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| Chapter 6 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, "It is not fitting that we should leave the Word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, look ye out among you for seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. 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 whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 And the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 ¶ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. 9 Then there arose certain from the synagogue which is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, and Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and those of Cilicia and of Asia, and they disputed with Stephen. 10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 Then they suborned men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and came upon him and caught him, and brought him to the council. 13 And they set up false witnesses who said, "This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered to us." 15 And all who sat on the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw that his face was as though it were the face of an angel. |
As we enter this period of the church in Jerusalem we see some practical problems beginning to show, jealousy was starting to show its head amongst the non Jew and the Jewish members. The Jewish widows were being treated differently to the non Jew widows. The church membership was growing so rapidly, evangelical outreach, worship and communion were the center of the work, the general administration of the church was not being dealt with and helping those not so well off was tending to help the Jewish members. The result was a church with a few doing the work and many spectators, unfortunately this is still present in many of our churches today. Points to note about the seven men chosen. 1) They were to be selected by the church members, it was not a case of "any one fancy the job?" 2) They were to be qualified, people with no problems, trust worthy, Spirit filled, wise. 3) Able to take leadership, to be supervisors, oversee, control the work. v5,6 Once the men had been chosen they were brought before the apostles and after prayer laid hands on them as a blessing. v7 Strong leadership does not guarantee or make sure that a church does not have problems, in this case there were twelve strong apostles in charge, yet the church still had problems. Following the new appointments the church had been saved from a possible split of Jew and Greek believers. This now allowed the Word of God to continue to be spread, the believers, including many priests, grew in number daily. We must also note that the church was growing very rapidly and problems like this must be dealt with as soon as possible, busy leaders still need to monitor for problems and ensure that the matter is dealt with, by appointing suitable people to deal with the situations correctly. The purpose of each church is Worship, Instruction or teaching, Fellowship, Evangelization. It is easy to concentrate on one or two at the expense of the others. v8-15 A man under pressure. One of the appointed men was Stephen, he was a very Godly man, v5, not just an administer and caring for those in need but full of the Spirit and used by the Spirit in the spreading of the Gospel, "performing great miracles amongst the people." God was marking Stephen as one of His special messengers. v9,19 Stephen’s work started to receive special attention from the Synagogue of Freedmen and the Sanhedrin, they tried to test his faith with arguments. But they were unable to respond to the wisdom which the Holy Spirit had given Stephen. v10. Jesus had warned of persecution in Luke 21:12-15. v11 Unable to beat down Stephen in argument the Sanhedrin secretly found men, and possibly paid them money to lie and give false witness to the truth. They said that Stephen had said things against Moses and against God, all lies. These lies quickly spread through the crowd. Up to now the Sanhedrin had not dare use violence on the believers for fear of the crowds Acts 5:26 Now because of the lies the crowd were happy to let them drag Stephen before the Council. Again lies and misuse of what Stephen had said were used to persecute Stephen. The Sanhedrin, having been twice embarrassed by Peter and the other Apostles were only too willing to accept the false witnesses. v13 They state that Stephen never stopped talking (ceased not) to speak against the temple and the law. They misquoted Jesus, who was talking about the death of His body, not the temple John 2:19. The false witnesses were distorting the words of Christ. The customs and law given by Moses were actually being completed in Jesus, His sacrifice on the cross made the temple sacrifices useless. v15 Following these false witnesses the council turn to look at Stephen, they do not see a man full of fear, but very calm, the peace of God shows through his face, showing to all the presence of God in his life. |
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