Everyone Has a Place.

Welcome to New Culture. If we haven't met, I'm Abbie. I'm the pastor here. I'm so excited that you joined us today.

Our passage of scripture, we have been in a series on the book of Acts. This summer, we have really felt this invitation from the Lord about this idea of consecration. We've themed this summer consecration, set apart summer. Consecration means to be set apart and fully devoted. We've been spending this summer walking through the book of Acts slowly and really asking the Lord, what does it look like for us to follow the ways of Jesus, to live these consecrated, set apart lives?

We're going to dive into the word today. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts chapter 6. That's what we're going to be reading from our passage.

Acts chapter 6, starting in verse 1, says this:

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 6:1-7

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word that is alive and active. God, we thank you for your Holy Spirit that is here with us. We invite your Spirit to continue to speak to us through this word. As we continue through our service today, Holy Spirit, would you come? Would you illuminate these words? Would they speak to our hearts? Would they lead to transformation and deeper intimacy with you? We ask this in your name. Amen.

God cares for all people

So we're looking at this passage in Acts chapter 6. We're coming off of the stories in Acts chapter 5 where we read about Ananias and Sapphira, and we read about how serious God took the fact that they were not being honest with him. It wasn't about them withholding money, but about their lack of intimacy and lack of them being fully honest and transparent with God.

A couple weeks ago we talked about the apostles and the healings that were taking place and the persecution that was taking place. We're picking up the story here where the apostles have been going and preaching the word and performing all these miracles. So many people are coming to know Jesus, which is amazing. They're in this moment now where they're like, okay, what are we going to do? How are we going to continue to steward this?

I want to talk about these first few verses where it says the number of disciples were increasing and it talks about the Hellenistic Jews complaining against the Hebraic Jews. There are two different types of Jews being mentioned here. The Hellenistic Jews are Greek-speaking Jews. The Hebraic Jews are different. These are two Christian groups, but the Hellenistic Jews are complaining and saying the Hebraic Jews are neglecting widows and not caring for the people like they should be.

The Hebraic Jews lived in Judea near Jerusalem. They spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, a Semitic language. They were close to the temple and had a pride about them. They were like, we're the real Jews, we're close to the temple, we speak the language. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews, and they became Christians, but they had this Greek culture about them. All of a sudden, we're starting to see this divide. They're all on the same team, following Jesus, preaching the word, performing miracles. And now they're seeing this divide.

They're complaining and saying, you're not caring for our widows, you're not taking care of us the way that you should be. We start to see this problem in this cultural moment of favoritism. There's this favoritism that's countercultural to the ways of Jesus. The first thing I want to talk about is that God cares for all people. There's no favoritism in the family of God. There's no favoritism.

We can say that and think, of course, there's no favoritism. But I want to ask us, do we truly believe that? Each of us probably has things that we might believe disqualify us from being seen and used by God the same way as other people. Those are the things that we can so easily let favoritism creep into our own lives when we start to believe those lies. I want us to hear this today. There is no favoritism in the family of God.

After this complaint is brought and the Hellenistic Jews versus the Hebraic Jews conflict surfaces, the people went and appointed seven, and they were all Hellenistic Jews. Now this is interesting, right? In a way, you're like, isn't that favoritism? But I don't think it's favoritism here. Rather, God is making it very clear. Sometimes the people that you think are the least, I'm going to elevate to show you that there is no favoritism. He took the minority people in this moment, the minorities and the marginalized, and put them in a place of power and authority to continue to show us that there's nothing that can disqualify us from the work that God has. Rather than going to those with the religious pride, he went to the minority people.

What should we take away? I think a first thing is to examine the ways that we too can sometimes take cultural things that are happening and make an idol out of our religion and neglect what God is really doing. It seems crazy when we read about how they got to the point of favoritism. We can say, no, I wouldn't do that. Yet people who were serving the Lord and leading the church had somehow gotten to the place where favoritism was among them.

For us, it's a continued reminder to do the deep work of examining our hearts and asking the Lord to reveal to us, is there any favoritism among us?

All gifts are of equal value

The next thing I want to talk about is that he has a place for all people and that all gifts are of equal value. The twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom."

I love that, and I want you to catch this today. Write this down if you're taking notes. The qualifications were full of the Spirit and wisdom. The apostles said, "We will turn this responsibility over to them and we give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word."

