Every Calling Is Significant

Acts 6:1-7

We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. Select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. (Acts 6:2-3)

“THERE WERE RUMBLINGS OF DISCONTENT,” Acts 6:1 tells us, as the number of believers in Jerusalem began to grow. Apparently the Greek-speaking Jews—those whose recent roots lay outside of Jerusalem among Jews of the diaspora in Asia Minor, Babylon, Persia, Europe, or North Africa—felt that their widows were not receiving the same amount of food and level of ministry as the native Hebrew-speaking widows were. The apostles were too preoccupied with their high-level teaching ministry to get involved in administrative details, so they prayerfully appointed seven men, all with Greek names, to oversee this duty.

If you’re familiar with the book of Acts, you know where the story turns next: away from the apostles and toward the deacons. The following chapters are all about the remarkable works of Stephen and Philip, who had been appointed to serve tables for widows and were declaring the gospel and demonstrating its miraculous ways. They were not second-rate workers in the Kingdom of God or support staff for those with a “real” ministry. They, too, were filled with the Spirit and wisdom of God. Their calling was just as significant, if not as prominent, as that of the apostles.

Far too many Christians throughout history have equated a calling to serve God with church ministry. But every believer is in full-time service. There is no real dividing line between sacred and secular work in God’s eyes, if that work is done for him. Every inch of this planet is a venue in which his name can be glorified and his message made known.

What does this mean for those who are not teachers or preachers? For one thing, there are a lot of ways to “teach and preach,” and not all of them are verbal. But the real implication for each of us is that whatever work we engage in, there is something in it—some angle, some network of relationships, some expression of attitudes and values—that becomes a greater focus than the work itself. Every activity offers a platform to love, serve, trust, encourage, comfort, pray, and do the works of God.

{Father, I’m not nearly as interested in status or position as I am in impact. Make my life fruitful wherever I am—in the church or outside its walls, in wisdom and power—for the glory of your name. Amen.