From
Acts to Revelation
Part
15 – The First Deacons
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
By this time in the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles, they have been instructed by Christ before the ascension, obeyed His
command and received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, healed the lame,
arrested for preaching, released and warned not to preach or teach in the name
of Jesus any more, and returned to doing what the Lord commanded them.
Now we will see that the persecution
continues against them by the jealous leaders of the Sanhedrin. Sadducee
and Pharisees continue to squash the
teachings of Jesus Christ, and punish any who preach in His name.
If you were arrested, imprisoned, whipped,
and told not to say another word about Jesus, would you still share the Gospel?
How about if none of that stood in your
way, would you share it then?
SCRIPTURE READING
Acts 6:1-7 The Choosing of the Seven Deacons
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,
the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So
the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right
for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on
tables. 3 Brothers,
choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and
wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and
will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor,
Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They
presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in
Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to
the faith.
I. THE
PROBLEM OF RACIAL TENSION AROSE IN THE CHURCH
1. The
number of Disciples (followers of Christ ~ the Church) was growing.
2. Racial
tensions grew between the Greek speaking and Hebraic Speaking Jews.
1. The
Greek Speaking Jews felt that their widows were being over-looked.
2. What
does the Bible define a widow as?
1.
The Greek word literally means, one who's husband has died.
2. I
Timothy 5:5-6 Paul defines the Widow who is truly a widow. “Now she who is
really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications
and prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she
lives.”
3. In other words, she
lives like a Christian, not a life of pleasing the flesh in sin.
4. I Timothy 5:4, 7-8 Paul continues
describing what a true widow is, “But if any widow
has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and
to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. … And these
things command, that they may be blameless. But if anyone does not provide for
his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and
is worse than an unbeliever.”
3. So the Church is to
take care of “true widows”
1. As defined in
scripture as women who's husbands have died, and they continue to live lives
pleasing to God, following the pattern of a spiritual life, not living in the
world, and who has no children or grandchildren to take care of her.
2. But if
anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household,
he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
3. These
are true Widows, and the Greek Jew Widows were being overlooked for support
from the church.
4. So the
Apostles gathered all the believers together for a meeting.
II. THE
HOLY SPIRIT PROVIDED A SOLUTION TO THE APOSTLES
1. It
would not be right for us to neglect the ministering of the Word of God
1. In
other words, The Apostles (Elders) of the church have a Spiritual
responsibility that they have been called to by God, which does not include the
administrative duties that arise in the church.
2. The
Church is NOT a business!
3. The
Elder's are NOT CEO's, rather the spiritual leaders of the congregation who is
part of the Body of Christ, to which Jesus Himself is the Head!
4. The
Spiritual leaders are not called to administer the finances, pay the bills, fix
the toilet, clean the sanctuary, trim the hedges, cut the lawn, buy the
licenses, purchase the permits, oversee construction, etc...
1.
Why? Because if they treat the church as a business, and fill
their days with ministering to the administration and operation of the church,
it would be easy to neglect, or FORGET, the spiritual purpose of their position
because of the constant demands of attending to the worldly needs of the
church.
2.
Not because they don't have time to do these things, but they are
not to do them because it is easy to lose sight of their calling...and they may
become business-men as opposed to spiritual leaders.
5. What
happens if they become business-men?
1.
Money coming in becomes a focus, and a goal instead of souls
saved, people baptized and lives changed because of the spiritual work of the
minister.
2. The
Holy Spirit guided them to have the congregation choose 7 men
1. Why
seven? Because this is the number of ordination, of perfection and God's
approval.
3. The
main requirements?
1. Men who
are full of the Spirit.
1.
In other words, they are saved followers of Christ.
2. And men
with wisdom.
1.
This means wisdom of the ways of God, what is right or wrong in
God's eyes, they are not to be “new” converts who do not understand the ways of
the scripture.
4. The
Apostles (Elders of the church) could then focus on the Spiritual aspects of
leading, as they are called by God to do.
III. THE
RESULTS PROVED GOD'S HAND
1. When
the Apostles prayed about the situation and obeyed the Holy Spirit, the results
were tremendous!
2. The
whole group (All the believer's) were happy!
1. Probably
the first and last time all of the follower's of God were happy at one time!
3. They
chose seven, and these seven were confirmed by the Apostles by the laying on of
hands.
1. Just as
Moses did to Joshua in Numbers 27:18-23
4. SO
1. THE
WORD OF GOD SPREAD
2. THE
NUMBER OF DISCIPLES INCREASED RAPIDLY
3. A LARGE
NUMBER OF PRIESTS BECAME OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH
5. The
Word of God spread BECAUSE a LARGE number of priests became obedient to the
faith.
1. Who are
the priests?
1.
Jesus is the High priest
2.
We are ALL of the priesthood!
3.
1 Peter 2:9 “But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out
of darkness into his wonderful light.”
2. It's
not the Apostles (or Elders) responsibility to fill the church building...its
the direct responsibility of the believers who are the priesthood, to declare
the praises of God!
3. THIS is
what saves souls, and brings people into the building so that they may hear the
word of God preached.
6. REMEMBER,
Jesus said;
1. Go into
all the world with the gospel
2. Baptize
3. then
teach them to obey all that Christ commanded
IV.THE
CHURCH EXPLODED BECAUSE A LARGE NUMBER OF PRIESTS BECAME OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH
1. It does
not say ALL the priests...because we all know that not everyone is obedient to
the faith.
2. But a
large number was, and because they were obedient to the faith, the Word of God
spread and the number of Disciples increased rapidly!
CLOSING
We have
in place, three Deacons who take care of the church building and congregational
needs of the church.
We have a church secretary, and
treasurer who see to some of the administrative duties of the church.
We have volunteers who help
with maintenance and cleaning of the property and church building.
All of these positions are
important, because they free the minds and thoughts of Elders from the worldly
distractions of a church, and allow them to truly focus on the spiritual
things, as well as preaching and teaching the Word of God without the influence
of financial need.
Now here is the challenge...
According the the Book of Acts,
and the scripture we read in 1Peter, you, the Disciples, the congregational
members of the Body of Christ, are the royal priesthood of God.
This command is not from me, or
this church, but from the lord Jesus Christ, that you, in your everyday life,
share the truth of Christ with everyone you know and meet, telling them how He
brought you from a world of darkness, to a world of light.
When you do this, you will be
counted among the number of priests who are obedient to the faith!
God does not promise every
church will be a mega-church with thousands of members, because that is NOT the
number He counts.
However, He does promise that
His Word will NOT return to Him void, and WILL accomplish what He sends it out
to do.
When you share the Gospel, and
the true story of your conversion, God's Word will begin a work in that person,
even if you never see what that seed grows into.
