God’s Recipe for His Church

Acts chapter 6. We’re going to be looking at the first seven verses this morning. This is what God’s Word says. It says, 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 of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte 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. (Acts 6:1-7)
Praise the Lord. Now I don’t know about you, but growing up I had a mother who loved to bake. Are there any like bakers in the room? Right, like you’re already looking forward to Christmas because you get to bake a bunch of stuff and then you get to give it away and not try it. Am I the only one?
So my mom, we grew up in a family that loved to bake. And to this day, my son Jax, my daughter Adelie and I will Facetime my mother to make sure we’re putting the right ingredients in the right order to some of her recipes. And one of my favorite things that my mom ever made were chocolate chip cookies.
Now I’ve got to be honest with you. They weren’t the chocolate chip cookies like the slice and bake chocolate chip cookies. They were the original heirloom 1969 Betty Crocker recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Just to show you, I printed it out right here. And you know it’s good because it has both butter and shortening, right? This was before the food pyramid I’m sure. Or if they had a pyramid it was like butter, shortening and milk were the top three so they were super healthy.
And I can remember just coming home from school and just enjoying sitting down and having warm, luscious beautiful chocolate chip cookies. And man, as I think about this recipe and man, if I were to sit down and try to make this recipe, I would add all of these ingredients together. I would follow the recipe verbatim.
But let me ask you, if I were in the midst of making these 1969 heirloom Bettry Crocker chocolate chip cookies, which are so scrumptious and beautiful, but if I left out just a few key ingredients, what would I come up with? If I left out the shortening because I was watching my waistline, and man, I left out the chocolate chip cookies because I didn’t want to have diabetes, would I come out with chocolate chip cookies?
No. The answer is no. Teaser, the answer is no. If I left out the shortening, the butter and the chocolate chips, I would not have chocolate chip cookies after I pulled those out of the oven.
And here in Acts chapter 6, what we’re coming into in the first seven verses is following up from last week that God, He won’t stop establishing His church. And if it is His church, then He gets to be the one to give us the recipe for what it looks like. And today as we look at Acts chapter 6, these first seven verses, we’re going to see more than anything else that disciples, you and me if we are followers of Jesus Christ, that disciples are essential in God’s plan to establish His church through their service.
And here’s what I want you to grasp. You as a disciple of Jesus here at Gospel City Church, you are essential to establishing the church. We can’t do this without you. And it was never intended for us to do it without you. So this morning as we look at the first seven verses, we’re going to make two observations and then we’re going to have five essential ingredients to God’s recipe for establishing His church.
We’re going to start out with an observation. The first observation we see is simply this, that God’s recipe for establishing His church has clear structure and leadership, clear structure and leadership. Here in Acts chapter 6 we have to really go back and see what’s happening. What’s going on in Acts 6 is that the church is experiencing growing pains. And it has grown to a point that is larger than its organizational ability.
And here in Acts 6 when we look at the beauty of what Luke is writing, he’s telling us man, in these days there were so many disciples increasing, I lost count. He used to keep count. Remember at Pentecost 3,000 come to know the Lord. Remember in Acts chapter 4, 2,000 come to know the Lord. then Acts 5 it just kind of starts snowballing and thousands upon thousands upon thousands come to know who Jesus Christ is.
The organization of the local church needed to be there. There had to be structure. There had to be leadership considered. Who is telling the disciples in Jerusalem where they’re meeting? Who is giving out and receiving the funds necessary for the Hellenist and Hebrew widows? Who is organizing the Lord’s table? Who’s organizing meals? Who’s telling them the times they’re meeting intech temple and whether or not they’ll be at Bill’s house or Suzy’s house on Thursday? Who’s doing all that? It’s not the twelve.
The twelve are focused on the proclamation of God’s Word, of preaching and teaching. So the inference that we see here in Acts chapter 6 is that there is a necessary structure, a necessary leadership for God’s church. And to be honest, if we look at Genesis to Revelation, what we see throughout the whole narrative of Scripture is that God is an organized, structured God. Whether it be Israel in the Old Testament or the church in the New, there has always been clear leadership and clear structure.
Consider the twelve tribes. Consider Moses and Jethro, David and the kingdom, Jesus and the twelve, Jesus and the three, the twelve apostles and the seven servants here in Acts chapter 6. And fast forward to today and consider the plurality of elders, overseeing deacons that are implementing and integrating ministry.
