The First Deacons

Introduction

When we first started out in the book of Acts, our goal was to look at what the church is supposed to be and how it is supposed to function from the example of the early church. It was also to trace God’s unstoppable movement to grow the church in these early years. Many times when a movement begins it starts off without very much structure to it. People can sometimes be excited because it seems to be growing and doing well, but then, problems start coming up and there is no plan in place to handle those issues.

New Exciting works often continue to grow off the excitement and passion behind the ministry. So the works start off with low levels of organization. Those who study church growth show that the more the organizational administration grows the less the passion drives the growth of the ministry and yet if there is no organization the passion will fizzle out and the growth will die. So we see churches die because they have no passion, but we also see churches die because they are not organized enough to handle their problems. The ideal is optimal passion and sufficient organization to keep the work growing.

The church in acts is facing a similar situation. Growth is phenomenal, but they aren’t equipped to handle a problem that arises. And this is why the deacons where established. Today we are going to take a look at these first deacons to understand the need for organization in the church.

I. The Need vs 1

A. With Growth Comes Conflict

Verse one starts with an exciting reality: the number of the disciples was multiplied. This is amazing growth. Most estimate by this time that there were around 20,000 believers in Jerusalem at this time. Thats a lot of people to have belonging to one church. We talked about this in our messages on church growth, but notice that it doesn’t say were added it says here were multiplied. Multiplication occurs when new converts are trained and then they go and win others to the Lord. Let’s say that I win one person to the Lord this year and next year I win another person to the Lord. How many people do we now have? three but what if I win one person to the Lord and then I train that person so he can win someone to the Lord. Next year we both go out and win someone to the Lord. How many people do we have now in the same amount of time. Four. If this process continues, we grow exponentially. Can I just point out that you don’t have to win hundreds of people to the Lord personally for this to happen. If we actively try to see people get saved and then we train them in the faith and evangelism, the church can grow by multiplication.

So with 20,000 people; there is a lot going on in this church and when you have that many people, one pastor is not enough. I would even say that the twelve apostles pastoring this group was not enough for the early church. Jewish synagogues actually required one leader for every 10 families. Its just too large of a task. So what do we see happening? Needs are not being met.

Jews had a system to relieve the needs of the poor which most likely this daily ministration was modeled after. Their relief system took two forms; quppah- which would include money, food and clothes collected throughout the week and distribution was made once a week on Friday before the Sabbath. Then there was Tamhui which was a daily collection of food for travelers, wayfarers and emergency needs that was distributed daily as needed (Maimonides).

The way the problem was solved seems to indicate the widows were not being neglected because of malice but because of administration problems. The native born Jewish speaking Christians would have been used to taking care of the needs of their own on this basis and probably just overlooked those Greek-speaking Jews who had immigrated back into Jerusalem. Hellenists would have made up 10-20% of the population.

What we see from this text is that with growth comes conflict. There are more people to take care of and without a system in place people are going to get overlooked.

B. Widows were viewed as needing community care when no family was present

So what was the problem exactly? The early church following Jewish models of social care needed to take care of the widows who did not have a support system in place. Those who did not have families to support them needed food, money for taxes and rent, and clothing. The practice of the early church is also what we see Paul advocating in 1 Timothy.

1 Tim 5:9-16 “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.”

This isn’t the main point of the message here, but it should be a challenge to us that we have a responsibility to take care of our widowed mothers. Individually, I have that responsibility. As a church, we have this responsibility if they fall into the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 5.

But one group was being taken care of and the other group was not. This was an oversight. Pastors can’t do everything. In fact as we will see later, the apostles argued that they shouldn’t be the one’s taking care of this need.

II. The appointment vs 2-6

A. Problem Solving vs 2

The apostles acknowledged that there actually a problem; so they call the entire church together to find a solution to the problem. As they try to solve the problem, the apostles give the congregation one general principle: It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve table.- the word reason literally means pleasing and I believe the implication is that it is not pleasing to God for them to stop studying the word, preaching the word and praying to God in order to serve these needs. The word leave means to neglect or abandon. There is only so much energy and time in the day for things and this need was beyond the ability of the apostles to take care of without the ministry of the word suffering as a consequence. Acts 6:4 “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

The word deacon is not mentioned in these verses, but the verb for is found here and this is exactly the ministry we see those called deacons later on doing; so tradition seems to be right to conclude that these were the first deacons.

