Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: We see the apostles now preaching, and then they were imprisoned for preaching Jesus. They were told to stop preaching the name of the Lord, and remember Peter said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Powerful statement there in Acts chapter five.

Guest (Male): As the early church thrived, Pastor Brett Meador notes how growing pains were evident as well.

Brett Meador: The church was growing, but often with growth comes challenges and difficulties. That's what we're going to continue here among the Christian church within the believers.

Guest (Male): The early church continued to grow and accomplish much, we read in Acts chapter six, but complaining began to creep in as organizational challenges started to arise. In observing the problems they experienced in today's word, Pastor Brett Meador notes how the church leadership addressed the issues and how their solution continues to have influence on the church even today.

Brett Meador: How many times have you heard someone say, "I'm not into organized religion"? It's an interesting claim, but if you give it more thought than just a few seconds, it's not the brightest thing to say. If you don't believe in organized religion, then that means you don't believe the Bible because the Bible talks about how you're supposed to organize religion.

It gives us organization. That's the chapter that we have in front of us, one of many, by the way. But as it turns out, the Bible gives us instructions when it comes to Christianity and faith in God. You don't just come up with weird ideas about what church is supposed to look like. I think that's the problem. There are a lot of people who think, "I like to think of church as this," or "I like to think of church as that." Who cares what you like to think? I don't care, and I don't care what I like to think. What I want to care about is what does the Bible say about organizing religion? That's what's going to keep us on track.

Jesus was into organized religion. Did you know that? Remember when he got the 5,000, he told the disciples to get organized, divide into groups, sit in groups, and disperse the food. He organized 12 disciples. He organized them in different ways to deal with people and help care for folks and spread the gospel. There was organization.

That's a big part of what we're going to study. In fact, we see the role of elders and the role of deacons really established in the early church. There's a reason why it happened, out of necessity. What's going on? The early church is growing and multiplying. We saw God correcting as Ananias and Sapphira were subtracted from the church, hypocrites as they were, lying. The precedent was set as we talked about.

Then we see the apostles now preaching, and then they were imprisoned for preaching Jesus. They were told to stop preaching the name of the Lord. Remember Peter said in Acts chapter five, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Powerful statement there. As we continue our study, as the church grows, there are some interesting predicaments and troubles that the church has. With church growth comes problems.

If you back up a little bit in chapter five, I love verses 41 and 42. "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." They were beaten and they suffered. Verse 42 says, "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." After they just got told to stop preaching and teaching the name of Jesus Christ, Peter said in verse 29, "We ought to obey God rather than men." So they beat them, sent them out, and then they went and started preaching and teaching the name of Jesus.

This is great. There's a time to disobey the laws or the rules of the leadership, and that's when you're told to go against God's word specifically. Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's what these guys are doing. When they were told not to, they said, "We're going to obey God rather than man."

That's where you disobey, when they tell you to go against God's word. It became an issue with the coronavirus when they said churches can't meet anymore. There was this sort of indefinite, "Yeah, you better not meet. Churches are the worst. They're the super spreader of coronavirus." We didn't know what it was. You do want to be loving and careful, of course. But once everybody realized about a month or two into it, we all started thinking, "I'm not sure this is as real as they're saying it is." Eventually, it started to be obvious as a power grab.

Some churches in Portland stayed closed for two years. Two whole years. That's sad. That's where you start thinking, "Are they forsaking the assembling of themselves?" because that's what the Bible says. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. With that said, there's a time to disobey, but it's got to be measured in the word. That's the key.

These guys are going out preaching, but would you notice that they went rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame and be beaten? They were rejoicing because of suffering. I was thinking about that. We as Portlanders think we're suffering because it's so rainy out. It's gray and I'm depressed. I need my seasonal affective disorder box that I can stick my head in and turn the light on and make myself feel better. That's great if you do that. Good for you.

But wouldn't it be great if we realized what the Bible says? Complain about everything? No. What does the Bible actually say? In everything give thanks. That's 1 Thessalonians 5:18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

As we read on down the story, there was this honeymoon stage in the early church, multiplication. The church was growing, but often with growth comes challenges and difficulties. That's what we're going to see continued here among the Christian church within the believers. We're going to start to see discontentment surfacing among the believers. Church leadership and church government are going to have to handle this, but it hasn't really been established yet. This is why we're going to look at this. Where in the Bible do we learn what church leadership really should look like? I believe this is one of the key passages.

Before we get into this, one of the problems that I've noticed as a Christian of a lot of years and being involved in church work for a lot of years, I've noticed there are people that love to complain about leadership, whether it's church leadership or your boss or your officer in the military that's over you, or our presidents, our leaders. We love to complain. I wonder, is complaining and murmuring ever really a good way to handle those things? It's not, but it's so knee-jerk. It's so easy to complain.

I think we're supposed to pray for those. In fact, it's what 1 Timothy chapter two says. "I exhort therefore," strong word, by the way, exhort. Paul says, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks," that's in everything give thanks, remember, "giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

What I love about this is Paul takes our argument completely away as far as complaining or murmuring or grumbling. I'm not talking about constructive thought or discussion about what we should do to solve our problems in our nation. That's different. But there's a lot of complaining, murmuring, poking fun, those kinds of things that start to be mean-spirited.

This is where Paul is saying, "Listen, first of all, I exhort, supplication, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks, be made for all men and for kings." Now, you might say, "Well, what does Paul know about our president?" There are a lot of people that might make that argument, especially if you don't know who the leaders were in Paul's day. But the funniest thing is one of the worst leaders that ever lived on the planet was the guy that Paul's talking about here. When he says for kings and all that are in authority, who was in charge at that time? Caesar Nero.

It doesn't get any worse than that. He murdered most of his family. He was a horrible guy. He would dip Christians in hot wax and hang them on lamp posts in his gardens, and then he would ride nakedly in his chariot, shrieking with delight as the Christians were burning. He'd say, "Christians are the light of the world," and he'd gleefully rejoice as he rode his chariot. That's tough leadership right there. That's not a good day at the office for Christians in those days. And Paul's saying be thankful for kings and all that are in authority. It was ultimately Nero who would behead Paul. What a sad story that is until you realize God had a perfect plan.

I love Paul when he says this because you and I have no argument against him here. Paul maybe had the worst situation in the world's history, perhaps. So what are we supposed to do? Pray for those in authority that are over us. Let's remember that's our job as Christians. Pray for your leaders. I would ask that for all leaders, whether it's your teacher or your mom and dad or your boss. Pray for those who are in leadership over you, not complain about them, not moan and groan against them.

But it also is something that I think is attributed to those in leadership in the church. The church can become a mean-spirited place if we're not careful. I've noticed studying church stuff for my whole life, being a part of church since I was a little kid as long as I can remember, I've never seen a time that's so hostile. Maybe I'm just more aware of the hostilities, but it sure seems more hostile between churches.

Some of our staff was in another town just a few weeks ago and they went to a church while they were away. The service was great, the worship was great, and then the pastor got up and talked about how demonic it is to not have women pastors in the church. If you're a church that doesn't have women pastors, it's from the pit of hell, and basically, you're from the pit of hell. Wow, what a point of contention.

The idea of women in pastoral roles is what I call a non-essential doctrine of the Christian faith. It's important, but it's not one that should divide the church and make us hate each other and say the other one's from the pit of hell. That's unfortunate that complementarian view, which is our view, we believe that women and men are meant to complement one another and God divvied out different roles in the church. When it came to pastor and elder, the Lord very specifically says that's for the men.

Some people hate that and they strip those pages out of the Bible and say we're going to have women pastors. If a church is going to do that, they're going to do that. I understand the argument because I get it. I think women are just as smart, maybe even smarter than men. It's not that, it's just what the Bible says. It is a divisive topic. It used to not be as much. Now it is as more and more churches have caved to the idea of women pastors. But the division, it's not the complementarians that are screaming and yelling, it's the egalitarians, those who believe that women can do everything men can do. That's their mantra. They can do anything a man can do.

I don't agree with that, by the way. My best bench press was 525. Are there any ladies in here that can do that? I can do a little different, but you know what I can't do? Have babies and be nice to people. There are a lot of things I can't do that women are really good at. Thank the Lord for that. I think women are amazing and God made men and women unique and different. But it's amazing how contentious it is. I hope you understand that should not be something we scream at each other about in the church, but I see that all the time. Whether it's that issue or you could go on and on about all kinds of things.

We talked about essential doctrines versus the doctrines that we call non-essential, but I don't really like calling it that because they're important. But when it comes to are they not saved and are they going to hell, those aren't arguable issues when it comes to salvation and stuff like that.

What does Paul say to the Philippian church? This is the way it should be. Paul says in Philippians chapter two, verse two, "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Then in the same chapter forward a several verses, it says in verse 14, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world."

Are you a contentious grumbler or disputer? Do you like to talk about those who are in leadership and the mistakes everybody's making? Are you one that's good at grumbling and disputing? Do all things without that, it says, that you may be blameless, innocent, and without blemish before God. It's so hard to stay that way because we're in a crooked and twisted generation. We're supposed to shine brightly out of that like lights in the world. That's what Paul is telling the Philippian church here.

Humanity has become very critical just in general and rebelling against authority became really popular in the '60s in America, challenge authority. But it's funny to watch that change and evolve over from the 1960s. It changed the authority and all that, and we all think we have something to say. We all think we have the right ideas. But the Bible says to do everything without grumbling or complaining.

What do you do if there's a problem in the church then if you're not going to complain or grumble? Well, don't complain or grumble, but there are some things you can do if you feel like things are wrong or need to be fixed. We're going to see that here. You can complain about things, but not grumbling or disputing. How do you deal with that? First of all, pray about the problem you have in your heart. Lord, is my heart wrong? Is this a legitimate concern? Number one, pray. Number two, search the scriptures. Make sure you have the right Bible.

For example, the worship's too loud. You'll be shocked how many times if you do a careful study of the Bible, how it says loud worship is kind of the deal. You say, "Well, they didn't have amplification back in those days." I've been to Israel on the Temple Mount when the Jews were worshipping with their drums and all their stuff and the way they sing. They don't sing like us. They have this thing they do from the throat to the nose that my ears were ringing afterward. They have these drums and I was like, "Wow, that's ten times louder than anything at Athey Creek with a PA system."

In Africa, worship is louder than Athey Creek in a mud church with a tin roof. I was blown away how wonderful the worship was in Africa. I've been there three times and I've just been blown away. But it's loud. Sing with a loud voice. So loud is kind of a thing. Pray about it. Is my argument biblical even? That's a good thing to ask.

Before you go to anybody or complaining or grumbling, don't do that, pray about it, search the scripture. Then if you feel peace about it, then you bring the concern to some of the leadership or staff and bring your concern. You say, "Well, what are you going to do with it? Just blow it off?" We listen to people's concerns. There are some concerns we hear over and over and we've already done the heavy lifting and know what we're going to do about certain things. We might have to lovingly tell you here's why that's probably not going to change.

You say, "Well, what if they don't listen to my concern and what if the church doesn't fix the problem?" Then you have to pray about, "Lord, can I live with that problem? Is that something I can live with?" I understand. That's when you have to pray, "Lord, is it time for me to find a church that's more maybe the Lord wants me to go to a smaller church where there's no PA system?" Decide, "Can I live with this or do I need to find another church?" and that's actually a good thing if you get to that place with a healthy attitude.

If you've been bouncing from church to church because there's no church that makes you happy, then you have another problem. What if there's no perfect church? Well, there is no perfect church, news flash. If you find the perfect church, don't join it. You'll ruin it. That's an important thing to understand.

With that said, we have a challenge like that that's happening and it's even a divisive issue that comes up here in Acts chapter six. Let's take a look. Verse one. "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration." The word ministry really comes from the word serve. So in the way that the church was serving, there was a group of people feeling left out.

What's interesting about this is it says Grecians here in the King James. Your newer translations have the word Hellenist. That's probably a more accurate word. The reason the King James says Grecians is because Hellenism was a Greek sort of worldview and ideology. Greek culture influenced and by the way, by this time in the first century, Greek influence was all over the world, the known world. That's why when you go to Jerusalem, you'll see Greek columns with Greek capitals on the top of the pillars and stuff.

When you go to Petra, which is a beautiful country, in the country of Jordan, you've got to see Petra. It's an amazing ruin. But there's Greek influence, these pillars that are carved in the sandstone and there's very Greek looking things on it. But they were not Greeks, they were Nabataeans who made the Petra facade. But why were they making Greek stuff? Because Hellenism just really flooded the world.

In a lot of ways, you can say how American influence has influenced the world. Our American food and our American music and our American movies have really filled the world with Americanism. Some people love it, some people hate it, but it's nonetheless flooded the world. American influence. Well, Greek was even perhaps more powerful than even the American influence on the world today back then. Society, architecture, beliefs, thought, philosophy, the Greek gods and goddesses, they transferred to different places, behavior, social norms.

