Deacons: Invaluable Gospel Servants

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

Acts 6 and the Need for Deacons in the Local Church

As Shane has mentioned, we'll be in Acts chapter 6 today, and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 7. So if you haven't already, turn there with me. Many churches today deprive their people of spiritual growth and effective preaching of the Word.

And though there are a number of different reasons for that, one of them that I believe is often overlooked and easily disregarded is the office of deacon. We are of course very familiar with the role of elders in our churches and their pastoral responsibilities.

But we give much less thought to deacons. Perhaps we are vaguely familiar with the term, and so we think of it more as some form of obscure position in the church that nobody really knows what its purpose and function is.

Nobody's really sure of what they actually do. This type of thinking has led to very different roles being assigned to deacons. On the one extreme, we see them act much as glorified janitors, an unpaid janitor position that is perhaps looked down upon, that someone volunteered to do because no one else would.

While on the other end of the spectrum, we might see them being elevated so much that a board of deacons becomes the leadership of the church, having more authority than the elders, and being in charge of the budget and the hiring and firing of staff while running the church much like a business.

To put it another way, the office of deacon, I believe, is the most misunderstood role within the church today. And with that misunderstanding, the value and importance of the position fades into great obscurity, and the church gives up many of the rich blessings that God has intended for it.

However, we do not have to lose hope because I believe that we can get some clarity regarding the function of that role, and that our text that we're looking at today teaches us that deacons are in fact a very important part of the life in the church, that it is not to be neglected, and that it has great impact on the health of the congregation, that it is a noble Christ-exalting office that is to be filled by qualified men.

They're invaluable servants of the gospel within a local church. Through their labors, they aid in the spiritual growth of the people and the effective preaching of the word as they allow the elders to devote time and energy to preaching and prayer.

So as we work our way through Acts today, through these first seven verses, we'll consider three things. First, we'll see that deacons are servants meant to preserve the unity within the body, that they need to be qualified servants in order to do the work they do.

And lastly, on our third point, we'll briefly look at the all-important effect of their work. But before we unpack all of that, let's go to the Lord in prayer one more time. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, that you have not left us in the dark with many of the things related to your church, that you have given us your revelation, that we can know and discern these things rightly.

And we ask that as we study deacons today, that you would go ahead of us, that you would bring clarity to the text, and that where necessary, if necessary, you bring conviction, and that you would stir us to consider and think about deacons, and that some of the men here perhaps would be, maybe for the first time, consider serving in that fashion, because it is a great and good gift that you have given to your church.

So please go ahead of us and make your work clear to us today. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Beginning in Acts chapter 6 then, we'll read through verses 1 and 4, then we'll take a look at them and move on from there.

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.

Deacons as Unity-Preserving Servants

And right away we'll jump straight into our first point, which is that deacons are unity-preserving servants. To understand our context a little better, to get our bearings right, we have to look back a little bit through Acts until the point of Acts chapter 6 to see what has happened so far, what is going on in the book of Acts, and to understand what Luke means when he writes, Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number.

We know that in Acts 1, after Jesus' resurrection, he had ascended into heaven, and just before his ascension, he told his apostles that they were going to be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, before eventually going to the ends of the earth.

That's in Acts 1. In the second chapter then, we remember, of course, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. And what's important there in verse 42 in chapter 2, is that 3 ,000 people believe in one day.

And then very quickly we notice the community of believers is formed in Jerusalem. And we also find out that these believers are part of a very close-knit community, to the point that they even sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds among them as any had need.

In chapter 3, we see Peter and John continuing the ministry, healing a lame beggar, and continuing to preach the gospel before, in chapter 4, being arrested for proclaiming Christ, while many of those who heard their preaching believed their message and were again added to the community of believers, which then, at that point, is 5 ,000 people in number.

In chapter 5, again, Luke reminds us that more than ever, believers were added to the congregation after continued preaching of the gospel by the apostles. And the apostles continued to daily preach and teach that Jesus is the Christ.

So when we come to verse 1 in chapter 6, we have to understand that Christ's words when he said, I will build my church, are now beginning to be fulfilled. The gospel is exploding in Jerusalem. The Twelve are publicly preaching and teaching every day.

