1Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”
This passage (which extends through Acts 6:7) gives us a glimpse inside the early church as it struggles with the inevitable conflict that arises among ethnic groups. We see in this first division of ministry work, an example of how to deal with conflict, the importance of leadership qualifications, and the interruption of church growth due to conflict. Satan’s fingerprints show up through the threats, external persecution and internal deception, most noticeably in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3). But godly wisdom prevails!
Notwithstanding the miraculous transformation of lives in the selfless sharing of resources, practical abrasions began to show. The question of fairness—something we can easily identify with today—comes into play. How so? The early believers were all Jews but were not a completely homogeneous group. The “native” Jews were those who had a long history of living in the land of Israel, and the early church was taking root on “their home turf.” The “Hellenistic” Jews were likewise Jews by religion and practice, but they were culturally different in some ways. They were most likely from among the fifteen different language groups that had traveled to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost and thus were not on their home turf. At best they were immigrants or simply visitors who stayed on with the early church after Pentecost.
We see now that the distribution of benevolence, described in Acts 4:32–35, required some wise leadership. The sharing was spontaneous but the harmony was not. The natural preference toward the needs of one’s own people caused some to be overlooked. One can see how this would inadvertently happen, considering the size of the task of meeting the needs of so many!
The twelve realized they could not take care of that problem and at the same time fulfill their mandate to teach the Word. Without the foundation of the Word of God, all benevolence and sharing would eventually become warped and ultimately give way to selfishness. The apostle Paul later showed that good leadership does not shy away from physically working to meet the needs of others (see Acts 20:34–35). But he was not dealing with five thousand believers, as the apostles here were. The early church need organization to meet the needs, yet without neglecting the foundation.
Lord, help me keep balanced in my ministry, and keep my priorities clear.
0 Comments