate a specifictext, I think it's really
important for us to alwaysremember where we're coming from
in the book of Acts and thenalso take a peek ahead and see
where we're going in the book ofActs, just to see how this
passage fits squarely in themiddle of that.
The second thing I want us todive into what the conflict is
(05:26):
all about.
What does it mean that theHellenists and the Hebrews had
conflict with each other, thatthere was a discrimination
happening there?
What does that mean?
I'll describe that a little bitas well.
And then I want us to see howthe church empowered its
community in a God-honoring way.
And then finally, I want us toreturn to the question what does
it mean to be a Pentecostpeople?
So, as an overview of Acts,let's catch back up.
(05:49):
Where are we at?
So Acts is the second part ofLuke.
Luke and Acts should be smushedtogether in scripture.
They're actually split up, butthey're written by the same
author and they're written tothe same person.
So if you look at the beginningof Luke and you look at the
beginning of Acts, you'll seethat it's written to Theophilus.
Now, theophilus is a reallyinteresting name.
(06:09):
We're talking about names a lottoday, so I say let's just dive
in and really experience whatnames are all about.
Theophilus means lover of God.
You got Theo, which is God, andthen the Phyllis there means
lover.
In that way, when we come toLuke and to Acts, we know that
the book is being written to usas well.
Right, because we are lovers ofGod, coming to listen to what
(06:32):
the author of Luke has to say.
So that's what Luke starts outwhen he says to Theophilus my
first account was about whatJesus did and taught.
That's the gospel of Luke.
And now he wants to tellTheophilus about Jesus' promise
of the Holy Spirit and then thegreat movement of the church.
That's the purpose of hiswriting about the book of Acts,
(06:54):
and Pentecost is going to becomethe defining event.
So in the very earliest chaptersof Acts we see the Holy Spirit
descend on the disciples withtongues of fire above their
heads.
So it's kind of the sameimagery you see here in our kind
of PowerPoint slide.
That's also the unique partabout that is that's also the
same imagery of God's presencedescending in the Old Testament.
(07:15):
So inside the Holy of Holies,inside the temple.
Think about the pillar of fireguiding the Israelites by night.
Think about the burning bush.
God comes in a flame.
But what's interesting here isthat it's not descending in the
temple, it's descending onto theindividuals.
That's the big shift.
The people are now the templeof the Lord.
(07:38):
That is what we see with thepower of the Holy Spirit.
Now in the early chapters ofLuke we have Luke detailing some
of the great growth of thechurch.
So they started out with thedisciples, then they grow to
about 120.
They've just grown in Acts,chapter 4, to 3,000.
And then right here, rightbefore this happens, they grow
just over 5,000.
(07:58):
So a community of about 5,000individuals.
And you can actually see thosenumbers in the text too.
But what I wanted to put up onthe screen from Acts 2 and Acts
chapter 4 was how the disciples,the believers, were living in
community with one another.
It says this from Acts 2,continually devoting themselves
to the apostles' teaching, tothe fellowship and to the
breaking of bread and prayer.
Just a couple verses later,that all believers were together
(08:21):
, they had all things in common.
They'd even sell theirpossessions and share them to
the extent anyone had a need.
And then in Acts chapter 4,there was not a needy person
among them, because anyone whoowned land or houses would end
up selling and bringing theproceeds and then dividing it up
amongst anyone who had the need.
(08:42):
So that's where we're comingfrom.
That's right before, where thispassage happens.
Now, after this passage, whereare we going?
We see, if Pentecost becomesthe defining event in the book
of Acts, then the Holy Spiritbecomes the defining character.
So what does that mean?
We started out following Peteraround, now we're about to
(09:03):
follow Stephen for a little bit.
We're going to follow Philip,then we're going to start
following Paul, and then we seePaul and Silas.
We see Paul and Barnabas andtheir missionary journeys.
That takes us just aboutthrough the book of Acts.
But despite all thosecharacters that we're following,
one character always remainsthe same.
That is the Holy Spirit, theperson of the Holy Spirit and
the Spirit working in differentpeople to carry the message of
(09:27):
God around the world.
So the gospel is not justcarried to the Jewish population
.
This is the other thing that'sgoing to happen.
Right now we're mainly with aJewish population, but soon the
message of the gospel is goingto be opened up to the Gentile
population as well, and that'sone thing that I want us to harp
on, especially as we starttalking about discrimination
here.
The gospel is inclusive.
(09:47):
The gospel has always beeninclusive.
It's a formation of communitiesfrom various backgrounds who
are treated with equality andwho live according to Jesus'
teaching.
That's important for us toanchor on here at the very
beginning, before we even diveinto the problem of what was
going on in the early church.
In this In Acts, chapter 6, wesee a bit of a hiccup.
(10:10):
This is mostly a Jewishpopulation.
The gospel hasn't spreadspecifically to the Gentiles yet
.
Even inside the Jewishpopulation we're seeing
discrimination, but what we'reactually seeing is a little bit
of elitism happening between theHebrews and the Greek-speaking
believers, and I think that's abit awkward for us to handle,
because when we look at theearly church and we think about
(10:32):
the early church or reallyanything in Scripture, we think
very fondly of the community.
We say, oh, wow, whatever theywere doing must have been right,
not realizing or appreciatingthat they are in very much the
same predicament that we are.
They are wrestling through whatis right, what the Holy
Spirit's voice sounds like, howwe're being led, what the Holy
(10:52):
Spirit's voice sounds like, howwe're being led.
We should be able to relate inthis moment very much to any
other moment that we see inscripture and it reminds me of
the we aren't what we used to bemantras I'm sure plenty of us
have heard.
Hey, we're not using, americais not what we used to be, okay.
And then if, even if you goback in time, I'm sure they were
saying in their time period hey, america isn't what it used to
(11:15):
be.
Well, at the same time I cameacross a little newspaper letter
to the editor that someonewrote in and said hey, this
newspaper is not what it used tobe, and the newspaper actually
responds and they say it neverwas.
