Deacon Trailblazers

INTRODUCTION

Everyone loves an origin story

Peter Parker’s beloved uncle dying and telling him that with great power comes great responsibility

The Hobbit—the story of how this powerful ring that rules them all fell into the hands of little Bilbo Baggins in the first place

Right now there is some chatter about the new Willy Wonka movie coming out that will show his origin story and how he recused the oompa-loompas

Well, we get an origin story this morning. We get the story of a prototype. A group of men who were the first of their kind.

This morning we see the roots of the deacon ministry of the local church

I don’t know what you feel about deacons.

But I love deacons.

My father is a deacon.

My father-in-law is a deacon.

My best friend is a deacon.

The men I view as spiritual fathers and grandfathers in this church—many of them are deacons.

Some of the first Christians I ever met were deacons.

After my dad and I visited a church right after my dad came to know Christ, that church sent deacons to our house.

They came and asked us all sorts of questions about our faith and the church and they prayed for us.

I remember it was a pretty odd experience for me as an unbelieving 13 year old, but I also remember thinking they were nice men.

Baptist deacons have certainly gotten a reputation throughout the years.

The curmudgeon deacon

The angry deacon

The drunk deacon

Some of that is probably their fault if we are being honest

But overwhelmingly, my experience with deacons has been that they are the servant pacesetters.

They are tender like their Lord.

They are caring like the Spirit.

They are happy to be in the background as a servant should be.

They want what is best for the church.

They love their pastors.

They love their fellow brothers and sisters.

And this morning I want us to see the soil they came from.

For we have before us the blueprint for what would become the deacon office.

And that blueprint comes about because of healthy leadership

Healthy leadership that responded a potential crisis and turned it into an opportunity to show the beauty of Jesus’ church

And what we will see is that it opened the way for the Kingdom to continue to advance.

CONTEXT

A word regarding the context of this passage. Let’s remember what we saw last week:

There are threats bearing down on the church.

There is persecution from the high priest and those that are with him

But God supernaturally delivers the apostles

They end up before the ruling council again and they are bold to continue proclaiming the Gospel—even right on the spot to the high priest

The apostles are beaten again and released and they rejoice that God counts them worthy to suffer and the Gospel keeps going forward

Notice though, how the opposition is not relenting.

Acts 4—opposition from the outside

Beginning of Acts 5—opposition from inside with Ananias and Sapphira

End of Acts 5—opposition from the outside

And now, as we start Acts 6, we will see that the deacon blueprint comes about because there is more potential opposition from within the church

Acts 6:1–7 ESV

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. 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 Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 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.

I have four teaching points about healthy leadership that I want us to observe this morning:

1. Healthy church government will not allow division to fester (v. 1).

2. Healthy church government will not allow confusion in roles and responsibilities (v. 2, v. 4, v. 6).

3. Healthy church government will not allow the congregation to stay on the sidelines (v. 3, v. 5).

4. Healthy church government will not allow Hell to rest (v. 7).

DIVISION (v. 1)

HELLENISTS NEGLECTED

We begin this morning by examining the dispute that has broken out in the early church.

It involves the Hellenists in the church—meaning they are Jewish people who speak Greek—being upset because the Hellenistic widows are not having their needs met.

They are going hungry in the daily distribution of food.

This is a serious matter. People needed to eat.

And there was racial tension that laid behind it.

In first-century Judaism, Greek-speaking Jews were treated as 2nd class citizens by those who ran the Judean synagogues

The Pharisees looked at Hellenists as Jews who had given into the world

They had given up the Lord’s tongue for Greek—the language of the marketplace

In the eyes of the Pharisees, they gave up their heritage to get ahead in the world

So when a Greek-speaking Jew in the church starts getting any sense that Greek-speaking widows are being neglected, it is going to reek of that old, dead religion being pushed at the synagogue.

Religion that Jesus exposed for being merely external

We don’t know why the widows are being neglected.

It could be because of apostolic limitation.

There are thousands of souls in the church at this point.

Shepherding them is hard.

