Reflections on "The Seven" Acts 5: 12-16; Acts 6: 1-6

I thought the sermon went well, although I was reminded of the teaching point at the preaching seminar I went to a few years ago that suggested that listeners should be able to leave the sermon with something concrete in mind to do in response to the sermon.  In a sermon about how to be the church, what exactly can the listener do in response?  

it did not make my Thursday blog, but at some point I had thought about adding a point to the sermon about the 8th person, and comment on women and ministry (all the seven were men).  I had a great line to use in the sermon:  "there was an eight person, a woman, who was waiting in the wings for time to pass before she could assume her rightful role of leadership in the church."  but, that would probably be a whole sermon, not just one point of  sermon.

“The Seven” July 13, 2014; FPC, Troy;  Acts 5: 12-16

Introduction: The apostles, the twelve, are out doing some amazing things.

It sounds like if Peter's shadow lands on those in need of healing, they are healed.

Lots of people coming to believe in Jesus Christ.

They are also getting lots of attention from the authorities. If we had read the section between the two Scripture lessons, we would have read about the apostles appearing before the authorities and the persecution that was taking place.

I imagine the gossip circles in town were going crazyl

Did you hear about this healing.

Who are those crazy people talking about resurrection.

Can you believe this – they talk about God's love, but they don't even make sure the widows in their group are getting food.

That last piece of gossip gets the church leaders' attention. Let's reflect on how they handle it.

Move 1: Should the church takes its cues from the world?

a. Woman complaining that the church seems to be following the world.

1. I was in a group of Presbyterians this week discussing General Assembly.

2. One member of another church, but perhaps it could be a member of this congregation, noted: “when I read about what the Presbyterian church is doing, it seems like it is straight out of the papers. The church seems to following the world. That's not how it's supposed to be.”

2. Most of us would agree with that. The church ought to lead the world, not follow.

3. in fact, we know that the word for church, ekklesia, in the New Testament literally means “called out.”

b. But, this story in Acts shows the church leadership acting a bit differently.

1. The Hellenists, those outside the church, have a complaint against how the early church is acting.

2. We may not have Hellenists complaining among us, but we know about people who have critiques of the church: church is full of hypocrites; church only worries about itself; church just doesn't get it – behind the times. themselves; not with it.

c. We might expect the early church to just ignore the Hellenists.

1.  Dismiss them because they are “of the world” and don't really understand what the church is doing.

2. But instead, the leaders not only listen to the complaints, but they take them seriously.

3. The widows, and we know “widows” is a term that means all the vulnerable, were being neglected.

4. The worldly critics have a valid point.

5. the early church changes the way it does business.

the early church takes its cue from how the world views them.

500. the “called out” recognize that they are sent back into the world.

1. Not to ignore the world, but to listen to the world crying out for God's love and saving grace.

2. To engage the world.

3. The church does not exist on a mountaintop separate from the world, but the body of Christ is in the world.

Move 2: responsiveness of the church.

a. Whenever I read this story, I marvel at the responsiveness of the early church.

1. They discover an issue. They resolve it.

2.  apparently, no committee needed to be formed; no vision study or feasibility study;

3.  a solution was needed, and a solution was provided.

4.  now on to ministry.

5. Wow – how decisive and responsive.

b. How many of you remember the summer we were under construction on our new building and renovations on the older part of the building?

1. I learned a lot in that process.

2. If you get called to come to the church site immediately, that meant there was some sort of problem.

3.If when you drove up people were standing there staring at the building, then it might be a big problem.

4. If everyone had their hands on their hips and they were standing in the street as if they were afraid to get to close to the construction site, it is a really, really big problem.

5. asbestos!.

6. I can't remember if they discovered it on a Thursday or a Friday. I do remember that the whole construction site became off limits, and that included the Sanctuary, which really was not even part of the construction.

7. No one allowed in the Sanctuary or construction site until the test results were back.

8.what about church on Sunday? Can't happen in the sanctuary. Really? Really!

C . emergency committee meeting at my house early evening. We sat around the dining room table.

1. Let's worship in the courtyard outside – that's not in the asbestos zone.

2. Let's divide the congregation up and call everyone (this was before the elink and electronic communication throughout the church).

3. Let's get hymnals (that part of the story probably still should not be told!).

4. Let's get chairs from the funeral home and organize the set-up.

5. within 30 minutes or so the decisions were made, people were notified (including the family that had a wedding scheduled for the next week-end), work was split up, and everyone went home to make their phone calls.

6. Worship in the courtyard went so well, we began a tradition of having an outdoor worship service each summer!.

7. A clear need was met with quick action to implement a plan.

8. yes, the church can act quickly if needed.

d. The example set in the early church was placing ministry over process.

1. They were set-up to have twelve leaders, but they needed some help with pastoral care.

2. amend that model (and remember,this is the historic model based on the twelve tribes of Israel) to add seven more leaders with a new job description because the care of the widows and orphans was very important.

3. sometimes a well-developed, thoughtful plan is needed.

4. I am not suggesting no long-range plans.

5. but sometimes we need to be reminded that the church exists for the ministry, not for those of us who like to serve on committees!

5. when ministry needs to happen, we need to make it happen.

Move 3: Important for the church to know what is vital ministry.

a. By its actions, the early church stresses that the work of the church involves both sharing the good news and sharing God's love with those who find themselves living on the margins.

1. Perhaps we should not be surprised by this.

2. When we look to the story of the Israelite people, there has always been a concern for the widows and the orphans in their midst (widows an orphans refers to the poor and vulnerable).

3. The prophets had often scolded the Israelite for not caring for the poor among them.

4. they knew the importance of caring for others.

b. In this post-resurrection time, however, the emphasis has been on preaching and sharing their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2. some miraculous healings have taken place, but they have been less about caring for the vulnerable and more about showing off the power of the resurrection.

3. It would have been easy for the early church leaders to ignore the complaints of the Hellenists and only commit to continuing to do their evangelism.

4. to say that “this is what's important so we're only going to focus on telling people about the resurrection.”

4. Or, they could have acknowledged the importance of pastoral care and had the twelve do less evangelism and add pastoral care to their work load.

c. instead, they recognize that both are critical.

1. people need to know about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

2. The need to care for the vulnerable in our world.

1. The church has more than one task to do – we need to do both.

d. A cautionary tale for us today about the importance of both telling people about Christ and serving people on behalf of Christ.

1. God's concern is for body and soul.

2. God wants to save and care for the world.

3. that is our calling.

Conclusion: We live in a time when fewer people go to church; easy to to point out the flaws of the church.

In that context, we join with the early church in listening to the needs of the world as we live out our calling of the being the body of Christ in the world.