This time we are going for something a little different. It’s time for a bit of Bible Study.
Let’s talk ministry and serving
Let’s turn to Acts 6:1-2.
1 “Now at this time, as the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint developed on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”
[Acts 6:1-2]
I think the key section here is:
“a complaint developed on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food”
Complaining…
Before getting into Acts, I want to throw out two passages which touch on complaining.
Philippians 2:14 says: “Do all things without complaining or arguments;”
Read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:8-10:
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
The Bible ranks murmuring in the same category as idolatry, fornication and testing Christ.
Keep these two verses in mind.
Back to Acts.
In this section and context in Acts, it appears the Hellenistic Jews had a legitimate complaint, but Luke’s use of goggusmos indicates that they voiced their legitimate complaint in an “illegitimate” way — murmuring!
Infact, let’s break down goggusmos and complaint.
Complaint (goggusmos from goggúzo = to say anything in a low tone) is an onomatopoetic word (words that “sound” out their meaning) which means to speak privately in a low tone, usually expressing dissatisfaction or discontent.
Pretty simple.
Yeah pretty simple. You also said something about Hell and Jews. Hellenistic right? What does that mean?
This one is a little less simple. What I may say to you now would likely be challenged by another person. Whether it’s here, in a commentary, or another, you will see a considerable amount of variation in the identification of this group.
Hmm. Okay…
This is all to say there is not much factual information available. But all we can do is try.
Yeah that’s all we can really do.
So, most commentaries differentiate between these two groups on linguistic and geographic grounds. So Hellenistic Jews are Greek-speaking Jewish believers from Jewish settlements outside Israel.
Cool and the verse says the complaints were raised against the native Hebrews who were…
Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians who are native to Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.
Okay cool.
I get it now.
Carry on.
The Hellenistic Jews felt as if their widows were being overlooked. NLT paraphrases it as “their widows were being discriminated against.”
Discriminated against. That’s quite strong.
Well, it makes sense why they would have such a strong reaction. Unless the church took care of them, they would not be taken care of. One thing to note is that that the murmuring arose not from among the widows, but from others because of their needs.
Okay. So why were they being overlooked or discriminated against? Was it really because they were Hellenistic Jews?
The text does not say, but I would throw out a theory. The text said, “the disciples were increasing in number.” I’d assume with the sudden growth, rather than being purposely overlooked, it is likely they just simply made a mistake and missed them. Remember, this is about the daily serving of food. As the numbers of the believers grew, this would likely be an overwhelming task. The text does not focus on why this happened, and what led to this point, and I would suggest that it is because it does not really matter. At least in this section, the focus, and the area which is to be highlighted, is how they deal with this problem. They, being the Hellenistic Jews.
They had a real problem, but they initially sought to handle it in the wrong way – complain, murmur.
Adrian Rogers says this:
“the devil can get us divided, sometimes, more over incidentals than fundamental(s)…. Where there’s growth there are problems. Now, that’s all right, brother. I’ll tell you what, I’d rather be a part of a growing church with problems than a dead church that has none. I mean their great big problem is that they are just simply dead. Sometimes, people don’t understand that a church doesn’t have any real difficulties because it’s d-e-a-d, dead.”
Now this isn’t to say problems are always a sign of growth and good things to come, but I am a firm believer, that in all aspects of life, a man who isn’t challenged is a man who will never do all that he can and needs to do. He will surely underachieve. It will be as he never lived. Just like a church without any challenges, or questions about what to do, they are likely not doing enough and are barely living.
Okay.
I hear that.
Shall we carry on.
Cool verse 2:2.
So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
This is going in a path that I didn’t expect.
Yes. It seems like the disciples are justifying their lack of servitude in this department.
Let’s talk about it.
Sometimes, the enemy tries to divert ministers and teachers from their main purpose of preaching the gospel. Here, the apostles were feeling pressured to “leave the Word of God and serve tables” (6:2). Satan employs a similar tactic today, by getting a pastor so involved in church programs that he has little time for prayer and the study of the Word. Sometimes we’re struggling to find the balance between doing things, holding sessions, events, trying to make it interactive for the members who are in desperate need of fellowship, but also trying to promote the word. We have to be intentional. We can’t neglect the word in favour of serving.
We can’t neglect the word in favour of serving.
Prior to this time, the twelve apostles had apparently been ministering to widows, waiting on tables, distributing food and funds. But if we look in Acts chapter 5, the angel who released the twelve had ordered them “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” And in Acts 5:42+ we see they immediately obeyed and that “every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” This was their mission and they were strong.
“Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”
However, because of the massive growth, the apostles were becoming negligent in their sermon preparation, so to speak. They were getting behind in their commission to be Jesus’ witness and to win souls to Him. The apostles had not made a choice between good and bad, for it was not bad to minister to widows, but they had made a choice between the good and the best, especially given their specific commission.
They had made a choice between the good and the best.
Yes, there is no evil in serving tables, and feeding widows. In fact there can be a lot of good from it. So if your gift is serving tables, then serve tables filled with and enabled by God’s Spirit, serving as unto the Lord Jesus Christ and do not be discouraged by the thought that your work is less valuable than the work of those who are preaching or teaching the Word of God.
That is the principle we’ve got to let go of. That’s the thought that we need to eradicate. God does not assess the different parts of the Body of Christ the way men do. What He is interested in is that we are faithful in using the gifting His Spirit has given each of us, for “A spiritual gift is given to EACH of us so we can help each other” (1 Cor 12:7NLT), for the “Spirit works all these things, distributing to EACH ONE individually just as He wills.” Thus EVERY believer has at least one spiritual gift and to fail to use it for the benefit of the Body of Christ and the glory of Christ is to be seen by God in the future as a poor steward.
Just to be clear. The issue is not that the disciples were serving the widows. Or serving tables. They are not saying that, that it is beneath them.
Not at all. In fact, Marshall points out that “It is not necessarily suggested that serving tables is on a lower level than prayer and teaching; the point is rather that the task to which the Twelve had been specifically called was one of witness and evangelism.”
There’s this saying:
If the devil cannot destroy you, or your ministry, he will distract you, and disrupt your ministry. Sometimes the distractions aren’t explicitly bad things. The disciples were not choosing between good and bad. They were choosing between good and better. They were choosing between appearing to do good and doing good. They were choosing between man’s opinion and God’s word.
If the devil cannot destroy you, or your ministry, he will distract you, and disrupt your ministry.
To avoid thing’s getting too long, let’s end with a quote.
Alistair Begg says:
My Sunday Skl 
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