This morning we are continuing through the book of Acts, the story of the early church. In the first couple of chapters, Jesus has risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sent His Holy Spirit to be the presence and power of God inside each believer. Since then, the transformed disciples have been boldly sharing about Jesus’ death for their sins and his resurrection and triumph over death, calling people to turn from their sin and self-centeredness to faith in Jesus, and thousands of people are coming to faith in Jesus. A multi-ethnic community has formed in Jerusalem that is growing like crazy, devoted to following Jesus and caring for everyone’s needs.
But in the past few chapters, the church has to deal with some real threats to their unity and witness. The first threat is persecution, as Peter and John are arrested by the Jewish religious leaders for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus to the crowd, and are warned to stop what they are doing. Soon after, all of the apostles are thrown in jail for doing the same in chapter 5. The second threat comes from inside: corruption, as the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira threatens to sow discord within the church. But the church passes both of those tests. In chapter 6, which we will look at today, the third threat comes in a very subtle way.
Read Acts 6:1-7
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. 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, 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.
