How Do We Avoid Church Splits? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Pursue personal holiness, seek to serve, and never neglect preaching and praying.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 6:1-7
Today, we’re going to look at just the first seven verses of Acts chapter 6. Basically, over the past couple weeks, we’ve been given an overview of the types of conflicts which will affect churches. We’ve seen external persecutions and internal hypocrisies. Now, we’re going to see the potential for internal divisions. This passage has been both a challenge and an encouragement to me over the past several weeks. I pray it is you, as well.
“1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”
The actual nature of this conflict is less important than the principle here. Sadly, if you have lived long in this culture, church division is something you’re at least vaguely familiar with. However, even more sadly, there is a good chance this has impacted you directly. Church splits are far too common, and they’re not God’s design for the Church. I think this passage has a lot to show us about how to avoid such conflicts, and that’s our gist for this morning: Pursue personal holiness, seek to serve, and never neglect preaching and praying.
Let’s make a couple big picture observations as we move through this passage. Then, we’ll hopefully hit some practical takeaways ☺️.
First, let’s note that→
I. THERE WILL BE NEEDS...AND GRUMBLERS
Look at verse 1, “1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
There Will Be Needs. In this passage, the need came in the form of the Hellenists feeling slighted by the Hebrews. Basically, this division was a cultural one. The Hellenistic Jews spoke primarily Greek and were likely comprised mostly of non-permanent residents. The Hebrews primarily spoke Aramaic and were mostly comprised of locals. The extent to which this slighting was happening is unclear. Either way, it does not appear to have been intentional or malicious. Nonetheless, it threatened the unity of the church and needed to be legitimately addressed, so the apostles took it seriously. There are two principle observations I want to make here.
1. We need to be aware of needs. We should want everyone to be growing in Christ. If something is preventing this, if a need is unmet, we need to know about this. This means we need to pay attention. But it also means, we need to be honest with each other. It is hard to meet secret needs.
2. We need to take them seriously, even if that requires...change! We’ll look at this more later, but we have to keep this in mind. Up until this point, the apostles had been handling the distributions and the teachings. Tradition does not determine the effectiveness of a ministry--positively or negatively. Having done it a particular way for a long time does not automatically equate to being effective or ineffective. However, we need to be willing to look at everything we do through the lens of: does this help people grow closer to Jesus? If it does, do it. If it doesn’t, figure out what will.
The second thing to notice here is→
People Will Gripe. The word translated complaint here is one that means to murmur. It’s an onomatopoeia in Greek because it sounds like what it means. It was just grumbling. The need was legitimate. The form of complaint wasn’t. In fact, it was precisely what threaten division. I have two quick observations here too.
1. Expect gripers. Don’t be surprised when this happens. But→
2. Don’t be a griper!
So, there will be needs and there will be grumblers. Given that context, we need to remember→
II. Needs Should Be Taken Seriously Without Taking From The Primary Purpose of The Church
Look back over verses 2-6, “2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”
I want to make three quick points here. First→
Ministry Is The Privilege Of Every Believer. I never cease to be blown away by God’s timing! This week Chris and I were able to talk to about 40 high schoolers about ministry during our “career day”. Since careers were the driving theme of all of the sessions, we did talk about vocational ministry. However, in every session, we tried to make it clear that ministry (intentionally pointing people to Jesus) is something every Christian should be doing. It’s our calling as believers. However, as I was jotting down notes for this morning, I realized putting it that way might make service seem like duty--but it is so much more than that! This is our privilege. It’s what we get to do! And... it is the privilege of all of us. So that means→
Every Ministry Can’t Become The Duty Of A Few Believers. In this passage, we see two ministries. Both are important, but the apostles could not do both. Let me make these two observations, and man they’ve been hitting me these past couple weeks.
1. If a few people do everything, everything suffers neglect. A couple weeks ago while I was driving, I turned on Bott Radio. The man preaching (I believe it was Rick Warren) was talking about prioritizing your schedule to make sure you’re really giving God your best. Everything he said hit me like a ton of bricks, but the story he told that has stuck with me the most was about his peach trees. He said one season all of his trees produced a ton of blossoms. There was something like 100 tiny peaches per branch. At first glance, this might have seem like a great thing, but he said it was awful because it meant he had to spend an exorbitant amount of time pruning. Had he not, none of the peaches would have grown into anything worth eating. He would have had thousands of tiny peaches with big pits and very little fruit. We don’t want to produce more pits than fruit in our spiritual lives...so we can’t try to do everything.
2. Disunity often springs from lots of people having expectations without trying to contribute to the solutions. Remember it’s a lot harder to grumble when you’re actively and blessedly distracted by God’s work! This is the privilege of us all! If you are saved, you should be ministering!
Therefore, We Should All Be Ministry Ready! This isn’t just a call to blind activity. Look at the criteria the apostles set here. They didn’t just see this as something that needed to be done by “anybody”. It was service to God to be done by God’s people. Again, two quick observations here.
1. Don’t disqualify yourself by thinking, “I’m just not that kind of Christian.” There should be no other kind. While not everyone is called to to every ministry, everyone should meet these criteria: known for being full of the Spirit and spiritually wise. These are the result of spending time with God. He is the source of all wisdom, and He equips us to serve!
2. Especially be ready where you notice the problems! It is basically impossible for us to notice this in the English translations, but all of these men have Greek names. Remember, it was the Greek speakers who were grumbling and had the need. These men seem to have had personal insights into this culture. Do you see a need in the church? Don’t just complain about the need being unmet; pray about how you can be part of the solution!
So, we should be meeting needs together and→
III. This Should Result In Both Unity And Growth
Look at verse 7, “7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” I know I have given a lot of “observations” this week☺️; I have a few more to make...but I’ll be quick. First→
Unity Should Be Pursued! Now, let’s just make this clear: pursuing unity is not the same as “appeasing grumblers”. Needs should be met, but sometimes grumblers are just going to grumble. How do we walk this fine line then? We should seek to serve God by serving others, but we cannot serve others at the expense of serving God. Therefore, we must do whatever we can to meet the core needs of others and remember not all superficial wants are spiritual necessities. Keep the main thing the main thing!
And lastly→
Growth Should Be Expected. We can’t become complacent, nor should we fear how growth might upset our status quo. In the same way, we should not want more people for the sake of more people without any desire for spiritual growth. This is not about numbers, but we should long for and expect God to move in the lives of people!
TAKEAWAYS
There is so much to glean from this passage, and I encourage you to spend time really meditating on the personal implications of what we’ve seen so far this morning. Now, let me just leave us with these.
1. Pursue Personal Holiness. Let me clarify here. I do not mean any form of self-righteousness. Rather, we should live like we’re really saved by really being transformed by Him. If there is no difference, there is no salvation. It is hard to divide a body full of people all desperately seeking Jesus.
2. Seek to Serve. On that same note, when we’re transformed, we should live like it both personally and corporately. What does this mean? Long to see needs met and plan to be a need meeter!
3. Never Neglect Preaching and Praying. I realize this might sound more like a takeaway just for me. I’m not going to lie, remembering this truth has really been huge for me this week. However, this is something we have to remember as a church body as well. If we do not prioritize the study of God’s Word and prayer--speaking and listening to God--nothing else that we do will ever matter. If we’re not drawing near to Him, the rest of our service runs the danger of just being a humanitarian effort.
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