Over and over and over again all throughout God’s Word what we see is His plan for structure and leadership. And realize that the church, what we’re a part of this morning, is God’s gift to redeem the world and to have no clear structure, to have no leadership within the local church would result in chaos at worst and distraction at best. Just to gather together a group of people that are different like you and I are, man, we would be at each other’s throats quicker than we could say, “Go.”
But on the other side of that, to have such a rigid structure where only the pastors and elders implement and do ministry would cheat the church out of your gift. You’re necessary. So we have to strike a balance. It’s not chaos and it’s not rigidity. It’s this beautiful picture of this plurality of elders leading us to do ministry well in our context. We see that here in the book of Acts overall, especially here in Acts chapter 6.
So the first observation is just an observation that the church has clear leadership, it has clear structure. For the church to flourish, it needs that. So as a church, Gospel City, we strive here in Michiana to have clear structure and leadership so that you as disciples, a part of this local Body, might flourish in your gifting. So that you might do ministry well.
With that as our understanding, let’s go into our first essential ingredient. So kids, if you’re taking notes, which I hope you are (200 candy bars are on the line) the first point is found in verse 1 and it’s simply this. Essential ingredient number one is care. Notice what happens in verse 1.
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. (Acts 6:1)
We’ve already seen that the church is experiencing growing pains in these days. And Luke is at this point again where he’s lost count. And as the church has grown, something has happened. These widows, these women who were once married whose husbands have passed away, now are bringing up complaint against each other.
The word there in Acts 6:1 for complaint, by the way, is a word that means “to grumble or murmur.” Parents, you know this all too well don’t you? It’s what happens around your dinner table when you convince your children that broccoli is good for them, right? Maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s just me, but as I sit at the dinner table for an hour and a half looking at my kids like, “I’ve been done for 30 minutes and you’re still sitting here with five pieces of broccoli to eat. All you have to do is eat them.” And they murmur to one another.
It’s that two grumble, the looking at one another and feeding off of one another. And then you put cheese on it and you think, “Man, this will help,” and then they just lick the cheese like it’s a popsicle. No? Ok. Kids, you should try that, right?
It’s this idea of murmuring, this grumbling. Man, I’m not satisfied with what’s before me. And what has happened here in the early church is that these widows, these Hellenist widows, they’re grumbling, they’re murmuring, they’re challenging because there’s a disparity. The Hebrew widows, those who are native Jews who have lived in the land, are receiving the daily distribution.
The daily distribution, by the way, was most likely food. It could have been clothing or money. It was what the widows needed to survive. And the Hellenists, those who were born outside of the land, who weren’t ethnic Jews but they were part of the Jewish community that lived outside of Israel, there were two different groups of people who were murmuring and grumbling against each other.
Realize that the Hellenists widows and the Hebrew widows, they had different languages. They had a different culture. They had a different background. They had a different worldview. They couldn’t have been more different. And yet through faith in the gospel they came under the banner of Jesus and two opposing ideologies came together. Oh, what a beautiful picture of the church.
And yet the Hebrew widows were receiving their daily distribution and the Hellenists weren’t. Realize that from the beginning God’s heart has always been to care for the widow, to care for the orphan. It shouldn’t be lost on us that James, one of the twelve, would later write in James chapter 1 that true religion is this: to care for the orphan and to care for the widow. I’m willing to bet he learned a lesson here in Acts chapter 6.
But man, God has always had a heart for care. He always has. And as we have come together in this local Body, we too have a drive and a desire to care for one another. Whether you realize it or not, if you’re a disciple of Jesus, God has hardwired into you to care for others and to be cared for.
You know how I know that? Because I read what you write each and every week in the connection register. I see the heart that you express to be cared for. And I look out at our small groups. I look at out the different ministries here at this church caring for each other. In fact if I were to ask you how many of you have experienced care from those in our church, I’m willing to bet there would be a large number of you whose hands would raise.
Whether it be a visit to a hospital, a meal after somebody has passed away or a baby has been born, somebody coming alongside of you at your home to help you do a project that you couldn’t complete on your own. Whether it be a pastor calling you, a small group leader interacting with you, a flock leader caring for you, whatever it might be we have a huge amount of disciples here at Gospel City Church that are striving to care for one another. Praise Jesus for that.