Embedded in this statement is a hint as to the primary purpose of the deacons: service. Service can take many forms whether administration or helps, but the primary thrust is they are helping meet the needs of people. This is boots on the ground ministry. This is getting involved in people’s lives. This is actually helping peoples physical needs. A real deacon should never be the type of person who does not try to help people. Part of the work is administration, but it cannot be to the neglect of people. Anyone who wants to be or is a deacon should take a real look at how they approach people because this is part of their calling.

There is historical evidence that the deacons of the second and third century performed certain functions in the church:

visited the sick

helped during the services

brought the lord’s supper to those who were shut ins and couldn’t be at church

some even guarded the doors so only Christians could enter during times of persecution.

But all these tasks tie in together that they were servants of the people but more importantly they were servants of God.

B. The Solution vs 3-6

1. The Men- Those who solve the problem come from within the group of those in need. The first deacons were all men of the Hellenistic crowd of the church. All of the names in the list of deacons are Greek names hinting at the fact that they were all Hellenists. not native to Jerusalem. We don’t know a lot about most of the men listed; however, the list starts off with two we know relatively well: Stephen and Philip. This Philip is a different Philip than the one mentioned as an Apostle. Evidence for this can be deduced from the fact that Luke makes a distinction between the 12 and the 7. The Apostles are not called the 12 in any other text in Acts. As to the others we have scant information:

Prochorus- Tradition says he served under Peter and John and became the bishop of Nicomedia. He was also according to tradition banished to Patmos with the Apostle John.

Nicanor- Tradition says he went to Cyprus where he died

Timon- appointed bishop of Bostra in Arabia where he was thrown into a furnace. Tradition says he came out of the fire but was later crusified.

Parmenas- worked with Hellenized Jews in Macedonia and was killed by Emperor Trajan.

Nicolas- is sometimes associated with the Nicolaitans and Santa Claus. But what we do know is that he was not born a Jew, but converted to Judaism before becoming a Christian. We also know that he is from Antioch.

2. Qualifications: 1. spiritual men 2. men of good reputation

1 Tim 3:8-13 “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

serious

truthful

not given to wine, not drunken

nor greedy

holding the mystery of the faith in pure conscience

tried

blameless

. good wives

husband of one wife

ruling their children and homes well- good fathers and good husbands

There are two important features to point out in this text: the church is the one who chooses the deacons. The Apostles did not choose them, the elders did not choose them, a pope did not choose them. The congregation chose the deacons. Secondly, there seems to be more of an ordination process involved than we see today. Notice after the congregation chooses the deacons, Acts 6:6 “Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.” The apostles prayed over them and laid their hands on them which is a sign of official appointment if not ordination.

III. The results vs 7

This is where I want us to get to today. You could argue why have deacons? If we don’t have any widows needing to be taken care of, why bother? Maybe you might argue that we are a small church so we don’t need deacons. There are a couple of answers, I could give to these arguments. The first and obvious is because God’s word shows us that we should.

The second answer I would give would be to show you the benefits of having godly deacons. This text gives us three results:

1. Preaching increased- the word of God continued to grow. In a turn of phrase the word of God is given agency of its own. This is clearly a reference to the preaching of the gospel message and not Jesus. One thing that stands out about these deacons is that the two most famous among them were also preachers. The Apostles were now freed up to preach the word of God and they now had a group of fellow soldiers preaching the gospel as well.

2. Disciples multiplied- more believers were added to the church. I do not think it is an accident that Luke uses the word disciples here and not many places elsewhere. The implication is not just that these people were saved, but that they were being trained in the truth of God’s word.

3. Priests got saved- as the number of preachers grows and the message gets out by the influence of these deacons, priests are even being saved. Few of the priests had previously come to faith in Jesus Christ. Nicodemus and Joseph being among the few we know of. Obedience to the faith- is a term that is used to refer to salvation. To respond to the working of the Holy Spirit in your life is obedience. To respond to that initial act of grace is obedience.

Measuring success in the church is shown both by those who come to faith in Christ and by those who oppose that message as we will see in the rest of the chapter.

Conclusion (Stand for Invitation)

So here is the take away from this entire message: first, Biblical order promotes the unity of the church. A problem arose in the church that had the potential to tear the church apart, but the deacon’s took care of that need and prevented a potential church split. We could have pretty early on had a Greek Speaking Church and a Hebrew speaking Church. The second takeaway is this, biblical order promotes church growth. More people being involved in the work of the ministry allows the church to grow. You relieve the stress on the pastor so he can do more preaching, studying, prayer and evangelism, but also now we have more men actively doing the work of the ministry taking care of people. And one thing we see from the two well known deacons is that they preached the gospel as well. Next week we will look at the first Stephen and soon after we will look at Philip. These were godly men who influenced the Church and allowed the kingdom of God to grow because of their service.