We've been a little topsy-turvy this morning. They probably have caught on that the printer went kaput.
There's a whole story there.
Yeah, thank you to the band for being willing to pivot.
I typically try to pay attention to the song just before preaching so I know when it's ending.
We clearly caught that I wasn't sure what we were about to do there.
We're going to begin this morning in Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7.
There's one other text we'll go to before we read it together.
I'd like to say a few introductory comments.
Last week in this, we're taking a break from our normal verse-by-verse exposition of a Bible text
because from time to time and for a specific purpose,
it can be helpful to summarize what the Bible teaches on a given topic.
There's a topic before us. What does the Bible say about this?
Now, this is the second of two weeks taken to think together about the offices of the church.
As Gary mentioned earlier in his prayer, church polity or governance is what we're thinking about,
particularly because we need to think as a church about the office of deacon.
As stated last week, this office has been neglected in the life of our church,
and I want you to hear, this is exactly what I said last week,
that I will be the first to admit that this is to my shame.
There's much that I could say about that.
I'll spare you all of my thoughts there.
To get there, to get to talking about deacons,
Last week we considered the office of elder and how that office works with the congregation.
How we together are led by elders to do congregational work.
The church of Jesus Christ is precious because it is purchased by his blood.
His universal church finds its expression in local churches.
We exist, this gathering here this morning,
because of his redeeming life, death, and resurrection.
He loves us so much that he lived and died, was raised and ascended for us.
He loves us so much that he has not left us alone.
He sends his helper, the Holy Spirit.
He has given us his word and he has given us the church.
He loves local churches.
I hope you love the local church in just a small measure of the way he loves local churches.
And he loves local churches so much that he's given us instruction for how we are to govern the local church.
Polity, not boring at all.
And it matters for every single one of us.
Every church has a polity.
All are functioning in some way, some better than others.
We want to be as biblical as we can be in our polity
because we think that Jesus loves the church
and he's given us instructions for how we are to be effective at the mission that he's given to us.
We most regularly call our polity elder-led congregationalism.
And I added last week for our thinking, elder-led, deacon-assisted congregationalism.
Now, I'm not sure that deacon-assisted is the best phrase.
I think it could be misunderstood what I mean by that.
It's probably not going to make its way into our normative vernacular concerning our polity,
but I want to be clear today what I mean by that
and help us think about the role this office serves in the church.
I hope that I showed you sufficiently last week from Ephesians 4
that the congregation of a local church,
the whole congregation,
is to teach one another the truth and apply that truth in our lives.
So the congregation is responsible for holding to sound doctrine.
The truth we're supposed to speak to each other in love, we find in Ephesians 4.
Then again, I hope sufficiently, I showed you from Matthew 16 and then Matthew 18,
that the congregation is meant to correct sin in one another's lives.
We're supposed to point out to one another when we're sinning against each other
and against the Lord for the sake of repentance.
And in some process and sad cases, to see somebody outside of the church
because they can't possibly be a Christian if they're living in unrepentant.
Sin.
So the congregation is responsible for discipling.
Perhaps nowhere more clearly states the purpose of the church
than Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20.
There Jesus says,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,
and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
This is the mission that we call the Great Commission given to the church.
And of course, that works itself out in local congregations.
So the congregation is doing the holding sound doctrine work and the discipling work.
Congregation as a whole.
Mission of the church in total.
And greater certainly includes the lesser.
So it's the mission of our church.
This congregational process is meant to be led by elders and assisted by deacons.
Now, here is where that phrase, right, could be so clearly misunderstood.
Perhaps supported by deacons?
Rather than me going through a litany of other possible verbs,
allow me just a quick analogy to kind of explain what I mean.
There's a really wonderful, I would argue, seminal work by a man named Colin Marshall
and another named Tony Payne called The Trellis and the Vine.
And in that book, which is really a plea for congregationalism,
for the whole church to be doing the work of ministry,
they start with an analogy.
And one of the two men, I can't remember which,
talks about a jasmine vine that he has growing on his fence.
And it's a flourishing, beautiful vine.
