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Jun 22, 2025

Spirit-Filled Leadership

Passage: Acts 6:1-7:60

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Holy Spirit in Acts

Keywords: holy spirit, character, leadership, deacons, elders, pastors, priorities

Summary:

Leadership is critical to everything: homes, churches, businesses and nations. Surprisingly, the story of the church's first martyr is also a story of the kind of leaders the church needs: Spirit-filled leadership. This message examines five of the qualities this passage focuses upon.

Detail:

Spirit-Filled Leadership

Acts 6-7

June 22, 2025

 

Fellowship Question:  If you were to identify one shortcoming of the church today, what might it be?   

INTRO:  A couple of weeks ago, we were looking at what happens to the people of God when the Spirit of God falls in evident power upon us.  Pentecost was certainly the first time that happened in the life of the church.  It was by no means the last. 

            All kinds of wonderful and amazing things resulted from that genuine revival of the people of God at Pentecost.  Notice just a few of them.

  • The church multiplied in one day, Pentecost, by 2,500%, Acts 2:41.
  • Just days later, the number of men in the church had reached about 5,000 (Acts 4:4). One can assume that most were heads of households.  So the church easily had reached a size of 15-20,000 including wives and children. 
  • Acts 5:14—Despite the strong opposition of the Jewish civil and religious leaders, “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”

What an amazing church!  The last few verses of Acts 4:32-35 sum it up:  32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

            It must have been amazing to be part of “the perfect church,” right?  If that were the end of the story, we could live with that illusion.  But even in a Spirit-filled church with Spirit-filled leaders, there is always something the flesh and the devil will be trying to exploit.  In this case, it appears to have been, at best, a blindness to something or, at worst, an overt prejudice against a significant portion of the church fellowship.  Luke tells us about in in Acts 6:1—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.

            What exactly was going on?  Jerusalem in those days had a large population of Hellenistic (or Greek-speaking) Jews.  These were Jews whose families had lived abroad perhaps for centuries but who, like modern day Jewish Zionists, had immigrated back to the land of Israel.  They had returned so they could spend their final days in Jerusalem, their holy city.  They continued to speak Greek, their native tongue and the lengua franca of the Roman Empire, rather than learn Hebrew or Aramaic, the dominant language of the long-term residential Jews in Israel. 

            As with all nations, native languages tend to divide us into cultural sub-groups.  The church has never been immune from this.  That’s why, even in America, when Lutherans from Sweden or Germany immigrated say to Minnesota, while they shared the same Lutheran religious traditions from Europe, they ended up worshipping in different churches.  Thus you had the German Lutheran Church and the Swedish Lutheran congregations. 

            The same was happening in the Jerusalem church, only it was happening in regard to the care of widows who were in need.  Oh, the church was growing and flourishing, alright.  But something was being “overlooked” or “ignored.”  The Hebraic Jews had apparently just absorbed the prevailing priorities of the long-time Jewish population in Jerusalem, namely a priority for their own people and an ignorance about or, worse yet, a disregard for the Greek-speaking Jewish brethren among them.  In the prevailing Jewish culture, the old-blood Hebraic Jews of Jerusalem tended to look down upon the relatively newly-arrived Hellenistic Jews.  And here we see that even conversion and an initial filling of the Holy Spirit hadn’t fully erased the cultural prejudices of the day. 

APP:  There’s nothing “new under the sun,” is there?  The church in every nation and culture of the world still wrestles with ethnic, cultural or linguistic prejudices among the people of God.  We just do so with renewed creativity. 

APP:  Which is one reason we are going to do something fun in about a month.  We’re going to be doing a combined service July 27th with an African-American pastor friend of mine, Rev. Walter Kendricks, and his congregation.  I spoke at his church about 2 years ago.  Now he’s bringing his church here for the morning and we’ll be doing a fellowship lunch in Liberty Park together afterwards.  It will be a great opportunity to perhaps have some conversations about cultural issues that we may too easily simply “overlook” or “ignore” in the church…or just a great opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of more saints in Spokane.

