Jesus' Org Chart

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.

Amen

I started thinking we would talk solely about deacons and I ended up realizing we were going to talk about how the Lord wants His Church to do His work.

From this text we will learn four organizational rules the Lord has placed on His Church.

Rule one: God calls particular men to know the gospel, pray the gospel and preach and teach the gospel.

Rule two: God puts in place people to make sure the physical needs of the body are met.

Rule three: Every church member will find a group in the church.

Rule four: Jesus works through His congregation.

There you go - there are the four organizational rules that the Lord Jesus has placed on His Church.

Now, before we jump into how we got four rules, let’s see what’s going on.

Remember Luke is telling us what happened - but he’s not telling us everything that happened.

It’s reading a history book - stuff gets left out.

Chapter 6 is believed to be about 5 years after chapter 5.

The church that was growing by leaps and bounds was probably at about 20,000 members.

12 elders with 20,000 members - that’s going to be a problem.

All of the 20,000 members were Jews who had converted to Christianity.

They were raised Jewish.

They had been taught Jewish.

They knew how to be a Jew.

Part of their Jewish heritage is a deep sense that they are required to take care of the poor.

The Old Testament law is full of things telling people what to do to help the needy.

They had been taking care of the poor and needy forever.

When the Church of Christ was born - these Jewish Christians kept doing what they knew God required.

When they heard of a need, wealthy people who owned lots of property would sell a piece of their property.

And then they would take the money and give it to the new church to be used for the poor.

Acts 4:34–35 ESV

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.

Do you hear the problem?

They laid the money at the apostles feet.

The poor are now the apostle’s problem.

There are 20,000 church members.

And to make matters more difficult - a large majority of them were born and raised in Israel - our text calls them Hebrews.

But another significant amount of them were “not from around here.”

They were raised in other parts of the Greek speaking world - so they spoke Greek.

Are you familiar with the term snowbirds?

Wealthy people who live up North in the summer so it’s cooler and live in Florida or Jekyll or St. Simons for the winter where it’s warmer?

These Hellenists - Greek Jews tended to come to Israel to live the end of their lives in the promised land.

When the husbands died, it was very difficult for the widows to survive.

Something else we need to know - the Jews had two different kinds of help.

They had a weekly distribution of money to the needy that gave them enough money to buy 14 meals.

2 meals a day, 7 days a week.

This was usually for the folks who were around from here.

But they had a daily distribution of food for those who weren’t from around here

Where they would deliver their meals for a day to their door - meals on wheels so to speak.

And right here is where we start misunderstanding the text.

Look at verse 2: Acts 6:2 “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.”

We hear “serve tables” or “wait tables” and we think of wait staff at a restaurant, right?

I have envisioned in my mind a large room - like our fellowship hall.

Everyone who is needy comes to it like a soup kitchen.

Someone has to prepare the food, and someone has to serve the food and then clean up afterwards.

And we throw the word Deacon on top of that and viola’, we have the first Deacons.

But here is the problem.

There was no fellowship hall.

There was no soup kitchen.

There was a table where the money was divvy’d up for the coming week.

And there was another table where daily bread was distributed from.

And the 12 apostles were in charge of both of them.

Do you think they had a prayer of doing it to everyone’s satisfaction?

Look at verse 1 Acts 6:1 “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.”

Their complaining was done in secret - between each other.

They weren’t coming to the apostles who were the ones who could get something done.

They did exactly as we do - they complained amongst themselves, getting everyone all stirred up - until finally the Apostles heard about it.

But now imagine the Apostles - they’ve been working their fingers to the bone, doing their best, taking care of the needy while preaching and teaching too.

And they were worn to a frazzle.

See the word neglect - that means to “fail to consider something sufficiently, and, as a result, fail to respond appropriately.”

By definition, they didn’t neglect anyone on purpose.

They were simply worn out - there was too much to do - they and the church were suffering.

So they did a very Jewish thing - they recommended a team of seven men to fix the problem.

They had to be the beginning of baptists - Jews had a practice that - when there was a problem - form a committee of seven men

Assign them the task and get out of their way.

There was no magic here.

The Lord led them to do what had worked for 1,000 or more years.

Problem solved.

The Apostles could go back to doing what they were called by God to do.

So what was the result when everyone joined their hearts and minds to follow Jesus’ way of organizing His church?

Acts 6:7 “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.”

By the way, there were lots of priests and they were dirt poor.

Where do you think a beggar in Jerusalem could find food?

I can hear a priest simply telling a friend how hungry he was.

And the friend said to the starving priest, “I was starving too, but a friend told me to come to this table, and I could get food.”

And I did and they gave me food.

“I’m telling you as a friend - from one beggar to another - go there - they’ll give you food for your belly and for your soul.

The Lord honors that - and He multiplies the number of disciples.

So hear are the four organizational rules that our Lord Jesus established for His church.

Rule one: God calls particular men to know the gospel, pray the gospel and preach and teach the gospel.

These are called Elders and their primary duties are to know the Gospel, to teach the Gospel and to Preach the Gospel.

Their secondary duties are to oversee the work of the deacons.

To make sure everyone is getting what they need.

To let the Deacons know of new needs they might have discovered.

But first and foremost, they are to pray, preach and teach.

If they don’t, the church collapses.