And behind that vine, attached to the fence, is a trellis.
And so what he sets up is that there are some works that need to be going on
in the life of a church that are to support the most important work
that should be going on in the life of the church.
So vine work in a church is the work of ministering the gospel to one another, right?
This holding sound doctrine and this discipling work that we talked about last week.
The trellis work is that work which holds up the vine.
So the trellis is not unnecessary, but it's necessary for the vine work to flourish.
And so that's what I mean when I say deacon-assisted or perhaps supported, right?
Holding up, making possible this very important work of congregationalism.
So I hope that gets our brains moving in the right direction.
In Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7.
Let me pray before I read it.
Father God, we do thank you for your great love for the church.
We recognize that Jesus shed his very blood for the people that gather together on Sunday mornings
and sing and pray, open your word, that we might worship Christ rightly.
What a thing it is that today we are gathered, that people are gathered all over the place.
What a wonderful picture of your grace.
Even just those in this room are immeasurable reason to praise you.
We thank you that you've given us your word and you've shown us how we're to be ordered
under your good, loving, kind authority.
We humbly recognize that we need your help to rightly understand it and give it application.
We pray to this end that you would help us for the glory of Jesus.
Amen.
All right.
Acts chapter 6, beginning in verse 1.
Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists
arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
That would have been Greek-speaking Jews.
And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said,
It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute,
full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
And what they said pleased the whole gathering.
And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,
and Philip, and Procurus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas,
a proselyte of Antioch.
I read those so confidently, you think that's how those are pronounced.
I don't have a clue.
These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.
And a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
All right, so we can make some profitable observations about the office of deacon from this text.
This is understood, this text, to be the origin of the diaconal ministry.
These seven, the very first deacons.
So that's the first observation.
Here it is.
We think in the history of the church, these are the first deacons.
So we begin with a problem, right?
In these days, the disciples were increasing in number.
There's a great number of people professing faith in Christ.
The church in Jerusalem is growing in droves,
and this complaint arises between two ethnic groups of people, right?
There's a distribution problem going on, right?
The growth is a good problem, but with that growth comes some complexity.
Some challenges have arisen in the process.
This division along these cultural lines,
and it's coming out in a very practical issue, right?
Widows are being denied daily distribution.
They're not getting the food that they need.
It's not merely a logistical failure.
It's a threat to the very unity of the church.
Notice how it is that the apostles respond.
It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
I don't believe that this is a statement of superiority.
I don't think they're saying, well, it's below us
that we would spend any of our time in service this way.
That word serve is where we get our word for deacon from.
I don't think they're saying that at all.
What I think they're saying is that it's a statement of priority.
The apostles understand that Christ has entrusted them
with the ministry of the word and prayer, verse 4.
If they neglect that, the entire church is going to suffer for it.
So what do they do?
There's a real need going on, but there's a priority at play.
So they call together the congregation to appoint qualified men.
Pick out from among yourselves seven men of good repute,
full of the Spirit, and of wisdom.
Men who have professed faith in Christ and given evidence of that,
and men who are wise.
They take men and they set them apart to handle
the practical needs of the church,
ensuring fairness, care, unity.
And then note the result in verse 7.
And the word of God continued to increase.
You see the connection there?
Remember, when the churches rightly ordered,
the word set themselves to this work of prayer and ministry of the word.
And so the word of God continued to increase.
I think we would all say yes and amen to that, right?
That the word of God would go forth,
take root in people's lives,
show the evidence of repentance and faith.
So that's the first thing we notice.
This is the initial.
This is the situation when we see this diaconal ministry arise.
Second, we can note some things about the nature
and then the specific purposes of the office of deacon.
Now, the church has historically recognized this passage
as the prototype of what this type of ministry should look like.
Deacons are servants.
Servants.
That's what the word means.
Intentional, recognized, qualified servants
who are tasked with meeting the tangible needs in the body.
You could separate spiritual and physical needs in this way.
Physical needs are being met by these individuals.
They are not elders.
They are not spiritual overseers,
but they are servants of Christ for the good of his church.
