Acts chapter 6, before we read those verses 1-7, let's ask God to bless His Word for us. Our Father, we do come now asking that as You've given Your Word for us to read, You would also give the power of Your Spirit for us to understand and believe. Lord, we ask that these words on paper would be powerful transforming our minds and equipping us in our lives so that as You grow Your church, that as You grow each of us, we would grow, Lord, in healthy ways. And that though we are challenged, we would be given the strength we need to respond to those challenges. The wisdom that we need as a church to grow through them. And that through us, Your Word would increase. We ask, O God, in Jesus' name. Amen. Acts chapter 6, beginning with verse 1. In those days, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word. This proposal pleased the whole group and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Also Philip, and Prochorus, the Kanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. And so the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Well, congregation, this evening we continue our study in the book of Acts with the theme, God Grows the Church. We've seen so far in chapter 2 how God sends the Holy Spirit to use the means of grace calling sinners to salvation. And we're told in verse 41 of chapter 2 that those who accepted this message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. And then towards the end of chapter 2 and the end of chapter 4, God gathers these believers into a sacrificial community of people who give from what God had given to them in order to ensure that all the needs of the covenant community were met and were told as well that they were enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Last week, we took a look at how God used signs and wonders. Miraculous works through the apostles and some other believers. God did that miraculous activity in order to confirm the new covenant that He established through Jesus Christ as well as to confirm the apostolic message, the gospel they proclaimed, that message, that news, that word that we call today the New Testament. And we read at chapter 5, verse 14, that more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. You see, Acts tells us the story of how God grows the church. And as we consider this very brief period of history, maybe around 30 years, we are considering what may very well be the greatest percentage growth of the church in history. And as it experienced this growth, going from around 120 believers just after the ascension of Christ to many thousands at our text this evening, as we see this growth happen, the church experiences many kinds of challenges. Experiences challenges of diversity, responsibility, of opportunity. And we experience those challenges today. Today, after decades of explosive growth, American Christianity is challenged. We experience global diversity, overwhelming responsibilities, and it seems an unchecked appetite for new opportunities. There's no doubt that growing is hard. Families experience growing pains. Schools, businesses, of course. In fact, just yesterday I was reading an NPR report about the death of Frederick Meyer. Some of you, if you're from or familiar with the Midwest, might know of Thrifty Acres or the Meyer supermarket chain. Frederick and his family were immigrants to the United States early in the 1900s and they started a little family grocery store on a corner in Greenville, Michigan. And that family business grew into a national establishment and even one with global outreach. Really quite a remarkable legacy that's been left through the family business. The article reflected, of course, on some of the challenges that they faced in growing such a business and they were many of the same challenges that we see identified in our text. As institutions grow, there are challenges of diversity. Challenges of responsibility and opportunity. God, we find in our text, God addresses those challenges for the church. The church of the first century. The church of today. Helping us consider how we are to deal with growing diversity, growing responsibility, and growing opportunity as the church, as the body of Jesus Christ. It's a relevant message for us today. It's important for us to consider today. And so this evening, let's look at those three points of growing diversity, growing responsibility, and growing opportunity. In the first place, we see growing diversity. We read how in those days when the number of disciples was increasing, that the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews. And what we find here is that there are Jews who came into the city of Jerusalem through Pentecost or through other purposes and they heard the Gospel and they believed, joining the church and bringing along with them an ever-increasing number of people. And of course, with the increase of people come the increase of problems. It's true for each and every one of us, isn't it? Well, there's this dispute among the Greek-speaking Jews and the Hebraic-speaking Jews because their widows were being overlooked. That is, that the Greek-speaking Jews were concerned that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Now, the church is focused right now in Jerusalem. And the whole narrative to this point is on the growing church in Jerusalem. At this point, many thousands of people and people of many different ethnicities, different languages, different cultures and backgrounds. And as these people grow in number, so also the problems seem to grow along with them. We shouldn't underestimate the significance of this. The growth of the church so quickly in such a very short period of time when these first six chapters growing from 120 to many thousands of individuals. And we shouldn't underestimate either the multiplication of the ethnicities that they would have represented. Surely two are mentioned here. The Hebrew Jews, that's pretty specific. The Greek Jews is rather inclusive of many who would have come into the Jerusalem area in response to the gathering of Pentecost and heard the Gospel and believed. This growth of people, this multiplication of nations also brought a multiplication of problems. The text specifically talks about the distribution of food. But if we step back from the text, it's not hard to imagine that there would have been a cultural issue very much at stake. When people speak similar languages, there is a very warm relationship that can be developed, especially if the same language is accompanied with the same cultural backgrounds and practice and customs. We experience that in our congregation. I believe the word is chazelik. I'm from a Dutch background, but I didn't learn that word until I came here. But the word