This could be a situation where they simply cannot keep up with the needs of the church.

It could be because of cultural barriers.

Maybe the language barrier has gotten in the way and there is a miscommunication?

Or it could be because of favoritism.

Old habits die hard and maybe the church is struggling to adapt to two groups that used to not have any part with one another in society, suddenly living under one spiritual roof.

Or maybe it is a combination of all three.

Regardless, the problem is real.

NOT A PERFECT CHURCH

All of this helps us to remember that our mother church in Jerusalem was a model church, but it was not a perfect church.

There is no perfect church, there are only churches being perfected.

There is no reformed church, there are only churches being reformed.

There is no pure church, there are only churches being purified.

Even the reaction of the Hellenists shows us that this was a church filled with sinners who are being sanctified.

While they are justified in their frustrations, they are not justified in how they handle it.

They complain against their Hebrew brothers and sisters.

Philippians 2:14 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

Could this matter have been settled without complaining against their Hebrew-speaking family members? Of course.

But Luke runs from none of this.

He puts the newborn cries of the infant church on full display and says, “Watch how she struggles.”

But he also tells us the story of God’s faithfulness and says, “Look how He cares for her.”

And one of the ways He does that if by giving the church leadership that does something.

Teaching Point #1: Healthy church government will not allow division to fester (v. 1).

The Apostles do not mess about.

They take action.

They do something.

They see a threat to the flock and they go right to it and they begin to apply wisdom.

I believe they prayed about this.

Why? Because one of the reasons they cannot directly handle it themselves is because they must stayed devoted to prayer.

That tells me that these brothers are serious about praying.

And as praying men, who study and proclaim the Word of God, and have been charged by Jesus to lead His Church, they do not sit on their hands.

One of the last things that Jesus told these men was that the world would know them by their love for one another.

That means that the Gospel is at stake here.

Their witness is at stake.

If this dispute over food keeps them from fulfilling the “love one another” command, the Kingdom advance will be under threat.

For the Gospel proclamation to stay strong, their love must stay strong.

And yet, the Apostles do not have the time to deal with this.

Let’s look at verses 2, 4 and 6.

CONFUSION (v. 2, 4, 6)

DIVINE PRIORITIES (v. 2, 4)

The Apostles say that it is not right that they would give up the preaching of the Word of God in order to “serve tables” (v. 2)

Again in verse 4, they reiterate their divine priorities:

Acts 6:4 ESV

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The Apostles have a commission from the Lord Jesus Christ to go in His authority and proclaim the Gospel to all nations.

To Baptize them in the name of the beautiful and glorious Triune God

To disciple them through the teaching of the Christ’s commands

And the primary mandate on their life to fulfill that Commission.

Naturally, as they do baptize those people, they will hand the Commission off to them and tell them that it is also their job to go and make disciples.

And thus, the church is being built, under their leadership.

They cannot get away from doing this work and remain obedient to the call of the Lord Jesus.

SERVE TABLES

When they say that they cannot go to “serve” tables, the Greek word is diakaneo.

It means to “serve” or “minister.”

We get out English word “Deacon” from it.

This is one of the major reasons that we see this as a blueprint for the office of deacon that is laid out by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:8

1 Timothy 3:8 ESV

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

It is a version of the same Greek word

Paul continues in 1 Timothy 3:9-13

1 Timothy 3:9–13 ESV

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Compare this description with the sort of men that the Apostles tell the church to call out from among them:

Good reputation

Spirit-filled

Wise

Stephen in particular is listed as being “full of faith.”

This is in many ways a more broad description of the sort of servant that Paul outlines to Timothy

Plus, in verse 6, the men chosen are set aside and have hands laid on them for the task.

When all factors have been considered, it seems best to understand the ordination in Acts 6 as to an office that would later be called deacon. Although they are not called deacons here, the first readers of Acts may have seen the seven as deacons. This identification of the seven as the first ordained deacons has been the mainline position of the Christian church since the second century.

Cornelius Van Dam

WHAT ABOUT PASTORS?

So what about pastors then? If these are blueprint deacons, are the apostles the blueprint pastors?

Not exactly. That is not the way the New Testament speaks about it.

Listen to Paul in Ephesians 2:20

Ephesians 2:19–21 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

The apostles were not pastoral prototypes.

They stand alone as a unique office that existed in the first generation of the church.

They all saw the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes.

They were all called by Him personally

Even Matthias through lots

And Paul, who meets the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road, tells the Galatians that he is no apostle from men or for men

He is an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father

They laid the foundation of the church

And then, pastors and teachers come along and build on that foundation and equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Ephesians 4:11–13 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

CLEAR DIVISION OF LABOR

However, despite the fact that unlike these seven men, the apostle is not a pastoral blueprint, we can still draw a parallel in the clear division of labor.

Serving tables is not beneath the Apostles.

It just isn’t what they have been called to do.

There is no way for them to devote the time that is necessary to studying the Scriptures and teaching them and praying and also administrating the church.

It was too big of a load to bear.

So it was not beneath them. It was beyond them.

It was not what God called them to do.

And so instead of leaving their calling to do something else, they told the church to nominate men who were called to that work.

So there is a division of labor between the governing of the church and the service of the church.

And that is where we see the parallel to the pastor/deacon relationship.

In 1 Timothy 3, we saw the qualifications for a deacon.

The qualifications for a pastor are listed before it.

1 Timothy 3:1 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

The Greek word for overseer in 1 Timothy 3 is episkopos which means, bishop/overseer/shepherd/elder/pastor.

These are all interchangeable English terms that could be used as an accurate translation of this Greek word.

The word is used 5 times in the New Testament and in every case, it is describing those who govern the church with the Word of God

In Titus 1, Paul says:

Titus 1:5 ESV

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

The Greek word there is presbyteros.

It best translates to elder and is used 72 times in the New Testament.

57 of those uses refers to men who are governing the church with the Word of God.

It is also used to describe older men and women at times.

The Greek word for deacon occurs 31 times and it is never used to describe someone who governs the church.

Now, despite the fact that the deacons of Seaford Baptist do not govern our church, this division of labor might be news to you because you grew up with an understanding that deacons run the church alongside the pastor.

Maybe that is what you have seen in church

Maybe you have experienced that in church, even as a deacon

There is a reason for that.

And all of the fruit of it hasn’t been horrible.

But the reason is not Scriptural.

It is more historical and traditional.

So let me give our 2nd teaching point and then talk a bit about the history of it and how you might feel about it.

2. Healthy church government does not confuse roles and responsibilities (v. 2, 4, 6).

When you talk about Southern Baptists and deacons governing the church, there is a book behind it, but it is not the Bible.

It is the Church Manual by JM Pendleton in 1867.

And there is one sentence that people really took from Pendleton and ran with.

He says this about pastors:

Thus the creation of the office of deacon recognizes the fact that the duties of pastors are preeminently spiritual; and that they should not be burdened with the secular interests of the churches.

JM Pendleton

People took this quote and said, “Pastors preach and pray. Deacons govern.”

They ignored that old Pendleton also says this in the SAME CHAPTER:

The church, over whose interest the pastor watches, has been bought with the precious blood of Christ.

JM Pendleton

Pendleton wasn’t saying, “The pastors don’t govern the church.”

He was saying, “The pastors can’t preach and pray and negotiate real estate deals and run seven programs at the same time.”

But the selective use of Pendleton came at a time in which the church was changing alongside the world.

I recall my brother David Shinn teaching us about these things at a Midweek back in 2014:

The Industrial Revolution had changed the landscape of society

It took men out of their homes to run companies and factories and sit on executive boards

They brought this mentality into the church

And it is right around 1840—just a few short years before the Church Manual is published, that you start seeing Baptist churches have “deacon boards.”

Suddenly, deacons cease to be the ministry assistants who are serving tables so that prayer and the Word may abound in the church’s governance.

Now, deacons are a second governing power in the church that in the best case scenario served in unity alongside like-minded pastors.

