SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/27/2017 8:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Reason
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 6:1-2, 4
Message of the verses: “1
Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint
arose 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… 4 “But we
will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”
Now as we look at the
name “Hellenistic Jews” we can probably understand that these Jews speak the
Greek language as opposed to the Hebrew language. They would be using the Septuagint Bible as
opposed to the Hebrew Bible. The
Septuagint is in the Greek language, that is the entire Old Testament is in the
Greek Language and this can be very helpful in the study of the Old Testament
today as it can make things clearer at times.
John MacArthur quotes Richard N. Longenecker who writes “According to
the Talmud, Pharisaism made little secret of its contempt for Hellenists…they
were frequently categorized by the native-born and assumedly more scrupulous
populace of Jerusalem as second-class Israelites.”
As mentioned in our
last SD these Jews were there at the Passover celebration when Peter gave his
first sermon on the day of Pentecost, and became believers in Christ and so
stayed over in Jerusalem in order to be taught by the apostles, and so they
were looking for work and a place to live.
The issue that is
brought up here seems insignificant, but these are the kind of things that can
cause big problems if allowed to fester and not dealt with. As we study the Old Testament we can see in
places like Deuteronomy 14:29; 16:11; 24:19-21; and 26:12 things written about
the fact that widows need to be cared for as this is very important to God that
this be done. Paul mentions this to
Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:3 and following.
Little things like this could have split the church as I have heard
stories about little things that have split churches, things like whether or
not angels sing or not. I suppose given
the fact that these widows spoke the Greek language and in general these Jews
were looked down upon because of the language they spoke that this issue came
up and had to be dealt with, which is what will happen as we will see as we go
on in this first section of the sixth chapter of Acts.
In verse two we see
the apostles called “the twelve” and this is the only time that Dr. Luke uses
that term in the book of Acts; however he does use this six times in the gospel
he wrote. We see that the apostles did
the correct thing in summing the congregation in order to seek a solution. As I looked at the term that is used for the
congregation I see that Luke uses the word disciple and this makes me think of
what the twelve and others were called in the gospels, the word means a learner
or pupil so I guess that this would be a proper term for believers today too.
Next we see that it
was not desirable for the apostles to neglect the word of God in order to serve
tables. John MacArthur writes “It may be
helpful to note that the word for tables, trapeze,
can mean ‘a table or counter of a money changer,’ or ‘money matters,’ as well
as an eating table (cf. such use in Matt. 21:12; Luke 19:23). To involve themselves in the details of
serving means and handling money matters would take them away from their
calling. Instead, they would ‘devote
themselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.’ The apostles knew their priority was praying,
preaching, teaching, and studying the Word.”
The apostles would not let anything get in their way from these
duties. Perhaps to paraphrase this we
could say “You take care of serving food and caring for money matters, and we
will care for the ministry of the Word which includes praying and studying the
Word of God. Now it may be wise at this
point to understand that the only Bible they had was the Old Testament and I am
sure they were studying the prophetic parts that had to do with our Lord’s
first coming.
We will end this
second SD on “The Reason” by quoting an important paragraph from MacArthur’s
commentary which will be helpful for the day we live in.
“Many in ministry today have left the emphasis on prayer and the Word
of God. They are so involved in the
administrative details of their church that they have little time left for
intercession and study. Yet pastors are
given to the church ‘for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,
to the building up of the body of Christ’ (Eph. 4:12). Their calling is to mature the saints so they
can do the work of the ministry. By
neglecting that calling, they doom their congregations to languish in spiritual
infancy. Programs are no substitute for the power of God and His
Word. Those whom God has called
to the ministry of prayer and the Word must make it their priority.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire not to make little things into big
things so that they fester and cause problems.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord as I continue to make
preparations in my study of the seven churches from the book of Revelation, as
I seek God’s will and direction in teaching this very important section of the
Word of God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Bethlehem” (1 Samuel 16:1-4).
Today’s Bible question: “Who
replaced Judas as one of the twelve apostles?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/27/2017 9:50 AM
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