Presentation 15
Presentation 15
Introduction
Are you familiar with the phrase, "throwing a spanner in the works“? A very
small thing can cause great disruption. On a personal level, we may have seen
this disruption at work. A CD player won’t work because a fuse has blown.
A car engine won’t start because of a speck of
dirt in the carburettor. Minor things can
cause major complications!
Presentation 15
Introduction
Historians have attempted to explain Hitler’s obsession with creating a master
race by detailing little childhood experiences, or by pointing to a particular
book read during his adult life. Little things that could have led to the lives of
millions being destroyed.
The passage before us points to what initially may have appeared as a minor
irritant in the life of the church but it contained the potential for disaster.
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Contention In The Church
The early church was growing at a phenomenal
rate. Expansion of this sort can introduce
danger, as various groups and factions polarise
around their common interests creating an ‘us
and them’, mentality.
The church in Jerusalem was made up of Jewish
converts local to Jerusalem and those from
the Greek speaking world. In those days
there was no widows benefit or social
welfare and the church took on the
responsibility for the material welfare
of all her members.
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Contention In The Church
But the Greek speaking widows felt they weren't getting their fair share and a
grumbling campaign started cf v1. This was - a comparatively minor thing but
scripture reminds its "the little foxes that spoil the vine“ Song of Sol. 2v15.
Big issues in the church attract great attention while little ones fester away
unnoticed under the surface, spreading their poison through the whole body
until the witness of the church is discredited.
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Contention In The Church
Note that what the Sanhedrin with all their threats, pressure, intimidation and
persecution had failed to do, the church seemed poised to do for them!
Namely, tear itself apart! Will we allow comparatively small things to discredit
the work of God in our own church fellowships, or will we seek to unearth and
deal with them?
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Contention In The Church
There’s no evidence that the Greek widows had been purposefully
discriminated against. The whole incident can be explained by
honest oversight. The Greek widows would have been
less well known than their Jerusalem equivalents.
In which case, wrong motives were being attributed
to those responsible for the distribution?
How often problems arise in the church because
a wrong construction has been placed on
something said or done.
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Contention In The Church
Have your actions or words ever been misunderstood or misinterpreted? We
don't like it. We are grieved that no one has taken the trouble to ask for
clarification of what we’ve said or done. As a result a whispering campaign
begins and soon a little spark produces a raging inferno, a forest fire not easily
put out. Cf. James 3v5
Now are we guilty of behaving in exactly the same way towards others? Do we
put the best or the worst possible constructions on the things we see and
hear?
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Contention In The Church
Think about how easily Hitler persuaded his
countrymen that the Jews were responsible
for their poverty. Party loyalties, ethnic and
religious background can so easily colour our
judgement and remove our objectivity from
much of what we hear. It sometimes suits us
to believe the worst about people who are
not a part of our ‘group’.
Paul writing to a church divided by party
spirit says, "Love thinks the best“ 1 Cor 13v7.
Do we do that or do we tend to perpetuate
misunderstandings?
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The Apostle's Solution
The apostles deal with the problem immediately. Their solution was
innovative. They introduced a new office to the church that of deacon.
Their thinking was fluid enough to reshape the organisation
of the community to suit its needs. That’s something we
can learn from today.
In church life, organisation becomes dangerous
when it fails to be the servant of the church and
becomes its master. This produces a rigid
structure resistant to change. We need the
sort of innovative, fluid thinking found here
to address the pressing problems of
church life.
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The Apostle's Solution
Secondly, their solution generous. They chose 7 men Greeks the group, who
thought themselves discriminated against [all seven names are Greek]. In one
bold stroke, the apostles indicated that they wanted to be seen to be beyond
reproach. This is what Jesus meant by going the ‘extra mile’. When we do
more than is required of us, we show that our actions are free from bitterness.
This decision quenched the misunderstandings that had crept into the
Hellenistic community. It healed the resentment and hurt in a way that
nothing else could. Can you think of ways by which you can go the extra mile?
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The Priority Of The Apostles
The church in Jerusalem was also delivered from the danger of something
much more subtle - the loss of her priorities and direction cf. v2, 4. The
apostles could have cut back on preaching in order to act as administrators.
They resisted that option. Why? Not because they thought the task too
demeaning. Rather they recognised the priority of preaching for the advance
of God's kingdom and of prayer which undergirded that advance. Every
preacher knows the pressure to be involved in 100 good causes and have a
finger in every pie.
This passage reminds us of that danger.
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The Priority Of The Apostles
Why did the apostles consider preaching and prayer such a priority? God
wants to communicate himself to others. The theme of his communication is
unfolded in the gospel of reconciliation. Scripture both brings new spiritual
life and sustains it. The factual doctrine and ethical direction found
in God’s Word, feeds this new relationship.
Preaching is the God-ordained method of making
God’s Word accessible to men. When the apostles
speak of the ministry of the Word, they see
themselves as communicators of
God’s truth.
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The Priority Of The Apostles
Preaching is a remarkable medium for it mediates, God's authority, presence
and power. The preached Word creates the sense of being is the
presence of God who is its subject matter. Through it we are
searched and convicted by him. We are moved to humble
ourselves and worship him and so respond in
obedience to his will.
It is therefore not enough to think of preaching
as mere sermonising; the filling out of a stated
slot of time with religious monologue.
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The Priority Of The Apostles
If the church should ever abandon preaching as its
priority, not only will its light begin to dim but it will
lose its sense of direction and purpose and most
importantly the living presence of God. It will become
at best a ‘Religious Social Work Department’ and at
worst, merely another ‘Social Club’.
Do we share in the apostles’ determination to preserve
the great priority of preaching.
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Conclusion
We began by suggesting that a spanner had been thrown in the machinery of
the early church. Its aim was to tear the fellowship apart and to distract the
apostles from their primary objective preaching and prayer. God, took that
spanner and used to advance his purposes.
The church produced a fellowship that
grew in fruitfulness and went on to
claim converts from one of the most
hitherto resistant groups v7, the
priesthood. How like God to take
something designed to bring ruin to his
work and press it into his service!
May God do that to all the spanners that
appear in the works of our church fellowships.
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