ACTS 6
Read Acts 6:1-15
Having dealt with the opposition of the secular authorities, the early church faced a challenge from within. The apostles were caught up in a dispute within the church that distracted them from their God-given calling of spreading the word and making disciples. The Devil often works in very subtle ways.
The issue was one of cultural tensions within the church. One group of widows receiving charitable food donations thought they were being treated less favourably than another group. The problem was solved quickly by appointing a group from the wider group of disciples to oversee fair distribution of food. What is significant in this process is that there is no suggestion that the twelve apostles regarded this social work as inferior in any way to their own ministry, or beneath their dignity to carry out. It was just a different ministry to the one they had been called by Jesus to carry out. Also, those chosen to serve the widows were required to be ‘full of the Spirit and wisdom’ (v3). God calls all his people to serve and he calls different people to different ministries and gives them different gifts to carry out those ministries. See what Paul has to say about these ‘spiritual’ gifts in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12.
We now see one of the people chosen to serve the widows in a bit more detail. Stephen, as well as carrying out his social service ministry, was actively preaching in the community. We are told that he was a man full of God’s grace and that he did great wonders and miraculous signs (v8). Once again, this drew the attention of the authorities. Some tried to argue with Stephen but were unable to ‘stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke’ (v10); and remember that it was these two qualities, the Spirit and wisdom, that enabled Stephen to be selected to serve the widows as well as to engage in theological argument. In fact, the opponents could make such little headway in arguing with Stephen that they had to resort to persuading people to give false testimony.
Stephen was hauled up before the Sanhedrin, the ruling council, just as Peter and John were in the earlier chapters of Acts. And just as they were filled by the Spirit to give confident and convincing testimony, so Stephen was filled by the Spirit. Rather than quaking with fear and apprehension as he was put on trial we read, “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face on an angel” (v15).
We would all pray that we would not be in a situation like that of Stephen, but it may be that we find ourselves debating some aspect of Christianity with someone and be concerned that we wouldn’t have the words to represent God very well and worry that we would be dishonouring him. But we have the confidence that the Spirit is with us, ‘Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. You will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matthew 10:19-20).