At 6 verse 1. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the
Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the 12
gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to
neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and
sisters, 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. This proposal
pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the
Holy Spirit. Also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus and Nicholas from
Antioch, convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who
prayed and laid their hands on them. So the Word of God spread. The number of
disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became
obedient to the faith. And then if we turn to 1 Timothy 3, verse 8 to 13.
1 Timothy 3 verse 8. In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect,
sincere, not indulging in much wine and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must
keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must
first be tested, then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers
but temperate and trustworthy in everything. A deacon must be faithful to
his wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have
served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in
Christ Jesus. Good morning everyone. It is great to be together praising God
with our voices, praying to Him, singing together. These are all wonderful graces
that our Father God has bestowed upon us, His people. And this morning we're going
to witness an incredible event where our Lord Jesus is going to be magnified in
our midst because of His work that He's doing in His church here in Armidale. But
before we look at the texts that were wonderfully read out for us this morning,
I think we should pray. Let's pray.
Father God, we are so thankful to be here this morning. That in your kindness, in
your grace, in your loving mercy, you have brought us together to come around
your Word, to hear from you this morning. And we ask by the work of your Spirit, that
that would indeed happen. That you would change our minds, that you would cause us
to look at Christ, our beautiful Savior, and to love Him ever so much more. And
that you would change us, change us Father, and use us for your glory. We ask
for this in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen. Well it's great to have you with us
here this morning for this very special time where we will be ordaining Andy
Wagner as our new deacon. Now before we go ahead and lay hands on this man, I
thought that it would be a good opportunity to have a look at why Jesus
has given this very important office to His Church. However, this morning as we
gather, we don't primarily want to gather together to ordain a man, though it's
very exciting to do so. But we primarily want to give glory to Christ who is
doing His continual work among us here at Grace Christian Church and in the
city of Armidale by making Himself known through the preaching of the Word and
through the servants of His Church. So if you have your Bibles with you this
morning, it's going to be very handy to have them open at the passages that were
read out this morning being Acts 6 and 1st Timothy 3, as they show us why the
office of deacon is such a vitally important ministry to the local church.
Also this morning, I just want to say that I'm aiming at just two things for
you to understand before we ordain our deacon. The first thing that I want you
to understand is simply what is a deacon? And the second thing that I want you to
understand is what does a deacon do? That's right, two very simple things that
I'm aiming to help you to understand this morning before we ordain Andy. What
is a deacon and what does a deacon do? So with that said, let's go in order with
which the texts were read out this morning. First with Acts 6. These are the
words of God. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the
Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve
gathered all the disciples together and said it would not be right for us to
neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on
tables. Brothers and sisters, 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. And then we
see seven men that were brought forward, they presented them to the Apostles, they
prayed for them, they laid their hands on them so that the Word of God spread. So
the first thing that I want you to understand is that a deacon is a
servant who has been set aside by God to, and it's in the name, to serve. Now I say
it's in the name because in the Greek the word that sits under our English
translation of deacon is a word that is always associated with service. That's
what the Greek literally means. Deacon means servant when used as a noun or
service when used as a verb, a doing word. And different forms of the word
deacon are actually found over a hundred times in the New Testament. Now that's
not to say the office of deacon, which we're going to look at this morning, is
talked about over a hundred times in the New Testament. No, the noun form is only
specifically used in a few different places, but the Greek word that is
associated with the verb deaconing is found all over the place. And it always
means either serving or ministering to others. Here with the passage that we
have before us we get an understanding of just what the deacons were set aside
to do. But first let's have a look at a bit of context. You see something
incredible had happened in the early church. We read after the ascension of
Jesus in bodily form that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Now
we all know the story. Peter then delivered one of the greatest recorded
sermons in the Bible to which around 3,000 people were saved and then added
to the church. So what you have is an absolute explosion of people on a tiny
little group of disciples that needed to get themselves into order. Quick smart.
Just think about it. Jesus started off his ministry as a lone rabbi in Galilee.
