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So reading from Acts 6 and we're going to start at verse 1.

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Hear the word of the Lord.

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In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among

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them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the

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daily distribution of food.

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So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to

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neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

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Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the

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Spirit and wisdom.

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We will turn the responsibility over to them and we will give our attention to prayer and

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the ministry of the word.

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This proposal pleased the whole group.

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They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

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So Philip, Procarus, Niconore, Tymon, Parmenes and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

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They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them.

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So the word of God spread.

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The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became

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obedient to the faith.

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I'm reading from 1 Timothy 3, 8-13.

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In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much

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wine and not pursuing dishonest gain.

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They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

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They must first be tested and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as

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deacons.

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In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers, but temperate

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and trustworthy in everything.

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A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household

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well.

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Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in the faith

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in Christ Jesus.

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Good morning everyone.

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If we haven't met before, my name is Michael.

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I am pastor here of Grace Christian Church.

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It's absolutely delightful to have you all with us.

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And just a note for the parents, after the sermon we would ask you to collect your little

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ones but they'll be waiting at the top of the stairs for you because we need them to

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be signed out.

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So we want them to witness what will be happening in our midst this morning which is a very

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special thing that is happening in the life of our church.

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Before we get into the texts that we have before us this morning, would you please pray

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with me in asking God to help us understand them?

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Father God, we thank you that you have gathered us together for another week to come around

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your word, to be edified, to be lifted up, to be shown Christ.

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And this morning Lord we ask that as we are looking at a particular subject, a particular

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office that you've given to the church, we would ask that we would all see the hope that

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we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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We ask for this in His name and for His sake.

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Amen.

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It is great to have you on this very special day where we will be ordaining Dave Dunstall

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and Joel Gritter as our new deacons.

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Now before we go ahead and lay hands on these men, I thought that this would be a good opportunity

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to have a look at why we have this very important office in the church in the first place.

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And I want to do this because we don't primarily want to gather together today to ordain these

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men, though it's a very exciting thing to do.

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No, we primarily want to give glory to God who is doing His continual work among us here

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at Grace Christian Church as it is He who makes Himself known through this particular

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office and the servants that He raises up to take it.

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So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, it would be handy to have them open at the

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passages that were read out by the lovely wives of these men, being Acts 6 and 1 Timothy

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3, and I'm aiming at just two things for you to understand before we ordain our deacons

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this morning.

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Two things.

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The first thing I want you to see is what is a deacon?

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And the second thing that I want you to see is what does a deacon do?

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That's right, two very simple points that I want you to understand before we ordain

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Dave and Joel.

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What is a deacon and what does a deacon do?

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So with that said, let's pick our texts up.

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Sorry, if you have your Bibles with you this morning, we'll look at our first text being

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Acts 6.

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These are the words of the Lord.

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In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among

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them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the

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daily distribution of food.

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So the twelve gathered, all the disciples together and said it wouldn't be right for

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us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables.

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Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the

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spirit and wisdom.

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We'll turn this responsibility over to them and we'll give our attention to prayer and

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the ministry of the Word.

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This proposal pleased the whole group and they chose seven guys and you heard those

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names wonderfully read out for us just before.

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I won't go through them again.

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They presented them to the apostles, they prayed for them and they laid their hands

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on them and we read, so the Word of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased

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rapidly.

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Church, the first thing that I want you to see here is that a deacon is a person who

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has been raised by God and recognised by the Church to physically serve others.

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That's what deacons are raised up for, it's to physically serve others.

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And I want to have a look at the context of Acts to help us understand this role a little

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more clearly.

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You see, something incredible had happened in the early Church.

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Acts tells us that after the ascension of Jesus that the Holy Spirit was poured out

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and Peter then delivered one of the most powerful sermons to which around 3,000 people were

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saved and then added to the local congregation there in Jerusalem.

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So what you have is a picture of an absolute explosion of people on a tiny little group

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of disciples that needed to get themselves in order quick smart.

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Think about it.

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Jesus started off as a lone rabbi in Galilee, he then collected people from little Jewish

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villages to be his disciples but by the time you get to the end of his earthly ministry

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and crucifixion he's all but abandoned by a few people.

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Granted after his resurrection he appears to over 500 people but then we're told in

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Acts 1 in that first prayer meeting in the upper room that there was only about 120 people.

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So that growth of 3,000 in just one day is absolutely awesome.

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I mean we've seen wonderful and beautiful growth here at Grace Christian Church in just

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the last year.

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But imagine if you will for a moment if we went from this little flock here this morning

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to an added 3,000 people in just a day, you could imagine it.

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We'd be needing to have a think about all the various things that go along with it.

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And that was the same here with the church in Acts.