But realize that as a Body of believers here in Michiana, we are one decision away from grumbling and murmuring. We are one decision away from slipping into what the early church is slipping into here in Acts chapter 6. To be dissatisfied with what’s happening around us.
And here’s my hope, and here’s what I’m grateful for honestly as a church. I’m grateful that within our church there is men, there’s women, there’s boys, there’s girls that have eyes to see the needs of those around them and a heart to loop arms with one another and to say, “We can take care of that.” But realize faithful disciples at Gospel City Church, God hasn’t just hardwired you to care for others. He’s also hardwired you to express the need for care, and that takes a humble heart to do.
So the first ingredient that we see that God uses to build His church is care. The second ingredient we see- kids this is point number two- is preaching. Notice verse 2. The Hellenist and Hebrew widows, they’re murmuring, they’re bickering, they’re fighting amongst one another. There’s a complaint. And notice what happens. The twelve summon the full number of displaced and said, “It’s not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables.”
It’s not that the twelve apostles were too good to serve the widows. It’s not that the twelve apostles didn’t have a heart to serve the widows. It’s that their best yes with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people vying for their attention, coming to them with need, their best yes was to preach and teach the Word of God.
What’s happening here in Acts chapter 6 (and notice that the apostles, by the way, they don’t deny that there’s a problem. They acknowledge it and they say it’s not right for us to give up what we’re doing to go tend to this. And we’re going to see the resolution here in a moment. But they acknowledge the problem and then they tell us, man, our best yes is to preach the Word of God. Because the preaching of God’s Word is what creates heart change.
I use that phrase “best yes” and what comes to my mind is often what my best yes would be. I think I assume oftentimes that my best yes is to communicate, is to talk. And I can talk for days if you don’t know that about me. Right? You just put me up on stage and I’ll start speaking, and sometimes it’s good. A lot of times it’s not. Right?
So years ago I was reminded this week as I’m thinking through what my best yes would be. Years ago the thought was, as an associate pastor of a small church in south central Virginia, give him a microphone to introduce people. He’ll do a great job. That’s not always the case. In fact, in this one specific instance my sister-in-law Wendy is in our church and I’m introducing a guest preacher. His name is Rob. and man, I stand up on stage and I had not prepared at all. Again, they thought my best yes was to speak.
So as I’m standing on stage introducing Rob, I begin to just unpack for our whole church that Rob grew up with my sister-in-law Wendy, knows all of her ex-boyfriends. And then I begin to kind of discuss what those ex-boyfriends and Wendy were like and all the feedback I’ve gotten from Rob.
And about at that moment I look and I catch the eye of my sister-in-law. And I tell you, she could’ve killed me in that moment. She wanted to kill me in that moment, right? And it was one of those moments where I see her eyes and I just keep speaking. You guys ever have that? Right? And I just keep going.
And then you’d never believe what Wendy would do. She dated this guy he was a…oh, give it up for Rob, guys. And then ok, Rob came on stage. And to this day he’ll go, “Man, that was the worst introduction anyone has ever given me.”
And as I sat down I felt my wife stare holes into the back of my head. I felt Wendy stare holes into the back of my head. We’ve since reconciled, right? To make it better, her boyfriend, now husband, is sitting right next to her. It was a wonderful thing, right?
My best yes in that moment wasn’t just to speak. My best yes would’ve been to prepare well and to do what God has given me and equipped me to do. What the apostles are telling us in Acts chapter 6 is that their best yes, what God has equipped them to do, is to preach and teach the Word of God. But we see them caught in the vice of ministry need. So the church has grown. They’ve necessarily gotten specialized in their giftings, and their best yes was not to handle each and every complaint to them. Their role, what God had given them to do, was to preach the Word of God.
And I can safely say that here at our church each and every pastor that serves you as a Body of Christ, our hope, our best yes, is to continually open up God’s Word for you and to show you what it says. Not that you can’t do it on your own, but man, God has gifted us in that. But more than that, we want to equip you to do that likewise. We want to open up God’s Word and unpack what the gospel says to you. We want to unpack how the gospel gives you spiritual health and flourish, and we want to see lives and hearts changed by the power of gospel message.
