Our passage is Acts 6. And today we’re going to discuss “Working Together for Christ,” and what that looks like in the NT church. But before we turn to Acts, turn with me first to the book of Exodus. I want to set up our passage today by giving you a couple of OT parallels for what we see in Acts 6. The first passage is Exodus 18, where we see the power of delegation. And secondly we’ll look at Exodus 35–36 where we see the power of specialization. 

In Exodus 18, Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, shows up when Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness. And Jethro is appalled by Moses’s leadership strategy. It says in verse 13, “The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?’” (18:13–15).

Jethro continues in verse 17, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you” (18:17).

Jethro goes on to suggest that Moses appoint judges over the people, so that he doesn’t have to adjudicate every matter in the camp. It’s a remarkable piece of advice, something that I’ll just call common grace wisdom that Moses, a humble man, receives and implements (see Exod 18:18–27; Num 12:3). Moses delegates his authority, and it becomes a good thing for God’s people. 

That’s the power of delegation. But let’s also see the power of specialization. Turn with me to Exodus 35. In this chapter, Moses calls the people to bring their treasure before the Lord. It says in verse 4, “Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece” (35:4–9).

So the Israelites bring all these freewill offerings to the Lord. And Moses is tasked to use these items for the construction of the tabernacle. That mirrors what we see in Acts 2 and Acts 4, when the early church brought some of their possessions to the apostles to be used for the Lord’s work.

But it’s not just treasure that the people bring. There are also talents. Because look at Exodus 36:2–3: “And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning.” 

 So the Israelites were giving generously to the work of the Lord. In fact, it says in the next few verses that Moses eventually had to tell them to stop bringing stuff, because they had too much (36:6–7). But there were also these two people, Bezalel and Oholiab, along with other craftsmen, who were specifically tasked and empowered by the Spirit to do the artistic work of the tabernacle. So both talent and treasure were mobilized for the work of the Lord.

Now we all know that the NT church is not the same as OT Israel. It doesn’t replace Israel. But there are parallels in the way that God works among his people. And just like in the OT, the Lord divvies up talents and treasures among his people in the church. And delegation and specialization are good within the church. It’s a way to leverage the collective strength of the church for more impact.

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In our passage today, we’re going to see both delegation and specialization in the church. And it’s good. It accelerates Jesus’s mission. In fact, write this down as a summary statement for the first part of Acts 6.

1) The power of delegation for advancing Christ’s mission (6:1–7)

We’re going to see a delegation of duties in Acts 6:1–7. And similar to what we see with Moses in Exodus 18, the impetus of the delegation was a crisis situation in the church. 

Here’s what I mean. Look at Acts 6:1. 

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number,  

Now that’s good. The church is growing. As we’ve seen already, the church is growing so fast that the Sadducees are starting to get nervous. But their threats and their incarcerations and even their beatings aren’t stemming the tide of the early church. At the end of Acts 5, Luke told us the apostles got flogged and threatened to stop preaching in that name. But Luke wants you to know at the very beginning of chapter 6 that this hasn’t hindered the growth of the church one jot. 

But there is a crisis brewing from inside of the church and not from the outside. Because as the disciples were increasing in number,

a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Okay, so with church growth comes church problems. We’ve already seen a threat to the church from the inside in Acts 5 with Ananias and Saphirra. Now we’ve got another internal problem with an internal conflict. It’s almost like Satan realizes that he can’t stop the church with brute force. So he changes tactics. Instead of outside pressure attacking the church, he tries to get something going on the inside. If he can get some internal fracturing in the church, then maybe he can slow down this movement. If he can get a conflict to germinate in the church, maybe he can implode the church from the inside, instead of trying to blow it up from the outside. Satan’s been utilizing that strategy against the church for two thousand years… sometimes very effectively.  

And you might remember, the church was displaying incredible generosity in these days (see Acts 2:45, 4:32–37). People were selling their excess possessions and giving the proceeds to the church. And one of the big themes in Acts up to this point is the togetherness that the church displayed. They were together, together, together. They were one-minded. Their hearts were knit together. 

Now all of a sudden, divisiveness is threatening the early church. There’s a rift that’s forming between two segments of the church’s population. And this is a serious threat to the church. This could jeopardize all of the good things that are happening. 

