63 - Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Maturity [B]

Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Maturity. Acts 6:3-15

This passage is bringing us to something of a conclusion to the first part of Acts. The ministry of the apostles in Acts 2-6 is in Jerusalem. In Acts chapter seven there is an episode that occurs which culminates with Stephen being stoned and the ratcheting up of the hostility and persecution by the Jewish authorities against the Christians. This causes them to scatter because they haven't done what Jesus said to do. So God uses this as He often does negative things in our lives and in history in order to put our attention upon Him and to move us in the direction we should be going. Often we respond to negative things with a resistant and resentful attitude and we don't understand how God may be using that in a number of different ways, because God always multi-tasks, in order to move us in a different direction. By the time we get to the end of chapter seven we see a transition that takes place where the emphasis in the next few chapters is on the expansion of the church, primarily through the ministry of Philip and Peter in Judea and Samaria. Beyond that in chapter nine we see the salvation of Saul of Tarsus who becomes known in history as the apostle Paul, and through the apostle Paul the gospel goes out to all the nations.

So we see the transition that takes place in chapter six. We are introduced to the problem that occurred in the Jerusalem church and the resolution of the problem by the apostles, and then we see their introduction as part of the solution of the seven men that they choose in order to facilitate the administration of the distribution of funds to the widows. Among those seven are Stephen and Philip. Stephen becomes the focal point of chapter seven and Philip the focal point of chapter eight, until we get to Paul in chapter nine.

Acts 6:3 ^NASB "Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task." What is important to see there is that they called the congregation together and asked the congregation to basically form a nominating committee. In some way they are going to evaluate those that they know and make recommendations to the apostles as to whom they think would qualify. This means they have to analyse and evaluate the spiritual maturity of people within the congregation. Every now and then we hear people misquote and misapply (because they misunderstand) what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when He said: "Judge not that you be not judged." The word that Jesus used there based on the Greek word krino [krinw] has a broad range of meanings. It can mean on the one hand making an intelligent, objective evaluation of someone. For example, if you are an employer and need to hire someone then you are going to krino them, judge them, evaluate them so that you can select the right person for the job. The word krino would be used for that in the same way that it would be used to express someone who was just making harsh, malignant, nasty judgmental comments bout someone. The word had a broad range of meaning and the context would tell us what the speaker or writer was talking about. Jesus was using it in the negative sense, not on the basis of making an objective evaluation of someone on the basis of criteria for service. Many times leadership is expected to make an objective evaluation of people for specific tasks. For example, in 1 Timothy chapter three the apostle Paul sets forth certain qualifications or characteristics that should be found in a pastor or in deacons, so it was in order to select men who have those qualifications.

The word "reputation" in Acts 6:3 is martureo [marturew] is a present passive participle. It means to bear witness. It is the typical word for someone who gives testimony in a courtroom. So these are seven men who have a good testimony from other people. Within the sphere of public life they are considered to be upright men, having a good reputation both inside and outside the church. That reputation is then qualified by the next phrase, an appositional phrase which means that it is saying the previous thing in a slightly different and perhaps more precise way for clarification. The apostles are clarifying what they mean by a good testimony. It comes from the source of the Holy Spirit, not from the source of the individual. He is not simply a good moral person; there is a spiritual vitality to him, he has grown spiritually.

He is said to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. What is important is that we look at this grammatically. The two nouns—"Holy Spirit" and "wisdom"—are equally objects of the adjective. They are both in the genitive case in the Greek, and generally speaking the genitive is a case of description. We talk about someone being the son of his father. The words "of his father" are describing something about the noun "son"; it is who he is related to. So in a broad sense all genitives are descriptive, all of them are adjectives. One of the interesting things about a genitive is that it is often used with some verb or noun relating to content. The noun pleres [plhrhj] is related to the verb pleroo [plhrow] which we see in Ephesians 5:18 where it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But what follows the verb in Ephesians 5:18 is not a genitive construction but an instrumental dative construction. That changes the concept completely because an instrumental dative syntax indicates the means by which something is filled, not the content with which it is filled.

Here we have this phrase, "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." It was typical of a generation or two before us to have taught the principle that if we look at the book of Acts there were many different fillings of the Spirit. People like C.I. Scofield, L.S. Chafer and others taught this. They failed to take into account that there are different words used for being full of the Spirit or being full of the Spirit—different verbs (pimplemi rather than pleroo), and in these case the noun pleres instead of the verb—and that these are not talking about the same thing that Ephesians 5:18 is talking about. A phrase, just like some words, is more than the sum of the parts. If you take some words that are compound words, you put two words together, and the compound word is used of something different than the individual words. The same thing is true of a phrase, because once you look at how a word is used in a phrase it often can become an idiomatic statement that has a non-literal meaning. So while the word "full" of something would literally mean, say, a bucket being full of water, when talking about the characteristics of something it is now moving into a non-literal or more of a metaphorical sense where the whole phrase is really being descriptive; it is adjectival. It is saying such and such is characterised by this. This is an adjective that describes them. It is not saying that they are literally full to the brim with something but that something is so typical of them that this is used this way as an idiom to describe what they are. In that sense we see that this is a description of spiritual maturity. It is not a description of the process of being filled by means of the Spirit but it is used to depict and describe the end result of having been filled consistently by means of the Spirit.

We see this in the order of the words related to the Holy Spirit. "Full" means to mean the same thing as "full" of wisdom. Wisdom is a process of growth that takes place over time as one takes in the Word of God and assimilates it into their thinking and applies it to every area of life. It is not an absolute concept. For example, when we talk about being filled by the Spirit, we talk about either being filled or not being filled by means of the Spirit; we are in fellowship or out of fellowship; either walking by the Spirit or not walking by the Spirit. Wisdom is a progressive aspect as a result of spiritual growth. So we don't say one minute we are wise and the next second are out of fellowship and foolish; confess our sins and now are wise. Wise is not a term we would apply to an immature believer. He can be walking by the Spirit but he hasn't had enough time of spiritual growth to be considered wise yet. So by looking at the other characteristics that are the object of the noun we come to understand that this has to be a descriptive phrase related to spiritual maturity. And also because of the task they are going to be appointed to. They are going to be handling money, so this is going to be related to an aspect of their personal integrity in being able to be trusted with money.       

This phrase, the noun pleres followed by a genitive phrase, is used in a number of different places in Scripture, so we don't just have this one example. We have a similar example in Acts 9:36 ^NASB "Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated {in Greek} is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds [full of good deeds] of kindness and charity which she continually did." If "full of the Spirit" means the same idea as in Ephesians 5:18—in fellowship or out of fellowship; filled with the Spirit or not filled with the Spirit—then "full of charitable deeds" means full of them one minute and then the next minute not full of them; then back in fellowship and full of them. That doesn't make sense; it doesn't fit this kind of a context. So this phraseology of being full of something is just a way of saying that this person's life is characterised so much by these attributes—the attributes of good works, helping those around her, and gracious deeds to people. That is what she was known for; she did this so much.

A second verse is Acts 11:24 ^NASB "for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith…" This is the opposite order from Acts chapter six. Some theologians have tried to make an issue out of the order and they botch it terribly. They try to make one of these terms a qualification of the other and say, "Full of the Holy Spirit who produces faith." That just doesn't work. There are two genitival nouns that are the objects of this one other noun, "full of," and so they have to be treated the same way. Here in this Scripture again is the fact that this man is full of the Holy Scripture and faith; his life is characterised by his relation with the Holy Spirit and his consistent faith and trust in God.

Acts 13:9 ^NASB "But Saul, who was also {known as} Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him." This is a different word, pimplemi [pimplhmi], and it is followed by a genitive so it should be translated "with the Spirit" but "of the Spirit." It is talking about the content, not means. Acts 13:10 ^NASB "and said, 'You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?'" This refers to the opposite, the evil side. So again, deceit and fraud were not something that where one second he is fully deceitful and fraudulent and the next second he is not. He is describing the fact that his life is characterised by deceptive practices and fraudulent activity. So again we see this phrase as a character description of someone who most of his life is characterised by something. Acts 19:28 ^NASB "When they heard {this} and were filled with rage, they {began} crying out…" Their mental state is described as being filled with rage, full of wrath. It is a description of their anger. 

In Acts 6:3 we see a statement: "…to seek out seven men of good reputation," i.e. "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." They are characterised by their consistent walk with the Holy Spirit and that has produced wisdom in their life—a skilful application of the Word in their life so that they can be appointed over the business.

The first person that came to mind was Stephen, Acts 6:5, who is described as "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." He is full of the Holy Spirit—not that he is in fellowship all of the time but that he has been in fellowship, has walked by the Spirit, so that his life the characteristic of spirituality that is spiritual growth and maturity. Then in verse 8 is another statement about Stephen: "full of grace and power." Now there is a new element added. Power wasn't something that came or went whether he was in fellowship or out of fellowship. Because of the position he is in this is something that now characterises his Christian life. 

