May 27, 2020
Are You Speaking Their Language?
Acts 6:1–7
Ethan Moss
Central Truth
Ministry works best when we know, love, empathize with, and can communicate well with those we equip, serve, and disciple.
Key Verse | Acts 6:3
Therefore, brothers, 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 6:1–7
Seven Chosen to Serve
1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists 1 6:1 That is, Greek-speaking Jews arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, 2 6:3 Or brothers and sisters pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Dive Deeper | Acts 6:1–7
As you may know by now, Acts begins when Jesus instructs the apostles to spread the gospel throughout the world. The apostles are doing this quite well, but there are only 12 of them, so they appoint some additional people qualified to share the gospel and oversee ministries. Sounds smart, right? But it is only effective if a) the people are devoted to Christ and have roots in Him, and b) they know how to communicate God's love to the rest of the people in the area.
That sounds pretty easy. If you speak their language, you can effectively share the gospel and minister to the people. However, in this situation, the apostles (Jewish Christians) have a language and cultural barrier with the Hellenists (Greek Christians), which led to the Hellenist widows being underserved. To solve this problem, the apostles pick the most effective people in the church to serve the Hellenists: local Greek-speaking Christians. The apostles realized that local people should serve the local body, because they have the most in common, can do life with them, and empathize best with them.
Last summer, I took a trip to serve Haitian refugees in Turks and Caicos. It was an amazing experience to be able to see the different lifestyle of the islanders, but also a wonderful opportunity to walk with them and sharpen them. Watermark partnered with the local church in Providenciales through Mission of Hope. We were able to strengthen ourselves—and more importantly, the islanders—through biblical community. We spurred them on to do the same for one another, as we are called to do (Hebrews 10:24). The islanders were in a better position to disciple the Haitians than we were. Our primary goal of the trip wasn't to explain the gift of God to the islanders—most knew it. Our goal was to equip them and help them to build disciples in their area. This is what God called apostles to do. He does this as an example for us.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you feel unequipped to make disciples for Christ? What is the next step you can take to get equipped (e.g., take a Watermark equipping class like Equipped Disciple or join a community group)?
2. Who are the people you know the best? Are you taking responsibility to share the gospel with them or disciple them?
3. Do you have a heart for a particular people group? If you do not know that group well, can you identify people who have a relationship with that group and whom you can support, partner, or encourage? Ministries like Mission of Hope and Compassion International will give you that opportunity.