Deacons in the Church — Acts 6

0:18 Good morning. I finally figured out why my mouth is so dry. It's because my hands are so clammy. But my wife just reminded me that the more you do this, the easier it's supposed to get. But unfortunately, that's not the case.

0:45 It gets harder sometimes. So turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter six, and as we're going there, I'm going to start off with a word of prayer. Father, we're thankful that you've given us your word to depend upon. Lord, we pray that you might use this message to your best use. Lord, we thank you that you've brought us all here.

1:10 For those that aren't, we pray for them as well. And we pray, Lord, that this might be a unifying effort on your behalf for all of us. It's in your son's name that we pray. Amen. So deacons, that's our subject for today.

1:28 You got to be careful what you promise from the pulpit because it comes back to haunt you later. I I promise that when we talked about the organization of the local body before, we talked about others that if I had to do it myself, we would talk about deacons. Well, here I am. So and that's that's by choice. It's not by compulsion.

1:46 My fellow brothers didn't didn't require that of me, but we'll see how it goes here. So outline for today, if you'll allow me, is to get through some sort of introduction to set the stage, remind us of where we've been, to talk a little bit about requirements for deacons, a little bit about requirements of the individual deacons, a little bit about reward or why it's good and how things are benefited through the deacons, some sort of discussion about how does that apply here at Westlake Bible Fellowship, and then summary and a decision or not a decision but a really a discussion about what do we do from here. Here's the weed patch we're going to be stomping around in today. It's really two main passages, Acts chapter six and first Timothy chapter three. You want to write those down?

3:07 Key point is help was required. Okay? So let's talk a little bit more about that later. First Timothy will break to that in the middle of the discussion and talk a little bit about qualifications that Paul laid down in First Timothy chapter three. But it also has the distinguished required, not the requirement, but it also established a precedence for further use of this group or groups in the New Testament after Acts which is somewhat transitional.

3:42 So, I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the Greek words and all that kind of stuff but suffice it to say the Greek word that's translated as deacons is diaconos, if I've said that correctly. And it really is translated from the word attendant or waiter, service, waiter at tables. Okay? Somebody that serves in the context of the New Testament, one that serves the body of Christ, the church. So again, we're not going to spend a lot of time developing that, but before we go any further, I want to just make sure that we talk a little bit about some cautions or maybe some balancing issues and maybe a warning.

4:24 But that is that when we talk about everything, okay, everything that's preached from this platform should be balanced against the entire word of God, okay? And you should have one in your lap so that you're reading along with us and so that you have the opportunity when you study it to come challenge me or to ask questions or to understand the way the Holy Spirit's leading you. The other thing I'd like to make sure we we don't do is that we don't... By talking about deacons, we don't want to maybe create some confusion about, you know, deacons and elders. Are they really the same thing?

5:04 Because no, they're not. Philippians, Paul writes to the elders and deacons, okay? Individuals separate and function and individual. Maybe we'll talk a little bit more about that as we go. And then as we talk about deacons, we're really not trying to relegate the service that people provide to a janitorial job.

5:56 Or it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the holy spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word and the saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man full of the faith and the Holy Spirit and Philip, Procurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenius or Parmenius and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Here you can read that many times and I have in the past several weeks, but when you actually try to pronounce those names, it's very difficult for me.

7:11 But this really illustrates a practical need in the local body there. So let's just think about practical need as we move forward. In Acts, we're really talking about growth, okay? It says in these days, it was the earliest days of the church, right? There was tremendous amount of change, whole bunch of upheaval, a lot of activity going on.

7:34 The lord was risen. He had walked with them and taught them. He had now ascended into heaven. They had waited for and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were preaching, healing, being jailed, beaten.

7:50 A lot's happening in this time and this is all for the first time. They weren't reading about it in a book like we get the opportunity to. They were living it and they were... It's been recorded thankfully for us. I was thinking, you know, related to our discussion this morning about the the pile of rocks that was left for us.

