Insiders and Outsidrs

INSIDERS and OUTSIDERS

We finished reading in Acts chapter five with the account of the apostles rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus. They continued preaching daily in the temple and proclaiming to all the people this new way of life, which was not just about doing what they were meant to do but about being who they were meant to be. We follow the account of the growth of the emerging church as we come to Chapter six.
 
ACTS 6:1. It was not long before the number of disciples had greatly increased, and the Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews), developed a grudge against the Hebrews. The Greek widows were being neglected in the common daily provision of food and necessary supplies.

Hellenists were the people influenced by ancient Greece with its culture and language and philosophy which all began in the fourth century BC. when Alexander the Great conquered the then known world including Judea. 
Many thousands of Jews were scattered all over the Mediterranean coastal areas and up into Asia Minor, where over a period of time they began to practice a code of Judaism that became even stricter than it was back in Jerusalem. 

Then the Romans conquered all these nations in 65 BC, and Hellenistic Jews were made slaves - but in due time they were set free and became known as the Freedmen. 
The Hellenist Freedmen that we come across in Acts chapter six were descendants of the people that were made slaves by the Romans two generations earlier, and these people worshipped in their own synagogues in Jerusalem. Many traditional Jews back in Jerusalem viewed Greek culture as a threat to their religious identity and resisted Hellenistic influences - thus the underlying conflict.

In the last few chapters, we have been seeing how love was flourishing in this new community of faith. All was good in the new emerging Church, full of power and love - until things went wrong - an act of ‘unlove’ occurred. The widows who were of Greek, or Hellenistic origin were being neglected in the previously ‘loving’ act of the sharing of food and provision amongst the family of God. 
It seemed like it was easier for them to love those that were ethnically and religiously most like themselves and to ignore those that were different. 
This was probably not done on purpose – but it was certainly an act of neglect, and an offence had occurred. 

The Apostles wisely saw this problem as a leadership responsibility, and they dealt with it as such. The solution that the twelve came up with was not to preach against complaining on the one side, or against selfishness on the other side. They had to bring some structure into the administrative side of things so that the people could be more mindful that God was among them, and more alert to the needs of those who were perhaps on the fringe. The offence could be avoided with simple uncomplicated relational and relaxed structures. 

2. The twelve apostles called a meeting of all the believers and addressed the entire assembly to resolve the matter. They explained that it was not up to them to become hands on in the fair distribution of food and goods for the needy and so neglect their ministry in the word of God.
3. So they directed the other disciples to choose from among all the believers, seven upright and honest men who were recognized for their integrity and who were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. They said they would appoint those men to look after such matters as these.
4. The Apostles explained to the people that they had to give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of teaching the word.
5. The entire company of believers were happy with that arrangement. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a Gentile from Antioch, who was earlier converted to Judaism.
6. They presented these men to the apostles, who first prayed about the choice that had been made, then laid hands on those men and commissioned them.

Nowhere does it say that they were called ‘Deacons’ but it is presumed that these were the ‘first Deacons’. They were also great evangelists – as we see at least in the ministries of Stephen and Philip. This allowed the Apostles to attend to the priority of their calling, of prayer and the ministry of the word. This is the first instance of the doctrine of the laying on of hands for the impartation of grace and appointment to certain callings in the newfound Church. There were wonderful results coming out of that wise decision, as the next verse goes on to say. 

7. Then the word of the Lord spread and reached many, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and many Jewish priests became obedient to the faith.

Nicholas was a Hellenist, being described as ‘Nicholas, a Gentile from Antioch, who was earlier converted to Judaism’, and he no doubt was a good choice in helping the inclusion of some of the outsiders. 
We now see the account of one of these seven men, Stephen, going forth in faith and power, with great wonders and signs following his ministry.

8. Stephen, full of faith and empowered by the Holy Spirit, worked great wonders and miracles among the people.
9. Some of the members of the synagogue of the Freedmen, including men from Cyrene (the home of Simon who carried the cross for Jesus) and Alexandria, and Cilicia (the homeland of Saul of Tarsus) and Asia. They then began to formally debate with Stephen, but they could not prevail against the wisdom of his arguments and the power of the Spirit in his words.

