Tag Archives: Acts 6

Chapter-a-Day

Growing Things Change

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Growing Things Change (CaD Acts 6) – Wayfarer

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.
Acts 6:1,9 (NIV)

I saw a funny meme the other day of a father holding his three-month-old baby. The baby had doubled in weight in the three months since birth. At this rate of growth, the father calculated, the kid would weigh trillions of pounds by the time it was ten years old.

Healthy things grow…
Growing things change…
Change challenges me…
Challenge leads me to trust God…
Trusting God leads to obedience…
Obedience leads to health…
Healthy things grow…

A friend shared this with me many years ago, and I know that I have referenced it at least once before (After blogging for 17 years, I’m bound to repeat a few things!). I have always loved this little mantra because I have experienced it to be true in my life, and I have observed it to be true in both others and in healthy and growing human systems.

The early Jesus Movement was an organic, growing human system. In the first six chapters of Acts, Luke references the growing number of believers five times. At the beginning of the book, Luke records the number of believers right after Jesus’ ascension as about 120. In chapter 4, Luke numbers the believers at 5,000. He’s mentioned rapid growth twice since mentioning the 5,000.

Growing things change…

Having been a leader in a number of different systems and organizations along my life journey, I can only imagine the changes required by the Apostles to accommodate the rapid pace of growth. It was not only a change in numbers, but in geography too. Many of the first believers on the day of Pentecost in the second chapter were from all over the known world. In today’s chapter, Stephen is sharing Jesus’ teaching with a synagogue outside the Temple. The cozy little group of early believers sharing all things in common wouldn’t have been cozy for long.

Change challenges me…

Luke records the first challenges faced by the growing Movement in today’s chapter. There is a challenge from within in the form of anger between ethnic factions within the Movement. There were also challenges from without in the form of false accusations made against them to the Temple rulers who had already persecuted the Apostles.

Challenge leads me to trust God…

Luke also records in today’s chapter that the Apostles appointed more men to help with the daily duties the Movement had established for caring for the daily needs of its members. The needs of the system are expanding, and with it the system has to distribute responsibilities to more members of the system. This, in itself, requires trust not only in the members taking on the responsibilities but also in God to provide for and enable a rapidly growing organism.

In the quiet this morning, my meditation on the changes in the early Jesus Movement has me thinking about change in general. Life never stops changing. I’m facing some life changes right now, in fact. This means there will always be challenges. How I handle the change is, I believe, a barometer of my spiritual health. I can follow the path of trust and obedience to greater levels of spiritual health and growth, or I can follow the path of anger, resentment, complaint, and depression which becomes an unhealthy cycle for me and everyone around me.

Lord, help me trust and obey that I might spiritually grow with every challenge.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Everyday People Making a Difference

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Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts 6:6 (NIV)

When I became a follower of Jesus as a young person, it so happened that my sister and a handful of other young people from our mainline Protestant church had made similar decisions. Excited about what God was doing in our lives, we had some great ideas about how we could share the good news. We thought it would be cool to do a series of meetings over a weekend with live music and to invite a good speaker that people would want to hear. So, we took our idea to the pastor and educational administrator of our church. Our idea was shot down immediately.

This was the first of many run-ins I’ve had along my journey with institutional churches. Most traditional, institutional churches have been historically hierarchical (and patriarchal, as well). Authority is given from the top-down, and power is dispensed and brokered just as it was among the temple priests and teachers of the law in Jesus’ day; Just as it is in almost any large institution. My friends and I were shot down because we were just kids, our idea was not approved by the denominational institution, and the speaker we wanted, while highly educated and capable, wasn’t credentialed in our particular denomination.

The thing I find fascinating in reading through the book of Acts is this early, dynamic explosion of faith. Thousands were choosing to follow Jesus, believe His resurrection, and give everything to what had become a “movement.” But it was different than the institutional Temple where it began. The Temple divided people. There was a section for women, a section for Gentiles (non-Jews), and a section only for priests. The followers of Jesus, however, met together. Everyone met together, ate together, and prayed together whether old, young, male, female, Jew, Gentile, slave, or priest.

In the institutional, hierarchical Temple, only priests and approved teachers of the law had the authority to do certain things. When the Holy Spirit pours out in and through the followers of Jesus, suddenly the “unschooled, unlearned” believers began teaching and speaking with spiritual authority. Signs and wonders began to be displayed through all believers, irregardless of education, age, gender, tribe, or social standing.

In today’s chapter, a man named Stephen is described as having performed many signs and wonders. He speaks in a synagogue and, filled with Holy Spirit, argues circles around the institutional lawyers and teachers. Stephen wasn’t one of the twelve. He wasn’t an original apostle. He was just another member of the “Body” of Christ. He was simply an every day believer, filled with Holy Spirit, ministering to people whenever, wherever he could.

Last night there was a meeting at our house with brothers and sister from among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. Those who sat around our dining room table are going to be teaching in the coming weeks. There were two pastors from our local gathering’s staff, but there was also a banker, a diesel mechanic, a corporate middle manager, and a small business owner. Everyday people, male and female, older and younger, classically educated and not, all together using the gifts of the Holy Spirit in obedience to the Greatest Commandment so the Great Commission can be fulfilled.

Jesus’ mission was never about building or protecting an institution. It was about every day people connecting with God and loving others so that anyone and everyone can make the same connection.

Chapter-a-Day

Living in This Time and Place

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2015 Pella Tulip Time 039Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. Acts 6:1 (NRSV)

I spoke with my parents last night on the phone. Just this past week they put a deposit down on a retirement apartment that is part of a larger community and care facility. Over the past couple of weeks I have toured three different facilities with them. We have discussed their options and their preferences as well as the major shift life is taking for them.

It has struck me in the midst of this process how our relationship has changed over the years. It seems like yesterday I was seeking their help, their wisdom and their insights as I made major life decisions. This time around I find that they have sought my help, wisdom, and insight in their major life decision. I realize that we are at a very different stage of this life journey.

Along my spiritual journey as a Jesus follower, I have heard some who speak in idyllic terms regarding the church as described in the book of Acts. They speak of the events, the miracles and the outpouring of the Spirit as a pinnacle from which we have fallen; an ideal for which we should strive. The further I get in my journey the more foolish I find this line of thinking.

We live in a different chapter of the story, in a different time, and a different place. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but human civilization is ever changing. How our heavenly Father relates to we His children will naturally change across time just as my relationship with my parents will change across time. Looking back across the story from Genesis to Acts we find that the way God intersected, communicated and related to humanity changed from creation, to the Exodus, to the period of the Judges, to the time of the monarchy and the prophets, to the period before Jesus was born, to the time of Jesus, and to the time we are studying in Acts. To say that the church today should be like the church in the book of Acts is like saying that the time of King David should have been more like the time of Noah.

I found it interesting this morning that Dr. Luke is sure to mention that things were not all signs and wonders. The Jesus followers who were Hebrews from Greece were hacked off because their widows weren’t getting their share of the communal welfare program. The more things change, the more they stay the same. People are people. “Where two or three are gathered,” Jesus said,  “you’ll find me in their midst.” That is a good thing. We need a referee because where two or three gather you’ll also find conflict.

I’m grateful for the times we are living in. I’m grateful for my relationship with God. I’m grateful for my relationship with my parents. We are blessed to experience some really great things in our day and age, and at the same time we face unique challenges that those living through the book of Acts couldn’t possibly fathom. Such is life. I am not called to live in another time and place, but to walk the journey set before me in this time and place.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Acts 6

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photo by Charlie Beldon via Flickr

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Acts 6:1 (NLT)

Of course there were rumblings of discontent. Rumblings of discontent have been a natural consequence of the human order ever since Adam and Eve bit the forbidden fruit. We are self-centered creatures and when things don’t go our way we rumble with discontent. Children rumble against parents when they don’t get their way. Parents grumble about rebellious, self-willed children. Students rumble at their teachers and teachers gripe about their students. Employees rumble with discontent towards their employers. Employers rumble with discontent at their employees. As a leader in our community theatre I get to deal with rumblings of discontent from audience members, actors, directors, members and city officials. Having been a member of many different churches over the years I’ve experienced rumblings of seismic proportions on many occasions and feel tremors of discontent every time I walk through the lobby on a Sunday morning.

So, why does it surprise us when it happens? Why do we have this notion that peace and tranquility are somehow the natural order in a fallen world, and why do we act so shocked and amazed when time and again we find ourselves rumbling in conflict? On this chapter-a-day journey through God’s Message we’ve encountered stories of people rumbling with discontent over and over and over and over since the beginning of recorded history. Time and circumstances change, but the discontented rumbling goes on through the eons.

Which is why, I believe, Jesus called us to the rather difficult, unnatural task of loving others more than we love ourselves. That’s the calling card. It’s what makes us stand out from others. Everyone loves themselves more than others, but who regularly puts others’ needs ahead of their own?

Today is my 46th birthday. It is the 16,803rd day of my Earthly existence. Over the past few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time in quiet introspection. If I consider the averages I’m well on the downhill side of this journey, but I’m no where near where I want to be. I look in my own heart, examine my own thoughts, and inspect my words and actions. I find far more discontented rumbler than selfless lover. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

I want the second half of my journey to count more for God’s Kingdom than the first.