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Main Idea
The first Deacons
It’s no secret that I am a Marvel fan (or at least a fan of the first wave.
It’s getting a bit weird now).
But in the early days of the franchise, they did a great job of developing the characters before bringing them together as the Avengers.
I especially like Thor in the first movie because his story arch follows his transition from being unworthy of handling the hammer to being found worthy through self-sacrifice.
He began as prideful, selfish, and arrogant.
But, as the story progressed, he was humbled and learned how to put others’ needs ahead of his own, and therefore, regained his heroic mantle.
I think that has a lot of relevance to our scripture today.
I’m also doing something a little different today.
This will be part 1 in a 2-part mini-series of Acts 6:1-7.
We see two sides of one coin in the passage, and I want to take a look at one side today, and then the other next week.
The coin is the established leadership structure within the body of Christ, and the sides are the two main offices of leadership.
Outline & Passage
I - The need for Deacons
II - The role of Deacons
III - The requirements of Deacons
I - The need for Deacons
The early church thus far began with 120 + 3,000 + 2,000 men (not including wives and children) + daily additions.
The streets were being flooded with people from around the city.
As you can imagine, there were thousands upon thousands of believers at this point and the needs had to have been overwhelming.
And so it was, because word got back to the original twelve disciples that Hellenistic widows were being neglected and overlooked in the distribution of daily provisions.
The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews who likely had more fully embraced Greek customs and culture as well and were commonly seen as backsliders.
To many of the faithful ‘Hebrews’ (or Jews who rejected Greek influences), they were compromising their traditional, cultural identity, which would have created tension and animosity.
Essentially, there were too many balls in the air and some were dropping and falling through the cracks.
There was just too much to be done for twelve people to manage.
All of this was developing while it was being lived out.
There was no established manual for the church.
The twelve apostles were painting this car while driving it down the interstate at 90 miles an hour.
It was a lot to handle.
They were wearing all the hats, and their heads just weren’t that broad.
They recognized that they need to remove a few of them and entrust them to other, worthy people.
So, they came up with a plan.
In the wisdom God provided, they saw a clear division of duty.
No doubt, they deeply related to Moses when he was completely exhausted by sitting as mediator and judge for all the complaints of the Hebrews.
When his father-in-law, Jethro, saw his pending burnout, he recommended that Moses delegate his responsibility so he doesn’t go mad.
He suggested allowing God-fearing, trustworthy men to handle the small cases and only take on the big ones.
I’m sure they felt the same way as they surveyed the growing needs on a community of thousands.
And in that plan, they created the first separation of duties in official roles within the believing community.
II - The role of Deacons
The separation was this:
Elder role: The role of the 12 was to maintain spiritual authority (v6), devoted prayer (v4), and preach the word (v4).
Deacon role: The duty which needed delegation was that of serving the needs of the people (v3).
We see this division in other books of the Bible, such as the introductory greeting found in Philippians:
I will save the explanation of the Elder role for next week, but I do want to get ahead of one question you may have.
Right now, you might be thinking: I see them delegating, but I don’t see the title of Elder and Deacon in this passage.
Why are you saying they are?
If you asked that question, then I am proud of you.
You are thinking through the text, the claim, and the natural application.
You are thinking biblically!
I mention the titles and roles now, because (while they aren’t mentioned specifically in this passage) they are identified and explained in other passages of scripture.
That is why we are taking two weeks to review this.
I want to ensure we all understand the significance of these official roles and the differences between them.
Elder.
I don’t think anyone would argue against the fact that the twelve apostles were the functional leaders of the church.
I hope not.
And, because the gospel has not yet been proclaimed outside of Jerusalem, there has not been a need to establish other Elders outside of the twelve.
And, according to this passage, they maintained spiritual authority by being the ones to lay hands on the newly-selected deacons and commission them for the work, and kept the responsibility of prayer and preaching.
Deacon.
What they delegated was the lion’s share of the service to the people.
They recognized they could not lead the masses spiritually while also being the workhorses who tended to every physical need, so that role was given to others.
They were commanded by Jesus Himself to proclaim the gospel, so in order to do fully, they chose others to ‘serve tables.’
That might sound harsh and demeaning to our twenty-first century ears, but it wasn’t to the first-century ear.
It was a simple truth that was being verbalized and dealt with.
Servant.
It is also important to see the word choice.
the word serve is the Greek verb diakoneō and is a standard word which means to serve and attend to the wants and needs of others.
In fact, that is the mental image we get from the passage.
The apostles were saying they didn’t have the time to serve tables, like a waiter at a restaurant or event.
The ones who take your order and bring your food are your Servers.
This is the verb form.
The noun form, which would be the Server in this illustration, is diakonos, which is where we get our word Deacon, and which is used throughout the New Testament for servants, ministers, and the office of deacon.
Though the official title isn’t in this specific verse, the birth of the position is and it’s function is in its name: a servant or one who attends to the wants and needs of others.
And lest we think this is a lesser role because of the way we perceive the way it was delegated, let me point a few things out:
It was delegated by the apostles.
Let’s not forget that this was a function of the twelve up to this point.
Until now, they managed the service of the believing community.
There were qualifications.
This duty wasn’t available to everyone.
We will get into the specifics in just a moment, but there were pre-requisites to this office and not every believer was qualified.
The fact that a person had to meet higher standards show how valued the position and the work is.
There was a commissioning.
This didn’t happen often.
We only see a few cases in the New Testament where someone (or a few people) where appointed and commissioned to a task by the laying on of hands.
Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the church in Antioch and Timothy was commissioned by the Elders in his hometown, for example.
The fact that they were commissioned shows just how valuable and meaningful this was.
And so seven men were chosen by the people and commissioned.
All seven had Greek names and were likely chosen from the Hellenistic Jewish community precisely because it was the Hellenistic widows who were being overlooked.
We will see more about Stephen in the next chapter and more on Philip in chapter eight.
Their stories confirm their worthiness to fill the role.
The others are never mentioned again in scripture, but were no doubt faithful servants.
As a result of this delegation of duties, Luke summarizes this section by confirming that more people came into the Kingdom, the word continued to spread, and even many of the Priests came into the faith.
What an incredible outcome!
I want to see that happen here.
I want to see the word of God expand throughout the entire county of Ashe.
We are at the point where we need to establish our deacons and equip the saints (which means you) for the works of service.
On December 31st, I want to look back on 2023 and see how this happened in and through our small congregation, because our impact isn’t limited by our size, but by our willingness to serve.
In that light, I want to spend the rest of our time today by looking at the requirements for Deacons outlined in scripture so that we can establish these crucial roles at Ashe Alliance.
III - The requirements of Deacons
There is one other main passage that we need to navigate to, but first, let’s look at the requirements here in Acts 6.
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