Acts 6: The Challenge with Change

good morning welcome to sandals shirts I'm glad that you're all here all of our friends who are watching online thank you so much for being here with us as well my name is Dex Alexander I'm honored and privileged and grateful and all of the other positive adjectives that a person might say I am all of those things this morning to be here with you I'm excited for this time in the history of our church last week if you weren't here our church did something pretty revolutionary a culture changing for us at the very least we hosted a conversation last week on race and the church where a series of pastors were up here talking about how do we respond to some of the events that have been happening these past few weeks many of you were here and I just wanted to say thank you I wanted to say how proud I am as a part of sandals church for you being here for your response to that conversation many of you made a choice when a pastors were coming out you know the room was kind of like I don't know what's gonna really go on and and and sandals Church chose to stand and applaud and like really create an environment for a positive conversation so on behalf of me and the leadership of Silas Church I just want to say thank you very much I'm very grateful for this community of people and what it means to be a part of this so give yourselves a hand for that yeah with that being said I I want to continue a real conversation today I believe that there was a people group not represented 10% of the population in fact those people are left-handed people where's all my left-handed it's all my left-handed friends at you have not seen persecution until you have seen a left-handed person try to write with a ballpoint pen and not walk away with a blue hand at the end of it that's why we have a symbol for our movement for our left handedness to show off to the world the persecution that we face we also believe that right privilege is a very real thing goes back long before ballpoint pens in the Bible itself Jesus is seated where the right hand of God at some point God is going to divide the sheep and the goats guess where the sheep's go to the right guess it's where the goats go that's right yeah I seen persecution until you've seen a left-handed person try to open the door for a date remember dating my wife and having to like a clothesline her so many times while we were dating trying to trying to reach for the door because they're not set up for us and then you walk into a restaurant and every left-handed person sort of has that moment of pause you're right-handed people may not know what they are pausing for they are pausing because we have to do mental calculations every time we sit in a group of people to figure out where exactly are we gonna sit what impact is our seat gonna have on the group how many people are going to be upset at the chicken wing elbow that flies out when we all eat and then there's scissors right we all know scissors everybody knows that's probably the most famous like you you would do a better job giving a right-handed pair of scissors to a newborn giraffe like they would do better cutting than a left-handed person would record players record players all right-handed many people don't know this but zippers themselves are set up for a right-handed people the flap like if you're left-handed it's like you're doing a hip-hop dance just to get the zipper up coffee mugs this little things coffee mugs are great if you're a right-handed person because you get to enjoy the logo and that's that's all the funny stuff the reality about being left-handed left-handed people have a higher propensity for mental illness including schizophrenia left-handed people suffer from learning disabilities at a higher rate than right-handed people left-handed people suffer from hypertension heart disease at a higher rate than right-handed people and all of those things factored in together means that left-handed people die on average three to nine years sooner than right-handed people the reality is that we're different and that in being different there ends up being a positional a contextual change that happens when left-handed people encounter a right-handed world and what I would love for you to do over the next few minutes as we're talking is to consider what it's like to be one out of ten imagine imagine what it's like to be in a room with nine other people and they all spoke a different language than you did imagine that you were in a pool and nine people could swim and you could not imagine ladies that you were one woman in a room with nine other men men that may be even more scary imagine that you are one man in a room with nine other women what should the response be should the nine in fact change their lives in order to satisfy this one person should the entire society changed the way that are done to satisfy 10% of the group that's the struggle that the church faces both now but also a few thousand years ago if you have your Bibles you can turn to Acts chapter 6 and we're gonna start looking at what does the church do when it's faced with the challenge to change if you don't have your Bibles that's fine it got message notes we'll also be showing things on the side of the screens what does the church do let me pray really quickly god I pray that our hearts are softened our ears are open that we can hear what you have to say to us today make us different make us new Jesus name we pray amen to give a little bit of context up until this point the church has been growing steadily a little bit at a time a little bit at a time a little bit time and those of you who have been here with us