Preachers and Waiters to the Glory of God
6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Whenever somebody complains about what the Church is doing, don’t be sad. They are being like the Christians in the early church. This isn’t grumbling about preferences like the people that were struck dead in the wilderness of Numbers though (subtle warning there for you.) These folks were complaining about a legitimate shortfall of the early believers.
There were believers from Jewish backgrounds and there were believers that had come out of their Gentile/pagan beliefs. These were folks that without Jesus, we not typically living and doing things together. They were all learning how to be part off this new kingdom that followed Jesus. Together.
So for some reason, the widows that were from a Greek/Roman/Gentile background were not getting the daily distribution of food and money! All of the believers were sharing everything they had, except for the Roman widows. They were on their own.
One gracious explanation I heard was that the younger Greek believers didn’t know they were supposed to be sharing with the widows. Maybe. There are all kinds of explanations and cultures clashing here.
The 12 apostles didn’t want to stop preaching and teaching to feed the poor and neglected, so they nominated 7 men to do it for them.
There is just too much to discuss in here! Review that last sentence and talk about it with your friends. Later, the Apostle Paul would write in Ephesians 4 that the pastors were given to build up the church for works of service. They kind of line up together.
The seven men that were chosen were all Greek-named men. Two of those seven would be mentioned more in the rest of the New Testament than ten of the apostles.
Just sayin.
Sometimes there is more glory to ‘serve tables’ than to ‘preaching the word of God.’ Needless to say, the growth that came was going to need a lot of preachers and a lot of waiters.
And God used them all.
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