Acts 6:1-7: On Leadership

In Acts 6:1-7, there is a tension between the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews: “Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food” (6:1b). The early church grew rapidly in numbers. At the same time, problems came along with it. As I am preparing a sermon (in Chinese) based on this text, I notice a few things about leadership.

The first thing is that “the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers” (6:2a). The apostles took the initiative to address the issue. They rightly discerned the reality, helped the congregation to see the reality, and addressed the reality alongside the congregation. How often leaders (=pastors) ignore or rationalize what is in front of them and live in illusion. One of the main motives behind such ignorance or rationalization is to avoid problems so that they can practice their faith which is context-free. In other words, in order to make sense out of their religiosity, they twist the fact that is in front of them. Their faith is like a bird with no feet. Religion becomes a hand-made utopia. It is ahistorical. Under this type of context-free leadership, the church as a whole misses a lot of chances to experience God and grow toward maturity in Christ in the midst of finding solutions to resolve problems, for God only meets us in reality. The God of Israel is the God of history in the person of Jesus Christ. There is a historical Jesus; however, there is no ahistorical God.

The Twelve called for a meeting and allowed the congregation to see their current state clearly: “Look! This is what is going on. Yes, we do grow in numbers. But we got issue here.” As leaders, we are one step ahead of others. We should see the problem first. Even though we may not see the problem first, we have to be the first ones to take the initiative to address it. If we are not the first ones to bring up the problem, at least we don’t dismiss it when people point out what is obvious. Leaders who don’t see any problems are useless. Leaders who don’t have the guts to face problems are cowardice. When “leaders” are always one step behind others, they are nothing but followers. Or they belong to the crowd, which is made up by nameless individuals.

Secondly, the Twelve prioritized their ministry—the ministry of the Word and prayer. “We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food problem” (6:2b; see also 6:4). Christian leaders must guard their time so that they can handle this sole ministry well. I call this sole ministry because it is extremely important for the well being of the church. If leaders spend too much time on other ministries and ignore this prayer-word ministry, the congregation suffers from the distraction of the leaders. Generally, many leaders are like tourists without a map. They don’t know where they are going and what they are doing. They just follow other tourists. Pastoral ministry is all about the ministry of the Word and prayer. It is the heart of it. Eugene Peterson says that pastoral busyness is laziness. Many busy pastors are lazy because they don’t make efforts to prioritize their ministerial responsibilities. They are busy running errands; however, they miss the most essential ministry: the ministry of the Word and prayer. They look busy, but they are lazy.

Thirdly, because the Twelve kept the main thing as the main thing—the ministry of the Word and prayer, they delegated others to take care of other things, in this case, a food program. Delegation is important in leadership. No one can do it all and do it well. “Select seven men…and give them this responsibility” (6:3). The response is that “everyone liked this idea” (6:5a). The early church was fond of the suggestion and willing to take up the responsibility to face the challenge. Good leadership has to do with delegation. But biblical delegation has to do with godly discernment. Leaders must appoint those who “are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (6:3). Therefore, godly discernment comes from knowledge of others in the congregation. In other words, leaders must know the people so that they can delegate ministerial tasks to them.

The result of good leadership is vividly shown in 6:7—“So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.”

Lydia's Household

In Acts 16:6-10, the Holy Spirit kept Paul and his companions from entering into the province of Asia and Bithynia. They then traveled to Troas by passing by Mysia. A vision appeared to Paul at night: “A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” Luke (the author as well as Paul’s companion) concluded that God called them to preach the gospel to the Macedonians (16:10).

They traveled from place to place and finally arrived at Philippi, “which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony” (16:12), where they met a business woman named Lydia. As Paul was teaching the women on the Sabbath day, “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (16:14). The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached and expounded by Paul. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to understand it. The doctrine of the gospel needs to be taught by women and men in accompany with the work of the Spirit. It illustrates that Lydia’s mind was at work in hearing the gospel with faith. In commenting on this verse, John Calvin wrote, “Wherefore, we see that not faith alone, but all understanding and knowledge of spiritual things, is the peculiar gift of God, and that the ministers do no good by teaching and speaking unless the inward calling of God be thereunto added.”[1] One of the means that the Spirit works through is faithful teaching of the gospel. Both faith and mind are at work here.