It never was.
That's because we always lookback fondly, but we don't
appreciate the human experienceof.
(11:35):
They were still struggling totry to figure out what was going
on themselves, and so that'swhat this church is struggling
with in the present moment.
In Acts, chapter 6, too, we'reexperiencing growth, we
experience persecution, and nowwe're experiencing an internal
division.
We had the first internaldivision in Acts 5 with Ananias
and Sapphira.
They were trying to pretendthat they had sold all their
(11:57):
possessions.
They were trying to create afalse perception about
themselves is what Stephen kindof detailed for us.
And then now we have a conflictabout diversity, inclusion and
status within different groupsinside the community.
What does it mean about theHellenists and the Hebrews
though?
So in verse one it said thisthe believers rapidly multiplied
.
There were rumblings ofdiscontent.
The Greek speaking believerscomplained about the Hebrew
(12:19):
speaking believers, that theirwidows were being discriminated
against in the dailydistribution of food.
So we see that there was acomplaint of the Hellenists
versus the Hebrews.
There developed a murmuring.
That's kind of what the Greekactually tells us about that a
little bit Now.
Murmuring that word shouldremind us of the Israelites
(12:39):
wandering in the desert.
They murmured against God asthey.
Why did you free me fromPharaoh, just so I can go die in
the desert.
That's kind of the imagery wehear when we hear complaint or
murmuring there.
But not all murmurings arecreated equal, and sometimes
(13:02):
this signified a lack of faith.
But in other ways it enabledand empowered the diaconate to
be born.
So when the Israelites arecrawling out to God and saying
why is this happening In thissituation, a complaint arises
and the solution becomes foreveryone to get involved.
It wasn't about God just comingin and supernaturally fixing it
.
It was about the peopleparticipating, and so that's
where we kind of see a littlebit of that nuance there.
(13:23):
And diving into the Greekspeaking and Hebrew speaking
believers for the first time, welearn about a difference among
Jewish Christians in Jerusalem,hellenists and Hebrews.
It comes down to this SomeJewish believers did not know
Aramaic or Hebrew.
There was something called thediaspora.
When the Israelites werecaptured many different times
(13:45):
and there are many differentpopulations and they were
scattered to the four winds,they lost the ability to speak
Hebrew or Aramaic.
Instead they spoke Greek.
That was just the commonlanguage of the time.
But it doesn't seem to comedown to just that they were
being overlooked.
It also comes down to themfeeling like they were inferior
to the Hebrew-speaking believers.
It's kind of like inside ourown community, if some of us
(14:07):
spoke Latin, a small group of usspoke Latin, and then we were
doing different prayers in Latin, we could speak about theology
in Latin, and then everyone elsewho didn't speak Latin was just
like all right, are we here toworship too?
Are we here to be taken care oftoo?
That's kind of the closest kindof comparison that we can make
to what is going on right herein Acts, chapter 6.
(14:30):
But I think it's important forus to name this issue for what
it was discrimination, whetherintentionally or unintentionally
, it was overlooking the needsof the group within their
community.
The daily distribution was notonly neglectful of the widow's
physical need.
This was also a means ofclarifying their social standing
(14:51):
within the community.
What does your communityactually value is kind of what I
hear inside this complaint, andso right now I do want to pause
and acknowledge several formsof discrimination that we see in
the American church today.
I think it's important to namethem.
So, first things first racialand ethnic discrimination.
(15:12):
The church in America seems tohold only one image in mind for
what a Christian person orfamily looks like.
In fact, many of our AmericanChristian friends and family are
actively supporting aggressivepolicies that are forcibly
removing other Christians andpeople who do not look like
themselves.
We forget that Jesus was not aRoman citizen.
(15:33):
Jesus was not a Roman citizen,and we'd be wise to remember
that.
The second form ofdiscrimination we see right now
is gender inequality.
For some reason, the church inAmerica specifically prizes
discriminatory practices thatsay women do not belong in
places of leadership, especiallyinside the church, as if
(15:57):
somehow they were made less inthe image of God than men were,
as if Jesus' sacrifice was alittle more for some than others
, or as if the Holy Spiritdoesn't indwell all of us
equally.
And then, lastly, we see LGBTQdiscrimination, because the
church in America continues tocreate boundaries that will not
(16:18):
allow same-sex couples to becomemembers of their church, and we
just saw in the past two weeksone of the largest Christian
denominations and Christianconventions in America call for
legislation to overturn therights for same-sex marriages.
The ironic part is that thevery same relationships that
(16:41):
these Christians are trying tooverturn or denounce show much
more love the love of God andthe love of neighbor than these
Christian conventions do.
I don't get it.
And I would say, with that wehave a holy complaint why?
How do we look at this passagetoday and see the Spirit and the
church working together forthese overlooked needs?
(17:02):
How do we model that in our owncommunity today?
We're not going to solve theseneeds nationally, not today, not
right now but we can set anexample for Madison Church to
follow and meet the needs of ourchurch and be a representative
inside our local community ofthe gospel that is for all
people, not just for a selectfew.
(17:22):
How do we do that?
Well, the solution that theyembrace in Acts, chapter 6, is a
two-part embracing of diversity.
First, I want to talk about howthey embraced cultural
diversity and then, second, Iwant to talk about how they
embraced spiritual diversity.
And it's right here in ourpassage today.
So we're going to look atverses two through six again
(17:43):
real quick.
So the disciples called ameeting of all the believers.
Disciples is the actual wordthey said.
We apostles should spend ourtime teaching the word of God
and not running a food program.
And so brothers and we actuallysee that word mean brothers and
sisters, it's a collective formSelect seven men who are
well-respected and are full ofthe Spirit and wisdom.
We will give them thisresponsibility.
(18:04):
Then we apostles can spend ourtime in prayer and teaching the
Word.