In the same way that earlier we see cultural filters and lenses that led them to this favoritism, I think we always have to remember that every single one of us when we read the word of God, we're reading it through our own cultural lens. Some of that's because of the family we came from, some of that's from the church culture we grew up in. We have a lens that we read through. When I read that for the first time, I'm like, well, that kind of sounds lazy. That kind of sounds like you're making yourself feel important. We don't wait on tables. How dare you wait on tables and do the hard work, do the heavy lifting. I've also waited on tables, so I'm like, come on, you can do the hard things too.

But this isn't them saying, hey, we don't want to wait on tables or we don't think it's less valuable to wait on tables. It's this understanding that we all have different gifts and different ways that the Lord wants to use us. We see that come to life when we start to function and contribute as the body of Christ. It's not saying what I do when I teach the word is more valuable than what Kayla does when she puts quarters in the washing machines on Thursday nights. It's saying it's different and it's all needed. We need to be in the giftings that God has given us so we can function as the body of Christ and be his hands and feet.

All gifts are of equal value, but we need to use them. We need to contribute them.

What I love here is this emphasis that they were still committed to teaching the word. It wasn't just, we're only going to preach the word and never follow the ways of Jesus. It's saying, okay, we're going to preach the word and say, yes, you are forgiven, and then we're going to go and forgive people. We're going to preach the word and say, yes, Jesus came to pay the highest price, and now you are cared for and provided for, and then we're going to feed the people and provide food for them. It was both the words and the ways of Jesus that they were teaching and that they were committed to, and that we need the whole body to do.

The body of Christ

There's verses that talk about the body of Christ that I want to touch on. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 through 31. The whole passage talks about the body of Christ, where just as the body is one and has many members, so it is with Christ. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body. The passage describes how we shouldn't say because we're not a hand we don't belong to the body, or because we're not an eye we don't belong to the body. Each part has value.

A couple weeks ago I came home to my backyard and on my patio table there was a giant pile of bananas. Just bananas, just sitting there. I have a roommate. My first question was, are these your bananas? She's like, no, I thought they were your bananas. Well, later we found out they were our neighbor's bananas. They were going bad. He was going out of town, so he just decided to toss them in our yard.

I did think, should I eat them? But I didn't want to waste them. They're covered, right? Bananas are surely fine. So I made banana bread and banana muffins out of those bananas.

I talked about this a couple weeks ago. I used this illustration when we talked about the body of Christ and in the community. I talked about this idea of something that happens when you're baking bread. Something happens when you're cooking something where in order for the recipe to come to life, every single ingredient has to be thrown in the bowl and mixed together, right?

I want to talk about this a little bit more today because as I was making banana bread, I was thinking about this again. Something happens when we are the body of Christ. We need everybody to fully jump into the bowl and be willing to put all that they are into the process in order to become what God is inviting us to become.

But here's the thing. What happens when you're baking bread? Maybe for some of you this doesn't happen, but for me, it can get a little messy, right? Some flour can spill out. The eggs are literally cracked open to be poured out. It can get a little messy when you're baking, but it also requires a lot of ingredients and following instructions, a recipe. You have to pay close attention to the next step and the next step and the next step. It requires everything to be mixed together. And in some ways you kind of lose a little piece of your identity in order to become a part of something greater than you could ever be on your own.

But here's what can happen to us if we're not careful. When I'm making banana bread, I'm throwing bananas in there, I'm throwing the ingredients, but I'm also probably going to throw in some pecans and some cinnamon, maybe some chocolate chips. We're probably all sitting here thinking, oh, I want to be like the chocolate chip. I want to stand out. I want to have that strong flavor, right? Or maybe you're like, I want to be subtle like the cinnamon. Just when you're least expecting it, it brings the flavors out. You're like, that's who I want to be.

Who here wants to be the baking soda? Nobody. Nobody wants to be the baking soda. But I know we have some bakers in the room that would tell you that's a very valuable ingredient. If I try to bake without that baking soda in there, it's not going to go very well. It's not going to taste very good.

When we start to look around and start to place higher value on different ingredients, on different members of the body of Christ, we start to miss what God is doing. We are all invited to fully give all that we are, to jump into the mess, to take time together, to follow the instructions, and then you go into the process of baking. What happens in that oven?

Well, if you've ever walked into someone's home when they're baking, you can smell that aroma. It draws you in. All of a sudden you're like, I wasn't hungry, but no, I'm kind of craving whatever that is. That's what happens in the body of Christ. When we come together and we stop getting into the idea that their gifts are more important than mine and they're more valuable than me. But when we say what I have to offer is enough because I was created in the image of God.