But in many scenarios, the deacons become second governing power that competes with pastoral authority and often confuses the church.

Again—I don’t believe we have that here at Seaford Baptist.

I am just explaining how we got to the state of things in many Southern Baptist congregations.

IS THAT BAD?

And is that always bad? Is it always a disaster?

No. It is not always a disaster.

Sometimes it is a complete disaster and I have seen that with my own two eyes on more than one occasion.

But here is why it sometimes works out okay.

Because some deacons are probably qualified to be lay pastors and therefore they lead pretty well alongside the pastors of the church.

But when it doesn’t work out and it is a complete disaster, it is because there are men who are governing the church and they are not qualified to do it.

They are not called to do it.

They are not ordained to do it.

And it is flat wrong for them to do it.

And that is when it is a disaster.

“Sometimes works out okay,” is not as good as the Scriptural mandate.

And that is the bottom line.

There must be the clear division of roles and responsibilities for church government to be healthy.

Pastors pastor.

Deacons serve.

Pastors serve by leading.

Deacons lead by serving.

LAY PASTORS AT SEAFORD?

I would imagine that some of you hear this and you think, “But Pastor, there are men in this church who I would follow. There are men in this church who I want to teach me and I would follow them and I want them to govern this church.”

I do not disagree with you my brother.

I do not disagree with you my sister.

In fact, I could not agree more.

I think the reason you look at some of your deacons and you say, “But they can lead,” is because...

God has men in this church, who if trained by the trained pastors who are here, could pastor right alongside us.

We have multiple men in this congregation that I believe are qualified to pastor and may just be called to it as well.

Are you saying that men who haven’t gone to seminary would pastor this church alongside the hired men who have?

Yes—that is exactly what I am saying.

And I believe it would be beautiful and healthy.

Imagine if something happened to me tomorrow.

Ben and David would hold it down for a bit, but there would be a lot of upheaval.

Then there would be this hiring process where like 7 of you would get to know this guy.

And the rest of you would know him for like 4 hours.

And then you would vote and most likely give this church over to a man you barely know.

I think that is ridiculous.

Now imagine something happens to me tomorrow and there is Ben and David and three men from this body who have pastoring alongside them for a number of years.

You would mourn me—I hope.

You would miss me—for a bit.

But the stability of the church would be far less in question.

With a multitude of strong men leading, maybe the church could take the time to get to know a pastoral candidate.

Instead of getting to know him for four hours, maybe the church gets to know him over a period of four weeks in many settings because with a strong team of hired and lay pastors—there is less of a time crunch.

I would love nothing more than to train up brothers from among you.

I would love to teach them theology.

I would love to teach them how to pray a Psalm at a death bed.

I would love to teach them how to care for someone’s soul.

I would love to teach them to pastor.

And then lay hands on them and ordain them.

And then bring them to the pastoral table where we are devoted to prayer and preaching in a primary way.

ELDER-RULED?

I know some of you are probably thinking, “This sounds Presbyterian. This sounds like something not Baptist.”

Well again—I don’t care about all of that. I care about the Word.

It calls for a multitude of elders to be appointed in each town and they didn’t have search committees

They were raising them up from within

But what you are probably fearing in hearing me speak this way is that we would be some sort of elder-ruled church that loses our identity in how we run things.

And to that I say, “Let’s keep reading this text.”

Let me show you the beauty of pastors and deacons and congregation all working together to form a harmonious song that in many ways we are already singing here at Seaford Baptist.

CONGREGATION (v. 3, 5)

TYPE OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT

What we see in verses 3 and 5 are a beautiful picture of congregationalism.

It is a beautiful picture of the authority that lies in a congregation.

Going back to our old friend JM Pendleton, in the Church Manual, he said there are three types of church government.

Episcopal

Presbyterian

Congregational

Episcopal:

Episcopacy recognizes the right of bishops to preside over districts of country, and one of its fundamental doctrines is, that a bishop is officially superior to other ministers.