for over the course of the year we went through the Book of Luke that sort of talked about Jesus's life and what he did and then it changes to the book of Acts which is written by the same author and he talks about what happens after that and what is happening now in Acts chapter six is the church is experiencing growth what started off as a conversation between friends has now become something that has changed a city and it is quickly on its way to becoming something that changes the world in Acts chapter 6 verse 1 says this but as the believers rapidly multiplied there were rumblings of discontent the greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food that is a perfect picture a perfect example of growth Ryan if you've added children to your family you have added grumblings of discontent especially middle children if you're a middle child get over it man I'm just kidding I was the youngest I have three older sisters which means I got you know dressed up like a doll a lot a lot of makeup on these faces guess it's what I got a ponytail now I'm totally fine with it you know I had 20 tails for years growing up as anything grows also what grills are grumblings and discontent to give a little bit of context though to this particular grumbling and discontent what had happened to this point is that there were Jewish believers people who were were culturally connected to their Jewish not just faith but also culture they had a tie to the temple there in Jerusalem they lived in and around the holy city they could all trace their lineage back to Moses and Abraham and all of these patriarchs of the Old Testament and they were grappling with the realization that their Messiah their King had come and why they thought he was gonna overthrow the Greek and the Roman and the the the the culture at the time instead what he did was he came he lived a perfect life he was crucified he rose again and then he disappeared got caught up on a cloud and went away so now the Jewish believers are wrestling with what do we do right now and that wrestling changed their immediate area people from all over were listening and were becoming believers themselves giving their lives to Christ including people who are of a different culture some of your translations may have read that there were Helenus that there were Greek speaking Jews and what that means is there were people who were still Jewish by blood but by culture they were Greek they spoke Greek they didn't have a connection to not have a love for the Temple in Jerusalem many of them were part of what was called the Jewish Diaspora which was people who left Jerusalem or people who were scattered all around the region and they find themselves coming back because they were now being invited back in to a Jewish subculture a Jewish relationship with this new Messiah that had been promised but what had happened was those people who thought that they were coming to be invited into a family realized that they were sort of sitting on the outside of a series of practices sitting on the outside of built in relationships sitting on the outside of friends who knew each other sitting on the outside of processes that had been established before they got there sitting on the outside of inside-joke sitting on the outside of words and phrases they were having to be translated for them and while I don't believe that there was any malicious intent with them being left on the outside the reality was that they not only felt that way but they were that way and this is what happens when things start to change when times changed from cultures changed when civilizations change when countries changed when cities change when demographics change when relationships change when organizations change when businesses changed when families change when ministries change and as Sandals church changes there is a new reality that has to be grappled with and when the church began to experience change may were confronted with the challenges of change a few things became apparent one is this that new problems call for new leadership new problems call for new leadership now here's what I'm not saying what I'm not saying is that we went when you're faced with challenges when you're faced with problems when you're faced with you know issues that haven't been addressed before that it's out with the old and in with the new as a matter of fact it were the same Apostles the same people who had been leading up until this point who pushed for new leaders to come in verse 2 says this so the twelve the twelve was sort of a nickname for the Apostles so the twelve called a meeting of all the believers and they said we apostles should spend our time teaching the Word of God not running a food program and so Brother select seven men who were all well respected and are full of the spirit and wisdom we will give them this responsibility then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word verse five and everyone liked this idea circle circle that circle everyone the book of Acts there's a number of miracles that happen you know people laying people walk and all this sort of stuff that is probably the biggest miracle in the entire book of Acts because everyone it says everyone liked this idea great good luck with that everyone liked this idea and they chose the following Stephen a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit Philip prokhor is Nicanor or Michener or whatever I don't know it's a tough one timon parmenas and nicolas of antioch and earlier convert to the jewish faith these seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them so the Apostles pick these seven guys and these seven guys