Stephen
Terry, Director
The
First Church Leaders
Commentary
for the July 28, 2018 Sabbath School Lesson
“Brothers
and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the
Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give
our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This proposal pleased
the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy
Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch,
a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and
laid their hands on them.” Acts 6:3-6, NIV
When Jesus ascended to heaven, he did not leave a church
with a hierarchical structure like we are familiar with today. In spite of the
opinion of some, he did not establish the first a in a long series of Popes who
would have charge of the church to maintain order and unity. The oft cited “keys
of the kingdom” passage[i] to support the idea of
Peter being the first Pope was perhaps more likely an admonition that whatever
a follower of Jesus could expect in heaven would be based on what they did in
the here and now. If Peter were intended to have any sort of primacy among the
Disciples, it must have soon faded from their minds, perhaps aided by his
mercurial temperament. Instead, James, the brother of Jesus, who was not even
among the twelve Apostles, appears to have risen to prominence in the Jerusalem
church. We see evidence of that in his later role in what some refer to as the
First Jerusalem Council. The Bible does not say how he accomplished this, but
he apparently paid with his life as one of the first martyrs. Leadership has
its price, and sometimes that price is exorbitant. Repeatedly in the Anti-Nicene
period those elevated to positions of authority within the church became
targets for persecution. In spite of that, individuals continued to offer
themselves for leadership.
The earliest of those chosen for leadership and
willingly serving were the seven deacons who were selected to oversee the
distribution to those in need. There was a common purse to care for the needy.[ii] However, some felt left
out in the distribution. Such favoritism could have arisen based on the contributions
to that purse coming from the Jews of Judea, and those Jews feeling that their
fellow Judeans should have preference. Whether such favoritism was true or not,
it had to be dealt with lest the church begin to splinter before it could
really begin its mission to carry the gospel to the world. Therefore authority
to oversee the distribution was granted to those seven based on their previous
demonstration of character. While a distinction is made between those preaching
and those waiting tables, the evidence, particularly in the case of Stephen,
argued that these seven were not lax in preaching the word as well. The
impression may be more similar to Moses following the advice of his
father-in-law, Jethro, regarding distributing leadership responsibility in
order to relieve some of the strain on those currently seen as leaders.[iii] In that instance, the
chosen individuals carried on a similar work to Moses’ and referred the greater
challenges to him. He supported their authority with his own. Likely this was
the case with these deacons and their relationship to the Apostles, also. The
laying on of hands would be a public expression of this endorsement lest any
doubt the derivation of the authority the deacons exercised.
Notably, this granting of authority opened the door to
the first general persecution of Christians. Just as these leaders rose to
positions of prominence within the church, a young man rose to a position of
leadership in opposing the followers of Jesus. It was perhaps inevitable that
one or more of the deacons and Saul of Tarsus would lock horns. Stephen had the
honor of bearing witness for his faith and being stoned to death as a result,
with Saul looking on approvingly. Seeing that he had support in his opposition
to the Christians, he sought and received authority from the high priest to
persecute and imprison Christians wherever he might be able to succeed in doing
so. Some would have us believe that this persecution was by design to encourage
the early church to leave Jerusalem and carry the gospel to the world. The
Bible does not present such an assertion. In fact, Acts, chapter 2, illustrates
the world coming to the church in Jerusalem and then likely carrying the gospel
back home with them when they returned. But whether through deliberate intent
or accidental happenstance, the effect of the persecution was indeed to spread
the gospel, for those who fled Jerusalem and the general persecution there,
took the gospel with them wherever they went. This contributed largely to
Antioch becoming an early center of Christian influence. Thanks to the work of
individuals like Philip and later, Paul, those fleeing Jerusalem found common
bond with believers outside of Judea and were welcomed not only because of
their need, but for the experiences they shared and their knowledge of
Christianity. According to early church tradition, it was the genesis of this
persecution that also caused John to take Mary, the mother of Jesus, away to
Ephesus where he would care for her as requested by Jesus at the cross.[iv] Perhaps he wrote his
gospel there. Mary died about eight years after the persecution began, and John
went on to experience exile on Patmos and to write the prophetic book of Revelation
with the fantastic imagery that has fascinated Christendom ever since.
Two thousand years later, we are faced with asking
ourselves “What is the relevant role of the church and the individual Christian
in today’s world?” How we approach that question may be influenced by how we
perceive the disposition of God toward ministry. If we see God as bringing
about the persecution of the first century to spur Christians to carry the
gospel forth, then perhaps we would be inclined to sit and wait for something similar
to happen before we act. But if God is not like that, then this would only
paralyze us into inaction. On the other hand, if we are waiting for God to
grant us sufficient authority to move forward, we may also be trapped by that
same inaction. If we are equating that authority with an ordination similar to
what the seven deacons experienced, we demonstrate that we do not understand the
laying on of hands that took place. Even if we want to equate this ceremony
with a call to ministry, we would be hard put to prove that they were not
ministering before, and now they suddenly began to do so. In fact, the
character they already demonstrated was what fitted them for the service they
were to perform. This is because to accept Christ and his salvation is in
effect to accept a call to ministry. It is impossible to have one without the
other, and those who try end up shipwrecked on the shoals of self-doubt and
indecision.
As the early Christians were about to learn in 70 CE,
the temple was no longer the focus of faith for believers. The Aaronic
Priesthood and its elaborate rituals of cleansing and sacrifice had been replaced
by the profound demonstration on Calvary. God called the Levites his, setting
them aside for the sanctuary service at the time of the Exodus. But now,
through Jesus, he claims every person who comes to him as his. The priesthood,
once restricted to a single tribe in Israel, is now extended universally to
everyone who, in repentance, suffers baptism that they might receive the Holy
Spirit.[v] That earlier priesthood was
notable for who was excluded from serving. Today those who are called are noted
more for who is included. Like the Sanhedrin two thousand years ago, we may
question the authority of those whom God has called, but now as then, this does not negate the legitimacy of their calling.
The Spirit calls and empowers whom he will, and we cannot withstand or prevent
it. We would just as likely presume to capture the wind in a jar. While the
church may confer honors and titles upon individuals who may in turn confer
honors and titles on others, they cannot create an effective gospel minister.
Only God can do that and this is what the Apostles recognized when they set
aside the seven by laying on of hands. These men had already demonstrated their
faithfulness and commitment to the gospel.
We may ask ourselves how our relationship to Jesus is playing
out in our lives. Are we daily seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus and a
greater understanding of his word and his will? Are we seeing answers to those
prayers? In short, is the power of God active in our lives to the extent that
we can know our calling is sure? Is the Devil threatened by our ministry, or
can he kick back, knowing he has little to fear because he knows we will
probably do nothing unless some other person authorizes it. As long as we
continue to seek man’s authority to do God’s work, that
may be something Satan will be happy to allow.
