Acts 6:1-7

In this post, we will just quickly touch on the main points we looked at, and explore some practical applications from that, even for us today. From Acts 6:1-7, we pretty much saw the centrality of Christ and Scripture and the principal place of the apostles in the Christian faith and church. We mentioned the extreme view that some have that there ought not to be any organization in the church and the opposite extreme of churches which seem to be centered on their organization (usually emphasizing programs as opposed to Christ and Scripture). Yet we saw how the church, the body of Christ (the Head), is like an organism; having structure and organization, yet dynamically adapting – responding to needs and the work that the Holy Spirit is already doing. We saw:

1. The Problem involving the Hellenists
We saw that the Hellenists (Jews who had adopted the Greek culture and language in their lives, as opposed to the more traditional, Aramaic-speaking Jews in Jerusalem) and how it had so happened that their widows were being overlooked in the distribution of aid.

2. The Proposal of the twelve
-Far from ignoring the problem, the twelve, gathered the disciples and gave a proposal that noted the priority of the word of God and prayer [for the body]
-The Twelve were apostles of Jesus Christ, which means that:
a) They were witnesses to the resurrection of Christ Jesus
b)They were appointed by Christ Jesus (c.f. Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:24-26)
-It is also through the apostles that even we today have the Scriptures (at that time, there was the Old Testament, yet the words of Jesus were known by the disciples authoritatively through the apostles)

3. The Participation of the disciples
-The disciples participated in that the men to be chosen for the task were from amongst them, and the disciples themselves were choosing men that evidenced the qualities proposed.
-Notice the importance placed on the task, even though it was not the ministry of the word of God or prayer. The men to handle the task had to be of good reputation, full of the Spirit (i.e. yielded to Him), and full of wisdom.
-The Holy Spirit was seen leading all areas of church life, and each served as each was gifted by God
[ponder – are you a disciple of Christ Jesus? Are you part of a local church? Do you do the important work of serving along with others in your church? When you have a challenge/problem (personal or corporate), what kind of people do you approach in your church as you face the problem? By God’s grace, are you cultivating qualities of godliness in your own life?]

4. The Propagation of the word of God
-With the right priorities – centered on Christ and Scripture – and meeting the needs of the body of believers, the church kept on effectively spreading the word of God in Jerusalem
-Even many priests, who had witnessed the false religion prevalent in the land as they served in the temple (c.f. Luke 20:45-47), became obedient to the faith…seeing true religion – faith articulated and lived out.
[ponder – have you been obedient to the gospel call to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Does your life reflect pure and undefiled religion (privately and publically), c.f. James 1:27?]