Now let me just point out a few cultural elements that will help us understand what’s going on here. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews, and the Hebrews were Hebrew-speaking—or more precisely Aramaic-speaking—Jews. D.L. Bock estimates in his commentary that roughly 10–20% of Jerusalem’s population was Greek-speaking Jews or Hellenists. And so even though they were all Jewish Christians at this time, the church had language differences, and ostensibly some cultural differences as well. Some of the Hellenistic Jews grew up outside of Jerusalem, so they had different customs, beliefs, practices, convictions, etc. And that created this conflict in the church. Do conflicts ever happen in churches? 

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I went to Cameroon on a mission trip several years ago. Well, in the Cameroonian church that I helped plant, the church was made up of both English-speaking Cameroonians (i.e., Anglophones) and French-speaking Cameroonians (i.e., Francophones). And the church did everything it could to accommodate both groups. Every service, every prayer meeting, and every gathering was bilingual with a translator. And it was tedious to accommodate both languages all the time. But kudos to that church, they did it. They wanted all of their people to be accommodated. 

Now I imagine something similar in Jerusalem in the early church. You had Greek-speaking Jews (Hellenists) mixed with Aramaic-speaking Jews. Surely everyone gravitated to their own group naturally. And this diversity spawned a conflict with the widows in the church because the Hellenists thought that their widows were being neglected in favor of the Hebrews. 

Now here’s another thing you need to know about first century Jewish culture—taking care of widows was a big deal! There were a number of Jews at this time that would move to Jerusalem from Egypt or Rome or Antioch or elsewhere, in order to die in their motherland. And since most men die earlier than women, widows were commonplace. Even in our own day, widows outnumber widowers more than three to one! According to the 2020 Census, there were more than 11 million widows in the U.S. That’s almost 9% of the adult female population. And there were roughly 3.5 million widowers, which is only 3% of the adult male population. 

So that’s in our day. Imagine how much more that would have been the case with more wars and early death rates for men in the first century. And in the OT and the NT, God puts a premium on taking care of widows. Passages on caring for widows are legion in the Bible. So this was a big deal! This was a big deal for the early church, and the oversight of these Greek-speaking widows was no small concern for the church leaders. 

Okay, so now with that cultural info in mind let me re-read verse 1. 

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Now the word “complaint” is a very unpleasant word in Greek (γογγυσμός [gongysmos]). It’s an onomatopoeia. It sounds unpleasant. The LXX uses this word in the OT for “murmuring” or “grumbling.” That’s what the Israelites did in the wilderness when they grumbled against God and against Moses (e.g., Exod 16:7–12; Num 17:5, 10). 

Now the complaints of these Hellenists are legitimate. There was some discrimination in the early church. There was some (inadvertent?) “racial-profiling.” But these Greek-speaking Jews went about it the wrong way. They should have taken up the matter with the church leaders, instead of fracturing the church with their “grumbling.” Because this is exactly the kind of thing that can divide churches. Satan thrives on this kind of stuff. 

But watch this. Notice how the apostles respond. 

 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 

 Isn’t that great? Do you see the wisdom in their response? They didn’t respond with defensiveness or agitation. “How dare you complain about the church!” They didn’t sweep it under the rug, either. “Ladies, ladies! This problem will take care of itself. Just let it go.” Instead, they responded with swift, wise, compassionate action. “We’ve got a problem. Okay, let’s deal with it. Let’s find a solution. Let’s get this problem resolved.” That’s good leadership. 

 Now let’s look at their solution. There are a few important things to note here. 1) They delegated. Part of good leadership is delegation. They don’t try to do everything themselves. They don’t micromanage. They don’t try to be heroes in every situation. They don’t try to be everyone’s “messiah” and meet every need themselves. Instead they empower other people to serve, and the church benefits from this.

What’s amazing here is that this conflict actually produces something great. This conflict prompts a delegation of duties, so that even more people can have more roles ministering in the church. That’s fantastic! When a church has 10% of its people doing 90% of the work, that’s not good. When a church has 10% of its people doing 90% of the work, who suffers? The church does. 

Notice a second thing from these verses: 2) The apostles prioritize the preaching of God’s Word. Here’s the thing. The church needs to have people that dedicate serious time and energy to feeding God’s people from God’s Word. When pastors and elders get so bogged down with administrative responsibilities or even good things like benevolence, the church suffers. 

