The Beautiful Problem of Explosive Growth Text: Acts 6:1-7
Introduction: Ordered for Conquest
The world believes that growth leads to chaos, and that chaos must be managed by an ever-expanding bureaucracy. When a business grows, it hires middle managers. When a government grows, it creates new agencies. The solution is always more complexity, more rules, more oversight, and less freedom. The Church, however, is not a worldly corporation or a government agency. It is a living body, an army on the march. And when it grows, it does not face problems to be managed, but rather tests to be passed, opportunities for greater strength and effectiveness.
In our passage today, the early church is facing its first major internal crisis. This is not a crisis of persecution from without, but a crisis of friction from within. And the friction is caused by a beautiful problem: explosive growth. The gospel is working. The disciples are multiplying. But success in the kingdom of God always brings new challenges. The devil, having failed to stop the church with threats and imprisonment from the outside, now attempts to rot it with dissension and distraction from the inside.
The issue at hand is not trivial. It involves food, widows, and ethnic tension. It is a legitimate problem. But the way the church handles this problem is a paradigm for us. They do not form a committee to write a report. They do not hire a consultant. They do not engage in a power struggle. They apply spiritual wisdom to a practical problem and, in doing so, they unleash the gospel for even greater conquest. This passage is a blueprint for godly order. It teaches us that the church is not organized for its own maintenance, but is organized for mission. When we get the internal structure right, the external impact becomes unstoppable.
The Text
Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word."
And this word pleased the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
And these they stood before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
And the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
(Acts 6:1-7 LSB)
A Good Problem and a Bad Reaction (v. 1)
We begin with the setting, which is one of gospel success and the resulting strain.
"Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food." (Acts 6:1 LSB)
The first thing to notice is the context: "the disciples were multiplying." This is not a church in decline, squabbling over the last few resources. This is a church bursting at the seams. This is a high-class problem to have. But it is a problem nonetheless. The administrative logistics of caring for the poor, particularly the widows, which was a central duty of the covenant community, were breaking down.
The fissure appears along a cultural fault line. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews, likely from the Diaspora, who had returned to Jerusalem. The Hebrews were the native, Aramaic-speaking Jews. There was a cultural and linguistic divide, and it seems the Hellenistic widows were unintentionally being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The grievance was real. But the response was sinful. The text says there was "grumbling." This is the word the Greek Old Testament uses for the murmuring of Israel in the wilderness. It is the sound of discontent, distrust, and accusation. A legitimate need was being expressed through an illegitimate attitude.
This is Satan's foothold. He takes a practical oversight and seeks to turn it into a full-blown church split, fueled by ethnic suspicion. He wants the church to turn inward, to become consumed with its internal politics, so that it forgets the war raging outside its walls.
Apostolic Priorities (v. 2-4)
The apostles' response is a master class in spiritual leadership. They diagnose the problem at its root.
"So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, 'It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.'" (Acts 6:2 LSB)
Notice what they do not do. They do not dismiss the complaint. They do not get defensive. They do not form a subcommittee. They call the whole church together. They are transparent. And they identify the core issue, which is not the food, but their own calling. The problem is that the apostles are being pulled away from their primary, non-delegable task. They use striking language: "It is not pleasing to God." This is not a matter of preference or efficiency; it is a matter of obedience.
They establish a hierarchy of ministry. Serving tables is essential. Caring for widows is a non-negotiable mark of true religion. But for the apostles, for the elders of the church, there is a higher priority: the ministry of the Word of God. If the men called to preach and teach are consumed with administration, the entire body will starve spiritually. A church where the elders are glorified event planners and building managers is a church that has abandoned its post. The apostles understood that the most loving thing they could do for the widows, and for everyone else, was to ensure the spiritual fountainhead of the church was not clogged with logistical mud.
"Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word." (Acts 6:3-4 LSB)
Their solution is to delegate. But they do not delegate the problem away; they delegate authority to solve it. And they establish the qualifications. This is not a call for warm bodies. The men who will run the food bank must be men of sterling character ("good reputation"), men who are spiritually alive and empowered ("full of the Spirit"), and men who are practically competent ("full of wisdom"). This is the birth of the diaconate. The office of deacon is not a junior eldership; it is a ministry of service, of mercy, that is intensely spiritual. Taking care of the "secular" business of the church requires men who are full of the Holy Spirit.
By creating this office, the apostles protect their own. "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word." This is the central engine of the church. Prayer is the work of dependence on God, and the ministry of the Word is the declaration of His truth. If this engine stops, the whole enterprise grinds to a halt, no matter how efficiently the tables are served.
A Wise and Unified Solution (v. 5-6)
The congregation, being spiritually minded, immediately recognizes the wisdom of this proposal.
"And this word pleased the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch." (Acts 6:5 LSB)
Unity is restored. The grumbling ceases. And look at the men they choose. Every single name is a Greek name. The Hellenists were the ones with the grievance, and the congregation, in an act of profound wisdom and trust, elects men from the aggrieved party to fix the problem. This is not the world's way of affirmative action or identity politics. This is the Spirit's way of reconciliation. They did not just solve an administrative problem; they healed a cultural wound. They demonstrated that in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek. They even chose Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, a Gentile who had converted to Judaism and then to Christ, showing the radical inclusivity of the gospel.
"And these they stood before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them." (Acts 6:6 LSB)
This is a formal ordination. The congregation selects, but the apostles appoint. This is not a casual volunteer assignment. The laying on of hands signifies a transfer of authority for a specific task, a public recognition of their office, and a prayer for God's blessing and empowerment. The church is acting as an ordered, disciplined body under God.
The Unstoppable Result (v. 7)
Verse 7 is the glorious conclusion, and it shows us what happens when the church gets its house in order.
"And the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:7 LSB)
The logic is inescapable. Because the apostles devoted themselves to the Word (v. 4), the Word of God spread (v. 7). Because the church solved its internal problems with spiritual wisdom, its external witness exploded. The multiplication that caused the problem in verse 1 now accelerates. It goes from "multiplying" to "multiplying greatly."
And the capstone is the conversion of a great many of the priests. These were the men who ran the temple, the very system that stood in opposition to Christ. They were the establishment, the insiders, the ones with the most to lose. And they were being captured by the gospel. This is what happens when the church is healthy. It doesn't just attract the outcasts; it conquers the strongholds of the opposition. When the deacons serve, the elders preach, and the congregation is unified, the Word of God becomes an unstoppable force.
Conclusion: Organized for Victory
This is more than a story about how the first deacons were appointed. This is a foundational text on the church's mission and structure. The church has two fundamental ministries that must work in tandem: the ministry of the Word (the eldership) and the ministry of mercy (the diaconate). The hands of the deacons free the mouths of the elders. The practical service of the deacons adorns the gospel that the elders preach.
When a church gets this right, when its leaders are devoted to prayer and the Word, and when it has godly, Spirit-filled servants handling the practical needs of the body and the community, the result is always the same. The Word spreads. The church grows. And the hardest hearts begin to break. We must resist the temptation to turn our pastors into CEOs and our churches into social clubs. We must recover this apostolic vision. We must be a church that is rightly ordered, not for our own comfort, but for the conquest of the gospel in our city and to the ends of the earth.