And as a result, thousands have come to believe, and a community of believers has formed. But now, amidst this tremendous growth of the early church, an issue among the people comes to light. And so in verse 1, we read about the Hellenists raising a complaint against the Hebrews regarding the daily distribution.

This is the first instance of a possible church division. If we go back just a couple pages to Acts 2, verse 44 and 45, Luke describes this unity that this church enjoyed up until this point. He writes,.

He mentions another instance in Acts 4. We're not going to read all of these verses, just to highlight verses 32 and 34 and 35. He says,. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.

And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but that they had everything in common. Verse 34 and 35, he writes,. There was not a needy person among them. For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet.

And it was distributed to each as any had need. So this unity, this being of one heart and soul, the not one of them having a need and having all things in common, is now at risk. The Hellenists, who were Greek-speaking Jews, were often at odds with non-Greek-speaking Jews, but they were very fond of the Greek philosophy and culture.

And so with thousands of people being quickly added to this church, we find people from both of these factions of Jews in this church, and it seems that they brought some of their disagreements into the church.

And we quickly notice that the enemy, even in the early stages of the church's existence, was not idle and that sin is creeping at the door, seeking to cause division. In verse 2, then, we see the apostles quickly addressing the problem.

We know about the looming threat of division from verse 1, and so they gather everybody together and essentially tell the congregation that they will not take care of this problem. They could not possibly give up the daily preaching of the word after Christ himself commissioned them to be his witnesses.

The preaching of the word in prayer is too important to be neglected. Now, I have certainly, as a pastoral intern, not experienced the full scope of pastoral ministry, but having spent much time with Shane and slowly getting an insight into the tasks of an elder, I can tell you that pastors most definitely do not have the time and capacity to deal with everything all the time, nor do I think that they're meant to do so.

If you've been in church leadership at all, you will know that one can very easily and quickly become overwhelmed with the needs of the church and the difficult situations that require wise, God-honoring solutions.

And as an undershepher cares for the people, their burdens, the cares of the people, their fears are always on your mind. And so verse 3 in our passage, I think, should be a welcome statement to those in leadership positions.

If we look at verse 3 and the first word there, Luke writes, therefore, and therefore is an important conjunction here because it refers back to everything that's gone before. Verse 1, the division mentioned there, and in verse 2, the inability of the apostles to take care of it.

And what it does is it gives us the reason for the office of deacons, and that is the preservation of unity so that the apostles, or in our context, elders, can focus on the ministry of the word and prayer.

It says again, the purpose of the office of deacon is to preserve the unity within the church in order to allow elders to focus on the calling of preaching and prayer. There's to be no division in the body of Christ.

There's no more Jew, nor Greek, nor slave, or free. Members of the body are to have great care for one another, and if one member suffers, all suffer together, and if one is honored, they all rejoice together.

Christ wants his people to be of one heart and soul. Deacons are a means of preserving that kind of unity. And so as the apostles begin the process of assigning men to the task of upholding the unity within the church.

Now, some people may say that this passage is not talking about deacons. Where do we get this from? It's not even mentioned in the text. The word's not there. How do we know we're talking about deacons here?

The term deacon itself is derived from the Greek word diakonos, meaning literally servant. The verb form of that term is actually used at the end of verse 2 in the phrase serve tables. And it's simply a transliteration of the Greek and means that deacons are a servant to or for the church.

However, if we look closely at our text, we'll notice that the term is not directly applied to those that are to be appointed to the duty, but refers to what the apostles cannot do. They cannot serve table.

What it does call attention to, however, is the need in the church that requires a solution. And the men to be appointed are to function as an answer to the problem. Paul uses the same word when he talks about, as Shane has read, deacons in 1 Timothy 3 and even Philippians 1 .1 in his greeting to the church.

So with a complete and closed canon, and when we take Paul's teaching into account and compare it with the qualifications mentioned here in verse 3, we can with great confidence say that the men referred to here in Acts 6 are prototypes of or precursors to what we now know as deacons.

And so that we know now that they're to preserve the unity of the church, the question becomes, what do they do in order to preserve that unity? And because the New Testament has much more to say regarding the office of elder than that of deacons, the answer to that question can be somewhat open-ended.