Here’s another way to look at it. When God’s Word is neglected, God isn’t happy! That’s not what God wants. God wants the best of both worlds. He wants spiritual leaders in the church feeding God’s people from God’s Word. And he wants God’s people stepping up and using their gifts to mutually bless one another. A church doesn’t have to choose one or the other. They can and should have both. This is such a wonderful, practical example for us from the Scriptures.

Notice what else the apostles say in verse 4. 

4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 

Not just the ministry of the word, but also “prayer.” Prayer is one of those things that we can all do as believers. But church leaders need to major in this. It needs to be our bread-and-butter. You can delegate benevolence. You can delegate finances and facilities. You can delegate small group leadership. You can delegate ushering and connections and other leadership functions. But God help the pastor or elder who thinks that prayer is something that they can delegate out to other people. 

When it comes to prayer, elders, we can’t phone that in. We’re not the only ones that pray; but we need to pray! We can’t shirk that or excuse it away because we are too “busy” with other things. The apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of God’s Word. And we must do that too, or the church will suffer. 

 Now we’re not apostles here at VBVF. But I hope you realize that much of what is said here applies to us as elders. And as far as the ministry of the Word goes, I realize that more than any other elder here at church, the burden of ministering the Word of God to God’s people falls on me. And I’m okay with that. I’ve given my life to the teaching of God’s Word and the preaching of the gospel.

 The Bible says, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim 5:17). Paul told the young pastor, Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead…. preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:1–2). 

I read those passages and my skin starts to tingle. My heart starts to race. That’s on me. That monkey is on my back. That’s God’s expectation of me. God will hold me responsible someday for my faithfulness as a minister of his Word, as a preacher of the gospel. 

And I don’t tell you that, so that you would feel sorry for me. Don’t feel sorry for me. This is my lot in life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I tell you this so that you will pray for me. I tell you this so that you will value and prioritize the preaching of the Word. It’s not the exclusive responsibility of the preaching pastor; but it’s a primary responsibility. 

And here’s what I would encourage you to do as members of our church. Let’s just call this a quid pro quo. Do this on behalf of me and the other elders here at VBVF. Use your gift to serve the church. Pull your own weight! We’ll serve by leading and teaching in the church. You serve Christ in the church too. Edify others within the church with some tangible ways of “working for Christ.” 

Listen, hear me on this. It’s unbiblical and it’s ungodly for pastors, staff, elders, deacons, and a few others to do all of the work for Christ in the local church. Too many churches in our day operate that way. That’s not the way it should be. We all have gifts to be utilized in the church body. So, serve in the church. Work for Christ in the local church!

 I heard someone describe a football game this way. In football, there are 22 people on the field who desperately need rest, and there are 60,000 people in the stands who desperately need exercise. And for football that’s okay. The players get paid millions of dollars to exhaust themselves on the field. But the church isn’t meant to function that way. Some churches have 10% of the people doing all the work and desperately needing rest, while 90% of the people, who desperately need to work, are watching from the sidelines. Church wasn’t designed that way. And that does not please God. 

 I couldn’t say it better than the Apostle Peter, who says in 1 Peter 4:8–10, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling [γογγυσμός]. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Now back to the passage at hand. Notice how the disciples respond to the decision of the apostles to delegate responsibilities. Look at verse 5.

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, 

These disciples respect the decision of their leaders. They see the wisdom of this solution. 

Here’s the thing, church… I’ve said this before, but let me reiterate—conflict can be a good thing for a church. Conflict is inevitable in all human relationships. We’re all flawed, and we live in a fallen world. But conflict doesn’t have to bring about negative results. 

Too often people use conflict in the church as an excuse to bail instead of working through the conflict, trusting leaders, and getting to a place of resolution. But look what happens here. The church works through conflict and gets to a better place on the other side of the conflict. That’s what should happen in our churches today! 

Look again at verse 5.

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose [notice the names of these individuals… two of them will be important later in Acts] Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 

You might not know this, unless you have a study Bible or something like that, but the seven men who are chosen here all have Greek names. That’s not an accident. Conceivably they are all Hellenists. And even one of them, Nicolaus, is a Gentile-convert. So they appoint minorities, Hellenists, the offended party in the conflict, to oversee this ministry of benevolence to widows. 

Remember they had all kinds of people selling their possessions and giving the proceeds to the church. So this was no small undertaking. There was a lot of money that these men were responsible for. And so this gesture by the Aramaic-speaking Jews, including the apostles, was quite magnanimous. 