are all Greek speaking Jews themselves they said look I can there's there's there's a way that we can infuse and create a new relationship and that is by bringing new faces into the organization people who understand some of the challenges that this disgruntled group is doing let's let's bring these in and that's one of the two things that happen when face would change one of those things is that they got new leaders and that's always a good thing new leaders are always a good thing it's one of the reasons that we continually talk about serving we continually talk about why don't you come and be a part of the team why because our hope from a leadership standpoint from people who are concerned about the longevity of sandal shirts who are concerned about the name of sandal Church we're concerned about the vision of sandals church we're doing everything that we can to present a broad diverse open inviting opportunity for people to hear that God loves them we are always on the lookout for new people who can be handed new responsibilities because if you can imagine like any organization we as an organization experience problems have grumblings have issues have challenges have things that are on our to-do list have things that we wish were different and the reality is we need more people to become a part of the team because what happens is all of these guys the Stevens and the Phillips and then they can't Nick Nick owners and the Cantor's whatever's these were all guys who are around just regular guys they were just sort of hanging out like okay we want to do something okay here's what we need Stephen we heard that maybe you could probably help us out we want you do you have any friends who can help us out with this specific challenge challenges there some widows who aren't being fair that that's on us we apologize we've got all of these other things to do can you can can we sort of put a team together so you guys can take care of it yeah for sure and that is what happened but not only do we get new leaders but the apostles developed new leadership so you get new faces but you also get the leaders who are already there who realized hold on a second we've got a brand new problem that we haven't addressed yet and so they came up with a new idea and at Sandals Church the reality is what has been happening these past few weeks these past few months has opened our eyes to some things that we as an organization need the corrected need to fix because the reality is our vision of being real with ourselves and with God and with others is to me the most life-changing Invitational broad way of expressing our relationship with God that I have ever heard for a person who was done with church done working out of church didn't want to go to church to now be on a platform telling you about the vision of a church trust me it has been life-changing for me but the reality is our vision is sort of expressed through an open door policy yeah I mean we love people if they show up they're gonna hear about the vision of Santos Church if they come here they're gonna hear about the vision of Saddles Church if they're different if they're like us if they're whatever no matter who they are if they show up we've got a broad open-door policy but but the heart of the church is not necessarily being lived out in the reality of the church because the reality is we can't just have an open-door policy we can't just say come as you are instead we have to go we have to pursue we have to find we have to drag people in we have to invite people into this why because that is what God does for us what God does for us the Bible says is that he pursues us he pursues us that his spirit is always behind searching grabbing pulling loving reminding inviting us in and that is something that we a settle Church have to do better now does that mean that we're tossing everything out so that we can come in with something new no it means that now the leadership has had their eyes open to a challenge that we didn't see before that's what happens with the challenge of change the other thing is this that small things lead to big things small things need to big things I need a preface when I'm talking about small things when we talk about serving and the reason that I'm talking about serving I'll make a few more points about this but I think serving is probably the best way for us to reveal the love of God to the world I just think it is I think it's selfless I think it causes you to be in uncomfortable situations I think you have to rely upon the Spirit of God to get you through those things but I also realize that serving is not a small thing so when you hear me talk about small things leading to big things I get it there are people here who serve our family is one of them my daughter serves in the family ministry she also serves coffee every now and then my wife serves I serve doing things that aren't a part of my job description I get it you give your time you give your talent you've your life you sort of shift your life around your weekend looks different but how did you serve then it would if you weren't serving those of you who host people in your home you got to open up the doors to your house to serve people who are coming in I get it here's the reality though most of us think that serving is not a big thing we all think that serving is a small thing I can't tell you how many conversations of people who go I can't believe you get up on the platform and you talk in front of people or you play guitar or you do all these big things for God the reality is the person who is sitting right now holding your baby he's doing a big thing the person who handed