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They were overjoyed that the Lord had added so many to their number that in fact we read

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that they praised the Lord with glad and sincere hearts in Acts 2.

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It was an occasion and an occasion for celebration but as we know and have experienced on such

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a minute level here more people mean more work.

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It's inevitable.

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Now something that I want you to keep in mind here, we don't all come from the same walks

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of life and that was no different in the early church.

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There were some who were very wealthy so that they could sell all that they had to help

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others and others needed to be helped.

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Because not everyone who was saved into the church was materially well off.

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And so we read that there was very generous people in the congregation who knew that about

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their new found brothers and sisters in the Lord.

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And they wanted to help them.

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They wanted to help them practically and make sure that they were taken care of.

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But there was a problem.

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And that problem was the sheer number of people who were being added to the church daily.

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Now hear me loud and clear this morning.

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The problem wasn't the people in and of themselves.

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People being saved and added to the church is awesome.

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Bring it on we say.

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Yes and amen.

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Now the problem was that some in the church were starting to be neglected because of the

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incredible rate of growth.

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It's as we read here.

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The problem of neglect in this particular context was between two groups of widows.

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We don't have all the time to go into this this morning but it seems that the Hebraic

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or Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem were keenly aware that they served a God who

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deeply cares for widows.

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We see that all through the Old Testament.

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And they must never be neglected by God's people.

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So the Christians who had that background in Judaism were on the front foot of making

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sure that those with no husband who were coming into the church were looked after by the church.

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However the Hellenistic Jews, those that most likely didn't live in Jerusalem who were Greek

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speaking, well for whatever reason they didn't receive the same treatment.

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They were being overlooked.

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And so we see a problem.

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And that problem was a great need for something to happen to meet those specific needs.

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There was growth and that's absolutely amazing.

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The Lord, He loves to add to His church.

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However the church was keenly aware that looking after the vulnerable, no matter how big the

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church gets, no matter how quick it's growing, is also extremely important to the Lord we

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serve as well.

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And they had to do something about it.

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So what we see is that the apostles, they gather all the disciples together to sort

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this problem out.

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Now notice it if you will, the problem wasn't that the church was being neglected spiritually.

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But some were being neglected physically.

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But there is a real danger here that I want you to see.

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They were in real danger at this moment in time of neglecting the Word and prayer so

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that people could be physically looked after.

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That was a real danger but notice instead of just continuing to focus on spiritual matters

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and ignore all the physical needs among them, the apostles, those who were responsible,

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who were ordained and tasked for feeding and leading the flock of God, they looked at holding

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the two things together.

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But it's simply those who were responsible for serving the church in the ministry of

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the Word understood that they couldn't leave.

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No, they shouldn't leave that great responsibility in order to meet the needs of those among

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them physically, though they knew that physical needs should never be neglected.

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And this is incredible if you think about it.

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On the one hand, it lets you know how important, how vitally important the preaching of the

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Word for the people of God is.

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But on the other hand, it tells you that people's physical needs are important to our God too.

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And so the leaders appeal to the church for godly men to take on the task of looking after

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God's people in a physical sense so they could continue looking after God's people in a spiritual

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sense.

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What we have here at church isn't an either or situation.

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And this is important for us to note and apply here at Grace Christian Church, because we

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have to be very, very careful of not leaning one way or the other.

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I mean, if we were all about serving the community of Armidale and making ourselves the best

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community centre that this city has ever seen at the expense of neglecting the Word of God,

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then all we're doing is simply turning ourselves into a Christian fun centre where we don't

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actually have any good news to tell people or to disciple people in.

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Waving people to hell whom we've fed, clothed and warded.

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Is there great need in our community?

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Absolutely.

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And does God care about great needs in our community?

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Absolutely.

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But not at the expense of His Word being neglected, because we are told it is the gospel that

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is the power unto salvation for everyone who believes.

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And that faith, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word.

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The Word's preached, it's vitally important for both the people of God and the community

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around us.

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But for a moment this morning, let's think about this whole situation from the other

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way around.

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Notice that the apostles don't say, you know, people's souls, they're so much more important

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than their bodies and we're just going to leave them to do the best they can do because

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we need to preach the Word.

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That's not what we see here.

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And so we must be aware that those churches are called to keep our doctrine pure and hold

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fast to the truth of the gospel, that we don't in the doing neglect meeting people's real

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physical needs with the people that we're responsible for.

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Neither one of these scenarios that I just gave is biblical when it comes to the church.

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In other words, it's not an either or situation.

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It's a both and.

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Both and.

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We proclaim the gospel with boldness, we disciple people in the Word of God, however at the

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same time we give our lives to make the gospel known among our own people and those out there

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in our community with all we are and do.

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It's a wonderful picture that's set out for us here.

