It is fitting on Remembrance Sunday, when we remember sacrifice and service, that we are looking at a story about service.  We are looking at a story about service and leadership in the early church. 

How many of us have a rebellious streak within us?  I hope we can all say we do, at least in some small way.   Rebellious streaks should feel quite at home in the kingdom of God.  We are talking about leadership and service, and I am thinking of how leadership is practiced so often in our world.  Leaders who lead in order to profit themselves.  Leaders who seem to be all about self-aggrandizement, self-gain, cronyism, transactionalism, quid pro quos, etc., etc.

In the middle of this, let us who are listening for the word of God once again hear Jesus stand up and say, “But not so with you!”  We brushed up against these words last week, and I want us to take a better look at them in light of the story we’re reading in Acts 6.  Luke 22 – a dispute arises among the disciples:

A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority are called benefactors.  But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.”  Luke 22:24-27

The truth about God that underlies all that we read here, and indeed our lives when we are in Christ.  “But I am among you as one who serves.”  We stand together in direct opposition to anyone who speaks or acts otherwise.

1. Rule breakers when the rules say things like “You must stop teaching in Jesus’ name.”  The religious rulers in Jerusalem had said this, and the apostles had been thrown in prison.  Look at these lines from ch. 5:

Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.  But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.”  When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. Acts 5:17-21a

See?  Rebels.  Can’t stop, won’t stop.  We’re not going to stop.

The thing about the temple authorities was, they were so busy trying to preserve a tradition that they failed to recognize truth when they heard and saw it.  In the church, we do not throw away tradition – I know many traditions are incredibly meaningful and important – but neither are we bound by it.  We are not bound by “We’ve never done that before” or “We’ve always done it this way.”  Particularly in the face of new challenges. 

We say challenges when we really mean to say problems.  We remember that this Christ community in Jerusalem (because that’s still where we are remembered) continued in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.  We remember that they were all of one heart and one soul, that no one was needy among them.  Good!  Widows were being cared for.  Widows and orphans in the story of God are representative of those who need help.  Good!  The disciples were increasing in number.  Good!

1. More people, more problems. 

Now, during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.  Or the daily service of food.  The word from which we get 'deacon'.  Service.  It comes up again in v4, translated “wait on tables” (serve tables) and “serving the word.”

And those words of Jesus echo, “But I am among you as one who serves.”  Luke 22:27

We said last week that Luke is not describing an idealized church.  We’re not ideal, and we need God’s grace.  I must say, when something is going wrong in church, we should not be afraid to speak about it out of love for God, love for Christ’s church, and love for one another.  The twelve apostles do not get defensive or dismissive.  They deal with the problem together.

What is the problem exactly?  Discrimination is happening.  Whether it was intentional or an oversight, a group of people are being discriminated against.  Two groups in the church are described.  The Hellenists were Jewish followers of Jesus who had come from the Jewish diaspora – the scattering of people that had occurred over hundreds of years, mainly due to invasion and conquest.  They were from all over the Greco-Roman world (Saul of Tarsus was one), spoke Greek, and no doubt followed some Greek customs. We may think of them as immigrants to Jerusalem.  The Hebrews were locals who were following Jesus and spoke Aramaic and/or Hebrew.  The Hellenist widows are being neglected in the daily serving of food.

The twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables (or keep accounts as it might be translated, which is interesting in light of our money talk last week).”  “We, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”

What’s the word?  Let’s hear it again from week three:

1) The coming of the kingdom of God is at hand. 2) This has taken place through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  3)  Jesus is exalted and sits at the right hand of God the Father.  4)  The Holy Spirit has been sent to inhabit and empower the church.  5)  The Age of the Spirit will reach its consummation or fulfillment when Jesus returns.  6)  Forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, salvation/deliverance/redemption come with repentance  - a reorientation of my life toward God in trust and dependence.

This is not to say that preaching and teaching and to be held above making and serving food.  Neither stands alone.  The apostles had been commissioned by Jesus to be witnesses.  Serving the word and prayer were to be their main concerns.

