The model of the Early Church

Acts 6:1-4

“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. 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. 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. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

           

As you read these four verses, let the Spirit and I did say let because it is your choice to be open to what the Spirit is saying to you in the verses above.  My first thoughts were that an increase in numbers is a good thing, but with growth come new challenges for this young church.  Its foundation was centered on new life in Jesus Christ the Messiah, the one they had been looking for and now had seen.  It is also important to recall that the people were bringing the sick and those with evil spirits and putting them in the streets hoping that Peter’s shadow might fall on them.  And most important is that the Spirit put into their hearts the desire to meet the needs of their fellow brothers and sisters. 

It is hard for us to understand this dispute between the Greek Christians and the ones from Jerusalem, but at the bottom of all disputes you will find the evil one at work.  It’s so important to remember that our battle is not with flesh and blood but with cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.  Gene Getz gives this insight on these verses in the Life Essentials Study Bible: “Since so many believers initially stayed on in Jerusalem rather than returning to their homes in various part of the Roman Empire, their resources were stretched to the limit, and the Grecian widows were neglected in the daily distribution of food.  To understand this special need, we must remember that when Jews put their faith in Christ as Messiah, they were cut off from the welfare system in Israel.”

Have you heard the saying, Your Perception IS Your Reality?  There is great truth in that statement and it is not saying your perception is true or right, but it is what you believe, and it has everything to do with your belief system.  I grew-up in small Baptist churches, and I have spent years unlearning and as I grew in my faith it became clear that much of what I believed was not true.  So in my search for truth I had to first look to the author of Truth and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me into truth.  When I changed my perception, I changed my behavior, my desires, and I came to better understand how we could move to what is taught in this Scripture. 

Let me ask and you may not know the answer, but it is worth looking into, what is the model of your local church, of the pastor, and I am not talking staff, but the Senior Pastor.  Is the model recorded in this first church the same as your local church, or is your Pastor so loaded down with the finances, visiting the sick, the meetings of the staff, the meeting of the deacons and all the programs, that he allows them to deter him from carrying out his God-given priorities: prayer and preaching?  If you are in a small church there is no way your pastor can meet the requirements unless the deacon body, or elders understands that it is their role to allow the pastor to have the priorities of prayer and preaching.  And that is what these seven men did for the apostles.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice