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Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim. Today we will be continuing to take a look at one of the most remarkable early Christians we find in the book of Acts; a man by the name of Stephen, whose life was characterized by “fullness”. In Acts 6:5 he is first described as being a man full of faith. And that faith was foundational to his life.
Full of The Spirit-- And flowing from that fullness of faith was also a fullness of the Holy Spirit (cf. 7:55). And it was the Holy Spirit who empowered him, taught him, and re-made him in the image of Christ so that he lived like Jesus. And that is always the mark of somebody filled with the Spirit; not miracles or prophecy or any other dramatic gifts, but whether or not they look like Jesus. And Stephen apparently did, which is why he ended up facing much of the rejection and persecution that Jesus Himself had experienced. Full of Grace-- Now the third spiritual reality that Stephen had fullness of was grace; a lovingkindness that flowed from his trust, obedience, and submission to the Holy Spirit. And it was probably for this characteristic that the Church chose him to help minister to the widows. But nowhere do we see the grace of Stephen more graphically lived out than in the final moments of Stephen’s life when (as he is being pelted with stones in 7:60) he looks up to heaven and (just as Jesus had done on the cross) asks God that this sin might not be held against them. Now I don’t know what I would say if faced with similar circumstances. But in those moments his heart didn’t burn with anger, or even fear or terror. He was both at peace with the death coming upon him in those moments and also able to (even then) demonstrate the love of God in a way that no doubt shook the hearts of many who were watching. Because that kind of grace doesn’t happen naturally. That is a God-empowered, Holy Spirit filled kind of love which can only come from a heart that has been transformed by the reality of what Christ did for us on the cross. And it is that kind of grace that will most draw people to Christ through us as well. Full of Power-- Now the last thing Stephen was full of was power. [Stephen was full of power. That was a direct result of his being filled with the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:8). That he was performing great wonders and signs among the people suggests he was far more than simply a deacon. Instead, his deeds of power show his close link with the apostles. In the New Testament church only the apostles, Stephen, Philip (Acts 8:6–7), and Barnabas (15:12) performed miracles. {And} The imperfect tense of poieō (was performing) shows Stephen was continually doing those mighty works, no doubt with the same impact as the apostles (5:12–14). {Now} Taken together, verses 5 and 8 give both the Godward and man-ward sides of Christian character. {Stephen was} A man full of faith toward God, and yielded to the Spirit’s control,]. And anybody who is like that [will be gracious toward others and manifest great spiritual power.] Under God’s Control— So [The emphasis in Stephen’s life is on fullness: He was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3,10), full of faith (v. 5), and full of {grace and} power (v. 8).]. What a great description for a person. Are any of you full today? Stephen was a guy who was full; able to be used by God because He was completely surrendered to Him. Now in the midst of his proclaiming the Gospel, Stephen encounters a few different groups of religious leaders. It says in… Acts 6:9 (ESV)-- 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. The Role of Synagogues-- Now synagogues were places of worship that began during the inter-Testamental period all the way back to in and around the Babylonian captivity. Remember that Jews who were dispersed (of the dispersion) (usually Hellenists) (Because they did not have access to the temple in Jerusalem) needed a place to worship and read the Old Testament. Hence synagogues were developed. And because you had [Jews from many nations {who} resided in Jerusalem in their own “quarters,”…some of these ethnic groups had their own synagogues.] 3 Synagogues-- And here we likely have mentioned [3 synagogues: {the first being} the Synagogue of the Freedmen, a second composed of Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and a third composed of those from Cilicia and Asia. Cultural and linguistic differences among the 3 groups make it unlikely they all attended the same synagogue.] Freedmen-- But let’s look at these groups one by one just to give us an understanding of who these guys were. First, we have a group known as the Freedmen (“libertines”). You will remember from your history books about the city of Pompeii in western Italy, southeast of Naples. Mount Vesuvius would later erupt in AD 79 and the volcanic ash would perfectly preserve the remains of buildings, mosaics, furniture, the personal possessions of the people, and many of the people themselves in that city. Well the freedmen mentioned here were [Descendants of Jewish slaves captured by {the city of} Pompeii (63 B.C.) and taken to Rome. They were later freed and formed a Jewish community there.] Cyrenians-- Now for the second group; the [Cyrenians. {The Cyrenians were} Men from Cyrene, a city in North Africa. {You will remember that} Simon, the man conscripted to carry Jesus’ cross, was a native of Cyrene (Luke 23:26).] Alexandrians-- Now next we have the [Alexandrians. Alexandria, another major North African city, was located near the mouth of the Nile River. The powerful preacher Apollos {(whom we will encounter later in Acts 18)} was from Alexandria (see note on 18:24).] Cilicia and Asia-- Now the last group of men were from [Cilicia and Asia. {These were} Roman provinces in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Since Paul’s hometown (Tarsus) was located in Cilicia {(Acts 21:39)}, he probably attended this synagogue.] And [it is possible that he heard Stephen in the synagogue and may have {even} debated with him.] We don’t know. Formal debate-- So you have these men from each of these synagogues beginning to dispute with Stephen. Now [The word translated “disputing” signifies a formal debate. {It doesn’t say what they debated about, but} They no doubt focused on such themes as the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the OT evidence that He was the Messiah.] And though they no doubt disagreed with much of what Stephen was saying (particularly about Jesus) it says… Acts 6:10 (ESV)-- 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Stephen’s Victory-- And so we see that they were making arguments, but at every point Stephen proved victorious. And the text says that this was first because of his superior wisdom (which no doubt includes knowledge of the scriptures; but more importantly, understanding what the scriptures mean and how Jesus Christ had fulfilled them). And secondly, because he was full of the Spirit. He was being empowered by God Himself to deliver His message to these Jewish leaders. And so it says that none of them could withstand his wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit in which he was speaking. And this (in and of itself) was a fulfillment of prophecy; because Jesus had said to his disciples all the way back in… Luke 21:15 (ESV)-- 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. And that is exactly what we see here. They could not withstand his arguments. And we know that this will eventually lead to Stephen’s death. But even that was a fulfillment of prophecy. Because in the very next verse of Luke 21 Jesus had said… Luke 21:16-17 (ESV)-- 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. {And we definitely see here some of that hatred. It says…} Acts 6:11-14 (ESV)-- 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, 13 and they 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.” Stephen Like Jesus-- Now because they could not win against Stephen with rational argument, we see that (because of their unwillingness to accept where the evidence pointed) they decided that their only remaining option was to kill Stephen. And so these men intentionally instigate others to make false accusations; skewing what Stephen was saying and obviously adding things that he himself had never said. And you know, their treatment of him closely resembles how the Jewish leaders had treated Jesus Himself. They hired false witnesses (as they had done with Jesus) and stirred up the people (as they had done with Jesus), who accused Stephen of attacking the law of Moses and temple, just as the Jewish leaders had done with Jesus (Matthew 26:59-61). And the reason this [group falsely accused Stephen of wanting to change Moses’ customs…{was}… because they knew that the Sadducees, who controlled the council, believed only in Moses’ laws.] And they would be highly offended by that. And they also knew the Sadducees’ love of the temple (which was their primary focus); and so they say that Stephen has been claiming that [Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place. {This was} Another lie, since Jesus’ words (John 2:19) referred to His own body (John 2:21).] But it was the same lie the Jewish leaders had used at Jesus’ own trial. Now you would expect that especially in light of what had happened to Jesus, Stephen might be afraid. But it says in… Acts 6:15 (ESV)— 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Face of An Angel-- And what this means was the Stephen was demonstrating [Pure, calm, unruffled composure, reflecting the presence of God (cf. Ex. 34:29–35).] Moses’ face had shown with the presence of God after encountering Him in and intimate way. And here we see Stephen reflecting that same glory that had been on the face of Moses; a glory that flowed from his intimacy with Jesus. And that shows that he was at one with God and even at one with Moses. Now I don’t know what word you thought of when thinking about the central defining characteristic of your life. I kind of like “angel-face”; having a face that reflects the presence of Jesus. You know we talked last week a bit about waves. Most waves start off pretty small. They don’t become large right away. And a wave that might become a large wave will have no idea the significance it could have later down the road. But you know, that is the same with us. Stephen had the steady breath of God on blowing upon his life; and in later chapters (after his death) we will see the incredible impact of this simple man’s life; this simple man who was called to wait on tables but who ended up moving mountains. If you think God can’t do the same through you, you’re wrong. He can. All you need is to be full; to be full of faith, to be full of the Spirit, to be full of wisdom and grace, and in so doing you will be filled with the very power of God. Be full today.