Everyone liked this idea andthey chose the following Stephen
, philip, prochorus, nicanor,timon, parmenas and Nicholas.
These seven were presented tothe apostles, who prayed for
them as they laid their hands onthem.
One of the first things that wenotice here is that the church
chose to become collaborative.
It was not authoritarian undera single apostle.
(18:24):
Everyone came together.
That's important because itreflected organic systems, the
same organic systems that we'retrying to foster here at Madison
Church.
How do we work together?
How do we avoid a hierarchicalsystem?
And I point out about thedisciples actually being called
believers in this passage,because for the first time in
(18:47):
Acts we see the word disciplesmean any follower of Jesus.
It wasn't a status anymore, itwas all believers and that
reflects the power of the HolySpirit indwelling us all.
The apostles had a differentfunction, but the Holy Spirit
was seen across the board andthe two ways we see that
cultural diversity and spiritualdiversity being embraced.
(19:09):
Now, to talk about culturaldiversity really quickly, I do
have to go back to an old storyfrom the Tower of Babel and
you're like okay, how do wecompare the Tower of Babel and
Pentecost?
Like, where does that go?
How does that challenge us here?
But scholars put the Tower ofBabel and Pentecost as a bit of
a juxtaposition.
Now to unpack this a little bit, let me just read the story
(19:33):
real quick.
I won't put it on the screen oranything, but I'll just read
some highlights from Genesis,chapter 11.
At one time, all the people ofthe world spoke the same
language and used the same words.
People migrated to the east.
They found a plain in the landof Babylonia and settled there.
They began saying to each otherlet's make bricks and harden
them with fire.
They said let's build a greatcity for ourselves with a tower
(19:53):
that reaches into the sky.
This will make us famous andkeep us from being scattered all
over the world.
But the Lord came down to lookat the city and the tower the
people were building.
Look, he said the people areunited and they all speak the
same language.
After this, nothing they setout to do will be impossible for
them.
Let's go down and confuse themwith a different language so
they won't be able to understandeach other.
(20:14):
And that way the Lord scatteredthem all over the world and
they stopped building the city.
This is why the city was calledBabel, because where the Lord
confused the people withdifferent languages and this way
God scattered them all over theworld.
Now, if we read this storyclosely, especially with the
help of a good number ofChristian scholars, we hear that
(20:34):
Pentecost echoes something inthe story of Babel.
A good number of scholars viewthe original sin of Babel as
unity and uniformity.
It was actually a lack ofdifference that occasioned
Yahweh's intervention in whatwas destined to be a violent
story of oppression, andconformity and uniformity.
(20:57):
God had already commanded thehuman race after the flood, so
that was in Genesis 9.
Babel happens in Genesis 11.
God had commanded everyone togo fill the whole earth, so for
them to concentrate themselvesin one place was already an act
of disobedience.
Hence the scattering of thehuman race across the world and
creating a cultural andlinguistic diversity that was
(21:20):
embraced by God.
And so in Pentecost we hearthis story come back together.
Acts, chapter 2, verse 6,.
The Spirit falls and thedisciples speak.
How?
In the languages of everyperson, like their own language.
It says this when they heard aloud noise, everyone came
running and they were bewilderedto hear their own languages
(21:40):
being spoken by the believers.
Pentecost is not a reversal ofBabel, it's an echo of Babel.
One scholar notes that thepraises of God are not heard in
Greek, which was that commonlanguage at the time, and it was
not heard in some sort ofheavenly language or some sort
of spiritual language.
It was heard in their ownlanguages.
(22:01):
It has a massive affirmation ofwho we are, where we come from
and the cultural diversity thatwe all represent.
The many languages remainedmany, but the multiplicity of
languages was no longer abarrier for the spirit to work.
The multiplicity of languageswas no longer a barrier for the
(22:23):
Spirit to work, and I'd say thatthis is an enacted sign of what
God is doing in the presentthrough the church.
It's also a sign of what thenew life will look like, and new
heavens and new earth wherecultural diversity will be
affirmed and the hostilities andthe distrust attached to these
diversities are no longer abarrier for true and genuine,
authentic community in theSpirit.
(22:44):
Now, bringing it back to ourpassage today, we see the church
do something unique in Acts,chapter 6.
They changed the symbols ofservice within their own
community.
When we read the names of theservants selected—Steven, philip
, prochorus, nicanor, timon,parmenas, nicholas.
We really only know aboutStephen and Philip, and we're
about to follow them for thenext couple chapters in Acts.
We know next to nothing aboutthe other four, except for one
(23:06):
thing they have Greek names.
These names are no coincidence.
To minister to the needs of theHellenist widows, one needed
more than moral rectitude Eventhough that was important.
One needed cultural competencyand credibility.
There were probably manydisciples that were going to be
(23:27):
great fits to do the work thatwas needed inside the community,
but the most effective responseto crisis would come through
the members of the neglectedcommunity themselves.
As my dean put it, talkingabout this passage, this is a
good Pentecost pedagogy.
They were learning from theSpirit as they went.
The church understood that thesymbols of the community must
(23:49):
change in order to serve thecommunity of the church
holistically.
And they did so by embracingdiversity and empowering leaders
from other walks of life whouniquely knew the issues at hand
.
And so that brings us kind ofinto how did they embrace
spiritual diversity?
And with that I'll talk brieflyabout our APEST model.
Here at Madison Church.
The apostles made a distinctionthat it would be better for
(24:12):
them to focus on the spreadingof the word, while others could
better help with thedistribution of the food.
This is likely one of the manystories that ultimately shape
what Paul talks about inEphesians 4, with the different
giftings that are given to thechurch.
That's where we get this apestmodel, and so here at Madison
Church we embrace that, becausewe see all of God's people as
spiritual leaders and that it'simportant for us to develop
(24:36):
those qualities within us,identify and develop what the
Spirit has already put on ourhearts, the giftings that we
have been given.
