Recently I taught on Acts 6:1-7 which is a wonderful little passage on prioritizing and delegating within the local church. The passage deals with the crisis raised when Hellenistic Jewish widows are not being fed. These women were literally going without food because someone was not taking care of the situation. I found it interesting and convicting, especially in light of my own experiences within the local church.
So often within a church something is always taking place, things are being setup for an upcoming event, someone needs help finding envelopes, the list is never ending. Often times these "to-do's" are seen as priorities within the church. It's thought, "if the tables aren't up we might as well cancel the fellowship supper." So whoever is there goes into crisis mode to complete the task. And we leave feeling like we did our job, the ministry.
The apostles on the other hand, decide not to take over the project of feeding the widows. Can you imagine a project more important than feeding widows their daily bread? Instead they decide to stay devoted to sharing the word and praying. I don't think they were saying they were too good to serve, certainly they were servants as their Rabbi was (Mark 10:45), instead the task was so large it would have prevented them from praying and teaching the word.
Rather they decided to choose seven men to take over the task of feeding the widows. The men they chose were not chosen because of their abilities physically, but rather were to be men Spirit filled and of good character. Its also somewhat ironic that these men who were supposed to be servants, are actually well know for teaching the word (e.g. Acts 6-7 Stephen, Acts 8 Philip). There goes the notion that I have the spiritual gift of service so I don't have to share my faith!
My estimation is that often we as products of our culture would rather "do" something for another because of our own feelings of self-worth instead of spending time praying for another. When I "do" something I can check it off my to-do list, when I pray I humbly submit to God's sovereign plan, awaiting for Him to work it out in His perfect timing and perfect way. So often I prefer to go do something around the church, I find it more fulfilling to help a lady get the tables set out, or cleanup a mess from last night. Nothing is wrong with helping each other out, but if I haven't devoted myself to praying for my students, and instead serve another, then I believe I have become too busy for the essentials of ministry according to the apostles...
