God's providence never ceases to amaze me, particularly when it comes to reading.
Yes, reading. Particularly when I'm reading Scripture or a book based on biblical truth.
I've been reading from a number of resources in preparation for a new sermon series in the fall. One book that I'm reading through (for the second time) is The Compelling Community, by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop. In a chapter titled "Protecting Community," they talk about addressing discontent in the church. To do so, they draw some helpful insights from Acts 6. (The main points plus any statements in quotations are direct quotes from the book.)
- Threats to church unity deserve the attention of church leaders. In Acts 6, a complaint arose over the care of widows (or lack thereof). Nowadays, any number of issues can spark a spirit of discontent among God's people. "Unity is precious, but unity is also precarious. When unity is threatened, church leaders should take notice.
- But ultimately it is the congregation's job to protect unity. In Acts 6, the apostles showed initiative in resolving the issue but also expected the congregation to do their part. "Leaders must lead, but protecting unity is ultimately the church's responsibility. After all, who does Paul urge in Ephesians 4:3 to be 'eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?' The congregation. Too often, Christians throw problems straight to church leaders for solution. As a leader, you won't serve your church well if you assist them in abdicating their responsibility. Instead you should lead the congregation to address its own unity problems."
- Be reluctant to take sides. In Acts 6, the apostles were careful not to side with the Hebrews or the Hellenists. "So often, we have limited visibility into the root of complaints that people bring us." Rather than get involved in the minutiae of the issue, the apostles focused on the bigger issue, exhorting the congregation to care for one another.
- Act in response to tangible, structural problems. "As church leaders, we often hear from unhappy people. Too often, we feel our job is to make everyone happy. But that is neither realistic nor biblical." The record of Acts 6 shows that, "rather than responding to a general sense of discontent or discomfort, the apostles were slow to act until they saw an issue that was structural and tangible."
- Temper expectations for what church leaders can do. One word that is particularly striking in Acts 6 is the word "neglected." Despite their best efforts, the apostles were unable to provide sufficient care for everyone in the congregation. "Similarly, we must take care not to oversell our abilities as church leaders." We can only do so much in addressing problems that plague the church. As pastors & elders, "[we] can pray that God would ignite real change; [we] can teach the congregation of God's priorities in his inspired Word; and [we] can address structural issues as they appear. But the problems that most pain us in our congregations are problems of the heart - and only God can do that work."
- Put your hope in what they Spirit can do through the congregation. Church leaders should pay attention to problems that threaten church unity. We should take care to address such issues from Scripture, while recognizing that it is ultimately the congregation as a whole that must preserve its unity. We should avoid taking sides, but seize opportunities to address concrete solutions as we can. "In doing so, we should have a realistic understanding of what church leaders can do, but unbridled optimism for what God's Spirit can do."
Amen! And we should most definitely praise the Lord when the truth of the gospel displays its power through the preservation of our unity. That's something worth fighting for -- in our family and in our church family. The psalmist said it best: "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity!" (Ps. 133:1).