He then collects people from little Jewish villages to follow him as his
disciples. But by the time you get to the end of his earthly ministry and
crucifixion, he's all but abandoned by a few people. Granted after his resurrection
he appears to over 500 people but then we're told in Acts 1 that those in the
upper room, well they numbered only around 120. So that growth of 3,000 in
one day is insane. I mean we've seen wonderful and beautiful growth here in
the last year at Grace Christian Church. But imagine if you will if we went from
this little flock in this room this morning to an added 3,000 in a day. We'd
be needing to think about a whole bunch of things that go along with that. And it
was the same here with the church in Acts. They were overjoyed that the Lord
Jesus had added so many to their number that they broke bread in their homes.
They ate together with glad and sincere hearts we're told. It was an occasion for
celebration. And church when we see the Lord adding to his people it's always
something to celebrate. But as we know more people mean more work. It's
inevitable. Now something to note here. We don't all come from the same walks of
life and it was the same in the early church. There were some who were very
wealthy and who had lots so that they could sell all that they had so as to
help out financially others in the church. And others needed to be assisted
because not everyone who was saved into the church was materially wealthy. And
that's fine as we know material status means nothing to God. And so there were
very generous people in the congregation who knew that about their new found
brothers and sisters in the Lord and they wanted to love them practically and
make sure that they were really taken care of. There was a problem and that was
the sheer number of people who were being daily added to the church. Now the
problem wasn't the people in and of themselves. No that was and is and always
will be the most amazing thing when we see people come to the Lord. Bring it on
we say. The problem was that some in the church namely the widows were starting
to be neglected because of the incredible rate of growth experienced in
the church. Now I want you to notice this. The problem of neglect in context was
between two widow groups. Now we don't have time to go into all of this this
morning but the Jewish Christians were keenly aware that they serve the God who
deeply cares about widows and orphans. He deeply cares about them and they must
never never be neglected. So it seems that the Christians who had that
background in Judaism were keenly aware of making sure that those who had no
husband to look after them were looked after by the church. However the
Hellenistic Jews who were Jews that most likely didn't live in Jerusalem but in
the surrounding countries hence being Hellenistic or Greek speaking didn't
receive the same treatment. So for whatever reason they were being
overlooked in comparison to the widows of the Hebrews. And so we might say here
that there was a great need for servants of the church to raise up and meet those
specific circumstances. There was growth and that's amazing the Lord loves to add
to his church. However the church was keenly aware that providing four people
physically among them is also very important to our God. Not just for the
Jewish widows but for all widows that were among them. They knew that looking
after the vulnerable no matter how big or fast the church was growing was
extremely important to God and so they had to do something about it. And nothing
has changed. Nothing's changed. So being aware of this the 12 gathered all the
disciples to sort the problem out. Now as we're starting to see here the
problem wasn't that the church was being neglected spiritually but that some were
starting to be neglected physically. And there was a danger here that they were
becoming aware of. They were in danger of neglecting the word and prayer so that
people could be physically provided for. And so instead of just continuing to
focus on spiritual matters the Apostles those who were responsible for feeding
and leading the flock looked to hold the two things together. Say it plainly. They
looked at not neglecting those in need among them because they knew that God
cares for those in need. However they knew at the same time that they were
not to neglect the preaching of the word and prayer. We see it right there in
verses 2 through to 4 of Acts 6. In other words those who were and are
responsible for serving the church in the ministry of the Word couldn't leave.
