Acts 6

The need for church administration and organization rears its head in Acts chapter 6. It took a few chapters and a short period of time before someone complained that something wasn’t being done correctly, and the church needed some more structure. This same thing happens in churches today, whether in church plants or in well-established churches, and the decisions made at moments like these can have a much longer-lasting impact than simply who cleans the building or who pays the bills. The twelve apostles served as the first real set of Elders and when a need arose, they didn’t immediately take charge, take control, and do the work. They didn’t put one of the twelve in charge to “make sure the job gets done right” because they understood that their ministry, their purpose in the church was much bigger than making sure everyone got their fair share of the bread. Their job, and the job of the Elders and pastors of our churches today, is to devote themselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry.  They knew that they were the spiritual leaders and they knew it was a job that needed to be attended to and not neglected. They knew that if they were distracted with the administration of the daily portions of food they would become distracted from their true purpose as leaders. I firmly believe at least part of the reason the church continued to grow at an incredible pace was because of this decision. So what does that mean to me as a church leader? It means I need to be willing to hand off some duties to ensure I fulfill the duties I have been called to do. It means I need to figure out how to delegate, a glaring weakness of mine.

I have a certain way that I think things should be done, and I have always struggled to hand off tasks to others and allow them to help, and even more to invite them to join in ministry. My ineffectiveness at times as a leader is directly attributable to this struggle. The apostles had a clear understanding of what their job was in the church and they also had a clear understanding of the fact that they couldn’t do everything, nor should they have done everything. Because of their willingness to delegate, their desire to include others in the ministry of the church, they were able to lead and grow the church and others were able to step up and help the church handle the growth and function as it was intended to. I need to learn from and heed their example, but it’s tough! I need to gain a clear understanding of what my purpose is within my church, do the tasks and jobs that I need to do and allow others to take on the other things. It’s not a matter of prioritizing tasks, as if one was better than the other, it’s simply a matter of doing what I should be doing, and inviting others to join in the ministry as well. Lord help me!

At the end of verse 7 is a phrase that I have quickly read past when I’ve read Acts before, but sticks out to me now. The phrase, “and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith” seems to be a side note to the text but carries a ton of importance. Priests in the Jewish faith were the closest to God. They were the ones entering the Holy place and making sacrifices, they were the ones going before God on behalf of the people. The priests were very much in the forefront of this whole Messiah discussion, and a lot was riding on whether or not they accepted that Jesus was that promised Messiah. It would make sense for the priests, who would have known the prophesies about Jesus and would have seen them come true, who would have been in close contact with God, to feel God telling them that Jesus was the real deal, resulting in them joining this new body of believers. But that would have been a decision with huge implications. They would be leaving their jobs, their source of income and food for their family. They would be walking away from, in their opinion and as I’m sure they were told by the Jewish leaders, their forefathers and the faith that was passed down to them. It would have been a big deal to go from a priest in the Jewish faith to a follower of The Way, even though that’s exactly how God designed the whole plan for the Jewish people. The priests, a large group of them, were willing to sacrifice it all, to walk away from the safety and security that working in the temple offered to them and their families, and follow what they knew to be truth. That’s the kind of faithful obedience I desire for my life, for my family. I have taken some steps of faith, without a doubt, but there are many more and much bigger ones out there and I pray I’m ready to ask God “how high” the next time He tells me to jump.

We see a small glimpse into the life of Stephen over the rest of chapter 6 and chapter 7, and the section we see hear speaks of Stephen’s character and has a lot of truth that I need to learn and an example that I need to follow. First of all, he is described as being full of grace and power, and that strikes me funny because often I think those two things are thought to be somewhat contradictory of one another. I don’t think of a 350 pound offensive lineman that knocks over a defensive end with power while being graceful at the same time. When I think of a jackhammer that needs incredible power to break up concrete I don’t often use the word grace to also describe that tool. Those characteristics seem to be a little bit contradictory, but that is how Stephen is described and given that he was worthy of being the first martyr for Christ, who am I to argue? Even more, how can I be like him? So what does that look like for me? How can I live with, be full of, grace and power. As I think about it, it seems like the more power you have the more you need grace in order to love people the way God intends for us to love people. With more power comes more temptations, more things, and a lot of times more accusations and attacks. To overcome the temptations that come with power, we need to fully understand the grace we’ve been given by God, knowing that we should be attempting to use less of God’s grace (not giving into temptation as much) rather than grabbing as much as we can get. To not fall into the trap of becoming consumeristic and materialistic as is so easy to do when more things are at your disposal, we need to understand how God gives and gives and gives us grace, so we should give and give and give whatever we have. With more power will come more people trying to take you down, to discredit you and knock you off that pedestal. More and more grace is needed to give to those who hurt you and wrong you. As more power is obtained, more grace must be displayed. All we have to do is look at God, the holder of all the power in the world, and yet He chooses to display incomparable and ridiculously unfair amounts of grace on us. As I strive to understand and utilize the being of the Holy Spirit in my life, with that understanding comes more power, and with that power that comes from God I need to be prepared to give out the grace that comes from Him as well. Power and grace shouldn’t be contradictory; they are really intended to go hand in hand with one another.

Stephen is confronted and I love the result, “they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.” These guys stood no chance against the Holy Spirit, and who does. I mean really, who stands a chance in a debate against God and His Spirit? The trouble in my life is I don’t let the Spirit do the talking enough for me. I rely on my own wisdom and mind and words, I rely on myself rather than on the Spirit. Consequently, I am defeated in my arguments and debates. When people argue or accuse me, I lose if I don’t rely on God and God only. This is yet another piece of what it looks like to live by the Holy Spirit in all I do, something I’m trying to get my hands around and something I desire so desperately. What it would be like to be in such close communion with God, to have such a relationship with Him, to know Him and His word so well that when I am faced with struggle, when I come under fire for something that is false or untrue, that His words come out and not mine. I pray, almost as a pre-preaching ritual, that any words that are of me would fall flat in the room and that only those coming from God would be heard. My goal is to get in such a close walk with the Spirit that I don’t have to consciously pray that prayer, but rather that is a reality with every word I speak.

Father your words are good and true and perfect and holy, and I want my words, my language, to become extinct. I want the words that come out of my mouth or off the tips of my fingers to be truly from you and you only, and I’m not there yet. Lord continue to draw me into you and into your Word that I would become so obsessed and consumed with your words that mine would disappear. Lord I pray that no one would be able to stand up against me because of your Spirit, by which I speak.

Stephen faces these accusations, he faces the stares of the Sanhedrin, and before he responds (we’ll see that in chapter 7) his face became like the face of an angel. What an incredible picture. I wonder what the folks of the Sanhedrin were thinking at this point. In nearly every account of an angel appearing to people the response of the people is usually fear, so I have to assume that the angels take on at least a portion of the glory of God that makes him unable to be seen without the consequence of death. I can just imagine that glory of the Lord coming on Stephen’s face and the guys in the Sanhedrin had to start wondering what was about to happen, they had to be getting a little nervous. I wonder if their minds immediately remembered the stories they would have been told since they were little of Moses, whose face would glow after he met with God on the mountain. I wonder if some of them started to doubt their position of being against this church of Jesus as God began to make it more and more obvious that this was His plan all along. Stephen gets all filled up with the Holy Spirit, to the point that his face glows, and he is ready to unleash a sermon on the Sanhedrin, which he does in the next chapter. I can’t wait for tomorrow to see the boldness of this man in what he speaks, yet knowing what happens to him is a grave reminder of what I’m risking to follow Christ, everything!