            The reason I’ve chosen this story in Acts today in our study of the Holy Spirit is because it’s all about Spirit-filled leadership…and Mosaic is at a place right now where we need to learn from the lessons the early church did in choosing Spirit-filled leaders.  It’s also the first leadership and ministry challenge the early church faced.  As such, it has a lot to instruct our little fellowship. 

  • Our need for growing shepherding with a growing congregation.
  • Transition from our founding Ministry Leadership Team (MLT) to a Shepherding Elder Team.
  • Adding a Family Pastor and, eventually, finding a new lead pastor.

What kind of leaders should we be looking for in those we choose to problem-solve for us and to whom we will choose to submit?  This passage could not be more relevant.  Acts 6 continues:

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 wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

            It’s interesting that the first leaders of the most vibrant and growing church in the world knew what God had called them to do:  prayer and ministry of the word.  THE most important things any pastor can do for a church is pray and minister the word of God.  There are many good and important things a church should be involved in:  evangelism, outreach, fellowship of the saints, counseling, home groups, taking care of very practical physical needs, etc.  But with a rapidly growing church, the church fathers knew that providing a spiritual covering over the church through prayer, hearing from the holy Spirit in prayer and growing in ministering the word to growing believers was THE BEST thing they could do.  And they determined to stay focused on that necessity. 

            You can imagine that there was plenty of pressure from this young church, particularly the Greek believers, for the Apostles to fill in the hole in pastoral care that was needed.  I can imagine that there were a few critics that grumbled about them delegating this job to others.  They might have pointed to Jesus washing their feet in the upper room and murmured, “What’s wrong with these guys?  Didn’t Jesus tell them to serve like he served them, washing their feet?  Don’t they remember that he said, ‘As you have done it to one of the least of these, you’ve done it to me’?  All they do is sit around praying and studying God’s word.  I wish I had that kind of job!” 

            The term “ministry” here in vs. 4 (diakonia) applied to their “ministry of the word” is the same root word as what was applied to those they would choose to minister or “serve/wait on tables” for the Grecian widows.  “Serving” people by meeting practical physical needs and serving the word of God are both serving ministries.  They both demand spiritual sensitivity and Spirit-filled living.  In fact, one might argue that taking care of the fellowship and “people issues” of the church is demands a heightened level of wisdom and spiritual maturity than praying and preaching does. 

            That is why the Apostles gave the two requirements for these “servers” or “deacons” as “full of the Spirit and wisdom.”  When you are dealing with people in need, you need both qualities.  So here are the first two essential qualities of church servant-leaders:  (Acts 6:4)

1.)  Full of the Holy Spirit.

2.)  Full of wisdom. 

Notice that neither of those are assumed qualities of any Christian.  Fullness with the Spirit is a spiritual characteristic that must be cultivated.  If a person is full of the Spirit, they will evidence the fruit of the Spirit as well as the wisdom of the Spirit.  Think of the kind of leaders the church will have if we go looking for people with these qualities. 

            Notice, too, how different this list of qualities is from what secular leadership looks for.  God is not opposed to leaders with vision or great management skills.  He’s not opposed to leaders with drive or charisma.  God isn’t against leaders who show great administrative ability or team-building capabilities.  But none of those things are primary for great church leadership.  These qualities are: the dominance of the Holy Spirit/fruit of the Spirit and wisdom that comes from God.  Listen to two short passages from Paul and James about that.

Galatians 5:22-- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

            When it comes to wisdom, it’s amazing how many of those characteristics overlap with the fruit of the Spirit and conflict with  what James will call “unspiritual,” “earthly” or, yes, “demonic” wisdom.  (That seems like a contradiction in terms, “demonic wisdom.”)  Listen.  [Fleshly qualities underlined; Spirit-wisdom qualities in bold.]

