Acts 6:1-7
New International
Version (NIV)
6 In those days when the
number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] 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 and sisters,
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.
This
is a passage that makes it very clear that we need workers amongst us who have
different callings. Not everyone has
been gifted to preach the gospel to crowds of people. In the same light, others are not as gifted at taking care of
the physical needs of the people. The
Apostles were trying to do it all and just could not cover everyone and
grumbling began to occur. Seems to me
that this sounds much like the modern church, especially in smaller
communities. All be it, there were a lot
more people in this new church than there is in a church of 200 or less people
but there were also more apostles.
It
seems at times we try to put so much of the burden on our pastors and forget
that we have a job to do in the church too.
We might not stand up and preach on a Sunday morning, we may not even teach
a Sunday school class but we are all called to be workers for Him. My challenge to all of us today is that we
all take into consideration what we are doing in our churches before we grumble
or complain about what others are doing or not doing. What is our part in growing the kingdom of
God? Are we doing what we have been
called to do? EVERYONE should have a
part in doing something, other than just occupying a space in the pew, if we want
our churches to grow. The challenge of
the day is to seek Him and seek His calling for you, so that you may go and
bring forth fruit.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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