chazelik, I'm told, does not have a direct English translation, but it means warmth and lots of good fellowship and love and things of shared interest, like culture, like language, like food. And where those things are shared, trust is naturally shared, isn't it? But you take those things away. And trust can also fall away. If you take away shared practice, shared background and history, and especially if you take away shared language, it can be very difficult for a community of people to know one another and to trust one another. And that's certainly happening within the early church in Acts 6. But what's specifically mentioned in our text is the problem of physical care. This lack of trust brought about concerns amongst the Greek-speaking Jews that their widows were not properly cared for. And this will harken back to what we saw in Acts chapter 4, that this sacrificial community of people gave generously out of what God had given to them, selling property, selling resources, bringing the money, laying it at the feet of the apostles in order that Deuteronomy 18.18 would be fulfilled and that there would not be poverty within the covenant community of God's people. And so on the one hand, you have a generous outpouring of gifts and money and resources to address the needs of God's people. But on the other hand, you have developing how these things will be distributed. How the physical needs of God's people will be most helpfully addressed. And we see the dispute happen here in our text this evening. But the problems are not simply cultural or physical, are they? Problems are fundamentally spiritual. Fundamentally a problem of sin. A hesitancy to love and invest in your neighbor out of concern that they may be getting something that you want or feel is needed. Or maybe that your proceeds that were sold and given were in some way not used in the manner you had hoped or at least intended the gift would be used for. Division occurs within a body. As trust falls away, as physical needs don't appear to be met, sin and spiritual depravity is cultivated. We see it happening even in the early church. And it's a challenge that we face in our church, in every church. The need to love across cultural barriers. A need to trust even though there's not a full knowledge of one or another individual. The willingness to give gladly and freely without expectation or strings attached. While pleading that God would sanctify us of our own sin, of our own depravity. This congregation, our congregation, the whole of Christ's body needs to unify. And the apostles rightly saw that in order for this to happen, they needed to diversify. They needed to respond to the growing responsibility by diversifying their ministry. It's amazing that up till this point, it was the twelve apostles who were carrying out the ministry of the church. In chapter 5, verse 42, we read that day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. The twelve apostles are devoting themselves as Christ called them to devote themselves to the ministry of the Word. The Spirit has come. The Spirit has been given and they've been empowered with the gifts necessary and the church is growing and they're preaching and they're teaching and along with that, they're finding themselves responsible to not only preach and teach, but to receive the gifts and offerings of the people and then to distribute those gifts and offerings in a way that is most appropriate to needs of thousands of people. They're preaching, they're teaching, and they're administering to the broader needs of the church. It's no wonder that some disagreements and some complaints arose when there's such a limitation of leadership. And so we read that in verse 2, the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said that it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. It's important for us to recognize that in reading this contrast between the ministry of the Word and wait on tables, it's not that they've placed one at some elevated level and then degraded the other. That's not what's happening in this contrast. In fact, if we look more carefully at it, the contrast is not about the ministry of the Word and waiting on tables. It's better to say serving with the Word or serving with what's necessary on a table or serving the spiritual needs or serving physical needs. That's what the words in the Greek would have us conclude, that they're contrasting two different kinds of service. One, a service to the spiritual need of the people, and one, a service to the physical need of the people. And this equalizing of office is highlighted in verse 3. It says, Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom. So not only are the words serving very similar, but also the qualifications that is expected to carry out this office that's being identified, to carry out this ministry is also high indeed. Those who are full of the Spirit and wisdom. You find people like that and we will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word. What we find God doing here is meeting the needs of His growing church with the multiplication of responsibilities. Freeing the apostles to carry out the mandate given to them to pray and to bring the Word of God while ensuring as well that the covenant community is cared for according to each of their needs. For that great wisdom, a fullness of the Spirit is required. And we see here then the beginning of what we come to know today as the offices of Christ's church. In Ephesians 4, Paul develops this further when he says that the resurrected and glorified Christ, having seated Himself in heaven, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, pastors and teachers for service. All of them to serve the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. What we see in seed form here in Acts 6 is further developed by Paul detailing how God responds to the challenges of growing diversity, growing responsibilities by developing the apostolic ministry into the offices of pastor, elder, and deacon. We read more about that, of course, not only in Ephesians 4, but also in Titus and 1 Timothy 3, so that we have what has become characteristic of Reformed and Presbyterian churches, multiple male leadership that represent and serve the body. Of course, we see here that the congregation is intimately involved with this process themselves being called upon to choose those who would wisely represent them and the Lord. Choose those who are filled with the Spirit and demonstrate the wisdom of God. Verse 5 says that this proposal pleased the whole group. And so they did. They chose seven individuals who were properly gifted and they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. A multiplication of responsibilities and