R U the 1? - May 22nd. 2011

Date: May 22nd, 2011

Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder

Title: R U the 1?

Text: Acts 6:1 - 7

INTRODUCTION

Let me explain.

What’s missing in CH__ __CH?

Answer: U R

Without those letters there is a gap, need, vacancy.

Question this morning is R U the one? To step in and fill the gap…to be part of the answer?

You see, in Acts 6 we discover a gap, a need in the church. Went from no needy among them to some needs

Have you ever noticed how life is like that? Life is never static. Never a plateau. In fact, it seems that the seeds of problems lurk in every field of success. And in Acts 6 we read about a gap and we see some people who rise up to fill the gap. They become the ones.

Look at Acts 6: 1 -6

But as the believers?*? rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

“The church we’ve always longed for” hits a problem. Acts 4:32 we read, “There were no needy among them.”

Here, in the span of one short chapter, maybe as short a span as a month, there are “needy” people. The oneness began to break down. Divisions started to emerge.

The growth of the church from 120 to 3000 then to 5000. The addition of new believers daily was stretching the system. The disciples couldn’t do it all anymore.

We could draw it this way.

CYCLE OF SUCCESS

Cycle Diagram

Success = Acts 4:34 – “There were no needy among them…”
Problems = Acts 6:1 – “But as the believers?*? rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent.
Opportunity = Acts 6:3 –“And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” 5 Everyone liked this idea…”

Success = Acts 6:7 - “So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.”

Let’s look closer at this

In Acts 4, the success was attributed to some generous people who sold properties and brought the monies and “laid it at the apostles feet”. They distributed it to every one as they had need.

But now “needy” arose. System was no longer working.

1. PROBLEM

What caused the problem?

Was it…?

a. Prejudice Problem

The NLT says the Greek speaking widows were being “discriminated” against. Most other translations don’t assess a value judgment. They read “neglected”

But because the problem was identified as a language or cultural issue was there a prejudice issue? Did some of the old prejudices creep in? Favoritism emerge?

You see, the Hebrew-speaking people were those who had always lived in Israel. The Greek.-speaking were those who had been in the diaspora – spread to other countries when exiled. Not all returned after. Some stayed there. Now when they came back they were seen as “newcomers’. They hadn’t grown up in the community. They didn’t know people. They came with different customs…different language. It was easy to overlook or neglect their needs because they weren’t connected. They were “outsiders”

It’s not that much different than new immigrants who move into Swift….come into our church. We can neglect them. We don’t know them like we know the people who have always lived here. They don’t know the history. It’s easy to overlook and exclude them from our social circles.

Maybe it was a prejudice problem.

b. Perception Problem

The disciples were all Jewish. Maybe they weren’t prejudiced, but maybe the Grecian Jews felt more sensitive. They felt on the outside, and projected their feelings on every action and attributed negative intentions on every action.

Sometimes when we feel in a minority we can project our insecurities on every action. Maybe it was a perception problem.

c. Practical Problem

As I mentioned the Hebrew speaking were people who grew up in the land. They had opportunity over the years to buy more land….inherit land. The Greek speaking widows maybe came back and as a group perhaps didn’t own as much. Maybe some of the wealthy donors saw the needs of their friends and relatives when their spouses died. They saw them losing their income. Maybe they meant well but “designated” their gifts. They said “I want this money to go to help so & so.” But maybe their good intentions were creating problems where some who were well connected could get help but those who weren’t didn’t get help.

Good intentions led to problems. Friends, that is the problem with “designated” offerings. They can create unwittingly favoritism and feelings between ministries and persons. “Why do they get it?” “Because someone with means was partial to that need and gave money for it.”

It is possible to get gifts that come with agendas that are different than where the church wants to go.

i.e.

Designated gift for golden candlesticks for here….nice but not direction really going.

d. Policy Problem

In 1 Tim. 5: we hear the early church’s policy on care for widows:

“Take care of?*? any widow who has no one else to care for her. 4 But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God…

8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers…

16 If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.”

The policy was that family was the 1st line of defense. The family was to take care of the needs within their realm. Only those were alone…who had no resources or relationships were to be put on the list.

Maybe those administering the funds perceived some off-loading. “Let the church take care of them so we don’t have to.”

We sometimes have that attitude about government. Let government pay so we don’t have to.

i.e.

Eastern countries – struggle with North American style of putting our elders in nursing homes. Their culture says “Family obligated to care of them.”

Well, maybe the mangers were having to make some judgments as to were they allowing off-loading, enabling families….picking up responsibility where they shouldn’t be.

e. Entitlement Problem

Maybe there were those who never saw this as a “gift” for which to be grateful, but as an expectation. Something they felt entitled to. They weren’t thankful for any help they got from the church they expected it. They were ticked when there expectations weren’t met.

i.e.

