With all that going on, verse one in chapter six is this, "But as the believers rapidly multiplied...... " This tells us the favor of God was on them. They asked to be blessed by God with the ability to preach boldly, and that prayer was answered. They were committed to the work of the Lord and they were blessed with great growth.
As is the issue today, growth has it's problems. The last part of verse one is ".... there were grumblings of discontent." As they grew and got larger, their workload increased and issues came up. This was a complaint brought forward by the Greek speaking believers against the Hebrew speaking believers. (Sound familiar? We still have such issues today, such as contemporary music vs. traditional music or instruments vs. no instruments etc.) The complaint was that the Greek speaking believers claimed their widows were being discriminated against by the Hebrew speaking believers regarding the distribution of food.
The twelve met with all the believers and explained that their job was to preach, spend time in prayer, and teach, rather than handle food distribution. Their solution was to select seven men to manage the food program. They had to be full of the Spirit, well respected, and wise. To seven such men, the responsibility of the food distribution would be given. (This stood out to me here. It seems this is the first time, and I could be wrong, that we are not told that they prayed before making a decision or prayed to God for guidance. Further more, the scripture tells us "Everyone liked the idea" which causes me to think it was the first time something was decided by popular agreement rather than by the leaders making a decision following prayer.) This could be the first group of deacons in the church.
Seven men were selected. (It appears these selections were made by the believers. I say this because it states in verse 6, "These seven were presented to the apostles," which indicates that the apostles may not have actually participated in the selection process. Also, praying for God to lead them in the selection process was not mentioned. It may or may not have been done. However, in chapter 1:21-26 we see the apostles selecting two men to replace Judas Iscariot, then praying. Here we see seven men selected but no mention of praying.) The seven men are listed in verse 5. They were, "Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Phillip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch." The seven men listed were then presented to the apostles who laid hands on them and prayed over them. It is interesting that only Stephen had a side note regarding his faith and filling of the Holy Spirit. Maybe it is not that others were lacking but that we are told this because of what he was to endure and how he had the strength to do it. Perhaps, God wanted all who read of Stephen to understand it was his faith and God's Spirit in him that gave him the strength and courage to endure the things that would come upon him. Perhaps, this is intended to be a great lesson for us. Having great faith in God and living a life filled with His Spirit can cause us to do great things and endure terrible times and situations.
Verse 7 reads, "So God's message continued to spread." I pay close attention to the little words because sometimes they say a great deal. This time "So" seems important. Following the issue with the food distribution and the apostles thinking they needed to not manage that program, seven men were selected which permitted the apostles to keep on doing what they believed they were called to do. Having done all that, we see, "So, God's message continued to spread." Perhaps, if we read between the lines, we might consider had that not been done, the continued spreading of God's message would have been greatly hampered.
God's message continued to spread and the number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and even some of the Jewish priests were converted.
Steven is again described in verse 8. There he is described as a man full of God's grace and power who was performing amazing miracles and signs among the people. Debates soon erupted between Stephen and some Jewish men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves. Who they were is not really known but it may be a group Paul was involved with because he came from Tarsus which was in Cilicia and was one of the locations mentioned as connected to that synagogue. We are told Stephen's Spirit filled debating skills overpowered those men so the Jews persuaded men to lie about Stephen to put a stop to him.
Interestingly, all of this resembles the path Jesus had walked and the sequence of events He lived on His path to the cross. They both worked to spread God's word, did many miracles, were involved in debates with the Jewish people and leaders, and had people brought against them who were told to tell lies to put a stop to what they were doing.
They were no match for Stephen and they lied, accusing him of blaspheming Moses and God. That created an anger among the people, elders, and teachers of religious law. They arrested Stephen and brought him before the council. The liars spoke saying Stephen talked against the Holy Temple and against the Law of Moses. They said they heard him say Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses instituted. It is possible Stephen said something like what they accused him of, however, such things can be taken out of context or could be misinterpreted. Jesus had said some of these things and it is possible Stephen repeated them but the liars may have retold them in ways suiting their agenda.
The high council watched Stephen waiting for a response but what they saw was Stephen's face becoming as bright as an angel's. He must have shown God's glory such as Moses did when he came down from the mountain. It is said that Stephen was before the Sanhedrin and the high priest could have been Caiaphas. If that was so, it would continue the comparison of the line up of events he endured to those of Christ.
THIS IS THE LAST OF OUR STUDY FOR OCTOBER. NOVEMBER 1 BEGINS OUR STUDY OF ACTS SEVEN, EIGHT AND NINE - KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!