ministry. It reminds me again of that interview of Frederick Meyer. He was asked whether or not there was a special secret to the family business and its success. And he simply said this, that dad knew he didn't have all the answers and he entrusted others to great responsibility. Dad maybe knew that he didn't have all the answers, but it's clear dad did have a very clear grasp of mission. And we need to remember that, and that's dealing with our third point, that as the church grows and deals with growing diversity and growing responsibility, we need to be keenly aware of the trials and difficulties of growing opportunity as well. Because as we diversify and as we increase our responsibilities and as we grow, we'll find other and greater, it might seem, Opportunities to draw us away from what is the simple, specific mission that Christ came to die for. There are many good things that Christians need to be involved in. Families, schools, care for the poor, And the list goes on. And surely we as a church engage with families to ensure that they have what is necessary to raise children and all the other things that happen within the home. And surely we engage with the schools to ensure that children are properly raised and educated in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And we engage with the things of the state holding up the Word of God as a light so that that too might be done in light of the truth of God's Word. And yet, as we engage in all different kinds of things as children and as Christians, we must never forget that we have a fundamental purpose and mission which is to uphold the Word of God. Chapter 6, verse 7 says, And so the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. The growth of God's Word and the increase of disciples, including even the priests, including the priests underscores the profound expansion and growth of the church even reaching into and converting Jewish priests. But this growth of the Word is not simply a result of the new organizational structure. It's true that the new organization and the multiplication of responsibilities and ministry freed the apostles to preach and teach all the more. And it's certainly true that the work of these new seven office bearers providing for the physical needs of the congregation complemented the ministry of the Word. Much the same way that signs and wonders would have complemented and confirmed the preaching and teaching of the Word. So also, this expression of love and generosity shared amongst the covenant community would have confirmed and complimented the preaching of the Word. And those things are true, but it's not simply a result of these things that the Word of God spread. But rather, it is a fulfillment of their purpose as a church that the Word of God spread. We need to step back as we see and marvel over the growth of the church in Acts. We need to step back as we may marvel over the growth of the church in past decades here in our modern context. We need to step back and remember why it is that God so loved the world in the first place. That He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever would believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Brothers and sisters, we need to step back and consider the challenges of church growth. And we need to wonder whether or not there is a zealous, consistent pursuit of the mission and purpose our God and our glorified Christ have given. Remember, at the end, Jesus says that you will be my witnesses. Go, baptize, teach, make disciples of all the nations. Our responsibility, our mission, our very distinct purpose as the church of Jesus Christ is to see that the Word of God spreads. That it increases. That the law of God is truly heard. That the Gospel of Jesus Christ is purely proclaimed along with the sacraments as they represent the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ so that the world will never be left without a witness for Christ. That is why we're here. That is why He has established the church and organized the church so that we would serve the Word of God. The Word of God to the world. And so, brothers and sisters, we need to pray. In praying, we need to rejoice and give thanks to God for how He has blessed us. As we heard this morning, how He has blessed us objectively in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who has been given to us by faith. We need to rejoice and give thanks to God for how over the last decades this church has grown with remarkable unity. with much fruitfulness and prosperity, demonstrating the work of the Spirit among us. And while giving thanks, we must also plead with the Lord that the power of His Spirit would remain among us, working within us, that as we continue to grow, the diversity we experience, whether it be ethnic diversity or whether it just be a multiplication of problems that are natural with being amongst a community of people. That the diversity we experience along with the increased responsibilities that we have will never lead us astray towards other good and interesting opportunities but that we may maintain a focus upon the mission that Christ has given us to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of all the nations. so that it might be said of us, as it was said of them, the word of God spread and many came to believe in Christ. Let us pray. Dear Lord, it is an awesome thing to consider how you've grown the church. Such humble beginnings. And today, O Lord, it would be natural to our fallen humanity to be prideful in all that we've accomplished. O God, please work within us that we would remain humble, weak, needy people. needy for You. Lord, move within our ministers and our office bearers. Fill them with Your Spirit that they might be motivated to uphold the ministry of Word and sacrament according to their responsibilities. And Lord, may we engage together as a congregation to ensure that there are new servants to be raised up, to be identified, to be put forward. Lord, we give thanks for those new names that will be praying over these days to come who will serve as elder and deacon. We look forward, Lord, to whom You will choose through us and pray that You would even now begin to equip them, and those they'll serve with. And Lord, as well, all of us, that each of us will see that Your plan and Your orderliness is good. May we rejoice in the great wisdom that You have revealed to us in it. Father, may we overcome our diversity with unity in Christ. May we rejoice in the responsibility that You've given to us to uphold Your Word. And may we claim, O Lord, that singular opportunity to bring it to our children, to our neighbors, and the world. We ask these things, O Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.