Wisdom For The Hard Cases | Acts 6:1-7

Scripture

• Acts 6:1–7

About this sermon

Introduction: Difficult times will certainly come. Some of the difficulties we can expect — we meet with because of the sin that exists OUTSIDE the church. Cultural difficulties. But some of the difficulties that the church must deal with will come to us from WITHIN the church. Relational difficulties from all that goes on in the lives of God’s people. ALL OF THESE DIFFICULTIES MEAN TENSION FOR CHURCH LEADERS. In all these difficulties, wisdom is needed. Pastoral wisdom. The leadership of the Chief Shepherd, the wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, needing to be on display in the leaders of the church. That is what we think about today. Pastoral wisdom for potential powder kegs. It is a crucial topic because, as I’ve already said, the tension will certainly come. In fact, potential powder kegs arise multiple times EVERY YEAR. The enemy of our souls doesn’t need much gun powder to produce explosions. Sometimes it seems like they come EVERY WEEK. Potential problems around leadership choices — the direction of the ministry in the life of a church. Sometimes tensions at the relational level — including relationships among the leaders themselves (sometimes transcending relationships at the local church level). Sometimes tensions related to congregational difficulties — difficult counseling situations or shepherding situations. REGULARLY, every pastor meets with these, and when we do, we meet with the inevitable questions: “Where do we begin? What steps do we take as we work through these situations? How do we work through these situations in a way that doesn’t reflect neglect, or over-simplification, or even cowardice, but also how do we work through these in a way that avoids lording over God’s people? How do we shepherd for FAITHFULNESS and PEACE? Navigating spiritual tensions is as old as the church. And in Acts 6 we see one example of such difficulty and we learn from how the apostles responded. And from their example we learn some principles for our own practice. Four main points today, (1) The problem (2) The solution (3) The execution (4) The aftermath. Then we will share some closing observations. I. THE PROBLEM (vs.1) Ever since the fall of man, men take natural distinctions and turn them into reasons for division. This narrative passage doesn’t provide all the details of what made up this dispute. What it does tell us is that A COMPLAINT AROSE. And this dispute was organized according to some cultural differences. The Hellenists were Greek speaking Jews, culturally bearing the marks of the dispersion of Jews outside of Palestine. Their primary language was Greek. The Hebrews were native Palestinian Jews who would spoken Aramaic as their primary language and would have attended Hebrew-speaking synagogues. a. THE ROOT ISSUE (vs.1b) The root issue had to do with daily provisions for the needy. The widows of the Hellenists were being overlooked. Not intentionally. It is virtually certain, given the solution that is provided, that this oversight was unintentional. But the enemy is always ready to enflame passions, to make use of imaginations, to suggest some kind of personal slight if it could lead to disunity among brothers. b. THE RELATIONAL TENSION (vs.1a) The complaint, as a result, was not just about procedure, it was personal (against the Hebrews). There was GRUMBLING. Grumbling from the Hellenists AGAINST the Hebrews. We are familiar with grumbling. An attitude of unhappiness. An attitude of offense. An attitude of criticism. Attitude of suspicion. All of it threatening to go viral because it has become vocal. The threat was congregational division. c. THE REASONS FOR THE PROBLEM The problem that was beginning to raise its head had some explanations. 1. Practical — Exponential growth (while the disciples were multiplying in number) The church was growing rapidly. Wherever growth comes to a church, especially rapid growth, there’s a learning curve. We’re trying to find our footing. We’re trying to keep up. But you can have practical challenges that belong to the variety of seasons that a church finds itself in. SLOW SEASONS IN THE MINISTRY HAVE THEIR DANGERS TOO.

Topics

• Wisdom