One of the most important measures of a good leader is in how he handles criticism.
Does he act? Or, does he react?

I was particularly struck by this reading recently of the apostles when they were confronted with criticism in Acts chapter 6:

“Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.” (Acts 6:1)

The church was prospering.
Yes, they had faced increasing opposition from outside (chs 4-5); more recently they had had to face up to serious sin uncovered among two of the members (ch 5).
Yet for all that, “the number of the disciples was multiplying.”

Then comes this complaint.
It is not a complaint from outside the church, but from inside.
And it is not against a couple of members, but against the “Hebrews”, and implicitly against the apostles themselves.

How to respond?

REACT?

I reflected on how I have seen some leaders respond to similar criticism over my many years in the ministry. I reflected on how I myself have been tempted to respond at times.

How could the apostles have reacted badly?

“Give us a break”
“Give us a break. We have more than five thousand souls to look after. We hardly get any time with our own families. We are doing our best. You should be supporting us, not criticising.”

“You are making an accusation”
“The Bible says: ‘Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.’ (1 Tim 5:19) Here you are, accusing us of favoritism, sexism, racism and ageism, by (you say) neglecting the elderly women who are foreigners. This is a slur upon our integrity; you have sinned against the leadership.”

“Just focus on evangelism”
“Look at how successful the church has become under our leadership through our focus on evangelism – I mean, five thousand members and growing! Your focus on ‘good works’ is a distraction from what you should be focusing on.[1] So, stop complaining; you are like the Israelites who continually complained against Moses, with whom the Lord was angry and whose corpses fell in the wilderness.”

“Touch not the Lord’s anointed”
 “How dare you criticise us. We are the leadership; not just leaders, but apostles called by God. The Bible warns: ‘Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.’ (1 Chron 16:22, Psa 105:15) You are attacking us, the Lord’s anointed.”[2]

Dr. Lopes aptly comments:

“Men of God, those anointed by Him for pastoral work, don’t reply to disagreements, criticisms, and questioning by shutting the mouths of the sheep with ‘don’t touch the Lord’s anointed,’ but with work, arguments, truth, and sincerity.
“ ‘Don’t touch the Lord’s anointed’ is the reply of those who do not have an argument or an example to give as an answer.”

Sometimes leaders can be a bit precious. The godly leader is not to react like the above when faced with criticism.
Even though (as may be the case) the criticism may be unfounded and unfair, or at least greatly exaggerated, even then it is important a leader doesn’t just react defensively.
Rather let him act; act maturely. And let him respond “with work, arguments, truth, and sincerity.”

ACT

Acts chapter 6 provides us with a wonderful example.
Whether, or how much, the criticism was justified we are not told. Though it would seem there was at least something of a problem that needed to be addressed.

1. Be Gentle

“A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all.” (2 Tim 2:24)

The apostles didn’t react. They were not hypersensitive and just go on the defensive.
They respond positively and gently.

A Concrete Example:

The Bible entreats all of us: “Let your gentleness be known to all men” (Phil 4:5).
Paul wrote those words in a certain context: There were a couple of women in the church in Philippi who had fallen out with each other; this was causing problems in the church.
Paul counsels his friend there: “I urge you, help these women…” (Phil 4:3), i.e. he advocates a “gentle” approach: “Help these women”.
They are fellow believers and sisters in the Lord. They are not simply trouble-makers; they are: “these women who laboured with me in the gospel.” Paul owns them among his “fellow workers” – along with those far more well-known, such as: Epaphroditus, Timothy, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, Clement and that notable wife and husband team: Priscilla and Aquila.

Sadly I have seen firsthand where some in churches have fallen out with each other, and the “mediators” come in all geared up for battle. They don’t come in as peace-makers. Instead they come in, put out that they have to put themselves out to sort out the mess.
Especially if women are involved, leaders who let male-leadership go to their heads can get particularly irritated with women who, they think, are causing trouble.

What was it that shaped Paul’s thinking? : “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In lowliness of mind look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Phil 2:4-5)So he urges his friend in the church: “In lowliness of mind look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of [these two dear sisters in the Lord].”
Too hard? No! Not if we truly believe (as Paul goes on to say, in Phil 4:13): “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”[3]

2. Get Your Priorities Right

As important as gentleness is in resolving disputes, so too it is essential to get your own priorities right. It is easy to lose perspective when we lose sight of what is most important.

The apostles got their priorities right: “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.” (Acts 6:2)
Rather than trying to micromanage the situation, they first got into focus what their own primary responsibility was: “to give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (v 4)

But if they were to do what God had called them to do, they had to trust the Spirit to equip others to take up other responsibilities. Leaders who try and micromanage everyone’s work in the church, end up failing big time in doing their own work.