JM Pendleton

Presbyterian

Presbyterianism recognizes two classes of elders: preaching elders and ruling elders. The pastor and ruling elders of a congregation constitute what is called the "session of the church." The "session" transacts the business of the church, receives, dismisses, excludes members, etc.

JM Pendleton

But I don’t think you are seeing that modeled here in Acts 6. Instead, you get a picture of congregationalism.

Congregationalism

Congregational church government recognizes that there is only one true authority over a local church, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

That means that no person or group can exercise supreme authority over the church

Each congregation should be free to follow Christ without the interference of councils and bishops and popes

It also means that each individual believer in the congregation are equal.

We are all standing at the foot of the Cross and no one’s vote or voice matters more than anyone else’s.

We are all Spirit-filled believers who come together to form Christ’s body.

So while the pastors have leading authority in the church, the church does not belong to them.

It belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the pastors lead and deacons serve, but we leave power in the body of Jesus.

Congregationalism distinctly recognizes these truths: 1. That governmental power is in the hands of the people. 2. The right of a majority of the members of a church to rule (The will of the majority expressed, it becomes the minority to submit).

JM Pendleton

The pastor’s lead. The deacons serve. The church responds with collective congregational action.

And when these three things work together, the church of God is in a position to function in health.

You see this in the passage this morning.

This is an autonomous church. No one is telling them how they must handle this.

They are a self-governing body under the Lord Jesus Christ, choosing together to submit to the wise leadership of the Apostles

Each individual follows God’s leading in selecting men, leading to a solution—collective congregational action in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and their Word-centered leaders

And the results of it are supernaturally phenomenal.

Acts 6:5 ESV

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 Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

Stephen is pointed out because of the important role he is about to play in the rest of chapters 6-8.

But all of these men have names that would tell you they are Greek-speakers.

Meaning, the apostles provided a solution as leaders and as the congregation responded and selected the men for waiting tables, they collectively selected men who can specifically solve this particular issue.

Men who speak Greek and can make sure the Hellenists are being tended to properly.

Only Christ, in His perfect governing of His church, could lead thousands of people to have unity in selecting 7 names who all speak the language of the marketplace.

I’m telling you—congregationalism is beautiful.

3. Healthy church government will not allow the congregation to stay on the sidelines (v. 3, 5).

SCRIPTURAL CONGREGATIONALISM

The reason that healthy church government won’t allow this is because the Scriptures show us a congregation with authority.

We see Christ, the Head of the Church, granting authority to His body—His people

In Matthew 18, if someone is caught in sin, and they will not repent after repeated warnings, who will ultimately be responsible for placing that person outside the congregation as if they are not a believer?

Who ultimately executes the discipline of exile when someone is obstinately rebelling against the Lord in belief and behavior?

Matthew 18:17 ESV

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

You see this play out in 1 Corinthians 5 with the man who is sleeping with his stepmother.

He calls on them to oust the man in a church gathering as a part of official church business.

1 Corinthians 5:4–5 ESV

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

When you are assembled… the authority is with the church

You can see the sort of power that lies with the congregation.

Jesus told the Apostles He would give them the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

This is the sort of authority that lies with the church.

Pastors lead, but the congregation is able to veto bad leadership under the authority of Christ.

Pastors preach, but the congregation is able to determine together who belongs at the Lord’s table and who does not.

Pastors shepherd, but the congregation are not just lemmings in the field.

They are sheep who listen to the Word of their Ultimate Shepherd.

As long as the Under-shepherds are leading in line with His Word, there should not be an issue.

CONGREGATIONALISM AT SEAFORD

So what does this look like at Seaford Baptist Church?

Well our bylaws read this way:

Pastor-led (biblical)

Deacon-served (biblical)

Ministry-team organized

We use ministry teams to execute the work of the church

Council-sanctioned

We have a Church Council that operates as a planning and coordinating body—evaluating the welfare of the church four times a year

Membership-approved

The church membership is the final authority under God for matters pertaining to the Church and reserves the specific authority to govern itself on matters such as:

-Comprehensive adjustment of membership records.

- Annual budget.

- Budget revisions when the total amount of the budget is affected.

