Study in the Acts of the Apostles

Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 15

The Danger Of Little Things Chapter 6:1-7 Presentation 15

Introduction Are you familiar with the phrase, "throwing a spanner in the works“? A very small thing can cause great disruption. On a personal level, we may have seen this disruption at work. A CD player won’t work because a fuse has blown. A car engine won’t start because of a speck of dirt in the carburettor. Minor things can cause major complications! Presentation 15

Introduction Historians have attempted to explain Hitler’s obsession with creating a master race by detailing little childhood experiences, or by pointing to a particular book read during his adult life. Little things that could have led to the lives of millions being destroyed. The passage before us points to what initially may have appeared as a minor irritant in the life of the church but it contained the potential for disaster. Presentation 15

Contention In The Church The early church was growing at a phenomenal rate. Expansion of this sort can introduce danger, as various groups and factions polarise around their common interests creating an ‘us and them’, mentality. The church in Jerusalem was made up of Jewish converts local to Jerusalem and those from the Greek speaking world. In those days there was no widows benefit or social welfare and the church took on the responsibility for the material welfare of all her members. Presentation 15

Contention In The Church But the Greek speaking widows felt they weren't getting their fair share and a grumbling campaign started cfv1. This was - a comparatively minor thing but scripture reminds its "the little foxes that spoil the vine“ Song of Sol. 2v15. Big issues in the church attract great attention while little ones fester away unnoticed under the surface, spreading their poison through the whole body until the witness of the church is discredited. Presentation 15

Contention In The Church Note that what the Sanhedrin with all their threats, pressure, intimidation and persecution had failed to do, the church seemed poised to do for them! Namely, tear itself apart! Will we allow comparatively small things to discredit the work of God in our own church fellowships, or will we seek to unearth and deal with them? Presentation 15

Contention In The Church There’s no evidence that the Greek widows had been purposefully discriminated against. The whole incident can be explained by honest oversight. The Greek widows would have been less well known than their Jerusalem equivalents. In which case, wrong motives were being attributed to those responsible for the distribution? How often problems arise in the church because a wrong construction has been placed on something said or done. Presentation 15

Contention In The Church Have your actions or words ever been misunderstood or misinterpreted? We don't like it. We are grieved that no one has taken the trouble to ask for clarification of what we’ve said or done. As a result a whispering campaign begins and soon a little spark produces a raging inferno, a forest fire not easily put out. Cf. James 3v5 Noware we guilty of behaving in exactly the same way towards others? Do we put the best or the worst possible constructions on the things we see and hear? Presentation 15

Contention In The Church Think about how easily Hitler persuaded his countrymen that the Jews were responsible for their poverty. Party loyalties, ethnic and religious background can so easily colour our judgement and remove our objectivity from much of what we hear. It sometimes suits us to believe the worst about people who are not a part of our ‘group’. Paul writing to a church divided by party spirit says, "Love thinks the best“ 1 Cor 13v7. Do we do that or do we tend to perpetuate misunderstandings? Presentation 15

The Apostle's Solution The apostles deal with the problem immediately. Their solution was innovative. They introduced a new office to the church that of deacon. Their thinking was fluid enough to reshape the organisation of the community to suit its needs. That’s something we can learn from today. In church life, organisation becomes dangerous when it fails to be the servant of the church and becomes its master. This produces a rigid structure resistant to change. We need the sort of innovative, fluid thinking found here to address the pressing problems of church life. Presentation 15

The Apostle's Solution Secondly, their solution generous. They chose 7 men Greeks the group, who thought themselves discriminated against [all seven names are Greek]. In one bold stroke, the apostles indicated that they wanted to be seen to be beyond reproach. This is what Jesus meant by going the ‘extra mile’. When we do more than is required of us, we show that our actions are free from bitterness. This decision quenched the misunderstandings that had crept into the Hellenistic community. It healed the resentment and hurt in a way that nothing else could. Can you think of ways by which you can go the extra mile? Presentation 15

The Priority Of The Apostles The church in Jerusalem was also delivered from the danger of something much more subtle - the loss of her priorities and direction cf. v2, 4. The apostles could have cut back on preaching in order to act as administrators. They resisted that option. Why? Not because they thought the task too demeaning. Rather they recognised the priority of preaching for the advance of God's kingdom and of prayer which undergirded that advance. Every preacher knows the pressure to be involved in 100 good causes and have a finger in every pie. This passage reminds us of that danger. Presentation 15

The Priority Of The Apostles Why did the apostles consider preaching and prayer such a priority? God wants to communicate himself to others. The theme of his communication is unfolded in the gospel of reconciliation. Scripture both brings new spiritual life and sustains it. The factual doctrine and ethical direction found in God’s Word, feeds this new relationship. Preaching is the God-ordained method of making God’s Word accessible to men. When the apostles speak of the ministry of the Word, they see themselves as communicators of God’s truth. Presentation 15

The Priority Of The Apostles Preaching is a remarkable medium for it mediates, God's authority, presence and power. The preached Word creates the sense of being is the presence of God who is its subject matter. Through it we are searched and convicted by him. We are moved to humble ourselves and worship him and so respond in obedience to his will. It is therefore not enough to think of preaching as mere sermonising; the filling out of a stated slot of time with religious monologue. Presentation 15

The Priority Of The Apostles If the church should ever abandon preaching as its priority, not only will its light begin to dim but it will lose its sense of direction and purpose and most importantly the living presence of God. It will become at best a ‘Religious Social Work Department’ and at worst, merely another ‘Social Club’. Do we share in the apostles’ determination to preserve the great priority of preaching. Presentation 15

Conclusion We began by suggesting that a spanner had been thrown in the machinery of the early church. Its aim was to tear the fellowship apart and to distract the apostles from their primary objective preaching and prayer. God, took that spanner and used to advance his purposes. The church produced a fellowship that grew in fruitfulness and went on to claim converts from one of the most hitherto resistant groups v7, the priesthood. How like God to take something designed to bring ruin to his work and press it into his service! May God do that to all the spanners that appear in the works of our church fellowships. Presentation 15

Study in the Acts of the Apostles