Q1. Discrimination

[Pastor Ralph]

Q1. (Acts 6:1-2) What is the root problem in the Jerusalem church that shows up in food distribution? How could such a root problem slow growth and erode spiritual life? How do the apostles deal with it? Is there a root problem in your congregation that leaders need to deal with that threatens the health of the church? Why do leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems?

[Francina]

The root cause of the problem is the unfair distribution of food among the Greek speaking and Hebrew speaking Jews.

Such a problem can cause the disciples to concentrate more on the tension and thus compromise the preaching of the Word which is their primary function. If that happens the spiritual life of the congregation will be affected negatively.

The apostles solved the problem by delegating the distribution of food to other people. They selected seven people to deal with that duty.

So far we do not have such a problem in.our congregation.

[W. Owen]

This was clearly the work of Satan in an attempt to weaken the early church. Hunger was a big problem and those not getting their share would probably feel slighted, mistreated and neglected... this could cause them to turn away from the church and the Lord... at the very least, create an attitude of mistrust for church and leaders. The congregation was already speaking up which indicates some serious tension between themselves... opening the door to busybodies and gossipers.

God, however, used this situation to strengthen the church by making some needed adjustments within the church. This appears to have satisfied everyone (vs.5) and allowed the apostles too more effectively serve the Lord.

Today, Satan is using the same old tactic... he's dividing (and weakening) the church through political correctness, sexual and right to life issues, cultural differences, racism and CRT. Church leaders won't touch these topics for fear of retaliation through lawsuits and/or loss of membership.

It will be interesting to see how God, in today's world, will work things together for His Glory as He did in the early church.

 

[Yvonne Peterson]

Yes indeed. Jesus said food for the body is necessary but food the soul even more. So we are not to concentrate on the food, rather getting the word out there. Jesus tells us not worry as he provides the needs even of the birds of the air. Focus on heavenly things far more important. One day at a time sweet Jesus. Bless ye Yvonne 

[kreilly]

It seems to me the root problem is disunity.  The believers are seeing themselves first as Greek or Hebrew, and secondly as Christians.  The apostles, realizing they are spread too thin to do a good job with the food distribution, wisely delegate this job to men of good standing.  They also allow the community to be part of the selection process so in order to promote unity. I think leaders sometimes avoid dealing with problems because problems are not being brought to them directly but complaints are shared among the congregants behind the leaders backs.  This makes it difficult to attack problems head on.  It is better to be honest and take your problems to the leadership rather than gossiping behind their backs.  

[Donna Merline]

The root problem is that the Grecian widows were neglected in the daily distribution of food.  It is human tendency to favor people from our own ethnic background and therefore make sure there needs are taken care of first and foremost. Discrimination causes division and this would slow the growth and effectiveness of the church.

The apostles death with the situation by having the congregation choose seven men who are above approach to oversee the food distribution. This would give everyone a chance to cast their vote to choose the candidates and so decrease or eliminate the likelihood of the incidence repeating itself. 

Leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems because the final decision can lead to hurt feelings, animosity, and church split.

[Krissi]

KReilly, above, rightly suggests that disunity is the root problem, one caused by putting ethnic or cultural identifications above the unifying identity in Christ. The details recorded in scripture about the different language groups supports this idea. Thus, inequities in food distribution are a symptom, but not the cause, of the underlying disease of disunity.

Modern Hebrew is the spoken (revived) language of contemporary Israel; Aramaic was the spoken language of that same area. Classical Hebrew was used only in worship. It's my understanding that Aramaic was the dominant language of what is contemporary Iraq/Syria while Greek was the dominant spoken language west of Syria. So, it appears that two groups of Jews, from the east and the west, met In the middle, in Jerusalem. They brought with them their distinctive cultural habits including different languages.

This may be wrong, but I was under the impression that the Jerusalem or western-based Jews had an advantage over their eastern confreres because they could speak more languages.  Latin, additionally, existed as the language of state or government. Jerusalem must have been a real babel of tongues. 

Today, in Israel, a similar situation exists. Simmering tensions occasionally flare between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews -- European-based v. Mideastern-based.  Since te Ashkenazim hold almost all positions of power, the Sephardim constantly complain that their perspective and needs are left out of governmental decisions. The two groups also look somewhat different, with the Ashkenazim appearing more European and the Sephardim appearing more Arab or Persian. Obviously, since the two groups can be visually identified, to some degree, cultural tensions are exasperated.

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The apostles didn't deal with the root problem -- they dealt with it's symptom, unfair food distribution. 

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Today, in America, tensions between cultural groups occasionally flares in all churches, though often ignored or sublimated. Although our tendency is to pick at the wound, to expose, dissect and highlight "racism" and all the other "-isms", it may be a wiser course to do what the apostles did, which was to solve, but only superficially, the problems caused by cultural/racial differences, and not deal with those differences themselves. They solved "inequalities" but did not try to eradicate the underlying cultural differences that caused these problems.

Most churches seem to have an ethos anyway. Christians self-select groups that fit their sense of belonging. In America, Christians often group according to social class than race. 

 

 

[Katy]

Q1. The root problem is disunity within the church. The Greeks speaking Jews complain that their widows are not getting an equal amount of food in the daily distribution of food for the poor of the congregation. When this type of disunity occurs within a church fellowship it distracts from the work of the church and nothing runs smoothly because so many are involved in trying to find solutions to the problems this can also detract from the spiritual life of the church. Less time is spent in prayer and ministry of the word. The apostles in our passage of Scripture act decisively and call all the fellowship together and tell them to pick out honourable people to take over the job they are doing in order to free them up to be able to get on with the work of praying and ministry of the word. At this moment in our church for the first time in many years there is a problem which has resulted in our Pastor having to take sick leave. It is being dealt with but it has distracted and saddened all of us. I think some leaders may avoid dealing with problems for multiple reasons, they may not like confrontation and so put off dealing with the problem. They may feel if they ignore the problem it may go away! They may not want to cause upheaval and disunity within the church. They may be too worn out to cope with problems within the church.

