Acts 6:1-7
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
6 In those days when the
number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against
the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So
the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect
the ministry of the word of God in
order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers,
choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this
responsibility over to them 4 and
will give our attention to prayer and
the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased
the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith
and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor,
Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men
to the apostles, who prayed and
laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God
spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased
rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient
to the faith.
Mark 9:35
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
35 Sitting down, Jesus called
the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first,
he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+9:35&version=NIV1984)
Often times people today
take the passage in Acts to mean that there is some type of hierarchal order
within the church that we must follow.
There are pastors who think their only role in the church is to preach
the Gospel and their elders should not lower themselves to the point of
clearing sidewalks of snow but should be preparing the word of God. Somehow, as I thought back to the book of Mark
and Jesus Words, I became convinced that the disciples might not have really
meant for these words to be taken in the manner that many have taken them. I do not believe the disciples were trying to
get out of doing any work that was less than desirable but were recognizing
that God had gifted others and needed to use those gifts to further the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
One very important fact
to be aware of is that the church was growing rapidly and the disciples could
not keep up with the growth. This wasn’t
just one or two families joining the church or a few widows that needed a
little attention. There were thousands
of people being added to the number on a daily basis and I am sure they had
many questions, as new believer do, therefore, the disciples found it difficult
to maintain all the workings of the church.
Why did the twelve
believe it was their responsibility to teach?
All twelve of these men spent three years walking, talking, eating, praying
and ministering with Jesus. These men
were directly taught by Jesus and had witnessed His miracles and He shared
directly with them what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. He spoke to eleven of them about His
teachings, explaining parables and discussing in depth regarding His ministry.
These men knew Jesus better than anyone else and it was their responsibility to
share His words with others. Although many
pastors go to seminary and study the word daily, I am sure none of them have
the intimate relationship with Christ that these men had. I am not saying that most of them have an
intimate relationship with Christ but they do not sit face to face with Him on
a daily basis rather they have the Holy Spirit guiding them. However, sometimes when we study the Word intellectually
we have a tendency to leave out the Spiritual aspects of the Word, in other
words our knowledge because head knowledge rather than heart knowledge. Before I dig a deeper hole, I better keep
going! In the early church many people
witnessed Jesus life on this earth but few had the intimate relationship with
the Lord that these twelve had, therefore, it was their responsibility to
preach the Word while others took care of the daily needs of the new believers.
My next question in
regards to this makes me wonder if the disciples were practicing what Jesus had
told them regarding being “servants of all”.
These were the men (except one) who were arguing about who would be
first in the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus
had to remind them that they must be servants of all. Jesus had these men at His side while He
ministered on this earth. I believe these
men saw the need to have men by their side while they ministered. I don’t believe these men were being burdened
by their responsibilities but were rather seeking ways for others to use their
gifts and join in the ministry.
How do these verses
apply to the church today? How many of
our churches today are growing so rapidly that thousands are being added
daily? What should the structure of the
church look like today? I ask these
questions because many people use these scriptures to structure the church
today like the early church. Many
churches are going back to the model of the early church because they believe
this is what God intended it to look like.
I have some problems with that thinking because I believe the Church
today looks nothing like it did in the Early Church. First of all, the Church today is not One
church but many denominations. These
denominations are trying to do church on their own. They are considering themselves the “Church”
but we need to remember that if we are all believers in the Son of God, that we
have accepted Him to be our Savior, we are part of the “Church”. Looking at the local church let’s consider
how fast we are growing. Are we adding
numbers daily? If not, we are not ministering
daily. Are we meeting the needs of those
in need? If not, again, we are not
ministering daily. Are we expecting one
pastor to come in to preach, teach, and be our servant or are we all being servants
of God? Yes, pastors are called of God
but so are those within the congregation.
We are not all called to be ministers or teachers but we are all called
to serve the Lord. We are all called to
do our part. Hierarchical governance in
the church puts someone on top and the only one on top should be our Lord and
Savior. If we think that we are too high
to serve then we are forgetting that Jesus calls us to be servants of all. If we are too busy in this world to minister
on a daily basis, there is no way we can compare ourselves with the early
church. If we are too possessive of our “things” or our “time”, then we cannot
compare ourselves to the early church.
Churches who want to model their church after the early church need to
begin by ministering daily and seeing the church grow. Once this happens then discussion regarding
who will be pastors, elders, deacons can take place.
As you seek Him and find
Him, ask Him how He wants you to minister to someone today. Then go and serve others on a daily basis.
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment