PT-2 The Requirement (Acts 6:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/31/2017 10:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  PT-2 The Requirement

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

            In this section we are reading about the requirements of the men that would be chosen for this task of leadership.  I wrote in our last SD that I would quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on his view of who this passage is speaking about.

            “The question arises as to whether these seven can be properly viewed as the first official deacons.  They performed some functions of the later deacons, and forms of the Greek word dikonos (deacon) are used to describe their ministry (vv. 1-2).  Yet to view them in terms of a formal office is anachronistic (out of date).  Of the seven, only Stephen and Philip appear elsewhere in Scripture, but they are never called deacons. Indeed, Stephen’s later ministry was clearly that of an evangelist, as was Philip’s (Acts 21:8).  While Acts later refers to elders (14:23; 20:17), there is no mention of deacons.  That is strange, if the office of deacon began in Acts 6.  Further, all seven had Greek names, implying that they may have been Hellenistic.  It seems unlikely, however, that a permanent order of deacons for the Jerusalem church would include no native Palestinian Jews.

            There are important principles in this passage for the continuing life of the church.  Here we see that the congregation is to nominate certain spiritually qualified men to serve, with the final appointment resting with those already in position as teachers and spiritual leaders.  Still, it seems best to see the selection of these seven as the Jerusalem church’s response to a temporary crisis.  It should be noted that the Greek word group from which our English word ‘deacon’ derives denotes service in general.  Diakonos, diakoneo, and diakonia  are used throughout the New Testament in a general, nonspecific way (cf. Luke 4:39; 10:40; 17:8; 22:27; John 2:5, 9; 12:2; Rom. 12:3-4; 15:25; 2 Cor. 8:3-4).  Thus their use in Acts 6 does not imply that the seven held the office of a deacon.  Significantly, when the church at Antioch later sent famine relief to the Jerusalem church, no mention is made of deacons (Acts. 11:29-30).  Instead, the relief was sent to the elders.  Stephen and Philip certainly did not continue long in this role, since both became evangelists.  And persecution would shortly scatter the Jerusalem congregation (Acts. 8:1), ending the ministry of the other five.  God raised them for a brief period of ministry, to handle a crisis.  The continuing unity of the church shows the effectiveness of their ministry. “

            As I mentioned in our last SD it has to do with the quality and godliness of people who are in leadership of the local church that is important, more important than what they are called. I also mentioned that the Lord has been using our church for 180 years and so I have to believe there is something about it that causes Him to continue to use it to this day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Double tongues” (1Timothy 3:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to Matthew 24, what two classes of persons will show great signs and wonders in their deceptive work?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/31/2017 10:54 AM

The Requirement (Acts 6:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/30/2017 10:23 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Requirements

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

            What we have been talking about are things that came out of the first organizational meeting of the church to solve the problem of making sure the Hellenistic widows were being fed.  We discussed the “reason” in our last four Spiritual Diaries and today we begin to look at the requirements found in Acts 6:3.

            We learned in our discussion of Acts 6:4 that it was most important to the church that the apostles needed to continue in their quest of Bible reading and also prayer, but this problem of feeding the Hellenistic Jews remained which is what we are discussing this morning.

            How was this problem to be solved?  Well the apostles wanted the congregation to select seven men of good reputation and also full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to put in charge of this task that was before them.  John MacArthur writes that “The word translated select is from the verb episkeptomai, meaning ‘to oversee,’ or ‘to supervise.’  The congregation was to look over the men who were respected and present their choices to the apostles.  They would make the final decision regarding their appointment to the task, as indicated by the words, ‘whom we may put in charge of this task.’”

            Let us now look at five required requirements:  1. The first requirement we see is that they must be men, men who would led the church.  When we look at Titus 2:3-5 we read “3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”  These verses speak of duties that women are to perform in the church, but leadership belongs to men as Luke writes “seven men.”  As we look through the New Testament we can see prominent women mentioned like Dorcas, Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla, and Phillip’s daughters.  2.  The phrase “from among you,” is the second requirement.  Church leaders should be in the process of developing good church leaders from the younger men who are in the congregation.  This men must come out of the church congregation as we will see later on in the book of Acts when Paul and his team would go to help in the appointment of leaders in the churches they began.  3.  The men from the congregation must be “of good reputation.”  In Paul’s writing to Timothy and Titus he gives requirements of men who are to be leaders in the church and this certainly is one of them. 4.  The men must be full of the Spirit, as “they must be fully yielded to His control in every area of their lives.”  5.  The final requirement is the men must be wise they must possess wisdom.  Wisdom is one of the attributes of God and so leaders in the church must also possess wisdom in order to lead the church.

            Now I realized that once we got to this section in the book of Acts that there would be discussion on whether or not these men were the first deacons who were appointed in the church and I must say that this is a difficult subject to write about.  The church that I have always gone to since I became a believer have been “Baptist” churches and that term Baptist can mean different things to different people.  Our church and the one that I used to attend to is in the “General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.”  We know that there are other associations associated with Baptist churches like “The Southern Baptist Association.”  The GRABC began in the 1940’s and it began because other Baptist organizations became liberal in their teaching.  Our Church and the church I use to go to have deacons in them while the church that John MacArthur pastors is somewhat different in that they have “Elders” in them.  Now an Elder is another name for Pastor or Bishop, but different than deacons.  His church may indeed have deacons, but the leadership of his church I do not believe includes deacons like the church I attend does.  John MacArthur has written a book that I have mentioned in an earlier SD entitled “The Master’s Plan for the Church,” and in that book he describes different plans for leadership in the church, different in that some have deacons and others do not.  I read that book probably 10 years ago and one of the things that I remember from it is the following.  MacArthur states that whether your church has deacons or elders in leadership capacity is not the main thing.  The main thing is that the quality of these men must be like what Luke is talking about in the verse we are looking at this morning.  You could have what you think is the right way of having leadership in your church but the men are not like the qualifications we have just discussed and the other way could be true too.  I have to say as I have stated that I believe that the Lord led me first of all to Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, Ohio and the first two pastors and also the deacons we had under these first two pastors were wonderful leaders, but things changed and I had to move to First Baptist Church of Elyria, Ohio.  The first Sunday that I visited First Baptist was the Sunday after the Thursday that their pastor had died.  He had been there for 25 years and the church had grown so much that a new addition had to be built.  First Baptist Church of Elyria, Ohio is 180 years old, as it began around the time of the Civil War.  God has blessed this church over its 180 years of existence and I am very happy to be a part of it.  That first day I went to visit First Baptist it was for me like going from a desert which I had been for the former five years to finding a wonderful refreshing oasis where springs of water could be found along with palm trees and fruit.  It was a wonderful experience.  Some later on the church called its pastor who has been there since 2011 and he reminds me of our second Pastor we had while attending Grace Baptist church, a man who I had great respect for.  Our leadership is made up of five pastors and a large number of deacons of which I believe all fit the things we have been talking about from this verse we are looking at today.  No church is perfect, as I can see from studying the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, but attending a church that has been around for 180 years gives me confidence that God has and my prayer is to continue to bless our church for many years to come, hopefully until the Lord comes.

            In our next SD we will look at the quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as he explains his feelings on the subject of deacons.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to say that I am thankful for the Lord leading me to First Baptist Church of Elyria.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “430 years” (Exodus 12:40).

Today’s Bible question:  “What kind of tongues should deacons not have?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/30/2017 11:11 AM    

PT-4 "The Reason (Acts 6:1-2, 4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2017 6:39 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-4 “The Reason”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:1-2, 4

            Message of the verses: “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables…4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”

            We have been talking about pray and Bible study or Prayer and the Word of God.  When unbelievers pick up a Bible and try to understand what they are reading it is impossible for them to completely understand what they read in it because it takes the Holy Spirit to be in a life so that He can help us understand what He wrote, for the Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit using men to communicate exactly what He wanted them to write.  As believers we need to pray before we study the Word of God so that the Spirit of God will open our eyes so we can understand what He wants us to understand.  Sometimes when we pray and read the Word we will see verses that seem to jump off the page to us even though we probably have read them many times before.  Verse four was the verse that spoke to my heart in our study from yesterday’s Spiritual Diary and I was convicted to make renewed effort to speak to the Lord in a more intense way before I read His Word.

            We want to look at a section from Acts 20:18b-21 to see that Paul served as an appropriate model of the commitment to the Word to which the ministry demands.  “"You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This statement could have only been made because of Paul’s commitment to prayer and the study of God’s Word.

            Now as we look at the following verses from 1 Corinthians 9:16-17, and 26-27 we will be able to see how Paul expressed his personal philosophy of ministry:  “16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me….26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

            John MacArthur concludes “From his dramatic conversation on the Damascus Road to the day a Roman executioner ended his life, Paul gave himself totally to the ministry.  There is no other way.  Every minister of Jesus Christ must give heed to Paul’s exhortation to Timothy:

“11 Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

“The devotion that Pau demanded to his young protégé is the same devotion the Lord Jesus Christ demands of all who serve Him.”

Answer from yesterday’s Bible question:  “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit” (1 John 5:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many years did the children of Israel sojourn in Egypt?”

Answer in our next SD.

  10/29/2017 7:05 PM

PT-3 "The Reason"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/28/2017 9:49 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-3 “The Reason”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:1-2, 4

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables… 4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”

            I have to say that there is much to look at in this section and we will not get through it this morning, but the main thing is to understand what the passage teaches us and not just run through it and miss things.

            We begin by looking at “Prayer and the ministry of God’s Word,” as found in verse six.  Now when I say that there is a lot more I am talking about the things that MacArthur writes in his commentary which is what we are following in these SD’s on Acts.

            Praying and the study of God’s Word are inseparably linked to each other.  When a pastor is following what the Bible speaks of, especially in the book of Ephesians which is a guide for us on how a church should operate we find that since the apostles are gone, and they have been gone for some 1900 years, that the Lord uses genuine born again pastors to teach us from His Word and so the genuine born again pastors when studying for a sermon will always bathe their preparation with prayer.  They must pray so that they can be a pure channel through which God’s truth can flow to his people he ministers to. 

            Who would come to your mind if asked who was the greatest proclaimer of God’s Word to ever live? and you cannot answer with Jesus.  The answer of course is the apostle Paul and he was a man devoted to prayer.  You will find many of his prayers in his letters as he generally prays for who he is writing to in the first part of his letters and then at the end he will give prayer requests to those he is writing to for his work and ministry, many times asking for prayer to better be equipped to spread the good news of the gospel.

            We will conclude this SD with the following quote from John MacArthur:  “The apostles’ pledge to devote themselves to their ministry set the pattern for all to follow.  The ministry demands total commitment, everything a man has to give.  There is no substitute for hard work and discipline.  A young man once said to the gifted expositor preacher of God’s Word Donald Grey Barnhouse, ‘I’d give the world to be able to teach the Bible like you.’   Looking him straight in the eye Dr. Barnhouse replied, ‘Good, because that’s exactly what it will cost you.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I certainly do not consider myself as a preacher of God’s Word as far as being a pastor, but perhaps God has given me the gift of teaching and so I believe that I  must ask the Lord to give me a great desire to look to Him in prayer before writing my Spiritual Diaries and teaching my Sunday school class.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be a better prayer warrior as I teach God’s Word to make sure that God will open my eyes to understand His Word so that I can pass it on to others.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Matthias” (Acts 1:15-26).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who are the three persons of the Trinity?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/28/2017 10:12 AM

PT-2 "The Reason" (Acts 6:1-2, 4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/27/2017 8:52 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  PT-2 The Reason

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Acts 6:1-2, 4

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables… 4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”

            Now as we look at the name “Hellenistic Jews” we can probably understand that these Jews speak the Greek language as opposed to the Hebrew language.  They would be using the Septuagint Bible as opposed to the Hebrew Bible.  The Septuagint is in the Greek language, that is the entire Old Testament is in the Greek Language and this can be very helpful in the study of the Old Testament today as it can make things clearer at times.  John MacArthur quotes Richard N. Longenecker who writes “According to the Talmud, Pharisaism made little secret of its contempt for Hellenists…they were frequently categorized by the native-born and assumedly more scrupulous populace of Jerusalem as second-class Israelites.”

            As mentioned in our last SD these Jews were there at the Passover celebration when Peter gave his first sermon and became believers in Christ and so stayed over in Jerusalem in order to be taught by the apostles, and so they were looking for work and a place to live.

            The issue that is brought up here seems insignificant, but these are the kind of things that can cause big problems if allowed to fester and not dealt with.  As we study the Old Testament we can see in places like Deuteronomy 14:29; 16:11; 24:19-21; and 26:12 things written about the fact that widows need to be cared for as this is very important to God that this be done.  Paul mentions this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:3 and following.  Little things like this could have split the church as I have heard stories about little things that have split churches, things like whether or not angels sing or not.  I suppose given the fact that these widows spoke the Greek language and in general these Jews were looked down upon because of the language they spoke that this issue came up and had to be dealt with, which is what will happen as we will see as we go on in this first section of the sixth chapter of Acts.

            In verse two we see the apostles called “the twelve” and this is the only time that Dr. Luke uses that term in the book of Acts, however he does use this six times in the gospel he wrote.  We see that the apostles did the correct thing in summing the congregation of the disciples in order to seek a solution.  As I looked at the term that is used for the congregation I see that Luke uses the word disciple and this makes me think of what the twelve and others were called in the gospels, the word means a learner or pupil so I guess that this would be a proper term for believers today too.

            Next we see that it was desirable for the apostles to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.  John MacArthur writes “It may be helpful to note that the word for tables, trapeze, can mean ‘a table or counter of a money changer,’ or ‘money matters,’ as well as an eating table (cf. such use in Matt. 21:12; Luke 19:23).  To involve themselves in the details of serving means and handling money matters would take them away from their calling.  Instead, they would ‘devote themselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.’  The apostles knew their priority was praying, preaching, teaching, and studying the Word.”  The apostles would not let anything get in their way from these duties.  Perhaps to paraphrase this we could say “You take care of serving food and caring for money matters, and we will care for the ministry of the Word which includes praying and studying the Word of God.  Now it may be wise at this point to understand that the only Bible they had was the Old Testament and I am sure they were studying the prophetic parts that had to do with our Lord’s first coming.

            We will end this second SD on “The Reason” by quoting an important paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary which will be helpful for the day we live in. 

“Many in ministry today have left the emphasis on prayer and the Word of God.  They are so involved in the administrative details of their church that they have little time left for intercession and study.  Yet pastors are given to the church ‘for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ’ (Eph. 4:12).  Their calling is to mature the saints so they can do the work of the ministry.  By neglecting that calling, they doom their congregations to languish in spiritual infancy.  Programs are no substitute for the power of God and His Word.  Those whom God has called to the ministry of prayer and the Word must make it their priority.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire not to make little things into big things so that they fester and cause problems.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord as I continue to make preparations in my study of the seven churches from the book of Revelation, as I seek God’s will and direction in teaching this very important section of the Word of God.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (1 Samuel 16:1-4).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who replaced Judas as one of the twelve apostles?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/27/2017 9:50 AM

PT-1 The Problem (Acts 6:1-2, 4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/26/2017 9:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 The Reason

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Acts 6:1-2, 4

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.  4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”

            In our introduction we mentioned a problem that had arose, and the problem in a sense was a good problem in that it came about because the church family was increasing very rapidly, in fact there is no more counting those who had been saved as that number was very large.  In Acts 4:4 we read that the number is 5,000, and this probably only refers to the men as that is the way we see things like this in the Bible, as numbers usually only speak of men.  With that said the number could be around 20,000 including women and children.

            This section sort of reminds me of what we read in the early chapters of the Bible that spoke about Moses listening to the problems of the children of Israel as they made their way towards the Promised Land.  Moses’ father-in-law came to speak to him about this problem and he told Moses to appoint leaders to hear the cases the people brought to him and that is what he did and this took some of the load off of him.  The apostles could see that the rapid expansion of the church brings about problems and they were going to need help with these problems as they were unable to carry the load for all the problems expansion to the church brought.  The church was certainly not like what we have in our country today in communication and technology ways.  The apostles could not send out an email to all the people in the church and have them get it on their smart phones, so indeed times were different then.  What this problem did was cause the church to organize, and that is what they were going to do.

            John MacArthur writes “There was another reason for the church to organize.  They had fulfilled the first part of the Lord’s four-part charge to them (1:8).  They had saturated Jerusalem with the gospel message (5:28) and even begun to reach out to the surrounding region (5:16).  Now they were poised to evangelize Samaria and the Gentile world. To do so successfully required further planning and structuring of the assembly.”

            As we read this section we see that the problem discussed here is that the Hellenistic Jews were not getting their enough food as they were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.  We have seen Satan’s attacks on the early church through persecution and then moving inward into the church to cause people to lie in the first part of chapter five.  More persecution happened at the end of the fifth chapter of Acts, and now this problem which may well have been something that Satan was trying to accomplish behind the scenes could have been a huge problem for the church.  In order to continue to work on the mission of the church, which is evangelism, the church needed to remain pure.

            What Satan was trying to do here was to cause dissension within the church, dissension through the complaining of people not getting enough food at the correct time.  We must remember that this church grew fast and also when people first received Christ on the Day of Pentecost that many were from out of town and therefore many must have stayed there to be under the teaching of the apostles and thus needed both food and lodging, and perhaps a job too.  I remember listening to one of John MacArthur’s sermons where he spoke of how he met with new arrivals at his church after the service to talk with them.  This must have happened each and every week as his church really began to grow.  It went from 500 to 5000 in a short time after he began to preach there.  He mentioned that people would come in and say that they had sold everything and moved to be near the church and they wanted information on where they could live and also where they could get a job.  These people wanted to be under the preaching of the Word where MacArthur was preaching.  Something similar may well have been happening here in Jerusalem.  Growth can bring about problems, problems that the enemy can magnify and could cause disunity in the church.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have noticed that since I have been teaching Sunday school that there have been some things that have happened to me that I can say may never have happened if I had not followed what I believe the Lord wants me to do.  Satan never takes a holiday.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the understanding and the strength to overcome the problems that go along with doing what He wants me to do.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (John 21:6).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what town did God send Samuel to anoint a king?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/26/2017 9:55 AM

Intro to Acts 6:1-7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/25/2017 10:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Acts 6:1-7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 "Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them. 7 The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”

            In John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Acts he entitles this chapter “Spiritual Organization” and as we read through these verses we will see that this is a great name for this portion of Scripture. 

            As we look at these verses we will also see that there is a long-running debate over church policy.  In one extreme, affirming the power of Christ in His church with the statement that “Christians become very unchristian when they get organized.”  Then the proponents argue that the church should reject formal organization or even structure and just flow with the Spirit of God.  Some even go to the extreme of having church membership.  Now when we think about that statement of not believing in church membership, and I am not sure how many even think this way, but I am sure that there are many, we come to the conclusion that God is not organized, and that statement just does not make sense.  All we have to do is look at creation to see that God is organized, and by the way when we read through the Old Testament we see that the main theme of it is the coming of the Messiah, and that also takes careful organization for that to take place.  The church is to be organized and if we take the time to study the book of Ephesians which tells us how the church should operate we see organization there too.

            When we looked at a statement earlier from our study of Acts written by John MacArthur he talked about the mission of the church, which is evangelism so if we look at evangelism as being the mission of the church then we have to be organized in order to fulfill that mission.  He went on to talk about what others thought the mission of the church was whether it was to be run like a country club where people go and socialize or whether we are to meet in order to make sure our government runs in conjunction with what the Scriptures speak of.  None of these of course is true, but as we begin to look at these verses we see that the apostles truly knew what the mission of the church was and it was not waiting on tables to feed the hungry widows, although that was an important thing to do, but it had to be done by others so that the apostles could be studying the Word of God and praying.

            Now as we look at these two views let us see what John MacArthur writes about them in his commentary:  “Both extremes are wrong; the church is neither a highly contrived corporation nor a loose commune, but an organism.  It has both an organic unity and an operative life principle, wince all members are connected to its living Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Yet just as living organisms require structure and organization to function, so does the church.