3. Keep a Balance

It is a temptation, when facing criticism, to overstate your case and lose a balance.
Yes, the apostles could’ve become so focused on evangelism that nothing else mattered.
But as important as evangelism is for the life of the church, so too is caring for widows.

The apostles recognised the priority of “prayer and the ministry of the word” if “the number of the disciples” was to continue to “multiply.”
But they never lost sight of this, that: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (Jas 1:27)

Later Peter and John, along with James, endorsed Paul in his evangelistic zeal to take the gospel to the Gentiles. But at the same time, “they desired only that we should remember the poor,” which “very thing I also was eager to do,” says Paul (Gal 2:10).
He was not so focused on the one that he disparaged the other.

4. Look for a God-Honouring Solution

“Brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” (Acts 6:3)

It is significant that these first “deacons” (as they are sometimes called) were not just a Committee of Management, good at handling money. The were to be spiritual men (“men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”) whose ministry of mercy was motivated by a genuine desire to honour the Lord.
Typically, one of them is noted as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 6:5)

5. Aim for a Practical Solution that Promotes Peace

It would have been easy to select any suitably qualified seven men. But it is significant, I think, that all seven have Greek, not Hebrew, names: “Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch” (Acts 6:5-6).

Bruce Milne comments:

“They are all Greek, and therefore primarily drawn from the Hellenistic element in the church, the quarter from which the complaint had arisen. It is true that occasionally ‘Greek names were used by Palestinian Jews but, apart from Philip, these are unlikely names for Palestinians.’ This is extremely meaningful. Those who had a sense of being wronged were the ones primarily entrusted with putting matters right.”

Peace-makers need to be pragmatic and sensitive to the sensibilities of those involved, as well as being spiritual. “The heart of the righteous studies how to answer.” (Prov 15:28)

“The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” (Jas 3:17)

6. Trust God for the Outcome

Far from this “diversion” hindering the focus on evangelism, it strengthened the work of gospel outreach, so that even some priests of Judaism were converted:

“Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. And a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” (Acts 7:7)

A church never loses out by wisely and gently addressing problems causing disunity in its midst. Indeed Jesus Himself said that the unity of God’s people is fundamental to its effective witness in the world:

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Joh 13:35)

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (Joh 17:20-21)

FINAL COMMENTS

“Touch not the Lord’s anointed” refers, not first and foremost to the “prophets” and leaders among God’s people, but to God’s people themselves. God spoke these words about the nation of Israel:

“He remembers His covenant forever… saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance… When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no one to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.’” (Psalm 105:8-15)

Calvin comments on this verse:

“God protects his people, not only upon a general ground, but because he has declared on account of his free adoption, that he will maintain them.”

Also the ESV Study Bible:

“This (with the companion 1 Chron. 16:22) is the only place in the OT that uses the plural of ‘anointed one’, applying it here to the family of Abraham (perhaps treating the descendants as included in the ancestor). God calls Abraham and his offspring his ‘anointed ones’ because he specially selected them to be his people.”

Leader beware! Do not react and abuse the trust committed to you as a leader lest you yourself become guilty of “touching the Lord’s anointed”.

The apostles were deeply concerned for “the Lord’s anointed” i.e. for the total welfare of those under their care, physical as well as spiritual. Having “that mind which was also in Christ Jesus, in lowliness of mind [they] were looking out not only for [their] own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Finally, a word from Alistair Begg:

“Friction will come. We will mess up. So we are going to need to bear with one another in love. We are going to have to be patient toward each other. We are going to need to ‘make every effort’ to maintain the unity the Spirit brings us into when He brings us into God’s family by faith (Ephesians 4: 3, NIV).
“In other words, we are going to need to be Christlike, for it is His selfless agape love that shows us how to sacrificially love one another and overcome conflict.”[4]

[1] After a service at “his” church, Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll once told off a leader who was giving comfort and advice to a distraught member to stop what he was doing and to get out to the lobby to catch any newcomers before they left.

[2] Among others, Benny Hinn frequently threatens: “If you touch servants of God you will be judged severely.” “If you raise your voice against a man of God, even if that man is wicked, sickness will come upon you.” Benny’s nephew, Costi Hinn, has since distanced himself from his uncle, testifying: “If you speak against them, you would be cursed – that was the way we were taught. So, we grew up with a lot of fear, never to question their theology, their teaching, or even their lifestyle.”

[3] See further here. Also, here.

[4] Alistair Begg Truth for Life: 365 Daily Devotions October 8