Week #22 — ANTIFRAGILE MESSAGE AND MESSENGERS
Nassim Nicholas Taleb released his prescient book, The Black Swan, in April of 2007, more than a year before the financial crisis that swept across the world. Taleb argued that our models of human behavior, capital markets, and the world are inevitably flawed because they cannot account for unknown, irremovable risks. Thus, says Taleb, we cannot predict or properly regulate ‘black swans’ (unexpected events), so we must instead build systems that can handle them. Taleb further developed this idea in his 2012 book, Antifragile. Systems, organizations, and people who are ‘antifragile,’ argues Taleb, neither crumble when unknown crises hit (fragile), nor do they remain the same (robust). To be ‘antifragile’ is to actually improve or get better as a result of the crises.
Does any of this relate to the Bible or the Gospel? You bet. Stephen’s speech and martyrdom in Acts 7 mark the beginning of the great persecution of the Jerusalem church. Yet, unlike the world or its markets, the Gospel message and the New Testament messengers are truly antifragile. Rather than allowing Christ-followers to hide away or give up, the Lord uses this persecution as the launch point for taking the Gospel to the nations. Today, we carry that same antifragile message to a world that desperately needs it. Will we, too, be antifragile Christ-followers?
Read Acts 8:1-8 together, and then go through the discussion questions.
In Christ,
Pastor Ken
Week #22 — Questions
- In v2, we see that “devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.” Why is it significant that Scripture highlights grief—even for a faithful believer who died well? What does this teach us about Christian lament? Based on this, what should funerals look like when it is a Christian who died?
- How do you personally respond to the death of a faithful Christian? What does v2 teach us about holding together deep sorrow and deep hope? How can we do this well?
- How extensive was the persecution that arose after Stephen’s death (see v1-3)? What details show that this was not isolated opposition but a coordinated effort to crush the church?
- When hardship, opposition, disruption, or even persecution enters your life, what tempts you most—to retreat or to go silent? Why? How can we instead trust God and keep bearing witness?
- How does Luke portray Saul’s actions in this passage? Why do you think it is important to see clearly the severity of his opposition before his later conversion? What does this tell us about those who appear far from or even hostile toward the Lord?
- Who were the “scattered” and who stayed in Jerusalem? Despite the persecution, v4 says those who were scattered “went about preaching the word.” What does this reveal about the message and the messengers—where their confidence and calling truly lie?
- Jesus had promised that His witnesses would go to Judea and Samaria (see Acts 1:8). How does this persecution become the very means God uses to fulfill that promise?
- Have you experienced a season where God used unwanted change, loss, or “scattering” to advance his work in or through you? How might this passage help you interpret present or future disruptions through the lens of God’s sovereign plans?