David Bahn – Reflections

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Acts 6:1-15 [NLT]

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

² So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. ³ And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. ⁴ Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

⁵ Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). ⁶ These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

⁷ So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

⁸ Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. ⁹ But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. ¹⁰ None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

¹¹ So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” ¹² This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.

¹³ The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. ¹⁴ We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.

According to Wikipedia, “The World Council of Churches is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism.” Today’s World podcast had a segment on the WCC on this, their 75th anniversary year. [Note: I highly recommend this podcast for a biblically-based worldview version of NPR’s All Things Considered.] They quote the World Council of Churches General Secretary: “We are a Council of Churches, not the Council of the one undivided Church. Our name indicates our weakness and our shame before God, for there can be and there is finally only one Church of Christ on earth.”

They end the segment with this telling comment:

The WCC has come under fire from many of the world’s largest evangelical denominations for leaving the true faith as expressed in its founding documents that reminded its members of Ephesians 4: that God Himself gives the church gifts for the equipping of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ. Declaring that the unity of the faith only comes through the knowledge of the Son of God.

We might imagine that the Early Church didn’t have these kinds of squabbles, theological, or doctrinal issues. But it would be true only in our imagination. Even among those who claimed Jesus as their messiah there were challenges to the true faith – the Party of the Circumcision being the most notable. But there were also gnostics, as well as other groups and individuals who were in error and had to be corrected.

We see that clearly here in Acts 6. Issues of fairness and even-handed favor between Jewish and Greek believers threatened to divide the church. It would also divide the Apostles’ attention or distract them completely from the Mission of God. But Luke helps us to understand the true focus needed for God’s people then. This section of the account of God’s work through the Holy Spirit in the Early Church begins with a reminder. The believers were rapidly multiplying in numbers. The message of Jesus was being spread from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, and soon it will spread to the ends of the earth.

And with that will come conflict, challenge, misunderstanding, and struggle. We all wish it were not so. It would be so good if we could all just get along. But until Jesus returns we will be a part of the church militant. We will struggle throughout our days. And we will need the Holy Spirit’s succor to sustain us in faith, hope, and love. May it be so!