you notes on the way in who gave you a hug who remembers your name that is a huge thing the person who made sure that your car got into a parking spot and not into the back of another car that is a huge thing there are people who are serving the church behind closed doors sitting in front of desks even as we speak there are people who were online praying for people who are watching online that is a huge thing and what we find in the Bible is it's this collection of small things that lead to big things Acts chapter 6 verse 7 this is referring specifically to this situation being wrapped up so God's message continued to spread they made this choice they made this decision they they they realize that there was a challenge and every one of us now who are not Jews by blood who are not living in Jerusalem we all are benefiting from the fact that they made this choice thousands of years ago God's message continued to spread the number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted to Acts chapter 12 they're faced with another challenge they get through it meanwhile the Word of God continued to spread and there are many new believers Acts chapter 13 they get through some other small things so the Lord's message spread throughout that region Acts chapter 19 so the message about the Lord spread while eating had a powerful effect there's little thing after little thing after little thing that is building all of this momentum and the small things lead to big things in the church that's the big thing but small things also lead to big things in our life Steven when he's described before says that he was full of faith in the Holy Spirit that was his description before now you can be both full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit and never leave your couch you can be full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit come in here every single weekend sort of sit here and then and then go back and no one ever has to die that can be very true of you being both full of faith and full the Holy Spirit it means that internally you are the kind of person who rely upon the Lord and who were led by a spirit but once we see that Steven transitions from just a guy who is full of faith in the Holy Spirit and he starts serving and the capacity that the rest of the church is like - guys are just serving tables oh you mean little Stevie and and and and fill up in those guys oh yeah those are the guys they were the the aprons right they serve the widow's house guys are cute man yeah that's really cool I mean they're no Peter there no James don't know John then I got big deals like that but man you know it's either they do it well here's what happens the Bible then describes Stephen as this here's the transition it goes in Acts chapter 6 verse 8 says this Stephen now he's a man full of God's grace and power who performed amazing miracles and signs among the people wait what little Stevie did the signs and wonders yeah a little Stevie oh yeah hold on second the one guy who liked him and his buddies or just serving food for all the widow's yeah that guy the greek-speaking guy yeah the greek-speaking guy wait he did miracles like the Apostles did yeah just like just like the Apostle how I thought he was just the guy who stir I thought like you know I had experience at Applebee's whatever and that's why I got tapped on the show no no no he started off he said yes to this small thing he said yes to an opportunity that will place him in front of people that he would be able that he would have to be selfless that he would get dirty he wouldn't get it right the widow's may not have liked what they laid what he laid down in front of them that's just too salty this is too much this is too little I'm lactose intolerant do you have any gluten-free options right like Stephen goes through the process of all of these little things all these little things all these little things and then God goes okay now you're ready for some big things how's about we do some miracles and I think it doesn't say this by using my own imagination I think Stephens first miracle happened at the table you know he sets a plate down and the widow's eye boom no gluten and then it turns into well rock or whatever included four people eat right now Stephen is going around and Stephen is doing miracles the same guy who set a table who did these small things now he's doing miracles and that is the reality and in Luke chapter 16 says this if you are faithful in little things you will be faithful in large ones but if you are dishonest in little things you won't be honest with greater responsibilities that's the absolute truth I mean that's an in principle if I've ever heard one can I trust you with conversations with people who are gonna grumble Oh a little bit if that's the case well now I can trust you with world leaders can I trust you to serve a person in a way that they leave feeling like they are not 10% of the population but if they are invited in they are loved that they're not culturally different but they are adopted that they are grafted that they are made a part of this organism just like you are can I trust you with that if I can trust you with that well then I can trust you with bigger things larger things and most of us like to think that when we read that that that passage it means while I love God can you know trust me with a Honda Civic then he can trust me with a Bentley or if God can trust me with you know a a one-bedroom apartment and he can trust me with a mansion right take all that stuff put it out of your head if God can trust you of helping people in little small ways God can trust you in changing the lives of