Serving the Vulnerable: Unity, Justice, and Gospel Growth

Are we building the kind of community where even a skeptic can look at how we treat our most vulnerable members and think that is remarkably different? The people in Jerusalem saw the early church as a community that corrected its own oversight. They saw a community that chose leaders from the margins. They saw a community where dyconia described both the preaching of the gospel and the serving of a meal, where no one was above another, where the spirit was not limited by culture or ethnicity or social standing. [00:26:29] (35 seconds)  #CommunityThatCares

today's passage starts with the church failing to care for its most vulnerable widows, and it ends with the church growing so visibly that even Jewish priests are among the converts. What changed between verse one and seven was not the preaching itself. What changed was the community's response to an oversight. Oversight. What changed was how the community embodied what they were preaching. [00:25:00] (22 seconds)  #EmbodiedFaith

The early church did not have a perfect beginning. They had conflict, inequality, and growing pains just like we do. It started with the widows, some of the most vulnerable people in an overlooked part of the community. When the early church chose to get it right, when someone named the real or perceived inequity, the church fixed it and entrusted the spirit, and so the gospel spread. [00:27:10] (24 seconds)  #RectifyAndGrow

This is where I wanna pause and talk about justice. And I know that word can feel loaded, but the more I read the bible, the more I'm convinced that caring for the vulnerable is not a political position, it is a biblical one. From the beginning through the old testament and the new testament, God has been on the side of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. He did not just suggest it. He commanded it. [00:08:05] (25 seconds)  #BiblicalJustice

God ordained and chose for Jesus to grow up as someone who speaks with a dialect that most wouldn't consider educated. It was viewed as lowly, not respectable. It showed that God not only uses the educated and important, but that he also uses the despised, the lowly, and marginalized people to accomplish his purposes. So when the church overlooks its most vulnerable members, it is not just an administrative failure, it is a spiritual one. [00:10:31] (28 seconds)  #MarginalizedAreVital

And if we take that same idea, then we can see what Luke is doing as well. There's equal value in both the preaching and the serving of meals. Think about that for a second. They're saying that the same sacred commission is given to both those who are ministers and also to those serving the community. This shows that not only is this divine service, but also that we are all a part of the ministry that Jesus left for us. One is not above the other. [00:12:44] (30 seconds)  #EqualCallings

But here, the church was able to come and agree on seven people. This had to be the work of the holy spirit in uniting the early church and affirming leadership. Some scholars believe that these seven were appointed not just for the physical act of sharing food. There are suggestions that maybe the seven were in charge of sharing money or even preaching and ministering directly to these Greek speaking widows. It wasn't just preparing meals, but soul ministry. [00:18:17] (29 seconds)  #SpiritAppointsSeven

They were giving a convert the same holy commission as the native Jewish person. These seven men were appointed because of their character and because it could help them right or wrong. The church hopefully didn't purposefully neglect the Greek speaking widows. They probably just didn't think to go out of their way to double check that they were taken care of, but that is what the community decided to do when they appointed these seven. [00:22:04] (26 seconds)  #InclusiveCommission