When I say yes to Jesus, I am now a new creation. I am part of the family, the body of Christ. So I'm ready to go all in with all that I am and trust that as we do that together, yes, it might get messy, and it's going to take time, and we might have to go back and read the instructions again to remind ourselves of what we're supposed to do. But there's going to be this aroma that comes where all of a sudden people are drawn. It's like, I don't know what that is, what's happening there in that place, or what it is about them, but I'm drawn to that, and now I have this hunger that is growing for Jesus.

That is what's happening here in this passage. They're not saying one is more than the other, but saying we need each other because we're on mission for people to know Jesus. If they're going to know Jesus, we have to come together as the body of Christ so that they can grow in that hunger for him.

Words and ways

There's this emphasis that he wants us to spread his words and his ways. This is the good news of the gospel. It's both his words and his ways. The scripture says "this proposal pleased the whole group." I'm just picturing they're all sitting around saying, okay, that's a good idea. Let's go for this. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit.

I love the details too. It also talks about Nicholas that they chose. It says that he was a convert. That last verse I want to focus on. "So the word of God spread. Luke is giving us this report. The word of God is spreading. The numbers of the disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. A large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

They're making sure like people are provided for, they're covered, the distribution of the daily bread. They're going to make sure all the widows are cared for no matter who they are. That's a value that's important. They're spreading the word. The gospel of Jesus is here. Jesus is here. His kingdom is coming. His kingdom has come. He died on the cross. He paid the price for our sins. They're living out the ways by taking care of the people.

What I love here is again this emphasis that God is a show and tell God. He's not just a tell, but he's like, I'm going to show you. I'm going to demonstrate this for you.

Have you ever been where someone's telling you about the best food they ever ate? They're like, it was so good. And you're like, well, that's really great. But you know what would be better? Is if you brought me some of that food for me to enjoy with you. Because it's a different experience when someone is like, come sit, taste, see this, eat this with me. Rather than, I can't believe what I just had. It was the best thing. But there's none of it left for you.

God didn't do that. He's not like, I'm just going to tell you about how much I love you. I'm just going to tell you about how amazing you are. He's like, no, I'm going to show you.

Romans 5 says:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

While we were still sinners, far from him, maybe not even thinking about him, he died for us. Jesus showed his love for us. He gave his life for us on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that we can live with him forever. When he left us, his Holy Spirit, he told the disciples to go, preach the word, live my ways, lead people to me.

The apostles now are following the example of Jesus in delegating the work and caring for the community. Jesus, in the story of him feeding the 5,000, does this where he lets the miracle go through their hands. So they're not coming up with this strategy. This is Jesus' strategy. This is Jesus being like, hey, I already showed you when I gathered you and sent you out what this looks like. So now they're doing the same thing.

That's why even today I wanted Kayla to share about what are the different ways that God has uniquely made you to contribute? That word, contribute, means to add value. What are the ways that he's using you to add value to the places around us?

We talk about here at church this rule of life, which is a set of practices that we're committed to. Some of them are what you would think of as really spiritual practices, like prayer, reading scripture. But sometimes I have found in life, the things that we think are the most spiritual are the most practical. The things that we think, oh, that's just practical, becomes the most spiritual in these moments.

Following the example of the church here in Acts, they were committed to yes, preaching the word that Jesus has come, he has come to forgive you, he has come to heal you. But they were also committed to following his ways of saying, and now we're going to pray for that healing. We're going to be committed to making sure that you are fed, that you are whole, that you are cared for. It was words and ways.

One of the spiritual practices that we have at our church is to contribute to the community. Contribute means to add value. Contribute to your church community and your local community. The ways that we can do this is join one of our contributor teams and serve by holding a door open or preparing the food. Those things that sometimes you're like, does it really matter to make coffee on a Sunday? Is that valuable?

Coffee drinkers in the room can say, amen. That is valuable. I don't know if I'd be able to preach if I didn't have it this morning. Those things that sometimes we think, like, does this even matter? Is this even adding value? But each and every one of us have things to offer to our community and the community around us. We have a role to play.

So the point of all of that is don't count yourself out. We have things to contribute, things to add value.