But maybe one of the big ones that's operative here is the language. You see, there are two groups that are mentioned here that are in dispute. There are the Hebrews as it says here, "there were Grecians against the Hebrews," or Hellenist against the Hebrews. Who were the Hebrews? They were Jews. They were the ones who remained in Judea near Jerusalem, who spoke Hebrew language and were appropriately called the Hebrew people. Those that were scattered in the diaspora way back in the Old Testament even through that time, scattered of the Gentiles, they spoke the Greek language. They picked up the Greek language and lost their other languages, Hebrew or Aramaic. Most of them would speak Greek. The Hellenists would speak Greek language. They'd read the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

At this time in the early church, it was mostly converted Jews or Hebrews as I would say. Not many Gentiles. Paul's going to come in later to the story in the Book of Acts and be given to the ministry of Gentiles. So we're dealing mostly with Jews. These are Jewish people, both Hebrew and what would be called Hellenistic Jews or Libertines, as we'll see them again. But the problem: the Hellenistic Jews from other parts of the world now in Jerusalem felt jealous of the first group, the Hebrews. They were made to feel like outsiders because they weren't being cared for. The widows and the daily ministration that was happening wasn't happening as much with them, but it was happening with the men of Judea. It was sort of like a people that were being favored over the other.

By the way, the idea of neglecting their widows, that was sort of the least common denominator there. The widows were neglected. What's the big deal about widows? In those days, if you were a widow and you didn't have help, you would die. It was not a good situation for widows. The church took up the idea of caring for the widows and the orphans, and that was a new idea in first century times when the church came on the scene. They're caring for all the Hebrew women and children, but the Hellenists were feeling left out.

Paul would talk to Timothy about how to better care for widows and they actually had a group of widows called widows indeed. They were a special group of widows. What is a widow indeed? He defines what a widow indeed is. It's a very special widow who's a gem, a helper in the church, and her husband died or passed away and she's cared for by the church. We have widows like that at Athey and it's an honor and a blessing to be able to care for those widows.

Today's equivalent might be homelessness or families that are unable to pay their bills or a person that lost their job and is in a kind of taking a turn for the worse. We want to care for those people that are in trouble and Athey Creek does and it's a blessing to do that. But can you imagine if we preferred one group over another?

They're going to have to come up with a plan. The Hellenists are feeling neglected. Verse two says, "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." And the saying pleased the whole multitude.

This is great. They come up with a game plan. The church was growing, they had a big problem, and now they've got people that they've got to care for. So they started divvying it up. This is organized religion starting right before our eyes.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador illustrating how God has and will raise up to meet the needs in the gathering fellowship of believers. And there's more on God's call to ministry next time on today's word. And I trust you'll stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me in a moment to talk a little bit about the history of the Bible.

But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon where Pastor Brett Meador's the senior pastor. Our vision is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus, their Savior, through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you can also find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

Well, Pastor Brett has joined me now. Brett, I know you've been to Israel many times, which for many really brings the Bible alive to them. It did when I was there. But for many years there were skeptics who questioned the accuracy of the Bible. So when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in a cave in Israel in the 1940s and '50s, how did those scrolls match up with our current Bible?

Brett Meador: I love the story there at Qumran in Israel. The thing that the Dead Sea Scrolls really did that was probably most powerful in my opinion is the so-called scholars in those days in the 1930s and '40s, they were having a field day saying, "Well, the Bible we have today is nothing like the original text. It's so unreliable because it's just changed so much." When they found these really old Dead Sea Scrolls, what they found was the Bible that you and I read today, there's almost zero variation. Our scriptures line up: book of Isaiah completely, Daniel. You know what I love is the most controversial books that people like to bash, they were the most perfectly carried through all the ages exactly the way they were written back millennia ago. The Dead Sea Scrolls only reaffirmed the reliability of scripture for us.

Guest (Male): That is very encouraging to know how accurate and reliable the word of God really is. Thank you, Pastor Brett. And if you'd like more information about Athey Creek Church, Pastor Brett Meador, or Today's Word, you can visit our website at todayswordradio.com. That's todayswordradio.com. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will show us how the selection of servant leaders from the early church resulted in the meeting of needs and multiplied believers. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.