Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.47UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.14UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.52LIKELY
Sadness
0.52LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.66LIKELY
Confident
0.15UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.87LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.84LIKELY
Extraversion
0.26UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.36UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.72LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Ad-ministry*
*Acts 6:1-7 July 9, 2000*
* *
*Scripture: *Exodus 18:13-23, page 115, pew Bible
*Introduction:*
Have you ever encountered poor administration?
I know --- somebody out there is saying, "Funny you should ask that.
Why, where I work, they never even heard there was a need for proper administration."
Just so we are all on the same page, let's define just what administration is.
Administration is the process of managing, governing, conducting, or directing the affairs of an organization.
It can be done well.
It's one of those things that when it is done well, we know it.
Or it can be done poorly.
And poor administration is as obvious as a sore thumb.
You've been there ---
Problems that occur aren't handled well.
They are not solved.
They are perpetuated and even become magnified.
The issues and activities that are truly important to the organization seem destined to die on the vine.
There is little utilization of grass roots wisdom from the common man or woman.
It seems like all the wrong people are promoted to important positions.
And even when some capable person gets a chance, they are not given the enablement to really accomplish anything significant.
And you become discouraged because everything seems so useless.
You wonder if, when tomorrow comes, the organization will still be there.
You put in your time and go home only to face another day of the same self-inflicted blindness by the people at the top.
And that is where administration has to start, isn't it – at the top?
Administration is really what makes or breaks an organization.
It boils down to wise and prudent decisions for the good of the organization and all those persons connected with it.
The quality of administration is extremely evident in places like manufacturing plants, department stores, schools, hospitals, and even churches.
And believe it or not, even families fit in here.
It is important in the place where you live and work and go to school and worship.
The quality of administration is especially important in fast growing organizations in order to keep up with the continuing change of pace.
Indeed, a fast growing organization is probably growing fast because of good administration.
And this brings us to our passage this morning in Acts 6:1-7.
Through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, and the obedience of the apostles and disciples, the fledgling church is growing by leaps and bounds.
Many are clamoring to obtain the spiritual freedom that faith in Christ gives them.
But this phenomenal growth brings the challenge of administration with it.
And that is the subject of this message.
This is the first instance in the church of the need for administration.
And what prompts this need for administration?
- A problem has arisen.
What can we learn from how the apostles handle it?
- Much.
We can take another look at what the term administration means as the apostles apply this concept to the church
If their primary task is to minister to the church, we could say that to administer the church is to add to their ministry – ad-ministry.
And ministry is the process of nurturing and caring.
There is a limit to how much just a few people can do.
Others must be added to insure success.
The whole concept of the church is to nurture and care for one another, even though there must be headship.
Proper administration must flow from the headship.
Indeed, there are those with the spiritual gift of administration or governing (1Cor.
12:28).
Those who are gifted must insure that it happens.
We can learn much from the apostles about how to administer the church.
They set a model for us.
The Holy Spirit indwells them and has gifted them.
And they learned from the Master - Jesus.
But the principles we learn in the Bible are not only to be applied in the religious setting.
They have wisdom for all walks of life.
Indeed, 1Peter 4:10 tells us that, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."
Let us see what we can learn about effective administration in how the apostles handle a problem that arises in the church.
And let us seek to apply these principles in our own lives, families, and organizational involvements where we can.
*Big Question:*
What must we learn from the apostles about the effective administration of the growing church of our Lord Jesus Christ?
*I.
Cycle One*
* A.
Narrative (v.
1)*
We don't know just how long a time has elapsed here since the apostles had appeared before the Sanhedrin and were let go with a flogging and a warning not to continue preaching the name of Jesus.
But 5:42 says they never stopped and 6:1 says the number of disciples continued to increase.
The idea is that the church is growing because of the obedience of the apostles and disciples to the H.S.
But even in the midst of obedience, problems can develop.
It is a symptom of our fallen humanity, even in the church, even with the presence of the H.S.
Certain problems happen just because of human pressure, growth, and change.
Here we must understand that these Grecian Jews are those who have resettled in Jerusalem as opposed to the natives of Jewish Palestine.
It was considered virtuous to be buried in the land of Israel.
Many foreign Jews would come to spend their last days there, then die and leave widows.
So a disproportionate number of foreign Jewish widows lived in Jerusalem.
And this urban social problem spilled over into the church.
And the Bible mandates caring for widows who had no other means of support if they had no family nearby.
Both Judaism and the church took this responsibility seriously in contrast to Gentile cultures.
But the way the problem developed in the church was that this disproportionate number of Greek Jewish widows were being given second place to the Hebrew Jewish widows.
They were being discounted by the native power structure.
So here is a problem that threatened to poison the church.
Inequality was not right according to Christ's teaching.
If this problem were not to be handled, the whole enterprise of the church and its witness would be threatened.
What began as a new culture of grace through faith in Christ would give way to a 'culture of complaint'.
Then the church is no longer the church.
Those of us who have been around awhile in several different churches can attest to it.
Once a culture of complaint starts, it is hard to stop.
Sometimes the only thing that will stop it is the death of the church.
The only other thing that can stop it is extremely wise and prudent leadership and administration.
What is a culture of complaint?
It is when all the wrong things that people notice, and manufacture, are placed in the foreground of every conversation rather than the good things that can be found.
It is when people expect the problems to outweigh the solutions because they have become used to poor administration.
But much better to handle the problems equitably before they get out of hand.
They are inevitable.
We can count on them.
We must be prepared for them and not be surprised by them.
But Christ is the Lord of his church and the H.S. he gives us is our primary resource of wisdom and strength to handle whatever comes.
* B.
Implication*
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9