people in big huge massive waves and that's our last point when the church confronts the challenge of change our goal and our desires to work for oneness work for oneness the reality of the choice that the Apostles made the the work the activity that little Stevie and all of his friends did it was not just to placate the widows and the greek-speaking cheers it was not just to get them to be silent it was not just my gosh again again with the food thing again what they were starving again with the house about us right again okay fine just do whatever just make them shut up that that wasn't it the strategy that the Apostles came up with was a strategy for oneness it was a strategy so that the one in ten so that the ten percent of this group the one person who feels like they're standing alone and a group of ten if that person would feel like they are apart and that strategy that thought that I dear predates this challenge Jesus in the book of John said these words I am praying he's in the garden he's praying he's getting ready to be arrested and then crucified and he says this prayer I am praying not only for these disciples meaning not just the 12 apostles who are with him but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message that's us that's every single one of us I pray that they will all be one just as you and I are one as you are in me Father and I am in you may they also be in us that the world will believe that you sent me jesus' prayer for every one of us is not that we would do miraculous things he didn't pray that every single one of us would go off and be the next Billy Graham or pray that we would all go off and be you know the next Matt Brown instead his prayer was a simple prayer that calls for us to do the most difficult complicated thing in life and that is to be one to work for it doesn't happen all of a sudden it's not something that is as simple as just praying about it and God doing it in culture instead he says look I am praying that you have to work but these people will work at oneness oneness is not the absence of diversity when this doesn't mean that we all look alike or that we all sound alike or that we all think alike doesn't mean that we're all left-handed doesn't mean that we're all right and handed one this means that the nine who work as hard as they possibly can to be sure that the one feels a part of the group oneness is the reality that the one because of race because of social economic background because of genetics their handedness because maybe they chose to be the person that protects the 9 they chose to put their lives on the line and that puts them on the outside the reality is that the one has to work just as hard for the nine and that between that we no longer have nines and ones but we've got 10 that is the hope of oneness the hope of oneness is that when we all present ourselves to the world on Facebook and on Instagram and on social media when we sit down and have conversations with people over dinner when we're talking to our neighbor across the fence that the things that come out of our mouths would be things that pull us together that drag us together that shows that we are working for oneness and I'll be honest with you I'm not perfect at that I've got plenty of situations having grown up in Inglewood California during the time that Daryl gates was chief of the LAPD I've got plenty of my own stories that will cause division and I'll be honest with you I don't always fight for oneness I've had plenty of conversations where I just rail and rally and I'm angry I'm frustrated and I just need to blow all of that steam out as a matter of fact Matt last week talked about this friend that he had this conversation with that called a big cause a big falling out that was me I was that friend everybody need that all right oh my god I was deck season we get it you're weird yeah I was that friend we had this conversation it all fell apart there was a few things I was scared about the biggest one being that Matt and I had had a very tough conversation not about race now that's first stuff but we had had a falling out and once before about 20 years ago Matt and I had a conversation and we didn't talk for about 15 years didn't talk face-to-face didn't talk people would say hey you know it's gonna of Matt and I'm like man but instead as God would have it when we finished that conversation each of us was sort of like I don't know what's going on right now this is this sort of felt kind of weird as fate would have it as God's providence would have it we had to be in a meeting together with other people immediately following that conversation right there's just room full of people who are waiting for us to get out of our session together we go into this meeting together I don't even remember what the meeting was about anymore I don't know what they decided I just said yeah to whatever like you know you might all be getting Harley's this week who knows right I have no idea what was going on there why because Matt and I had just had this conversation and what came out of that conversation in the middle of that meeting was this realization that if he and I were having a challenge talking to each other about what had been going on in our country for the past few weeks imagine what is happening on a global scale imagine what's happening to our city imagine what is happening in our church and what if the church could be the place where that conversation could happen civilly where we can invite people to sit down and hear from various viewpoints that was well it was birthed out of our conflict and the greatest joy that I have right now in this situation I am proud to