Equitable Sharing
Opening Prayer
Gracious, loving Lord, whatever this day may bring to me, Your great name be praised through my life today.
Read Acts 6:1–7
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. 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.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Here is a quiet but explosive hint to all leaders and teachers in today’s and tomorrow’s church: they must give themselves to more and more prayer” (N. T. Wright).
Think Further
Moses made it clear that there did not need to be any poor persons among the Israelites because of God’s abundant blessing in the Promised Land (Deut. 15:3–5).Foreseeing the consequences of their disobedience, however, he went on to say something that Jesus was later to quote in the gospels: “The poor you will always have with you” (Deut. 15:11; Mark 14:7). From that time to this, it has been necessary to make special provision for looking after them.
It is never an easy task and there is plenty of scope for getting it wrong. For the apostles, there were racial issues, no doubt complicated by cultural and language barriers. They employed the management tool which Moses had received from his father-in- law (Exod. 18:13–26). Note in verse 3 the profile of prospective candidates for the office that was created as a result. Since it was a task on behalf of the church and for God’s people, they had to be full of the Holy Spirit. This by itself was not enough without the technical competence to fulfill their role. Their task was mainly administrative, so their CV needed to include a proven record of the requisite wisdom and integrity.
What does this tell us about the way we run the church and our Christian agencies? Do we expect the pastor to be omni- competent, able to do all there is to be done? Does he see himself as the mighty Atlas holding the world on his shoulders? No wonder the church has been compared to a football game, with a handful of exhausted players doing all the running, surrounded by thousands of experts—many of them desperately in need of exercise—who know everything they are doing wrong!
Apply
What are your feelings about the poor and needy you come across? Be honest. What ministry role in this area do you see the Lord calling you to?
Closing prayer
Mighty God, thank You for giving me gifts and ministries. I pray for my church leaders, that they may be given wisdom as they seek to discern the callings for their people.
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