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Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Jesus is the one of whom it was said, “…the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” (Isaiah 6:6-7) Christmas cards are rightly filled with these promises.
In Acts 6 we will examine a scene that questions whether the increase of His government and the peace will come to a grinding halt. At its root is an outcry of injustice. Are the promises true, or have we found the limits of His government’s efficacy and justice?
Behind this are other questions: How does His government increase? What kind of peace is He bringing? In what way does He bring justice—is it merely a spiritual justice before the heavenly throne or does justice, earthly justice, matter here and now? If both, how is the church to make sure both are kept a priority?
How does all this apply to us? What does it mean today? Acts 6:1-7 is frequently examined by immediately jumping to the practical application: What does this look like in the church today? In doing this, major truths of God’s redemptive story are often passed over for a more practical “how do we organize the church” message. As usual we will examine the “big rocks” and make sure they are in place. However, because of where we are in our church life and history, I have devoted a whole section to the practical outworking of this text in our own context along with the implications of the truths of God’s redemptive story.