And watch this. Notice how God blesses their magnanimity in verse 7.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, 

That makes sense, right? The apostles were able to focus on the Word, and so of course it increased. It allowed them to be specialists in this task, while others in the church picked up their other responsibilities.

and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, 

More disciples in Jerusalem! The church gets persecuted, and the result is more disciples. The church gets purified with Ananias and Sapphira, and the result is more disciples. The church works through this conflict, and the result is more disciples. 

Everything Satan tries to throw at this church just backfires. And the church keeps growing. And notice this too… this is one of my favorite statements in the whole book of Acts. This is so good. Look at the end of verse 7.

and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. 

The priests! Not the high priests, Annas and Caiaphas. Those guys aren’t interested in faith in Christ. But there were other priests in Jerusalem at this time. Josephus estimates something like 20,000 priests (that’s probably an exaggeration). And at first, they were adamantly opposed to Christ. They were the enemies of Christ, at one time. But now, the very enemies of the church get saved. Probably some of those same people who conspired to put Jesus to death just a few months before this, get saved and became part of the church. God does that kind of thing all the time.

I remember reading a biography of C.S. Lewis several years ago. And I remember marveling at the fact that God took this Oxford Don, this intellectual giant who was an avowed Atheist, and turned him into one of the greatest apologists for Christianity in the history of the world. Who does that kind of stuff? God does that! And it’s a marvel to behold. Some of the very people, who were responsible for crucifying Christ, are now coming into the church and getting saved. What an awesome God we serve! 

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Now does that mean that all enemies of Christ turn around and follow him? Does that mean that all persecutors of the church will stop persecuting and become promoters of the church? No. We’ve seen persecution of God’s faithful already in the book of Acts. And it’s going to get worse. 

Write this down as a second point in our message today. 

2) The reality of opposition when advancing Christ’s mission (6:8–15) 

Watch what happens with this man, Stephen, whom Luke says was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (6:5). Luke tells us in verse 8,  

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 

So Stephen was a man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” And he’s described here also as “full of grace and power.” He was obviously a caring and compassionate person because he was chosen by the people to be one of the seven leaders distributing benevolence among the Hellenists. But he’s also a powerful leader. He’s also a powerful preacher and apologist for Christ, as we’ll see later. So this guy, Stephen, was like the Michael Jordan of disciples in the early church. He was a great man of God. 

And even though he was assigned the role of serving tables, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t preach or get after it like some of the apostles did. He did that too! Because look at verse 9. 

9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 

So Stephen, this Hellenistic Jew, was out there preaching and doing wonderful things. And the other Hellenistic Jews from the synagogues were getting irritated with him. The term “Freedmen” is a reference to the Jewish slaves (or sons of slaves) that were freed, probably from Rome, and returned to Jerusalem. They, like Stephen, were predominantly Greek-speaking. So it makes sense that Stephen went to a synagogue where Greek was the primary language, just like the apostles went to the temple were Hebrew and Aramaic predominated.

Now let me just show you on the map where these guys come from. 

You can see 1) Jerusalem in the far bottom right corner of the map. 2) Rome is in the top left corner of the map. That’s where the Freedmen come from. And 3) Cyrene and 4) Alexandria (Egypt) are at the bottom middle of that map. These are north African locations, where many Jews lived, and where the gospel spread quickly in the early church. You can see at the top of the map 5) Asia, which is not modern day Asia, but Roman Asia. And east of there is 6) Cilicia which is where Paul was from. The city of Tarsus is in Cilicia. There’s a possibility that Paul was one of the men who argued with Stephen from the synagogue. 

And so all these Hellenistic Jews had immigrated to their homeland in Jerusalem, and started their own Greek-speaking synagogue. And right now they are disputing their fellow Greek-speaking Jew, Stephen, who has converted to Christianity. 

And look what happens. Look at verse 10. 

10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which [Stephen] was speaking. 

Stephen was blowing them out of the water with his Spirit-infused power and wisdom. He went all “Michael Jordan” on them in the Spirit, and they couldn’t defeat him. In fact the next chapter, Acts 7, is nothing but Stephen dressing down the Jewish leaders with his wisdom and spiritual insight. He preaches his heart out and blows them away with his understanding of God’s Word and insights into human behavior. And do you know what they do to him? We’ll have to wait till next week to find out. 