In fact, we do have a summersmall group coming up that's
going to talk about this forabout eight weeks.
It starts in just the beginningof July.
There, with any congregation,we want to see spiritual
giftings detailed in Ephesians,chapter 4, whether they're
(24:57):
apostolic, prophetic, whetherthey're in shepherding,
evangelism or in teaching, andwe want to use here at Madison
Church the spiritual giftingsthat we all have to develop
those organic systems so that wemight have the missional,
incarnational impulse that Godhas put on our hearts.
We see it reflected in Acts,chapter 6.
(25:20):
How do we reflect it in ourchurch today?
That's why we come back to hereat the very end, what does it
mean to be a Pentecost.
People, christians, theologiansspeak of the church as bearing
three responsibilities Martyria,which is witness, so the word
martyr.
Liturgia, worship, and thendiakonia, service, where the
(25:41):
word deacon comes from.
You cut off one of those legsand the church collapses.
Now, as we throw up on thescreen good reputation, martyrio
, to testify.
This is the word that's used inActs, chapter 6, to testify.
They have a good reputation.
It's really related to our wordmartis, which is what Jesus
says in Acts, chapter 1, 8, whenhe commissions all the
(26:03):
believers to go forth and spreadthe word you will be my witness
into the world.
This is actually where we getthe word martyr from.
So, as a foretaste of next week, talking about Stephen and
martyrdom, we're actuallytalking about Stephen and the
faithful witness.
That's what we'll be looking atand that's what is empowered
here.
When we look at the deacon'scall to serve God, I'd say
(26:28):
that's a call for action andit's also a call to count the
cost.
That's more of what we'll betalking about next week.
But here, just as we close thisout, I believe the Spirit is
trying to teach us something inActs, chapter 6.
When you consider the apostoliccriteria for the seven that
were selected, good standing,full of the Holy Spirit and
wisdom.
One thing is clear the taskbefore them of distributing the
(26:51):
food was not menial.
The apostles were looking for aPentecost, people who
understood.
Christian ministry meanswaiting on tables, means any
form of service inside thecommunity, because that's an
imitation of Christ who came toserve and to not be served.
It's an affirmation of theuniversal role and
(27:13):
responsibility of every believer.
It's a commitment to meetinghuman needs holistically and
it's offering a cup of water toeven God's little ones and
pointing them to the streams ofGod's grace.
And here, in just a moment,we're going to have a moment
where we will participate in theLord's Supper.
So everyone, the band will comeup, everyone is invited, at
their own pace, to go to theback, grab the elements, return
(27:36):
to our seats while the bandplays and take them at your own
pace.
But I just want to leave youwith this.
It's tempting for all of us torelax.
It's tempting to make excusesabout not participating in God's
ministry.
It's tempting to cast aside theHoly Spirit's call.
It's tempting to let conflictbecome the reason that ministry
(27:58):
comes to a halt.
Let conflict become the reasonthat ministry comes to a halt
and it's even tempting to let adesire for unity secretly become
a desire for authority.
But we are reminded in thisstory of a few things.
One we're reminded of the powerof the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit dwelling inside of us.
We're reminded of the power ofPentecost, the moment where all
(28:25):
of our lives changed asbelievers.
We're even reminded of thebeauty in Babel, the beauty in
diversity, of spiritual gifts,of cultural diversity.
We're reminded that we are allmade in the image of God.
And as I close I'll just leave.
There's a little John HenryNewman quote that I think just
(28:45):
captures it all and the heart ofMadison Church and what we want
to be in our local community.
It says this I sought to hearthe voice of God and climb the
topmost steeple, but Goddeclared go down again.
I dwell among the people.
And so, kicking off, this morning, we are going to be
talking about Acts, chapter 6.
And if you're listening onlinefrom Madison Church Online, we
welcome you in as well.
Today we are talking aboutdivision in the church.
In fact, we're talking aboutdiscrimination in the church.
We're talking about what itlooks like to commission others
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on behalf of the Spirit.
We're actually going to seetoday that the office of the
deacon is created in the passagethat we're going to look at and
that's going to be in Acts,chapter 6, verses 1 through 7,
if you want to pull up a Bibleor your app today, now we are in
a mini series with Kyle.
Stephen's not here next week andhe's not here today.
So, conveniently enough andhe's already mentioned this a
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couple of times for the next twoweeks we're going to talk about
the person Stephen in the Bible, and so it's funny how today
and next week, both scripturesare talking about Stephen, and
so I asked myself is this apromotional?
He decides to leave and then Iget to hype him up for two weeks
.
That's one of the things.
The other thing is, I wanted tothrow the word steven in greek
(01:06):
up on on the screen, so it'sstefanos and uh, my, one of my
jokes for steven right now isthat he's pronouncing his name
wrong.
So I think that we should justreally encourage him that he
should switch over to stefanos,for, you know, forever we just
start calling him that.
My other joke is that, becausethis looks so cool, this is
going to be my first tattoo, Ithink, if I just get like
(01:28):
Stephanos.
You know, and then I'm justkidding, but don't tell me with
a good time.
This week we are talking aboutsome internal strife inside the
church, and then next week we'regoing to talk about Stephen and
what it meant when Stephenbecame the first Christian
martyr.
So if we organize ourselves inthe two the next two weeks today
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we're talking about thecollective ministry of the
church and then next week we'regoing to talk about what it
means to be a faithful witnessand the cost of being a faithful
witness as well, and so it hassome serious implications for us
.
But overall, there's just onequestion I want us to consider
for the next two weeks what doesit mean to be a Pentecost
people?
If Pentecost was so important,if the Holy Spirit indwelling
(02:13):
each individual believer, whatdoes it mean for us to be a
Pentecost people?
And so, as an introduction fortoday, we see a conflict in the
early church, but a deeper truthis revealed Everyone matters
and everyone has a part to play.
The apostles don't try to fixthe problems themselves.
