Day 37 - Acts 6

You guys are fortunate! Today's chapter is only 15 verses long, so today's will be a short post.


Let's get into it!


Acts 6 (Read it here)

The more the group of believers grew, the more things were missed.  Anyone who has ever started a ministry would know that its great to start with 10 coming to a service, but when you hit 50, 60, 70 people, even the simplest tasks can become much more difficult to remember and monitor effectively.  One of the things that bothered Greek-speaking believers was that their widows were not being fed as much as Hebrew-speaking believers. (v. 1)

As if women and, worse yet, widows didn't have it bad enough. If you were a Greek-speaking widow, even some Christ-followers wouldn't think you were worthy of getting the same amount of food as Hebrew-speaking widows.

The most viable reason for this discrimination was that Greek-speaking Jews had adopted the custom of primarily using the Greek language for use in worship settings and even translating the Old Testament from its original language (which was Hebrew). To a Hebrew-speaking believer this was most likely seen as being proponents of Roman culture, the customs of the enemy.

I find it ironic, however, that the New Testament was written in Greek first and then later translated into Hebrew.

The apostles got together and decided to delegate this responsibility to able, respected, Spirit-filled and wise men so that they could continue to focus on teaching God's word. (vs. 2-3)  I think it is important to note that the apostles selected men to serve women (a practice in humility) and that those men would've been seen as leaders (Spirit-filled).  The first just became last.

This decision brought about unity since "everyone liked this idea." (v. 5) The seven men were brought to the apostles and were prayed over before beginning this ministry.  Again, I can't stress this enough, this work was not tedious, menial, grunt work.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, would echo the sentiments of the Old Testament prophets when he wrote that, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27) Fixing this issue was a high priority to everyone involved.

Did you notice that some of the priests (no doubt part of the most anti-Christians of that time) also became Christ-followers during this time? (v. 7)

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Stephen, the most notable of the seven men selected to carry out this ministry, became known as a man who was "full of God's grace and power." He started to perform miracles as the apostles had done. (v. 8)

Just in case you're curious, the men in verse 9 who debated with Stephen, were former slaves of Jewish masters who were freed but remained Jewish in their faith (in other words, not Christ-followers).

Even though a synagogue full of these men started this debate, the wisdom with which Stephen spoke couldn't be matched. (v. 10) Stephen's superior wisdom belittled these free men so much that they began to get their friends, peers and family to lie about Stephen.  They falsely accused him of saying heretical and irreverent things about Moses, God and the Temple. (vs. 11, 14)

This apparently worked because the same high council that had previously arrested the apostles on three separate occasions had Stephen arrested, too. (v. 12)

Luke ends the chapter, in verse 15, with saying that Stephen's face was "bright as an angel's."  This
is very reminiscing of what happened to Moses when he saw and conversed with God face-to-face. (Check out Exodus 34:28-35) Moses' face had the same type of glow to it after speaking with God. This should have been a clue to the council that Stephen was being used by God, but like the religious leaders before them, they chose only what they themselves wanted to believe.

You'll see what happens with Stephen tomorrow in Acts 7...and it won't be pretty.


Questions

1.)  The early Christ-followers experienced division when the Hebrew-speaking believers thought they were better than their Greek-speaking brothers and sisters. Churches still inexplicably experience this division when ministering to homosexuals, for example (as if God loves the heterosexual more than the homosexual). Or do you feel irritated when someone of Hispanic or Latino descent struggles or cannot speak English? Why do you think people naturally feel, in certain situations, like they are better than other people? 

2.) How do you think Stephen and the other six men responded when they were chosen to make sure that all widows received the same amount of food (considering they were men chosen to serve women)?

3.) Do you find that others will lie about you when you speak the truth? What kind of things have been spread about you by those who wanted to tear you down?