[haar]

Q1. (Acts 4:23-31) Why do the believers pray for boldness? Why do they need boldness in this circumstance?

They prayed for boldness so as to continue the assignment the Lord has given and which they have victoriously started but the Jewish authority were trying to stop them.

What does this tell us about their faith? Their character?

Their prayer for boldness to God is an indication that they have faith that with the power of God with them, they can continue to preach boldly and gain victory over the evil one and the leaders that were trying to stop them.
 

[haar]

Q1. (Acts 6:1-2) What is the root problem in the Jerusalem church that shows up in food distribution?

With the rapid growth of the church, administration became difficult. The Grecian widows grumbled that they were being neglected in sharing of food. The apostles were involved so much administering food and other distractions while prayer and the Word ministry suffered.

How could such a root problem slow growth and erode spiritual life?

Time taken for the Ministry of prayer and Word will be affected and this and other distractions slows down spiritual growth.

How do the apostles deal with it?

They called for a general meeting of all believers, asked the to select seven people among them, people with good reputation, filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom to serve at tables while the apostle will devout themselves to the Ministry of Prayer and the Word.

Is there a root problem in your congregation that leaders need to deal with that threatens the health of the church?

I am not aware of any in my congregation now.

Why do leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems?

One reason may be just to let the sleeping dog lie for their own selfish peace.
 

[hanks]

Q1. (Acts 6:1-2) What is the root problem in the Jerusalem church that shows up in food distribution? How could such a root problem slow growth and erode spiritual life? How do the apostles deal with it? Is there a root problem in your congregation that leaders need to deal with that threatens the health of the church? Why do leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems? 
A problem arose when the Greek-speaking Christians complained that their widows were being unfairly treated. The complaint concerned the welfare of the widows, whose cause God had promised in the OT to defend (Deu 10:18). It is assumed that they could not provide for themselves, and the church had accepted the responsibility, and a distribution of food and clothing was made to them. But there were two groups in the Jerusalem church, the Hebrew-speaking Christians and the Greek-speaking Christians. The Greek-speaking widows being overlooked, was not a deliberate oversight, more probably as a result of poor administration or supervision. The apostles realised that the root problem was that this social administration was threatening to occupy all their time and so inhibit them from the work which Christ had entrusted to them, namely praying, preaching and teaching. This root problem could easily slow growth and erode spiritual life. The apostles would be preoccupied with organising this distribution of food and clothing, which though essential, was not their calling. This would result in them neglecting their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defence against false doctrine. To correct the situation, the apostles put seven respected Greek-speaking men in charge of the food distribution program. This solved the problem and allowed the apostles to keep their focus on teaching and preaching the Good News about Jesus. I’m not aware of any root problem in my church. I realise that no church has ever been or will ever be perfect. I feel that when leaders neglect their responsibilities to pray and teach the Word of God, and focus more on the numbers attending the services and the finances of the church, the church becomes an easy target for Satan. This is how Satan uses distraction to get the church to fail. 
 

[Old Jerry]

I think that the root problem in the Jerusalem church is that there are two groups and don’t speak the same language and they can’t resolve their disputes. The root problem was slowly growing and erode spiritual life because they can’t commutate and resolve it. The apostles dealt with it by calling them together and got the two groups talking by letting them choose the seven that would supervise the distribution of the goods. As far as I can tell there isn’t a root problem in our congregation. The leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems because they don’t want to alienate one of the groups.

[Irmela]

Q1. (Acts 6:1-2)

What is the root problem in the Jerusalem church that shows up in food distribution?

How could such a root problem slow growth and erode spiritual life?

How do the apostles deal with it?

Is there a root problem in your congregation that leaders need to deal with that threatens the health of the church?

Why do leaders sometimes avoid dealing with church problems?

The community of believers were of diverse languages. The people were from many different places, who had ended up in Jerusalem and had then heard the Word and accepted it and were now part of the group following Christ's teaching, who eventually were known as Christians.  Many of the widows amongst this group were poor and were eventually supported by the contributions made by the community.  The leaders first did the distribution and it then appeared that there was favouritism shown to the Hebrew widows and the Hellenists were left out.  (could this almost reflect a kind of racism or misunderstanding) .  .  .  .  remember it was different languages and cultures involved.  

Such a root problem could easily be taken to be deliberate leaving out of a group, whereas it is very easy to just be an oversight.  Jealousy could step in and cause division.  

I think it was very wise what they did.  (Many years ago Moses also was advised to delegate some of his work to others)  Additional leaders were chosen for this specific task, setting the Apostles free to continue with their task.  Seven reputable men, full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom were chosen by the followers.  They then sorted out that distribution of food etc was fairly carried out. 

It is very easy to get entangled and be regarded to show favouritism to a certain group, be it true or not.  This is why it is wise for the leaders to pray  together with those chosen or delegated to help in the different platforms, that a right decision be made, and not be the ones who do the actual making of the decisions.   It also of course depends on what the problem is.

[crissy464]

People weren’t getting enough food, the food wasn’t being distributed correctly. This could have caused alot of problems like turning away from the church and the Lord.

 God comes to strengthen the church. To make things right. 

 Satan is weakening the church through political 
 correctness, sexual and right-to-life issues, cultural differences, and racism.