Sun Kwak, “The Spirit of Teamwork”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIP2NKPuA5s

TEXT: Acts 6:1-7

[1] Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. [2] And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. [3] Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. [4] But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” [5] And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. [6] These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

[7] And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

SERMON: “The Spirit of Teamwork”

In 1992, when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, basketball was a rising global phenomenon. There were countries that had never really been introduced to the game of basketball, and all of a sudden, kids were picking up the game. And it was largely due to this superstar by the name of Michael Jordan. And during this time, he was accompanied by nine of the best players on the planet. They were known then and since as The Dream Team. Now, one of the unique things about Michael Jordan was that whenever he stepped onto any given basketball court, he was not only the best offensive player on the court — having won the scoring title for the sixth straight season that year. But he was also the best defensive player on the court. And he was also the smartest player on the court. And having won his second straight NBA championship, he knew a thing or two about not just winning individual scoring titles but also how to win as a team. And so, he examined this team. And he realized that even the ninth or tenth best scorer on the team would be able to outscore the top scorer from any other team. And so, instead of doing what he usually did, which was score a lot and have the offense run through him, he decided to pick the best offensive player on the other team and shut them down on defense for the whole game. And that became his mission every single night. Because something that Michael Jordan understood with the game of basketball was that there was only one ball. But there were so many other roles to play in order to facilitate and execute a well-played game as a team. Now, the Dream Team not only won gold, but they won each game by an average of 44 points, which by no standards is ever considered normal. But they were and forever will be remembered as the Dream Team.

And you talk about Dream Team, and in the sport of ministry, that’s what you get here in Acts 6. You have the twelve apostles — eleven of which spent three years night and day, day and night with Jesus. Then, you have these seven menwho make this immediate impact on the early church — you get Stephen’s martyrdom in the very next chapter and Philip’s part in the conversion and baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch the very chapter after. And apparently Philip was so good at what he did that he’s one of the only reported people to have teleported. He’s with the Ethiopian eunuch, and then, the next moment, he’s gone. God just didn’t want him to waste any time with him. Philip had things to do. And then, you have the city of Antioch mentioned at the end. And this happens to be the ideal or model church in the days of the early church. And so, this was truly the dream team. And their teamwork was not because of the sum totalof their individual abilities. But they were so arranged, where they each played a very special and particular role toward the growth of the kingdom. Commentators and scholars universally say that this was the prototype, if not the first installment, of what we know as the cooperative, and yet, delineated roles of elders and deacons. The twelve apostles serving as the first elders, with these seven men named here in verses 5-6 as the first deacons. And it’s something that we’ll be unpacking together. Because elders and deacons are ordained and commissioned not just because we need to fill spots or put faces on a website. There is a shared mission with complementing roles. And because we’re all imperfect and are in need of accountability, no one person gets to do everything. We all need each other in the grander mission of caring for the church. In The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien refers to Denethor as the steward of Gondor. This is because he’s not the rightful king — Aragorn is. But he’s a placeholder. And only when he’s aware of his position in relation to the true king is he properly stewarding this position. And that’s what we all do, as officers of the church — as elders and deacons. We are stewards, because everything we do aims us toward Christ. With how we serve, with how we are directed. With how the church is organized and directed. It all aims toward Christ.

Because what we’re committed toward in gospel ministry is not an individual effort. It’s a team effort. And contrary to what many think of deacons, they’re not junior elders. They’re also ministers, but they steward different gifts and dutiesto serve the church. Just as defense is an equally high calling to offense in the game of basketball, the roles of elder and deacon are meant to complement one another. Because we read in verse 2 of one of the responsibilities that these early deacons are assigned to — to serve tables. And we tend to read that as different from something we read in verse 4, when we’re told of what the elders are assigned to do — to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. But that word for serve in verse 2 and that word for ministry in verse 4 share the same root word in the Greek — it’s to minister. Both of these are ministries, because both aim at the activity of gospel ministry in the local church. We say it like this here in our membership classes — that elders minister to the condition of sin, and deacons minister to the effects of sin. In other places, it’s been described as elders being ministers of grace and deacons as ministers of mercy. In our Book of Church Order, we’re told that elders are called to preach to the lost, while deacons are called to sit with and minister to the lonely. Both important callings and complementing one another. And it’s together that we get the playbook for the spirit of teamwork in gospel ministry.

And as we just noted, elders minister to the condition of sin, while deacons minister to the effects of sin. Because we live in a world of sin. And you look at our passage for today, and the first thing that’s addressed is a conflict. Because that’s what gospel ministry invites us into. You look at verse 1, and there is a conflict that arose within the church. There was favoritism, unfair and unequal distribution of resources, which resulted in antagonistic responses from those who felt they were unfairly treated. Some of you might know the name Dick Kaufmann. He’s the unsung hero with establishing the behemoth we now know as Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. As Tim Keller served as the planting pastor of Redeemer, it was Dick Kaufmann who came alongside as the executive. He was there to place structure around the grand vision that Keller was dreaming up. But because Redeemer was such a new thing, it took multiple iterations and a whole lot trial and error. Fail upwards was his key saying that he repeated to the staff throughout the years. Allegedly, he would spend hours each day deliberating crisis protocols. And these were alternate scenarios to play out in the case where life in the church wasn’t permitted to be lived out as normal. And it’s something that Kathy Keller recalls in an interview, where she would remember and repeat something that became a core value for the leadership team — church as usual will not work. Because we live in a world of problems, and troubleshooting requires a lot of pivoting and adjusting. You might remember the Friends episode with Ross and Rachel and Chandlertrying to bring up a large sofa up a winding staircase. Even with all the elaborate sketches Ross made to plan to bring up this sofa, they all had to pivot. And that’s what church often looks like. Because the role of the church is not to avoid problems in order to curate our picture perfect church. But the role of the church is to enter into problems with the strength of God’s promises and his gospel remedy. Because messiness and brokenness and failed human plans is God’s playground.