8:09 You know, to remember this this pile of rocks in this book, a memory that we can go back to and refer to and understand what was happening at that time. And something to keep in mind as we walk through this whole discussion, this didn't happen in the course of a day, okay? It wasn't over a few minutes, snap, snap. You know, you read one chapter to the next and it just seems to move right along but don't forget, this happens over a period of time. Just as an example, from the time of the Passover to Pentecost is a period of fifty days.

8:43 So, you know, things happen. It was quick, but... And a lot going on, but there was time happening. So the other thing that... That's happening here is that the number says was multiplying.

8:56 Things were growing. Things were changing. Things had gotten to a point where they were different than they were before. Okay? It went from one believer to thousands in a matter of this time.

9:10 And not only that, there was also growth not numerically but also from a differentiation. It's not the word I'm looking for, but there were people that weren't just Jerusalem Jews. There were people from outside. There was diversity that was happening as well. And therefore, next comes the complaint, okay?

9:36 There was growth. And with growth, everybody knows if you've ever grown a company, grown a family, grown a basketball team or a football team or a bunch of friends, when things grow and they become larger and more diverse, it has a tendency to have problems, okay? Not intentional, not because it wasn't possibly to be avoided, but things happen. In this particular case, the Hellenists or Greek speaking Jews complained that their widows were being ignored in the distribution. It's a legitimate complaint and it was clearly important.

10:14 It was something that was important enough that they decided to address it right there. It's also legitimate from the standpoint that it was suffering. It was suffering within the body, okay? And it wasn't suffering because of persecution or faith, but it was suffering just because of lack of organization, lack of something. It was suffering.

10:43 So it was wrong treatment, it wasn't intentional, but it was clearly within the control of those there at the time. It'd probably been a consistent practice for some time. They had been doing it for a while and all of a sudden something's not going, okay? The way they'd been doing it, ain't working anymore, okay? And all of a sudden, this is the complaint comes up, says we need to do something different.

11:23 They were doing everything. They, you know, it it came not to just one of them, although it might have been whispered in one ear, and then they all got together. But it really came to all of them, to the 12. It shows the plurality, but it also shows a unity amongst them. And they decided and they rightfully so addressed the problem.

11:44 They didn't wait for the problem to solve itself. They took it head on, they weren't silent, and they didn't try to pray it away or let the holy spirit move. The Holy Spirit was moving and they decided that something needed to be something needed to happen. They communicated with everybody. Now at that time, it was a little bit different than we're in today.

12:04 Right? This is a problem that that we face today and I'll challenge each one of you to help me and help all of us make sure that we communicate better because we're in a society today where we're spread out and we have ready access to much communication and yet we failed to communicate. So we were all right there at the time. The church was all right there in one body. So it was it was...

12:33 I don't want to say easier, but, you know, it was easier for them to pull them all together and let's talk about this. So it's important to note that they were all unified. The whole leadership was unified in the approach. It says the 12 brought them together and they all agreed with the direction to go. One thing I want to mention first, before you read that and say, you know what, the leadership, we don't have the apostles here today, so we just can't do that, right?

13:03 The leadership transferred from the apostles at that time to an eldership of today. Okay? We talked... You can refer back to Ray's message a few weeks ago where he chatted a little bit about the gifts that the apostles had, some of the special things that they had that that marked them and set them apart to establish doctrine. But then you can see as you read through the New Testament, some of the apostles really transitioned into, I'll call it an elder role.

13:35 They didn't not become, they didn't, you know, cease from becoming from being apostles but they became elders and even Peter in Peter five, first Peter five said, I whom a fellow elder exhorts you elders. Two John one Peter I'm sorry, John says refers to himself as the elder to the recipients of the letter. And then Paul's teaching, he really established the role of the elders and asked them to move forward. So really, it's responsibility of leadership to address the issue. Next thing I want to talk about is prioritization.

14:13 At the time, there was this problem, right? Growth, diversity, complaint, addressing it. And really, the elders or the apostles, my apologies, the apostles at that time said, you know what? This is important, but it's not for me to do. It's not for us to do.

