Verse 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.
Verses 7-8 – “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.” After the ascension of Jesus, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, great things were happening among the Christians in Jerusalem. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, three-thousand people were added to the church. This made a total of 3,120 Christians. People continued to be added to the church, in spite of the fact that Jewish authorities tried to put a stop to it. What the devil could not do through persecution, he tried to do through internal church problems. (See, church problems did not start with us. lol) The verses between Acts 6:1 and 7-8 tell of a problem that arose between the Greek widows and the Jewish widows. The Greek widows in the church accused the apostles of neglecting them in the daily administration of the food, and that they favored the Jewish widows. This caused a great stir and was leading to a rift in the church. As a result seven godly men were chosen to oversee the distribution. What happened after this trouble is interesting, and we can learn from it. They dealt with the situation in a mature manner and solved the problem. With the problem solved revival broke out. What happened after the trouble? “The word of God increased.” This meant that the devil’s attempt to stifle God’s word did not work and the church got back to the word of God and began to take it more seriously. It means that Christians talked about the word of God wherever they were – at home, at work, in the streets and in worship services. This is how the word of God spreads. When we are not waylaid by a silly problem, we can get the word of God to people. The word of God is not just a “church thing.” We do not just deal with the word in church programs like Sunday School and worship services. We need to live it and talk it each day. If the word of God had been just a “church thing," to these early Christians the word of God would not have increased. This is not to denigrate what we do in church, rather it is to see that we should spread what we do in church to the community at large. That’s what happened in Jerusalem after the trouble. These believers demonstrated Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick (alive) and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword." “The Number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem.” Today we would say that they evangelized Jerusalem. This evangelistic effort brought great dividends to the Jerusalem church, for “the number of disciples multiplied greatly.” When the church thwarted Satan’s efforts of division, caught on fire and began to take the word of God seriously and to share it with unbelievers, people began to take the church seriously. Doesn’t this tell us something? The work was so complete that even “a great company of priests were obedient to the faith." This would have been a difficult group to reach with the gospel, for they would have to give up their livelihood, and their standing in the community to become Christians. We think that there are people in our community who cannot be reached, but if we eschew the devil and get serious about our faith, nothing is impossible. The “Greek widow” problem could have been a devastating blow to the Jerusalem church. It was not devastating, because they dealt seriously with the problem, solved it and got on about the real business of the church. Do you get it? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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