Happens in the church. Expectations for recognition…for pastoral care. Instead of receiving everything as a gift we feel entitled and ticked off when our expectations aren’t met.

Whatever the reason the problem had the potential for dividing the church, killing momentum, discrediting the leaders, and hurting it’s witness. It could either lead to failure or an opportunity depending on how they responded to it.

Let’s look at what they did to turn this problem into an opportunity?

2. OPPORTUNITY

Right Steps

a. People brought the problem to the leadership

This might sound small, but it is key. So often problems never get to the people who have responsibility to solve them. People murmur. They complain at the restaurant table. They complain to their friends. They talk it about it among themselves. That’s what the people of Israel did in the wilderness. They murmured….whispered among themselves.

But these people were committed enough to the unity of the church that they wouldn’t give in to these seditious behaviors. They obeyed Jesus words in…

Matthew 18: 15 - “If another believer?*? sins against you,?*? go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.”

Many Christians have succumbed to bad behaviors. They take it to the church…they murmur instead of taking it to the leadership.

i.e.

Each of us carry 2 buckets in our hands as we walk thru the congregation. One is gas, the other is fire. And all of us at times will run across little fires in the congregation. Problems. Questions. Wrong assumptions. Insinuations. And we have a choice which bucket we will use at those moments. We will either pour gas on the problem and when we leave it is bigger than when we found it. Or, we pour water on it and it is dealt with when we leave. Water can be right information. It can be helping the right person to take concern to. It can be refusing to listen and participate in the gossip….

But we all choose whether we will start the path toward failure or whether we continue the cycle of success….by which bucket we use.

b. Church owned the “Care” problem

This problem was a care problem. And care problems were seen to be a church problem, not just a “pastor” problem.

That’s significant!

Care issues are church problems….they are all our problems.

We all must own the responsibility when…

New people
Widows or shut-ins
Poor
People in crisis

…are being neglected.

The traditional system in the last 50 years in the church is to blame the “pastor”. “They don’t care, they don’t do enough, not a big enough priority.”

Stats are that a pastor can adequately care for 75 – 125 people. After that their capacity to care gets watered down. If a church grows and is successful because the pastor is a caring person, then, it is at the same time sowing the seeds for future problems. Because he can only care for so many. Suddenly there comes a bottleneck point where growth stops, or long-term members don’t feel cared for, because pastor is spending more time with newer people , and on crises.

That’s what happened here. Apostles days got saturated. They no longer could spend time on their spiritual responsibilities and “wait on tables too”. The system had to change.

If we want to put a lid on the growth of a church, then see care problems as the pastors problem. If you want to take the lid off growth, then, see care problems as all of our responsibility.

c. Clarified Roles And Expectations

This problem led to role clarification. Apostles were to have 2 main responsibilities

Bring people to God – prayer
Bring God to the People – ministry of the word

The church organized itself to make sure that’s what the apostles were giving themselves to.

They set up “Deacons” who would administer the care needs. Deacon = servant.

They were there to help serve the people.

d. Put Ministry In The Hands Of People

This is really the 1st big step to lay ministry in the early church….the priesthood of all believers. Saw everyone as a minister.

Note some specifics:

Remember it was the Greek speaking widows who were being overlooked.

Significant that of 7 names listed - 6 are Greek names and one is a Gentile name. They set up people who would be trusted by those experiencing the problem.

They selected people with 3 criteria:

a. Honest – people who practiced good stewardship, who weren’t partial

b. Full of the Holy Spirit – men of ability…evidence of God’s hand on their life

c. Full of wisdom = ability to solve problems. They didn’t advance critics they advanced problem-solvers. People who didn’t just see the problems but people who could find wise solutions.

3. SUCCESS

These steps led to v. 7 where it says the church continued to grow. It led to another round of success.

Success had 3 dimensions:

Numerical growth – removed bottleneck and allowed church to grow larger
Influence – led to the church infilitrating new territory . “Many priests came to faith…”
Individuals – Over next 2 chapters we see 2 of these men move to center stage. They rose like cream. People given an opportunity rose up where nobody could have imagined.

Stephen - - 1st Christian martyr
Phillip – emerges as an evangelist

One never knows where God will take that person we open the ministry door too. They start out as “servants” but God raises them to become incredible leaders….puts them on a bigger stage.

Point:

Success is never a destination ; it merely a moment in an on-going process. Because in every success there are being seeds of future problems being planted. So never arrive and stay.

i.e.

Note: Nicholas is 1 of 7 listed.

Nicholas or the followers of Nicholas became a problem down the road. Some commentators suggest that Nicholas is the one attributed with the Nicolaitans spoken of in Rev. 2: 15

14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

I have heard 2 conjectures about the Nicolaitan heresy.

1. they advocated the concept of “having everything in common” to extreme lengths. They suggested that it applied to marriage relationships. They believed those who had wives should live as they had none, and that wives were one of the things to be held in common. This led to some “swinger” behavior which wasn’t all that uncommon in the culture but violated marital fidelity.

