Thursday, Nov. 13

Thursday

In Acts 6:1 we read about a dispute between two groups of Christians in the early church.  The Greek speaking Jewish Christians feel that the Hebrew Christians are treating their widows unfairly.  So these Grecian Jews bring their concern to the Apostles, and this is how the Apostles decided to handle it…

So 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.  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 the ministry of the word.  – Acts 6:2-4

I have to admit that in English it sounds almost like the Apostles are saying that this issue is beneath them, or that they are too important to deal with such an insignificant problem, but this is really not what they are saying at all.  In fact, the phrase “wait on tables” is actually an expression from the time pertaining to acts of hospitality and service.  The Apostles are faced with a very real dilemma; they cannot ignore their calling to the ministry of the word in order to meet this need, but they also must not ignore this need in order to focus on the ministry of the word.  The church has to have both the ministry of the word and the ministry of service and compassion if it is going to have the ripple effect of spiritual influence in the world.  We must keep both word and deed continually in balance.  There are many churches today that focus on of these areas to the exclusion of the other.  There are churches that are theologically sound and doctrinally squared away, but they do not have much in the way of ministry to the poor.  On the other hand, there are churches that are very active and innovative in their service and outreach, but they have very little theological depth, and they seem to have lost touch with why they are serving in the first place. 

Basically the Apostles recognized the simple fact that as the church continued to grow and the various ministry needs continued to increase, they could no longer “do it all”.  The leaders of the early church understood that if they were to keep the ministry of the word in balance with the ministry of service, they were going to have to develop other leaders!  This is a reality that many pastors and churches are unwilling or unable to face.  The traditional approach to ministry is what might be called the “pastor-focused” church.  The pastor-focused church is the church where the pastor does all of the preaching, the teaching, the leading, the praying, the evangelizing, the shepherding, etc. and the people sit around and watch.  In the pastor-focused church, the pastor is the professional who does the ministry, and the people are the amateur spectators.  The problem with the pastor-focused church is that it is extremely limited and totally unbiblical.  

The biblical concept of church is one where all of God’s people are ministers, and the pastor’s role is to teach, lead and equip the people for ministry.  This is precisely what is taking place here in Acts 6; new leaders and servants are raised up because of a new need in a growing church.  Did you catch that?  As the church grows, so do the needs of the people, and so do the opportunities for ministry.  I don’t know if you see yourself as a spectator of or a participant in the ministry of the church?  There is nothing wrong with someone attending a church and just observing and learning for a while. However, if you truly want to follow Jesus, then there really is no place for spectators.  

What would have happened to the early church if the Apostles had insisted on doing it all themselves?  What would have happened if the people had insisted on the Apostles doing everything for them?  The church would have stopped growing, stagnated and slowly begun to lose its powerful spiritual influence in the world, and we would not be here today to carry on the message and mission of Jesus Christ in the world.

Jeff Frazier