“In those days the number of believers was growing “In those days the number of believers was growing. The Greek Jews complained about the non-Greek Jews. They said that the widows of the Greek Jews were not being taken care of. They weren’t getting their fair share of food each day.  So the 12 apostles gathered all the believers together. They said, “It wouldn’t be right for us to give up teaching God’s word. And we’d have to stop teaching to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men. They must be known as men who are wise and full of the Holy Spirit. We will turn this important work over to them. Then we can give our attention to prayer and to teaching God’s word.” 

“This plan pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen “This plan pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen. He was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas were chosen too. The group also chose Nicolas from Antioch. He had accepted the Jewish faith. The group brought them to the apostles. Then the apostles prayed and placed their hands on them. So God’s word spread. The number of believers in Jerusalem grew quickly. Also, a large number of priests began to obey Jesus’ teachings.”

We are going to count a number of different groups of people that existed within the early church. Fingers ready?

In the church at the time of the apostles, there were two groups of people: those with food and those without food. In Jerusalem at the time of the apostles, many widows were literally starving because they had no money to buy food, so one of the church’s first activities was to ensure that those who were in need of food were fed on a regular basis. Why do you think the church decided to hand out food like this?

How many of you know the Lord’s Prayer? This was a prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray before His death and resurrection. “Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) For the people of the early church, it wasn’t enough for them to simply pray that prayer and hope that people were fed … they knew that God had been very good to them and that because of the way God had blessed them, they ought to share their food with others.

Our passage also tells us about two other groups of people within the church: those who spoke Hebrew and those who spoke Greek Right from the start, the church was made up of those who spoke Greek and those who spoke Hebrew. Can anyone tell me what the problem was in our passage? The Greek speaking widows who had been receiving food during the daily handout felt that they were being overlooked in favour of those widows who spoke Hebrew.

The early church understood that they needed to be completing two different tasks if the church was going to keep growing: they would need to teach people about God and they would need to feed those who were hungry. Does learning God’s Word fill your belly? The apostles – Jesus’ twelve best friends – had been trying to do both jobs and it was too much for them.

So, the church came up with one plan. The apostles urged the early church to choose seven men to whom they could give the responsibility of feeding those in need, so the apostles could then focus on teaching and preaching – feeding people spiritually! The church nominated seven men: Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch. In order to ensure that all people were both heard and served, the church chose to have both Hebrew speaking and Greek speaking people in leadership within the church.

What do you think the result of the church’s decision to solve the problem this way was? The Greek widows began receiving the same amount of food as the Hebrew speaking women. “God’s word spread. The number of believers in Jerusalem grew quickly. Also, a large number of priests began to obey Jesus’ teachings”. (Acts 6:7) When the apostles were able to focus on their strengths – preaching God’s Word – while the other seven men focussed on making sure that everyone was fed equally, more and more people began to believe in Jesus.

The Bible makes a very strong case that serving others is very important within God’s Kingdom. “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28) Just as Jesus came to serve others, the apostles and early church knew that they were to serve others also.

KIDS Perform an act of service Leave your Hillside Secret Service Agent calling card PARENTS Take a quick photo of the act of service – not the kids as this is about the service and not the server – and post it on our Hillside Facebook page.

My prayer is that we become a church that is consistently active in serving others and that God would use each of our own individual strengths to permit this church to serve in diverse ways, seeing God’s word spread and many come to faith in Jesus.