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Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim.
Hittin The Waves-- You know, several months ago my family and I got to visit Cannon Beach in Oregon; one of our favorite places to go. Now the sun wasn’t out and the weather was a little chilly, but do you think that was going to stop our kids going into the cold water? No. They were determined to live out all that they had been looking forward to. And its fun collecting shells and dodging the waves. And the view of the waves crashing against Haystack rock is always breathtaking. And what’s also amazing is the drive we usually take from Cannon Beach to the Tillamook Factory; always my favorite place to go. But the drive there along the coast has some amazing views; at times you are very high up looking down at the ocean; and you can see not just the waves hitting the shore, but you can see them long before they reach the shore; slowly moving inwards towards land. And waves are funny things. [Waves on the ocean surface are usually formed by wind. When wind blows, it transfers the energy through friction. The faster the wind, the longer it blows, or the farther it can blow uninterrupted, the bigger the waves.] And those waves can grow tremendously by the time they reach shore. And perhaps the imagery of waves is most helpful when thinking about the rapid outward growth of early Christianity. The Holy Spirit came with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and got the waters moving; and those ripples slowly began to move outwards and gain more and more strength. And by the time we reach Acts 5, we see just how big the wave has gotten; as the high priest says in verse 28… Acts 5:28 (ESV)-- 28…“We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching,… A Rogue Wave-- Wow! Filled all of Jerusalem?!!! That’s a pretty big wave. Remember back when Hurricane Dorian hit back in 2019? That was a pretty massive hurricane. Did you know that [hurricane Dorian…created a wave over 100 feet high in the northern Atlantic]? And even farther away from shore there are special waves that often form called “rogue waves”. And let me tell you, you don’t ever want to encounter a rogue wave. There are reports of rogue waves reaching 112 feet high; just imagine!!! And they [can be extremely unpredictable. To sailors, they look like walls of water. No one knows for sure what causes a rogue wave to appear, but some scientists think that they tend to form when different ocean swells reinforce one another.] Well, that is what the Church is experiencing. They have that initial ripple effect from Pentecost, but the Church is continuing to grow and the throngs of Christians are reinforcing one another like great ocean swells. And the Church is just like this massive rogue wave crashing through all the sin; all the darkness; all the brokenness; and is shaking the core of the establishment that had grown “comfortably numb” to spiritual things. And now the apex of the wave has reached such a height, look what it says in… Acts 6:7 (ESV)-- 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. Converted Priests-- Now, like we said before, [These were, of course, not the chief priests or members of the Sanhedrin, but a very large number of the rank and file priests who ministered in the temple.] [It has been estimated that there were eight thousand Jewish priests attached to the temple ministry in Jerusalem, and “a great company” of them trusted Jesus Christ as Savior!] Now that decision could cost them greatly, as it was an [obvious violation of the wishes of the high council that would endanger their position.] But it shows that the Gospel message had now gotten to the point where it [had infiltrated the entire city and all levels of society.] Stephen-- Now in our passage last week, we saw the appointing of seven men who would wait on tables (dealing with the food and money distribution) so that the apostles could focus more on the ministry of the Word. And today we are introduced further to one of these Hellenist disciples. And he was a man by the name of Stephen, a man whose [ministry {mainly to Jews from Gentile lands} was the catalyst that catapulted the church out of Jerusalem into the rest of the world (8:1).]; the next major wave. And the way that he did ministry seems to have been very similar to that of Paul in that he boldly confronts the synagogues of foreign Jews there in Jerusalem, [possibly even entering them to debate their members (6:9). {And, as we will see later, in a similar way whenever Paul}…entered a new city to minister, …{he}… would habitually go first to a synagogue (17:2). {And as we will see in in the coming weeks,} Like Paul, Stephen encountered fierce opposition, even to the point of physical persecution (7:54–60; cf. 2 Cor. 11:23–25).] And we will see that (because of his faith) he would become the first Christian martyr. Also Doing Miracles-- Now I find it interesting that right after this man is chosen to “wait on tables” so that the apostles might minister, we find this man fearlessly proclaiming the Gospel. And not only that, but he’s also doing miracles; which is