So this is the nature of who these people are to be.
From Acts 6, we can draw out four purposes,
specific purposes of the diaconal office.
Why should we call people to serve in this way?
The first purpose is to care for the physical needs of the church.
It's fairly on the nose.
Here in Acts 6, they appointed men
who will do the work of caring for these neglected widows.
We're not given details.
We don't know exactly how this took out,
but it is probable that as the growing number of this early church was large,
that these men were not themselves doing all of the work.
It's just my guess.
It's my years of serving and leading.
I just don't feel like seven is quite enough to get the task done,
although I don't know the total number.
But I would be willing to bet
that they were organizing people to accomplish the task.
They are serving by helping others serve this need.
And this ensured that, number one,
there was physical well-being amongst this group of widows,
so that their spiritual well-being could be addressed.
They just eliminated the issue of being taken care of now,
and now their spiritual well-being can be the focus.
And that thirdly, it served as a witness to the onlooking world.
Just think, Jesus says in John 13 and verse 35,
by this all people will know that you are my disciples
if you have love for one another.
So there it is on display as this group of widows was being neglected,
and now those needs are being met.
There are people in place to make sure
that there's some kind of mechanism
that these women would be loved,
and the onlooking world can marvel
at that kind of service to them.
So they're to care for the physical needs of the church.
Secondly, we can see in Acts 6
that they're to protect the unity of the church.
There's something going on here.
There's this division with the presenting issue.
The deacons step into this sensitive situation
and ensure that care is distributed fairly and wisely.
Deacons are a kind of shock absorber,
Mark Deber likes to say,
in the life of the church.
They step into moments of tension,
not to wield authority,
but to preserve peace
around things that are physical in nature.
How?
With plans to meet those physical concerns.
They catch the,
hey, I noticed.
A handrail would be really nice right here.
Those types of things.
Keep me from falling down the concrete steps out front.
That was a real issue
that was really met in the life of our church.
It was brought to our attention,
and it needed to be.
So they protect the unity of the church in that way.
Thirdly,
to support the ministry of the word.
It's been said in measure,
but it deserves more of our attention.
The apostles are clear.
We will devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word.
We're going to set our attention
on these two tasks.
Deacons do not replace this ministry.
They protect this ministry.
Again, shock absorbed.
They buffer.
So that ministry can be focused on.
When deacons are faithful,
elders are freed.
When elders are freed,
the word of God is central
in the life of the church.
And when the word is central,
the church is healthy.
This is the downstream effect.
Invariably,
this is how it works.
It's not a competition of roles.
It's a cooperation of callings.
Now,
I want to speak briefly
to my own failure
to work hard
at promoting this office
in our church at this point.
There's a lot of reasons
that I could explain to you.
If you come to our members meeting tonight,
I'll say a bit more.
But I do want to say
it is in no way
because I have a desire
to be in control of anything.
This has been levied at me
from time to time.
Right?
But please note,
this has never been
why I've neglected
and neglected to be sure.
This has been the impulse for me
that largely has driven
my neglect of this good.
And then I want to
bring the corrective as well.
Let me read to you a quote
from The Trellis and the Vine,
the book that I mentioned previously.
So remember the imagery, right?
We're working on vine work.
The vine work is the thing
that's so critical and important.
It is the mission of the church.
And then the trellis work
is the thing that's coming up
and supporting it,
making it possible.
Okay?
So, quote.
That's the thing about trellis work.
It tends to take over
from vine work.
Perhaps because trellis work
is easier and less personally threatening.
Vine work is personal
and requires much prayer.
It requires us to depend on God
and to open our mouths
and speak God's word
in sum to another person.
By nature,
we shy away from this.
Trellis work also often
looks more impressive
than vine work.
It's more visible and structural.
We can point to something tangible,
a committee, an event,
a program, a budget,
an infrastructure,
and say that we have achieved something.
The concentration on trellis work
that is so common in many churches
derives from an institutional view
of Christian ministry.
It is very possible for churches,
Christian organizations,
and whole denominations
to be given over totally
to maintaining their institution.
