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!

Look at us! Acts 3:4-7

We are all fairly good at it. When the Salvation Army or the Girl Scouts or some other organization is camped outside Walmart asking for donations or sales and we are not in the mood to donate or buy, we can be distracted with just about anything in order to keep from having to look at the people hoping for our attention. I am ashamed to admit that at times I have even strategically picked which door to walk in so I wouldn't have to walk within eye contact range. We are even better at avoiding eye contact with people who we know are begging in big cities. For some reason, we feel like if we don't acknowledge them, then we can go on with our evening as if we weren't confronted with serious misery and despair.

We can only guess, but I think that is why Luke points to Peter's first actions and words to this beggar at the temple gates. Peter both looked straight at him, and then he invited...instructed the man to look back. If you read the preceding verses, you see that this man was a regular fixture at the temple. His friends brought him every day to beg. If you went into the temple,  you passed this man. Most had probably become accustomed and inoculated to his presence and his misery. And he had definitely become accustomed and inoculated to them...to the point that he didn't even look at the people he was begging from. His expectations were very low of people. He certainly was not looking to build any new relationships with the passers-by. He was simply hoping their religious duty and their guilt would twist enough of the worshipers to toss a few coins his way so he could eat.

And then Peter and John came by.

Peter and John who were witnesses to the compassion of Christ.
Peter and John who were witnesses to the glory of the Christ on the Mt. of Transfiguration.
Peter and John who were witnesses of the resurrected Christ.
Peter and John who had the Spirit of the living Christ living in them.

And they really looked at him.
And they invited him to look at them.

If we didn't even finish the story, we could already say that they had given him something of great value. They recognized him as a person and not just a nuisance and a project. They offered him dignity by offering him relationship. Even if it was just the relationship of a look in the eye.

I can't help but think of how many people have lamented never feeling welcomed in churches because of a lack of eye contact. A lack of feeling that anyone viewed them as anything more than just a nuisance or a project. And that is in our Bible classes and our worship assemblies! How much more so the the countless faces who have encountered followers of Christ in restaurants, on streets, and in the checkout line and yet they were never really "looked at" by the Christians nor were they invited to "look at" the Christians in return.

But that's not all Peter and John did for this man. I love the words Peter uses.
"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you..."

For application purposes, the words that follow really don't matter. Because what they had to offer and what I have to offer and what you have to offer are going to be very different. I may have money to give. You may have time. Someone else may have connections. Another may have the gift of conversation.

What matters is that WHAT WE DO HAVE IS GIVEN IN THE NAME OF CHRIST!!

What do you have to offer someone? If you are not sure you have anything to offer, may I remind you that if you are a baptized follower of Christ, you too have witnessed the compassion, the glory, and the resurrection of Jesus even if you were not one of the original eye witnesses of the first century. And you definitely have the same Spirit of the living Christ living in you. If that is true, then you have something  to offer!

May we be a people who really sees other people. May each of us who wear the name of Christ make it our personal duty to ensure that everyone we come into contact with feels his/her significance in the eyes of God by looking into our eyes. And may we be ready and willing to offer whatever it is that we have to offer so that more and more people can run into the temple praising God for what He has done for them through us.