Rule two: God puts people in place to make sure the physical needs of the body are met.

In this passage, the word for distribution, the word for ministry, and the word for serve all come from the same word and it’s the same word that Deacon comes from.

The elders serve through the word.

The deacons serve by taking care of the physical needs of the body.

If you don’t have Deacons, the church collapses.

You need them both.

And I think that’s where our confusion comes in.

In our last town hall, I heard comments from Deacon’s and others about not being sufficiently trained.

In this text - the one that we say establishes the office of Deacon - what is their primary task?

It’s to take care of the physical needs of the body.

It has a solid spiritual component - and we’re going to see Deacon Stephen being the first martyr because of his preaching.

But preaching was not Stephen’s primary task - doing was his primary task.

As I studied this text, I thought about our Deacons and I started listing things that they are presently doing.

One is a Sunday School teacher, a men’s group leader, is on the missions team and is a church officer.

Another is on the Student Team, the Music Team, he teaches Sunday School, he’s in the music ministry and opens his home to High School boys on Sunday nights.

Another is our Men’s ministry leader.

Another is a Sunday School teacher and usher coordinator.

One is on the Environmental and Safety team and is in the music ministry.

Another serves with the music ministry.

Two work with the church vehicles.

Another is a Sunday School teacher.

One works on the Grounds team, the ordinance team and the finance team.

Another works on the Finance team.

One opens his home to a middle school girls group.

One works with home bound.

Another is in the music ministry.

Another leads game time for Wednesday kids.

Another is a teacher.

Another teaches 6th - 8th grade boys.

Another is on the Environmental and Safety team and is a church officer.

Two are on the benevolence team, with one also involved in finance and flowers and the other involved in Grounds.

And finally, one is a Wednesday Kids teacher and a Sunday School assistant.

All serve on the widow ministry and all take their turn to serve communion.

And if we called on any of them for help, they’d be quick to give it.

The problem is not in their training.

The problem is in our expectations.

They are doing deacon work - we are expecting elder work.

They are not trained to be elders because they are not elders.

They are Deacons - and they are taking care of the physical needs of the church.

Rule three: Every church member will find a group in the church.

They were meeting regularly as a body, probably at Solomon's portico just in front of the temple doors.

But there were upwards of 20,000 of them.

Where they got their community - where they found their friends and people to do life with was in their homes.

I’m not saying everyone has to go out and start a home group

But I am saying, if you are not involved in a group, you are missing a substantial part of the body of Christ.

And it doesn’t have to look like Sunday School, although Sunday School is an excellent place to make a community.

Look, everything doesn’t have to look like it’s looked forever.

John Albrycht is a new member - he was youth interim here a lifetime ago.

He has a ministry called Bugs4Christ.

They rebuilt vehicles, they repair vehicles and they give them away

And they share Jesus at the same time.

I know several of you who build race cars, restore old cars and trucks -sounds like a place where you might fit.

Deer season is coming and many of you are deer destroyers.

Why not a group of hunters who like each other and meet, talk guns and game and Jesus?

We had a member whose moved away and SHE loves archery?

What about a group of ladies that love sports and outdoors who can meet, talk turkey - get it - and talk Jesus?

Listen, you will never get everything you need sitting in this room.

Sure I might be a phenomenal preacher - of sorts - but you can’t get it all from me

And you can’t expect it all from me.

You can go to Gray Methodist, or Elam, or Greenwood, or Bradley, or Plentitude, or Gray Community, or where ever else

Sitting in their sanctuary will be thrilling for a minute - but the hole won’t go away.

Jesus rule three for his body - everyone finds a group where they can have good, Godly Christian friends.

That is how it is supposed to work.

And the final rule, Rule four: Jesus works through His congregation.

Some elderly women were being overlooked

Not by design but by accident.

When the Elders found out about it, they made a recommendation to the church.

The recommendation made sense.

The congregation voted to accept the recommendation and they nominated back to the Elders seven qualified men.

Do you remember their qualifications?

It’s in verse 3 - they had to have a good reputation.

They had to be Godly - full of the Spirit.

And they had to have common sense - that’s what this word wisdom means.

The Elders agreed with the congregation’s assessment and assigned the men the task.

They obviously did a great job because the murmuring stopped.

But we do hear Acts 6:7 “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.”

We hear that Jesus works through his congregation.

We are the beautiful bride of Christ.

For brevity, let me stipulate, all men are toads ok - so we don’t have to have that discussion.

But you’ve seen a bride, right?

And she’s wearing a white dress - it shows a little of her chest and a little of her back.

If you look closely, you’ll see the blemishes.

Maybe her teeth aren’t perfectly straight.

Maybe she fills out her dress a lot or maybe not enough.

Maybe her glasses are two foot thick

But what does her groom see?

He sees nothing but radiance.

Listen to the words of Jesus John 17:20-26

John 17:20–26 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Does that sound like the talk of someone who looks at us and sees ugly?

No.

Jesus sees beauty.

Jesus sees radiance.

He knows our blemishes and our warts, but he chooses to ignore them.

Instead he says, I have given them my glory.

“I want them to be with me so they can see what life is really like.

“I want them to be wrapped up in our love, just as you and I love one another now.”

How we resist that?

How do we resist a love like that?

Let us pray:

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