This first section in Acts 6 is talking about the early Church.
(1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Sometimes the early church was different than how we, in our minds, conceive it. In this reading, Stephen is preaching the Word of God and the result is not repentance, but rather that people are enraged. If this were today in America, we would probably want Stephen to take lessons from Peter to get the result he’s looking for, but in following Jesus we need to embrace His word and accept whatever would come as a consequence. One things that stands out to me in this section, is that the church was involved in distributing food. Sometimes today we look at things like that and say that’s the social gospel, what does that have to do with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Here in the Book of Acts, the Church is brand new and they are about the business of feeding the people. Imagine people coming to church and saying, “you have bread and we don’t.” Somewhere very early on, the church understood that there is a proclamation of the Word of God and that part of being family is that we care about what each other needs and try to help one another in all areas of life.

In this early chapter in the Book of Acts, we see that the early church had problems. Sometimes we think it was all miracles and all kinds of people coming to Christ and they lived happily ever after, but in this chapter we see it was not that way. There were difficulties. In this chapter, there is a feeling among certain people in the church that other people in the church are being given an advantage—that some people’s needs were being met and others were not. The Apostles take a very interesting stand in that and they said, “We should appoint people to look after people’s needs and to make sure that needs are being met and things are fair.” In this particular controversy, the Hellenists feel that the Jewish people are being served first. So, most of the people who were appointed were Hellenists or Greek. This was a way to balance things. It was a very interesting response. It wasn’t a matter of who is right and who is wrong. It was how they could glorify God and meet needs. The Apostles attitude was, “We are not here to do everything. We are here to preach God’s word, to pray. It takes the whole church to be church.”

In the Book of Acts and in all these congregations that are developing in different places, there is a great work of God going on. It all began in Jerusalem, but Jerusalem was one of the poorest congregations. It had a collection of some people who were poor and struggling. Even these Gentile congregations hundreds of miles away sent gifts to the Jerusalem church to help remember the poor there as well as remembering the poor in their places.

In a City like ours, in a neighborhood like ours, in a congregation like ours, we have resources and we also have needs. Those needs are opportunities. There are people among us that don’t have plumbing that works. There are people among us that don’t have jobs. There are people among us who are homeless. There are people among us who have health issues. I am really being blessed by seeing others of us help to make up the difference. That’s a very powerful thing. It takes the whole church to do that. You can get a preacher to preach. You can get a good choir and someone to pass the hat and you’ve got a church? No. What’s unattractive about church in America is there isn’t enough people things to do. When church is right, there is opportunity and need for everyone of us. Nobody is classified as a need. People have needs and they also have gifts. Each person brings a gift to the table and each of us are in need. That is really how the church in the Book of Acts grew.

They appointed these seven men as deacons. Deacons are really something a little different than trustees. We have trustees here and we have elders. One of the first responsibilities we give to the trustees is the care and maintenance of our facility, which is a very important thing. The deacon is to maintain the people of God. People were committing themselves to help in every area of life right on down to the distribution of food. I’m thankful to see other believers in the community who are willing and anxious to partner with Messiah Church to help find somebody find a better place to stay. We might say, “What does that have to do with the Gospel?” Well if you like where you live, it may not have anything to do with your Gospel. But, if you don’t, it’s right there at the heart of everything. Among us are those that have and those that have not.

The criteria for people being appointed to respond to people’s needs was not just that they knew how to add and subtract and fill out a form. They needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and sense a calling from God to serve the Church. Somehow that extends to the world, too. It begins with the church first. The church should feel the call of God to meet needs within the church and then meet needs within the beckoning call of those who come to the church as seekers. Then the church is to keep going on from Jerusalem, to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. One example I’ve been given is that Jerusalem represents those people who live right along side of us, work with us and those who worship with us. Judea represents those who are a lot like us, but perhaps do not share our faith. Samaria represents those people right around us who are very different than us. Do you have any people in your neighborhood who are quite different than you? Often we associate with people who are a lot like us, the same age, the same kind of job. At other times we are surrounded by people who are as different from someone as one can be. What does the gospel tell me about who that person is. It tells me that person is created in God’s image and as such deserves my respect and love and care. The ends of the earth are those who are far away or far from you, ideologically and culturally or geographically.

Understand that this is part of our roots. This is what it is to be church. I say it often, but I want you to understand how much I mean it and how sure I am of it. It takes all of us to be church. None of us are perfect. If the qualifications were perfection, this would be an empty building. It would be a ghost town. Something about Jesus is changing us and compelling us to learn to love one another, to be servants and to want to respond to real needs.

