Deacon Ministry
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1 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.
2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.
3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.
6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
8 Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money,
9 holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
10 And they must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.
11 Wives, too, must be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything.
12 Deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently.
13 For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
His Character
His Character
Relationship with God- Filled with the Spirit, holding the mystery of the faith.
Relationship with his family- Wife and children
Relationship with other believers- From among you (I have a lot to say about this in a moment)
Relationship with outsiders, lost people, unbelievers. tested first and proven blameless.
His Cooperation
His Cooperation
If you study Acts 6 for as long as I have it just gets richer and richer.
The cooperative effort to find and work with deacons is astounding.
There was a complaint that arose that the one group of widows was being treated better than another group.
The 12 (serving as the pastors/bishops/ elders of the church in Jerusalem brought the group together to come up with a solution.
Their contention was “our priority needs to be on preaching and prayer” so we need some help.
The pastors said “pick out from AMONG YOU 7 men” to fix this problem.
To be among meant they were AT church and in cooperation with the congregation. Deacons should set the pace at BEING AMONG YOU!
The congregation found 7 men
The pastors affirmed the choices and set them apart for service.
The result was that people in Jerusalem continued to get saved.
His Charge
His Charge
Back in the day, a preacher or a deacon’s ordination, with a lot of pomp and circumstance.
There would be two “charges” given by two preachers. One to the candidate and one to the church.
Another word for charge might be duties. and that is how I am using it here!
What are the duties of the deacon. I don’t want to be too simple, but I think it is to keep things running smooth, so the pastor or pastors can keep the preaching and prayer a priority. BY THE WAY THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT A PREACHER OUGHT NOT LIFT A FINGER. My estimation is we have too many lazy preachers.
We sometimes want to make it the job of deacons to take of widows, but that wasn’t the issue of Acts 6. It was to make sure that both sets of widows were treated the same. This was a task to fix the problem at hand by DEACONING… WAITING ON TABLES! And that should always be the charge of a deacon. to rise to whatever needs to be done to SERVE!
There is not a single mention in the Bible of a Deacon’s meeting. Or of an adversarial role between deacons and preachers. And certainly not a “board of deacons” making decisions about things that are not pastor led, and congregation affirmed.