Sermon for April 24th, 2016

Acts 6:1-7

1Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

First Church: Seven Chosen to Serve

You can tell a lot about a person's theology based on how they deal with adversity. For example, when a Methodist pastor falls down the stairs, she picks herself up and says, "What a horrible experience that was! Next time I'll try harder to avoid it."

When a Catholic Priest falls down the stairs, he picks himself up and says, "I probably deserved that. But thank you, Lord, it could've been a whole lot worse!"

When a Presbyterian pastor falls down the stairs, she picks herself up and says, "That was meant to happen, predestined by God's will. I'm sure glad it's over!"

And when a Baptist pastor falls down the stairs, he picks himself up, turns around and says, "Which one of my deacons pushed me?"

Today's sermon is about deacons, but hopefully not that kind!

The word "deacon" doesn't actually appear anywhere in today's scripture passage, where seven members of the early church are chosen to serve others within their community. For that matter, the word "deacon" doesn't appear anywhere in the book of Acts. But Paul refers to the office of deacon in his letters (which were written several decades before the book of Acts), and the description of the deacon's ministry his letters and in later books of the New Testament matches with what is described in today's reading. So most biblical scholars, ancient and modern, have regarded the seven individuals listed here as the "First Deacons" in the "First Church."

This month and next we are going back to the basics, examining that first church, how it came to exist as a new kind of faith community in the first century. And through that lens, we are exploring how we can exist as a new kind of faith community in the 21st century.

Up to this point, as we have been reading about the early church, we've seen a remarkable unity. In Acts 2:44-45, "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." And in Acts 4:32, "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul..."

Unfortunately, we who are all too imperfect human beings know all too well how long things like this usually last. And so here in chapter 6, we see the first hints of a split--two different factions emerging in the life of the church--and this dispute will take center stage in later chapters.

Verse 1: Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

The two factions here are the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hebrews are those who were with Jesus from the beginning, those who grew up following the traditions and practices of the Jewish faith. The Hellenists, or Greeks, are the newcomers, those who were not raised in the church, and often had a difficult time understanding or embracing its traditions. Sound familiar?

Some things to notice about this verse, and here I want to talk about unity and division: The church is growing, the disciples are increasing in number. This growth is probably a result of the remarkable unity we've seen in the preceding chapters. But contained in that unity and growth are the very seeds of its ultimate destruction, the seeds of the division to come. And there's a reason for that.

How do you get unity among a group of people? There are two ways. The first is you get everyone to agree with each other on just about every subject. And that's what we call...fiction. It doesn't exist, and never has. Where two or more are gathered, there will be two or more differing opinions, whether Jesus is present or not. In fact, if Jesus is present, there will probably be at least three differing opinions!

The second way you get unity is through broadening tolerance and acceptance for differences. We have different opinions, but we're okay with that. We agree to disagree. This approach is good to a point, but the problem comes when you take it to the logical extreme--if every differing opinion is always equally valid (and there are some pretty crazy opinions out there!) eventually we stand for nothing and have no distinct identity as a group.

And so most communities, including the early church, opt for a middle road: We have some different opinions, we have some similar opinions, and so we compromise. We decide together which things are the most important, where unity is necessary, and in everything else we tolerate our differences.

This position is best summed up by a 17th century quote from Marco Antonio de Dominis, who was Ironically the Archbishop of Spalato, which, in Italian, means "Split." He said, "In necessary things, unity. In doubtful things, liberty. In all things, compassion." The trouble, of course, is deciding what's necessary and what's not.

In today's passage from Acts, there is a happy ending. The people agree on a solution that is acceptable to both factions. But it's also worth noting that, in the long run, these two factions eventually split. The Hebrews and Hellenists eventually go their own separate ways and form their own separate churches. All this happens a thousand years before the Catholic-Protestant split, and two thousand years before various splits and schisms in the Presbyterian church. So it's helpful to put things in perspective and remember that division happens. And the church, in some form or another, goes on.

One last thing about verse one. Notice the subject of the disagreement: Some widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. I would love it if all the arguments we had in the church were about serving people, and not about the color of the carpet, the number of pews, the style of worship, insurance liability, or the budget. Wouldn't you?

diakonos - through the dust