Personal story of saying yes

I still remember that it wasn't until I was 15 that I even thought anything ministry related. When I was 15, somebody gave me a guitar and they were like, hey, I just feel like God told me to give this to you. I started playing and I still don't play well, so you'll probably never see it. But I then started to lead worship and I started to sing. It was through that step of saying yes to something that was so scary at the time.

I still remember when I would lead worship behind a keyboard and my foot would shake the entire time. I could barely sing, but it was through that God began to reveal to me, hey, there's gifts. There's things I've placed in your heart to lead people to my presence. Once I realized, wow, okay, I can lead people to his presence, but I never thought that I would ever preach a sermon in my entire life. That was never a thought until someone said, hey, would you give this short sermon?

My hand would just shake the whole time. I would still hold papers and they would shake. I was like, I can't do this. It wasn't very good. But it wasn't until then that I realized, oh, God gave me a voice and I can use this to preach his word and to draw people closer to his presence.

I never thought that I would ever lead a church. I still have some Sundays where I come in here and I'm like, who's in charge around here? Like, who's doing this? How is this happening? But it wasn't until the door opened to say, hey, there's going to be a community here and God's saying, Abbie, will you, will you lead this? Will you say yes? That I knew that I was capable.

When I say I was capable, I mean I'm capable of letting the Holy Spirit flow through me in order to steward what he has in this moment. I share that with you because sometimes I think that we're so caught up in seeing where people are at and feeling like we have to meet these specific expectations that we're the ones that count ourselves out from all the ways that God wants to use us for his kingdom and for his glory.

If I sat down every single time the Lord asked me to do something and I started to picture how I've seen it done in the past, if I started to look at all the other people doing similar things and compared myself and looked at them, I would never pick up a microphone again. I've had to learn to say, okay, this is messy. I continue to go back and say, I got to read the instructions again because I'm getting a little lost here. I got to remember how to do this.

But as we continue to follow that example of saying, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Continue to say, God, fill me with your power because it's only you and it's all for you that we're doing this. As we walk in that wisdom, he continues to build his church.

On my own, I will never be qualified or feel qualified. But because of Christ Jesus, because I was bought with a price, his spirit now flows through. The same is for every single one of you here today and the unique things that God is inviting you to do and participate in being his kingdom.

Stephen and Nicholas

I want to go back to talking about the two individuals here that had details given about them. We read the qualifications of filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with wisdom. We read Stephen, and there's details after his name. What qualified these seven to be the ones chosen to now distribute and care for the community?

It says Stephen, full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. That's it. Period. That is what it says. Full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. Those are the qualifications.

Now I want you to notice here, it doesn't say, Stephen, full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, and then it doesn't go on to say six feet tall, blue eyes. If you don't get that reference, we're not on the same TikTok. That reference is a video that went viral. It's this girl who was making fun of the idea that when you're single and you're looking for a partner, you have all these crazy expectations. The whole thing is like, I'm looking for a man in finance, six feet, five blue eyes.

Whether you've been that friend, we'll all say it's our friends, right? Our friends around us who have these crazy expectations for who they want to date and who they want to marry. They're like, I have this, this, this that I'm looking for.

I can't help but wonder, do we start to think that's how God sees us? Do we start to think that before God wants a relationship with us, before he wants to be with us, that he's saying, you have to be this, you have to be that, you have to be this tall, this height, fill in the blank. But that's not how God sees us. We don't have to walk around wondering if Jesus is swiping left or right on us. We've been bought with a price. And he's saying, you just have to show up.

Your qualifications here. Be filled with the spirit. Walk in wisdom. Walk in faith. Walk in obedience. Show up.

The next person mentioned here with the details given is Nicholas. It says he was a convert from Antioch. Why is this significant? Being that he converted to Christianity means he was a pagan. He was not worshiping Jesus, not following Jesus. So his qualifications were he showed up. Jesus just wants us to show up.

Jesus doesn't say you have to have these qualifications, you have to have this background, you have to have accomplished all of these things before you can say yes to relationship with me. He says, will you come? Will you show up?

Closing

I'm going to ask the worship team to come as we get ready to close today. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. God wants to use us for his kingdom. I want to share this with you to encourage you that that's going to look so different for all of us and even at different times and seasons of our lives. But I want you to know there's no favoritism when it comes to God's kingdom. There's no favoritism. All of our gifts are equal. The things that you were created for, the gifts that you have, your personality, the way that you're wired, God wants to use it. But that takes us giving it to him to use. That takes us showing up. That takes us allowing his Holy Spirit to fill us, which means we got to get out of the way, and we got to say, Holy Spirit, would you come?

