Seven Rhythms: Serving (Acts 6:1-7)
When we serve or consider serving in ministry, we can be tempted to believe that certain tasks are below us. We can feel that some things need to be handled by others with less skill, knowledge, or experience than us. If we are asked to take on an undesirable responsibility, we can feel undervalued and underappreciated. I remember battling these feelings a lot in my mid-twenties as a junior high pastor. I worked as a junior high pastor at a church in northern California right after grad school. My first plan after grad school was to plant a church in Southern California. Unfortunately, those plans fell through a few months before graduation. My wife was pregnant with our first child, and I felt the pressure of finding a new job after our previous plan fell through. After several months of job hunting, we found a church in northern California that we felt was a good fit. I started working there when I was twenty-five.
God truly blessed the youth ministry we were able to be a part of at this church. I have a lot of fond memories of experiencing the Lord’s favor during that season. Despite the Lord's favor, I often struggled with arrogant thoughts. I recall one such occasion when I was sitting in my office researching blacklights for several hours, and I got frustrated with what I felt was a waste of my time. I had a Master's degree and a Bachelor’s degree from two highly respected religious and academic institutions, and I was researching the lumens, throws, and DMX capabilities of blacklights. What a waste of my time!
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit didn’t let me dwell in that prideful frame of thought for long. God opened my eyes to the reality that existed beyond these blacklights. I felt like God reminded me of the fun and welcoming environment I experienced at church in junior high. God showed me how He used fun activities to make me feel loved at church. My youth pastor taught me the Scriptures and made me feel like I belonged by playing crazy games. Fun and faithfulness are not enemies in ministry but friends. I started to envision all the students in my city who were spiritual orphans and desperately needed to hear about their heavenly Father who loved them. These students wouldn’t come to a Sunday service, but if their friend invited them to a blacklight dodgeball war at church, then they would come. And if they came, I would have the opportunity to share God’s overwhelming love for them. I returned to my computer screen, called up a DJ friend of mine to get his recommendation, and purchased the best blacklights I could find.
Sometimes, we hesitate to serve because we miss seeing the impact and spiritual transformation that can come from it. Holding babies and parking cars may feel insignificant, but these things help foster an environment for life change. When you hold a baby for a young family for an hour and a half during our services, you foster an uninterrupted spiritual conversation between those parents and God. In our services, we are focused on hosting a personal and passionate conversation between you and God. I want to show you today from Acts chapter six that serving in a seemingly small way fosters spiritual transformation.
Big Idea: See the transformation beyond serving tables. In its early years, the church had to navigate several hurdles. It faced persecution, corruption, and mismanagement. The church’s rapid growth caused it to miss serving those in need. Its leaders needed help managing the growing needs of this community. In studying this passage together, I believe we will see how “small” tasks are important to the health and growth of a church.
Acts 6:1-2, “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. 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.”
At first glance, the Apostles, the twelve closest followers of Jesus Christ, appear to dismiss the complaint about specific unmet needs in the church. Before we dive deeper into their reaction, let’s first look at the need that came up. The practice of daily food distribution was most likely a custom the early church adopted from Judaism. The Hellenistic widows were being underserved in this distribution. Hebrews and Hellenists were both Jewish. These two descriptions are more markers of language and location. The primary languages of the Hebrews were Aramaic and Hebrew, while the Hellenists mostly spoke Greek. These groups were accustomed to worship services in their languages. The Hebrews lived in Jerusalem, whereas the Hellenists mostly lived outside of Jerusalem. Hellenists, who lived outside of Jerusalem, would often move to Jerusalem in their later years in hopes of dying in the Holy City. When a husband died before his wife, in this scenario, she was left vulnerable, with much of her family and friends still living outside of Jerusalem. Hellenistic widows would, on average, be more economically vulnerable than Hebrew widows. Due to the potential language barrier and greater need, it is no surprise that some widows were being overlooked. The text does not say this oversight occurred because of racial malice but mismanagement.
The disciples’ reaction to this management problem gives off the appearance of being dismissive and lacking empathy for those in need. They kind of sound like me in my office complaining about researching blacklights. They mentioned the importance of preaching the Word and how they can’t give up doing that to “serve tables.” It appears they are saying that being a “waiter” is below them. This is not the best way to understand the Apostles’ comments here. Yes, they prioritize their work, but they are not diminishing serving those in need. The next five verses show how important they believed this work was to the health and growth of the church. In fact, at the end of our passage, we will see how God blessed the church greatly after they addressed this need.
Acts 6:3-7, “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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose 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.”
