Saturday, August 8, 2015
Acts 6:2 "It is not acceptable for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, 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."
OUR CHRISTIAN SERVICE
There were quite a number of needy widows among the new Christians in Jerusalem. As Christians they could no longer receive their assistance checks from the Temple funds, so collections were made to help these poor unfortunates. Not that the Apostles were standing on street-corners inviting the unbelieving Jews to support their Christian widows. No, the Lord opened the hearts of His own believers, and saw to it that there was quite a supply of offerings to be distributed.
But as the Lord brought more and more people to the knowledge of the truth about the Savior from sin, there were also more widows, and more offerings to be distributed. Finally, when a complaint arose that the widows of the Grecian Jews were being overlooked, the Apostles called a meeting and said: "It is not acceptable ..."
We should notice that they did not say that waiting on tables was a lowly work. They themselves had done it up to this point. This was an important service, but it was not so important that it should interfere with the distribution of the Word which brings forgiveness, and peace, and eternal life.
The same can be said of our Christian service. It is surely important to show the love of Christ to others by reaching out to them with whatever help we can. But nothing that we do is as important as what He did for us, and our efforts to aid others are never more important than the Word that tells us what He did for all.