Lydia got baptized. So did her household. She urged them, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay” (16:15). Her true faith led her to open up her house and invite them to stay. This household became the seed of church planting in Philippi. This woman was the first-fruit of the gospel in Philippi; her household became the gathering place through which the Spirit planted the church in Philippi.

The church as an institution is foreign to the New Testament. In the New Testament, the church is always a people of God. It is not about a place, but a people called out by God. In the early church, Christians gathered together in different households and scattered from them. These households were the churches in the first century.

The other day Sue and I revisited the concept of ministry and asked, “What kind of ministry do we want to go into in the future? What kind of ministry are we suitable for? What kind of ministry does my ministry style and personality fit into? How do we make disciples of all nations in a practical way?” We came up with an idea that perhaps it is a right direction for us to start different house churches and make disciples through household gatherings in the future. Can we have the Lord’s Supper in Lydia’s household? Can we baptize people in a household? Can we sing, pray, and worship corporately in a household? Can we have Sunday school in a household?

The church is a church because of a people, not a place where the building is registered as a church. How does the New Testament view the church? What is the function and nature of the church?

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[1] John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 2. 500^th Anniversary Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), p. 103.

Barnabas: Son of Encouragement

The sermon for today came from Acts 4:32-37. The pastor preached on this text with Barnabas as the focus. Sue and I both think that the pastor delivered a good sermon today. As a Levite, Barnabas’s original name was Joseph. But in 4:36, it says that he “was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement).” In the literary context, we see that Luke purposefully places this brief summary of the early church in front of story of Ananias and Sapphire (5:1-11): Those who sold their possessions for the common good sets a sharp contrast with this couple who lied about their possessions. Among them, Barnabas “sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (4:37). Sacrifice is one of the marks for Christian discipleship. The early Christians demonstrated this basic principle. We must give up something in order to follow Christ: “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk. 8:34). The early Christians took up their own crosses and followed the cross of Christ. Ananias and Sapphire failed to take up their cross. So they died for that cross. They lived, but they didn’t follow. Can we say that they merely existed in God’s sight?

After the conversion of Paul, he came to Jerusalem and attempted to join the disciples. But “they were afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26). Who would believe that a prosecutor of the church would become a proclaimer for the church? The text says, “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles…” (9:27). No one accepted Paul except this son of encouragement. Perhaps, Barnabas saw something unique in Paul. Or he believed that the worst sinner could be turned into an obedient saint by His grace. Barnabas took Paul. And later on, both Barnabas and Paul were sent off by the church at Antioch to do mission work (Acts 13:1-3). The result of Barnabas embracing Paul was that they became partners in ministry. Maybe there would be no Paul without Barnabas’s encouragement. Who knows whom God would use in our surrounding?

It is not enough with Barnabas’s encouragement alone. I believe that the reason why the disciples listened to Barnabas when he accepted and introduced Paul to them is that Barnabas had a good testimony among them. He earned their respect when he spoke. He backed up his talking; they respected his living. Who would trust someone who just talks aloud with no integrity, faithfulness, and commitment in life? If Ananias and Sapphire didn’t die in Acts 5, would the disciples believe this couple when they introduced and recommended Paul to them?

Pray to Speak

The sermon for today came from Acts 4:23-31. Earnest prayer was one of the distinctive marks in the early church. Their reflex was to pray. In the midst of prosecution, they prayed. The religious leaders charged Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). After being threatened and released by the authorities, they went to the other believers , reported to them what happened, and prayed as one voice [voice: singular noun] for boldness to continue to speak the word of God (4:23-24, 29, 31).

In their prayer, they started the prayer with God’s own sovereignty: “Sovereign Lord…” (4:24) This group of early church believers prayed for boldness to speak the word in Jesus’ name. Their prayer was grounded in His sovereignty. Due to the reality of the resurrection, they were not filled with fear. They recognized the sovereignty of God in the midst of difficulty. The current circumstance did not overcome their sound theology. Or they did not yield to what they saw and allow the circumstance to distort their theological lens.

The pastor said that we can go to a seminar to learn the word of God. But we can’t learn how to speak the word of God with boldness from a seminar, for such boldness comes from the Spirit who works in our hearts. It comes from the heart—the center of our passion. We pray for boldness to speak the word in the name of Jesus. When we pray in order to speak and speak with prayer, the sovereign Lord will bring it to pass.