We have for the last 4 posts looked at the role, requirements, and responsibilities of elders. I want to turn our attention now to deacons. Who are the deacons? What do they do? Can they be men or women? All of these questions will be answered as this series continues to unfold. However, before we can answer any of these questions we need to see the events that occurred in the church that revealed a need for deacons. This is found in Acts 6:1-7…
“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.”
The Precursor to Deacons
Though there are some scholars who would disagree with me, I don’t think that Acts 6 shows us the inception of the office of deacon. I think Acts 6 shows us events in the church at Ephesus that would ultimately be used by God to establish the office of deacon in the local church.
The church in Jerusalem grew quite rapidly in its earliest days. The spread of the gospel was so fast that we even find other churches in the New Testament sending money to help support the church there because the church in Jerusalem was likely growing faster than the economy of Jerusalem could keep up with.
But this rapid growth created a problem for this church as it wanted to care for the widows in the church. These widows would have been unable to care for themselves. They couldn’t work, they didn’t have husband to provide for them, and in obedience to the heart of God for the helpless, the church took seriously their responsibility to care for the widows.
A Problem Arises
There was, however, a problem that arose quickly in this church. There were some widows who were being left out of the daily distribution of food. The text doesn’t tell us why they were being left out, but somehow this was the case. The surface level problem was that Greek (Hellenist) widows were being left out of the daily distribution of food. The real problem was the unity of the church.
Notice it isn’t the leaving out of the widows that is addressed in this passage, though this would have been a problem that certainly mattered. The problem is that there arose a complaint between the Greek (hellenist) widows and the Jewish (Hebrew) widows. The church at this point became divided over a perceived injustice in the church.
The People Appointed
The elders of the church in Jerusalem, perceiving the threat to unity, decide that they are going to do something about the problem before disunity occurs in the church. But the elders knew that they had a job to do, a job given to them by Jesus, a job that they could not neglect…the “preaching of the word of God.” As we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, this is the primary responsibility of the elder/pastor. They are to feed the flock of God with the word of God.
Because the elders knew they could not abandon their God-given appointment of teaching the word…they asked the congregation to identify 7 men, whom they appointed by the laying on of hands, to oversee this sensitive and important ministry so that the elders could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word of God.
The Problem Averted
The result of the appointment of these 7 men was peace. Interestingly, all 7 men have Greek names. This means that the Jewish church in Jerusalem appointed 7 Greek men to care for the problem of the Greek widows being left out in the distribution of food, an indication that the church trusted each other and didn’t want any appearance of division along racial lines. Problem solved.
Applying this Today
As I stated earlier, I think Acts 6 records for us the background story that would ultimately result in creation of the office the deacon. But lets see what we can learn from this passage, here are several principles for us to apply…
Elders/Pastors need help. We can’t do it all. We need people to engage in the work of the ministry in ways that we simply don’t have the time for. Prayer and preaching must always be at the top of the list of pastoral responsibilities.
Peace is the Priority. Is there an area in your church that is particularly touchy or volatile? maybe you should consider appointing deacons to areas of responsibility where there is potential for division in the church. Their leadership should help bring peace to those who are uneasy.
Both the congregation and the elders had a say. The elders just didn’t appoint these men to serve. The congregation didn’t either. The congregation and elders agreed upon the appointment of these 7 men.
I once heard a pastor say that Deacons were “shock absorbers.” They serve as organizational buffers to keep the peace and unity of the church while allowing the elders continue praying and serving up the word. May our churches be filled with such wise and peacekeeping leaders.