Delegation Of Responsibility

Acts 6:1-7

Many people were trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior at this time (v. 7). The apostles began to see that their ministry was being impacted by many details that needed to be handled. They made a decision to delegate some of these responsibilities so that the apostles could continue to “devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

There are several important principles we can glean from this passage. First, is the importance of staying focused on God’s purpose for your life. The apostles had been charged to spread the Gospel and as they began to bog down in details, they were not carrying out this responsibility as effectively as they could have been.

Note also that they were not carrying out the other tasks well as people were being neglected (v. 1). It is often easy to assume that we can do tasks better than others but as we let those duties take up our time we do not accomplish our main purpose as efficiently as we could. This principle applies to our work lives and our Spiritual lives. God has given each of us specific spiritual gifts and we should be careful to use them most effectively.

Notice that the apostles also exhorted the congregation to be careful about whom they chose. We see in v. 3 the men should be “of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”. First the men should have been mature enough so that they have developed a good reputation. Secondly, they should be walking closely to the Lord which would be evidenced by the fact that they were Spirit filled. Finally, they should have demonstrated wisdom by using their knowledge well.
The apostles also realized the danger of neglecting the word of God (v. 2) and prayer (v. 4). I cannot express to you strongly enough how important I think it is to spend time daily in God’s word and in prayer. I know from experience that regardless of your age or education level God can and will speak to you through the Bible. I encourage you to develop and maintain a habit of daily Bible study and prayer and don’t let other priorities get in the way of that. It is critical to your spiritual growth.