(02:35):
We're going to see themcommission others to go out and
help do the work, to beempowered others through the
spirit, to let them lead as well.
And this week is also aninvitation for us to discover
what our role is.
There are no spectators, thereare no sidelines, just a Spirit
activated ministry calling ourname right now, today.
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So let's look at the text.
I'll put it, we'll put it up onthe screen for you Acts 6,
verses 1 through 7, it says this.
Put it up on the screen for you.
Acts 6, verses 1 through 7, itsays this but as the believers
rapidly multiplied, there wererumblings of discontent.
The Greek-speaking believersHellenists in the Greek
complained about theHebrew-speaking believers,
hebrews saying that their widowswere being discriminated
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against in the dailydistribution of food.
So the twelve called a meetingof all the believers the word's
actually disciples of all thedisciples, and they said we
apostles should spend our timeteaching the word of God, not
running the food program.
And so brothers select sevenmen who are well-respected and
are full of spirit and wisdom,and we will give them this
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responsibility.
Then we apostles can spend ourtime in prayer and teaching the
word.
And everyone liked this idea,and they chose the following our
time in prayer and teaching theword.
And everyone liked this idea,and they chose the following
Stephen, a man full of faith inthe Holy Spirit, philip
Prochorus, nicanor, timon,barminius and Nicholas of
Antioch, an earlier convert ofthe Jewish faith.
These seven were presented tothe apostles, who prayed for
them as they laid their hands onthem, and so God's message
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continued to spread.
The numbers of believersgreatly increased in Jerusalem,
and many of the Jewish priestswere converted too.
And so that's the passage.
There's a lot that's happening.
There's a lot of time thatpasses in these seven verses as
well, because we see a problemarise.
It didn't happen overnight.
We see a solution happen, butthat also didn't happen
overnight.
The church is growing, and withthat came different problems.
(04:23):
There's an internal division,discrimination, it sounds like
ethnic division, and it's aroundsomething good.
I don't want us to get lost onthat too.
It's the daily distribution offood to widows.
They were trying to have amissional, incarnational impulse
, which is one of our valueshere.
But at the same time, conflictarose, because that's a natural
(04:44):
part of being part of the churchto be living in community, to
live in authentic relationshipwith one another.
Sometimes things arise that wehave to overcome together.
Now I find what the church doesis fascinating, because they
commission others, they empowerothers.
It's not a hierarchicalapproach, it's how do we get
everyone involved, and so that'swhat we're going to dive into
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today.
Here's how we're going to do it.
First, I want to catch us up onwhere we are in Acts.
Whenever we evaluate a specifictext, I think it's really
important for us to alwaysremember where we're coming from
in the book of Acts and thenalso take a peek ahead and see
where we're going in the book ofActs, just to see how this
passage fits squarely in themiddle of that.
The second thing I want us todive into what the conflict is
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all about.
What does it mean that theHellenists and the Hebrews had
conflict with each other, thatthere was a discrimination
happening there?
What does that mean?
I'll describe that a little bitas well.
And then I want us to see howthe church empowered its
community in a God-honoring way.
And then finally, I want us toreturn to the question what does
it mean to be a Pentecostpeople?
So, as an overview of Acts,let's catch back up.
(05:49):
Where are we at?
So Acts is the second part ofLuke.
Luke and Acts should be smushedtogether in scripture.
They're actually split up, butthey're written by the same
author and they're written tothe same person.
So if you look at the beginningof Luke and you look at the
beginning of Acts, you'll seethat it's written to Theophilus.
Now, theophilus is a reallyinteresting name.
(06:09):
We're talking about names a lottoday, so I say let's just dive
in and really experience whatnames are all about.
Theophilus means lover of God.
You got Theo, which is God, andthen the Phyllis there means
lover.
In that way, when we come toLuke and to Acts, we know that
the book is being written to usas well.
Right, because we are lovers ofGod, coming to listen to what
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the author of Luke has to say.
So that's what Luke starts outwhen he says to Theophilus my
first account was about whatJesus did and taught.
That's the gospel of Luke.
And now he wants to tellTheophilus about Jesus' promise
of the Holy Spirit and then thegreat movement of the church.
That's the purpose of hiswriting about the book of Acts,
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and Pentecost is going to becomethe defining event.
So in the very earliest chaptersof Acts we see the Holy Spirit
descend on the disciples withtongues of fire above their
heads.
So it's kind of the sameimagery you see here in our kind
of PowerPoint slide.
That's also the unique partabout that is that's also the
same imagery of God's presencedescending in the Old Testament.
(07:15):
So inside the Holy of Holies,inside the temple.
Think about the pillar of fireguiding the Israelites by night.
Think about the burning bush.
God comes in a flame.
But what's interesting here isthat it's not descending in the
temple, it's descending onto theindividuals.
That's the big shift.
The people are now the templeof the Lord.
(07:38):
That is what we see with thepower of the Holy Spirit.
Now in the early chapters ofLuke we have Luke detailing some
of the great growth of thechurch.
So they started out with thedisciples, then they grow to
about 120.
They've just grown in Acts,chapter 4, to 3,000.
And then right here, rightbefore this happens, they grow
just over 5,000.
(07:58):
So a community of about 5,000individuals.
And you can actually see thosenumbers in the text too.
But what I wanted to put up onthe screen from Acts 2 and Acts
chapter 4 was how the disciples,the believers, were living in
community with one another.
It says this from Acts 2,continually devoting themselves
to the apostles' teaching, tothe fellowship and to the
breaking of bread and prayer.
Just a couple verses later,that all believers were together
(08:21):
, they had all things in common.
They'd even sell theirpossessions and share them to
the extent anyone had a need.
And then in Acts chapter 4,there was not a needy person
among them, because anyone whoowned land or houses would end
up selling and bringing theproceeds and then dividing it up
amongst anyone who had the need.
(08:42):
So that's where we're comingfrom.
That's right before, where thispassage happens.
Now, after this passage, whereare we going?