            “The early church ste the example of a living, interdependent organism.  Their unity and power gave them a testimony that swept Jerusalem.  Multitudes had come to faith in Jesus Christ.  No persecution or opposition from the Jewish authorities could stop the spread of the gospel.  The believers’ love for each other, expressed in the sharing of material goods, had made a profound impact on the community.  As a result, even unbelievers held the church in high regard (5:13).

            “The church’s explosive growth had brought with it the need for further organization.  It was already somewhat organized.  They knew (at least early on) the number of converts (2:41) and members (4:4).  Someone must have been keeping count.  The met together in specific places at specific times.  The believers also met for meals in private homes.  Money and goods were collected by the apostles and distributed to those in need.  Sin had to be dealt with.  All those activities also demanded some level of organization.  The church became further structured as its life and growth demanded.”   

            I have read stories of people who believed that the early church was like communism, and we wrote about that earlier, but as you think of the things that MacArthur wrote we see that the church was structured in its early start.  Now when we look at the church today we mostly see it meets in buildings which are actually mistakenly called “churches,” but in fact it is the church (the called out ones) who meet in this building we call a church building.  I have actually gone to two church as far as being members of two since I became a born again believer and these two being both Baptist have similar organization.  All people who profess to being born again believers meet with a group of deacons to tell of their testimony and if they accept that testimony then they are voted on before the congregation to become members.  The idea is that as best as we can know all members are truly born from above where once that happens they are members of God’s universal church and are expected to then join a local church body in order to serve the Lord with the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given them to serve effectively.    

            John MacArthur concludes “In acts chapter 6 the church faced its first serious organizational crisis.  To eliminate a potentially divisive problem required further organization.  From this first organizational meeting four features stand out:  the reason, the requirements, the roster, and the results.”  We will be looking at the four features as we study these first seven verses in this very short 6^th chapter of the book of Acts.

            For further study on the structure of the church I recommend reading “The Master’s Plan for the Church” by John MacArthur.  Although I do not totally agree with all he says in this book I had to do what my first pastor recommended about reading books.  He said reading books is like eating fish, when you come to a bone you through it out and keep on eating fish.  This book is 99% fish.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “5,000.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find fish?”  (I guess they were on the wrong side.)

Answer in our next SD.

10/25/2017 11:01 AM

Saving Acceptance (Acts 5:41-42)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/24/2017 10:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  Saving Acceptance

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 5:41-42

            Message of the verses:  “41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

            As I begin this SD I want to quote from 1 Peter 4:13 “but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”  There are many other verses that apply to what happened to the apostles, but 1 Peter 4:13 is a good verse to show what happened to the apostles, and not only the apostles, but to all who have, or are going through those who are suffering for the cause of Christ.  I mentioned in my Sunday school class this past Sunday that there was a difference between the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia in that although both churches received no rebuke from our Lord, but Smyrna was being persecuted while Philadelphia was not.  Christ was and is in complete control of His churches and so He allows whatever is necessary to come into the different local churches in order to bring glory to His name.  The disciples when through some horrible things as they received 40 lashes, and yet came away rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ, and as we look at this we know that the world will never understand this, but believes do understand it, for after all we read in Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  He is our example.

            The apostles continued to preach in the temple and from house to house the message of the gospel even though they were told not to do so, but they would rather obey God than man.

            John MacArthur completes this 13^th chapter in his commentary by writing “The early church understood the pattern for effective evangelism.  By consistently practicing that pattern, they turned their world upside down (cf. Acts 17:6).  At the very time they were experiencing the most furious opposition, and some tolerant indecision, their number was constantly increasing (Acts 6:1).  As Paul told the Corinthians, such preachers ‘are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life’ (2 Cor. 2:15-16).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Lord is in complete control of what is going on in His church, down to each person who has named the name of Jesus Christ, and He is also in complete control of all that is going on in the world today and everyday.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be thankful that the Lord is in complete control of all things.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Philippians 2:11).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many men did Jesus feed with the five loaves and two fishes?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/24/2017 11:35 AM

Tolerant Indecision (Acts 5:34-40)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2017 10:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Tolerant Indecision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 5:34-40

            Message of the verses:  “34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. 35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 "So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God." 40 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.”