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And that's what we see here.

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The apostles say we're going to give our whole attention to the preaching of the gospel and

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to prayer, but we know there are real physical needs among us.

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And so we're going to raise up a whole class of offices in the church whose fundamental

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job is to serve those real physical needs.

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It's a wonderful picture of the church in action.

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Not just in Word, which grows the church, which matures the church, but indeed which

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shows the people of God tangible love.

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It's a wonderful picture.

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Brothers and sisters, deacons are a vital part of that picture.

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They're a vital part of the ministry of the gospel in this world.

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They're specific men chosen by God and confirmed by the people of God, chosen to meet the needs

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of the people so that the Word of God might be proclaimed with boldness and without hindrance.

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There's so much more than waiters.

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No, God wants us to know that these men who were raised up for this position, they're

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spirit-filled men, men who are full of his wisdom, men that hold fast to the truth of

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the gospel and meet certain Christ-like qualifications.

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Paul clearly lays them out for us in our next text, if you have that before you, in 1 Timothy

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3.

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In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much

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wine and not pursuing dishonest gain.

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They must hold, keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

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They must first be tested and then, if there's nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

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A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household

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well.

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Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith

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in Christ Jesus.

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Now, I hope you've seen this morning as we've looked at Acts, certain men are called aside

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to function in the role of deacon.

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However, the way in which that service is carried out varies from time to time and even

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from church to church because not all situations are the same for all time.

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I mean, we don't have an Acts 6 situation on our hands just yet.

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I'm speaking hopefully, of course.

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But in saying that, the qualification for deacon, that's permanent for all time.

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And it's here in these verses that I've just read out that we have those qualifications

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spelt out for us.

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In other words, what we have here is what the church, we, the church, the people of

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God are to look for in a man who would serve us in this way.

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We're going to have a look at this list in just a moment, but I just want you to have

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a couple of things on your radar before we dive into it.

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First, you might notice that the whole thing begins with in the same way.

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Those words, in the same way.

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And what Paul is doing here, he's focusing us in on just like the elders, the deacons

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are to reflect the character of Christ as well.

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In other words, like elders, deacons are to be godly, self-controlled Christian men qualified

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by their desire to serve and by their embrace of the Christian faith and their proven character.

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They desire to serve.

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That's important, but notice this, they're also characterized by a life that is being

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shaped by the work and the grace of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

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And it's evident for the church to see.

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If I was to say that simply, there's a list of qualifications that the deacon is to have

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on their CV so that the church can see the grace of God at work in his life and recognize

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them for the role.

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Second, there's also a difference with the elders in that deacons aren't set aside to

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lead the church or teach.

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That is a role that is reserved for elders.

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As we've seen this morning, the deacons assist the elders so they can be given over to prayer

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and preaching while the deacons meet the practical needs of the people.

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I think what Paul's giving us here is a picture of two ordained officers in the church working

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together to serve the church in both word and deed.

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I like to think about it, it's going to fall a bit short, but I like to think about it

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like a footy team where each guy has a different role on the field.

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It's not like the elders are on the sidelines screaming at the deacons to go and kick a

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goal and the congregation is just cheering on from the stands.

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No, each person in the game is ordained in their position, working together to get the

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job done.

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To put that another way, elders and deacons work together in complementary roles for the

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church.

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The elders lead the people in their position while the deacons serve the people in theirs.

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I think we're meant to have a picture of two ordained officers working together to serve

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the church in word and deed.

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So with that said, let's have a quick look at the qualifications.

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First, the deacons need to be honourable men.

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That means that they're genuine, authentic men that are not given over to gossip or slander.

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We also want to see that they're self-controlled, meaning they don't flip out in anger or have

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a problem with addiction, so as to hinder them from displaying the glory of Christ and

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the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, both in and outside of the church.

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Second, they're to be a sacrificial giver.

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What I mean by that is that they're not looking to the office to pursue dishonest gain.

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We had a look at this in Acts 6 just before, didn't we?

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The role, it requires that these people are going to have some part in the distribution

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of the funds.

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And so we don't want someone who's in that role, who's looking for personal gain, walking

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away with something in their own pockets.

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We're all called to be generous people.

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God wants you and me to be generous people, which means that the deacons will have a certain

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amount of responsibility with our money that is given in order to help other people.

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We want to be able to trust these men and see that this money, these gifts, these sacrifices

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are used in the best, most God-honouring way.

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Third, they're to be devoted to the Word of God.

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Now, as I said before, that doesn't mean that they need to teach the Word of God, but it

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certainly doesn't mean that they shouldn't teach the Word of God either.

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In fact, in that list of men's names that were written, read out for us just before

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by Kayla, one of the men went on to be what is known as an evangelist.