But you can guess what happens by what takes place here in Acts 6. Since these Hellenistic Jews are getting destroyed by Stephen, they try another tactic. What do men do when they can’t fight fair? They cheat. They don’t repent of their actions and come to Christ, because that would involve humility and repentance. Instead they slander him. They spread gossip and rumors about Stephen.

Look at verse 11. 

11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 

So now they’re in front of the Jewish Sanhedrin, not just the Greek-speaking Jews. These are the same Jewish leaders who condemned Christ. They just recently flogged Peter and the other apostles. 

And look at verse 13.

13 and they [the Greek-speaking Jews] set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

 Does any of this sound familiar to you? Do you remember something like this elsewhere? Do you remember what they did to Jesus when he was prosecuted by the Sanhedrin? Matthew 26:59–61 says, “Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”

 Jesus told his disciples, “you will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matt 10:22). Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you… all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me” (John 15:20–21). 

Last week we saw the disciples rejoice because they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. Now we see this godly saint, Stephen, suffering the exact same injustice that Jesus suffered as false witnesses are stacked against him. And indeed Christ’s words are proven true, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” “If they hated me, they’re going to hate you too.” 

Now let me just clarify this accusation against Stephen (which was the same against Jesus). Jesus never said he would destroy the temple. At one point he prophesied its destruction (Matt 24:2), which came true in AD 70. At another point he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). But John makes clear that Jesus was speaking metaphorically about his own body, not the Jewish temple (John 2:21).  

Jesus did initiate an end to temple sacrifices. That’s what he taught. And that’s what Stephen believed and was teaching as well. Why? Why would temple sacrifices end? Because Jesus became the atoning sacrifice! The blood of bulls and goats can’t permanently take away sin. But Jesus’s blood does.

So there is some truth in these accusations against Stephen. But what makes them false witnesses is that they are speaking half-truths. The best lies are half-truths. The best liars mix truth and falsehood to deceive. That’s as old as the Garden of Eden and Satan’s lies there. But in God’s eyes, half-truths are still lies. They are still false witnesses. That’s why, like I said two weeks ago, it’s so important for us to root out every hint of untruthfulness in our lives… any semblance of Ananias and Saphirra … any semblance of these false witnesses who say, “O yeah, he said Jesus of Nazareth will destroy our temple and take away all our precious customs.” That’s a half-truth. That’s a false witness. God abominates that stuff.

So how does Stephen respond to this injustice? Look at verse 15.

 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

In other words, there was godliness in him. There was a reflection of the divine in his countenance. This was a godly man, falsely accused, and the men in the council saw this. 

Now just a point of clarification. Please get out of your head any picture of some fat cherub, like Cupid, who goes around shooting lovers with his bow and arrows. That’s a fabrication from the Renaissance. That’s not how the Bible portrays angels. The Bible isn’t saying that Stephen had a child-like, cherubic countenance. 

Angels in the Bible were God’s messengers, and they reflected God’s glory. They are usually accompanied by a bright, gleaming, otherworldly luminosity. And that’s why people are scared to death when they show up. It’s because they reflect God’s glory. And that’s what Stephen does here. Just like Moses in the wilderness when he met with God and reflected God’s glory, and he had a put a cloth over his face because he was glowing. In that same way, Stephen was luminous, like an angel. 

I think this is a statement of God’s favor on Stephen. God loves this man. And God’s glory was manifestly revealed in his countenance. But as we’ll see next week, that means little or nothing to these religious leaders.  

What happens with Stephen? Does he escape death and martyrdom like the apostles have escaped thus far? We’ll see next week. 

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But before we close out this passage, let’s process this text applicationally. The title of today’s message is “Working Together for Christ.” And we see the power of delegation and specialization in the church. God leverages the gifts and the abilities of his saints to maximize Christ’s mission in the church. 

So what are some characteristics of a faithful Christian worker? What do we see in Stephen and these other disciples who answered the call for volunteerism? There are many things that I could list for you, but let me give you five. 

Here are some descriptions of someone who is faithfully working for Christ. Write these down.

Five characteristics of someone faithfully working for Christ:

What do we see in Stephen and these other disciples? First of all, they were, 

1) Servant-hearted – Willing to meet a need 

You can’t anticipate every need in the church. For the record, I see these seven men as precursors to the office of deacon. They helped free up the apostles to preach and teach, just like deacons free up elders in our church to teach and to lead. But it would be a mistake to say, “O this passage is only about deacons.” There are broader implications for us than just that. These men saw a need, and they filled it. The church needed help, and they stepped up. When your number is called, are you willing to step and meet a need? Like minutemen in the American revolution, they were called upon in a moment of crisis and they answered that call.