As already highlighted in the introduction, it has been answered in a variety of different ways throughout the history of the church. The difficulty is that neither our text nor anywhere else in Scripture are we given an exact detailed list of tasks that deacons are to fulfill.

But our passage does give us the type or the form of work that deacons are to concern themselves with. And that, again, is found at the end of verse 2 in the phrase, serve tables. Literally translated, that actually means what it says it means, serve tables, to wait on tables.

Serve in the Greek means the exact same thing as our English word, serve. And when we look at the New Testament and how that word is used throughout, we find that it refers to a wide variety of services from serving food to providing food and clothing to visiting people who are in need and delivering financial aid.

Considering that and looking at the context of Acts chapter 6 and that the church shared all their possessions and proceeds that they had in common, we know that deacons preserve that unity by meeting a variety of different practical needs that arise in the church and that if they were to be left unaddressed can lead to division.

And that's exactly what we see in verse 1 when the widows had a practical need and that was not being met by the distribution. But what does that mean for us today? We likely, at this point anyways, do not have people that need food on a daily basis, that we buy a bunch of food and distribute it to our people.

So how do we apply this in our context today? I believe that due to the silence of a detailed job description, God has left it to each church in its own local context to determine the needs and appoint men to serve that need.

Some of the areas that deacons then serve and function in today can be things like a church building and its use. Very common in the church nowadays. A deacon can make sure that the building is ready for use on Sundays.

Perhaps arrange schedules for different groups to meet at different times. It could, if necessary, include some maintenance aspects related to that. Our church specifically, I believe we have a great need for a deacon in terms of our building's use on Sundays.

If we had somebody who would come and make sure that everything is set up, who can organize people, maintain a rotation schedule to get everything set up in time for worship on Sundays, that would be a tremendous blessing to our church here and now.

Other areas that deacons can serve in would be benevolence or mercy ministries. Bethel would be a great example of that in their location and their context. Similar to the distribution of food or money here in Acts 6 for the widows, deacons can make sure that those that are sick or away from the church at home have their burdens lightened by providing food for them, buying groceries, driving them to and from appointments, perhaps to and from church.

Another area could be finances. The overall budget planning, a big item in administration, I believe is a task of the elders, but many smaller day-to-day items and supplies and keeping record of offerings and money going in and out could be well taken care of by a deacon.

Deacons have been often used in the area of ushers to greet people, help people with seating, distributing bulletins, preparing the Lord's Supper. The list goes on, but deacons serve in a practical way that helps the elders to concentrate on the ministry of the Word and prayer.

What's important is that their work is always service-orientated, focusing on the current and temporal needs of the church that upholds the unity, not only as their purpose and function of great importance to the local church, but in order to serve as a deacon, one's character is of great significance as well.

A man's character is what makes him a qualified candidate for the office because deacons are qualified servants. We see this in verse 3 and then verses 5 and 6. If we look at verse 3 again, note the qualifiers here.

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. And then in verse 5 and 6,. 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 Procorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they said before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. So in our second point then, the qualified servants, we see that though the New Testament is not as detailed regarding the day-to-day duties of a deacon, it is much more vocal regarding what type of person can and cannot fill this position.

And as Shane has read, Paul expands on this list in his first letter to Timothy in the third chapter. Shane read it for us, so we won't read it again. But you don't have to, but if you like, you can turn there.

And we're just going to highlight quickly some of those qualifications that Shane read earlier. And what's important to note in verse 8 is that it says,. This is not a list that is open to interpretation.

These are non-negotiable character qualifications that must be met if anyone is considering taking on the role of deacon. These are moral character attributes that a potential servant of the Church has to possess, and there are to be no exceptions.

The first one given to us is dignified, meaning that a deacon must be honorable. He must be worthy of respect, or to use the language of Acts 6, he must be of good repute. He must be spoken well of by others.

He's not to be double-tongued, meaning a servant of the Church cannot be hypocritical. He cannot say one thing to one person and then turn around and say a completely different thing to another. They must be honest in all their conversations.

He cannot be addicted to much wine. This is a great portrayal of lack of self-control and discipline. He must not be greedy for dishonest gain. As deacons may have some access to Church finances, perhaps distribute some money to people, they must be trustworthy.

They cannot take money for their own selfish desires, like Judas took money out of the money bag. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, meaning it's essential that a deacon is in fact a believer, that he knows the Gospel and lives in accordance with it, with a clear conscience before God.