We see, if Pentecost becomesthe defining event in the book
of Acts, then the Holy Spiritbecomes the defining character.
So what does that mean?
We started out following Peteraround, now we're about to
(09:03):
follow Stephen for a little bit.
We're going to follow Philip,then we're going to start
following Paul, and then we seePaul and Silas.
We see Paul and Barnabas andtheir missionary journeys.
That takes us just aboutthrough the book of Acts.
But despite all thosecharacters that we're following,
one character always remainsthe same.
That is the Holy Spirit, theperson of the Holy Spirit and
the Spirit working in differentpeople to carry the message of
(09:27):
God around the world.
So the gospel is not justcarried to the Jewish population
.
This is the other thing that'sgoing to happen.
Right now we're mainly with aJewish population, but soon the
message of the gospel is goingto be opened up to the Gentile
population as well, and that'sone thing that I want us to harp
on, especially as we starttalking about discrimination
here.
The gospel is inclusive.
(09:47):
The gospel has always beeninclusive.
It's a formation of communitiesfrom various backgrounds who
are treated with equality andwho live according to Jesus'
teaching.
That's important for us toanchor on here at the very
beginning, before we even diveinto the problem of what was
going on in the early church.
In this In Acts, chapter 6, wesee a bit of a hiccup.
(10:10):
This is mostly a Jewishpopulation.
The gospel hasn't spreadspecifically to the Gentiles yet
.
Even inside the Jewishpopulation we're seeing
discrimination, but what we'reactually seeing is a little bit
of elitism happening between theHebrews and the Greek-speaking
believers, and I think that's abit awkward for us to handle,
because when we look at theearly church and we think about
(10:32):
the early church or reallyanything in Scripture, we think
very fondly of the community.
We say, oh, wow, whatever theywere doing must have been right,
not realizing or appreciatingthat they are in very much the
same predicament that we are.
They are wrestling through whatis right, what the Holy
Spirit's voice sounds like, howwe're being led, what the Holy
(10:52):
Spirit's voice sounds like, howwe're being led.
We should be able to relate inthis moment very much to any
other moment that we see inscripture and it reminds me of
the we aren't what we used to bemantras I'm sure plenty of us
have heard.
Hey, we're not using, americais not what we used to be, okay.
And then if, even if you goback in time, I'm sure they were
saying in their time period hey, america isn't what it used to
(11:15):
be.
Well, at the same time I cameacross a little newspaper letter
to the editor that someonewrote in and said hey, this
newspaper is not what it used tobe, and the newspaper actually
responds and they say it neverwas.
It never was.
That's because we always lookback fondly, but we don't
appreciate the human experienceof.
(11:35):
They were still struggling totry to figure out what was going
on themselves, and so that'swhat this church is struggling
with in the present moment.
In Acts, chapter 6, too, we'reexperiencing growth, we
experience persecution, and nowwe're experiencing an internal
division.
We had the first internaldivision in Acts 5 with Ananias
and Sapphira.
They were trying to pretendthat they had sold all their
(11:57):
possessions.
They were trying to create afalse perception about
themselves is what Stephen kindof detailed for us.
And then now we have a conflictabout diversity, inclusion and
status within different groupsinside the community.
What does it mean about theHellenists and the Hebrews
though?
So in verse one it said thisthe believers rapidly multiplied
.
There were rumblings ofdiscontent.
The Greek speaking believerscomplained about the Hebrew
(12:19):
speaking believers, that theirwidows were being discriminated
against in the dailydistribution of food.
So we see that there was acomplaint of the Hellenists
versus the Hebrews.
There developed a murmuring.
That's kind of what the Greekactually tells us about that a
little bit Now.
Murmuring that word shouldremind us of the Israelites
(12:39):
wandering in the desert.
They murmured against God asthey.
Why did you free me fromPharaoh, just so I can go die in
the desert.
That's kind of the imagery wehear when we hear complaint or
murmuring there.
But not all murmurings arecreated equal, and sometimes
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this signified a lack of faith.
But in other ways it enabledand empowered the diaconate to
be born.
So when the Israelites arecrawling out to God and saying
why is this happening In thissituation, a complaint arises
and the solution becomes foreveryone to get involved.
It wasn't about God just comingin and supernaturally fixing it
.
It was about the peopleparticipating, and so that's
where we kind of see a littlebit of that nuance there.
(13:23):
And diving into the Greekspeaking and Hebrew speaking
believers for the first time, welearn about a difference among
Jewish Christians in Jerusalem,hellenists and Hebrews.
It comes down to this SomeJewish believers did not know
Aramaic or Hebrew.
There was something called thediaspora.
When the Israelites werecaptured many different times
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and there are many differentpopulations and they were
scattered to the four winds,they lost the ability to speak
Hebrew or Aramaic.
Instead they spoke Greek.
That was just the commonlanguage of the time.
But it doesn't seem to comedown to just that they were
being overlooked.
It also comes down to themfeeling like they were inferior
to the Hebrew-speaking believers.
It's kind of like inside ourown community, if some of us
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spoke Latin, a small group of usspoke Latin, and then we were
doing different prayers in Latin, we could speak about theology
in Latin, and then everyone elsewho didn't speak Latin was just
like all right, are we here toworship too?
Are we here to be taken care oftoo?
That's kind of the closest kindof comparison that we can make
to what is going on right herein Acts, chapter 6.
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But I think it's important forus to name this issue for what
it was discrimination, whetherintentionally or unintentionally
, it was overlooking the needsof the group within their
community.
The daily distribution was notonly neglectful of the widow's
physical need.
This was also a means ofclarifying their social standing
(14:51):
within the community.
What does your communityactually value is kind of what I
hear inside this complaint, andso right now I do want to pause
and acknowledge several formsof discrimination that we see in
the American church today.
I think it's important to namethem.
So, first things first racialand ethnic discrimination.
(15:12):
The church in America seems tohold only one image in mind for
what a Christian person orfamily looks like.
