FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Acts 6:1-8

Steadfast

The church needs leaders that are steadfast. When the early church selected their leaders, the Bible says, “They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:4). This is God’s way of saying that Stephen was very steadfast in his commitment to Jesus Christ. That must be the sterling characteristic of the church leader. A leader in the church must be a person and example of faith. Jesus told us to be faithful unto death, and He will give to us a crown of life.

Stephen witnessed so faithfully before the Sanhedrin that they could not bear to hear his testimony. They held their hands over their ears. They led him just beyond the walls of the city. Wicked men with cruel hands picked up hard stones and killed Stephen. In his dying moments, he breathed a prayer, calling upon God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). He then knelt down and, following the perfect example of Jesus, prayed that God would forgive the very men that stoned him, saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60) Then he died.

The prayer of every sincere Christian worker should be, “Lord, help me to be steadfast. Help me not to be weary in well doing.” Those who are faithful in well doing need not fear those who are spiteful and evildoing, for they have a God to trust who has well doers under the control of His protection and even evildoers under the hand of His restraint.

Spiritual

Finally, above all, the church needs leaders who are spiritual. When the apostles were admonishing the church regarding the kind of men that they ought to select, they said, “Pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty” (Acts 6:3). The supreme qualification of those who were chosen is that they were Spirit-filled. This is a high standard. It is God’s standard. In all the work of our churches we shouldn’t even consider lowering God’s standard. The first qualification required for any man or woman who is to be a worker in the Lord’s vineyard is not popularity, seniority, or even ability, but spirituality!

How can we tell when people are spiritual? Is there a way that we can know whether or not a man or a woman is filled with the Holy Spirit? Absolutely and emphatically there most assuredly is. The Bible tells us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

When a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, that individual is right within themself. They have within and they demonstrate without “love, joy, and peace.” That individual is also in a right relationship with other people because the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in “patience, kindness, and goodness.” But even more than that, the individual is in a right relation to God, for the fruit of the Spirit is “faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Organization in the church without the Holy Spirit is like an automobile motor without gasoline. The potential for movement is there, but without the power to move it, it will remain at a standstill. Even a church that is thoroughly orthodox, fundamental, conservative, and accepts biblical standards is as useless as are clouds without rain, until endued with Holy Spirit Power from on high.

In closing, I urge all my readers to resolve to be workers for Christ serving Him through His church, His body. The essence of the New Testament standard in Acts 6 is that you be saved, select, sincere, steadfast, and spiritual. This is the kind of leader God can and will always use for His glory.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Acts 6:1-8

Sincere

The early church sought men of good reputation to be their leaders. The Bible tells us that they were to be “seven men of good reputation” (Acts 6:3 NKJV). They had to have a good reputation in the church and in the world as well. It is quite possible to have a good reputation in the church and a bad reputation in the office, shop, or in one’s neighborhood.

Some people are on their best behavior when they’re in the house of God. They seem to be far less particular when they are engaged in the daily routine of everyday life. Men and women who are leaders in the church are to be utterly sincere, thoroughly honest in all of their words and in their dealings with others. This doesn’t mean that their can’t be problems in their past, it just means that they recognize and realize their past is forgiven and they now live in the abiding presence of Jesus Christ.

Great damage can be done to the church when men and women of bad or indifferent reputation are given leadership positions in the church. In selecting leaders for the church, these questions should be asked:

• Is the person respected by friends and coworkers?
• Is the individual consistent in Christian living?
• Is he or she God-fearing and reliable?
• Is he or she a person of spiritual and moral integrity?

Christianity is not always taught in the practicality of real life. The great Pentecostal evangelist, Bud Robinson, was right when he stated, “I don’t care how loud a brother shouts or how high he jumps, just so he walks straight when he comes down.” Amen!

There are a number of admonitions in the Bible telling us how we ought to walk in sincerity:

• “Walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
• “Walk properly (honestly)” (Romans 13:13).
• “Walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).
• “Walk . . . worthy of the calling” (Ephesians 4:1).
• “Walk in love” (Ephesians 5:2).
• “Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
• “Walk carefully” (Ephesians 5:15).
• “Walk . . . worthy of the Lord” (Colossians 1:10).
• “Walk in wisdom” (Colossians 4:5).
• “Walk . . . worthy of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
• “Walk . . . to please God” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
• “Walk in the same way . . . he walked” (1 John 2:6).