He must be the husband of one wife. If a man is married, he is to be solely committed to his wife, both emotionally and physically. If a man is single and serves, he is to abstain from all sorts of sexual immorality.

A deacon must manage their children and household well. Whoever serves as a deacon has to be the spiritual leader of his wife and children and keep order in the home. If we were to compare these qualifications with those that are required of elders, we will see that they are very much the same.

The only main difference between deacons and elders is the qualification of being able to teach. Deacons are not required to do so, nor are they tasked with the teaching and preaching ministry in the local church, and they also do not have the same authority that comes with that.

The importance of the position of deacon, however, remains because these qualifications show us that not anyone at any time can serve in this role. We cannot blindly allow anyone to walk through these doors and take on a public role in a church without testing them to see if they meet the standard that the apostles and Paul lay out in Scripture.

They need to prove themselves to be blameless. I'm afraid that too many times the church has appointed people without doing just that, that oftentimes we appoint people without taking a closer look at their character and Christian walk.

It's interesting that not a single skill set is mentioned in Acts or 1 Timothy 3. Paul and the apostles are not focused on that. Their focus is on one's moral character. They're concerned about a person's heart, perfectly consistent with what God looks at.

That's why, of course, you remember David was chosen to be king and not his brothers, who outwardly seemed a much better fit. Yet that seems to be exactly the criterion by which we appoint people to a public role.

Someone standing in the world or so-called worldly success is completely irrelevant. It is completely insane and absolutely unbiblical to appoint people without holding them to the standard laid out in Scripture.

I came across a story as I studied this. There's a story that one man told once. I believe it was about a pastor. When this pastor was a young boy, he loved to see the deacons on Sundays, their procession as they come down the aisle to administer the Lord's Supper.

The boy noticed one old man among them with gray-white hair. He had a meek, reverent face. That man really interested the boy. One day when the boy was walking down the street, he walked past a man that was breaking stones.

The white hair caught his attention. So the boy turned around, he looked again, and he recognized that that was that deacon in the church that administered the Lord's Supper. The boy couldn't believe it.

So shocked and in utter surprise and curiosity, he told his father about it. Then his father explained to him that the reason why the old man held such a high place in the church was that although he was one of the poorest men in town and that he broke stones for a living, that that man was one of the holiest men in the entire town.

And that is exactly the kind of person that Paul has in mind. A holy, a God-free man that truly lives what he believes. One's occupation and skill set are completely irrelevant. If we have the choice between a man who meets the standard laid out in Scripture and a man who seemingly has a better skill set, we have to say no to the man with a better skill set and choose the one that meets the biblical standards set out.

And then we pray and hope that when we disciple the other one, that he one day will be able to serve in that same capacity. But what we cannot do is compromise for the sake of pragmatism and in the process disobey Scripture.

If we do not hold men accountable to this, and this goes for elders as well, we will inevitably end up with dead men leading and serving other dead men and women as they walk hand in hand towards eternal death.

We need godly, qualified men to preserve the unity of the church. It's a difficult and delicate task. And those who serve as deacons will deal with people's burdens. They cannot be double-tongued. They cannot share confidential information.

As they distribute finances, they cannot be greedy and serve their own selfish desires. They need to be knowledgeable in the Word to find God-honoring solutions to the problems and practical needs that people have.

One last brief thought on the second point. When we look at verse 6, it says,. Once again, I think that in this verse we see the importance of this office. Although it's not a leadership position in a church on the same level as that of elder and does not carry the same authority, it's still a position of prominence that is confirmed by the church leadership.

We see this in the praying for the seven and the laying on of hands of the apostles. I think Paul could be implying it when he talks about the testing of deacons and when he greets deacons and overseers directly in Philippians 1.

So a deacon's exemplary character, function, close, supporting work with church leadership, and being set aside for a purpose make him a distinguished type of servant in the congregation. Looking at verse 7, we'll come to our last point and we'll keep it somewhat brief.

Deacons as Gospel-Promoting Servants

We'll see that deacons are gospel-promoting servants. Verse 7 says,. If the preservation of unity and the necessary character qualifications have not convinced you yet of the importance of this office, I think verse 7 should do so all the more.