strange because up until this point in the book of Acts, it has only been the apostles who have performed miracles (Acts 2:43; 5:12). But we see here that God also empowered Stephen in this special way as well, as it says in… Acts 6:8 (ESV)— 8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Everyone Is To Witness-- Now the reason this is important for us to note is because often we can interpret the previous passage (in which we find men being chosen to wait on tables so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word) as meaning that we need to allow the pastors to do the evangelizing and witnessing and the super spiritual stuff and those who have other gifts can simply use the gifts they have been given. But no, we don’t see that here at all. Instead, what this passage reveals is that it doesn’t matter what your position is in the Church; ALL OF US are called to be witnesses. God can anoint you and use you just as much as He can use any one of His pastor-types. And here He chose this common man to be his instrument [to bear witness to the leaders of Israel. Stephen’s powerful testimony would be the climax of the church’s witness to the Jews. Then the message would go out to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles.] Describe Yourself-- Now have you ever had a job interview before and the person interviewing you asked you to describe yourself; perhaps even in one word. One pastor, when being interviewed by a Church board, was asked that question. And he responded “condescending”. And then he said, “That’s when….you know….you talk down to people.” They all got a laugh out of that. Now hopefully that is not your word. But what IS your word? If those around you were to describe you in one word, what would it be? Are you an encourager; maybe you’re a inspirer; maybe you are a servant; maybe you’re an anchor for other people. What is your central defining characteristic? "Fullness"-- Well, for Stephen it was the word “full”. Over and over again we will see that he is described by this word “full”. Now what does it mean to be full? Well [In Scripture, to be “full of” means “to be controlled by.”] It’s what has you. And so let’s look at what the scripture says Stephen was full of; what controlled his life. Full of Faith— First, we see that Stephen was totally controlled by faith; a faith he demonstrates in everything he does; whether waiting on tables or when sharing his faith. He is a man who seeks to live faithfully in every area of his life. Now when it comes to his faith, we are talking more than just a warm belief in something. No, keep in mind (like we talked about last week) the content of belief is just as important as the devotion to that belief. It is not enough to have courage in your convictions, you must be willing to examine your beliefs to make sure they are indeed true. And this is something that Stephen no doubt did; and in so doing he came to the conclusion that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And in his sermon that he gives before the Sanhedrin later in chapter 7, Stephen clearly explains how his faith is deeply rooted in the historical facts agreed upon and accepted by all his fellow Jews, as he walks them through the main tenets of Jewish history. And in that we see that he accepts both God’s sovereign control over that history (7:1-51); but also God’s sovereign control over his own individual life as well. He didn’t just know God had a plan for the Jewish people as a whole; but he also knew that God had a plan for him. And so he was willing to face anything (even death) knowing that God was in control (7:59-60). God Is Small-- Now let me ask you something. Do you find it easier to trust God with your eternal destiny than to to trust Him with the concerns of your everyday life? I don’t know; sometimes we think that God can handle all that future religious stuff (by which we mean heaven) but we often have a hard time trusting Him with the concerns of everyday life. What about that battle with cancer? What about that loss of a job? What about dealing with that child who might have special needs? Or that family member who is giving you grief? Sometimes we don’t struggle with believing that God is big enough. Sometimes we struggle to believe that God is small enough; small enough to enter through the doorways of our homes; or even the doorways of our hearts. I’m gonna sound like a heretic today, but I want to tell you that God is small. Is He big? Yes. We all know that. But He’s also small. Jesus was the embodiment of that; He was God made small enough to enter into our everyday world. And if we can wrap our minds around that, I think we will come to the starting point of faith; Jesus is not just the world’s Savior; He’s your Savior; He’s your Redeemer. And Stephen understood this. And because of that (no matter what he might face) Stephen could say right along with Paul “If we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8). May you and I be able to say that as well. May God bless your week and may you experience all the fullness of faith in your own life. Amen. Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim.