            I have to say that in practically all the times when I have explained the gospel message to people that I did not receive a hostile reply, maybe perhaps they would say that they are not at all interested, but most of the time they would be with indifference and this is what we see with a man named Gamaliel in our verses for today.  Gamaliel was a much respected Pharisee during this time period and a man that people listened to when he spoke.  We will learn later that Saul of Tarsus learned under this man’s teaching and we know that Saul who became Paul the apostle knew the Law very well.  What we see here is that the hand of God was upon this man as he spoke with common sense.  John MacArthur quotes F. F. Bruce as he speaks about Gamaliel:  “He was easily the most prominent rabbi of that time and one of the greatest of all antiquity.  He was the grandson of another prominent rabbi, Hillel, and his successor as leader of the liberal wing of the Pharisees, Gamaliel was one of the few honored with the title rabban, instead of the usual title ‘rabbi.”  MacArthur goes on asking “How highly he was ‘respected by all the people’ may be seen in the following quotation from the Mishna:  ‘When Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, the glory of the Law ceased and purity and abstinence died’ (cited in John B. Polhill, The American Commentary.”  His most famous student was the apostle Paul (Acts 22:3).”

            I mentioned that I thought that Gamaliel used common sense as he has the apostles leave the room and then he tells them stories of others who had started some things that perhaps were similar to what these apostles were doing, but then he goes on to say that if what these men were doing was from the hand of God, if they were actually doing what was in the plan and will of God that they had better just leave it along for they could not stop what the Lord wanted to happen.  Now I am not going to go over what people wrote about the different revolts that Gamaliel speaks about for there are actually differing opinions about them. 

            John MacArthur writes “While Gamaliel’s counsel seemed wise to the Sanhedrin, the notion that whatever succeeds has God’s blessing is false.  Cults and false religions in our day have millions of followers.  And what more evidence did he need to convince him beyond the empty tomb of Jesus and the miracles performed by the apostles?  The word to all such fence sitters is ‘Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2; cf. Heb. 3:7; 4:7).  Gamaliel was a pragmatist—a poor substitute for being a good biblical scholar.  Such lethargy on his part is not commendable in light of what he knew of the Scripture and what he knew of the work of Jesus and the power of the apostles in His name.”

            As we look at what happened to the apostles after this we can see that the hostility of some of these men had to be satisfied as the apostles probably received forty lashes for what the Sanhedrin thought was punishment for doing wrong.  Apparently Gamaliel had no problem with the whipping, again revealing his indifference. 

            I have to admit that some of my thoughts concerning Gamaliel have been changed, and when I am faced with new evidence concerning him that John MacArthur brings up I have had to weigh it to see that what he writes is true, and in this case I believe it is.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Indifference is something that as far as when it comes to the Word of God and what it teaches is not good. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to trust the Lord to give me some helpful thoughts and planning as I continue to prepare to teach about the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 as I have a couple of weeks not having to teach as we have a Mission’s conference going on at church, and so I want to use this time wisely.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “If he would walk in his ways and keep his commandments” (1 Kings 3:14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who has a name which is above every name?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/23/2017 11:11 AM

           

Violent Hostility (Acts 5:33)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2017 10:22 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “Violent Hostility”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 5:33

            Message of the verses:  “33 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.”

            I remember when my mother passed away in late July of 2012 and before that happened I asked her if she wanted me to speak at her funeral.  Mom, like me and many believers are looking for the rapture of the church and so I entitled the message I gave at her funeral “Mom’s Hope.”  There was a clear presentation of the gospel in that message and I also spoke briefly about Mom’s Hope, which was the rapture and I invited our new pastor to come and to close the service in prayer.  Sometime later he spoke to me and told me that some of the people who were sitting near him were complaining at the message, the message of hope, the message on how to make sure that when life is over on this earth that you can be assured to go to heaven to be with the Lord.  People can get very hostile towards the gospel as seen in our verse for today, as these Jewish leaders who were in the Sanhedrin wanted to kill the apostles because of the message they were telling.  Our verse states that “they were cut to the quick” and John MacArthur writes “Diaprio (‘cut to the quick’) appears only here and in Acts 7:54.  It literally refers to cutting something in two—and apt metaphor to describe the power of the Word of God (Heb. 4:12).  Instead of yielding to the truth the authorities hardened their heart.  As they had done to Jesus (cf. John 5:16; 7:32; 8:59; 10:21; 11:57) in spite of the abundant evidence, they rejected the apostles’ teaching and violently opposed them as blasphemers.”

            The following are some of the reasons that the high priest and his fellow Sadducees were enraged with the apostles.  First of all the apostles had denied their doctrine by proclaiming the resurrection.  Then they had defiled the Sanhedrin’s authority by preaching after they had given them orders not to preach in Jesus’ name.  Finally, because they won a large number of converts for the cause of Christ this also threatened the Sadducees’ domination of the people.  I guess you could say that they were jealous, jealous enough to want to kill them.

            MacArthur concludes by stating “Our gospel presentations must be definitive enough that the world must take note, even if they reject our message.  If the gospel we preach is not convicting enough to make some men angry, is it convicting enough to bring them salvation?”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The cubit.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Under what conditions did God promise Solomon long life?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/22/2017 10:42 PM

Intro to Productivity (Acts 5:22-42)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/21/2017 9:08 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Productivity

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 5:33-42

            Message of the verses:  “33 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. 35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38  "So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39  but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God." 40 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

            Since we are following the outline in the commentary of John MacArthur in these Spiritual Diaries I wanted to brief you on what we will be looking at in the upcoming Spiritual Diaries.  This very long portion of Scripture, at least longer than we are use to be looking at, will actually finish up chapter five in the book of Acts.  I mentioned in the “focus” portion that this is an introduction to these verses as there are what I like to refer to as “sub-points” that appear under this main point of “Productivity.”  We will be looking at “Violent Hostility,” “Tolerant Indecision,” and “Saving Acceptance” in the days to come with the second sub-point of “Tolerant Indecision” taking up the most time to look at.  I have said a lot of times the statement “this is one of my favorite portions of Scripture” and when we look at the Pharisee name Gamaliel and how he handled this situation here it is a favorite section to me.  Gamaliel as we will learn was the teacher of Saul of Tarsus who became the great apostle Paul and the second section of the book of Acts which speaks of the ministry to the Gentiles, Paul is the main human character.  The Holy Spirit is probably the main character in the book of Acts as some have called this book the “Acts of the Holy Spirit,” and that is something that I cannot disagree with.

            The following is a quote from John MacArthur as he introduces this last main point from his commentary to us:  “The concluding verses of this chapter give the productive results of the evangelism of the pure, powerful, persecuted, persistent church.  Although to some it was brief, Peter’s sermon to the Sanhedrin was powerful and convicting.  He charged them with rejecting and executing their Messiah, and hence being in rebellion against God.  He did not play on their emotions or soften the confrontation, but presented the truth.  Conviction that leads to salvation can only take place when the Spirit of God (cf. John 16:7-11) uses the facts of the Word of God to produce repentance in a person’s heart and mind.

            “To convicting preaching there are but three possible reactions:  violent hostility, tolerant indecision, or saving acceptance.  This passage illustrates them all.” 

            I wanted to take the time to quote John 16:7-11 as was mentioned in this quote:  “7  "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the Holy Spirit as He is probably the most unheralded Person of the trinity.  I am thankful for the effectual call that He gave to me for salvation, I am thankful for the fact that He dwells in me, I am thankful for the fact that He teaches me from His Word, and I am thankful for, and perhaps mostly thankful for His longsuffering with me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord that what I teach in our Sunday school class tomorrow will be useful for the cause of Christ and bring glory to Him, and I trust that the Spirit of God will lead me in my teaching of the introduction to the seven churches found in Revelation 2-3.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ester” (Ester 2:8-9).

 Today’s Bible question:  “What Hebrew measurement was the distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger (about 18 inches)?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/21/2017 9:34 AM