Acts Chapter Six
The first thing you probably noticed when you opened your Bible to chapter six was that it is short, only 15 verses. Chapter seven will make up for it in length. Chapter six starts out as the church was dealing with a conflict and tells how they settled it.
A dispute arose between two groups of widows in the church. The church had a distribution of food to help out the widows. There were complaints that the distribution was not fairly and equally handled. "She gets more than I do."
"The Twelve" – the apostles, said that they could not quit the work of ministry God had called them to so they could take care of these details. Here we see the importance of teaching/preaching the Word of God. Ministers who don’t preach the Bible are failing in their calling. Preaching/teaching must be based on the Scriptures. They decided that local leaders must be established to handle the serving of tables. The twelve said they would not neglect the ministry of the Word of God. It was decided that they would select seven men to oversee these helps ministries.
They didn’t just want any old person who was available. The Bible says they wanted seven men full of the Spirit and of wisdom. They wanted spiritually mature and alive men who knew how to listen to God. They wanted people who had wisdom and knew how to make good decisions. With a position of leadership comes accountability and an expectation of doing things in a way that pleases God. Over the years the church has had some people who sought position for prestige. That is always a dangerous event. God wants workers who will glorify HIM through what they do.
The church continued to grow. The power of the Holy Spirit was ministering through all the believers and their numbers were continually increasing. At this time the opposition was getting harder and meaner. They were lowering themselves to deceit, whatever it would take to stop this movement. The second half of chapter six introduces us to Stephen. He is the first man listed among the seven who were chosen. God started using him in mighty ways.
"Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people."
Acts 6:8 NIV
God was working miracles through Stephen. Opposition arose and they tried to argue with Stephen, but couldn’t ever win their point. So, it brought them to the point of conspiracy and lying. They had Stephen arrested and brought before the authorities for a trial. It really was a mockery of a trial. They produced many false witnesses against him and then asked for his defense.
This leads us to the end of chapter six and we find his defense in chapter seven. If you are not sure of what happens next, you might want to read chapter seven now to see how God spoke through him. It’s an abrupt ending, more tomorrow.