Secondly, they were, 

2) Spirit-filled – Demonstrating spiritual fruit 

Notice the apostles said, “Pick out from among you… men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (6:3). Stephen was a man who was “full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (6:5). They were Spirit-filled. You might say, “Pastor Tony, I’m a Christian. Don’t all Christians have the Holy Spirit.” Yes, but this is different. These men were so controlled by the Holy Spirit and his presence was so full in their lives that the fruit of the Spirit was oozing out of them. People could sense it. Can that be said of you? Is the Spirit’s presence in your life easily discernable by others? Does the fruit of the Spirit ooze out of you in faithful service to Christ? 

Thirdly, they were, 

3) Reputable – Exhibiting trustworthiness and growing character

These men were “of good repute” (6:3). They were capable and they were reputable. They had wisdom to get the job done. They were trustworthy men, and they had a proven track-record. 

Some responsibilities require greater capability and reputability. Not just any Christian can be appointed as elder or pastor or deacon. There has to be capability and reputability (see 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5 for more on that). So if you’re new to working for Christ, start small. Serve in a ministry where the need is great. Prove yourself. Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10a).

Fourthly, they were, 

4) Tough-minded – Displaying commitment and stick-to-itiveness 

You know the truth is there’s a little bit of trial and error whenever we serve the Lord. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re good at or what’s the best way for you to serve Christ until you jump in and try to figure it out. But most people quit serving the church, not because they’re not good at something, but because they lack perseverance through challenges. 

We need more tough-mindedness in the church. We need people who can stand up to opposition like Stephen. And that tough-mindedness and stick-to-itiveness is going to look different in the twenty-first century than it did in Stephen’s day. Stephen had to press on through persecution and arrest. We probably won’t face that in our attempts to serve Christ. 

What we face in the American church is distractions. We deal with busyness that crowds out our working for Christ. What we face in the American church is lack of commitment as people float endlessly from one church to another without ever plugging in and serving. What we face in America is insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. “I don’t know what I’m good at. I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what my spiritual gifts are.” Well, start somewhere. 

What we face in America too is people who don’t work for Christ in the church because they’ve got “church hurt” from their previous church experiences. And I get that. We’re all dealing with church hurt. And maybe that’s a reason to not commit to church or work for Christ in the church for a few months. Maybe six months. Maybe a year. But two years? Three years? Ten years? Now you’re not dealing with legitimate church hurt that’s preventing you from serving. You’re dealing with unfaithfulness to Christ and his mission.  

And finally they were, 

5) Collaborative – Working in togetherness as part of a team 

Verse 7 is key. The apostles delegate responsibilities and look what happens.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

The church explodes with new growth. The Word of God increases. The number of disciples increases. And even staunch opponents of Jesus Christ and his church, the priests… some of those priests get saved! Christ’s mission gets advanced all because some faithful servants, these seven men, step to the plate and meet a need in the church.

One of the things that you should note in the book of Acts is that things are typically done as a team. Peter was usually with John or the other apostles. Peter’s going to disappear in a few chapters, because this book isn’t ultimately about him or Paul or any of the apostles. This book is about Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Christ’s church. And the church is a collaborative institution. God’s people work together as a team. 

And with wisdom and with humility, the apostles said in Acts 6, “We can’t do this anymore. We need help.” And they mobilized men to help them. Church is not a place to build your platform, to draw attention to yourself, or to arrogate powers to yourself. We function as a team. We function as a body. We work in unison and in collaboration for God’s purposes.     

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Let’s review. What does a faithful servant of Christ Jesus look like? He or she is servant-minded, Spirit-filled, reputable, toughminded, and collaborative. Let’s pursue these things together church. 

Let me ask this question as we close: How can you be about the work of advancing Christ’s mission? How can you serve Christ? You might say, “I can’t preach, Pastor Tony. I don’t have that gift.” That’s okay. Can you serve in another way? Can you teach kids in children’s ministry? Can you serve as a deacon? Can you show hospitality both inside the church and inside your home? Can you actively serve in a ministry of mercy? Can you evangelize?

God is not calling anyone to do everything in the church. But God is calling everyone in the church to do something. Every member of Christ’s church should be shouldering kingdom responsibilities in his church. What can you do? What are you doing? Let’s work together for Christ.