In their tension, they trusted God

By Dean Collins

If you lived through the late 1990s, you remember the dot-com bubble. Starting in about 1995 and lasting at least five years, it seemed another Internet-based business was born every year. As more and more investors saw the potential in the Internet, they were eager to invest in these companies.

I ended up working for two of them. It all started with offering employee services from my counseling center to these companies. I was soon asked to help the two firms, one an electronic banking company acquired by the other, deal with the challenges of the transition. Within two months I found myself hired as an HR executive charged with integrating these two companies and several more that we were acquiring. I learned quickly that internal tensions over virtually anything can slow a company’s progress. There were disagreements over almost everything. The various groups I was charged with bringing together had strong opinions about dress codes, coffee services, stock options, and just about anything that impacted their respective cultures.

Culture change

In many ways this is nothing new. In fact, the Book of Acts records a public culture challenge that threatened the rapidly growing acceptance of the gospel. Few if any used the word church during this start-up phase. It was a movement or organism more than an organization. Jerusalem was the center of life and worship for the Jewish faith. It became the birthplace of the gospel movement prompted by the Holy Spirit through the apostles.

Since the time of the Babylonian exile centuries earlier, Jewish people were scattered, eventually to many places. They kept their faith but took on the culture of the places where they lived and raised their families. In Acts 6 we find Jewish people who had been living in predominantly Greek cities challenge the apostles who came from traditional Jewish communities. The issue was that in the daily distribution of food to needy widows, the widows from the Greek/Jewish culture were not being treated the same as those from traditional Jewish cultures. And this complaint needed to be addressed.

The apostles were focused on preaching the gospel, as Jesus had told them to do just before his ascension. These twelve entrepreneurs of the faith suddenly had organizational challenges that were rooted in justice concerns. It’s worth noting that our social justice issues in 2020 aren’t particularly new or particularly American. Racial problems and social justice questions have been with us since the time of ancient Israel, including at the very first months of the church’s existence. These matters are central to God’s heart and mission, but no generation has completely addressed or resolved them.

Racial problems and social justice questions have been with us since the time of ancient Israel. These matters are central to God’s heart and mission, but no generation has completely addressed or resolved them.

But in Acts 6 we see the apostles attempting to settle one specific cultural bias. They listened to the complaint and appointed seven wise and spiritually mature Jewish men to make sure that every widow of Greek/Jewish culture was treated equally with those who were raised only in the Jewish culture of Jerusalem. The whole community, those who were from both groups, agreed to this plan. It’s a big moment when you have harmony after such a serious clash!

It’s interesting to notice that these seven men all had Greek names. The apostles didn’t choose diversity or some from both groups to address the problem. They seemed to defer to the mature Jewish men who had been raised in Greek culture and trusted them with the solution and the service needed. The apostles were focused on what Jesus told them to do, namely preaching, teaching the way of Jesus, and baptizing. Discipling the nations was to start in Jerusalem, spread to greater Judea, include Samaria, and eventually reach the whole world.

It seems the immediate tension was addressed. Two of the seven, Stephen and Philip, also had gifts for preaching and evangelism. Almost immediately we see them involved in the expansion of the gospel. Some leaders may be called and gifted in one area, and others may be called and gifted for many tasks. Stephen and Philip seem to have been from the second group.

Heavy price

Gifted leaders sometimes pay a heavy price for doing what God called them to do. Stephen would be challenged and eventually stoned to death. But his obedience would ignite an explosion of gospel growth as Christ followers moved out of Jerusalem in fear. And one man who watched and even endorsed Stephen’s murder would see the light and be transformed.

Tensions and conflict can be hard in an organization. They can be difficult, even deadly, on an individual. But when we are faithful to Jesus and his call in our lives, he will use these tensions and our faithfulness to accomplish his mission. It is a fantasy version of the kingdom of God to think otherwise. God is at work even now, in the tensions and conflict of our current moment. Trust him. He has us and will complete his perfect work even now.

Your time with God’s Word
Acts 6:1-15 ESV

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash