Offices of the Church: Deacons

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.

Acts 6:1–7

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.

Matthew 28:18–20

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.

Acts 6:1–7

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.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

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

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

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

Acts 6 · chapter mention

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