Monday: Waiting on Tables
Read Acts 2:44-47, Acts 4:34-37. What kind of picture of the early church is presented here?
No question, things were for a time going quite well among the early believers. Of course, everyone is fallen, and before long some tensions started to rise.
Read Acts 6:1-7. What problems arose, and how did the church deal with those problems?
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
Rapid growth of the Jerusalem church brought with it social tension. Philip was appointed to a team to deal with it. Converts included underprivileged and economically challenged persons whose participation in the daily common meals placed increasing demands on church leaders. A murmuring about unfair distribution of food to Greek-speaking widows emerged. This was especially sensitive because of reminders by the Hebrew prophets not to neglect widows and orphans.
To resolve this serious issue, all 12 apostles gathered the believers and proposed the appointment of seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who would literally deaconize (Greek for
so the 12 could serve
) tablesdeaconize the Word
(see Acts 6:3-4). All seven had Greek names, perhaps indicating a balancing of welfare service for the neglected Greek-speaking widows. Among them was Philip, the first time that this Philip is mentioned in the Bible.
The apostles argued that additional leadership was needed so that they should not be overworked by the administration of the resources necessary for communal life. They emphasized that their call was to devote themselves to the Word of God and to prayer.
What are some of the potentially divisive issues in your own local church, and how can you allow God to use you to help ease them?
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To me, the underlining problem was not just to remember to take care of widows and orphans but that there was murmuring going on which is a tool used by the Devil to cause disharmony. There was an atmosphere of jealousy, prejudice and favoritism going on which is a problem still with the church today.
SDA We call a remnant church and we need to be courteous.some members are not following apostleship rather practices of diverse religions as in SOP&VOP. Leaders of the church should(pray and fast with such people revealing what God demands and does.) take time with members who claim VOP&SOP for they are evil attraction which proves that God is not present where as the versa. #penticostal should not be used for such churches,knowing what happened on penticost.
Given the nature of the current pervasive values and attitudes of the church it appears very unlikely that Christians will reproduce the piety of the early church. Though a hard act to follow the pattern of oneness and common sharing of the New Testament believers presents a picture of primitive godliness needful but lacking today (Acts 2:44-47; Acts 4:34-37).
Imagine a church condition in which it can truly be said, “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked;” (Acts 4:34)
Notwithstanding desperate needs in the present generation many are quick to justify holding onto riches, especially if obtained by hard work or some form of faithfulness to God, and therefore deserved in the mind of the one blessed. Of course the faithfulness which has gain as its goal is not that which tends to Christlikeness.
Interestingly Nicodemus who is often cited as a rich believer surrendered his wealth as he surrendered to God and became poor in this world’s goods. His treasure storehouse was shifted to Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21) and he remained faithful.
Though a foreign concept to some, particularly in more developed regions of the world, the ‘having all things common’ experience and simplicity of living is closer to life in heaven than anything else on display in this world (Acts 4:44, 46). While the exact structure of the early church may not be duplicated a revival of such principles is only to be expected with another refreshing shower of the Spirit, and only among those who are stirred by the outpouring.
With the temporal issues out of the way the early believers could give greater attention to building up the kingdom of God “and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47) Could the Lord repeat the experience soon? “It is almost time for the Lord to come.”
This lesson shows how important the arm of welfare is. The least fortunate must be helped. Pastors are already overworked and cannot attend to everything. As a church we must continue to help the less fortunate among us because it is of vital importance. Imagine they picked people FULL of the spirit for welfare work, not just anyone. May we all remember to give.
I dont believe the idea that pastors are over worked.On the contrary its church elders who are over worked though not renumerated.pastors hoad over the churches and are chief administrators in church boards instead of ministerial work.many of them work on sabbath by visiting churches but not seen many days except to give directives"from above."we truly lag behind by example to the early church experience.
Is very amazing that the spirit of God is moving our Church t the vary doctrines of truth through our Leaders!!Let's praise him!
In our church today,favoritism and whom i know for long has been the order of the day disregarding the inner qualities that the newly members have,
being in need. It is not a wonderful thing. Begging the body of Christ is not a light thing. And good stewardship in a time some only come to church for an opportunity to beg makes charity work difficult. As Barb and I age and out needs have increased. I look arround and realize we eat, and live in our home and drive out car. Wait. Entirely because of charity. Barb works and I do when work presents itself. There is a class of humanity I belong to. Like gipsies in europe. I went to jail and I am the one who had a job at DHL airport and DHL almost lost government contract. and some ex felons make it harder on us by workplace violence. I am branded and labeled and set on the curb. When I apply for work the response is your to old and Never here.
What i learn this morning? is that we as Christian today must learn from the early church. We must let history repeat it self. We must be in one accord by praying daily for the holy spirit to guide us in remembering needy persons in our church today.remember we are human and we need the holy spirit guidance. If you notice Paul ask them to PRAY and choose leaders who are powered by holy spirit, who are wise in welfare of the needy in the church today. God love a cheerful giver.
Prayer is an essential part of a Christian's life but unless we understand that prayer involves a whole lot of listening, it becomes just a stream of words going nowhere. When we pray for the Holy Spirit some of us expect that flames to descend on us and that we will feel some mighty power within us to do great and mighty works. Instead the Holy Spirit whispers to us that Mr Jones has nobody to talk to and needs a listening ear, or that Sally has broken up with her boyfriend and needs something to occupy her mind so that she does not become depressed.
We often overlook the little things in our prayers for the Holy Spirit and I think we may be shocked at how much we have missed, simply because we were praying and not listening. 1 Cor 13 is worth listening to, again.
I dont see it as a favoritism but instead the church was just starting to reach the Gentiles and they were in a process of spreading the Word of God and it wasn't easy, they were busy and unexperienced. God was guiding them and they figured out that the body of Christ as a whole can do different things for the growth of the church. And they did!
We should never under-estimate the importance of good pastoral care. And good pastoral care should not be limited to the efforts of the church pastor.
We sometimes cast aspersions on what we sometimes refer to as the "social gospel", but unless we take time to build our community of believers our church experience becomes sterile and ritualistic. We need to take time to listen to one another and to make one another feel wanted and special.
The appointment of deacons in the early church was a step in the right direction. Their task was to ensure that nobody missed out the community experience. It is the responsiblity of all of us to look after one another.
The Bible in the light of the formation of the office of deaconry by appointing the seven members has categorically talked about reputation as a quality of one who should hold such a docket. Can somebody help me understand what is it in reputation as concerns this office.
It is important to remember that we all have spiritual gift and they are to be use for the edifying of the church. So when there is a need we who knows what are spiritual talents are need to do are part and up lift the burden that will come on others who are trying to meet the need of members.
No one is over worked. Everybody isnt bothered. People dont want to visit the sick. If a prominent person gets a problem, he is helped. Bt a layman in xch doesnt get atention. I was pregnant & weak & couldnt go to xch. No one bothered to visit me & i waz fogoten. Wen i went bac no one even remembered my name. But wen my neighbour gave birth, the whole xch came to visit her. It was so disheartening. Gossip is also a problem. We r completely lost & selfish.
Some really do get it. Some miss a moment i don't know why. And When those some who really get it miss a moment they hurt. Even if the person just darts in and out at 12 . For those who dart in late and leave early i promise there is a place for you. Those of us who are running sabbath school or children programs. We have lives and make sacrifices to work our way alongside others and find something to do. I know some feel left out. Please don't feel left out ask what can I do. you will quickly find friends.
I don't understand the title "waiting on the tables"