The good news for us is that God doesn't want to just tell us about his love. He wants us to experience it. That's why Jesus came. That's why Jesus left us his Holy Spirit. As we continue to contribute and to grow in community, it's going to be that aroma that draws people in.

Maybe you're here today, and for some of us it's going to be saying, man, am I ready to actually surrender my life to Jesus? Am I ready to make Jesus the Lord of my life? Romans 10 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart in his death and resurrection, that you will be saved. There are not these crazy qualifications. It's not like you have to get this degree, you have to make six figures before you can come into my kingdom. It's saying, hey, will you confess that I am Lord above all others? Will you surrender your life to following my ways? Come.

So if you're here today, I want to invite you that this can be a moment that you do that. That you say, I'm not going to believe the lies that I'm not qualified anymore. I'm going to say yes and I'm going to surrender and I'm going to choose to follow you.

Because the thing is, the church isn't a pastor preaching on a Sunday. It's a family living on mission, this shared life together, to live in the ways of Jesus, to follow his word, to share the good news that he's the hope of the world. The church is to tell people that, hey, your sins are forgiven, and then go and practice radical forgiveness. It's to tell people that, hey, Jesus came to be the bread of life. Jesus is the one that sustains you, and then go and feed those people and help sustain them. It's to say, Jesus came, so you're provided for. You don't have to fear anything. You lack nothing with Jesus. Then for us to give above and beyond to provide for the people around us so that they not only know it but they can experience the fullness of Jesus.

We are invited to contribute and to not only tell people about his love but to show them our love.

So what for today is that God desires all of his disciples to contribute to spreading his word and his ways. If you are a follower of Jesus, there's an invitation for you today to say, what does it look like for me to follow his words and his ways? And what does that look like? Contribute to the community. Add value to the people around you. Whether it's joining a team here at this church or whether it's going out into the community. Add value to the people around you because you are qualified through Christ Jesus.

He cares for all people. He has a place for all people, and he longs for us to join him and experience his love and displaying his love for the people around us.

So I want to invite you to stand today. We're going to close in a time of worship and prayer. As I was preparing for this, I was thinking about what are those things that prevent us from fully living this as a community? I do think sometimes one of the biggest things is some of those lies of favoritism, some of those lies of I'm not qualified, I'm not good enough, what I have is not of value. That lie of living out of lack rather than living as a new creation and recognizing that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So I'm going to invite Nathan who will be in the back available for prayer if you would like prayer today. The team's just going to lead us in a few moments. I want to invite you to process with the Holy Spirit and ask some of those questions. Right now in this moment, what are the things that make you feel the most unqualified? What are the things that make you feel like you're counted out or you're not enough?

I don't want you to just sit there with that. I want you to then surrender that to Jesus, to invite the Holy Spirit to show you how he wants to heal you, how he wants to restore you. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak those truths over you.

The biggest thing that I want us to pray today is that we would be people that would continue to pour our lives out at the feet of Jesus, to contribute, to add value, to show his love, knowing that as we do that, even in the mess, even in the brokenness, that he is doing something and it is a sweet aroma that's going to draw people in.

Holy Spirit, we welcome you into this place. We thank you for your word and we thank you for sending Jesus, God, to be that example so that we can follow in his footsteps, we can follow in his ways.

I pray right now that if there are any ways we're feeling like we are unqualified, that the enemy has been lying to us, has been telling us that we're not enough, that that would just be gone in the name of Jesus. I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and you would begin to give us creative ways of what does it look like for us to contribute? What does it look like for us to be obedient, to be faithful, to allow your Holy Spirit to fill us, to do what only you can do?

God, we know that sometimes that first step is just to surrender, to say, here's my life, to say, I'm going to say yes, even if I don't understand, even if I don't feel qualified, trusting that it is your spirit that is within me. Nothing that I can do on my own.

Holy Spirit, would you come in these moments? Would you speak to our hearts? We welcome your presence in this place. I invite you to spend this time in prayer and worship to the Lord. If you would like someone to partner with you in prayer, that will be available.

God, this is our desire as we move from this place: that you would have the highest, the first place in our life. So God, we ask that as we move from this place, would you continue to empower us with your Holy Spirit? As we walk in obedience to your word, as we follow after your ways, as we delight in you, Jesus, that people would be drawn to you, to your kingdom, to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.