Caring for the Peace We Share

Facing neglected needs and living faithfully as God’s household

Begin by reading Acts 6:1–7 and Ephesians 2:8–22; 4:1–6,25–32.

What does a family do when its shared life fails someone within it?

Acts has shown believers learning, praying, sharing meals, and meeting needs. As their numbers grow, a problem appears: some widows are being overlooked. The community must respond to a failure within the care it has begun to practise.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians helps us consider the deeper belonging within which such care matters. He speaks of people brought near through Yeshua, belonging to God’s household, and learning a changed life with one another.

A need is brought into the open

Acts 6 describes a complaint from the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows are neglected in the daily distribution. In this setting, the Grecians are Greek-speaking Jews; the Hebrews are the Hebrew- or Aramaic-speaking group within the community.

The account names the neglect. It does not tell us that every person involved intended to discriminate, nor does it give every detail of how the failure arose.

We can attend to what it does show: vulnerable members of one part of the community are missing out on provision. Their concern becomes known, and the apostles address it.

A family’s unity needs room for such truth. If a person cannot name a neglected need, the appearance of peace may conceal a failure of care.

Responsibility is given a practical shape

The apostles gather the disciples and propose appointing seven reputable men, full of the Spirit and wisdom, to oversee this responsibility. They themselves will continue in prayer and the ministry of the word.

The community agrees and selects the men. They are brought before the apostles, who pray and lay hands upon them.

Notice how the response reaches an arrangement for the work. The need is acknowledged, responsibility is assigned, and those entrusted with it must have character and wisdom.

The passage does not describe care for the widows as spiritually unimportant. It requires Spirit-filled people to oversee it. The apostles’ continuing work and this practical service are both provided for.

This is a helpful pattern for shared life. A concern may require more than a general appeal for everyone to be kind. It may need a clear responsibility, a fair process, and people equipped to carry the task.

Those once far away are brought near

Ephesians addresses Gentile believers—people from the nations whom Paul describes as formerly outside Israel’s covenant belonging. Their ancestry has not changed; their relationship with God and His people has. Paul recalls their earlier distance from the commonwealth of Israel and the covenants of promise.

Commonwealth means a shared civic or communal belonging. Paul then says they have been brought near through the blood of Yeshua the Messiah, called Jesus Christ in the KJV.

He describes peace made through the cross, with both groups reconciled to God in one body. Reconciled means brought into a restored relationship. Through Yeshua, both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Keep that shared access before you. Paul does not describe separate approaches to separate fathers. The people are brought together before the same Father through the same Lord and Spirit.

The passage contains difficult language about the law and the removal of hostility in verses 14–16. Read the whole paragraph, keeping its stated outcome in view: reconciliation, peace, and a shared household. It must not become an excuse to reintroduce contempt between the people it describes as brought together.

Fellow members of God’s household

Before describing their belonging, Paul has said that salvation is God’s gift, received through faith rather than earned by works (Ephesians 2:8–10). They are created in the Messiah for good works. Care for others flows from the gift; it does not purchase it.

Paul tells these believers that they are no longer strangers and foreigners. They belong with God’s people and are members of His household.

He then uses the picture of a building, founded upon the apostles and prophets, with Yeshua as the chief cornerstone. A cornerstone gives the building its defining alignment. The people are being built together as a dwelling for God through the Spirit.

The picture joins belonging and dwelling. The family is itself being formed as a place of His presence.

That helps us understand the significance of our treatment of one another. Another believer is more than someone attending the same event. We share a life before God and a place within what He is forming.

The peace Yeshua gives calls for conduct that honours this belonging.

Keep the unity with humility

Ephesians 4 calls the readers to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. Humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love accompany the effort to keep the Spirit’s unity in peace.

The passage names one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father.

These gifts of shared belonging precede the instruction to preserve unity. The people are to live faithfully within what they have received.

Patience matters because formation takes time. Gentleness matters because another person must not be treated as an obstacle to our importance. Humility makes room for correction when our own choices have damaged shared life.

Bearing with one another does not mean concealing neglect. Acts has already shown a complaint being heard and addressed. Patience and practical accountability can serve the same peace.

Changed conduct protects shared life

Later in the chapter, Paul gives the instruction concrete expression. People must put away lying and speak truth because they are members of one another. Anger must not become sin or be left to grow unchecked. Theft is to cease, and work is to make provision for sharing with someone in need.

Notice the reasons and direction. Truthfulness belongs to shared membership. Work can become a means of care. The conduct is shaped by a relationship, rather than treated as private behaviour with no effect on the family.

Speech is also to build others up. Bitterness, abusive speech, malice, and destructive anger are to be put away. Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness are to follow the forgiveness God has given through the Messiah.

The Spirit’s presence remains within this instruction. Paul tells the people not to grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom they are sealed for the day of redemption.

The Spirit’s gift is not detached from their daily relationships. How they speak and act matters within the life God is forming.

Peace cared for through faithful action

Acts and Ephesians approach shared life from different settings. Acts records an actual failure of provision and the community’s response. Ephesians explains belonging and teaches the conduct appropriate to it.

Together, they help us recognise that harmony must be cared for. It grows through truthful speech, fair arrangements, patient relationships, and the willingness to change what harms another person.

The family’s calling is more than living politely beside one another. These people have been brought near to the Father and are being formed as His dwelling through the Spirit. Their care serves that covenant life.

We can begin where responsibility is ours. Hear a concern. Correct a failure. Speak truthfully. Share work fairly. Let received forgiveness become a reason for tenderness rather than a reason to ignore harm.

Such responses help us practise the peace of the household to which we belong.

Search the passages yourself

• Whose need is neglected in Acts 6, and how is the concern addressed?
• What qualities are required of those appointed to oversee the work?
• How does Ephesians 2 describe the former distance and present belonging of its readers?
• Through whom, and by whom, do both groups have access to the Father?
• What connection does Paul make between truthfulness and being members of one another?
• How do work, speech, kindness, and forgiveness serve the household’s shared life?

Continue reading: Hebrews 3:7–14; 4:1–16, Luke 1:30–33, and Revelation 20:4–15; 21:1–8,22–27; 22:1–5. Notice the call to encourage one another against a hardened heart, the promise of God’s rest, Yeshua’s kingship, and the life of the people in His final dwelling. You may divide these readings between two sittings.

Read the passages: Acts 6 · Ephesians 2 · Ephesians 4