have been Matt's friend and a place where he allowed me to lose it to fall apart and that what was birthed from that was not another 15 years of silence but instead a monumental conversation that our church had about race in the church the reality is that there is evil in the world and evil does not always present itself as a person who looks different or person who wears a uniform or person of a different political ideology evil often times presents itself as a simple opportunity for us to be divided for us to be torn apart for you to be at my throat and me to be at your throat for there to be 15 years of silence between people and when I think about the greatest evil that I have witnessed in my lifetime I'm reminded of that moment with this bracelet almost bracelet is a guy's name his name is Alex Filippov he was an immigrant from Canada he and his family moved to the Boston area lived raised children he worked for an engineering company it was an incredibly smart man and this company decided to move to California but he didn't want to move to California so he retired he's gonna keep his family in Boston there was one thing that his company needed him to do after having been retired for a few years so they asked him to come to California and on September 11th he got on an airplane in Boston that blame was supposed to come to California but it never made it in the last words that he told his wife was I'm only going to be there for three days I can't wait to get back and celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary on that airplane they never had that opportunity when I think about someone who could be mad and frustrated and angry at the world it is the family of Alex filipok but instead what they did in the wake of that as they started what is called the Alex Filipov forum for peace and justice it allows people from all different backgrounds to come talk about what is happening in their communities and for everyone to sit and to listen and to make their own personal commitments about what they're gonna do to try to make the world a better place I bought this bracelet as a part of charity shortly after 9/11 that was gonna help to give money to families people who were suffering during that time and every now and then I picked this bracelet up again and it reminds me that love can overcome evil and each one of us can be the kind of change that we all hope would happen in the world that each one of us could be that little spark in someone else's life that makes them feel a part of who you are and what you do and each one of us can be the kind of person that is the outlier as it relates to a culture as it relates to religion as it relates to the way that we look or the fears that we have about somebody else each one of us could be this one small step forward until we're all looking back at this horrible place that we used to be each one of us could be that saddl church could be the place that when people look for a revival when people look for when people look for a reason to have hope we can be that not through some big huge thing but through very small continuous perpetual acts of love and of kindness sometimes practical love is better than radical love speech is common speeches go what remains eternal is the impact that you have in somebody's life last week we wrapped up by standing and holding hands and it was a little bit weird it was a little bit awkward we hadn't really done that before for that reason I remember thinking that that's unusual for a church to feel like standing and holding hands that crossing aisles is something that is weird this should be the one place where hugging someone we've never seen before is okay this should be the one place we're holding someone's hand that we've never held before should be okay it should be the one place where a person should be able to cry out that I'm hurting and have people running to them so I'm gonna try to start a tradition I mean you do it once and it was an occurrence you do it twice it's kind of a happening if we do it a third time next week then it's kind of a thing you know just do me a favor would you stand up on your feet would you grab somebody's hand reach across the aisle my prayer for us and for all of us in this room is that we would be people who embrace the challenge of change that life should be different now should feel different now we should be better now we should love each other more now we should be less intimidated now and the reality is that we can be one small step at a time let me pray for Scott my prayer for my friends in this room is that we would be the kind of people that you could trust with small things small embraces small handshakes small acts of kindness and courage like remembering a person's name like high-fiving their kids on the way out of a program like like like like like like being kind to others as we exit the campus that those small things within blossom into large things that we are high-fiving people at work and that we are inviting people our neighbors to hear about the god of love whose son came and traded his life for ours so that we would no longer feel like the one and a group of ten I thought we would all feel like one one big family one love one bride purchased by Christ one one people one love one faith one baptism but God how can we prove to people that their lives matter to you if we don't need to at least try to prove that their lives matter to us let's be people who do that Jesus name we pray amen thank you

Channel: Sandals Church

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Length: 39min 51sec (2391 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 24 2016