14:33 In one accord, they all agreed that it's would not be desirable for them to leave the prayer and ministry of the word that they should talk to the Lord, get the information and disseminate it. That was the most important thing at that time for them to be doing. So they had to prioritize. And you know what? We all have to prioritize in our lives, don't we?

14:54 We all have to know what is it that the Lord's called me to do today. And then I need to go be doing that, be about that business because prioritization is critical. I'm speaking from one who struggles with that as one who struggles with that every day. I have too much to do, too little time to do it, have to make decisions every day what's important. So it isn't that this was a downgrade on the job.

15:19 The apostles didn't say, you know what, we're above that. We're not worthy of that. We're this is important enough for us to have to deal with. It wasn't that at all. It was that it's a really important subject.

15:30 We need to do something about it. And it's just that we have more important things to be doing right now. So let's make sure we get about doing that. The other thing to mention is that it was a point of service. It was really about serving these individuals.

16:19 Therefore, seek out, seek out an active participation of the body, of the body of believers of that local group. Seek out from among you. It wasn't go out and hire a contractor. It wasn't go get somebody who just graduated from seminary school. Go get somebody who has the right resume to do this task.

16:41 It was seek out from among you those that have these qualifications. We'll talk about that here in just a minute. But they also said seek out seven. Now is there something special about the number seven? I don't know.

16:59 Seven is kind regarded as a special number in the scriptures. But in this case, I don't think it was. I think the seven was specifically addressed towards this problem, okay? It was a daily distribution. Somebody said, I think it was Don the other night, said, maybe it was seven days of the week.

17:21 They each had to take a day, right? Maybe it was that there were seven groups of them that had to I don't know. I don't put a lot of stock on the seven other than to say, you know what? It's important to address the solution to the problem. And I think that's what this indicates here.

18:24 So I'd like to read for you a little bit from one Timothy. I'm going to start with one Timothy three:one and then skip to verse eight. One Timothy three:one, this is a faithful saying, If a man desires the position of a overseer, a bishop, he desires a good work. The overseer then must be... And then skip into verse eight.

18:50 Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double tongue, not given too much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But to let these but let these also first be tested. Then let them serve as deacons being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, non slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own households well.

19:19 For those who have served well as deacons obtained for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. So likewise, I think when it says likewise here in verse eight, it's really referring back to the previous section, which is talking about the elders or overseers, okay? So if we do that, we have to remember a few things that I think transfer from our previous discussion on elders, okay? One of them is plurality. It's not about one man conducting the business of all the body, okay?

19:56 They are men, okay? It's responsibility of the men of the assembly to lead, okay? And in this case, that is the requirement. I want to talk a little bit when I say that about gifts versus the office, okay? In the case of all gifts, the gifts that are given amongst the body are given liberally to many and to all, okay?

20:21 Some get the gift of evangelism and pastoring, of teaching, all those gifts are given. And they're given to men and to women, okay? I've seen many women pastoring. I've seen many women serving, seen many women doing, okay? But the recognized leadership in the body falls to the men, okay?

20:46 We can't abdicate that, fellas, as much as we'd like to say, she's pretty good at that. I'll just stand back and let her go. It's not the case. It's responsibility that we bear and we need to continue with. There's also the concept of being willing to serve.

21:03 This is not something that you could be compelled to do, okay? You must do it. We have to have you. It's your job. If you don't do it, no, no.

21:12 It's all about a willing heart, an attitude that says, Lord, I'm willing to serve you. So those things, I think, transfer in the discussion from elders to the discussion about deacons. So we're going to compare and talk about the qualifications or, like I said, characteristics of the deacons that are discussed in Acts chapter six and one Timothy chapter three. It really falls down into two categories. On the one side, it's really about beliefs or what's controlling the way you think, okay?

21:47 And then also a demonstration of your actions, a testing, if you will. Beginning in first Timothy, we hear that deacons should be reverent. Reverent, if I look at the dictionary, says exhibiting the attitude of deep respect, tinged with awe, in this case, towards God. Not double tongued or deceitful or hypocritical, talking out of both sides of your mouth, saying one thing to one person and another thing to another person. Not given too much wine.