This is quite a bit different, using this phraseology as a description of maturity, from what we see in Ephesians 5:18. In that verse is a contrasted statement. We have the phrase "do not get drunk with wine." Wine is in the dative case, indicating an instrument or a means to an end. "…for that is dissipation, but," Paul says, and now uses the phrase, en pneumati [e)n pneumati]. en is the Greek preposition that can be translated "with" or "by," and in some case even "in." It usually indicates instrumentality, something by which something is done. So we are to be "filled by [or, by means of] the Holy Spirit." He is the instrument of the filling, not the content of the filling. When we get in fellowship, one minute we are not empty and the next minute full up to the brim with the Holy Spirit, and then when we get out of fellowship it is all gone and we are constantly up and down. We are not getting more of the Holy Spirit. When we walk more consistently by the Spirit and we reach spiritual maturity then that phrase "full of the Spirit" would apply. But here Paul is talking about the means to an end. We understand that in verse 18 and have to contrast this to a common erroneous analysis of this passage.

What happens when a person has too much of an alcoholic beverage is that they begin to lose their inhibitions and act different than they would otherwise. So often it is easy to understand drunkenness as an aspect of control. But what happens when a person is under the influence? We say they are no longer volitionally responsible. They may be volitionally responsible for getting under the influence but once they are really inebriated their volition is controlled by the alcohol. This passage isn't talking about control, this is talking about influence. There is a difference. Often commentaries use the word "control" and they don't really mean that. If Stephen was controlled by the Holy Spirit then that would mean that his volition would be completely controlled or overridden by the Holy Spirit. So what would cause the Holy Spirit to quit overriding his volition? We still have to make decisions. We still get into circumstances where we have to decide, am I going to apply God's Word to this circumstance or not. God is not going to make that decision for us. That is mysticism, the idea that I am just going to give up and let God take over. No, we can't do that because God doesn't step into the driver's seat; He is not going to subvert our volition.

This idea of being drunk with wine was significant in Ephesus because in Ephesus there were some competing religions. One worshipped the god of wine, and the way they would worship this god was to become drunk. And how do you enter into fellowship with a god so that the god would enter into you and speak through you? You would get drunk, work themselves into an ecstatic state and hope that the god would enter into them and speak gibberish.

So what Paul was saying here is: Don't be drunk with wine, wine is not the key to being close to God. Being filled by means of the Spirit instead; that is how you become close to God. And the results that we find in Ephesians that follow that command are very important to notice: "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." In Colossians 3:16 we have a different command than what Paul has in Ephesians 5:18. ^NASB "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom…" And what is the result? "… teaching and admonishing one another with psalms {and} hymns {and} spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." The results are identical in both passages, though there are two different commands. One command is to be filled by means of the Spirit—the means—and the other command is to let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you—that is content. So the filling by means of the Spirit isn't just a passive status of being in fellowship but because we are in fellowship with God, God the Holy Spirit is able to fill our soul and thinking with the Word of God which is the dynamic going on when we are walking by the Spirit. And when we spend a maximum amount of time walking by the Spirit the end result is that we become spiritually mature, or we can be described as being full of the Spirit and full of faith. This helps us to understand what it means to be filled by the Spirit a little more clearly.

The different terms, whether we are talking about John 15, "Abide in Christ," that is remaining in fellowship. Or there are another passages that talk about walking in the light. Walking is a metaphor for light. It involves the fact that we are to live moment by moment, day by day, but we walk in the light, i.e. in the light of God's Word in fellowship. Or, if we sin, we are walking in darkness. We are to walk by means of the Holy Spirit, and the result is that the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives—character transformation.

So this command that they are to be full of the Spirit and full of wisdom is a statement that they are to be spiritually mature so that they have a reputation among those not only in the church but outside the church as being spiritually mature. Then they can be trusted to be appointed over this business. In contrast the apostles say, Acts 6:4 ^NASB "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." The word there for "devote ourselves" is the Greek word proskartereo [proskarterew] which is a future—"we will." The word means to persist in something, to persevere in something, to be constant in something, to make it their number one priority. This is their job description.

So this is the first time we recognize that there needs to be a division of labor and division of responsibility in terms of the leadership of the church. There is one group whose primary respo9nsibility is to be in the Word—to study the Word, to teach the Word and to be in prayer. You can't separate the two. To be in prayer and study; to be in study and prayer. It is not study and teach, it is pray, study and teach. That is the threefold mandate for the pastor. That is his primary mission. Is that all he does? No. As we will see in this description there is a responsibility given to these seven men toward the administration and distribution of the funds to help the widows. But we never see Stephen do that. The first thing we see Stephen do is he is out preaching the gospel. Was he wrong? No. When we talk about the fact that the pastor's primary job is to pray, study and teach that doesn't mean that he doesn't have other responsibilities. As a person living life he has many responsibilities. A pastor may be a husband, a parent, may be involved in other aspects of life because of where he lives or what he does. There are pastors who do other things on the side to raise money in order to support their families. They are also citizens in the nation and as citizens they have responsibilities like every other citizen to be involved in our community.

