The voice of resentment is an opportunity

In any organization, at work, at home, or at church, we hear resentment.  This is because some people are not satisfied at work, at home, or even in church.  And the reason why they are dissatisfied is because they think there is something wrong at work, at home, or in the church.  One of those wrong things may be due to injustice.  It seems that the voice of resentment we hear at work, at home, or at church is result from dissatisfaction with unfair treatment.  However, the problem is that when we guess the facts, we often feel uncomfortable when we hear the voice of resentment at work, at home, or at church.  And there are many times when we don't know what to do.  What should we do?  We should take this opportunity as God gives us when we hear the voice of resentment.  What is the opportunity?

                In Acts 6:1, the disciples were increasing due to the Spirit-filled apostles who kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus Christ every day, in the temple and from house to house (5:42) in the midst of persecution and suffering (v. 41).  But when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose (6:1).  The complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food (v. 1).  I think there can be this kind of voice of resentment among us as well.  The reason is that we see injustice.  For example, there may be resentment among the believers when the relief offering is not divided evenly among the difficult church members in the relief ministry of the church.  At that time, we the church leaders must humbly listen to that voice of resentment.  Then, how should we respond?

                First, when we hear their voice of resentment, we the church leaders must return to the original mission the Lord has given us as an opportunity to carry out that mission.

                In Acts 6: 2, the twelve apostles who were the early Church leaders called disciples and said: “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”  Doesn’t this sound little bit strange?  Shouldn’t they confirm the unfair dealing in the relief ministry and then take steps to ensure that the Hellenistic Jews widows had been in relief every day?  Isn’t this our primarily the response?  If we know a problem in the church, isn’t it our responsibility to solve it quickly as possible so that we can prevent disputes and divisions within the church and to promote reconciliation?  But the twelve apostles didn’t respond like that.  Instead, they told the congregation of the disciples that it was not desirable for them to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables (v. 2).  Why did they proclaim like that?  The reason was because they were in charge of the relief work, even though their primarily duty was to preach the word of God, the gospel, which the Lord gave them, they were hampered in their spiritual duties (Park).  So they listened to the Hellenistic Jews’ voice of resentment and used it as an opportunity to return to their original mission that the Lord called them to carry out.  How wise and the Spirit-filled they were?

                These days, we pastors are too busy.  Our mind is busy too.  It seems like we are so busy that we forget to obey the Lord’s command “Feed my lambs” and “Take care of my sheep” (Jn. 21:15, 17, 18).  The reason is because we are driven by the situation rather than the mission.  Although we should be devoted to preaching and teaching God's Word, we are spending too much time on other incidents.  Of course, there will be a valid reason for each of us to do so.  One of that valid reasons is probably because they do not faithfully serve with their gifts and according to their offices.  In other words, in the church organization there are roles of elders and ordained deacons in addition to the pastor or associate pastor.  Nevertheless, I think most of the burden goes to pastors when those who serve in the church don’t know their roles and cannot do their responsibilities.  What is serious about this is that probably the wrong consciousness that we all have.  And that wrong consciousness is that we think it’s okay to leave our responsibility to the pastors.  Just as children in our homes evade their responsibilities and just leave everything to their parents, I think the spiritual children in the church leave their responsibilities to their spiritual father, the pastors, so that the pastors don’t have enough time to devote themselves to the ministry of God's Word.  But that doesn’t mean that we the pastors should never think that such a situation may allow us to focus on the relief work or other church work, rather than the ministry of the Word of God.  If we think so, we should lay down our priorities while listening to resentment in the church, humbly accept the Lord's priorities as spoken by the Holy Spirit, and prioritize the ministry that He wants us to do.

                Second, when we hear their voice of resentment, we the church leaders should use that as opportunities to raise up workers whom the Lord has attached to us.

                In Acts 6:3-4, the twelve apostles who were the early Church leaders called their disciples and said: “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”  The twelve apostles of the early church convened all the disciples, proclaiming to them that it was not right for them to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to serve tables. So they told the disciples to choose seven men from among them who were known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  This pleased the whole group, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism (v. 5).  When the disciples presented those seven people to the apostles, they prayed and lad their hands on them (v. 6).  The apostles then commissioned those seven people for the relief ministry.  In other words, they delegated relief ministry to those seven people.  Then the apostles gave their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (v. 4).  How precious is this grace of God?  When the apostles were listening to the voice of resentment because of the improper distribution of food, the Holy Spirit caused the apostles to raise up seven ministers of the early church to share roles with them.  In other words, the twelve apostles of the early church used the voice of resentment as an opportunity to raise up the ministers.  The twelve apostles entrusted the relief ministry they were doing to the seven people who were filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

I think we the pastors aren’t good at delegating our works to others in the church.  And we are trying to do all the church works by ourselves.  Although we should raise the lay ministers up to serve the Lord’s body, the church, other with us, we are not raise them up.  In other words, we, the pastors, are not making the lay members of the church to do the Lord's work to the fullest.  What is the reason?  Is it because of the greed of work in us?  Isn't it because of the false authoritarianism in us?  Isn't it because we don't trust the lay members?  In some ways, this may be because we don’t trust our lay members because we believe in only ourselves.  The important thing is that we the pastors need to know that God's workers are commissioned by God to work together with us so we should learn how to delegate our work to our church lay members.  When we hear the voice of resentment in the church, we should use it as an opportunity to discover and build up the workers the Lord has sent us.  

Because of the voice of resentment heard in the early church, the twelve apostles who were church leaders took that as the opportunity to return to their original mission, which was the ministry of the word of God, as the Lord had called them.  Also, they took that as the opportunity to choose and raise up the seven people who were filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom to do the ministry of relief.  As a result, the word of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (v. 7).  As we meditate on this amazing work of the Lord, we the pastors who are in charge of pastoral ministry in the 21st century should take it as an opportunity when we hear the voice of resentment.  What kind of opportunities?  We should take it as an opportunity to return to the mission the Lord has given us and make it an opportunity to carry out that mission.  Also we should take the opportunity to raise up the lay ministers.  Therefore, we sincerely hope and pray that as we who are fill with the Holy Spirit and wisdom work together in the service of the body of the Lord, we can experience the result of the Word of God being spread and the increase of number of disciples of Jesus.

Wanting to take the voice of resentment as an opportunity to hear God's voice and to obey,

Pastor James Kim