READ | ACTS CHAPTER 6
The Choosing of the Seven
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 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. 3 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 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 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. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 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.
Stephen Seized
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 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. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 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. 3 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 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 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. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 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.
Stephen Seized
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 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. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
DEVOTIONAL
Every issue or problem we face in our world today is not new. All those problems have been around since the beginning of time and have been a tension to be dealt with in every generation. War, poverty, disease, corruption, and even prejudice have been a part of every generation in every country on earth since the creation of the world.
Even among early Christians, there was an ongoing racial divide between Jews and Gentiles, each seeing the other as inferior. This was a major issue that even took Peter ten years to fully work out before he finally began to view and preach to gentiles as equals in the faith. Even within the Jewish communities, there was a strong ideological divide between two groups: the Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews. The Hellenistic Jews were those of Jewish descent who had adopted the culture of Greece which had previously ruled most of the world before Rome took control. They were known as Hellenistic after Helen of Troy. The new culture under the Roman empire was a fusion of Greece and Rome called Greco-Roman. The more traditional branch of Judaism, which stayed in line with Old Testament customs, feasts, and laws were the Hebrew Jews. To oversimplify, Hebrews tended to regard Hellenists as unspiritual compromisers with Greek culture, and Hellenists regarded Hebrews as holier-than-thou traditionalists. There was already a natural suspicion between the two groups, and Satan tried to take exacerbate and take advantage of that already standing suspicion and prejudice.
These two groups created a potentially major problem for the early church. One that if not dealt with using wisdom and discernment, would slow or even stop the growth of the early church. It could even lead to a split between Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews, creating two sects of Jesus followers within Jerusalem who opposed each other. This would not be ideal for an early church already facing opposition on multiple fronts. The question was this; will we be able to unite ourselves around Christ, even in the face of pre-existing ideological and cultural differences? The answer would lie in strong, anointed leadership. The leadership would need to unite these very different people into pursuing the same goal, instead of fighting, complaining, and revolting against each other. To this point in the Book of Acts, Satan’s attacks on the church came in many forms. He attempted to stir up direct opposition and intimidation to stop the spread of the gospel. He tried to corrupt the church from within through false, twisted gospels. These strategies were all unsuccessful in stopping the work of the church. Now, Satan hoped to “divide and conquer” by raising one group of Christians against another. Satan loves to use an unintentional wrong or offense to begin a conflict. These are perfect conditions for a church-splitting conflict. Satan’s goal and strategy were two-fold - To see the people of God split or to see the leaders of the church distracted and focusing their time, and energy on things they were not gifted or called to do.
The Disciples wisely chose to expand and develop their pool of leaders by allowing the people of both groups, even those who brought the complaint, to select seven men. These men were prayed for and anointed to lead and unite these two groups of Jews under a single body of leadership. One of those selected was Stephen, a man who is said to be full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, two things which are always the solution in the face of division and prejudice. Faith unites us and the Holy Spirit changes hearts. The people desperately needed what Stephen carried. They also needed the Disciples to continue doing what they do best; to be devoted to prayer and to spreading the gospel, not bogged down in the day-to-day ministries which can be handled more effectively by those with a more fitting gifting.
It is interesting to think about what divides us, even today in churches. It is often the things that we bring with us into Christianity that we held onto before we became Christians but refused to let go of and hand over to God: Political views, prejudices, hidden sin, addictions, entitlement. Like the early Christian church, we need to be people who, like Stephen, allow faith to unite us in the face of all our differences. We also need to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and minds and bring us together as one in alignment with God. How could we not be united when we are all one in Christ? Let’s allow our churches today to be shaped and aligned as they will be in heaven, where we will be one people of many tribes and nations, singing and praising God together in a single unified voice.
Even among early Christians, there was an ongoing racial divide between Jews and Gentiles, each seeing the other as inferior. This was a major issue that even took Peter ten years to fully work out before he finally began to view and preach to gentiles as equals in the faith. Even within the Jewish communities, there was a strong ideological divide between two groups: the Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews. The Hellenistic Jews were those of Jewish descent who had adopted the culture of Greece which had previously ruled most of the world before Rome took control. They were known as Hellenistic after Helen of Troy. The new culture under the Roman empire was a fusion of Greece and Rome called Greco-Roman. The more traditional branch of Judaism, which stayed in line with Old Testament customs, feasts, and laws were the Hebrew Jews. To oversimplify, Hebrews tended to regard Hellenists as unspiritual compromisers with Greek culture, and Hellenists regarded Hebrews as holier-than-thou traditionalists. There was already a natural suspicion between the two groups, and Satan tried to take exacerbate and take advantage of that already standing suspicion and prejudice.
These two groups created a potentially major problem for the early church. One that if not dealt with using wisdom and discernment, would slow or even stop the growth of the early church. It could even lead to a split between Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews, creating two sects of Jesus followers within Jerusalem who opposed each other. This would not be ideal for an early church already facing opposition on multiple fronts. The question was this; will we be able to unite ourselves around Christ, even in the face of pre-existing ideological and cultural differences? The answer would lie in strong, anointed leadership. The leadership would need to unite these very different people into pursuing the same goal, instead of fighting, complaining, and revolting against each other. To this point in the Book of Acts, Satan’s attacks on the church came in many forms. He attempted to stir up direct opposition and intimidation to stop the spread of the gospel. He tried to corrupt the church from within through false, twisted gospels. These strategies were all unsuccessful in stopping the work of the church. Now, Satan hoped to “divide and conquer” by raising one group of Christians against another. Satan loves to use an unintentional wrong or offense to begin a conflict. These are perfect conditions for a church-splitting conflict. Satan’s goal and strategy were two-fold - To see the people of God split or to see the leaders of the church distracted and focusing their time, and energy on things they were not gifted or called to do.
The Disciples wisely chose to expand and develop their pool of leaders by allowing the people of both groups, even those who brought the complaint, to select seven men. These men were prayed for and anointed to lead and unite these two groups of Jews under a single body of leadership. One of those selected was Stephen, a man who is said to be full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, two things which are always the solution in the face of division and prejudice. Faith unites us and the Holy Spirit changes hearts. The people desperately needed what Stephen carried. They also needed the Disciples to continue doing what they do best; to be devoted to prayer and to spreading the gospel, not bogged down in the day-to-day ministries which can be handled more effectively by those with a more fitting gifting.
It is interesting to think about what divides us, even today in churches. It is often the things that we bring with us into Christianity that we held onto before we became Christians but refused to let go of and hand over to God: Political views, prejudices, hidden sin, addictions, entitlement. Like the early Christian church, we need to be people who, like Stephen, allow faith to unite us in the face of all our differences. We also need to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and minds and bring us together as one in alignment with God. How could we not be united when we are all one in Christ? Let’s allow our churches today to be shaped and aligned as they will be in heaven, where we will be one people of many tribes and nations, singing and praising God together in a single unified voice.
