Speaker 1: 0:00

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts chapter 6. You can turn to Acts chapter 6, and we'll get there in just a moment. But before we dig into Acts chapter 6, I want to take you into two different moments in history. Because these moments in history, I think they speak to an example that illustrates the point of what we're going to see in Acts 6. Both of these moments in history occur in Eastern Europe. They both occur under oppression. They both began with conviction, but only one of these two moments built something that lasted. Of these two moments built something that lasted.

Speaker 1: 0:49

The first moment is during World War II, in a Nazi-occupied part of Eastern Europe, in what today is Lithuania, a group of Jewish resistance fighters rose up in a ghetto called Vilna Ghetto. They were surrounded by death and starvation and they formed a resistance unit called the United Partisans. These were ordinary people, teachers, teenagers, tradesmen who chose to fight back. They trained secretly, they smuggled weapons, they carried out missions against impossible odds. Their passion was evident, it was undeniable, their bravery was extraordinary, but the movement never grew much beyond their circle. They didn't have a broader network, their structure remained simple, their communication was limited and eventually they were captured, scattered or killed. Their resistance today is remembered with honor. But it didn't last. Passion alone was not enough to carry it forward. Now I want to fast forward 40 years from then. A completely different moment in history, but still in Eastern Europe, but this time in Poland.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Another movement began, again under oppression, this time from Soviet-backed communist rule. It started in a shipyard in Gdansk I don't know if I said that right, but that's how I read it. There, in that shipyard, a group of workers protested. But the movement there didn't stop with a protest. They called themselves Solidarity and instead of staying underground and fragmented, they organized. They elected leaders. They built a national network of local chapters. They even partnered with churches. They elected leaders. They built a national network of local chapters. They even partnered with churches. They trained volunteers. They negotiated with government leaders. The Polish government tried to crush them. Martial law was declared. Leaders were imprisoned, but because the movement was structured, it endured. Over the next decade, solidarity grew into a force that no longer could be ignored and in 1989, after years of pressure, they sat down with the government in what became known as the Roundtable Talks. That meeting led to Poland's first semi-free elections and months later Poland appointed the first non-communist prime minister in the entire Soviet bloc.

Speaker 1: 3:30

No violence, no revolution, just sustained, organized resistance, rooted in belief and built to last. So what's the difference between those two moments in history? What's the difference between those two moments in history? Both of those movements involved people who believed deeply in their cause. They both showed courage in the face of real danger, but one never moved beyond scattered resistance and it faded. The other built structure that helped transform a nation. That's the power of conviction plus organization.

Speaker 1: 4:12

That's what I'm going to say is happening here in Acts 6. As we talked about in the previous weeks, the early church had been born through belief and then, from belief, they shared life through belonging. But now, when we get here to Acts 6, the mission is growing and the needs are growing too. The question that they have to face is is it going to stay informal or are they going to take steps towards structure? Well, the answer is they're going to take those steps, and so that's what we're going to look at today in Acts 6. So follow with me as I read the first seven verses here of Acts 6.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Before I read them, a couple preliminary comments. First of all, a lot of times you might have heard this passage preached with the idea of deacons in mind, and I think that can be very legitimate, but ultimately that's not what is happening here. The principles can apply to deacons, but there's something more base level that's happening here, so I want you to try to approach it with fresh ears. Secondly, there's going to be two groups in here the Hellenists. Those are Jewish people, ethnically Jewish people in Jerusalem that are not Aramaic speaking. They're Greek in culture. They're from probably other countries in the broader Roman empire, other countries in the broader Roman Empire. They speak Greek as their main language. Those are the Hellenists. And then you have the Hebrews. The Hebrews are ethnically Jewish people that speak Aramaic as their first language and would be culturally more Jewish. So you have these two ethnically related people that are a part of the church together, but they have different cultural backgrounds. Some of them come out of another country that their families had historically moved to, and so their culture is different. And so those are some important things to know as we read this text together. So follow with me as I read these seven verses.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Now, in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicholas, a proselytite of Antioch. These they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them, and the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. This is the word of the Lord.