We are coming up to a season in Blythwood in which we will be naming leaders for 2026.  Some will be continuing in leadership.  Some will be new to commissioned leadership in our church.  Some will be letting go of the role.  I want to spend the rest of our time looking at what this story tells us about leadership in the kingdom of God, where Jesus is always beside us, saying, “But I am among you as one who serves.”    So whether we are a leader, whether we are newly called into leadership, whether we one day might be called into leadership, whether we want to know what to expect from our leaders…

Service tasks are delegated.  It is not simply about one person or even a group of people in a church.  In the same way that Jesus sent the 12 out in Luke 9 and the 70 out in Luke 10, we are all sent from here every Sunday to serve.  Let us continue to discern together what gifts God has given us and how we may be able to give of those gifts in God’s service.  Opportunities to serve can come about from what seems like the most mundane everyday things.  Nothing is mundane in the kingdom of God.  Everything matters when we are engaged in kingdom matters!

The decision as to who would be appointed to lead was not foisted on the church from above.  The problem came about as a result of a daily practice, and the whole church was involved in coming to know God’s will together.  If any group of people might have made a decision for the church, it would surely have been the 12 apostles.  They had spent so much time personally with Jesus after all!  “Select from among yourselves…” they tell the church.  The only thing they lay out is the number (7) and that they be men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.”  Does this mean only men in church leadership?  You may say yes, many do.  I would simply point out the number of women involved in leading, teaching, and organizing in the book of Acts.  May they be of good standing.  May your leaders be beyond reproach, because we know the damage leadership can do when leaders go wrong.  May they be full of the Spirit and full of wisdom.  Pray for your leaders.

Leadership may lead us to unexpected places.  Wherever He Leads I Will Go is an old hymn of the church.  When we are willing to be led by Jesus, he may take us to unexpected places and reveal unknown gifts.  While the official job of the seven was to serve tables (or accounts), we are going to hear of Stephen getting up to preach.  We will hear of Phillip becoming a preacher to Samaria as the witness spreads out from Jerusalem, just as Jesus said.  My first “vocational ministry” position was here at Blythwood as the Children’s Education Co-ordinator – a title that in no way describes the blessing those children were to me (and I pray I was to them, too).  When we answer God’s call, we find the promise coming to true that God is able to do far more than we could ask or imagine. 

Seven men are called to serve.  Say their names – Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.  The good news is for everyone, including Nicolaus, who wasn’t even Jewish by birth, but a convert (this is new).  Jewish converts are represented in this leadership.  Speaking of representation, look at this list of names.   They don’t sound like OT names, do they?  They’re Greek names.  Luke doesn’t say so explicitly, but it’s safe to assume that this group of leaders were Hellenists.  Part of that diaspora minority group living in Jerusalem.

Speaking as a member of the non-diaspora majority group, let me say that we have much to learn from those who have left their homeland.  Such people have been the growth of this church in recent years (and many other churches in the West besides us).  We may need to learn what it means to be part of a diaspora, because as Christians, we’re all, in a sense, displaced, longing for our home, seeking to know what it means to live faithfully in exile as the people of God.  How are those welcomed who look different, speak differently, dress differently, and eat differently?  How is the multi-ethnic reality of our city and (hopefully) our churches reflected in church leadership?  May God give us grace and wisdom as we consider these questions.

And as we learn from each other, too.  Having Greek backgrounds no doubt was helpful to Stephen and the six in making sure that all in this Christ community were being served fairly.  How might our own cultures play a role in helping us come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be the community of Christ in Toronto in 2025 (almost 2026?).  I think of cultures that so emphasize communality in the face of the rampant individualism by which we can be influenced.  I’m a child of diaspora (Irish), and I like to quote an ancient Irish proverb from time to time, which goes, “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”  One of the commentaries I’m reading on Acts is by a Filipino-American theologian named Jordan Cruz Ryan.  In writing of fellowship or koinonia, he writes of “bayanihan.”  This is a Filipino word that means community togetherness.  It’s symbolized by the image of a group of villagers carrying someone’s house when it’s in danger of being lost due to weather and needing to be moved.  Everyone carrying poles on their shoulders on which the house sits as it’s moved.  Together.  October was Pastor Appreciation Month in the CBOQ (I never like to point it out, but you may remember for next year), and we hosted a lunch here for our Toronto association, Toronto Baptist Ministries.  There was much representation among church leadership in terms of country and age and experience and language and gender.  You may not think representation is a big deal, but as MLK’s daughter Bernice King said, “If you don’t think representation matters, you’re probably well represented.”

The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.  May God continue to help us to be faithful to his kingdom’s call.

Amen