Some years ago, there was a little track that was being circulated about the freshman in college. Had a huge impact on many of you as well, the name of the track was the tyranny of the urgent. And in that little track, it talked about one of Satan's oldest tricks, distraction. Being distracted by little details in your life, the pamphlet would talk about more possibly the less important details, but the little details, nonetheless, that can so easily take over our lives. I'm sure you've never been there before. You never said that, well, I'm going to do that this summer. I'll have more time this summer. I'm going to get that done. When things slow down, when we get them out of school and things slow down, we're going to do that this summer. Well, brethren, the summer's half over. If you're anything like me, yesterday morning, I caught myself saying, well, when the fall comes? And it was in the context of reading. I thought, well, I'm going to read more. I'm going to have more time to read this fall. Life, and I say, if Satan knows this better than any of us, because this is where he attacks us so often, is that life can so easily become overcrowded. Overcrowded with the little details, little details that should have been done, or we think need to be done yesterday. And that's where we find the apostles this morning, not so much because the noise of the squeaky wheel was any less important. I don't want to use the illustration of the tyranny of the Urgent for you to think that this was something that had happened that was less important to the apostles, because that's just the fact. This was something that was very important, something that did not need to go neglected. The thing is, this problem in the church that's administrative problems was just not the apostles calling. And they were having to neglect the very things which God had called them, their God-given responsibility, and that was to preach the Word and to pray. Let's look at the problem itself, beginning in verse 1, just those first four words. It says, now in those days, we don't know exactly what days to which Luke refers, but we can feel pretty sure that this is a reference to the day. The days immediately following that trial, when they had been warned at the end of trial, you don't preach in that name anymore. Thank you back even a couple of hours from that scene, when they're in prison, the angel comes, rescues them. He, the angel, commissions them there to go out, and they are, remember not to take a rest, not to take a vacation, you go straight from the prison to the pulpit. You go straight from this jail into the temple, into the public, and you preach every word of this law, and they were obedient. And they were arrested again, they were brought before the Sanhedrin, before time, before it was over, they were beaten, and again as I've already looked at it, they were sent out, not to preach, and they do it again. And I've reviewed that with you to make the point that it was because of their concerted effort to obey God. It was because of their concerted effort to do the very things that God had told them to do in their calling, which was to preach the word and to pray, those two things, because they were doing them, the church was growing. And the church was growing by leaps and bounds, if you'll notice, where we leave off there in verse 1, well, it's going to verse 1 over now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying. That's when the verse continued, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in a daily distribution. This is no small clash, and this is not some little squabble between Aunt Sally and Uncle Bob, because Uncle Bob forgot to write Aunt Sally a note when she was sick. Okay, this is not like Nanny, my grandmother, we call her 93 years old, in the nursing home, or two favorite subjects, or what they had for lunch, and the denomination of her neighbors. And she is God in the world, Presbyterian, and if you're not Presbyterian, you are inferior, and I can only imagine if she was neglected in the daily distribution. And I've even heard her say that that Methodist friend of hers or Baptist friend of hers got sherbet before she did, and that's a big deal, but that is minor, very minor, compared to the clash here. This in this passage is a deep-seated, cultural, linguistic, major clash. The Hellenists were great speaking Jews, in fact when it came to language and culture and outlook, the Hellenists were actually more great than they were Jewish. Most, if not all, were foreign-born, they're in the minority, but they're devout, they're devout Jews, and some of their elderly, some of their widows are devout, and they want to move to the holy city, they want to live out the remainder of their day in Jerusalem, and so that's where they are, but they're in the minority. The majority is made up of aromatic speaking Jews, these are your native-born Jews, the Hebrews. And I say again, there is considerable tension between these two groups, and in this case, in particular, specifically in our context, it is a matter of the minority feeling that they've been neglected by the majority. The widows that are in the minority, the Hellenistic, great speaking Jews, feel that they have been overlooked by the majority, heronate speaking Jews. They probably have been. We don't know for sure, but they probably were. The reason being the apostles were just simply too busy. This was an administrative problem, and there was a need for an administrative solution, so what are they going to do? Well, they could have become defensive, couldn't they? They could have said, you know, oh, how dare they talk about the ministry that we're doing our very best, don't they know how swamp we are? Look at all these things that we've already done, but then look at all these ministry to widows. I can't believe they're talking about us that way, being defensive. They could have ignored