June 05, 2020

Acts 6:1-7 KJV
[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 reason 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.
I want you to do me a favor before we start and think of the least exciting job at the church, or that job you would hate to do. It is probably time consuming, and doesn’t seem very rewarding. Someone has to take out the garbage, stack the chairs, and awkwardly welcome the new visitor. Are you willing to volunteer to do that job? Philip, the man whose life we are going to be looking at for the next several days, got his start in ministry by doing that very thing. He volunteered for a job that most people wouldn’t want.
Acts 6 picks up the story of the early church just a few months after Jesus had ascended into heaven. The group of Jesus’ followers had grown from dozens to thousands in just a matter of weeks (I hope they were social distancing!) The people were excited and the church was growing. The only problem was that the disciples, who were leading the church, couldn’t oversee everything that the church was doing. The first ever “church spat” broke out when one group in the church thought that their widows and elderly ladies were not getting the same treatment as the other group of widows and elderly ladies. Talk about a petty argument! The disciples were busy preaching to everyone in the city and teaching the growing church what Jesus had taught them; they did not have enough time in the day to make sure that everyone was getting the same amount of food. The disciples had an idea though: put people who were willing to serve the church in charge of making sure that both groups of ladies were given enough to eat.
Of all the jobs and tasks that needed to be done in the early church’s start who would volunteer to do that job first? There was so much excitement around the church in Jerusalem that there must have been all kinds of tasks that needed to be done everyday. Taking care of the widows had to be among the least exciting and thankless of the new church’s jobs, but it needed to be done. Seven men stepped up to serve their church. They didn’t do it to be recognized; in fact most of them are never even mentioned again. They knew that there was a need in the church, and they were willing to serve. It is no coincidence that this passage ends with a report that the church continued to grow. Philip and the others were more concerned with the growth of the church than they were with the growth of their own reputations.
Frank Newsome