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