Now, right off the bat, the conflict we’re dealing with here is that the Hellenists were accusing the Hebrews of neglecting their widows of their need for food and physical provisions. There are a lot of problems here — favoritism, ethnic prejudice. But what’s highlighted in particular is that widows were being neglected. And when you look over at James 1:27, what we read there — religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. To neglect the widows of daily distribution and to point that out. This is like going to a cafe that doesn’t sell coffee. They were missing the point.

Now, something that Luke, the author of Acts, masterfully does is he brings parallels with this early church to the early forming of the Israelites in the Exodus story right after they were delivered across the Red Sea. We read in verse 1 this phrasing of the daily distribution. This sounds like a weird technical term, but it’s meant to bring us back to the manna event back in Exodus 16. There, God’s people were hungry and in the desert wasteland after being rescued from captivity. And after complaining about their hunger, God responds by miraculously providing manna from the sky. And there, they were commanded to collect day by day, only as much as each had need for. But if you hoarded anything that was excess, there would be worms that grew and rotted on the manna. Because here, God instilled this practice of gathering just what they needed each day. So that anything extra that was collected wasn’t for themselves but for others in need. For those who couldn’t go out and gather for themselves, they would be cared for and provided for by those who were able. God was teaching them how to be a community.

But then, there is a second component, and it takes us back to the same context of when the Israelites were being formed into a community. Here, in Acts 6, this group is described here to be complaining. But the literal Greek is more of a filed dispute. This is a legal charge that’s being pressed, much like how the Israelites had while in the wilderness over in Exodus 17, when they were not just hungry but thirsty. We read there in Exodus 17:2-3 they were quarrelingand grumbling and crying out. Edmund Clowney in his Unfolding Mystery calls this moment Israel filing for divorce, in essence, saying — God, we want out of this relationship. And so, everything might have seemed new or caused panic for these early church leaders, but God’s seen this before. And I think we need to exhale when we see new problemsand conflicts in the church. They might be new to us, but God has seen these before, and nothing catches him by surprise. And the way that he’s going to deal with this issue here in Acts 6 is the same way he would deal with the issues recalled here from Exodus 16 and 17. He would redirect their gaze — away from themselves and onto him.

And here’s the thing. You think about church — so many of us have church hurt. And for many of us, that church hurt is either directly or indirectly related to church leadership. And church leaders will let you down. I will let you down, if I haven’t already. A dear friend of mine in ministry and fellow minister in our presbytery Dan Myers, who pastors our sister church down in Glendale — New Creation LA. When he meets newcomers, he’ll introduce himself — Hi, my name is Dan. Now, how can I disappoint you? Because it’s going to happen, and we might as well get it out of the way now. Because it’ll hurt a whole lot more later. Trusting in church leadership, from my assessment, shouldn’t come primarily and ultimately because the leaders themselves are ultimately trustworthy. Because we all make mistakes and plenty of them. But church leaders — including and especially our leaders here at Christ Our Redeemer. We need to be crystal clear about who we take our mistakes to.

Over in Hebrews 13:17, we get some daunting words in the New Testament related to church leaders. We read there — Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. And those are not only some of the most daunting words for parishioners — because it’s scary entrusting the care of your souls to fallen human beings. But it’s doubly, if not more, daunting for those in positions of leadership. I mean, you see the picture. It’s a courtroom, and God is asking for an account of each person. And one by one, each member is pointing to the leaders they were cared for. And God turns to each leader, and asks — What account do you have to give for her, for him? Because that word account is an accounting term, meaning it’s about a financial transaction. And instead of pointing to all the things that had been done, had been left undone, the leaders you can trust will direct our Father to Christ, saying — He takes full accountability for her, for him. Because he paid for these sins, and he paid for them in full. I can testify that we spent our lives stand behind him and trusting in his promises. Because these leaders will not say live out ministry saying — Watch me, watch what I might do for you. But rather, Keep your eyes on Jesus. When I was getting ordained to the ministry of Word and sacrament, the pastor who was giving the charge Ryan Kwon was a student of Harvie Conn. And he shared with me what Dr. Conn had shared with him, along with the rest of the graduating senior class. And the simple charge was — Show them Christ. From the pulpit, in hospital rooms, around tables, and in conversations — Show them Christ. To the hungry, to those with plenty, to the self-righteous, to the wounded — Show them Christ. And that’s the role of these commissioned leaders here — to show them Christ.

When our ordained leaders have hands laid on them, it’s not because they’re being charged up by something. It takes us back to a practice from the Old Testament. Because the laying of hands had to do with a transfer. And because gospel ministry is sacrificial work, we need to be reminded of the ultimate sacrifice. Just as sacrificers would take their guilty hands and lay them on the head of a clean animal, to transfer the guilt and to receive cleanness. Here, we are reminded that the only way we can properly engage in gospel ministry is if we remember who we put our guilt on. And we have some amazing officers here at COR. But Dave and Brad and David and Cal. None of us can carry your weight. We’re intended not to carry your burdens but to carry you to see Jesus. That you might put your hands upon Jesus and know that your guilt is atoned for. I hope and pray that our church would be a church where our needy are cared for. But like the apostles of the early church and like every other church on this side of glory, we will disappoint and we will fail you. But I trust and pray that we will always seek to point every person here to Jesus — to the one who will never disappoint or let you down. Because he laid down his life as the ultimate sacrifice to meet us in our disappointments.