22:29 It means not controlled by drink or some other substance or habit. It doesn't mean that somebody never made a mistake. Doesn't mean that they never did something in their lives. It means that they're not controlled by this. Not greedy for money, not endeared with money, not striving to just obtain money or controlled by the need to have money.

22:58 The need to have money or that desire to have money drives people to many bad behaviors or is the result of many bad behaviors. I've seen that in a number of occasions as I have had the opportunity to supervise people. A change in people's behavior and the desire to have money usually indicates some other problem. Holding the mystery of faith with a good conscience, Certainly, a believer, but not but more than that, one that holds the faith and is not in doubt. One that is strong in their belief, not wavering, somebody that's confident and knows what they believe.

23:40 Acts chapter six says, I think is the same theme, full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was within them, controlling them and is working through them so that you would see fruitful activities like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. I learned that because of the Sparkys are always singing that. The key point here is this is the basis or the basis for actions are beliefs, okay? Without foundational beliefs, your actions won't follow.

24:19 Without foundational beliefs in the Lord, indwelling the Holy Spirit, your actions don't follow in the way that the Lord would have it in this case. Let's talk about a demonstration or a testing. Okay? It should be tested first, then served. So it's something that is known, something's known among the body.

24:45 Act says it should have a good reputation. One, I looked that one up too, and sometimes hard to tell a definition without looking it up just because you stumble over your words. But it's known by others for having a good reputation, the estimation in which a person is held by the community or the public they serve. A good reputation is something that's known by others about a person. They should be found blameless, meaning after the testing, after the look, there is no nothing that you find that's a problem.

25:22 That really results or is a result of wisdom, considered actions that result in good behavior. A husband of one wife. This is a category that is given for elders and deacons, okay? It certainly means not the husband of many wives. It means a one woman man.

25:43 And it also is I think doesn't specifically exclude somebody from being not married here, but it's certainly the use use, that's not the right word. Having a wife is a tremendous asset in the role as an elder. I can tell you from personal experience. But then also, if we really look when we go farther, you'll see why. But the wives also have some characteristics that come along with them.

26:17 A wife not only a husband of a wife, but a wife that is also reverent, not a slanderer, talking about people behind their backs or telling stories temperate, one who is, I guess you'd have to say moderate or self restrained, not extreme in opinion or statement. Faithful in all things, reliable, trustworthy. Key point is that a wife is a husband's helpmate. And if they're not together and they don't have the same beliefs or have these characteristics, the wife can lead the man astray. Ruling children and their own households well.

27:01 Clearly, if you want to put stress on any person, put them in a familial situation. Add a wife to a man, add children to the marriage and you've got stress, okay? If you want to demonstrate or test or show somebody that is living their faith or that is working hard, put them in a stressful situation. You want to see how they perform under that stress, that's when you see the true colors come out. So that's just it.

27:32 The true colors come out under testing and experience. It's more than subscribing to beliefs. It's really about actually living them amongst other people. So let's talk a little bit about the reward. And reward, I mean, in the sense that this is what is the benefit, okay?

27:52 The benefit of recognized versus unrecognized. Let me talk about that for just a second. When you say unrecognized, you got the concept of the Holy Spirit will work it out. That person will come up to it. They'll figure it out.

28:07 Everybody will come together. It will all work. And that's one thing. Recognized, I think, is something that puts the measure on the person, and let's talk a little bit more about that. We're going talk a little bit about the benefits and then a little bit of a reference as we've talked we've already read these verses, but it supports growth.

28:31 It says in those days, they were multiplying, right? Had not only numerical multiplication but diversified multiplication. Helps us spread the word. It said even after this action was taken, the disciples multiplied greatly. There's a burden that was relieved.

28:53 The apostles at the time said, gee whiz, this is important. It's not for us to do. It's a burden that we need to bear and it needed to be handled. It demonstrates faith, okay? And faith in what?

29:11 Faith that the Holy Spirit would provide answers. This is an important point, I think, because it's important for us to remember that we have a power within us that can do above and beyond what we could imagine in and of ourselves. So it demonstrates a faith in that Holy Spirit in the Lord behind them or with them. It avoids individuals serving in an unqualified role. I mean there's a reason for the qualifications of your characteristics.

29:44 And if somebody just jumps up and says, that's my job, I'm going to do it, it could be somebody that's not meeting these characteristics. These things are these are indicated by Paul as must be's. It also promotes unity. It was considered it sounded good to all. Everybody felt good about moving forward.

30:07 It was orderly. It was something that put order and structure, if you will. And when I say structure, go back to my discussion a few weeks ago about organization charts, and that's not the way we operate. We operate with the Lord as head. We have elders among the body and amongst the flock.

30:28 So but I think that's one of the reasons maybe that the priests believe, okay? It says that even the priests started to believe going forward or many of the priests began to believe. I don't know if that means that they finally realized that this is not a passing fad. I get it. It's seeing that the Holy Spirit is lifting up individuals to work more than just a few.

30:52 There's a responsibility, but also a relief in the sense that individuals, when it's put on I'll say put on your back, I can speak from personal experience, is a responsibility but a relief that says, okay, I get it, Lord. Let's move forward. There's also a benefit for the deacons. Okay? They become in good standing and have a great bold testimony.

31:16 You could read in Acts about Philip who was a man in good standing. He's known as the evangelist. Right? And even later in Acts chapter 21, Paul comes back through Caesarea and he stays with Philip and his family. Well known in that area and probably had gone on and done many great things.

31:37 Stephen was martyred, the martyr for the faith. You could read about that. But it follows in close succession behind. These were two of the seven. So let's keep moving here.

32:11 So can you look across the room and not say that things haven't changed in the last six weeks, in the last year? How about in the last forty years? Those of you there are some of you still here that were here forty years ago, things have changed. They've changed from a numerical standpoint and they've changed from a diversity standpoint. We don't have the greater part of the body sitting around a few dinner tables on a Sunday afternoon.

32:43 That makes it more difficult and more needs for change. Complaints, I could make a list as long as my arm, but let just say that there's three that I think we need to address going forward and I've heard on a regular basis. We need to do something about the finances. Know, mister Reeder has done a wonderful job. This is not about in any way picking on anybody.

33:11 Okay? If I've stepped on any of your toes, it's not intentional. I hope the holy spirit is leading me in the direction that He would have me go. And I'll just say that now, if the Holy Spirit's leading in this, He's been leading your heart too. Okay?

33:28 That's the way the Holy Spirit works. He brings unity amongst us all. He's leading in my heart. He's leading in somebody else's heart as well. But still, when Mr.

33:39 Reeder is away, Roger takes that ball. We need help. We need help with that. The renovation, we have some money that we're going to dedicate to improving the facilities around here. We need to take that and make sure that there's somebody that is willing and able to carry that ball.

33:59 And communication, that's something that we all could stand to do better. And it's not something that we would delegate, but hopefully it gives us an opportunity to communicate better. We hear it. We need to react to it. Elders have been praying for many weeks about this discussion, and we pray that Lord is working in your heart too.

34:22 It's not desirable that we were to walk away from things that are important, like mentoring or teaching or visiting or pastoring or doing those things. So it's important that we have faith that the Holy Spirit will lead in the direction that can happen. So having said all that, I hope you won't take offense and I hope you won't in any way misunderstand what I'm saying without coming up and asking me, but it's time for us to recognize deacons at Westlake Bible Fellowship, in my opinion. Now that doesn't mean that we have created organizational structure. It doesn't mean that that these folks are now in charge of everything.

35:07 It means that we're following the Lord and I think it has precedence for it in scripture. So now how do we talk about a path forward quickly? One way to go forward is to look at the past. Okay? Another way is well, let's talk about that.

36:08 Therefore, let us, as many are... As are mature, have this mind, and if anything you think otherwise... If in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind.

36:28 Forgetting the past. Forgetting the past doesn't mean forget about the past. It means don't concentrate on the past. You can't, as they say, plow a field looking backwards. We have to look forward.

36:40 So the past is good. And as Paul would tell you, if there's anybody that had a past that was good, it was him. But he didn't think about the past. He didn't focus on it. He saw the goal and headed towards it.

36:53 So learn from the past and apply it to the future. Press on to the goal, focus on what's important, that is moving forward and where we need to go. Change happens. Change is gonna happen. Looking forward.

37:11 It's real important that we discern God's will here. Okay? And that's not an easy thing to do sometimes. You know, in the New Testament, they cast lots when they chose Matthias and when they were trying to figure out Jonah, he was the right guy. That's not for us.

37:29 You could vote, right? And voting really reveals the will of the people. We're looking for the will of the Lord. Voting is something that we hold near and dear in our hearts today because it's our right in America. Right?

37:45 Well, it's not necessarily the right way, I think, to move forward here. Holy Spirit has to be involved here. There's no question that the Holy Spirit moves and can affect each and every one of you and I that are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Okay? And that's the key part.

38:07 We're all indwelled with the Holy Spirit and it requires the body's participation. The leadership does not advocate the responsibility it has. Okay? But it depends upon the body. In many ways, to...

38:24 Because the Holy Spirit's in you. You see things differently. You... The Holy Spirit leads you based on your experience. I desire your feedback.

38:34 I desire... We desire to hear what the Lord would have you tell us and you to communicate as part of being part of the body. Sometimes it can be a little bit of a cloudy process and this is not something that's crystal clear moving forward. It's not a meeting on Wednesday, and it will all be over with. It's a process that we have to go through.

38:56 I think our application at Awana and Sunday School for finding leaders there has been good, and we'll probably be walking down some similar path there. But there's clear principles, okay? And we've talked about them. There was a problem that needed to be addressed. The leadership has to take responsibility and many others.

39:20 But unity is a key component there as well. So here's the challenge for you today. Amongst the church, our local body, okay, I challenge you to study. Don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself.

39:38 But don't put it aside. Don't lay it on the thing and think somebody else is going to do that. This is the body. You're part of it. Consider these characteristics.

39:50 Consider them carefully. I've talked about maybe financial assistance, building assistance and nowhere nowhere in scripture does it say, find the best accountant, find the best carpenter, find the best it says, find those that are of Holy Spirit, good reputation and they'll figure it out from there. So consider those characteristics and then choose from among you. Consider who those folks are. Choose.

40:25 Talk. Communicate. Have patience. This doesn't happen in a minute. It doesn't happen in a day.

40:34 It happens over the rest of history. Okay? There will be ups and downs. You should expect difficulties moving forward. Hold everybody accountable.

40:46 Don't don't feel that, you can't ask me. Don't feel that there isn't something that you shouldn't say. We have also a challenge before God. Number one, to pray. Communicate with the Lord and two, understand what he would have you to say, us to do and how we move forward.

41:08 The body needs to work together. And then I would also say that this is a, something that continually comes up in the scriptures to fast, okay? I'll be personally honest with you. I've not fasted as a regular experience focused solely on discerning the will of the Lord. And this isn't about me giving a dissertation about it, but I would seek I would ask you to seek the Lord in that regard and consider whether that's something He's laid on your heart related to our discussions.

41:45 So there's the verses that we went through. In case you didn't get them down, I encourage you to challenge me, challenge others and to communicate as we go forward. So I appreciate your time. I'm a couple minutes late. Thank you very much.

42:02 Let's pray. Father, we're grateful that you've given us your word. We're grateful that you've indwelled us with your holy spirit. Lord, we're most grateful that your son died on our behalf, that we can have eternal life with you. We look forward to that, Lord.

42:22 But while we're here, Lord, you have a plan for us in our lives. We pray that we each might seek to know it, more importantly, to do it, that we might each be courageous and understanding so that when we focus on that goal, that which you've laid on our hearts, we might accomplish it. Lord, we just lift you... Lift these things up to you and ask this this in your son's precious, holy and matchless name. Amen.