And each and every week as we open up God’s Word here on Sunday, every week as you open up God’s Word whether it be in a small group or earlier in the morning or late at night, as you’re preparing for Core, each and every week as you open up God’s Word, my hope is that you would see the beauty of the gospel. And that because of the preaching of God’s Word you would understand that the gospel isn’t something that you have believed once for salvation and that’s it, but the gospel is something you believed once for salvation and then each and every successive day after that. You remind your heart of the need for God’s grace, something you need for the gospel.
Because the reality is that the gospel message never gets old, does it? That God in His holiness, man in our sinfulness, has a great chasm between us. In order to bridge that chasm, there needed to be something. And our good works couldn’t do it, our lives couldn’t do it, our best efforts couldn’t do it. So God in His holiness sends His perfect Son to live a life that you and I could never live to bear the weight of our sin because we couldn’t bear it, to die on a cross because of what you and I have done.
And through the cross, through repentance and faith in Christ alone we come to an understanding of what being a part of the Body of Christ is. That’s the message of the gospel. We believe that once for salvation, but each and every day we need to believe it again for the satisfaction and the wholeness of our souls. God’s given us an essential ingredient in establishing His church. It’s the preaching of His Word.
But notice it’s not just the preaching of His Word. The third ingredient that we see is prayer. Notice the first part of verse 4. The twelve apostles are speaking and they say, We will devote ourselves to prayer. The best yes of the twelve is three things- preaching, prayer and teaching. They realize that what they give themselves to is what will be reflected in the local church.
The word there for devote there is a word that means “to persevere in some activity or cause to the point of extreme devotion.” It’s the same word we see in Acts 1:14 when the 120 are gathered in the upper room and they’re devoting themselves to prayer. It’s the same word we see in Acts 2:42 when the church is gathering and they’re devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.
And God invites us as disciples to take part in this essential ingredient. Man, prayer, prayer is our connection, our gateway, to communicate with the God of the universe. When we devote ourselves to that, when we pour ourselves into that, oh, the transformation that happens.
This past week I was reading an update from a friend of mine who is very sick and in the hospital. And his daughter is writing and she is writing about this dark night where her father was almost dying. He’s sick; he’s been sent home from the hospital. And she is just pouring herself out on the floor in prayer for her father.
And as I thought about that, man, I thought about the devotion that she has for her dad in prayer. And she’s seeking God’s face before she’s seeking God’s hand, pouring herself out, pouring her heart out in prayer on the floor so that God would hear the prayers of one of His children for her father.
It’s a beautiful picture when we devote ourselves to prayer. The twelve apostles, by the way, had experienced the power of prayer. They were witnesses to the devotion that prayer brings. They had seen Jesus pray, even to the point of shedding tears and blood in agony as He prays before the crucifixion. They had seen time and again how Jesus would withdraw after huge ministry endeavors to pray and renew His soul with God the Father. They had experienced the beauty that comes when you seek God’s face and not just His hand.
And the reality is church, is that we have an opportunity as a people of God, as a family of Christ-followers, to seek God in prayer. It’s a gift that’s given to you as a disciple of Jesus. And just imagine the transformation that would take place. Imagine the transformation that take place if we were devoted fully to the point of persevering to pain to pray for our family, to pray for our neighbors, to pray for our co-workers and our children’s salvation. Imagine the change that would take place as a church if we devote ourselves to persevering prayer, to seeking God’s face and not just His hand.
Let me ask you, Gospel City, as a family of disciples, what are you praying for? What constitutes your prayers? Are you asking God to bless what you’re already doing, to give you approval for what you’ve already decided is right? Or are you seeking Him in prayer, pouring yourself out, devoting yourself to Him in prayer? Looking for His face far before you ever want His hand?
What’s the content of your prayers? We see this as an essential ingredient. We’re invited as a church to take part in it. But notice that it’s just not just prayer. Notice what else they’re devoted to. The next ingredient that we see is simply this. They’re devoted to teaching, to teaching. They will devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
There’s a ministry of the Word that is present and necessary for the life of a disciple. It’s when we open up God’s Word. It’s when we expose ourselves to the teaching of God’s Word. It’s when we seek to understand and apply God’s Word in our lives. And the twelve knew as they went from house to house that they needed to be a part of the ministry of the Word.
I would venture to say last week when we saw the twelve that after they had been beaten they went house to house teaching and they were daily in Solomon’s colonnade and in the temple preaching. I would venture to say that’s a great summary statement of what we should be pursuing as well as a church. We should be seeking to preach God’s Word, to proclaim the message of the gospel, but we should also be seeking to go deep and to root ourselves in God’s Word.
