Throughout the book of Acts, the Apostle Luke helps us to understand the early days of the church. Last Thursday, Pastor Mary’s devotion guided us through the second part of Acts 6, with verses 8 through 15. Today, we are going back to the first part of Acts 6 and looking at verses 1 through 7. Keep in mind what Pastor Mary already shared as it directly connects to today’s passage. We are to “feed” off of the Bread of Life, Jesus, and allow His Spirit to fill our souls, spirit, and body by His Word. With His Word, we are to seek God’s holy wisdom as a guide for our lives, because only then are we divinely given the ability to remain in a place of love (His love) no matter how others treat us. We must call on the Holy Spirit to make us mindful of our responses to others, asking that our hearts remain sensitive, and that our souls remain humble with each righteous response that the Spirit provides through us. “Since God chose you (and me) to be the holy people He loves, you (and I) must clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Making allowances for each other’s faults and forgiving others who offend you (and me). Remembering, that the Lord forgave you (and me), so you (and I) must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:12-13)
In today’s passage, we see that the early church was growing as believers were rapidly multiplying. We also see that there were two distinct “groups”, the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hellenists were complaining about the Hebrews, because they believed “their” widows were being treated unfairly and discriminated against. When you stop and think about it, today’s church is not much different from the early church. Far too often God’s Family (His Church) becomes divided into “groups” when that shouldn’t happen because we are called to be One Body with Christ as the head (1 Cor 12). The division happens because believers start to feed on the world’s “food” instead of allowing God’s food, the Word, which is perfect, to fill, sustain, and guide us. Since the world’s “food” is fleeting, we see that even believers will complain and point fingers at others because of fear. When we “feed” on this world’s food, Satan creeps in and fills us with fear. Satan’s fear seeks to rob us of the trust we should firmly have rooted in Jesus, and that fear branches off into doubt, anger, and all areas of sin.
Next, in our passage, we see that the twelve apostles call a meeting of “all” believers. Here, and for a moment, we witness the Church (God’s Family) living out the Word and working as One Body. Notice, that scripture doesn’t say that any of the apostles started yelling and pointing fingers at anyone, rather scripture says that they came together and worked in the Spirit seeking wisdom and prayed over the decisions made by Spirit and through the entire Family.
We know from Pastor Mary’s devotion on Thursday that this moment is short lived, as Stephen is arrested. However, go back and read over those verses again, because even though the enemy is speaking lies about Stephen, he stands firmly on the Word of God and speaks the Truth. Stephen is determined to share the righteous “food”, the Bread of Life, Jesus, with anyone who will listen, and even in the midst of what is his greatest trial on this side of heaven, as is believed that Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
Acts 6:1-7 (NLT)
Seven Men Chosen to Serve
1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being our Bread of Life. Help each one of us to keep feeding on Your Word. We do not want what this world has to offer. We want You, Jesus. Keep us knitted together as Your Family, working as One Body with You guiding us, Jesus. May our faith be like Stephen’s faith. May we be filled with You, Holy Spirit, and covered by Your grace. I ask this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.