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Chad Werkhoven

Acts 6:1-7 - Skilled Servants

Deacons must be "men known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom."


 

Acts 6:1-7 - (NIV)


In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”


This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.


So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

 

Listen to passage & devotional:


 

Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 30: The Government of the Church


We believe that this true church

ought to be governed according to the spiritual order

that our Lord has taught us in his Word.

There should be ministers or pastors

to preach the Word of God

and administer the sacraments.

There should also be elders and deacons,

along with the pastors,

to make up the council of the church.


By this means

true religion is preserved;

true doctrine is able to take its course;

and evil men are corrected spiritually and held in check,

so that also the poor

and all the afflicted

may be helped and comforted

according to their need.


By this means

everything will be done well

and in good order

in the church,

when such persons are elected

who are faithful

and are chosen according to the rule

that Paul gave to Timothy.

 

Summary


It didn't take long in the early church for problems to crop up. In this case, the challenge of caring for widows was exasperated by the underlying racial tension: the Hellenists (Greek) vs. the Hebrews. You can imagine the tension present as the Apostles were often interrupted from times of prayer, preaching and teaching in order to figure out the logistics of making sure everyone got the same amount of supper.


Often times fast growing organizations - whether churches, schools or businesses - become victims of their own success. The rapid growth often turns otherwise solvable problems into overwhelming issues. When the distractions end up causing leadership to lose its focus on the core mission, the growth loses its momentum and the organization quickly implodes under its own weight.


The Apostles, guided in wisdom by the Holy Spirit, realized the danger this sort of distraction posed and moved quickly to solve the problem. They knew that that the ministry of the Word of God must not be compromised, but they also wanted all of the widows to be properly cared for. The decided to delegate the task, and in doing so they added a new 'office' to the new church. They appointed diakonos (deacons), a word that literally means servants for the congregation.



Dig Deeper


Often times in our own contexts, we tend to think of the office of deacon as sort of the JV team of elders. They're often younger men who are tasked with the church's more practical issues like benevolence, budgeting and bill paying. The truly spiritual issues seem to be reserved for the more seasoned elders.


But that's not how the Apostles understood it. They weren't looking for men with a business background who knew how to organize and get things done, they were looking for men who were known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. And it would be one of these seven deacons, Stephen, who would become the Church's first martyr when he was stoned by the Establishment after eloquently showing them how the entire Old Testament points to Christ.


The Church will always face challenges until the Lord returns, both internal issues and external persecution. But one of the lessons we learn from the early Church as we read about in Acts is that when she stays focused on the ministry of the Word, God carries her through the challenges so that His Word spreads and more and more become obedient to the faith.


Certainly elders and deacons have different responsibilities in carrying out their call, but they have one big thing in common: both must be men known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.



  • ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who calls His Church to remain faithful to her task despite ongoing challenges;

  • ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll faithfully serve the Church in the calling God has given you and that your church will not be distracted from the ministry of the Word;

  • ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

 

Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Peter 4

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