Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00010A
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00:21 Welcome to Books of the Book. My name is Jim Howard and I'm
00:25 here with my brother Mark. We're both pastors in the Michigan 00:28 Conference of Seventy-day Adventists and we have been 00:32 studying this book of Acts, a powerful book of the early 00:36 church's history and where we left off last time was at the 00:41 conclusion of chapter 5 and just entering into chapter 6 of the 00:46 book of Acts. So I'd like to go back to the end of chapter 5 and 00:50 just review just a short verse. But before I do I think it's 00:54 important that we stop and pray and ask God to especially bless 00:58 our study time together. Father in heaven, we are so 01:03 grateful that you have given us the privilege of studying your 01:06 word. We pray that the Spirit would be given to us now that 01:10 we might understand it the way you would have us to. In Jesus' 01:13 name, Amen. Well if we look here at the end 01:19 of chapter 5 in verse 42, and we'd invite our viewers to open 01:24 up your Bibles and follow along with us, it concluded chapter 5 01:29 after this incredible story of the apostles being challenged 01:34 and ultimately beaten, that they responded in verse 42 in a way 01:39 that we find very supernatural. It says and daily in the temple 01:43 and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching 01:47 Jesus as the Christ. It seemed that nothing was going to stop 01:51 the early church as we read here in the book of Acts and 01:55 sometimes I have to admit, reading the book of Acts makes 01:59 me a little jealous. I think wow this church had such power, they 02:04 had such purity. There didn't seem to be any problems that 02:07 existed. I mean, today we have struggle and strife in so many 02:11 things, but it didn't appear that way to them. The more that 02:15 they faced opposition, the more boldness and courage and the 02:18 more growth that came into the church. But as we enter into 02:22 chapter 6 we find something that begins to give a little hint 02:26 that things were not quite as different then as they are now. 02:30 It says in chapter 6 and verse 1 Now in those days when the 02:35 number of the disciples was multiplying, which was 02:37 definitely a good problem, there arose a complaint against the 02:41 Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were 02:45 neglected in the daily distribution. So here we see 02:49 that you know with growth come challenges. There were some 02:54 feelings that some were getting more than others and it sounds 02:59 like it was a very real problem but it was producing some 03:02 unsettled and not very good feelings amongst the people. 03:05 So from here a wonderful plan began to emerge and I believe 03:10 God ordained for the purpose of the church today so that we 03:14 could learn from what they accomplished as a result of this 03:18 problem. That's right. When we look back 03:19 at chapter 6 and we continue on there, of course you have this 03:22 situation where the Hellenists who were Greek-speaking Jews... 03:25 It was probably not an intentional neglect and that 03:30 word neglect means they were overlooked and for whatever 03:32 reason it created this tension but it was tension that needed 03:37 to be addressed. It's interesting to see how the 03:40 apostles addressed it as we look at verse 2. It says, Then the 12 03:44 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not 03:48 desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables 03:53 therefore brethren seek out from among you seven men of good 03:57 reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may 04:01 appoint over this business, but we will give ourselves 04:04 continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And this 04:08 saying pleased the whole multitude, etc. Now what happens 04:14 here is really fascinating. First of all they make the point 04:18 that it's not desirable that we should serve tables, but they 04:21 didn't say that serving tables was a bad thing. In other words, 04:25 they're using that expression to talk about distributing the food 04:28 for the needs of these Greek- speaking Jews and all the church 04:32 really. It's not that that wasn't a need and that serving 04:36 tables was a bad thing, but they realized that if we spend our 04:41 time serving tables it's going to take us away from what we 04:45 were called to do. It's interesting to me, Jim, how they 04:49 were clear enough on their purpose and mission not to allow 04:53 anything to distract from that and rather than ignore the 04:57 problem which would have created bigger problems they dealt with 05:00 it but they dealt with it in such a way as they would not 05:04 hinder their own working to preach the word and that's what 05:09 it says there in verse 4. We will give ourselves continually 05:15 to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And I think to 05:18 myself today and I think this is important for us to realize 05:21 whether we're talking about it in a church setting or in a 05:24 personal setting, the devil does not want the gospel message to 05:29 get out and he's always seeking to distract and when we give in 05:34 to those distractions he knows his plans are working and he 05:39 continues to throw all kinds of distractions our way and that 05:43 happens in our personal lives or in our corporate life as a 05:47 church. When the early church saw these distractions they 05:52 dealt with them but they never stopped their forward momentum 05:56 in proclaiming the gospel and I believe that that not only 06:00 kept the work going forward, it also hindered the enemy's 06:04 attempts to squelch the gospel message. Now another thing that 06:09 I think is important here is that we see the beginnings of, 06:13 well we've seen it before, but of organization of the early 06:16 church. It's interesting that it tells us in verse 2 that the 12 06:20 summoned the multitude. Now remember we had 11 when we 06:23 started the book of Acts and they found it important to 06:26 gather one more and that one more was Matthias who joined the 06:30 11 and became the twelfth. Now the church has added 3000 and 06:34 then 5000 so surely by now it doesn't matter that you have 12, 06:38 