Deacon Charge

Church life can be a hard life… especially when you think about the fact that you have all sorts of people coming together to know God, to worship Him and to enjoy Him together

—->> WHO ARE ALL FROM DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE WITH DIFFERENT LENSES IN WHICH THEY SEE THE WORLD.

It’s one of the beautiful things about the church though… where you have all of these different worldviews, different types of people seeking together the God of the bible… The God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

In the very early goings of the church… praise be to God that the church was growing out of the preaching of the Gospel and the living out of the gospel and disciples were being added daily.

As this happened… God allows us to see how the church did well in their management of this growth and at times not so well.

We see there become this need of protection for the church from two things…

a need to protect the church from false doctrine…

as well as the need to protect the church from disunity…

I love how Pastor Nathan explained it last Sunday morning in speaking about the qualifications of Pastors… referring to walls being built around a city to protect those inside the city.

We see here in scripture the early church beginning to build walls around the bride to protect the bride from false teaching and from falling into chaos… and two of the main types of stones being used for this wall are that of the Pastor and also… the deacon.

The Pastor: to protect the church from false doctrine.

The Deacon: to protect the church from disunity.

Here is Acts 6 we get to see what has been referred to as the PROTO Deacon.

Even though we don’t see the WORD diakonos used here in this text… we do see the launch of this PROTOTYPE that would be used within the church to aid in the functionality of churches for years to come.

1. Growing pains arise. (V. 1)

Acts 6:1 ESV

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.

When churches grow, the practical needs of ministry grow

The Jerusalem Christian Community had witnessed considerable growth; and as is so often the case with rapid increase, administrative problems developed.

Complaint from the greek speaking Christians (The Hellenists (Grecian Jews), Jews who had come from Jewish dispersion and settled in Jerusalem, language and probably many of their ways were greek),

against the native Aramaic speaking Christians that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. (Literally, “the daily ministry… which had come from Acts 4: 32-35).

Acts 4:32–35 ESV

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 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 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

The Hellenist widows were simply being overlooked… certainly not deliberately, but inadvertently left out.

If the church is not careful, she will fall behind in meeting the needs of her sheep.

The church should do what we can to make sure widows, and those in need are not neglected.

2. Elders need help! (V.2-V.4)

Acts 6:2–4 ESV

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. 3 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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

And because of this… those tasked with the responsibility of OVERSEEING THE CHURCH in HER ELDERS… have a good problem to solve in the midst of GOSPEL CENTERED GROWTH…

In the midst of the changing landscape of the new growing church… something had to be figured out because the Apostles understood the importance of the ministry of the Word.

Elders should not have to choose between the ministry of the Word and the practical needs of the church.

This of course is a hard decision for any Pastor to have to make when face with… can lead to this divisive feeling because of course, we want to help take care of the Spiritual and Physical/Practical needs of the church.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Pastors should misuse this and refuse to do any practical administrative task… that’s not right either…

BUT, We as Pastors need for there to be a distinction between those who minister through the Word of God and those who minister through the practical needs of the church. —-> It simply becomes overwhelming when it is expected for the Pastor to lead in both every day.

—-> The Pastor needs to be able to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

So… Overseers/Elders need the aid of Deacons

to “do whatever is necessary to allow the elders to accomplish their God-given calling of shepherding and teaching the church. Just as the apostles delegated administrative responsibilities to the Seven here in Acts 6, so to us Pastors of CHBC are to delegate certain practical needs to you deacons so that our focus can be on efforts elsewhere.

3. The Ordaining of Deacons is a Church family endeavor. (V. 3-6)

Acts 6:5–6 ESV

5 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. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Pleased the whole gathering

In choosing.

Notice that the problem involved the entire congregation… the apostles wanted total participation in this resolution…

And so they put out a search party for men of…

Good repute: the state of being held in high esteem or honor.

full of Spirit and wisdom: These men had this particular way about them where they did well in allowing the Spirit to dictate their thoughts and actions. These men were also known for their wisdom… probably a kind of practical know how that was necessary for the propper management of these charitable funds.

“Appoint”: to put in charge of “this duty” —->the service ministry.

This is not saying that Elders only preach, and deacons only serve. Or that only the deacons in the church should serve… ONLY THAT THE DEACON IS IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION HIGHLIGHTED BY SERVICE.

1 Timothy 3:8–13 ESV

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 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.

And so from 1 Timothy we can sum up the qualifications in this way…

Those who Live Worthy of respect for the sake of the Gospel.

Those who Cherish the truth of the Gospel

And so church this is what we did as CHBC…

As we filtered through the candidates as a body of believers who have affirmed their standing as members of the church… deacons and pastors… to the glory of God we were able to affirm Tom Evers, Carl Mehner, And David Jarez for the office of deacon.

And we want you to continuing in doing…

Always be on the lookout church for who may be good candidates as a deacon. We will continue to grow by God’s grace… and we will continue to have the need of more deacons to serve.

Church… look for these men!

Deacons… go and live this out!

And in Prayer:

Church pray for these men! Being a deacon is a hard job. Being a deacon is not the most rewarding job. Not only will we pray over these men tonights… but continually pray for these men.

These men have jobs, they have families, they have other ministries that they help lead… all the while they are dedicating their selves to help the Pastors focus on the ministry of the Word.

Pray that God would protect them, aid them, counsel them through His Spirit, Pray for their families, for their ability to be good husbands and fathers…

Often come to them and ask them… how can I be praying for you?

4. The goal is achieved (V. 7)

Acts 6:7 ESV

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.

The Word of God continues to “increase”.

Because the Apostles didn’t need to worry about the needs that were arising out of the growth.

The # of Disciples multiply

Obedience to God’s Word multiplies

This cannot be done well without the faithful service of the servant leadership role of Deacons…

You are the shoulders we stand on brothers, to advance the ministry of the Word.

The peaching of the Word rest on the faithful service of deacons.

BROTHERS… YOU ARE VITAL TO THE HEALTH OF OUR CHURCH BODY…

DEACONS…GO AND SERVE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD…

GO and see what it is that the church here at CHBC needs practically… what or who is being neglected because of growing pains?

Go and make hospital visits.

Serve the widows and shut ins

Go and mow yards.

give rides to church

Provide help in logistics in a variety of ways

Help as an usher during the service,

serve in the dispersing of benevolence,

Simply ask the Pastors often… what needs to be done?

CHURCH… ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!

Let these men serve you in the way that they have been called to serve.

Don’t begrudgingly receive service from one of the deacons.

Because of Westerly kind of independence.

Or because “it’s not the Pastor”

I doubt that when it was realized that the apostles were no longer going to be the ones personally distributing resources anymore… that everyone loved the idea. “Who are you Niconor? Where’s Peter? I want his shadow to fall on me! I’m not feeling well today.” There might have been a critical thought of the apostles no longer having this as one of their main duties…

Church we must guard against this…

Receive this with joy and with an understanding that this is God’s way.

To close…

Deacons I will first charge you with the following statement to which you can reply with I DO.

Church I will then recite a charge to you in which you will also reply with the statement “We do”.

Charge to the Deacons:

Do you promise to strive to so live that you may honor Christ by your life; and do you promise, in the presence of this congregation to accept the responsibility of the office of deacon in this church, and to the best of your knowledge and ability to discharge all duties of this office?

Candidate: “I do”

Charge to the Church:

Do you, members of Calvary Hills Baptist Church, acknowledge these men as deacons in the church; do you promise to encourage and pray for them in their office and to cooporate with them in the fulfillment of the mission of the church?

Congregation: “We do”

PRAY