They shouldn't leave that great responsibility in order to meet the
needs of those among them physically though in no way are physical needs ever
to be neglected. I mean that's incredible if you think about it. On the one hand
it lets you know how important the preaching of the Word of God is for the
people of God. But on the other hand it tells you that people's physical needs
are important as well. And so those who would be chosen for this great service
are not just waiters but very much chosen to be put in the position of
supporting the elders in the ministry of the Word among them. Let me explain what
I mean by that. Physically helping the people of God is a very important thing
to do and the Apostles knew that but they also knew that their primary
responsibility was to teach the people of God, to give themselves over to prayer
and provide leadership. However because of the sheer growth of the church they
couldn't do some of those, they were starting to see that there was a danger
of not being able to do those things they were called for. So they appealed
to the church for specific men to take on the task of looking after God's people
in a physical sense so they could continue looking after God's people in a
spiritual sense. We're starting to see something here. This isn't an either or
situation and that is so important to understand and apply to us here at Grace
Christian Church. Brothers and sisters we have to be so careful of not leaning
one way or the other. I mean if we were all about serving the community of
Armidale and making ourselves the best community centre that this city has ever
seen at the expense of neglecting the Word then all we're doing is turning
ourselves into a social justice club where we don't actually have any good
news to tell anyone or disciple anyone in. Waving people to hell whom we are
fed, clothed and watered. Is there a great need in our community? Absolutely and does
God care about those in need among us and out there in Armidale? Absolutely but
not at the expense of His Word being neglected because it is the gospel that
is the power unto salvation for everyone, everyone who believes and faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word. The Word is preached and it is vitally important
for both the people of God and the community around us. It's vitally
important. Let's think about it like this. Notice that people don't come to the
Apostles, present the problem and they say you know people's souls are more
important than their bodies. Let's just leave them. Let's just see how they
figure it out. You know she'll be right man. And I know we might find that
amusing however there could be strong conservative churches that do a great
job of telling it like it is and and knowing what they know in phenomenal
ways. Their doctrine is pure. They hold fast to the truth of the gospel. Amen.
They turn a deaf ear to the people around them because they turn a deaf ear
to the homeless, the starving in their cities and they're not passionate about
meeting real concerns with the people around them. In this text we see there is
a danger and the Apostles beautifully bring out something here. The church can
become so fixated on doing church that we can become inward-looking and forget
about people's real physical needs. But neither one of those pictures is
biblical when it comes to the church. In other words it's not an either-or
situation. It's a both-and. We proclaim the gospel with boldness. We protect the
gospel and it is the news of salvation for everyone. However at the same time we
give our lives and our love to make the gospel known among our own people and to
those who are in great need with all we say and with all we do. It is a beautiful
picture and that's what we see here. The Apostles say we're going to give our
whole attention to the preaching of the gospel but we are going to raise up a
whole class of office in the church whose fundamental job is going to be to
serve those real tangible needs that are among us. I hope you can see something
here brothers and sisters. Deacons they are so much more than waiters. Now they're
specific men chosen by God. They're confirmed by the people of God chosen to
meet the needs of people so that the word can still be proclaimed with boldness
without hindrance. They are a vital part of the ministry of the church. Now as we
can see in the text before us these seven men aren't called deacons here but
undoubtedly they act in that role serving the needs of the people so that
the elders among them could lead the church. It's a beautiful picture of the
church in action not just in word which was growing the church growing the church
but indeed which was assisting and loving the people of God with real
tangible love. It's a beautiful picture we have here. So what are deacons? Well
they are servants chosen by God for a specific role which are confirmed by
the people so that they might meet physical needs of people and thus
support the elders in the ministry of the word. It's what they are and that's
what they do. To put it plainly deacons are specific servants that serve in a
specific way. There's more to say on this and it's already been said a couple of
times this morning. They are so much more than waiters. Now deacons are men who
hold fast to the truth of the gospel and meet certain Christ-like character
qualifications. If you have your Bibles let's have a look at 1st Timothy 3
verses 8 through to 13. We're told in the same way deacons are to be worthy of
respect, sincere not indulging in much wine and not pursuing dishonest gain. They
must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must
first be tested and then if there is nothing against them let them serve as
deacons. In the same way the women or the wives are to be worthy of respect not
malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. A deacon must
be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well.
Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance
in their faith in Christ Jesus. Now as I said before the Greek that sits under
the word deaconing is tied to serving and ministering and that's what we all
do. It's been said wonderfully from this pulpit this morning. That's what we all
do for one another in the body of Christ. Yet as we've also seen this morning
certain men are called and put aside to function in the role of deacon. Now the
way in which this service is carried out varies from time to time and from church
to church because not all situations are the same for all time. I mean we don't
have an axe six situation on our hands here this morning I hope. But in saying
that the qualification of deacon well that's permanent for all time. Permanent.
And it's here in these few verses that I've just read that we have those
qualifications spelt out for us. In other words what we have here is what the
church is to look for in a man who would serve the church in this way. Now I want
you to note a couple of things here before we have a look at this list. First
I want you to notice how the passage I just read began with in the same way. Now
what Paul is focusing in on there is just like the elders of the church the
deacons are to reflect the character of Christ as well. In other words like
elders deacons are to be godly self-controlled Christian men qualified
by their desire to serve and by their embrace of the gospel of the Christian
faith and their proven character. They desire to serve that's important but
notice this they're also characterized by a character that's being shaped by
the grace of the Holy Spirit. And this is evident for the church to see. I want to
say it like this there's a list of qualifications that the deacon it's kind
of got to have on his CV so the church can see the grace of God working in that
man's life and recognize him for that role. Second there are differences with
the elder in that the deacons are not set aside to lead or to teach. That's a
role reserved for the elders of the church. As we've seen this morning the
deacons assist the elders so that they can be given over to prayer and
preaching while the deacon meets the practical needs of the people. I want to
illustrate this and it's like walking a tightrope and your grace is the net
that is under my feet right now. But I like to think about it like a band that
plays well together to make beautiful music. That means the deacons aren't the
roadies that kind of linger to the side while the show goes on. I like to think
they're more like the rhythm section that serve the more frontline instruments
of melody and voice but are still instrumental to the band. To put that
another way elders and deacons work together in complementary roles. The
elders lead the people with the voice while the deacons assist the people with
the hands. And I think we're meant to have a picture of two ordained officers
serving the people of God in word and deed and when working together it
creates a beautiful song for the people of God to sing along with. So with that
said let's have a quick think about a few things that we've read in these
verses this morning and I want to make some general comments for your
consideration. First the deacons need to be honorable men. That means that they
are genuine authentic men that are not given over to gossip or slander. We also
want to see that they're controlled meaning they don't flip out in anger or
have a problem with addiction so as to hinder them from displaying the mercy
the grace and the love of Christ to all those around them inside and outside the
church. Second they're to be a sacrificial
giver. What I mean by that is that they're not looking to the office for
dishonest gain. As we saw in Acts 6 the role requires that they're going to have
some part in the distribution of funds and supplies and we don't want someone
in that role who's lining their own pockets. We are all called all of us to
be generous people. God wants you and me to be generous with what we have which
means that the deacons will have a certain amount of responsibility with
what you give your sacrifices which are given in order to help people. We want to
be able to see what is given being used in the most God-honoring way. Third
they're to be devoted to the Word of God. Now as I said before that doesn't mean
that they have to teach the Word of God but it certainly doesn't mean that they
shouldn't teach the Word of God either. In fact one of the seven that was named
this morning if you read on in Acts he goes on to be an evangelist and we see
that he wonderfully explains to the Ethiopian eunuch who Christ is and how
one might be saved. And so we want men who are not just in love with people and
wanting to help them but in love with God and wanting to know him more and
more and when not if when the opportunities present themselves that
they're able to lead people to Jesus in a way that is right and true. We all need
to know the Word of God and we're all called to share that truth with others.
This includes the deacon however he's not expected to stand up from week to week
and deliver the Word of God. Fourth and certainly not least he is to be a good
husband and a good father who leads his children in a godly way. Now church does
this mean that all these character qualities exist in a man without sin?
Absolutely not. Otherwise we would have no deacons. In fact you wouldn't have
elders. If Paul wanted this perfectly figured out the church would have gone
2,000 years without deacons if it was required that they met all these
qualifications perfectly. No we're all in the same boat when it comes to sin.