them, couldn't they? They could have said among themselves, oh, that's just a bunch of elderly people. Let's just ignore what they're saying, and it'll go a wide-elf we're getting about it. They could have shunned them, which I guess would be the same thing as ignoring them, to some extent. They could have stuck their toes in the air, but that's how dare those Hellenistic widows, they're acting un-Christian to even begin to complain about this ministry that we have begun in their lives. They could have taken that step further, couldn't they? And an active church discipline moment, you know, kick out the complainers. So then they would have had first apostolic church of Jerusalem and second apostolic church of Jerusalem. They could have taken it to a vote, you know, so that they could have gotten it all hung up in the parliamentary procedure and then called the questions they called it for a vote, and then let the ships fall where they may, which would have been where, with the majority. So they could have gotten off easy that way, they would have won. They would have said, think I told you, this is what, this is the way it should be for you. They could have voted, or they could have taken a vote, they could have formed a committee, discuss the problem, delay the process, that's sort of like ignoring it, give it enough time, and then maybe the problem would go away. Is that what they do? Of course not. Why? Because the widows cannot be ignored. You cannot ignore those that find themselves within the church in need. You can't shun them, you can't discipline them for complaining, you can't vote them out, so what are they going to do? They are going to have to solve the problem. The problem is a major problem. The cause of its importance, this is the priority. They need to take care of the problem, so they make this proposal in verse 2. The beginning says, it begins by saying, then the 12, that's the only time an ax that Luke actually refers to the apostles as the 12. Some and the multitude, the multitude of the disciples, why did they do that? Because again, because it is a priority that they do so. As far as we know, they call the entire thousands, they call the entire Christian community together to make this decision watch because it's a priority, because it is important because they need to find a solution. So verse 2 continues, they said, it is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables therein lies the solution. They are saying, we need to find men who are willing to serve tables. We need to find men who are qualified who are willing to put in today their ministry in the church to take care of the Weas, to take care materially of those in the church who have need. So the 12 propose that they choose 7. Verse 3, therefore brethren seek out rule among you. 7 men hear the qualifications of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we may appoint over this business. Now, notice first that the men had to be qualified, and secondly, the qualifications are spiritual in nature. Notice what it says, a good reputation. They had to be men of proven worth. They had to be men that everybody knew their character, they knew what they were like, they knew how they conducted their business, they knew what kind of men they were in their homes, and not only did they know it, they respected them for it. They respected the way they lived their lives, they were above reproach. They couldn't be a novice. As Paul later told them to tell us in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, they had to be full of the Holy Spirit reasoned banks because they would deal with very sensitive issues. Their effectiveness as closed vacants, because they are not really called vacants in this passage, but the effectiveness of their diagonal ministry would be contingent upon whether they had the Spirit. It was a spiritual office. It is a spiritual office. The Holy Spirit, they had to know that the Holy Spirit was clearly guiding and directing and leading these men. Or they couldn't serve. They couldn't be officers, and they had to be full of wisdom, which means they had to have practical know-how. They had to have a grasp of the nuts and bolts of the ministry. It's a very interesting balance, really. You notice full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, full of wisdom. You always see this balance. There's always a balance among those who serve as officers in the church. The congregation should not choose men who are godly, but they don't have any wisdom. They don't have any practical know-how. They don't understand the ministry. They don't have any common sense. On the other hand, the congregation should never choose ungodly men, because they just have a lot of common sense, because they have a lot of business know-how, for example. There ought to be the balance, so it ought to be what you look for in the men that you nominate. Not only so, men, but it's a great list for you to pray for in your own wife. Wives, you ought to make this a prayer for your husbands. Congregation should pray for this in their officers that we have men of good reputation, men that are full of the Holy Spirit, men that are wise. Then the names of these seven are given in chapter 5. It says, they chose, Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit. He'll play a huge role in the next couple of chapters, exactly chapter and a half. He's going to play a huge role in your wife, just warn you of that. They chose Philip. Philip only appears, again, in chapter 8 and chapter 21. He is called the Evangelist. No other man in Acts is referred to as the Evangelist. Prochorus, the Chorus. We don't really know anything more about him from Scripture. Tradition tells us that he was martyred for the sake of the gospel in Antioch. Nicaner, Timon, a parminist. We don't know anything more about them, that their names are listed here as the First Deacon's Nicholas. We're