BACKGROUND:
Peter concluded his message with a solid review of his main point: So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that Jesus was both Lord and Messiah. In the prophesied plan of God, this Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified by the Jews, raised from the dead, and exalted to the throne of God. AMEN!
The crowd was stunned! They asked the question that warms the heart of any messenger of the gospel: “What should we do?” Peter was ready with the answer. Peter presented a fourfold challenge:
Turn from your sins—In other words, “repent.” It is a basic and wholehearted change of mind that results in a change of purpose, direction, and values. The words, each of you, remind the listener (and modern reader) that this message is for all. Everyone needs to make a decision about Christ. His offer is the only effective solution for the sin problem that plagues every descendant of Adam.
Turn to God—In addition to turning from sin, people must turn to God. It does no good to turn from sin without turning then to the one who can solve the sin problem.
Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins—For believers, baptism is visible proof of repentance and commitment to follow Jesus, the Messiah. The idea of baptism for the forgiveness of sins does not mean that baptism results in forgiveness of sins but rather that forgiveness of sins as a result of accepting Jesus as Savior should result in a baptism—an outward display of an inner conviction. Repentance, not baptism, is what brings forgiveness.
Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit—Only through the coming of the Holy Spirit into believers’ hearts can they truly experience forgiveness of sin. The “gift of the Holy Spirit” (not multiple or varied gifts but rather a singular gift) is the Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. As Jesus had promised, he is the Comforter and the one who guides his people.
Luke (the author of Acts) recorded no more of Peter’s words to the gathered crowd except to say that Peter kept talking for a long time, warning and pleading with the people to be saved. And oh what a response! Three thousand people believed and took the step of faith in Christ and were baptized—they took that first step of obedience, publicly identifying themselves with Christ. And they were added to the church; that is, they immediately joined the fellowship of believers.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
#7. WE MUST MOBILIZE EVERY MEMBER FOR MINISTRY.
That means put people into action. Acts 6 says, “In those days the number of the disciples were increasing. The Grecian Jews among them complained against those of the Aramaic speaking community because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It wouldn’t be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom and we will turn this responsibility over to them and we will give our attention to prayer and ministry of the word.’ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, tuimon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the Apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. So the word of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.”
Seven lessons that we learn from Acts 6.
1. A growing church is Biblical. It says, “In those days the number of disciples were increasing.” Obviously, we’ve looked at that in many places in Acts. If a church is not growing, it’s not healthy. Healthy things grow. Unless there is a circumstance in the community that they’ve already reached everybody there. We’ve said that if there is one person who doesn’t know Christ, we’re going to keep growing. A growing church is biblical.
2. Church growth causes problems. It says that there were “rumblings of discontent.” That’s true in any church. Sometimes people come to me and say, “Pastor Mike, we’ve really got a problem in this church.” I want to say, “Which one? I’m aware of about a hundred which one are you talking about?” They say, “You may not recognize this but there’s this need.” Of course we recognize it. We live with it day and night. But there’s always the time lag of training people to take that ministry or getting the resources to fulfill that ministry – whatever.
3. Problems are always unmet needs. It says “The Greek speaking Jews claimed their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.” But I noticed that the pastors didn’t go out and start saying, “We’ll add that on to our job description.”
4. Pastors cannot do it all. Their response to this need was, “It wouldn’t be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” It’s a legitimate need but it’s not one that God called us to meet. What’s the answer?
5. Lay ministers are to assist the pastor, those who are in leadership. They said, Chose seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and we’ll turn the responsibility over to them. It’s interesting, that if you read these names in Acts 6, Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. These are all Greek names. What they did was they chose men who would have a heart for Greek women to meet their needs. Like ministers to like. He said choose these people and we’ll turn this responsibility over to them.
6. The pastors are to focus on praying and teaching. He said, We will give our attention to prayer and teaching of the word. When I came to COV, I made a covenant with our church that I’ll make sure the people are well fed. That’s been my goal since that time. I also said back then and I say again today - If you’ll do the ministry which God has called you to do, and If I make sure you’re well fed, there's no telling how much God will bless this church.
7. The result of lay ministry was more growth. It says, This proposal pleased the whole group so the word of God increased rapidly, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. There was mobilization. In many churches, all you’re expected to do is attend and give. That’s basically it. If you show up and give that’s all that’s expected of you as a member.
Those are really two minor issues related to what God really wants to do in your life. This set and watch syndrome is like a sports game on TV – 22 people on the field desperately in need of rest and 75,000 people in the stands desperately in need of exercise. They say, Let the professionals do it and we’ll set on the sidelines and cheer and support them. We have allowed this to influence us in the church and in a lot of churches they’re saying, “Let the professionals do it. We’ll cheer them on Go Pastor! You’re doing a good job! Get back out there!’” But God says No, Mobilize every person for ministry – pastors and staff are to equip. We have to mobilize every member for ministry.
Let me ask you today - what is the ministry that God has equipped you and gifted you to do? Are you doing it? I love you guys. Stay faith. Stay the course.
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