Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970921.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part XI: Finding God's Personal Slot In Church Ministry For Efficient Christian Service
(Acts 6:1-7)
  1. Introduction
    1. The Church of Jesus Christ is called to make disciples of all men in Matthew 28:19-20.
    2. However, what activity that involves by way of actual service and responsibility when it applies to a given individual believer needs to be clarified. Christian women who have just given birth to newborns obviously cannot hit the stre ets as evangelists, and women cannot serve as pastors according to Scripture. By the same token, as one person cannot be in every place at once, the pastor cannot teach all the Sunday School classes in the Church. That means a clarification needs to be ma de as to the job description of each person.
    3. Acts 6:1-7 presents a broad principle that clarifies what believers should and should not be expected to do in the grand scheme of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20.
  2. Finding God's Personal Slot In Church Ministry For Efficient Christian Service, Acts 6:1-7.
    1. When the Early Church began, the Apostles directly oversaw all of its basic administrative functions:
      1. The Apostles did the teaching and preaching of the Word, Acts 2:14, 40-42a.
      2. They led in corporate worship times, Acts 4:23-24 with 1:14-15.
      3. They also governed the distribution of gifts that flowed in from those who sold lands for cash, 4:34-35.
    2. However, with the huge increase of foreign, Hellenistic Jews that joined the native Palestinian Jews due to evangelistic explosiveness (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 5:12-16), the age-old tension between the Palestinian Jews and the Hellenistic part y erupted into a dispute as the less-familiar, Hellenistic Jewish widows were being overlooked in the distribution of cash gifts from the Apostles, Acts 6:1.
    3. However, the Apostles could not "cover all the bases" well by continuing their current ministry and seeing to it that all the needy scores of widows could be helped, so they called a meeting, Acts 6:2.
    4. In the meeting, the Apostles revealed the priority God had supplied to them to minister the Word of God above seeing that even the daily rations of the widows were met, Acts 6:2.
    5. In view of this, they suggested that a division of labor be set up, that deacons be selected by the congregation at large to distribute the cash inflows where they would give themselves to the ministry of studying, preaching and teachi ng the Word, and to prayer, Acts 6:3-4.
    6. The idea struck a positive chord with the group, and they set forth seven who met the qualifications established by the apostles of (1) good reputations, (2) spiritual men and (3) men of wisdom, 6:3, 5-6a.
    7. The Apostles accordingly laid hands on these men, appointing them to oversight while they continued to give themselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer, Acts 6:6 with 6:4.
    8. As a result, the Word of God increased, the widows were fed with the reputation and relations in the Church kept intact, and numerous people kept coming to faith in Christ, Acts 6:7.
Lesson: When it comes to the individual believer fitting into God's grand plan for the universal Church to disciple the nations, the following principles guide his finding his rightful slot: (1) He must recognize that every believer, whether himsel f or even an Apostle, cannot do ALL of the works needing to be done in the Great Commission, Acts 6:1-2, and opt for that calling that God has indicated is his by relying on divine precedence, Acts 6:2 with 2:40-42a et al. (2) In all choices of ministry he makes, he must seek that job that best helps to preserve the Bible study, teaching, preaching and prayer activities of local church leaders over entangling these men in other worthy, but spiritually distracting activities, Acts 6:2-4. (3) He must communicate to leaders bona fide unmet needs that exist within the body so that they can be effectively addressed, Acts 6:1. (4) He must seek to see qualified people get into positions of oversight in the body, Acts 6:3, 5. (5) He must seek to see ministries established under the approval and recommendation of the church leaders, Acts 6:6. (6) He must seek to view the Spirit's moving in the whole local body to view just WHO God wants to be in oversight, Acts 6:2a, 3a, 5-6a. (7) He must see that men are given final oversight for ministries addressing the needs of women, 6:1, 3, 5-6; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; 5:11-15.