The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 8th August 2010 by Georges Kisombola
"God's way of Growing a Ministry"
Acts 6:1-7
Theme: This passage teaches us how God uses ministry needs to cause His church to grow.
We have been talking a lot over the past few months about the changes that are occurring in our church family. It has all been exciting to see! More of you are stepping into areas of significant ministry than we have seen in a long time. And our leadership team is actively evaluating how it can be structured to best facilitate our growth in "every-believer ministry."
I believe some very exciting days of ministry are ahead for us - if we act wisely and biblically with respect to the changes that are going on in our church. Personally, I have mixed feelings about change. I tend to adapt comfortably to things as they are; but I also realize that, if we are all going to grow in our ministry to the people around us, change is an absolute necessity. And so, I have felt led to a passage from the Book of Acts about how God works through change.
To whet your appetite for this passage, let me begin by reading the encouraging words in its closing verse. It's Acts 6:7; and it describes the end result of a process of change through which God brought His early Jerusalem church. The church was faced with a crisis; and this passage tells us that, after dealing with this crisis in a particular way, "Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." Whenever we read of how the church grew in the Book of Acts, I think it is worth our while to find out why. God is giving us hints of how He works to grow His church. So, in looking at this passage together, I would like us to simply walk through this passage and see - step-by-step - what happened. And then, at the end, I would like us to draw up a few principles from this passage that we can apply to our church. With God's blessing, He will use these principles to help us grow in His service together. The first thing we find in Acts 6:1 - a very important thing in fact - was that . . .
1. A NEW MINISTRY NEED AROSE (v. 1).
It arose in the form of a complaint. The passage begins by saying, "Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint . . ." God did the great thing He did in the early church by allowing a need to arise. God used a complaint about a need to cause His church to grow.
Now what was the complaint? You notice that it speaks of "those days." The days Luke speaks of were dramatic days for the church because it was a time of rapid growth - and, along with it, change. The church was overwhelmed by new believers - from 120 to multiple thousands in just a short amount of time. Only the Holy Spirit can do that! But it caused changes; and the changes made problems. There was a "complaint". Luke writes, "Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution."
At first, the people who had attached themselves to the growing body of believers were Jews who where accustomed to worshiping in the Temple in their native language (Aramaic). They naturally brought their Hebrew social and cultural customs with them into this new community of followers of Jesus Christ. But the Good News was spreading; and as a result, Jews who had lived in some of the Greek-speaking lands around the Mediterranean Sea also began to join this rapidly growing body of believers. And they brought with them their Greek - that is, Hellenistic - social and cultural customs.
Luke tells us earlier in the book that the multitudes of believers who gathered together no longer considered what they possessed to be their own; but if anyone among them lacked anything or had needs, everyone sold lands or houses and presented the proceeds to the apostles to be distributed to meet those needs (4:32-35). And in caring for the widows among them, it may be that the Jewish church had been concentrating so much on meeting the needs of the Jewish widows that they unintentionally neglected the Hellenistic widows. And as the church grew, the problem became more pronounced. Something in the ministry of the church was not right. Change had occurred; and the change cause problems.
I have come to learn something about a church whenever the Holy Spirit is active in it: If you don't like change, it is not the place to be! Certain things, of course, never change. God's eternal character never changes. His word never changes. His way of saving people - through faith in His Son Jesus Christ - never changes. But almost everything else is going to be changing. That is because the church exists in the context of an ever-changing culture; and it is filled with redeemed people who themselves need to be changed! And even growth in number creates new changes. We need to be fixed on those things that never change in Christ's kingdom; but flexible on the things that must or will change as a result of the expanse of that kingdom. And so, next, we find that as a result of these changing circumstances . . .
2. MINISTRY PRIORITIES WERE ESTABLISHED (v. 2-4).
Embracing Spirit-led change forces a church to re-evaluate what it is doing. It forces its leaders to define what is really important. And so, as Luke tells us, the apostles took action; "Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, 'It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables." The phrase "it is not desirable" wasn't meant to suggest that the apostles thought that it was somehow beneath them to do the physical work of feeding the widows. The phrase actually means, as it is translated in the English Standard Version, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables"; or as the King James Version has it, "It is not reason . . ." It wasn't that they weren't willing to serve tables, if that were the right thing to do. The problem was with what they would have to give up in order to do it - that is, the time required to teach and preach from the word of God.
By saying this, the apostles did not mean that the widows should be neglected either! Instead, it meant that others needed to step in and cooperate with the all-important ministry of the word by taking care of the new situation brought about BY the preaching of the word!
And so, they said, "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
I think it's fascinating that the apostles didn't just say, "Find somebody! After all, anybody can serve tables!" Instead, they treated the task as what it truly was - a ministry unto the Lord; and they specified that whoever fulfilled this ministry needed to be spiritually qualified. They needed to be "from among" the believers - that is, they needed to be Christians themselves. But they also needed to be recognized in a positive way among both those who are inside and those who are outside the community of faith; that is, they needed to have a "good reputation." They also needed to be "full of the Holy Spirit"; that is, controlled and empowered by Him in a prevailing way. And they needed to be characterized by "wisdom"; every ministry in the church - even the serving of tables - needs to be led by those who operate with wisdom.
3. NEW MINISTERS WERE APPOINTED (vv. 5-6).
And so, they appointed qualified ministers for the task. A couple of them have gone down in Scriptural history as truly outstanding men. Luke says, "And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit . . ." Stephen, as we are told in verse 8, was "full of faith and power", and "did great wonders and signs among the people." We are told that, when some arose to oppose the gospel message and disputed with Stephen, "...they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke" (v. 10). His bold stand for Christ is told to us in chapter 7. He gave his life for the Savior, and has gone down in history as the church's first martyr.
The apostles prayed for all the seven appointed and then they laid hands on them. And that leads us to the result of it all; that . . .
4. THE MINISTRY PROSPERS (v. 7).
Luke tells us, "Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." God allowed a need in His church to occur; and He used that need to cause the church to grow.
Now, in closing, let's consider a few of the principles that this story can teach us.
First, we saw that a new ministry need in the church arose as a result of changing circumstances. And this teaches us a very important principle about our church's ministry: Our ministry should continually be based on meeting people's needs in Christ under the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Second, we saw that, when this need arose, ministry priorities were established. The leaders kept faithful to the things that they were called to do, and did so by carefully delegating ministry over to the people of God. And this teaches us another important principle about our church's ministry: Our church's ministry should be seen as the privilege and responsibility of every believer in the church.
Third, we saw that, to meet the needs of a new ministry, qualified ministers were appointed. They were carefully selected for their spiritual qualifications - even though it was the ministry serving of food. And this teaches us yet another important principle in our church's ministry: The ministries in our church need to be served by spiritual believers.
No one can serve in the church of Jesus Christ in any effective or fruitful way without being a man or woman who is spiritually dependent upon Christ.
And finally, we saw that the gospel spread as a result of the church's needs-meeting ministry. The church grew, and many came to believe in Christ. And this teaches us a final principle for our church's ministry: All our church's ministries must have a "Great Commission" focus. They must be aimed toward spreading the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Things are changing for us as a church. And God is at work in those changes. Let's embrace those changes. Let's encourage one another to step out and embrace significant roles of ministry as the Holy Spirit leads us. Let's keep praying for our leaders, as they seek to delegate more of the ministry over to the people of God and train them for service. Let's be sensitive to the ways that God allows needs to challenge us and change us and direct us.
And as a result, may the word of God spread more through us; and may Jesus' disciples multiply in number; and may many more become obedient to the faith.