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And the scene is that he wonderfully explained the truth of the gospel from the scriptures

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to a man who had questions.

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And so we want men who aren't just in love with people and serving them, but in love

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with God and wanting to know Him more and more so that when, not if, but when the opportunities

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present themselves, that they're able to lead people to Jesus in the right way, in a truthful

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way.

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Church, we all need to know the Word of God.

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We're all called to share the Word of God with others.

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This includes the deacons.

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However, we're not expecting them to get up from week to week and open the scriptures

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for you.

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Fourth, and certainly not least, there to be a good husband, a good father who leads

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his children in a godly way.

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I want to hit on something important here.

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Does this mean that we are looking for all these qualities in a man with perfection and

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without sin?

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Absolutely not.

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Absolutely not.

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Because if we were looking for perfection, we wouldn't actually have any deacons or elders

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at all.

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In fact, if Paul wanted this perfectly figured out, the church would have gone without elders

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and deacons for 2,000 years if it was required that we meet all of these qualifications perfectly.

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Church, we're all in the same boat when it comes to sin.

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We're all in the same situation when it comes to pouring our heart before God when we fall

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short and when we make mistakes.

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The Bible isn't asking for a perfect man here, but it is giving us things to look for in

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a man that by day by day, season by season, that they are looking more like Christ our

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saviour.

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We are not looking for perfection here at Grace Christian Church.

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It's not the point of what Paul has said, but it is to say when we raise up leaders,

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we want men who are working with the grace of God to reflect the glory of Christ as best

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as possible.

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And so we have these things given to us so that we know what to look for in certain men

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among us whom God is raising in our midst to serve us in this way.

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Church, I began our time this morning by telling you that I essentially wanted to answer two

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questions.

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Those two questions were quite simply, what is a deacon and what does a deacon do?

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Well, let me, as we've gone through these two passages and as we bring them together,

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let me try and summarise what I think we see.

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Deacons are godly men raised by God for a specific role, whom are confirmed by the people

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and ordained by the elders so that they might meet physical needs of the church and thus

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support the elders in the ministry of the word.

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To sum that up and put it as simply as I can, deacons are specific servants that serve in

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a specific way.

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You may have noticed that I also began our time this morning by saying to you that we

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just didn't want to come together today to ordain deacons.

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No, we want to glorify God who is doing his continual work among us here at Grace Christian

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Church by making himself known through this office and the servants that he has raised

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up for it.

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And so I want to leave you with a very specific scene that happened that was recorded by the

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apostle John.

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You might already know the story towards the end of Christ's earthly ministry, he washed

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his disciples' feet and then he said to them, I'm going to give you a new commandment, love

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one another.

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However, what does he go on to say?

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Our Lord goes on to say, love one another as I have loved you, because by this love,

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everyone will know that you're my disciples.

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I want you to hear that.

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We as the people of God are to live and to serve and to love one another, not just in

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word but in like manner as to our Lord.

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And by doing this, by working this love out, our Lord says we will be witnesses to the

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world around us that we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ.

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This is a phenomenal grace that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit.

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We are all sorts of people from all sorts of places, from all sorts of walks of life.

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We come from different backgrounds, different economic circumstances, different experiences,

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different nations, different cultures, yet we all have one Father in heaven, one Spirit.

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We are all gathered in the one Lord Jesus Christ because of the unmerited favour, the

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unmerited love, the grace of God alone.

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Which means if you look around right now in this room, in this very place, in this very

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congregation there is a bond that ties us together, a bond that by God's Holy Spirit

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unites us all.

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Which we are to work out in love and service to one another.

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Brothers and sisters, the deacons, they take this command and they work at making that

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kind of love visible in the life of the church.

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They're men who are raised up among us, who lead us in showing us what tangible love to

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the congregation looks like so that the world might sit up and pay attention.

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Our Lord makes it clear love always expresses itself out in real tangible ways and that

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is the gospel if we think about it.

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The gospel isn't God saying I love you alone but serving us, serving us in that he came

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to the desperate, to the needy and washed us wider than snow in his own precious blood

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and then clothed us in the righteousness of his perfect work.

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The love of God for his people is tangible and in God's kindness he raises up deacons

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to give us a picture of that kind of love among us that we are all, as the church, all

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of us are working out.

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As I've already said, the role of the deacon is vital to the fellowship of believers and

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it complements and supports the elders ministry of prayer and preaching the word.

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We are so, so blessed that God, God, the living God has given us these men to help lead us

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in this, lead us in these physical needs among us.

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Let's pray and then we'll stand and sing.

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Can you please go and collect your little ones if they're downstairs and then I'll ask

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the elders come up and help lead me in ordaining Joel and Dave.

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Thank you, team.