Problems

We’ve just ordained another deacon. In light of that I had thought it would be good to preach from Acts 6, a traditional place to preach from at such an event. As I read the text I was seeing a four-point sermon.  Here, the leaders of the church are faced with a problem. They responded wisely to that problem. They did so by choosing men with the right qualifications and by giving these men the authority that they needed to fulfill the task given to them. However, as I continued to meditate on the text, more and more came to mind until there was just too much. So, instead of a four-point sermon it seems that the Spirit wants a two-point sermon. And the sermon will be less about being a faithful deacon and more about being a faithful church and faithful disciples. So, let me read to you what happened (Act 6.1-7).

Well, there is a problem. It was about the care of the widows of the church, and it had to do with cultural differences with a long history. The Hellenists that Luke writes about are Jews who are from a cultural background that was Greek. The Hebrews are the Jews who were raised in Palestine which became their culture. For the previous century or two, Jews from these two groups didn't always see eye-to-eye. When Jews from these two groups became Christians their differences didn't disappear. They still remembered their disagreements and suspicions. Conversion does not erase the past. So, evidently, the Greek-speaking widows were being short changed by the Hebrew-speaking group. Don't minimize the seriousness of this situation. This is a real problem. It could divide the church and hinder its mission. Imagine, a church split in the first century! It is not overstating the case to say that the early church was facing a crisis.

I don't know about you, but I grew up hearing about how good the early church was. 'Those were the good old days. Church life was so much better back then. If only we could be like the early church.' But was it all that good? Think of the NT letters written to the various churches. Think of the topics dealt with: some Christians having completely twisted ideas about sex, others being lazy moochers, still others teaching that we are right before God because we do such a great job of obeying Him, and then there were those who just fought with each other. And then, here in Acts 6 we have Christians from one background remembering old debts against Christians of a different background. Where is this pristine early church?

There is a lesson here, and it's about being the church and, by extension, about being disciples. Any golden age for us is not in the past but in the future. And it's helpful to remember that because it deals with expectations. The Church has some serious problems today. It always has. And it always will. The reason for that is clear. Every church is a collection of sinners. So, we have to deal with the same kind of issues that they did way back when: some Christians having completely twisted ideas about sex, others being lazy moochers, still others teaching that we are right before God because we do such a great job of obeying, and then there are those who just fight with each other. And the list goes on. This is who we are. This is reality. We are sinners, and that affects everything we touch, including our church. So, we will never see the day when our church, or any church, will be without its share of problems. We might ignore them, even refuse to see them, but they are and will be there. That's true of us as a church and as individuals. It's reality.

Now, why am I saying this? It sounds awfully bleak. Do I want to discourage you? No. Actually, my goal is to encourage you. But the first step toward real encouragement is understanding reality. How many give up on church, in one way or another, because it hasn't become that perfect place that they expected? Another problem surfaces, and they just give up. Oh, they may still show up on most Sundays, but it's different. They've given up on the church. And the same thing applies to being Christians. The expectation of too many is that, at some point, life will be pretty smooth. Any problem that shows up will be easily dealt with. And when that desired point never arrives, hope is lost and people give up. Again, they may still show up on most Sundays, but it's different. They've given up on real Christian living. I want to help you deal with that. We live in a world that is broken. Sin has done its terrible work, and it continues to do it. And that affects us and our church. We need to see sin realistically. It will always dog our steps.

So, where's the encouragement? There is encouragement in what is and in what will be. So, in terms of what is, yes, we live in a broken world and, yes, sin continually works to trip us up (and too often succeeds). But instead of giving in to discouragement and despair, we hold on to this. Our ongoing wrestling with, and falling into, sin does not change what the Father thinks of us - not even a little. Because of Jesus, He sees us as righteous. He sees us as sinless. He sees us as perfect. This is terribly important. Without this we will view our efforts against our sin in terms of somehow trying to make the Father like us. And when we fail, (and we will!) we just assume that He doesn’t like us anymore. He can't. He has to be mad at us. After all, once again we’ve done something stupid.  We’ve sinned. But Jesus has dealt with all of that. He has taken our sin and given us His perfection. And that's how the Father sees us: as perfect as Jesus. And that is so freeing. One result of that freedom is that we deal with sin from a position of strength and not out of desperate need. We wrestle with sin confident that the Father likes us and that He always will. That changes our motivation in the battle. That frees us to focus on battling the sin since we don’t have to worry about our relationship with the Father. We deal with sin in the strength of the Gospel. That is encouragement in what is.