In fact, many of our AmericanChristian friends and family are
actively supporting aggressivepolicies that are forcibly
removing other Christians andpeople who do not look like
themselves.
We forget that Jesus was not aRoman citizen.
(15:33):
Jesus was not a Roman citizen,and we'd be wise to remember
that.
The second form ofdiscrimination we see right now
is gender inequality.
For some reason, the church inAmerica specifically prizes
discriminatory practices thatsay women do not belong in
places of leadership, especiallyinside the church, as if
(15:57):
somehow they were made less inthe image of God than men were,
as if Jesus' sacrifice was alittle more for some than others
, or as if the Holy Spiritdoesn't indwell all of us
equally.
And then, lastly, we see LGBTQdiscrimination, because the
church in America continues tocreate boundaries that will not
(16:18):
allow same-sex couples to becomemembers of their church, and we
just saw in the past two weeksone of the largest Christian
denominations and Christianconventions in America call for
legislation to overturn therights for same-sex marriages.
The ironic part is that thevery same relationships that
(16:41):
these Christians are trying tooverturn or denounce show much
more love the love of God andthe love of neighbor than these
Christian conventions do.
I don't get it.
And I would say, with that wehave a holy complaint why?
How do we look at this passagetoday and see the Spirit and the
church working together forthese overlooked needs?
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How do we model that in our owncommunity today?
We're not going to solve theseneeds nationally, not today, not
right now but we can set anexample for Madison Church to
follow and meet the needs of ourchurch and be a representative
inside our local community ofthe gospel that is for all
people, not just for a selectfew.
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How do we do that?
Well, the solution that theyembrace in Acts, chapter 6, is a
two-part embracing of diversity.
First, I want to talk about howthey embraced cultural
diversity and then, second, Iwant to talk about how they
embraced spiritual diversity.
And it's right here in ourpassage today.
So we're going to look atverses two through six again
(17:43):
real quick.
So the disciples called ameeting of all the believers.
Disciples is the actual wordthey said.
We apostles should spend ourtime teaching the word of God
and not running a food program.
And so brothers and we actuallysee that word mean brothers and
sisters, it's a collective formSelect seven men who are
well-respected and are full ofthe Spirit and wisdom.
We will give them thisresponsibility.
(18:04):
Then we apostles can spend ourtime in prayer and teaching the
Word.
Everyone liked this idea andthey chose the following Stephen
, philip, prochorus, nicanor,timon, parmenas and Nicholas.
These seven were presented tothe apostles, who prayed for
them as they laid their hands onthem.
One of the first things that wenotice here is that the church
chose to become collaborative.
It was not authoritarian undera single apostle.
(18:24):
Everyone came together.
That's important because itreflected organic systems, the
same organic systems that we'retrying to foster here at Madison
Church.
How do we work together?
How do we avoid a hierarchicalsystem?
And I point out about thedisciples actually being called
believers in this passage,because for the first time in
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Acts we see the word disciplesmean any follower of Jesus.
It wasn't a status anymore, itwas all believers and that
reflects the power of the HolySpirit indwelling us all.
The apostles had a differentfunction, but the Holy Spirit
was seen across the board andthe two ways we see that
cultural diversity and spiritualdiversity being embraced.
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Now, to talk about culturaldiversity really quickly, I do
have to go back to an old storyfrom the Tower of Babel and
you're like okay, how do wecompare the Tower of Babel and
Pentecost?
Like, where does that go?
How does that challenge us here?
But scholars put the Tower ofBabel and Pentecost as a bit of
a juxtaposition.
Now to unpack this a little bit, let me just read the story
(19:33):
real quick.
I won't put it on the screen oranything, but I'll just read
some highlights from Genesis,chapter 11.
At one time, all the people ofthe world spoke the same
language and used the same words.
People migrated to the east.
They found a plain in the landof Babylonia and settled there.
They began saying to each otherlet's make bricks and harden
them with fire.
They said let's build a greatcity for ourselves with a tower
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that reaches into the sky.
This will make us famous andkeep us from being scattered all
over the world.
But the Lord came down to lookat the city and the tower the
people were building.
Look, he said the people areunited and they all speak the
same language.
After this, nothing they setout to do will be impossible for
them.
Let's go down and confuse themwith a different language so
they won't be able to understandeach other.
(20:14):
And that way the Lord scatteredthem all over the world and
they stopped building the city.
This is why the city was calledBabel, because where the Lord
confused the people withdifferent languages and this way
God scattered them all over theworld.
Now, if we read this storyclosely, especially with the
help of a good number ofChristian scholars, we hear that
(20:34):
Pentecost echoes something inthe story of Babel.
A good number of scholars viewthe original sin of Babel as
unity and uniformity.
It was actually a lack ofdifference that occasioned
Yahweh's intervention in whatwas destined to be a violent
story of oppression, andconformity and uniformity.
(20:57):
God had already commanded thehuman race after the flood, so
that was in Genesis 9.
Babel happens in Genesis 11.
God had commanded everyone togo fill the whole earth, so for
them to concentrate themselvesin one place was already an act
of disobedience.
Hence the scattering of thehuman race across the world and
creating a cultural andlinguistic diversity that was
(21:20):
embraced by God.
And so in Pentecost we hearthis story come back together.
Acts, chapter 2, verse 6,.
The Spirit falls and thedisciples speak.
How?
In the languages of everyperson, like their own language.
It says this when they heard aloud noise, everyone came
running and they were bewilderedto hear their own languages
(21:40):
being spoken by the believers.
Pentecost is not a reversal ofBabel, it's an echo of Babel.
One scholar notes that thepraises of God are not heard in
Greek, which was that commonlanguage at the time, and it was
not heard in some sort ofheavenly language or some sort
of spiritual language.
It was heard in their ownlanguages.
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It has a massive affirmation ofwho we are, where we come from
and the cultural diversity thatwe all represent.
