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Growing Pains

Acts 6:1-7
March 11, 2007
Pastor Mike O'Brien

Every church that grows will face problems. Of course, it is always good to have problems of the growing sort. It is much better than having problems of the dying sort.

This young church was facing its own problems.

Someone has said that problems are opportunities in reverse! I would say that that is true if the problems are dealt with properly. This morning I want us to see how this early church banned together to solve their problems. This message is important for everyone from the pastor on down.

There are many leadership books out there today. There are also many books on problem solving to be had. In fact, there are many degrees in leadership offered today. Now I don’t want to sound arrogant nor am I putting down anyone who has a degree in leadership. But let me say this: The Bible is still the best book to learn leadership and problem solving from! Leadership is an on-the-job-training type of thing.

But again, I want us to see this morning that the Book for leadership and problem-solving is the Bible. Throughout Acts we will see leadership at its best. You know what leadership at its best is? It is being led by the Holy Spirit!

You want to know how to lead your home and solve problems in the home?
You want to know how to lead at your work and be a problem solver?
You want to know how to be a leader at college and solve problems?

Be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow God to lead through you!

Four principles of church leadership:

I. Where there is life there is growth – v. 1

Acts 6:1

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.

Now we have already seen many things that this young church has gone through here in the book of Acts. They have faced stiff persecution, sin in their own camp, and they are still growing. They are growing God’s way. They are growing spiritually as well as numerically. This is God’s way. A church must focus on spiritual growth and let the numerical growth take care of itself. Too many churches have it backwards.

But again the key is life. The church must be alive. People can visit churches and get an idea if a church is alive or not. Now life in a church is not to be measured by how loud the music is or by how loud the pastor is. Life in the church can be seen in what many may call the “little things.”

For instance, do you seek out new faces and make sure that you greet them? This is what a church that is alive does. This shows a love for people. Many churches today have employed greeters. I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t want people who only greet people because it is their duty. We all should be doing that. I don’t want fake greetings, but real genuine greetings. I would love for some people to say “hey pastor, I would love to hand out bulletins, or seek out new faces and make sure that they know where to take their children and such.” And no doubt some of you do that. We should all be doing that.

The last thing we should be doing is becoming rote. We shouldn’t be coming to church as if it is just another thing to check off of our list for the week. We shouldn’t just come and do the same thing and talk to the same select people each week. We should come expecting an opportunity to edify others. There should be an air of excitement and anticipation when you go to church. Now I am speaking generally. I realize that not every Sunday we will all feel like that.

Life can also be seen by how people do things which are often “under the radar.” For instance some time ago we tore down the house back there. I was somewhat dreading what a job that was going to be. But to my surprise many people came out to help. We had that task accomplished in short order. It was truly a blessing. Those are the little things that I am talking about.

Some of you make meals for those who are sick or just gave birth. God bless you! What a ministry that is. Those so called “little things” done by a congregation will be used of God to grow a church far more than anything the pastor does. Actions are usually more influential than words.

Now even with signs of life, there will still be problems which will arise.

II. Where there is growth there will be problems

Acts 6:1b

a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

See, complaining did not start with the Baptists! Actually this really isn’t complaining in the negative sense. This is a legitimate concern. Now we will look at the specifics of this problem. Now clearly not all problems are the same. But we can learn a lot from what this early church did and did not do. They did not split the church. They did not say well we will just start a new church down the road here. They were willing to work this out. Just like divorce should not be an option when we encounter problems in our marriage, church splits should not be an option.

Now let me say that the leadership of a church must first identify if something is really a legitimate problem. You know there are a lot of different personalities in a church. Some people are ultimate encouragers. In fact, some people are so positive that they can’t even spot a problem. On the other hand, some people are so negative that all they can do is point out perceived problems.

You know there are some people that always tell the pastor what a good message he preached. I mean I could preach anything and some would say that. I appreciate the encouragement. On the other hand, some people never say anything positive about the message, but on occasion will point out things when they disagree. You say pastor, your saying that so people will be nicer to you. Yes, I am!

Now you don’t want to be so positive that you are in denial when there really is a problem, but you also don’t want to be so negative that you can’t ever see the positive. We need to be balanced. But my point is that we need to identify the specific issue and see if it is a real problem.

Here was the specific problem in our text:

because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Now this presented the disciples with both a problem and an opportunity. Now let me explain the difference between these Hebrews and these Hellenists.

The Hebrews were those Jews for whom their native land was Palestine most of whom would have spoken Aramaic, a form of classical Hebrew.
The Hellenists appear to have been those Jews who spoke Greek, who settled in Judah as a result of Alexander the Great conquests some 300 years earlier.

Now when growth occurs often ministerial/administrative type of problems develop. Such was the case here. The specific issue mentioned here had to do with the daily distribution of food. The Hellenists widows were being overlooked. Now there is no indication that this was intentional at all. In that culture the widows were particularly dependent on the church.

Now in the Jewish culture the Jews had a two-fold system in place to serve the needy. The church may have been following that precedent, we don’t know for sure. The Jews would hand out on Fridays what was called the quppah. This gave the needy enough for about 14 meals. There was also the daily distribution known as the tamhuy. This was food and drink given to nonresidents. Now the church may have been doing something similar.

But again the issue is that some who were needy were being overlooked. Now we will face problems, even if they are not of the same nature. This is why I want us to learn from what the early church did to solve problems in the church.