Speaker 1: 8:26

So this story is probably pretty familiar. If you're a longtime church person, you've heard this story. We have here a church that was established and is growing and has to, out of necessity, develop certain structures, and so out of this text, I'm going to try to preach to you today this big idea, and this big idea, I think, has a lot to speak to our unique church, redeemer Church, right here in this place in this time. I think it has a lot to speak to our unique church, redeemer Church, right here in this place in this time. I think it has a lot to speak to every individual church that there is, but I think it's going to be particularly good for us as a church to dig in here. And so the big idea is this is that as the church grows, spirit-led structure, protects unity, empowers people and sustains the mission. As the church grows, spirit-led structure protects unity, empowers people and sustains the mission.

Speaker 1: 9:55

You see, what we see here in this text is a church and yes, it is a church in a very specific point in time that is very different from our specific time. This, like I said last week, the book of Acts, is not a manual for how to do it. So we don't look at this and say, oh, this is what we have to do. We have to have, you know, seven men that distribute food to the widows. That's not the specific need of our church. This is not meant to be a manual, but it is an example of how this specific church applied the principles of the gospel to a very real situation.

Speaker 1: 10:47

And so, before we dig into all of that, I want to start with two kind of recap points that I think are really important to bring us to where we are. Remember, we're in a three-part series, just three sermons. That's it in the book of Acts that we're calling the church series, or the Redeemer church series, where we are trying to me and Pastor Ricky, are trying to proclaim to you, to teach to you what we, as Redeemer church, ought to be from these foundational texts. And so Pastor Ricky started out with chapter two and preaching about Pentecost. But I want to go back just a little before that, because there's something in the book of Acts that's very foundational that I think all three of these flow out of, and so that is Acts 1.8.

Speaker 1: 11:46

And Acts 1.8 is going to show us this recap that the church was empowered for mission. The church was empowered for mission, acts 1.8, you know it. But the first part of Acts 1.8 says but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. I think you know that verse. It's the promise that the Spirit was coming, that the Spirit was going to empower the disciples to proclaim, to be witnesses, to testify of the truth of what Jesus had done to the ends of the earth. The rest of the book of Acts is really an explanation of what that power delivered and worked out looks like. And so that's where we are.

Speaker 1: 12:49

We are looking at a very specific church, the church in Jerusalem and Pastor Ricky gave us that intro where, when the power came, when it was given that it created a church, what happened? 3,000, we were told, after Peter preached his sermons that 3,000 were saved, 3,000 came to faith, 3,000 had their lives turned upside down when they saw the power of the Spirit come down and heard Peter, empowered by the Spirit, proclaim the truth of the gospel. That is belief. It's where we see belief and if you remember, last week I framed this about belief, belonging and building. The first week was belief that a church, a true church, is made up of people who truly believe. But then in week two, I picked up last week and we finished chapter two and we saw the new believers engage in community life. They had belonging, they were sharing, they were growing together.

Speaker 1: 14:14

And today, in Acts 6, we're going to see that for this mission to go forward, structure is needed, not to control the church, but structure is needed so that the mission can continue multiplying forward. And so that's my argument for us here is that, similarly, we need structure. So the first recap was that the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit for mission. And so what does a Holy Spirit empowered church look like? Well, it looks like people believe, people engage in community, and so this is the second reminder that the church shared life through belonging. And so if you were here last week, you will remember this. But if you weren't here last week, listen, because this is important. And even if you were, listen If you recall.

Speaker 1: 15:09

They were devoted. What were they devoted to? Well, there were four pillars. They were devoted to teaching, to fellowship, to the gathering around the table and to prayer. These four foundational pieces of the church were utterly essential, and then they went from there and they met each other's needs. It says they had everything in common. They were in genuine, true awe of God to see the works that God was doing among them and the gospel.