Whatever the reason,
there is no doubt
that in many churches,
maintaining and improving the trellis
constantly takes over
from tending to the vine.
And this was early in our thinking
about the church
as we planted
and wanted to see
good and healthy relationships
within the life of the church,
as we wanted to see the church
being congregational,
doing this important work
of defending sound doctrine
and discipling one another.
And so what I ended up doing
was running around in circles
around everybody
to try to keep you free to do that.
That's my main problem.
I think at the core of it all,
as I want to help you do
the thing that you do so well,
loving and serving one another
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps, in some measure,
keeping tasks off your plate
has helped you be a congregation
that is well concerned
with discipling.
I don't know.
Maybe I left you a little bit bored
and then you had to actually
minister the gospel to one another.
However,
as we continue to grow,
your elders need to maintain
the bandwidth
to focus all of our time
and energy
on prayer
and ministry of the word.
To be devoted to that.
Because frankly,
it's enough.
It is a massive,
massive work.
To pray for you
and to minister
the word of God to you
on all of the various ways
that that can be done.
If our polity is going
to keep working,
you don't want
one of your pastors
putzing around
with a copier
trying to get the bulletins printed
at 4 a.m. this morning.
It's not profitable
for you ultimately.
Right?
That copier has not been
working right since September.
It's not the way
I should be spending my time.
I recognize that fully
and it's largely my fault
that I'm doing it.
So don't hear me
accusing you at all
of that.
You want
my prayers
and my careful preparation
if we are to hope
that our good vine work
will go on.
We together
have to be concerned
about that
and think about
how we together
keep that health going.
And it's going to mean
that we have to build
careful,
careful strategic trellis
to hold that vine up.
I have too often
misspent my time
in ways I thought
would best serve you
but I believe
may have been
to your detriment.
We can't run the experiment
a different way
so it's really hard to know
if I'm right about that
at all.
But what I am confident of
if the Bible instructs us
to do something
we should do it
and trust that it's
ultimately good.
Whether or not
our experience affirms it
if God's commanded it
we should do it
and trust
that it's going to work out
for good.
This problem
needs fixing.
Deacons are at least
a significant part
of the solution.
So that was the third one.
The most primary one
I think
to support the ministry
of the word.
Fourthly
it's worth mentioning
deacons exist
to model
Christ-like service.
Practical
Christ-like
service.
This I think
is implicit
in this text
the character
of these men
but we need
to step out of it
a little bit
at this point
to see it
most clearly.
Deacons
dignify
unseen
work.
They elevate
humble
service.
They show
the church
that greatness
in the kingdom
is measured
not by
platform
but by
sacrifice.
Turn with me
if you will
to 1 Timothy
chapter 3.
Let's look at
some of the
qualifications
that are outlined
there for us
for deacons.
Now
we can't
derive
clearly
from
Acts
chapter 6
that there's
an office
being established
here
but this
is where
these two
things
come together
for us.
So
just
after Paul
has talked
about
qualifications
for
elders
he goes
on
in verse
8
to say
deacons
likewise.
So this
is the
word
that could
be
translated
servant
servants
likewise
but he's
clearly
talking about
an office
in this
case
because he's
putting
qualifications
on it
just like
he did
for the
office
of
elder.
So
deacons
likewise
must be
dignified
not double
tongued
not addicted
to much
wine
not greedy
for
dishonest
gain.