right? But evidently it does. It's still the 12. And now they 06:42 are appointing other leaders and organizing the church and 06:45 there's a purpose for that organization that I think you're 06:49 going to speak to here. Well it seems to me that when we 06:52 talk about the incredible growth of the church, you would think 06:57 it would slow things down. When you see an organization become 07:02 large and it kind of clogs everything up and it's slower 07:07 moving and that was, I'm sure, the fear ultimately that the 07:11 apostles had and why God gave this method of organization so 07:15 that it could continue to move quickly, the work that they were 07:19 called to do. You read through verse 4 and verse 5 and onward 07:24 it talks about setting aside these seven men who we 07:27 understand to be deacons. In verse 7, it says, then the word 07:32 of God slowed down. No absolutely not. Then the word 07:36 of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied 07:40 greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were 07:44 obedient to the faith. So apparently organization, in 07:48 God's method of organization, should advance the work even 07:52 faster. What we saw here was the mission of the church to carry 07:57 the message that God had entrusted them with to the then 08:01 known world, that mission was given to every disciple of 08:05 Christ and they were actively doing that. But as the results 08:08 of that came in and people were added to their number, it 08:14 brought organization in as a necessity. So there needed to be 08:18 hierarchy, there needed to be some structure to the church. 08:22 But Jim isn't it true though and I think some of this comes up 08:27 from where we have seen organizations that seem to 08:30 encumber and slow down progress and I think a lot of Christians 08:34 get the mindset that organization is bad, but it 08:37 doesn't have to be. That's right and that's what 08:40 this is revealing. Now the idea of this organized structure 08:45 being developed you know does have a danger and that is that 08:50 we can get to a point where we begin to see the structure as 08:55 the true essence of the church and rather than having a mission 09:01 that drives the structure, we then have a structure that 09:05 replaces the mission. Unfortunately this can happen in 09:09 our own churches where we have programs, lots of programs; we 09:14 are very busy. In our churches we have Bible study groups and 09:19 Sabbath Schools and we have children's and youth ministries, 09:24 choirs, we have so many different things that are 09:27 valuable programs and important programs, but when we really 09:31 look closely at them, the primary target of these programs 09:36 is for the existing church and we can be so busy within the 09:40 structure of the church that we actually fail to continue 09:45 carrying forward the mission of spreading the word of God and 09:49 the message entrusted to us to the world. You find in this 09:54 passage that developing this structure didn't take away the 09:59 need to spread the word. Even these seven men who were 10:02 appointed, including Stephen. Now that he was appointed as a 10:05 deacon didn't mean now he just served tables and he wasn't 10:09 responsible for spreading the word. No, as a disciple of 10:12 Christ that's his job. He's a witness for Christ and so you 10:15 see in the next couple of verses Stephen full of faith and power 10:19 begins to speak about the things that he did and we're going to 10:23 come to chapter 7 where he gives an incredible address in which 10:26 he shares the message entrusted to him by God. So the mission of 10:30 of the church must not be replaced by the structure. 10:33 The structure must be given to support that mission. 10:36 That's right. And as you mentioned, it didn't slow down 10:40 the progression of the message. Even among the seven we see in 10:44 verse 12 that as a result of Stephen's preaching which the 10:48 Bible says could not be refuted. Verse 12 says they stirred up 10:51 the people, the elders and scribes, and they came upon him, 10:55 we see that expression again, seized him and brought him to 10:58 the council. So once again they can't refute the message of 11:02 truth and so they resort to very carnal measures to try to stop 11:06 the message, and it goes on to say, they set up false witnesses 11:10 who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words 11:13 against this holy place and the law for we have heard him say 11:17 that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change 11:20 the customs which Moses delivered to us. Now it's 11:23 interesting to me, Jim, that there are Christians today who 11:27 say that Jesus did that very thing; he came to change the law 11:31 and the customs that Moses gave. These were false witnesses who 11:35 had to be manufactured to say that because Stephen wasn't 11:38 preaching it and it wasn't a reality and it's sad today that 11:41 there are many Christians who pick up the argument of the 11:44 false witnesses of Stephen not even realizing it, I'm sure, 11:49 instead of realizing the truth of scripture. Well of course 11:53 tried to stir the people up but they stirred the people up and 11:57 they brought false witnesses but they could not refute the 12:01 message of Stephen and the message of the gospel spread 12:05 with power. That's right. And if you look at 12:07 how this concludes, it was very clear that the people were not 12:13 in any way confused about these false witnesses, because in 12:19 verse 15 God gives a marked indication of his favor upon 12:24 Stephen. It says, And all, in verse 15, all who sat in the 12:29 council looking steadfastly at him saw his face as the face of 12:33 an angel. There was something about him that convicted their 12:38 hearts that this man bore the dignity and power of God in his 12:43 bearing and right after this we see one of those most amazing 12:47 addresses ever given by Stephen in chapter 7. It says in verse 1 12:52 Then the high priest said, Are these things so? and Stephen 12:56 begins to respond with this beautiful appeal. We want to get 13:00 to that appeal, but before we do we've got to go to break. So 13:04 when we come back we'll dive into Acts chapter 7 and this 13:08 wonderful address of Stephen. |
Revised 2014-12-17