Within Judaism there is a phrase and a concept that is drilled into every young Jewish person. Loosely translated it means to "repair the world." It comes out of the Abrahamic covenant. In Genesis chapter twelve when God called out Abraham He gave a command: "You are to be a blessing to the whole world." The root of that command is to recognize that their responsibility before God was to be a blessing to their neighbours and to those around them. That is why they were to love their neighbour as themselves. That is part of that, and even though Jesus ratchets up that command in John 13 and says we are to love one another, Leviticus is still quoted many times in the New Testament to the church age believers that we are to love our neighbours as ourselves. We don't just become insulated and isolated from the culture around us. We don't just sit back and say, I am in the church now, I am in the body of Christ; I don't like all those other people who aren't Christians, I am going to just stay in my own little tight, insulated community and not function in terms of the broader community. That is how we are to be engaged. We, too, have that responsibility to do everything, every area of our responsibility, the glory of God. That means our citizenship, whatever other functions related to being a father, a mother, a parent, a grandparent, whatever our job or career might be.

But what we are talking about here is that within the structure of the church the primary ministry was the Word and prayer. Later on we are going to learn that that gets refined by the apostle Paul in the pastoral epistles. Paul tells Timothy who has the gift of pastor-teacher and not the gift of evangelist that he is to also do the work of an evangelist. He is to proclaim the gospel.   

The pastor's job is not to represent the church down at City Hall every time there is a problem in the community. That doesn't mean there aren't going to be occasions when that might be something he has to do, but that is not his primary job. And if he does it, it is so that he can get rid of whatever the problem is and get back to doing the thing he is supposed to be doing—praying, studying and teaching. Sometimes there are distractions that come into our lives so that we have to go and deal with the distraction so that it quits being a distraction. That is what happened in Acts chapter six. They had a distraction and had to deal with it so that they could get back to doing what they were supposed to be doing.

The word proskartereo is also used in Colossians 4:2 for prayer. ^NASB "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with {an attitude of} thanksgiving." Make it a priority to pray.  

There is a response in Acts 6:5 ^NASB "The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen…" This is really important for understanding things that go on later on in the church. This is a basis later for congregational involvement in the selection process of church leaders. It is not just something imposed from the top down. It has its roots in the Old Testament. When Moses received the advice from Jethro to delegate responsibilities, to divide up the tribes of Israel into different groups and stages of organisation, he asked the people to choose leaders from among themselves. So there is that responsibility there. It ultimately goes back to that first divine institution of individual responsibility. But individuals exercising their responsibility in a democracy can choose bad leaders who put evil policies in place.    "… a man full of faith [spiritually mature] and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch."

Acts 6:6 ^NASB "And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them." This is something normally done when there is an ordination. It has its root in the Old Testament and it is seen in sacrifices. It is an idea of a transference of sin from the individual to the animal, an indication of an identification, and a sign of unity between the one putting his hands on something else, person or animal. In Numbers 27:22, 23 ^NASB "Moses did just as the LORD commanded him; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses." It was an identification of Moses' position of authority with Joshua's position of authority. So what is going on in Acts with the laying on of hands is that the apostles are saying they share in our authority, they are our representatives. This is why we will see that in 1 Corinthians that signs and wonders were a sign of the apostles. The only other people who performed signs and wonders in the New Testament are Philip and Stephen. Philip and Stephen are part of this unique body that is considered an apostolic extension in Acts chapter six.

What is the result? Acts 6:7 ^NASB "The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith." When Stephen irritates the Sanhedrin at the end of the chapter—the Sanhedrin was made up mostly of Sadducees and most of the priests came out of the Sadducee Party—a lot of false witnesses are going to be brought in to bring accusations against Stephen. But this statement would not be true if Stephen was guilty of these accusations. The priests would not have been won over to Christianity if Stephen had been the corrupt blasphemer that he was charged with.  

Acts 6:8 ^NASB "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people." That shows his selection, his position with the apostles. This extension of apostolic authority is validated by God the Holy Spirit. Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:12. These signs and wonders were evident. But as that happens opposition arose. Just because we are doing the right thing doesn't mean people are not going to oppose us. [9] "But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, {including} both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. [10] But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. [11] Then they secretly induced men to say, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and {against} God.' [12] And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council."

Acts 6:13 ^NASB "They put forward false witnesses…" In doing this they have violated several aspects of the Law, according to the Mishna. "… who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; [14] for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.' [15] And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel."