In our study of Acts chapter six, we see the need for the division of labor in the early church. We see that the growth has made it impossible for the Apostles to do all of the ministry. We also see the continued jealousy of those who do not have the Holy Spirit.
** Note ** In this study, we will be using the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) translation which was translated directly from Hebrew into English. You can get your own hardback or paperback copy on Amazon where we will earn a small commission.
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Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.
At first glance, this passage may seem very negative as it talks about conflictbetween groups of God's people but there are a couple of really positive things in it as well. First, is that the number of disciples was growing. Out of the persecution that we looked at in the last chapter, faithful followers of Yeshua kept sharing the good news and people accepted it. The second positive thing in this verse is that the "church" was daily providing food for the widows. That is what caused the grumbling between the two groups but even so the church was taking care of the widows as Yeshua had instructed.
So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, "It isn't appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.
Are you working in a ministry that God has placed on your heart or are you just laboring in an area where the church needs workers? There is a difference as we see in this passage. Instead of taking over the distribution of food to solve the problem, the apostles told the disciples that it would not be right for them to neglect the ministry that God had given them. God does not expect you to do everything only to be obedient in his will.
Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter, but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word."
The apostles turned responsibility for taking care of the "food pantry" over to seven of the disciples. This allowed them to concentrate on their ministry which was prayer and ministry of the word. There is a big difference between serving and doing the ministry that God has prepared for you. Serving where it is needed is not wrong but it should not interfere with doing the ministry that God has designed for you.
What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
So, the conflict was resolved and trustworthy men were put in charge of the food distribution. This freed up the apostles to allow them to spread the gospel.
So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith.
Because the chosen seven were doing their ministry, the apostles were free to share the word of God. Then, as this verse says, the number of disciples grew rapidly. Today, we have the same problem in many local churches as was occurring in Jerusalem. You have many "priests" getting caught up in the running of the church and forgetting about sharing the word. God has a plan for each and every one of us. When all the parts of the body of the church are functioning as designed, rapid growth in the number of disciples will occur just as it did in Jerusalem. We see that many of the priests became believers in Yeshua and we must remember that the priests were in charge of inspecting the offerings that were to be presented to God and determining if they were appropriate. The fact that they were becoming believers in Yeshua Messiah means they were approving of Yeshua as the proper sacrifice for all of our sins.
Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.
As it happens, even today, when we try to follow Christ opposition will arise. People will not be happy about it and they will try to grumble against you but we can find comfort in the last line of this passage. This line tells us that those who tried to argue with Stephen found themselves arguing with the Holy Spirit (God). That, my friends, is an argument that ends the same every time. God wins! We have that same Spirit and it can work through us just as it did through Stephen.
So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, "We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God."
You wouldn't think that there would be a lot of opposition to feeding the widows and the poor but here we see people make up lies about Stephen. Yeshua told us that, if we followed him, there would be persecution. The same is true for us today. If everything is going along smoothly, you should check to see how closely you are following Yeshua Messiah.
They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin. There they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah; for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us." Everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
If you are serving the Lord, you will run into opposition. As we see in this passage, people will do whatever is necessary to discredit you (and Jesus). These people were worshiping a building and a set of laws but in many cases the same things go on in the "churches" today. Usually, those who oppose the gospel of Yeshua Messiah do not let the facts get in their way.
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