- The buying and selling of real estate.

- The calling of the Pastoral Staff and Ministry Directors.

- Constitution and Church Bylaw amendments.

- Any debt obligation resulting from the borrowing of funds.

- Capital Improvements as requested by the Premises Committee.

- Election of messengers to attend meetings of the denominational associations.

- Other actions as set forth in these Bylaws.

This is how we operate.

And I don’t want to change that.

When you hear me say, “There are men who can lead as lay pastors alongside hired pastors,” I don’t desire that in order to take authority away from the church body, but to add more hands in caring for the church body.

More men to help us care for your souls

More men to help us make wise plans to bring to the congregation

More men to assist in the teaching of this church

More men to assist in the counseling of this church

More pastoral hands to the plow

Hired pastors might come and go, but these men would remain.

They would be here.

They already are.

Those lay pastors would simply stand alongside the hired pastors as a larger pastoral team, sharing the load of shepherding together, leading a congregational church.

A church with committees

A church with deacons

A church with ministry teams

A church with a Church Council

JUST A DREAM

For today, I am just asking for you to dream about this with your pastors.

We aren’t ready for it.

But for now, I ask you to dream with us.

Your hired pastors, who love you so dearly, are figuring out how to function as a pastoral team.

We are learning together how to not just deal with urgent things but to be forward-thinking

We are learning how to share a load together

To get away from the idea of King Michael and his knights

We want to simply show you three pastors. Three elders.

But as the three of us function in unity, it is our desire to add to our number from within.

So we can care for the homebound better

So we can have some gray-er hairs in the room when thinking through hard things

So we can disciple more people

So that young men can see adult men rise to pastoral work in their own church, thus recognizing that God could call them to do the same

So we can do more soul care in hospitals and in homes

So we can have more continuity in leadership from year to year in committees

So we can have more continuity long-term in the church’s leadership

Baptist search committees will meet a man and spend a grand total of 5-10 hours speaking with him. They will then bring that man in to meet a church for a total of 4-6 hours over a weekend.

And then they will just hand the church over to that man.

But they will look at men they have known as shepherding-types in their midst for thirty years and say—Absolutely not.

I find this to be categorically illogical and I think the Bible offers a better way.

HELL WON’T REST (v. 7)

And I think that better way is worth it. Because I think you can look at the end of this text and see how God blesses and uses churches with healthy government and leadership.

Acts 6:7 ESV

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.

The Gospel continues to advance in Jerusalem, to the point that many of the priests come to be obedient to the faith!

Does Luke mean that some of the priests from Acts 5 who sat on that ruling council repented after hearing Peter preach to them and seeing the resolve of the Apostles?

Given the context, I don’t just see it as possible, but likely.

And regardless, even if it wasn’t those priests, any priests coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ and becoming obedient to the faith is amazing.

The men who serve in the temple came to realize that the temple was just a shadow pointing beyond itself to Christ and they went past the shadow for the real thing.

Satan must have hated all this so much.

So as the band comes, I will give you our final point:

4. Healthy church government will not let Hell rest (v. 7).

When churches are healthy and functioning in God-directed health, it is bad news for the gates of Hell.

Hell gets no relief from churches with healthy leadership.

Churches who have been healthy from the top down for years just wear Hell out.

They just take Satan out back and despite all his best efforts, they just beat that dog senseless with conversion after conversion.

One loving confrontation with sin after another

One wise, biblical decision after the next

Hell is tired from healthily governed churches.

I want to make Hell tired.

I want our people in love with Christ.

I want our people consumed with showing neighborly love.

I want our people to growing in the knowledge and strength of God.

I want to do more in less time.

I want to have thriving discipleship and community.

And I want Satan to hate us. And be bothered by us. And to be weary from the losses that Christ gives him through our obedience.

The more healthy we are from the top down, the more tired Hell will be.

Shepherding pastors.

Serving deacons.

Authoritative congregation

All under a loving King

The origin story for the set up can be found in Acts 6—but the reality of the beauty is all around us. Even this morning.