The First Church Complaint- Acts 6:1-4

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"You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

That's a line that I've stolen from my mother-in-law. I'm not sure if it's original to her or not (she's an elementary school teacher!) But we use the line at my house all of the time!

It would be tempting to simply use that line any time we field complaints in any area of life, wouldn't it? I'm sure that most of our complaints should be responded to with that line. But occasionally, as we all know, there really is a legitimate complaint that needs to be dealt with. Such is the case in churches from time to time now and it was also the case in the church all the way back in Acts 6.

The situation was spelled out plainly enough in verse 1 and of course it centered around the fact that someone felt they were being neglected. In this case, it was an entire group of widows. The church had apparently already developed somewhat of a division. Not in that there was a lack of unity in Christ, but simply a language barrier. The Hellenistic Jews were most likely the Jews of the diaspora, those who lived in different places all over the world. Because of that, they would have spoken Greek as their primary language. The Hebraic Jews, on the other hand, who most likely were from the Palestine area, would have been familiar with Greek and comfortable with it, but would have spoken Hebrew or more likely Aramaic as their primary language. If you have ever worshiped in a bilingual service or been a part of a congregation with a ministry to a population that speaks little or no English, then you will understand this natural...and frustrating...division completely.

Whether by chance or by design, the Greek speaking Jewish, now Christian, widows were being neglected by the church who was working to take care of those incapable of taking care of themselves. What we don't know was whether the apostles had previously been directly responsible for this ministry. We do know that the Christians would give their donations to the apostles directly and then "they would be distributed to each as any had need" (Acts 4:35).

In truth, it doesn't matter if the apostles had previously been directly responsible for distributing the aid or if they had already delegated that task. Since Acts 6 is a very obvious delegation of responsibility, it seems to me that they had been the ones rationing out the food and money. If that is so, then it's worth noting that even the inspired apostles had trouble keeping up with the demands and needs of a large group of Christians!! If that was the case from the very beginning with the men who had  a miraculous indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then perhaps we should not be quite so surprised or offended today when preachers and/or elders allow something or someone to slip through the organizational cracks!

More importantly, though, no matter who was originally responsible for passing out the food, we can learn a few principles that definitely need to be applied today:

1. In order for a church to do its work, there has to be MANY people who are "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" who are willing to work and take initiative to minister. It is not hard to see in most congregations that too many of us are content to allow the Elders, and preachers, and the really high driven deacons to do the bulk of the work in the church. But I want you to think about something. Think about the ministries that your congregation is involved in and think about the ones that have the most passion behind them and seem to be the most beneficial and effective. Isn't it true that the ministries that really work are initiated and led by members who see a need and have the desire to fill it!?
2. In order for your personal ministry to be effective, you might need to narrow your focus. I am so thankful that the apostles were wise enough and Spirit-filled enough to recognize that if they simply "worked harder" in order to satisfy the legitimate concerns of the church, they would be neglecting the primary work that God had laid out for them. They were called to be witnesses and evangelists because of what they had seen and heard. Therefore, they recognized that it "wouldn't be right to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables." Did that mean that waiting on tables was beneath them or of less importance? Absolutely not! After all, the disciples of Christ were supposed to have been known for their love for each other! (John 13:34-35) But the truth is that we all are the have different roles in the body of Christ. If they had neglected their role to do someone else's, would God have been glorified and the kingdom of heaven advanced like it was?

I was so thankful to hear our elders a couple of months ago announce that they were working on plans to give more responsibilities to deacons in order for them to be free to do more of the work of shepherding. Is the work of the deacon any less important than the work of the shepherd or of the evangelist/preacher? Absolutely not! They go hand in hand and the complement each other! But the truth is that without multiple people to fill different individual roles, then evangelism will shrink backto nothing, programs will be dropped, people will be neglected, and people's souls will stagnate and fall away because too few people would be trying to do too much work!

What need have you recognized in your church and/or your community and/or the world? What do you think needs to be done about it? Can you guess who the best person is to do it!? Recruit someone else to help you out and light a fire under them for the work, but don't take a great idea to someone who is already ministering in their own great ideas and drop your great idea on them for either their work or yours to die! Take the initiative and be the answer to your complaint!!

May we be a people who is willing to work! May we be a people who is courageous enough to call others to work! May we be a people who takes initiative! May we be a people who is neither neglectful of the ministry of the word and of prayer nor the ministries of waiting on tables!

And may God be glorified through it all!