2. another conjecture is that he later got caught up in the the authority of his opposition and became quite hierarchical in his thinking. Went against the priesthood of believers and set up the distinction of clergy and laity. Some were called and some were not.

POINT

Success is not a destination. In every success there are seeds for future problems.

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.
Ayn Rand

APPLICATION LESSONS

1. STAY HUMBLE

Success is never a final destination but one step in a continual cycle.

H.W. Beecher: Success is “last years nest from which the birds have flown.”

i.e.

NBA playoffs – player made a great and clutch basket to give his team the lead. He took a couple of seconds to stare into the crowd and punch his chest and celebrate.

The camera quickly switched to his coach who was wildly waving and yelling “Get back! Get back!” As it turned out that momentary delay to celebrate was seized by the team who quickly entered the ball got a fast break and tied the game again.

You see, one basket isn’t the game. It’s not the time to stop and celebrate. We have to quickly get our heads back in the game and see the potential problems.

It is easy when we reach a plateau of success whether it be in our individual lives, our business, our church to allow the seeds of pride to get planted. Pride has a way of blinding us. We don’t see the on-coming problems. We get blind-sided and humbled.

We would do well to keep pride in check, keep our head in the game and keep the ultimate destination in mind.

You see, the game for us isn’t over because we have built the center, because we are getting 250 kids out Friday night….no the game isn’t over until that last lost sheep is found, until prejudice is eradicated, until there are no needy among us again.

2. SEE PROBLEMS AS OPPORTUNITIES

Problems will come…count on it. But whether they lead to failure or to a new opportunity depends on our attitude. Is it shaped by the resurrection of Jesus?

i.e.

2 shoe salessman went to a faraway island

1. cancel all my orders – “no one here wears shoes”

2. double my order – “Nobody here wears shoes!”

One saw the situation as a problem. One saw it as an opportunity.

Do we see problems and give way to fear. Do we see failure on the horizon?

Do we see problems are opportunities that push us to new levels of success?

Our attitude towards problems will determine often determine our path to failure or to greater success.

3. ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

We have 2 basic responsibilities to keep on track:

a. Make sure problems are addressed biblically….taken to the right place.

b. Accept ownership in the problem.

The quickest way to get out of the success cycle is to play the blame game…look for a scapegoat….put the responsibility on someone else.

i.e.

Pet Peeve – “How is so & so doing I haven’t seen them in church for a long time?”

My typical feeling is: “I should know….if I was a good pastor.” I am responsible to answer for why everyone is not here.”

But at times I feel like saying: “Pick up the phone and find out for yourself….You see the need , you meet it. Maybe God has put them on your heart for a reason.”

4. U R needed!

Answer: U R

In our text, the Church community was made aware of the gaps and needs where ministers were needed.

i.e.

Couple of weeks ago in staff we were analyzing the “success” of the volunteers that have got involved in the Center. One of the observations made was that people knew they were needed. The need and urgency was obvious….people stepped up like here in Acts.

As we thought about it we realized that taught us something here about our ministry here at the church.

We heard of one person who wanted to help in the kitchen and was told “Oh, we got lots of volunteers”.

Person probably meant well. But message person went away with was “I’m not really needed here.”

You could get that impression that we have no gaps….everything perhaps appear to be functioning okay.

Friends, that is so not true. There are so many ministries where we are hanging on by a thread.

And we acknowledge we haven’t been very good at letting you know that. We apologize for that on 2 fronts:

1. Ministry is held back.

2. We have limited an opportunity for your growth…who knows that God won’t raise up a Stephen or Phillip from that service opportunity.

And so folks, let me tell you.

U R needed…

We need desperately musicians and singers. One of the goals is to go to a 3rd (20 something) worship service perhaps at the Center on a Sunday night but before we can seize that opportunity we need more musical people to step forward.
We need sound techs, powerpoint people.
We need people interested in youth and children….many fronts.
We need handymen, cleaners.
We want to expand our Connect ministry and we are looking for people who would come on board to help in the ministry of connecting new people….everything from coffee servers to event planners…to phone callers, …people who have gift of hospitality and would open their homes for small connect events… to people who would initiate contact on Sun morning with newcomer folders, etc. Talk to Donna or myself.

One of the things we are thinking of is on our website under ministry opportunities creating an ongoing list of current needs.

The question is “R U the One?”

R U the One?

Who will stay humble with an eye on the end
Who will see problems as opportunities
Who will accept responsibility
Who will step in the gap and discover what God can do with your life and help the church experience the next level of success.

Click here to return to sermon page

* Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ac 6:1-7

* Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ac 6:1

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ac 6:3-5

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ac 6:7

* Or Honor.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. 1 Ti 5:3-16

* Greek If your brother.

* Some manuscripts do not include against you.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Mt 18:15

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Re 2:14-16