Acts 6:1-7 – Delegated Leadership
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
Acts 6:1-7 – Delegated Leadership
Welcome to "The Living Word" with Chuck Davis. Acts 6, 1 to 7, Delegated Leadership. Now, in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellnest arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. In the 12th summon 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." Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will point to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Chorus, Nicaner, and Timon, and Permanas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 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 underlying theme to this section is the expansion of the church. Our passage begins in the days when the disciples were increasing in number, and it ends with what we would call an inclusio, and the Word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied, kind of bracketing this in. This should excite us. If God desires that none should perish, multiples coming to Christ, it's something that's exciting. It's not about the numbers, but it's about the reconnection of people to their Creator and Redeemer. But as with growth, the church organism needs more organization. I wish the church was just organism, but it is an institution. Sociologically, we know that institutions need more organization when you have more people. It's a necessity. The danger of over-organizing is that you lose life in the organic dynamism, but the danger of not organizing is that you leave confusion. You don't see the church mobilized to its full potential. In this particular situation, there is a dispute over the caring for the widows. The two groups mention are the Hebraic Jews. These would have been the Aramaic speakers, and the Grecian Jews. This is the diaspora. And the apostles make this declaration. It wouldn't be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word, the ministry of the prayers. They're not creating a hierarchy in ministry. In fact, they'll point to the value of service that they lay their hands on and pray for anointing for these who are going to serve the tables. The solution they come up with is a selection of new leaders and delegation. This seemed good to the people that there'd be cooperation and empowerment. The story is very reminiscent of Moses leading the people through the wilderness, and he's overwhelmed because he's judging every case, and his father-in-law, Jethro, says, "This isn't good. You need to pass leadership out." This is delegation. It's not laziness. It's just being effective as a leader. We can assume that the problem was solved because we began with people being added to the kingdom of God and to the church, and we see that it continues after they find this solution. The so-one of this passage is the importance of raising up leaders. John Maxwell has written a book, "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership." Law number 20 is this, "To add growth, lead followers to multiply growth lead leaders." And the apostles got that. Raise up more leaders to be invested in the church. Now what of this passage is, if you're listening to this and you have a leadership assignment, invest in other leaders that it would pass out from you. If you desire more leadership, if you'd like to see the scope of your leadership increased, find a coach or a mentor who pours into you and look for opportunities to use that leadership. The need before you, combined with the gifting and the anointing and the calling that God puts in you, might be the kingdom prescription that's needed for the moment. So, Lord, thank you for this early church that models such good leadership principles for us. Help us to be people that are inflamed by your Holy Spirit, spiritual intensity, but who are wise. Using the best wisdom that we know from this Earth to lift up your name. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.