The 1st Organizational Crisis-- In chapter 6 of the book of Acts we have been taking a look at the beginning stages of the Early Church, which in this passage we see is facing its first serious organizational crisis, as it is brought to the attention of the apostles that the needs of the Hellenist Jewish widows are being overlooked in the daily distribution. Due to the rapid growth of the Church, it was becoming harder and harder for the apostles to do all the work themselves; and so we see people beginning to slip through the cracks. And what is so admirable about the apostles is that they are smart enough to recognize that this way of doing ministry is simply not sustainable. They simply cannot handle the full weight of the ministry by themselves. And if the Church was going to remain stable and able to move on to the next stage of the Great Commission, moving out into Samaria and then beyond into the world and to the very ends of the earth, further planning and structuring would become necessary. And so it says in… Acts 6:2 (ESV)-- 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. Table-- Now the word here for tables is “trapeza”, which is a Greek word that can mean the kind of table you eat at. But it can also mean “a table or counter of a money changer” or “money matters” (as we see in Matt. 21:12 when Jesus overturns the tables (the “trapeza”) of the moneychangers. But whether we are talking about serving food or dealing with the finances, the apostles recognized that performing these additional ministries themselves would take them away from their central calling, which was to devote themselves to prayer, preaching, teaching, and studying the Word of God. And so they demonstrate one of the rare gifts that any pastor of any successful church has mastered; and that is the ability to say “no”. A Black Hole Man-- You know, that is a word that I wish I had learned much earlier in my life; it would have save me and and my family a lot of pain. In fact, looking back, I wish that my college or seminary had offered a class called something like “100 Ways to Politely and Lovingly say ‘No’”; because when I first entered ministry, let me tell you, I was was like a black hole. I absorbed so many responsibilities, it was borderline insane. In fact, I don’t know how I survived into my 2nd year of ministry. Fresh out of seminary, I found myself preaching/teaching a bare minimum of three messages a week, each of which required a lot of sermon prep. And added onto that were preparations for our monthly men’s breakfast (during which I would share a devotional I had prepared) and also helping to lead worship at a monthly worship service at the local veterans home, during which I would also share another devotional. I was also leading a weekly prayer meeting, teaching the occasional Sunday school class, and (because our Church had no secretary) I absorbed all the secretarial responsibilities as well. And I remember one night at a board meeting the person doing our Church bulletins announced they no longer wanted to do them (it had become too much of a burden), and so I willingly stepped in on what I thought would be a temporary basis to take over that responsibility, but unfortunately never stopped. Now naturally, because it was a small church, I was also responsible for the pastoral home visitations and hospital visitations. But since most of our people wanted to go to the city for medical care (and hour and 15 minutes away), that meant 2 and 1/2 hrs travel time alone plus whatever time I spent there with the person. And what made matters worse is I did not even communicate with my leadership what I was doing and so they had no idea the tremendous load that I was carrying. Now thankfully I eventually did learn how to delegate, but it wasn’t natural for me at first because I thought it was wrong for me to say “no”. But it wasn’t. But there are many pastors (and people in general) whose lives and ministries are a constant burden to them simply because they haven’t experienced the liberation of that two-letter word “no”. The Best “Yes”-- And the reasons the apostles were restrictive of their time wasn’t because they were mean or because they didn’t want to help. It was because they recognized that in order for them to say their best “yes” to the things God had appointed them to do, they had to say “no” to a lot of other things that were not God’s will for them do to themselves. They knew where their priorities lay and decided (together) that they were not going to allow anything, however pressing, to distract them from those duties. And so they propose a solution. They say in… Acts 6:3-4 (ESV)-- 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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Did The Apostles Err?-- Now there’s a mighty man of God I look up to in so many ways. And the insights he draws from the text are both very good and very applicable. But he has made the point on a number of occasions, saying that this decision of the apostles was not a good one because in their devotion to the Word they were neglecting to live out the Word in people’s lives in and through compassionate ministry. They had turned away from a key element of what it means to be a Christian and passed it off to somebody else, wrongly elevating the ministry of the Word over tasks that they thought were beneath them. But that viewpoint is wrong for a number of reasons. First, there is no evidence to suggest that the apostles were completely giving up the meeting of people’s physical needs themselves. They no doubt continued to wait on the occasional table (whatever that might look like) now and again. No, what we are are talking about here comes down to the nature of our specific callings. I agree with my friend that we are all to be involved in compassionate ministry. However, while we are all called to help to meet the physical needs of people to some degree, what we are talking about here is the importance of defining what a person’s central role in the Church is to be. Because the person who