God’s Word isn’t just some surface level thing that we seek to better ourselves in. That’s not what God has given us in His Word. He’s given us great depths to root ourselves deep in. There’s a ministry of the Word that’s necessary for the flourishing of your soul. And the goal, by the way, isn’t that you’d know more about the Bible. The goal isn’t that you’re able to sing the books of the Bible in a song and get all sixty-six right. That’s not the goal. The goal is that as you gain an understanding of Scripture that you would necessarily inform your heart’s devotion to God.
Oh, Gospel City, would we grow in our intake of God’s Word. Would we hunger and thirst for the teaching of His Word. That’s why we do things like Core on Sunday evenings. That’s why we have small groups and hope groups. That’s why we have one-on-one Bible reading and accountability and mentoring.
We do all of that so that you as the displaced of Gospel City Church, the representatives of God’s local church here in Michiana, one of many I might add, so that you might grow in your understanding of His Word, so that you may be rooted in deep, so that we might be a Psalm 1 type of church, that we would be a tree planted by streams of living waters whose roots and leaves don’t wither because we are connected to the source of life.
Man, you have an opportunity unlike never before to intake God’s Word. A word of caution and a question. The word of caution is simply this: Be careful what you intake. Be careful what you intake. Not everything is worth your time, attention and ears. Be careful what you allow into your mind, that informs your heart, which will bubble up and overflow into your actions. Be careful.
But the second thing I would ask is simply this: What is it? What is it that you are listening to, that you are rooting yourself in, that you are allowing to teach and instruct you? What is it? The gospel brings flourishing and life and there are extreme depths to God’s Word. Let’s root ourselves deep in it so that we might grow and flourish unlike never before.
The fifth and final ingredient that we see in our text this morning is simply this: it’s servants. It’s servants. Acts 6 looking at verse 3 and then verses 5 and 6, notice what happens. Therefore, brothers. The apostles, by the way, are solving the issue, are solving the problem. 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.
Verse 5. What they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith under the Holy Spirit and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
The solution to the murmuring of the Hellenists was for them to look in their midst and find seven men of good repute. That word, by the way, good repute, means that they had been tested, they had been tried, they had been shown faithful in the gathering of the church. They were men that they were looking forward to. They had seen that they had a good reputation, that they were faithful in the service that God had given them.
And notice that there’s three other things that the apostles give them as a requirement. Not just to be of good repute but full of the spirit, full of wisdom, and full of faith. Every time you see that phrase “full of” in the Bible, it means “to be controlled by.” They were desiring to find men who were controlled by the Spirit, who were controlled by wisdom and controlled by faith.
And I don’t know about you, but when I look at my day-to-day life, I struggle at times to be controlled by the Spirit, wisdom and faith. If you hang around me enough you’ll realize that I make a lot of foolish decisions. I don’t know if you knew that. Right?
It’s kind of like going back to my childhood standing in front of that cookie jar that my mom had just made. Right? And we had this 1950’s cookie jar. It was a big fat pot-bellied pig with an apron on it. It was super cute looking back on it. It was just enticing me to eat more is what it was.
And my mom would say, “Tyler, now just have one cookie,” and then she would leave. I was like, “She’s gone. Praise the Lord. Like I don’t need just one.” And as soon as I aste one I’d be cleaning up the crumbs of a dozen off my shirt, right? And I was that kid that kind of had that belly, still do, and I would pick the crumbs off. No? The only one? No crumb left behind. I was committed. Then I would make up stories about where all the cookies went, right?
I was controlled. I don’t know why I just shared that with you. There was no reason for you to know that. They were great though. Right? I was controlled by something other than the Spirit in that moment, right? And here when we look at Acts chapter 6 we see these seven. We see these seven names put before the church. And the crazy thing is that everyone of the church agreed.
That meant there are innumerable disciples, there are thousands of them at this point, and they all agree that these seven are the ones and that these seven are full of the Spirit, are full of faith. They’re full of wisdom and have good repute. They’d been seen, they’d been tested. They’d been shown to be faithful within the Body of Christ.
And here’s what I love. Each and every one of those names, by the way, each and every one of those names, none of them are Hebrew names. Six of the seven are Hellenists, Jews from outside of the land. And one of them isn’t even a native Jew. One of them, notice the last name. He’s a proselyte meaning he’s converted. He’s a Greek that has come to know the Lord.