Speaker 1: 15:43

Ultimately, if you remember, we concluded last week with the idea that the gospel was made visible through their life, lived out. The church is living out belief in that example, in real community, real fellowship, not just, hey, let's hang out and have a good time together, but hey, let's speak truth into each other's lives, let's come alongside each other, let's partner together in mission, let's serve God together and their community. If you remember this, it wasn't perfect, but it was compelling. And as that compelling community went forward, that's what people saw and were drawn to that, hey, something is different in this group of people. So let's look at Acts, chapter 6, and see where they were at. So the first thing is this that the church needed structure to keep going, and this is the first couple of verses Growth as they grew, it says in verse one, the disciples were increasing in number, and this is like an example of how we're obviously in a different place. I mean, they're dealing with thousands, we're dealing with this room of people engaged in this community. It's a different scenario, but I think that the things that we see them do speak wisdom and truth applied to us.

Speaker 1: 17:25

As this specific group continued to multiply in number, it revealed a gap, a group that was being overlooked. In last week's verses it told us that they kind of had everything in common. They pooled their resources and one of the things that they did is they had a daily distribution of food, particularly to the widows and probably other people that were in need in that society. They were unable to provide for themselves, and so the church would come alongside and would care for those that had need. But because of the growth, there was a gap. There was this group of the Hellenist widows that were being overlooked. Now we're not really told enough to know for sure if this was a sinful overlooking or an unintentional overlooking, but the reality is is that there was a group being overlooked, whether it be due to language barrier and the inability to express need, or whether it be something else. It was a genuine need that had outgrown. Informal care just like, hey, let's pass it out.

Speaker 1: 18:37

So what did the apostles do? Well, they didn't panic, they didn't ignore it, but they also didn't directly solve the problem themselves. No, they made a way forward by involving the people of the church. This is the shift from we already shifted from belief to belonging. This is the shift from belonging to building. A healthy body needs healthy systems.

Speaker 1: 19:14

Now, as I'm talking about our own church and I talk about other churches, the reality is that sometimes, as churches, we get caught up in the structure and we lose the first two parts. You can't do that. But what we see here is structure that empowers others. Sorry, what we see here is structure that enables the body to continue to grow, to continue to grow in health. And so what did the disciples do? Well, they handed over some authority to the church as a whole. They empowered the church, empowered others to take ownership. The disciples told them hey, pick out from among you. They told the church to pick out their own leaders, to call out leaders. And then they said and we will lay hands on them, we will commission them for this task. Why? Why? Well, we're given a couple reasons, but to summarize them, the apostles were busy, and they were busy with the ministry of the word and with prayer.

Speaker 1: 20:33

Now, like I said earlier, this does not, one for one, correlate with deacons. A lot of times we'll look at this passage and we'll say well, these seven, they're like proto-deacons, and I think that's legitimate. But I don't think this passage is limited to applying to people who officially have the office of deacon. I think this passage instead teaches us that when the life of the church demands that some kind of service take place, whatever that is, you know place, whatever that is, you know. Oh well, we as a church have chosen to own a property and as, choosing to own a property together, that means that there needs to be cleaning, that means there needs to be maintenance, that means there needs to be certain things that happen throughout the week. Those are real needs that the church needs to meet.

Speaker 1: 21:31

As the church chooses to gather publicly on Sunday, the way that we do, there's certain needs associated with that that people can step into, ways that they can serve, ways that they can contribute here. They had a situation where they needed help distributing food, and so they called help distributing food, and so they called out these seven. Why, well, they did it? Because, first of all, they were trustworthy. They were spiritual people, people who had a certain maturity, a certain trustworthiness, a certain ability that the people said, hey, you know what? I believe that these seven, they can be impartial, they can organize this, they have the skills necessary to make it happen, and so they called them out and then they were commissioned for that task. I think in the same way, in the same way, we as a church can look out and we can see that we have needs as well, needs as well.