Notice
there
what
Paul
is
emphasizing
the
character
of
these
people
dignified
worthy
of respect
serious
about
holy
things
not
double
tongued
consistent
in speech
trustworthy
self
controlled
not
mastered
by their
appetites
financially
honest
driven
by
gain
and more
verse 9
they must
hold
the
mystery
of
the
faith
with
a
clear
conscience
deacons
must
be
theologically
sound
they are
not
teachers
in the
same
way
that
elders
are
but
they
must
love
and
live
the
truth
the
reason
for
service
in the
church
must
be
coming
out
of
the
truth
of
the
gospel
verse
10
says
and let
them
also
be
tested
first
there's
no need
to
rush
into
this
certainly
17
years
is not
rushing
the
church
observes
discerns
and
confirms
the whole
congregation
does
this
Paul
even
includes
the
household
verse
12
let
deacons
each
be the
husband
of one
wife
managing
their
children
and
their
own
households
well
similarly
to
elders
right
how can
you give
any
leadership
in the
church
if
your
household
itself
is
not
ordered
right
the
home
is
the
proving
ground
of
ministry
a man
who
cannot
shepherd
his
home
cannot
be
trusted
to
serve
Christ's
church
and
then
comes
a
promise
verse
13
for
those
who
serve
well
as
deacons
gain
a
good
standing
for
themselves
and
also
great
confidence
in
the
faith
faithful
service
deepens
assurance
and
strengthens
witness
so
so these
people
serve
to
model
Christ
like
service
it's
not
limited
to
them
we
should
all
be
serving
one
another
but
they're
to
give
us
leadership
in
this
regard
so
the
new
testament
presents
two
distinct
offices
elders
and
deacons
elders
lead
through
prayer
and
ministry
of the
word
deacons
serve
through
tangible
ministry
and
practical
care
help
the
congregation
do
the
work
that
the
congregation
is
meant
to
do
hold
that
sound
doctrine
and
disciple
one
another
in
the
truth
both
of
those
offices
are
essential
they're
essential
because
they're
biblical
whether
or not
we
fully
comprehend
how
it
all
works
out
a
church
with
elders
but
no
deacons
here
this
church
a
church
with
elders
but
no
deacons
will
be
strained
a
church
with
deacons
but
no
elders
will
be
unanchored
Christ
in his
wisdom
and his
great
love
for the
local
church
has
given
us
both
Charles
Spurgeon
once
said
this
would
have
been
on
your
bulletin
today
if
you
had
it
quote
deprive
the
church
of
her
deacons
and
their
loss
would
be
the
shaking
of
the
pillars
of
our
spiritual
house
and
would
cause
a
desolation
on
every
side
end
quote
isn't
that
great
man
Spurgeon
said
if we
lose
the
deacons
of
the
church
the
church
will
be
in
shambles
so let's
think about a little bit of application
and then I'll
close
number one
honor the office
we
put myself at the front of the line
have not
done well
if we had
we'd have more deacons
deacons are set apart by the church
recognized for their godliness
entrusted with real responsibility
as we work to establish more deacons
pray for your elders in their nominating efforts
and pray for the whole church in their affirming efforts
your elders want to bring to you
people we think are qualified to do this
you have to help us to be sure that this is
right
once we have
pray for them
be encouraging to them
jump in and help
as they give us
direction
in this physical
service
secondly
it's worth mentioning
that we ought to aspire
to the character
even if you're never
to hold the office
you're called to the same
Christ-like maturity presented
in first timothy
these
qualifications in chapter three
are not
extraordinary
they are exemplary
but we should all be striving
to be godly
in this way
they show us what normal
Christianity looks like
when it's
taken seriously
pursue
godliness
show up
serve
whether or not you hold
the office
third
consider the call
the church
needs
faithful deacons
we may be coming
and speaking to you
at some point
or you may find
that you have
particular gifting
and you may want
to offer it to us
hey I think
there's a place
I could jump in
and I'm willing
to receive some scrutiny
and I want to see
if maybe I could
serve the church
in higher order
and fourthly
and extraordinarily
practically
if you're a member
of our church
come to tonight's
members meeting
now we will not
be nominating
anyone to the role
this evening
but we're going
to propose a structure
for nominations
and talk a bit
about the present
needs
and how we all
have a part to play
in meeting
those specific needs
how we can do this
better together
so in conclusion
beloved
the office of deacon
is not merely
about logistics
it is about
the gospel
when deacons
serve well
the needy
are cared for
the church
is unified
the elders
are freed
and the word
of God
advances
and in all of it
the supremacy
of Jesus Christ
is experienced
proclaimed
and displayed
to the very ends
of the earth
let's pray together