Good leadership does not ignore problems, but sets out to correct problems.

(We see the problem in our text, but I want to apply this to our church for a moment. As we grow we may face other problems. For instance some of you may have been performing certain duties for a number of years and now others can help. You need to be willing to include others and allow them to use their spiritual gifts.

You know on Wed. nights we were outgrowing the parlor room, so we had to move rooms. This meant that we had to change the chairs and move the tables out. That type of thing can cause problems in some churches. But I did not hear one complaint here. Even if I did I would have still done it! But praise God that I did not hear any complaints. As we grow we may do some things differently. Some of you may not be able to sit in your customary seat because we have visitors. That is a great problem to have. Some people will not like that, at least at first. But we need to handle our differences in the right way.)

III. Where there are problems there are God’s solutions – vv. 2-4

Acts 6:2

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.

These disciples clearly communicated the problem to the congregation. Communication is very important. Now they also did not have a knee-jerk reaction to solving the problem. They set their priorities.

Now it is never good to fix a problem by creating another problem. The disciples wisely kept their priorities in tact. What a lesson for us! The disciples also realized that they could not do it all. They knew that they needed others to help. Do not try to do everything on your own. I know that I can’t do it all. I rely on you as you rely on me. I rely on the deacons and they rely on me. That is what a community is. A community is people working together.

The disciples realized that the majority of their time must be in the word of God and in prayer.

Acts 6:3

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.

You now in recent years a trend started in the NFL. High profile coaches wanted to call all the shots. They wanted to be the GM and the coach. There are few that do that now. You know why? They realized that it wasn’t working. There was just too much to be done. The most successful teams work as a team.

It has been my experience that whenever a dictator type leader mandates things without allowing others to have a say, it backfires on them. Now it is true that you can’t have too many hands on the wheel, but you should seek counsel. (Story of Charlie giving me signs when I pitched)

Notice the leadership of these disciples. They set clear guidelines for the solution.

Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;

These were to be men of wisdom, not knowledge. Some people try to get the most educated, lawyer, banker, doctor. And some say we’ll get a business man and they will help us RUN the church. They might help us RUIN the church! That is what happened to Princeton and Harvard, they did away with clergy, and replaced them with businessmen. I’ll guarantee you this much, as long as I am at OFRBC, we will not run the church using business principles which are not consistent with the Word of God. You can take that to the bank! You say “we’ll you’ll never have a mega church.” That’s ok. I have stated before that my goal is to have the smallest congregation just after the rapture happens!

Let me touch on the issue of whether or not these guys are the first deacons mentioned in Scripture. Now this need not be a point of controversy. As I prepared this message I noticed that notable men like John Piper and James Montgomery Boice saw these seven as deacons. On the other hand, John MacArthur does not necessarily think they were deacons. But MacArthur does point out that they functioned here as deacons would. While they are functioning as deacons might, since the word deacon means “servant,” the text does not actually call them deacons.

Now, it may be that the government of the church was not really defined at this time. Now we will see as we move through the book of Acts that the government of the church will become more defined. And I want all of us to pay attention to that. When we finish the book of Acts we will come back to the government of the church. The purpose of that will be to examine our own church and make sure that our governmental structure is in keeping with God’s word.

Acts 6:4

but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

For the minister prayer and the Word must be first. Again they had their priorities correct. You know I am frightened at a growing trend that is taking place today. There are some pastors who have this all backwards. You see some pastors have one or more people who are paid staff members who do research for them. In essence they prepare a great deal of their sermon material! Meanwhile the pastors are traveling around waiting on tables. That’s not how it is to be.

Adrian Rogers

A preacher who is always available, isn’t worth much when he is available

You know John MacArthur, whom I admire for his faithful teaching said that he averages 30 hours a week studying the word and preparing sermons! And this is to preach two sermons a week. You know some churches expect a pastor to do everything. That is just not feasible. One thing I knew about the leadership here was that they were committed to expositional teaching. And they know that that type of preaching takes a lot of preparation. I would have never been interested in serving here as pastor, if the leadership did not have that proper biblical outlook.

What that means is the at the pastor will not always be available. The pastor has to have his priorities straight. Add in a family and it is even more difficult.

IV. Where God’s solutions are followed unity will be achieved - v. 5

Acts 6:5

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.

Doing things God’s way will produce unity in the church. See problems can be a good thing. If you don’t use God’s solutions, you can expect problems. Now a leader must be decisive. That is what the disciples did. They didn’t have a meeting or put together a committee. They acted quickly, but rationally and made a decision based on God’s word.

Now briefly, who were these men?

1. Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,

2. Philip, - he is called an evangelist in Acts 21:8

3. Prochorus, - tradition says he was eventually martyred at Antioch

4. Nicanor, -

5. Timon, - NOTHING IS KNOWN OF THESE 3 MEN

6. Parmenas,

7. Nicolas, - a proselyte from Antioch,

Acts 6:7

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.

Now when God’s solutions are not used, their will not be unity or growth. In fact, you will have the exact opposite.

Notice that God’s word spread! When the church does things God’s way, God’s word spreads. If we don’t do things God’s way, man’s words will spread and the church will be dead!

Also notice that the word spread, then the church multiplied. Again, Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

v. 1 – multiplying; v. 7 – multiplying greatly