tries to do everything, will do none of it very well. That is why Paul says in… Romans 12:4-8 (ESV)-- 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. So while we may wear the occasion extra hat when needed (as is typical and needed in a small church), the goal must always be not to try to be the whole body of Christ yourself, but to be the best ear; the best toe; or the best mouth you can be. Because you try to be a toe AND a mouth; that’s just nasty. It tastes funny, if you know what I mean. But you know, it’s interesting… No Mowing-- I have a friend who, when he was being interviewed for a pastoral position at a church, was asked whether or not he would help keep up the Church grounds. And he said, “No.” And the board was shocked at first. And he said, “First of all, let me tell you. I can do that. But YOU don’t want me doing that. There are other areas you are going to want me to focus on.” And he was right. There were plenty of people in that church who could do it and (after the church hired him) those people did step up and found their place in the ministry of the Church. Now I admire his courage to help lead that church into a better way of doing things. Delegation is key; because my pastor friend was not the one God had called to do that job. And he didn’t want to rob someone else of their opportunity to follow God in serving in that capacity, which would also result in my friend having less time to devote himself to prayer and the ministry of the Word, which is a pastor’s central role. And that is why one of the key roles of a pastor is to recognize the gifts and abilities of others and help them to use them for God’s glory; and that includes connecting their gifts with the Church. Because if you don’t, you hurt the Church and you hurt the people who are receiving your services; because you’re not the one whom God has chosen for that. You may not be the best-equipped person in your Church for that or (as is often the case) you may be wearing too many hats to do all these services as well as they could be done by individuals who can make them their primary focus. But worst of all, you may be hurting the other Church members because you are denying them a means through which they can use and express the gifts that God has given them. And those churches that don’t delegate well simply do not grow. It’s as simple as that. And while a church may survive for some time like that, it (and the pastor) will be severely unhealthy and crippled. This is what Moses himself had to discover after leading God’s people out of Egypt. He quickly felt the weight of trying to do everything himself. And thankfully, he had a father-in-law who had the courage to confront him about it and say, “what you are doing is wrong.” And then he taught him how to delegate. And being the humble, teachable man that he was, Moses listened to his father-in-law and delegated; and the problem was fixed. But this is the Biblical pattern (Ex. 18:17-23). And what’s significant is that the early Church recognized this and accepted it unanimously. It says in… Acts 6:5-6 (ESV)-- 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. All Greek— Now notice two things. First, how many were there? Seven. And seven is God’s number; it symbolizes completeness and perfection. But notice something else; something about the names themselves. Does anything stand out to you about those names? Which of those names are Jewish? None. None of them are Jewish. All seven bore Greek names. So what group of people were these men most likely a part of? The Hellenists. Now that is important because in that we see demonstrated the love and unity of the Church. Because remember it was the Hellenists who felt they were feeling neglected. And so the Church appointed seven of the Hellenists themselves to oversee them. They chose people who would be the most in tune with their needs and who were most qualified to be a voice on their behalf. And it was that loving act that probably held the Church together when it so easily could have split apart. And so Satan’s 3rd strategy (his strategy of dissension) failed, because the Church was willing to come together rather than be driven apart; to restructure around what God was doing, and to (following the Holy Spirit) choose those best equipped for that ministry. The Closing: God’s Confirmation Blessing-- Now up until this point Luke has closed each major section of the book of Acts with a description of the growth of the Church. And this has been a way of Luke’s highlighting God’s backing and approval of the way the apostles were leading. God had no problems confronting sin in the Church and bringing it to light, as He did with Ananias and Sapphira. And if the apostles sinned or erred on this matter, God would no doubt have confronted them about it as well. Yet instead we find again a description of the blessing of God. It says… Acts 6:7 (ESV)-- 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. Converted Priests-- Now don’t miss this. It says a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. [These were, of course, not the chief priests or members of the Sanhedrin, but a very large number of the rank and file priests who ministered in the temple.] In fact [It has been estimated that there were eight thousand Jewish priests attached to the temple ministry in Jerusalem, and {so it is more than just some nice little bit of icing on the cake; this is a big piece of the cake. According to this} “a great company” of them trusted Jesus Christ as Savior!] It’s amazing what God can do through a Church that is flexible and malleable in His hands; a Church that knows how to delegate. And remember, flexible churches are always filled with flexible people; with moldable, shapeable individuals. And so I want to challenge you today to be shapeable in the hands of God. Be willing to adjust to the needs of those around you. And if you have a gift that God is calling you to use, give that gift to Him today. Let’s commit to do so. Amen. Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim.
Models of Growth-- Being a pastor for close to a decade, I have read a lot about church growth; the different kinds of growth, what healthy growth looks like, how it happens, etc. And one of the things that any church growth book worth its salt will tell you is that there is a difference between the organizational structure of a small church and that of a large church. And though an organizational model may have worked out great when a church first started out, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue to be the best model moving forward. For instance, in every church I have pastored I have always been the primary source of pastoral care. I have been the one to visit people in hospitals, to visit them in their homes; to serve them communion; to perform all the funerals and those kinds of things. And that’s fine when your church is small. But let’s say a church grows to 200, 300 or more people. That pastor better not be the only source of pastoral care for that congregation because 1st) There’s too many people for him to be able to give quality care to, 2nd) It’s going to take away time from his sermon preparation and prayer time, 3rd) It’s going to rob his family of his time, and 4th) He’s eventually going to get burned out and probably leave that ministry. Churches must change as growth takes place if they are going to remain stable and effective. Growing Pains-- Now in today’s passage here in Acts chapter 6 we see that the Early Church is starting to face problems. And this wasn’t a bad thing. I don’t know if when you were young you ever experienced growing pains or not; l know I did. My bones would just ache for no apparent reason. It often happens when you are just growing really fast. My son now has the same thing going on in his body. But that isn’t bad pain; it’s good pain. And you are always stronger and more physically mature on the other side of it. Well, the same was true here of the Church in Acts 6. You have thousands upon thousands of people coming to faith in Christ, joining the Church; and (as with any organization) the system which worked fine when the organization was smaller didn’t scale up. Remember the Church is growing at an incredible rate. Early on they were able to keep track of the number of converts (2:41) and members (4:4). But even then those figures only represent the men. And now the Church has grown beyond count. According to some estimates, it was probably around 20,000 at this point. And so the apostles were finding it increasingly difficult to minister to everybody. The old structure wasn’t working. And so it is no surprise that it says in… Acts 6:1 (ESV)-- 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. Satan’s New Strategy— Now up until this point there had been many ways that Satan had sought to cripple Christ’s Church. In 4:1-31 and 5:17-41) he had tried persecution. But that only caused the Church to grow faster; because they responded to that persecution in the right way. Next Satan (in 5:1-11) tried to introduce sin into the body of Christ in and through Ananias and Sapphira. But the Church immediately (with the God’s full backing) dealt with that sin. And so now Satan tries a third tactic: dissension. The Two Battleships-- There’s a story of two battleships that met in the night and began to attack each other. In the conflict, a number of crewmen were severely wounded, and both vessels were damaged. As daylight broke, the sailors on the ships discovered to their amazement that both vessels flew the English flag. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we are on the same team, even when we might not see eye to eye. And Satan can often use the smallest of issues (like the one in this passage) to divide the Church. And so was the threat in our passage today. The Hellenist Widows Overlooked-- Because the issue here in this passage had the potential to create a LOT of division in the Church. That word used to describe the first group of people is “Hellenists”; and here that term is referring to Greek-speaking Jews from other nations who had come to Palestine. Now the second description (the description “Hebrews”) here is referring specifically to the residents of Palestine; and they could speak both Aramaic and Greek and often Hebrew. But most of these Jews from outside may not have been able to speak Aramaic or Hebrew. And they used the Septuagint (a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) rather than the Hebrew Scriptures. Now they had remained loyal to Judaism, but at the same time they had absorbed some of their surrounding Greek culture. And that made them suspect to the Palestinian Jews, especially the Pharisees. But they were a minority in the church, which helps explain why their needs were overlooked. Care For Widows-- Now care for widows was a traditional part of Jewish society; clear instructions for their care being given in numerous places in the book of Deuteronomy. God cares about widows, which is why He made sure the Law laid out specific guidelines for their care. And because at this point Christianity was mainly a Jewish phenomenon, this by default carried over into the early Church. Paul (in 1 Timothy 5:33ff) clearly defines care for widows as being one of the chief responsibilities of the Church. Meeting God Where He’s Working-- And so the Church had to deal with this problem of the Hellenist widows being overlooked in the daily distribution (which was an outflow of what you remember happened in Acts 4:32, where we saw how the Church came together to pool their resources to help any that were in need. Now if a Church is Biblical, it will align itself with what the Holy Spirit is already doing. It meets God where He is at rather than trying to pull Him into their own organization and structure. Does that make sense? And God is interested in the needs of people; every need, no matter what it is. And so the TRUE Church is always characterized by a willingness to respond to the needs of people. That’s why most of our hospitals have names like St. Mary’s or St. John’s or names like that; because people who are truly awakened by Christ are awakened to the needs of the world and have in their hearts an awakening of love that drives them to meet those needs. Now hospitals have structure, but it is structured in accordance with the needs of people; or at least it ought to be. The same with the Church. The needs of people ought not to conform to the structure of the Church. The structure of the Church needs to conform to the needs of people. A School’s Flexibility-- One of the things that impressed us about our kids’ school was how quickly they adjusted when Covid-19 hit. I mean they didn’t even miss a beat. They recognized the needs of the children for an unbroken education experience and immediately switched to an online format that honestly (even at its early stages) was very solid. But it’s no coincidence that the school was born out of and is an intimate part of a thriving Church. The Church is thriving because of its adaptability to the needs of people; and therefore so was the school. Our Flexibility During Covid— And similarly, those Churches that are doing the best during these Covid times are not those who have said “We are either going to meet in person or not at all”, but rather those that immediately recognized that the needs of people were going to change very dramatically because of this epidemic and were willing to adjust the way they did church in order to meet those needs. Now I’m happy to say that our church was one of those churches. Right off the bat we had online giving up and running; our worship went online; our messages went online; our website was upgraded. And though we had to make some tough decisions as a leadership team, we made them and not only did we maintain, but we even grew our numbers during that time. And that has been the experience even of churches that were willing to just make bare minimum changes. Our leadership here at Renton Park Chapel didn’t see Covid as just something to get through; no, we saw it as God’s means of doing something new in His Church. And because we strived to bring ourselves alongside what God was doing (and is still doing), He saw fit to bless us. And that has been the experience of many churches. Our Individual Flexibility-- Now what is true of the Church as a whole is also true of the individual. The people who make the best church members, the best parents, the best friends, the best employees, the best co-workers are those men and women who are malleable and shapable in God’s hands; who can take a hit without floundering and who are able to stand firm even when things get messy. The Flexible Church— And Churches that are going to be most effective at reaching the lost are those that are filled with people who are flexible. Because let me tell you; lost people are not always pleasant to be around. They may not act nice, look nice, or smell nice. And they will often drag all their brokenness and baggage right into the Church. The Drunk Visitor-- I remember a number of years ago a man came into the church I was pastoring at that time drunk. He hadn’t bathed in who knows how long and he smelled to high heaven. But he came and sat in the back pew. And it was not a pleasant experience to be around him. And you know how it is when an outsider like that comes; people are somewhat disturbed. And it is disturbing and disrupting when somebody like that comes; because we want our services to be nice and neat and distraction-free. And sometimes we just don’t know what to do. And we may wonder, “Why’s that guy here?” But you know why this man had come? He had come because his mother had just died (in fact I had just done her funeral) and he wanted to visit his mom’s church. Now I was proud of how the congregation responded. Yeah there were some who turned their nose up; there’s most often a couple of those in any church. But most were willing to pray for this man and come alongside of him in his grief. And you know that’s the kind of Church that God can honor. The Central Mission-- What we find with Jesus and will see with the disciples here in this passage is that the mission is always the focus; never deviating from the task of meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the lost. And so let us not deviate. Let us also keep Christ and His mission central. Let’s do so. Amen. |
Rev. Cameron Ury graduated from Asbury University in 2007 with a B.A. in Bible and Theology. From there he continued his studies at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS. It was there that he met his wife Tanya, who graduated from WBS with her M.A. and M.Div. degrees. Cameron and Tanya got married in 2009. Cameron then graduated with his M.Div. degree with a pastoral concentration in 2011.
After shepherding churches in both Mississippi and Ohio, they joined the ministry team at Renton Park Chapel in January of 2018, where Cameron serves as Senior Pastor and Teacher. Cameron is also the founder and host of Lechem Panim, a weekly radio show that airs on KGNW 820AM "The Word Seattle". The ministry of Lechem Panim is centered around leading people into the life-giving presence of God in and through Bible study, prayer, and active discipleship with the aim of ministering to a world that is in desperate need of the healing touch of Jesus Christ. Archives
May 2021
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