Several clues in these verses show how important the ministry of serving widows was to the Apostles. First, the qualifications they set for those who would meet this need were high. They needed to have a good reputation in the community, show sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and have practical insight on how to address the present need best. If the Apostles felt this was a menial and unimportant task, they would have lowered the bar considerably. Second, the commissioning of these individuals was done with great spiritual significance. The Apostles prayed over them and “laid their hands on them.” The laying on of hands was a significant religious gesture. This commissioning event is very similar to the account of Moses transitioning his authority to Joshua as the new leader of the people of Israel in Numbers 27. In Deuteronomy and Numbers, Joshua is described as a man full of wisdom and the Spirit. God instructed Moses to lay hands on Joshua as a sign of his authority and power transferring to him. If the Apostles felt like serving widows had no real consequence, they wouldn’t have commissioned these men in such a spiritually significant way.
The Apostles believed serving the poor was an important work to be done. In the early days of this new Christian movement, the Apostles were in charge of meeting the needs of the poor in the church. Acts 4:34-35, “34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” The Apostles received the financial gifts given by its earliest members and distributed the funds to those in need. Several years after this account, we see the Apostles still very much concerned about the needs of the poor being met. Paul’s retelling of his encounter with the Apostles in Jerusalem is evidence of this apostolic concern.
Galatians 2:7-10, “7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
The care and concern for the poor had not wavered for the Apostles. In Acts 6, we are not witnessing the Apostles lose their heart for the poor, but rather them prioritizing and delegating the duties of this growing movement. The “Twelve” realized they could not do two important things simultaneously. If they attempted to both teach the word and serve the needs of this rapidly expanding community themselves, they would inevitably fail at both. They needed help to ensure the overall health of the church.
Luke, the author of the book of Acts, also speaks to the significance of this work of “serving tables” by recording the subsequent ministries of two of the men selected to serve the widows in need: Steven and Philip. Acts 6-8 recount the remarkable ministry of these two men. Steven performed miracles, preached boldly, stood up to fierce opposition, prayed for his persecutors, and was martyred. Philip performed miracles, cast out demons, and spread the gospel across cultural lines. These men were not lightweights spiritually. They were dynamic leaders in the first-century church.
The Apostles knew the work of serving the poor was important. Giving this task to godly men ensured that the teaching of the Word and the ministry of prayer would not be neglected. The growth of the church in verse 1, which was ultimately due to the work of the Holy Spirit, created a problem that was brought to the church leaders. The church worked together to meet this need, and God responded by blessing the church with more growth.
Acts 3:7, “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.”
I wish every complaint in every church ended this way. Seeing a need and sharing that need with others is not a bad thing. Notice how the Greek-speaking members made this complaint and how all the men chosen to meet this need had Greek and not Hebrew names. It appears that the group that brought the problem also helped solve it.
We have a saying here at Sonrise that we “look for leads and not needs.” There will always be countless “needs” in our church and our community. The needs that we believe God wants us to prioritize are those brought to us by leaders willing to serve those needs. The early church displayed great teamwork in meeting the new needs. They didn’t ignore, dismiss, or disengage from the need. They prioritized, prayed, and put people to work. And God blessed it! I hope this will happen today at our church as you participate in our ministry fair after service. I hope you have been praying this week about how God would use your gifts and skills in this church. I pray that you will see the right fit for you as you see all the places we have needs.
See the transformation beyond serving tables. When you go to the ministry fair after service, you may see some needs and opportunities that seem small and insignificant. You may be tempted to think that these roles are below you. I hope the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to the transformation and life change that can occur because you served in a “small” way. Nothing we do here is “small” or insignificant because we are doing it to foster a conversation between God and man. We don’t just hold babies. We host a personal and passionate conversation between the all-powerful Creator of the universe and His beloved creation. Nothing we do is small! I pray you will find your place of service today.
Life-Level Application
Head: Read John 13:1-20. How do the first three verses of this chapter help explain why Jesus washed His disciples’ feet?
Heart: Reflect back on John 13:1-20 and Peter's response to Jesus. How do you respond when others offer to serve you? Do you have any reservations about accepting help? How can you improve in receiving help graciously and without hesitation?
Hand: Reflect back on John 13:1-20. Jesus demonstrated that godly leadership involves serving others. How can you incorporate this principle into your leadership style, whether in a formal position or in everyday situations?
Habit: Reflect back on John 13:1-20. Jesus was not afraid to perform demeaning tasks for others. Are there any acts of service that you feel are below you?