We live in a circus. America is a circus these days. What drives America is entertainment. I don’t know how long we can do this. I just don’t know how long. I read this morning that companies that own golf courses don’t know what to do. They have too many of them. Yet, they want to build some more. Can a country sustain itself when it’s major product is entertainment? God knows. but the church, nonetheless, is called to share the Good news of Jesus Christ and to love one another and really help one another. Not just spiritually, but in real practical ways. Some things are solved in a moment. Some take longer. Some have been unemployed for a year and are working through some very difficult situations. Often, our culture is quick to respond when the need is new. Then we get weary and we don’t want to hear it anymore. People may get lots of visits in the hospital, but when they get home, that’s sometimes the end of the visits. We need sustaining power to help each other, to pray for one another. It says in Galatians to bear one another’s burden and fulfill the law of Christ. And a few verses down it says, We each have to bear our own load. Both of those are true. Every man and every woman has to stand up and do the best we can. But the best we can isn’t good enough. That’s why we have Jesus. Amen? We cast our cares on him. The Good News is that it doesn’t depend on how together we are or how many IRAs we have or all this other stuff. We can have all the material things prepared and be like the person who Jesus says is the rich fool. “Tonight your soul is required of you.” We have unanswered questions. Most of us fight this. I want to have my questions resolved. I want to have my life resolved. My life will not be resolved until my life is over. I keep deceiving myself into thinking that as soon as I get through these couple of problems, by God, I’m going to live for Jesus. Then I’m going to be a Christian. The Lord then says, “I’d really like it if you were one now.”

Stephen lays down his life sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is one these deacons, but he also speaks boldly proclaiming God’s Word. Philip is one of these deacons. Philip is the one who goes to the Ethiopian eunuch and finds him reading Isaiah 53. Philip asks if he understands what he is reading. The eunuch replies, “How will I unless someone explains it to me.” So Phillip does and leads this man to Christ. It says in Acts 21 that Philip had four unmarried daughters who all could share a word from God with people. He was one of the seven.

It is my hope that some of this way of experiencing the Holy Spirit visiting his own would be realized afresh here at Messiah Church. Each of us are invited to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are able to use the gifts that God has given us, to love Him with our whole hearts and to love one another. This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full. May we pray for one another that we find our joy and identity in serving one another. Many times in our service to one another it will be like the five loaves and two fish that the boy brought. How is that going to do anything for this multitude? But he gives his gifts to Jesus and Jesus blesses that lunch and breaks it and feeds 5000+ and has 12 baskets left over.

You and I might feel like we don’t have much. That is never the issue. Are we willing to give back to God what He has given us? In service to Him and in service to people of God as part of our witness to the community. Behold how they love one another. It says also in Ephesians, that when people stop being sensitive and caring, they start being sensual. Our sensuality is a counterfeit for true brotherly/sisterly love for one another. Our culture is so filled with sensuality because we are becoming so devoid of natural feelings. Jesus says that in the end times, many people’s love will grow cold. The Word of God comes to us and tells us to represent him—to be church. Each of you are church. We talk about how it isn’t sticks and stones, bricks and mortar, it’s flesh and blood. It’s not always a good sermon that brings people to Christ. More often it seeing the love of Christ demonstrated one person to another. Bonhoeffer will say, “to exclude the weak person in your congregation is to exclude Christ.” There have been some very powerful witnesses here. I’m praying that you’ll see the glory of waiting on tables. On the night in which our Lord Jesus was betrayed, knowing who he was, he took a towel and he washed the feet of everyone who was connected to him and who would follow him. This is your calling. This is where the life of the church is. All of us playing our part, not even caring if we have a big part or little part, just that we can be a part. Take a genuine interest in one another for intercession, for acts of help and service, for the confession of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Honor Jesus in this way. He says, “It is good for you that I go.” Why would it be good for the disciples? “Because if I go, I can send my Spirit and instead of being inside of one body, I can be inside of thousands and millions.” Having Jesus in each and all of you today is better than having Jesus in a body standing in front of you today. He died—a grain of wheat fell into the earth and died to bring forth a wide harvest.

May God help us to be church in good times and bad. Sometimes when people come to Christ we don’t know how. We are pretty sure that it wasn’t anything that we did. Sometimes we’ll get a bad response, like Stephen got. That’s O.K. too. We are called to follow Jesus. This isn’t heaven. We can’t measure attachment to Jesus Christ to how well things are going. We measure attachment to Jesus Christ by being a part of who he is and being a part of God’s people. Following Jesus daily, individually and collectively, is its own reward. May that reward be yours today.