Speaker 1: 22:48

The truth is that I think as a church, we could do a better job sharing the load of the work that we have to do. And I'm going to say this, and Pastor Ricky and I have talked about this, and so I'm going to say this plainly me and Pastor Ricky do not believe that we have done a good job leading in a way that shares the burden. And, frankly, a lot of times we've seen a lot of different things that need to be done as it's just easier for us to do it. And also, daniel, who is the pastoral intern, and you know what I love serving. I don't mind doing things, but the question isn't always, you know, are me and Ricky able to do it? But sometimes the question is, should we be the ones doing it? And I would say the answer is no, because the reality is sure we can do a lot, but we can't grow if we're not sharing this burden.

Speaker 1: 24:00

We need, as a church, to do well serving alongside one another. So just to get super practical, and remember, I told Ricky and I told you at the beginning of this series this is a different kind of sermon series. It's not as rooted in the text, not that it's not rooted in the text, but we're just not digging in. I'm just going to share a little bit of what I see as two areas of need that we have as Redeemer Church. First of all, I think we need and this lands on me and Pastor Ricky to initiate this we need more organization to do things well. I think a lot of times we have not, we've not asked people to be involved and we've not given people to be involved and we've not given opportunity to be involved. Please, I don't know how this whole thing is coming across. This is not me saying you guys are not doing well. This is me saying I'm going to ask you as a church to help us because we haven't asked.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Well, we need help with things like greeting on Sunday mornings and having organization with that. We need help counting our offerings. We need help with cleaning around the property and yard work. We need help with people who get here early and set up and then tear down afterwards. These things are obviously, to one extent or another, happening, but they're not necessarily always happening well. Some things could be very, very small, but they're still significant. So one area that we need, one level of need we have at our church is people to serve. Another area of need that we have as a church is for people to lead.

Speaker 1: 26:12

The reality is we would love to have lay leaders over areas of ministry, and at one point we did, and right now we just don't have much of that. We've started to get some organization with like the AV booth, for example, and that's great, but we need more organization in a lot of areas of the church, and so some of the ways that we want to establish this is just by talking with each other as a church. So something that we're going to do I don't know when the first one will be, it'll probably be sometime in July but we want to start having monthly churchwide gatherings or meetings. This isn't anything formal, just hey, let's get together and talk about our church. What are we doing that we do well as a church? What are we doing where? You know what?

Speaker 1: 27:05

We're kind of stuck in this rut or we're not doing it well, we want to ask questions like hey, how can we better love our neighbors, how can we engage in this place? And our hope in having these monthly gatherings where we talk about our church, not from a top-down standpoint, but kind of just coming together as members and regular participants in the life of the church. One of the things that we're just hoping to happen is that, hey, more ideas Like if someone has a passion for a way that we can better love our neighbors, then hey, maybe we can get on board with that. Maybe there's a way that we can better love our neighbors, then hey, maybe we can get on board with that. Maybe there's a way that we can do it. Maybe there's other things, as we engage in parish ministry, that we can do better, because we want to have real, genuine gospel presence in the Dakota community and the neighborhoods around. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Union City. We want to evangelize and reach our neighborhood. But we can only do that if we love our neighbors. And so I want to ask you a question. I want you to ask this question of yourself If I didn't show up one Sunday, would anybody feel the absence?

Speaker 1: 28:31

Now, in a church of our size, we would notice the absence, but would it be felt? I'll tell you, for a lot of you, because we do have a serving church for a lot of you, yes, your absence would be felt, to be like, oh, who's going to do that? Because so-and-so is not here. But I think sometimes, sometimes you say you know what? No, if I don't show up, my absence isn't felt. Well, I would say, would say that maybe there's a place that you could serve, that you could come alongside, that you could partner with us as we seek to be faithful in gospel ministry, where, yeah, you could do that. And the truth is, the truth is we've not done a good job expressing the areas that we need help, and so my hope is that we will do better at that. I want to send out an email with some areas that we can do that and if you are like you know what I'd love to serve in this area, come talk to me. I'd be happy to talk after the service today or reach out to me during the week.

Speaker 1: 29:50

But it's important to remember why we need to do this. Why do we as a church need to recognize church need to recognize where we have need and empower the church body to serve in that need? Well, we need to do that because of what we see again in chapter 6, verse 7. We see in this verse the church stayed focused on mission. It says in verse 7 that the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. You know, we have a high calling. We have a high calling as a church. We don't have the privilege of existing as a church just to exist. We have a mission that was given to us and we've been empowered for that mission. The Holy Spirit didn't just come upon the disciples in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit empowers us as Redeemer Church here in Union City. We are Spirit-filled people and we're Spirit-filled so that we can be witnesses. Witnesses probably not in Jerusalem, probably not in Samaria, unless God calls one of us to go, but witnesses in Union City, in Fremont, in Hayward, in Newark, in San Jose, in Oakland, in Palo Alto, san Leandro, san Lorenzo.

Speaker 1: 32:10

And we had a speaker yesterday that came to our Bridges meeting and he came from Nashville and previously had done ministry in London and he's not from here. He doesn't know what's here, but he's a good thinker and he looks at our place and recognized that it was a hard, that it's a very hard place. California as a state is known as a very hard place to be on mission for God. People are not receptive and open to the gospel in our state, and one of the things, one of the other things that was interesting yesterday is we had someone from the state group, the California Convention, that had come and what they said is that they have recognized that the Bay Area is the hardest place in our state. So we have a high calling in that we are called to be on mission, to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to proclaim the gospel in the hardest part of the hardest state possibly in the country.

Speaker 1: 33:31

Obviously, those things can't be objectively stated, but the observation is that we live in a hard, hard place, but despite the fact that we live in a hard, hard place, but despite the fact that we live in a hard, hard place, we are empowered, we are filled with the Spirit, we are strengthened by God, who is able to transform hearts and lives, and so when we look back on this church, we shouldn't be discouraged, but we should be encouraged that the power of the gospel proclaimed and lived out by a church can actually be used by God to reshape hearts, to bring those spiritually dead to spiritual life, and it doesn't matter how hard they are, because God's grace is stronger, and so, as me and Pastor Ricky have looked at our own church, we've seen some gaps, and this series is meant to be really plain state. It really just matter of fact. The kinds of things I said in the sermon aren't necessarily the kinds of things that I say in a normal sermon, but I'm saying them today because I believe we have something really good here. I love our church. I asked you the question last week if you love your church, and I understand that sometimes that's hard. I love our church and I truly, truly believe that God is doing something good here.

Speaker 1: 35:37

And I also truly, truly believe that, in order for us to continue to be faithful in mission, there are some structures that need to be built up so that we can stay focused on the mission, so that we don't get distracted with the fact that the grass is long, so we don't get distracted with the fact that, hey, we have a building project and I walked in there today and there was no toilet. That we don't get distracted by these things, but that we can stay focused, because, if you remember the big idea, it's this that spirit-led structure protects unity, empowers people and sustains the mission. We go from belief to belonging to building. This is how Jesus is forming us as a church. We're empowered to be faithful to the task the commission that was given to us to be witnesses.

Speaker 1: 37:01

So, redeemer, let's do well at the task that's been given to us, to be witnesses in our place, empowered by the Spirit, as one local church here, and pray that God blesses those efforts and multiplies and that one day we can be a part of seeing the type of gospel renewal that we see in the book of acts, because we see we serve a god powerful enough so that we could see thousands come to faith. Let's pray along those lines, god, thank you. Thank you for your word, thank you for the book of Acts, thank you for our church. Help us, god, as a church, to be faithful to what you have called us, to Use us to be your witnesses in our places. Empower us and fill us with your Spirit. Give us unity and faith. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.