Stay on offense
July 28, 2017
The curse of success is that it must be maintained. Once we have been successful, and built something worthwhile, enormous effort must be expended to maintain what we have built. However, once we start maintaining what we have built, forward momentum is lost, which means we have lost our success. The trick is to stay on offense – to continue moving forward, without being bogged down maintaining what you have built.
The church, in the book of Acts, is extremely successful. One of the results of their success is a group of widows who are being cared for by the church. They were going to the church to receive food. However, a dispute arose over the way the distribution was being handled (Acts 6:1). This may seem trivial to us, but this was a powder keg ready to blow.
There are two groups of widows. One group came from Greek (Hellenistic) backgrounds, and the other group came from a Jewish background. They were all Jews, but the Hellenists came from the dispersion. Centuries earlier, Jerusalem was invaded, and many of the Jews were taken captive and dispersed to distant lands. While in these foreign lands, they embraced the culture and religion of their captors. They were now back in Jerusalem because the church took care of them. On the other hand, there were the traditional Jews that stayed true to the faith. They had stayed faithful. They were not corrupted by the culture. They were not here just because the church gave away free stuff. They would be here even if the church did not help them. They just loved the church.
On one side, you see the faithful that have held on through the tough times, and kept things going. On the other side there is a group of people that are newcomers. They don’t listen to the type of music you do. They do not do things the way you do, but they are here because they can get something out of the church. Furthermore, they are challenging your long-established traditions. This is a battle of two cultures. Two groups of people that want to see things done in two different ways. This is a perfect storm that could easily bring down the church.
The apostles are in a difficult spot. If they stop what they are doing and take care of the widows they will keep the church happy. However, if they stop and take care of the widows, they stop moving forward, and they go on defense, which means they kill the secret of their success. Acts 6:7 says the Word of God kept on spreading. This was the source of their success. It was the spreading of the Word causing the growth. The Word is having a profound impact on the people and it is taking root in their lives. The apostles have the option of taking care of their own or keeping the Word moving forward.
In verse 2 the apostles make a very powerful statement. They say, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.” It is not good to neglect the thing that is causing the faith to grow. If we neglect the Word we will lose our traction. This is an important decision, because it shows that the apostles understood their mission. If they stopped pushing the Word forward, they would have lost the war. If you are not advancing, you are retreating. The moment the Word stopped moving forward, they lost, because they were retreating and not advancing.
So, what the apostles could not do on their own was done when the laity was empowered to take the word to the people in their areas of influence. Acts 6:3 says, “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we put in charge of this task.” This may sound simplistic, but it is genius. They gave the Word to the people. They empowered them to take care of the widows, so they did not have to stop the Word from moving forward.
The grumbling widows represent the church that was already built. It was their area of success. However, they could not stop moving the Word forward; they had to take care of what they had already built without sacrificing their mission, and they did it by empowering the laity. One of the greatest areas of defeat in our churches and our personal lives is that we too often stop our forward motion to tend to what we have already built. However, the moment the Word stops moving forward, we have lost, because we are now on defense.
Reader Comments(0)