The many languages remainedmany, but the multiplicity of
languages was no longer abarrier for the spirit to work.
The multiplicity of languageswas no longer a barrier for the
(22:23):
Spirit to work, and I'd say thatthis is an enacted sign of what
God is doing in the presentthrough the church.
It's also a sign of what thenew life will look like, and new
heavens and new earth wherecultural diversity will be
affirmed and the hostilities andthe distrust attached to these
diversities are no longer abarrier for true and genuine,
authentic community in theSpirit.
(22:44):
Now, bringing it back to ourpassage today, we see the church
do something unique in Acts,chapter 6.
They changed the symbols ofservice within their own
community.
When we read the names of theservants selected—Steven, philip
, prochorus, nicanor, timon,parmenas, nicholas.
We really only know aboutStephen and Philip, and we're
about to follow them for thenext couple chapters in Acts.
We know next to nothing aboutthe other four, except for one
(23:06):
thing they have Greek names.
These names are no coincidence.
To minister to the needs of theHellenist widows, one needed
more than moral rectitude Eventhough that was important.
One needed cultural competencyand credibility.
There were probably manydisciples that were going to be
(23:27):
great fits to do the work thatwas needed inside the community,
but the most effective responseto crisis would come through
the members of the neglectedcommunity themselves.
As my dean put it, talkingabout this passage, this is a
good Pentecost pedagogy.
They were learning from theSpirit as they went.
The church understood that thesymbols of the community must
(23:49):
change in order to serve thecommunity of the church
holistically.
And they did so by embracingdiversity and empowering leaders
from other walks of life whouniquely knew the issues at hand
.
And so that brings us kind ofinto how did they embrace
spiritual diversity?
And with that I'll talk brieflyabout our APEST model.
Here at Madison Church.
The apostles made a distinctionthat it would be better for
(24:12):
them to focus on the spreadingof the word, while others could
better help with thedistribution of the food.
This is likely one of the manystories that ultimately shape
what Paul talks about inEphesians 4, with the different
giftings that are given to thechurch.
That's where we get this apestmodel, and so here at Madison
Church we embrace that, becausewe see all of God's people as
spiritual leaders and that it'simportant for us to develop
(24:36):
those qualities within us,identify and develop what the
Spirit has already put on ourhearts, the giftings that we
have been given.
In fact, we do have a summersmall group coming up that's
going to talk about this forabout eight weeks.
It starts in just the beginningof July.
There, with any congregation,we want to see spiritual
giftings detailed in Ephesians,chapter 4, whether they're
(24:57):
apostolic, prophetic, whetherthey're in shepherding,
evangelism or in teaching, andwe want to use here at Madison
Church the spiritual giftingsthat we all have to develop
those organic systems so that wemight have the missional,
incarnational impulse that Godhas put on our hearts.
We see it reflected in Acts,chapter 6.
(25:20):
How do we reflect it in ourchurch today?
That's why we come back to hereat the very end, what does it
mean to be a Pentecost.
People, christians, theologiansspeak of the church as bearing
three responsibilities Martyria,which is witness, so the word
martyr.
Liturgia, worship, and thendiakonia, service, where the
(25:41):
word deacon comes from.
You cut off one of those legsand the church collapses.
Now, as we throw up on thescreen good reputation, martyrio
, to testify.
This is the word that's used inActs, chapter 6, to testify.
They have a good reputation.
It's really related to our wordmartis, which is what Jesus
says in Acts, chapter 1, 8, whenhe commissions all the
(26:03):
believers to go forth and spreadthe word you will be my witness
into the world.
This is actually where we getthe word martyr from.
So, as a foretaste of next week, talking about Stephen and
martyrdom, we're actuallytalking about Stephen and the
faithful witness.
That's what we'll be looking atand that's what is empowered
here.
When we look at the deacon'scall to serve God, I'd say
(26:28):
that's a call for action andit's also a call to count the
cost.
That's more of what we'll betalking about next week.
But here, just as we close thisout, I believe the Spirit is
trying to teach us something inActs, chapter 6.
When you consider the apostoliccriteria for the seven that
were selected, good standing,full of the Holy Spirit and
wisdom.
One thing is clear the taskbefore them of distributing the
(26:51):
food was not menial.
The apostles were looking for aPentecost, people who
understood.
Christian ministry meanswaiting on tables, means any
form of service inside thecommunity, because that's an
imitation of Christ who came toserve and to not be served.
It's an affirmation of theuniversal role and
(27:13):
responsibility of every believer.
It's a commitment to meetinghuman needs holistically and
it's offering a cup of water toeven God's little ones and
pointing them to the streams ofGod's grace.
And here, in just a moment,we're going to have a moment
where we will participate in theLord's Supper.
So everyone, the band will comeup, everyone is invited, at
their own pace, to go to theback, grab the elements, return
(27:36):
to our seats while the bandplays and take them at your own
pace.
But I just want to leave youwith this.
It's tempting for all of us torelax.
It's tempting to make excusesabout not participating in God's
ministry.
It's tempting to cast aside theHoly Spirit's call.
It's tempting to let conflictbecome the reason that ministry
(27:58):
comes to a halt.
Let conflict become the reasonthat ministry comes to a halt
and it's even tempting to let adesire for unity secretly become
a desire for authority.
But we are reminded in thisstory of a few things.
One we're reminded of the powerof the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit dwelling inside of us.
We're reminded of the power ofPentecost, the moment where all
(28:25):
of our lives changed asbelievers.
We're even reminded of thebeauty in Babel, the beauty in
diversity, of spiritual gifts,of cultural diversity.
We're reminded that we are allmade in the image of God.
And as I close I'll just leave.
There's a little John HenryNewman quote that I think just
(28:45):
captures it all and the heart ofMadison Church and what we want
to be in our local community.
It says this I sought to hearthe voice of God and climb the
topmost steeple, but Goddeclared go down again.
I dwell among the people.
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