James 3--13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

ILL:    Looking back and even measuring my ministry through the years by these yardsticks, it is so easy to see how a greater measure of these Spirit-led qualities would have served me and the churches I served far better than my fleshly “selfish ambition” or ministerial “envy” of other pastors’ giftings and accomplishments that too often seemed to get in the way of just being kind or gentle or submissive or merciful.  Secular leaders of corporate or political kingdoms are not rewarded for those qualities, by in large.  Which is one reason why the church often has such a hard time getting it right when it comes to “choosing” spiritual leadership.  We so often use the wrong checklist.  We live in the “upside down kingdom.”  We serve the God who is all those amazing characteristics of the Spirit in spades.  And we are constantly fighting against the world, the flesh and the devil when we are either placed in church leadership or given the privilege of selecting that leadership. 

APP:  On a personal level, these are the qualities every Christ-follower should be passionate about.  And the home is the place where they are primarily forged.  This is why family leadership, whether by husbands or wives, is a critical measure of how well qualified someone is for church leadership.  Families are to be all about healthy, nurturing relationships.  Marriage and parenting are the truest tests of healthy relationships for most people.  That doesn’t mean singles won’t have their own proving ground.  It just may not be as evident or revealing as an interview with children or a spouse can be!

            It’s interesting what the Jerusalem church, chose to do about the potentially damaging deficit of care unfolding in their midst.  Not only did they identify men who were 1.) full of the Holy Spirit, and 2.) full of wisdom when it came to shepherding people.  They chose men who knew the Greek-speaking members of the church better than anyone.  Every name in the list of chosen servant-leaders is a Greek name.  Not a one was Hebrew or Aramaic.

            Acts 6:5ff--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 Nicolas 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.

Here we are introduced to one more quality of good spiritual leadership:  “full of faith”.

            What does it mean to be “full of faith”?  Faith-filled church leaders doesn’t mean leaders who are always trying to do the impossible…or taking on new, grandiose projects.  It doesn’t mean they are always proposing ‘bigger and better’ buildings or budgets.  Faith-filled means knowing God’s word and staking your life upon it.  It means being so convinced that what God says is worth living and dying for that you live the Word, speak the Word, and walk the Word of God.  This is precisely the commentary Luke gives about Stephen:

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 

Luke’s focus here isn’t upon the “great wonders and signs”; it’s on the life and words of Stephen.  That’s not so say that the miracles or signs didn’t matter.  But it is to say that they flowed from a man who was so utterly convinced of the power and prominence of the Word of God that he staked his life…and death…on it. 

            The remainder of this chapter and the next are consumed with the jealous accusations of Jews who had already determined to reject Jesus as the Messiah, the response of Stephen to their false accusations, and the resulting death of Stephen.  My objective in the remaining minutes is not that we dissect Stephen’s defense, interesting as it is.  I simply want us to see a couple more Spirit-led qualities of great church leaders.

            If you read the accusations against Stephen in the next 5 verses (Acts 6:9-14), it is evident the intent was to frame Stephen for something false and unrelated to what God was really doing through him.  They framed him for blasphemy, supposedly against Moses, against God, against the Temple and against the law of God.  Since they couldn’t beat him, rather than join him, they were determined to kill him. 

            Stephen’s defense was, as they say, a great offense.  Rather than trying to refute a host of false charges, he went after their rebellion against God.  He did a brief national history from Abraham through Joseph and Moses, Joshua and David, that traced the rebellion of the nation against the very things they were claiming to cherish.  And then he lowered the hammer of conviction with a very pointed and direct accusation towards the end of Chapter 7:

 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

            Stephen points to two things:  first, resisting the Holy Spirit by not allowing God to cut away the sin of their hearts and second, rejecting Jesus, “the Righteous One” whom they “betrayed and murdered.”  Just as John the Baptist knew, without a desire to repent of personal sin no one will be ready to embrace the Righteous King. 

APP:  this reoccurring reality in the Word of God ought to move us to lives of frequent reflection and confession.

ILL:  App Lectio 365—a pastor friend of mine put me on to this recently.  It is an app that helps you pause at the beginning, middle and end of the day (or any one of those times, depending on how frequently you want to do that).  I’ve been used to time with the Lord at the beginning of my day.  This is helping me consciously take more time to reflect at the end of my day on what both I and God were doing in that day.  One of the things it has opened up is an increased realization of how I’ve sinned in a day and how much I need “circumcision of my heart” at the end of every day. 

