Saturday, June 30th
Read: Acts 6
With growth come growing pains. Because the Church was growing so quickly, members often had to figure things out along the way, without much time to process decisions and often with drama (the bad kind) as a result. Such a situation could have led to a Church split, fragmenting not only people and their relationships but the message of Christ into conflicting groups.
In its early days, the Church would have suffered if small problems were permitted to grow into a larger problems; the apostles, fortunately, did not turn ignore their problems nor did they decide to throw their authority around. They had their priorities straight as expressed when they said: “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to serve food” (v.2). They were also aware that mercy ministries such as giving out food to widows were necessary acts of faith. So, the program of feeding the needy wasn’t scrapped.
Here’s what the apostles did: they picked seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to manage this ministry. Strange qualifications for being given the job of administering food, you think? Not really. This kind of task isn’t a light responsibility and later in the chapter we see that Stephen’s wisdom gets him in some serious trouble. It also shows us that everyone in the church is not called to do everything. The body of Christ functions as a body, with each parts working in its area for the sake of the whole.
Handing out food is more than a handshake and a smile; it is a ministry, as are all mercy ministries like shelters, thrift stores, job hunting clubs, ESL classes, etc. However, we often think that anybody can do the job of handing out food. The apostles were not about this; they made sure that those who are interacting on the front lines of a ministry were Spirit-filled so that they are actually ministering in Jesus’ name. Now I’m not saying that baby Christians cannot be brought along with someone who is disciplining them in a ministry but it is dangerous to give someone responsibility over tasks if they are not full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom.
While Jesus was on earth, he was a revolutionary. He turned things upside down and inside out. We might expect that he would have done so through his great powers and wisdom, however, the most revolutionary things he did came out of his servant attitude. Jesus ministered in power as he humbled himself to the position of a servant. He went as far as to suffer on the cross for our sake. Perhaps we can learn a few lessons from him. Striving for the prominent or cool positions in the church may get us a great line on our resume, but won’t get us right standing in the Kingdom of God.
Process:
– Search your heart today. Is there any offensive way in you, even in your ministry or church? What can you do to fix it?
– Have you been ‘working’ or ‘serving’ for the wrong reasons?
– Ask the Lord to revolutionize your will and heart so that you can minister in power as Stephen and Jesus did—as humble servants.
Youth Department