Opposition to Stephen mostly came from those of the ‘Synagogue of the Freedmen’, which was understandable because of their passionate intensity of obedience to the code of the Law and their disapproving perception of the slackness of the traditional Jerusalem Jews. Saul, as well as being a Pharisee was also considered to be a Hellenist with a depth of understanding for the Greek philosophies and culture, and he also would have been involved with their Hellenist synagogue in Jerusalem, and this would also explain his intense condemnation of Stephen. It is evident that he was present for the events surrounding Stephen's trial and execution which we read about in chapters seven and eight, and it is probable that, as a student of the great Gamaliel, he even participated in heated debates with Stephen in the temple.

11. So they (the Freedmen and other Jewish leaders) coaxed men to testify that they had heard him speak blasphemously against Moses and against God, 12. Stirring up hostility against Stephen amongst the people and the Jewish elders who arrested him and brought him before the council.

God had purposed tribalism for Israel because they were a chosen nation that God had laid claim to as his own, forbidding them to mix with other nations, and dealing with their infidelity when they did - They had no choice. Israel as a Nation for 1500 years was the representative of Humanity as a ‘People under God’. They were not to let the outside world in and they thought that meant forever, even though God directed them to welcome the sojourner within their gates – perhaps a foretaste of things to come.

So, into this large flourishing powerful happy church in Jerusalem there began to appear those who were not perhaps regarded as the insiders that that they should be. Many would have remembered Jesus telling the disciples when he sent them out two by two that they were not to go and preach to the Gentiles (Matthew 29). We also see in Acts chapter nine that Peter had great difficulty in going and preaching to the Gentile Centurion Cornelius and his Gentile family. 
God always makes space for a fringe to exist and even though the Hellenists were Jews they were different enough to seem like being a fringe group. This same Tribalism exists today even in Christianity as evidenced by thirty six thousand Protestant denominations, and other religious, and cultural prejudices. All of us in one way or another have experienced being on the fringe – an outsider – what’s going on in there! 
The church in the Book of Acts did not yet understand that Jesus had brought all of humanity into Himself. 
 
How wonderfully strange that the soon to be ‘Paul the Apostle’ now starts to appear on the horizon of God’s plan of salvation for the world.

13. And they instructed these witnesses who said that Stephen had also consistently spoken blasphemously against the holy temple and against the law. 14. They said they had even heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth was going to destroy the holy temple and change the traditions handed down to them by Moses.
15. The council members took Stephen before them to interrogate him and as they questioned him they found themselves gazing at his face which began to shine like the face of an angel.

These were the Jewish opponents who we read about in the next chapter who laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul before they stoned Stephen to death – the Saul that was the soon to become ‘Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles’. In the next chapter we read about Saul hearing the most extraordinary revelation of the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ to the world through Stephen. This revelation that Saul/Paul resisted that day was ordained to come to the Jews first, and then somehow to the whole world – beginning with himself!

This is the Paul who later wrote ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (Galatians 3:28).
No more insiders and outsiders!

Going back to the offence that occurred in the early church where some people felt like ‘outsiders’ who were being overlooked – it shows how easy it is to create division and conflict even when you’re not trying to. We read in verse twelve above the angry and influential people who ‘stirred up hostility against Stephen amongst the people and the Jewish elders.’ This is how a political power agenda seeks to usurp power and influence for their own gain, by causing resentment and division and hostility within a community or group, setting ordinary people against one another. 

When this happens on a large scale it can have global consequences, and it is happening now. We live in times when there seems to be an agenda managed by influential political power brokers of creating a world full of resentful victims that feel badly treated by anybody who is not passionate about constantly affirming their personal special interests. An activist media that trades in conflict, outrage and sensation coaxes voluntary victims into fueling a revolution against an unkown group of hateful non-inclusive oppressors. This spirit of polarization permeates the soul of our society. 

The true enemy is the spirit of blindness over people today, not the feverish people who have been blinded. God wants to reach these people and he is working with you, not to fight a political or religious war against them but to reach them. There is enough love and grace and faith in God’s people today to overcome any of this blindness, firstly within the Church itself, and there is also an abounding grace to hear the cry of distress and to open the eyes of a conflicted world that has never felt so hopeless. 

Philippians 2:14 stay away from complaining and arguing so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. Live God-ordered lives as God’s children in a dark world full of people who are biased and wilful. Shine among them like lights, holding out to them the Word of Life.