Acts 6:1-7 (NIV) - “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. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’
This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”
The problem that the early church faced was a practical one - the Greek widows were not receiving the daily distribution of food as needed. It was a need/a problem that needed to be solved. The apostles acted upon this and asked the people to choose seven men who can serve to organize the distribution of food.
At Ecclesia NYC, we have lunch weekly together at the ministry center but once a month, we have lunch provided. We have a rotation schedule where each missional group takes care of setting up the tables, receiving the food, cleaning up after the meal, taking out the trash, restocking the drinks and various items at the ministry center. It takes effort, thought and work to prepare to eat together. A few times we were concerned that we didn’t have enough food we asked few of us to be ready to not eat so that there will be enough food for others. But hey, that’s a good problem because there were more people than we expected!
Imagine organizing daily distribution of food for the early church! Imagine the amount of food, cooking, doing dishes, etc. I am sure they didn’t have seamless delivery service back then. But we can all agree that these are all good “problems” to be solved.
The task of organizing the food may seem insignificant and mundane - perhaps not the most desirable role but was so needed. And what we see in this passage is that the practical service and ministry of these 7 Spirit- filled men was good for the church and their service allowed the church to fulfill the primary spiritual need of the church - to proclaim the gospel effectively. With their faithful service in the church, the word of God spread and many became obedient to the faith.
Let’s make ourselves available to do the work that He has for us to do so that the gospel will spread through our churches!
-DP