We're all in the same situation when it comes to pouring our hearts out to God
when we fall short. When we make mistakes and we all do. The Bible isn't asking for
perfection here but is giving us the church the elders things to look for in
a man who is day by day season by season looking more and more like Christ. We're
not looking for perfection here at Grace Christian Church. That's not the point of
what Paul has given us here but it is to say when we raise up leaders in this
church we want men who are working with the grace of God to reflect his glory as
best as he can. And so we have these things given to us by God so that we can
know what to look for in certain men among us whom God is raising in our midst
to serve us in this way. Church I began our time this morning by telling you
that I essentially wanted to answer just two questions and those two questions
were simply what is a deacon and what does a deacon do. Well hopefully you've
seen as we've looked at these passages that have been read out this morning
that deacons are servants chosen by God for a specific role which are confirmed
by the people of God so that they might meet the physical needs of people and
thus support the elders in the ministry of the word. In other words deacons are
specific servants that serve in a specific way. But I also began our time
this morning by saying to you that we don't just want to ordain a man among us
no we want to glorify Christ who is doing his continual work among all of us
here in this church and in the city of Armidale by making himself known through
the preaching of the word and through all of us his servants. And so I want to
leave you with something this morning leave you to ponder this we see it in
John 13 you might already know the story but towards the end of Christ's earthly
ministry he washes his disciples feet and then he says to them I'm going to
give you a new command simply this love one another. Now we might ask the
question is that really a new commandment well if you know your Bible
you know what Jesus is doing here he's driving home an Old Testament truth a
truth that was given to the people of God from the very beginning in Leviticus.
However what does Jesus go on to say? He doesn't just say love one another he
goes on to say love one another as I have loved you because of this love
everyone everyone will know that you are my disciples. In other words as we the
people of God filled by the Spirit of God live to serve and love one another
not just in word but in deed we will be witnesses to the world around us that we
are truly disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think about this this is a truly
phenomenal grace a phenomenal grace that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit.
We are all sorts of people from all sorts of places with all sorts of walks
of life we come from different backgrounds different economic
circumstances different experiences different nations different cultures yet
we all have one Father in heaven we all have one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we
all have one Holy Spirit we've all been gathered as the people of God through
the life death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we've all been gathered
in him because of the grace of God alone the grace of God alone his unmerited
favor on us alone but there's more right now in this very place in this very
community right where you sit this morning there is a love that's being
poured out by God's Holy Spirit that goes deeper than any physical bond it is
truly by the grace of God that any of this has come about it is the Lord Jesus
Christ we need to hear this this morning it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has been
pleased to add us to his church so that we might shine a light in this world
brothers and sisters the deacons they take the command of that love and they
work at making it visible in the life of the church they are men who are raised
up among us who lead us in showing what tangible love to the congregation
really looks like so that we might learn that we might love and that we might
witness to the world around us our Lord Jesus makes it clear and we see it in
the gospel love is tangible the gospel isn't God telling us he loves us alone
he's shown us he's shown us in the Lord Jesus the love of God for his people is
tangible and in God's kindness he raises deacons to give us a picture of that
gospel centric sacrificial love as I've said this morning already the deacon is
vital to the fellowship of believers he complements and he supports the elders
in the ministry of prayer and the preaching of the word and church we are
so blessed that God has given us a man in this local congregation to help us in
this a specific servant to serve us in a specific way let's pray
Father God we began our time this morning by asking that you would hold
the Lord Jesus Christ high among us and so that we would look to him and we
thank you that the gospel is something a love that is so tangible a mark in
history a real-life event that we can look to and see both your wrath on our
sin and your love poured out simultaneously father we thank you for
the Lord Jesus there are no words to express there is no worse to express the
Lord Jesus father you are a good awesome God we ask that you would please use
this community that we would love one another in the way that you would want
us to love each other and that we would be witnesses to this world around us
Lord we know there are many going to hell around us please use this church
for your glory and for the sake of Jesus in his name we pray amen