A person’s Sunday self and their weekday self are like two halves of a round-trip ticket; not good if detached. If Christ is the center of our lives, the whole of our lives will take care of itself. Christianity is either relevant all of the time or useless any time. It is not just a phase of life, it is life itself. True Christianity is not a religion despite what the world thinks. Rather, true Christianity is a lifestyle and one that is spiritually 180 degrees from the past.

Church leaders themselves need to be sincere, without pretense, polish, or gloss.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Acts 6:1-8

Select

The kind of leaders that the church needs must be very carefully selected. The disciples instructed the early church to pick out from among themselves the leaders needed (Acts 6:3). Here we learn that the democratic ideal was practiced in the apostolic church. The apostles said to the members, “Pick out from among you . . . whom we will appoint.” The whole church was invited to participate in the selection of suitable men to serve as the first leaders. This was not the decision of Peter alone, nor even of the apostles only, but rather all of the members were privileged to share in this appointment.

This passage leads us to pause and remind ourselves how serious and how solemn a business it is to exercise any influence over or to cast a vote in favor of the appointment of anyone into any position of responsibility in the Lord’s work. The seriousness of the church’s business arises from the fact that it can be made or marred, advanced, or retarded by the quality of men and women who are placed into office.

We learn from this passage that people should be selected only after much prayer. In Acts 6:6 Luke reported, “These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”

The church today desperately needs people who will work for the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone has said that in the church there are two kinds of members; workers and shirkers. There are those who are willing to do anything, and there are those who are willing for the others to do everything. Also, there are three kinds of people; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who have no idea of what has happened.

It is the moral and spiritual responsibility of every member of the church to have a definite place where that individual seeks to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the congregation as a whole to prayerfully consider who will be elected to hold specific offices in the church.

Phillips Brooks was a great Puritan preacher. One day he said:

Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be strong men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work will be no miracle; but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.

Would you be willing to say, “I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do, and what I should do, with God’s help, I will do.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Acts 6:1-8

Saved

No one is qualified to hold an elective office in the church until that individual has received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior. This basic requirement for church leadership is stated in Acts 6:3, “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you . . .” The admonition is to pick out brethren, those from within the family of Christ Jesus.

The Bible teaches that these first-ordained leaders were to be selected from the membership of the body of Christ. In the early church, the members of the church were regenerate, born again. The Bible tells us in Acts 2:38 that they had repented of their sins. Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that people needed to repent of their sin and trust Christ as Savior. Those who were in the Jerusalem church gladly received the word of Simon Peter that Jesus was the Savior and that they needed to turn to Him in faith in order to be saved. Luke went on to tell us that those who received the preaching of Peter that Jesus had been resurrected and was the Savior were added to the church (Acts 2:47).

One of the tragic weaknesses of many churches is that good men and women have been placed in office, but they have never been spiritually born again. When it comes to choosing leaders for any position of responsibility in the church, the first questions we should ask are:

• Has this person a clear testimony to the saving grace of God?
• Does this person’s life give evidence of a true change of heart?

The great author Walter B. Knight delights to tell the story of his cat, Timmy:

The family loved Timmy. There was one thing, however, that they disliked in Timmy, he preyed on the birds that nested in the trees in the backyard.

One day Timmy was eating a robin. Knight snatched the unconsumed portion of the bird from the cat. He sprinkled it with red pepper. Then he dangled the morsel temptingly before the cat. Instantly the cat’s sharp teeth closed on it, only to drop it the next instant! The cat sputtered and ran away, meowing.

Did that rather drastic procedure break the cat’s habit of catching and killing more birds? No. It was the cat’s nature to catch birds. Knight could not break Timmy’s bad habit by working on him externally.

The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. It is human nature to sin. For confirmation read your daily newspaper. Lopping off a twig or a branch here and there does not change humanity’s sinful nature. We must be changed inwardly before we will act right outwardly. Not external reformation, but inward regeneration is the answer to the human sin question. The great preacher George Whitefield, when asked why he preached so often on the text, “Ye must be born again,” replied that it was because ye must be born again!

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.