Chosen To Serve (Acts 6:1-7)

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.

(ACTS 6:1-7, ESV)

The Church was growing so fast that they were having issues that they had never experienced before.  They had more people than they could successfully serve as in days past.  One group of new followers of "The Way" was the Hellenists.  The Hellenists were Greeks speaking Jews and this particular group of them had decided to follow Jesus.  They had many widows and people who needed to be cared for and served.  So the Apostles had gathered all of the Church to have a meeting to solve this new good problem.  I think the best problems a church can have is problems with growth!  I love hearing about churches that are busting at the seems and are running out of space!  The Apostles approached the people and said we cannot keep doing everything; we need help in the daily help and provisions for the Church and the people we need to serve.  They new the best thing for the Kingdom was for them to stay focused on what God had specifically called them and gifted them to do which is sharing and preaching the Gospel.  Plus they were the true eyewitnesses of the ministry and life of Jesus!  They had a strong testimony to share.  This wasn't that they were to good for the tasks that needed done they just new that in order to do what they were gifted and called to do they had to be devoted to prayer and preaching The Gospel. So they new they needed to appoint some new leaders to help specifically serve the needs and the people of the Church.  This part is my favorite part of the whole scripture.  They new the type of person that they needed and were going to appoint.  This person had to meet these three qualities and I believe this is still the right way for Churches to appoint staff and lay leaders.  The characteristics were...

1.) Good Repute.  These men had to have a good reputation and name among the people. 

2.) Full of the Spirit. These men had to be Christ followers who have died to their cross daily and learned how to surrender themselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their life.  They also wanted to see the gifts of the spirit overflowing in and through their lives.

3.) Full of Wisdom. It was of great value that these men had wisdom to be able to discern the right things to do and choices to make.  Wisdom is something that we should all pray to have in our life because in our Christian walk we are constantly making choices that either lead to life or death and wisdom and being full of the Holy Spirit help us choose LIFE!

My favorite part about these qualities in a person they are choosing is that talent and skill is not a part of it.  PLEASE HEAR ME ON THIS.... I AM NOT AT ALL SAYING THAT TALENT AND SKILL IS NOT IMPORTANT, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.  IT JUST ISN'T THE NUMBER ONE THING WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT OR LOOK FOR. The thing about skill is it is something that is a gift and given from God.  It is a grace given to us to use to edify the Church and glorify God.  I truly believe that God equips the called not the other way around. I believe we should look for people who have these three qualities first and then find the one with the most skill in the specific area we need.  But most of the time we look for skill and talent and hope for the best in the important areas.

If we ever need to be brought back down to earth about our talent read these scriptures about talent and be humbled because if you notice they all lovingly remind us the it is GOD who gives us talents.  And just like something given it can also be taken away if not used properly. (Click here for Scriptures on skill.)

"You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill,"

(Exodus 28:3, ESV)