            But what is the point here regarding Spirit-filled and dominated spiritual leadership?  It is this:  #4) Good, spiritual leadership speaks to us about the sins of our lives.  Stephen wasn’t looking to offend his fellow-Jews. But he knew that unless they fell under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they would never accept the Messiah who had died for them.  His message was essentially the same as Peter’s at Pentecost, a message that had cut 3,000 of those hearers to the heart with conviction and saved their souls. 

APP:  We live in a culture that has all kinds of reasons why you shouldn’t do that.  It’s “judgmental.”  It’s “arrogant.”  It’s “offensive,” “insensitive,” “mean,” “hateful” and just plain “none of your business.”  But biblically speaking, failing to allow God to use us to convict other believers of sin or the lost of their sin of rejecting the Author of Life is unloving, unkind, selfish and denying of the truth—the very things James and Paul say are contrary to the Holy Spirit and rather in line with the flesh and the devil. 

            Spirit-filled leaders are not afraid of conviction; they are well-acquainted with it personally.  And because of that, they are not afraid of speaking the truth of the bad news of sin and the good news of salvation in Jesus.  And they will do it with the fruit of the Spirit and with the Spirit whose job it is to “convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment” (John 16:8). 

            What happened next ended the earthly life of Stephen but began the life he was longing for.  It also inaugurated what has become a very long and populated line of Christian martyrs, a company that is growing literally by the day, faster than ever before…and will probably accelerate towards the end of the world as we know it, perhaps in our lifetime.  It is no accident that the beginning of the church starts with a martyr, for it will end with many more of them.  I believe the Holy Spirit wanted every generation of the church to be prepared for martyrdom because every generation will participate, (see John 15:20—Jesus warning that since they persecuted him, they will persecute us; Revelation 6--the 5th Seal;  Rev. 20:4--those beheaded during the Great Tribulation).

            People, particularly Spirit-filled church leaders, who are willing to leave it all on the table for Jesus, have a vision of reality that transcends present suffering.  Looking to Jesus, they see him and the future with dominant clarity.  This is THE crowning mark of being “full of the Holy Spirit.”  Listen.

Acts 7:54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Luke adds what seems to be a mere passing comment about a young man in the crowd.  Except we know from the rest of Acts and the N.T. that this is a seminal moment in the life of Saul of Tarsus, soon to be Paul, the former persecutor of the church. 

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Stoning is a terrible way to die.  ILL:  If you haven’t seen it, you might want to find a move entitled The Stoning of Soraya MWhile not about a Christian woman, it does very realistically depict death by stoning that has been a part of Jewish and Muslim cultures for millennia.  Stoning is not an easy way to die.  It is far from painless or quick.  It was designed to inflict maximum brutality as a lesson to observers, namely, This is not the kind of death you want to suffer. 

But when a passion for the word of God and a vision of Christ by Spirit-filled believers supersedes the suffering of the present, the world begins to change. Because that is when perhaps the most dominant and difficult testimony to the power of Christ comes through.  Spirit-filled Christians, particularly church leaders, forgive like Jesus did.

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

            Stephen is simply following in the footsteps of his Master (Luke 23:24) when He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

            A hallmark of the Spirit-filled leader and Christian has always been genuine love expressed in genuine forgiveness.  Leaders must learn from the Spirit of God that forgiveness must be granted long before it is sought.  It would be some time and certainly a lot more suffering for the church before Saul of Tarsus would seek forgiveness and become the great Paul the Apostle. 

APP:  Brothers and sisters, people are always watching.  They are particularly watching how we handle injustices, offense, attacks and wounds.  Stephen’s immediate and final reaction was one of forgiveness.  He commended or entrusted his spirit to the God he loved while he left something with his persecutors they were incapable of giving to others.  Love and forgiveness in the face of opposition is the most powerful anti-venom the world has ever seen. 

PRAYER:

  • For the grace to forgive.
  • For Spirit-filled leaders in the life of Mosaic