Acts 6:1-7
How do you resolve your problems? In today’s scripture lesson Dr. Luke writes that in the early history of the church it had problems. The church was growing fast as large numbers of people joined the People of the Way. The problem was between the Greek speaking and Hebrew speaking believers. The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that the Greek speaking widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution.
The only real way to solve problems for believers is to turn to the authority of scripture. A church that I once served was divided between the old established members and the new people that moved into the church. The truth was that both groups were good and caring people. The issue was who was going to have the power and control in the life of the believers. I think we believers must be guided by the Holy Spirit and the authority of God’s word to resolve the differences in the life of the church. We began several disciple Bible Studies that had the old established members and the new people. As they studied the scriptures together they became a real family. The growing numbers of new comers were no longer a problem.
Our church is facing some social problems that are a real threat. The only authority that can offer a real solution to our problems is the Scriptures. A return to the authority of Scripture and for us to be guided by the Holy Spirit will keep us in the body of Christ. The Scriptures uncover the nature of sin and is very clear on the solution for sin as found in the book if we choose to believe and remain true to Jesus Christ. The authority of Scripture for the church does not change past, present or future. To have a church we believers must accept the fact that ‘sin’ is still sin regardless of what century we are living in.
Scriptural problems grow when ministers do not provide soul food from the scripture. By prayer we find what God desires for our ministry. In our scripture today Dr. Luke tells us about how the twelve solved the issue between the Greek speaking believers and the Hebrew speaking believers, “So the twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, ‘We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
Our churches have empty pews because we have little soul food based on the authority of scripture. The believers find by experience that the solution to sin is faith in Jesus Christ. When the believers are guided by the soul food in God’s word the sugar coated ways of the world will be seen as sin and evil. The believers will care for the needs of others but will not put a stamp of approval on things that the scriptures call sin and evil. The scriptures bring to us a clear message for clergy and laity alike. We are called by the scripture to live and share the Good News of Jesus in anything we do in our common ministry.
The scriptures will enable a believer to know their spiritual gifts. All spiritual gifts are vital to the church. We need people that can teach. We need people that can sing or provide music for worship. We need people that know how to repair and fix building problems. We need people that know how to keep our worship house clean and our church grounds neat. We need all believers to pray but a special need is for true prayer warriors that hold deep concerns before God. We need believers that will befriend and visit people that are in need of spiritual support. We need believers that take on the ministry that need attention for the love of Jesus. We need believes that will be a witness to our faith in Jesus Christ that produces new born Christians. This witness is born out of God’s love and grace that we believers have experienced in true forgiveness of our sins.
When we believers in God’s message use our spiritual gifts then the living-word spreads. Dr. Luke wrote that in the early church “the number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were committed too.”
When we use our spiritual gifts based on the authority of God’s word our church will grow and we will see the birth of new life for we have taught and lived out the message that God has given us Easter people. All that have been baptized into God’s family have been chosen to serve Jesus Christ. Go now in the power of the Holy Spirit and make disciples.