Now, there is also encouragement in what will be. As a church and as individuals, we sin - a lot. And when we are able to see our sin with any clarity we see it as ugly. But Jesus has come, and He has promised to make His Church into something beautiful. Jesus' goal in the Gospel is that

He might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

We will become beautiful. Getting there is a process that starts now. But to be struck with wonder at the beauty that will be, will require you to see clearly the ugliness of sin that is. Seeing the ugliness as well as the beauty will motivate you to work hard to move from the one to the other. Seeing the sin that is all around us as not all that bad or the hope of the future as not all that much better will result in laziness. It will say, 'Why bother to do anything? It's not that bad, and it’s never going to get much better.' Another lie. But seeing sin for what it is, and then seeing the beauty of what will be, changes all of that. That will motivate you to work hard to see that beauty grow in your life and in your church. That's the encouragement of what will be.

So, how do we get from where we are to where want to go? How do we become less and less ugly because of sin and more and more beautiful? There are a multitude of things that could be said. The dynamic of repentance and faith fits here. That is really important. But let's limit ourselves to what we see in that situation in the early church. Bear in mind the seriousness of the situation. The conflict between these two factions could bring ruin on this fledgling church. This is a huge problem. But notice how the apostles respond. First, they do not panic. They know all about the goal of beauty for the church and for the saints. And they also know that they have been given the responsibility of moving the Church toward that goal. So, the pressure is on. But there is no panic. Panic is the response of fear and fear gets its energy from believing lies. If a church or a disciple believes Satan's lies when some problem arises, there will be panic. But lies are unmasked and defeated by knowing and believing the truth. So, what is some truth that speaks into this sort of situation? Here’s one thing. Whatever the problem confronting us, it is sent by Jesus. Now, if He's some cold and distant tyrant or just a vaguely interesting historical figure, then seeing problems as sent by Him is not very helpful. But if you understand Him as the one who suffered terribly on that cross, as the one who has endured hell for you - well, that changes things. It's that Jesus who sends us these evil problems, the one who also battled evil. Now, when you connect all of that to His goal for us, to be beautifully sinless, then problems can be viewed differently. As a church and as individuals we will still be confronted with serious issues, crisis points.  But we won't have to believe the lies. Jesus has sent those crises to advance His plan. So, instead of panic there is prayer resulting in insight from the Spirit. That's how the apostles handled the problem with the widows. Not panic but a wise response. And the result?

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.

The problem was faced, dealt with wisely and good resulted. That's what happened with them, and that's what will happen with us.

The Church is not yet perfected. It's not yet beautiful. And that's a reminder that it's a process. And in fact, the beautification of the Church is a long process. Making you into someone beautiful is also a process. It will take a long time. It will take a lifetime. There will always be sin to deal with. And yet, as the process moves along there will be much sin that will be confronted and removed just as it was in the early church. There will be progress.

So, what do we do with this?

Three things. First, understanding reality. We need to acknowledge that there is much sin in us, both individually and as a church. And that sin will pop up in the form of different problems. For us as a church it won't show as a conflict between Hellenists and Hebrews, but it will show. It will not be smooth sailing from here on out. The same is true for you individually. There will be problems. Sin is going to get in your way. So, don't be surprised when it happens. That is reality. But that leads to the next thing: waiting in hope. I am a sinner. That sin expresses itself in so many ways. But I will not always be a sinner. The day will come when the ugliness of my sin will be removed – completely. And in its place will be a beauty that I have never before known or even could have imagined. Jesus has promised. This is why He has come: to take what is ugly and turn it into something beautiful. That is our hope. He will do that with every individual Christian, and He will do that with us as His Church. And remember that hope is not just wishful thinking. It's simply waiting for Jesus to keep His promise. And thus, the last of the three: trusting Jesus. This is something that we need to be working on before some problem arises. As we learn to trust, the response of fear is reduced. Panic is no longer the first reaction when some trouble hits. Rather, we proceed knowing that whatever the problem, it is for good. Jesus is doing something. He will use the problem for good. 

Understanding reality, waiting in hope, trusting Jesus. As we develop these traits we will be able to respond well to the problems that will certainly come our way.