Devotion Acts 6:1-7 Led By The Spirit And Wisdom

Acts 6:1-7 – In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 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. 3 Brothers and sisters, 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 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.  7 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.

“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”  The young church was growing fast.  The Lord was blessing it with converts coming daily, miracles, and healings.  They were lovingly sharing what they had so that all had something to eat. Moreover, they were learning at the feet of the Apostles.  Wow, sounds so idyllic!  Now comes an ugly picture to the family picture album.  A complaint rises up.

There were primarily two groups of Jews among the new believers.  The first group was referred to as Hebrews.  They were from Jerusalem, were conservative and, while being familiar with Greek and Aramaic (lingua franca for the area and time), spoke mostly Hebrew.  They were very conservative in their theology, their customs and their dress.  The Hellenistic Jews were loyal Jews who were from the diaspora (area beyond Israel). Hebrew was not their primary language, many may not have even spoken Hebrew.  They adopted much of the culture of where they left, including the clothing they wore.  They were loyal Hebrews living in a different culture. 

The Hellenistic Jews were concerned that the Hellenistic widow were not being equally cared for as the Hebrew Jews were being cared for.  All the Jews knew better than that.  Deuteronomy 1:17 instructed them to not show partiality.  Although James 2:9 was not yet written, James was present with them.  Favoritism was not pleasing to God as favoritism is not of love. It is not equally loving all the family of God.  It was choosing to love some more than others.  That is ugly, what if God showed favoritism and one of us, or all of us, were on the outside of the most favored status.  We certainly would be hurt by that.  They should have, and we should, remember the Golden Rule that Jesus gave to us in Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  We don’t want to be left out or forgotten and neither should we do that to another.  That is not love.  No favoritism, especially in church.  Is there a group, or groups, in the church we attend who are treated with leftover love?  God forbid!

“2 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. 3 Brothers and sisters, 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 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5a This proposal pleased the whole group.”  The Twelve (the Apostles) showed great humility and love in their response to this complaint.  They did not argue.  They did not tell the Hellenists that they shouldn’t feel that way.  They did not abrade either the accusers or the offenders.  They knew their calling was to spread the Gospel and that should be their main focus.  However they wanted all the Believers to be equally loved and valued.  They made the rest of the disciples aware of their priority and then trusted them to resolve the issue.  They felt no need to control all the details, but trusted God to guide their brothers to select seven people to take over.  It’s wonderful how the Apostles didn’t get their feelings hurt, didn’t get angry, didn’t feel the need to contest the reality of the protest and didn’t feel the need to try to put in longer days to address the issue.  They trusted God to guide them to select the right men to take charge that the all were treated fairly. 

It is important to note who the Apostles directed them to choose to be the deacons (the word for deacon goes directly back to those who served tables).  They wanted those who were to serve the people to be “be full of the Spirit and Wisdom.”  Family, in our day when churches can be run like corporations, it is a good idea to remember the greatest quality that elders and deacons should have is that they should be full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom.  Those through whom the gifts of the Spirit flow (Galatians 5:22-23a) are truly the ones most qualified to serve the people.  Certainly it is better to be guided by the Spirit of God than the rules of the business of the world.  Now, of course, there is nothing to say that elders cannot be blessed by being full of the Spirit and wisdom and also understand how to efficiently run organizations.  The Lord certainly can provide that for His body.  Praise God!

“They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.  7 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 noted seven were chosen.  Stephen, who was the churches first martyr, is the first listed.  The people did select seven men who were known to be, that is they had the reputation due to the “fruits” that they bore, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.  The Apostles trusted God to take care of the matter and He did.  Praise God!  The Apostles laid their hands of the seven and prayed for God to lead and guide them.  There was peace among the people.  The crisis was averted.  God continued to bless His young church with rapid growth.

Luke mentions that a large number of priests came to the faith.  These are considered to be, at least for the most part, not priests higher in position.  But more common priests who worked with the people.  Praise God for these Jewish priests who came.  As the Word says “…first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16).  We can all praise God for His faithfulness to the Jew as that same faithfulness is also to us.  They were learning to live in unity as Jesus had prayed for (John 17:20-23).  We must pray that we would be unified in love without favoritism.  Praise our good God!  Praise God!

Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.