Look at it again. It says,. Shouldn't that be one of the greatest motivators that we have for any sort of labor? That the gospel goes forth, is proclaimed, and bears fruit as it goes forth? That God glorifies himself in the conforming of his people to the image of his Son and the salvation of sinners?

Not that deacons are the cause of spiritual growth or bring about salvation of others, that it's always going to be the work of God, but God chose to use means. I think he has established deacons as they care for the practical needs of the church and they free up the time for the elders to teach and preach and pray.

That deacons are an important link in a chain of means that's been established that God uses to grow his sheep and save the lost. In Romans 10, Paul contrasts righteousness based on the law with the righteousness based on faith in Christ and a faith that confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and believes that he was raised from the dead and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

In that chapter, in verse 14, he says, How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Preaching is the primary means by which God saves people. Shane spoke about preaching a couple months ago. If you need to go back and listen to it online, the sermon is called Preach the Word. Preaching is the primary means and elders are those who are called to preach, but deacons are those that enable the elders to focus on that specific task.

And so, if you will, we have this chain of means and it starts with the deacons who take care of the practical needs of the church. It enables the elders to focus their time and energy on preaching and prayer and then God uses that preaching of his word to accomplish his purposes in the salvation of sinners and the conforming of his people to the image of his son.

And that is why deacons are of the utmost importance in the local church. And when we're careless and, you know, give the office the proper attention, then I think we rob ourselves of much of the power of the gospel and the fruit that it bears.

This past week I came across a sermon from Paul Washer, and though he wasn't speaking on deacons, he said this. He said, Acts chapter 6 was the greatest, most dangerous moment for the church when the ministers of the gospel could have laid aside the ministry of the word and prayer to do something marvelously important in caring for widows.

But they assigned it to godly men and they kept on with the word. This is why deacons are so important. And this is why elders are not only to raise up elders according to 2 Timothy 2 .2, but also to raise up deacons so they can do this kind of work so that the men of God can devote themselves to the administration of God's word.

Deacons are so important to the local church. Let's not neglect them any longer. If you see a need in this church right now that you think could benefit from a deacon, bring it to Shane's attention. Tell him, if you think there are some men here that are qualified, as Shane said earlier, to serve in that role, encourage them to consider it, to pray about it, and let us know.

We need, this church needs godly servants like those in Acts 6. We are in desperate need of servants like that. Men, really, think and pray about this. Some of you may be qualified already. And if you're not, continue to grow, apply yourself to the word, commit yourself to holiness, that one day you may be fit and you can serve your church in that way.

But strive with all your might to serve in that way. It is a good, noble, God-honoring, Christ-exalting task. Outwardly, it might not be the most prominent position in the church. And some of the work will likely go unseen for a long time until people are in need of deacon services.

But one day, when you stand before God, who sees all your labors, and he says to you, well done, good and faithful servant, and you see how all these years of maybe unseen labor have directly impacted the ministry of this church, that he's been pleased to use your labors, even in the smallest, slightest capacity, to grow those around you and bring about the salvation of wretched men and women that come here because you enabled other faithful servants to commit themselves to the preaching of the word.

Is that not going to be a reason to stand in awe of him, to worship him, and to serve him now? One last thought for encouragement to consider perhaps serving in this way. Being a deacon is an exemplary way of illustrating how to love one another with brotherly affection and how to outdo one another in showing love and honor.

It exemplifies how to contribute to the needs of the saints and to show hospitality. It exemplifies doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit and counting others more significant than yourself.

It demonstrates a servant-heartedness and encourages those around you to follow your example as you follow Christ of being a humble servant that in everything God may be glorified. It is a way of imitating Christ, for he himself came to serve and not to be served when he chose to bear the wrath for sinners like you and me.

When he in the most glorious will possible demonstrated humble service in dying on the cross in order that our sins will be forgiven and who even now continues to intercede for us at the right hand of the Father.

Whether you will be a deacon one day or not, let all of us imitate Christ in our serving him faithfully until the day we die. With that, let's pray.

Thank you for listening to another sermon from Grace Fellowship Church. If you would like to keep up with us, you can find us at Facebook at Grace Fellowship Church or our Instagram at gracechurchyeg, all one word.

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