telling a cross-lite from Antioch. In other words, a convert to Judaism from Antioch. We know these two things already about them. Besides their qualifications, we know from the instruction they were selected by the congregation, and then we know they were ordained by the apostles. We know they were ordained by the Holy Spirit, which leads us into Rev. 3, which is sound principles for church leadership. Look at verse 2. Again, by some end, the multitude of the disciples said, it is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. And then skip down to verse 4. We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. So obviously, there was this division of responsibility. Who do you think was responsible ultimately to see the mercy ministry was going on in the church? Might surprise you, because it's not the Deacons. Ultimately, the responsibility failed with the apostles. Obviously, they were the ones who started the ministry. They had enacted this ministry to widows in the church. Now there come the complaints about the implementation of the ministry. Some are being neglected. Reason being, these apostles just simply could not do it all. So they say, you choose seven men. Hear the qualifications. You elect them. You tell us who they are. We will put them in the right place, verse 3. We will ordain them, verse 6. And we will delegate to them their responsibility. Why do they do that? Why do you think they have to delegate? Some of you may, through hall to the old joke, isn't it that the preacher only works one day a week. Maybe asking, why would they have to delegate? What's the big deal? Why couldn't they do it all? The first reason given, for me to give to you from the passage, is that ministry of the word is a full time job. I wonder how many of you believe that. I wonder how many of you really know that is true. I don't know. There would be a number of reasons why some would not understand that. I've been educated. You don't, I'm educated in that area of the church. Some just do not have the understanding of this truth. Let me say a lot of churches will hire preachers and they expect that minister, the senior man, he is the CEO. That's what they might even refer to him as the CEO. Oh man, we've got the man. We've got the man who's going to oversee all the ministry. He's going to enact all the ministry. He's going to make sure all these things get done. And what you end up with is a lot of churches, which by the way this church is not like that. A lot of churches will expect the preacher just to have a list here. Full time administrator, full time visitor of the sick, full time public relations man. Man is man, secretary, janitor and counselor. The man who implements everything sees that everything is done. Attends every committee meeting. Attends every social event because that's what's expected of him. And there are many, many preachers who can't preach. But you know why? A lot of people want to blame them. They'll say, I think I just can't preach. A lot of them can't preach because their congregations don't allow them to preach. They don't let them preach. They don't let them have the time to prepare to preach. They don't allow the man to do the very thing that God has called him to do, which is first and foremost to preach the word and to pray. Now, I've already said, you do a pretty good job on it. Wish you do. I'm very thankful. Very thankful for Mondays. You give me that in my schedule. That's when I study for the morning sermon. I'm working on carving out Wednesday mornings and Thursday mornings for more study. But you have a great staff. Short handed, I keep telling you that. That's a full time job. And yourself is finding more staff. I'm funny. You have a tremendous business administrator. Bill Reagan knows everything that's going on. He was up here with a great example of this passage. In fact, I don't know how late he was up here. He and Marjorie putting together these booklets that we have to put together hundreds of these booklets for RYM tomorrow. How many times has Bill Reagan said to me, you do what God has called you to do. Let us do what God has called us to do. You have your gifts. We have our gifts. Let us do this area of the ministry. It's a great blessing for me in the church. One of the very important or high on the quality list for the public committee. Let me know that was that they were calling a man to minister the word. That's why you're here. Minister the word and cry. That was also a big part of our discussions. Again, some of you would buy into this. Some of you may not. But I will put it in these terms. If you really want your money's worth. If you really want your money's worth out of the senior minister. If you really want to support the profile of the man at the public committee. Let it be known that they were looking for. If you really want to be supportive of scripture, a scriptural understanding of the ministry. If you really want to be sad the word and you really want to be mastered. Then by all means let the preacher preach. Let you make sure that that's what I do first. You make sure that I am spending my time preparing to bring you the word and praying. Support the idea that we are sort handed. I think that's understood across the board. We need more staff. Support it with your time. Support the understanding from scripture that the ministry of the word and prayer is a full time job. That's not really the point. I don't have to convince anybody in this room. The amount of work that is put in in my job. My job from this text is to point out the matter of calling. This is a certain individual responsibility as you in the congregation have your responsibilities. But I, as a senior pastor, should not be expected to run every program and serve tables. I don't say that, but it's actually very hard to say. I've never said that before before. Never preach this passage in that line. I want to serve. I love serving. That's enough. My second favorite job would be to be a butter. I would love it. I really would. When I study on Mondays, I start a study an hour, take a 10 minute break, study an hour, take a 10 minute break. I want to clean the house. That's therapeutic to me. I like the servant attitude, but I serve it doing service. But if I neglect the word, if you were to cause me to neglect the word and prayer, everybody in this room suffers. You say, we pay you to pray? Yes. I didn't think that was kind of funny. I really did. I have to ever stand for a group of people and say, you pay me to pray. But as the years have gone by, I realized that's what you've called me to do. To spend, it's done right, literally hours, playing through a passage, praying through the verses, praying it into my heart first, praying it into your heart, praying for worship, knowing that prayer is what it makes the ministry effective. Prayer is what calls down the spirit of God into a place. You're not paying me to have a quiet time. That's what you think I'm saying. Every Christian man who you spend in time with God alone, we're talking about other times during the day, during the week, early in the morning, late at night, whatever it takes to make sure the ministry is prayed for. You should expect it from me. You should ask me if I'm doing it, but you should give me the time to do it as well. As Matthew Henry said, the minister of the word must be God's mouth to the people in the ministry of the word. Sorry, the minister of the word must be God's mouth to the people. Where have I got that written down? I thought I had it in the bulletin thing. I'm going to read it silently first. The minister of the word must be God's mouth to the people in the ministry of the word and the people's mouth to God in prayer. Your mouth to him and prayer his mouth in a sense to you as I bring you the word. Secondly, another reason is because the ministry of serving tables mandate that everyone in the church use their gifts. Let me say quickly that's the word in the second verse for ministry of tables is the same word for ministry of the word in verse four. There are those in the church that are given to pouring themselves over passage of scripture and getting into the details of the passage. There are those who are others who are given toward visiting shudderings. Those who are given toward teaching and in those who are more given toward providing a message. That's the word for providing a meal for a family. But it takes everybody, everybody works together in the church and this group doesn't look down on this group over here and this group doesn't look down on this group over here. If you have the gift of mercy and help, you don't look down on people who don't necessarily show the gift of mercy. If you have the gift of administration, you don't look down on people who are not organized. If you have the gift of teaching, you don't look down on people who are less articulate than you. It takes everybody, everybody is necessary. Everybody is essential. Everybody is different. But God has equipped this church with the gifts to turn Montgomery, Alabama upside down. Right here within this very church, the only way we're going to do that is if you use your gifts. Are you using your gifts under the Lord? Let me just say again very quickly for a diagonal ministry that this word, for Deacon in the Greek is used in verse 2 as a noun in verses 1 and 4 or actually verse 2 as a verb in verses 1 and 4 as a noun. But if it's understanding that these men are qualified, they are good reputation, feel with the Holy Spirit full of wisdom, selected by the congregation, ordained by the elders, and then they are given their responsibility. And that's what the elders must do in a church. The session must hand over to the Deacon and not only the authority to do certain things in the church, but they need to be given the freedom to do it. And when they don't do that, when the session doesn't do it, they handcuff the Deacon and they flush straight the Deacon and the church as a whole suffers. If the session will do what is done in this passage, give the Deacon at their jobs, concern themselves with the word and prayer, the church will grow. Look at verse 7, the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. It's amazing what God will do when a church is ministering in word and deed, meeting spiritual needs as well as physical material needs. This verb is continuous, the word kept on spreading the disciples, continued to increase, and even the priests were being converted. They were being obedient to the faith. Now there was no one as we go to the Lord's supper now. No one who was more obedient to the faith of all people, but no one more obedient than our Lord Jesus Christ. No one saw the priorities as they're seeing in our past is this morning, God, eternity, the souls of men. We're actually going to look at these verses again, Lord willing on July the 23rd and see that priority structure in these verses. But these elements of the Lord's supper are a vivid reminder to us that Jesus Christ was is obedient to the faith. Only those who are obedient to the faith are invited to the table. Those who are servants of the Lord Jesus disciples of the master, subjects of the king, you must be repented of your sins, you must be trusting Jesus Christ alone for salvation. You must not be involved in any public sin of which you've not dealt with in your life. You must be a member in good standing, if you're visiting with us. We just simply ask you to be in good standing and a member of your church. It's an evangelical church. And if that is true, then you're invited to come and find nourishment for your soul. The one who has been faithful, obedient to the faith is the one who is faithful to you forever and ever and ever, and he waits on you. And he might have fellowship with you in this meal. Him, appropriate.