Acts 6:2 (ESV)
And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
The complete context of the above verse starts with a report about people complaining that certain widows in the church were not being served like the other widows. There was a discriminatory approach to caring for the widows. Note:
Acts 6:1 (ESV)
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
The complaint was presented to the Apostles. The Apostles were not moved by this complaint to deal with it themselves. In the above passage they are not saying they can’t be servants of the people. They are saying that their role of teaching can’t be compromised by stopping to go serve these widows. In the last chapter they were beaten by the religious leaders of the Temple for preaching Jesus. Note:
Acts 5:27-29 (ESV)
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
They were not being beaten for serving food to the widows. They had a certain role that presupposed this need. Yet, the complaint came to them. They didn’t dismiss it, they instead meet the need by empowering and developing other members of the community. One of them would be Stephen, a man who is martyred for Christ in the next chapter. The Holy Spirit is not teaching us that there are different classes in the church. We are all servants of Christ and to each other. But there are differing gifts. And we are to use them in respect for each other. This is the first example of how the Body of Christ is built and works together. Note what Paul will say to the church at Corinth about this very thing:
1 Corinthians 12:11 (ESV)
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
1 Corinthians 12:18 (ESV)
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
1 Corinthians 12:14-17 (ESV)
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
1 Corinthians 12:22 (ESV)
22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ...
Not everyone in the Body of Christ was meant to preach. Not everyone was meant to serve the widows. Yet, in the next chapter we will read that Stephen is called to serve tables and then to teach. God can place us in the Body how He desires.
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