The solution to the problem between the Hellenists and the Hebrews was for the Hellenists, or for the church to find a bunch of Greeks to resolve the issue, so that the minority would come into the majority and inform their decisions. But the truth of the matter is is that all seven of these men were true servants of the church. There’s not a single one that looked out for his own interests.
And here’s the reality. As God builds His church, as He establishes His local church, as you as a disciple of Jesus are a part of the family here at Gospel City, realize this. You have an opportunity to use the gifts that God has given you to build the church. And the truth of the matter is is you’ve come into a relationship with Christ by believing the gospel. You have a gift, and the Body of Christ suffers when you choose to withhold the gift that God has given you.
If you are sitting here this morning and you’re going, “Man, I know God has gifted me, I know where it is and I know what I can do, but I’m just not going to do it,” I want you to know that you are withholding a gift that God has given you to serve the church. All seven of these men, by the way, their main service was to widows. Not a single one of them outside of Stephen and Philip you’ll ever hear again.
The reality is that as we serve here as a family here at Gospel City, many of us, many of us, will never receive man’s praise, and that’s ok. It’s ok to serve faithfully as unto the Lord and never seek or get the praise of men. And many of you have gifts that I could never have, gifts of patience or administration or preaching and teaching, one-on-one accountabilities or relationships. There are so many of you that have gifts that I could never have and the church needs it.
And the reality is that the gifts that are represented in this room right now are as diverse as the people that are here. When you have a gift, the Body of Christ needs your gift. But here’s the reality is that so many of us have become accustomed to being served that to have our eyes opened to serve others would take a move of God. we have become lulled into an idea that to consume is best and to serve is a second thought.
Hear me. We need you. The church needs you. The Body of Christ needs you. The gift that you have is necessary. And oh, that we would fan that fit into flame to see the church built and the glory of God made known and the gospel proclaimed. The Body of Christ needs you, needs the gift that God has given you.
These seven, they would serve faithfully to the point of death. What we’re asking you today is to serve faithfully within the church. What has God given you that you can use to serve the local church?
Last observation we make is simply this: When the church is rightly led, structured and functioning, we will see God’s Word increase and disciples multiplied. When the church is rightly led, structured and functioning, what we see as a result is God’s Word increase and disciples multiplied.
Look at verse 7. I love how Luke just summarizes the work of God. And the Word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. This is one of the four summary statements that Luke gives us throughout the book of Acts. What he’s just told us here in Acts 6:7 is that the proclamation of the gospel in Jerusalem is coming to a close.
God is moving. The city has been filled with its teaching. The gospel has gone forth, and so many people are hearing the Word, are increasing. And the number of disciples are multiplying greatly. I can’t even count anymore.
I love what he says. He says, “And a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” I would like to think that the priests as they looked at the church each and every day meeting in the temple and from house to house, what they saw was a unified group of Greeks and Jews, Hellenists and Hebrews under the banner of Jesus united in pursuit of one thing, the gospel, the church being established, God being made known, His glory being on display.
I’d like to think that as the priests were observing this, they’re looking at their own rigidity and going, “There’s something more to Jesus because of what I see in the church. When we see the church rightly led, structured and functioning, we will see God’s Word increase and disciples multiplied not because of us but because of God’s faithfulness because His Word is what we root ourselves in and what we grow in.
So today as we conclude our time together and as we come to a close, realize this. As a disciple of Jesus, if that’s who you are, if you have believed the gospel, if you have repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ alone and you call Gospel City home, if you’re a part of this family, realize as a disciple in this local church, you help decide whether or not these ingredients are present in our church. You help decide that. The level to which we can care, preach, pray, teach, and serve is dependent upon faithful disciples here desiring to see God use these essential ingredients here to build His church.
The seven that the apostles chose, they were just normal, faithful, ordinary disciples. That’s who they were. And those seven that they chose would pave the way to what we’ll see later in the New Testament as the office of deacon, those that serve alongside the church, these seven would pave the way as an example of what it looks like to faithfully use your gifts and serve the church.
So we end on this. Do you see God establishing the church here in Michiana? Do you see God establishing His church? And if you do, are you a part of the essential ingredients that He’s using to build His church? Are you caring, praying, preaching, teaching and serving? I hope we are. I hope that we would be fanned into flame to do that even now.