Meet the Churchīs First Deacons
Acts 6:1-7
Acts Series: Part 14
By Dave Redick

Deacons are trustworthy servants – men who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves to do any of the many tasks (like taking care of widows) that are necessary in the life of the church. Because of their character and their willingness to serve in the cause of Christ, these men had a high standing and were greatly respected in the early church. They should be today as well.

Introduction
 
As we begin this morning I want to read a few verses to you that pertain to deacons in the church.
 
Philippians 1:1: "Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons…"
 
This verse shows us that Paul mentioned deacons alongside overseers, or elders, as those specially recognized in the early church. Deacons were men who received high honor in the first century church for their character and their work.
 
1 Timothy 3:8: "Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience."
 
The honor afforded to deacons in the early church was not without good reason. This verse shows us that those who served in this capacity were men who had conquered some of the issues that can plague men of lesser maturity. These requirements were not optional. It says, “Deacons likewise must be….”
 
1 Timothy 3:10: "And let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach."
 
From this verse we see that deacons of the early church had to first prove themselves trustworthy during a period of testing. It was necessary that they be “beyond reproach.” That word doesnīt mean perfection. No man is perfect. What it means is that no legitimate charge can be lodged against them. A false accusation would not disqualify a man from serving as a deacon. A legitimate charge would keep him from serving.  The NIV reads, “They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.”
 
1 Timothy 3:12:"Let deacons be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households."
 
Here we see that the home life of deacons was a matter of concern - the overall management of their children and their household.
 
1 Timothy 3:13: "For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus."
 
When I was in school many years ago there were twin girls named Dawn and Meredith in my Acts class. Both girls were very shy and dreaded being called on to say anything in the class. The teacher was a gruff, no-nonsense man who would often grill the students to see if they had done their homework. Of course, this terrified the two girls. One day after we had studied the sixth chapter of Acts, the teacher called on one of them: “So Dawn, what is it that deacons do?” Dawn turned about three shades of red and in her panic blurted out, “Well, I guess they deak.” Things got really quiet for a few moments – sort of like that time between when some reckless kid pokes the mean bull with a stick and the sudden run for the hills of everyone in the pasture. Our gruff teacher suddenly broke into a smile, chuckled a couple of times, and said, “I guess Iīve never heard it put quite like that Dawn, but youīre absolutely right. Deacons “deak,” and the rest of you guys better remember it!”
 
What he meant of course, was that deacons serve. The Greek word diakonos, translated “deacon” in our English Bibles, is derived from a verb that meant “to serve.” So deacons “deak,” and if they are not willing to “deak” for the body of Christ, then they canīt be deacons.
 
Deacons then are trustworthy servants – men who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves to do any of the many tasks (like taking care of widows) that are necessary in the life of the church. Because of their character and their willingness to serve in the cause of Christ, these men had a high standing and were greatly respected in the early church. They should be today as well.
 
I have pointed these verses out to you in preparation for our next portion of Scripture in our continuing Acts of the Apostles Series. Acts 6:1-7 is our text for this message which Iīve called, Meet the Churchīs First Deacons. Lukeīs description begins with his recounting of:
 
1. A Wonderful Advance.
 
Verse 1: “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number….”
 
Remember that weīre still dealing with the initial advance of the gospel among the Jews in Jerusalem, though by now as many as six or eight years may have passed since the beginning of the church on Pentecost in 33 A.D. Still at this time the Gentiles had not yet heard the message. Having begun in Acts 2 on Pentecost with 3000 people baptized in a single day, the count of converts had reached 5000 men by chapter 4. In Acts 5 Luke tells us that “multitudes of men and women” had been added to the church – apparently they had lost count - and now in chapter 6 he tells us that this growth continued as “the disciples were increasing in numbers.”  

This phenomenal growth can be accounted for in part by the fact that God had been preparing the Jewish people for this over their entire 1500 year history. It was, as Paul put it in Galatians 4:4, “the fullness of time.” Gareth L. Reese in his commentary on Acts suggests that there may have been as many as 20,000 Christians in and around the city of Jerusalem by this time.
 
Things were going very, very well… too well, Iīm sure, from the perspective of the Enemy of our Souls – Satan – who by this time most certainly desired to see this new movement come to an end. As you will recall, he began by stirring up the Sadducees to order the apostles to stop preaching Jesus and the resurrection. This effort to stop the spread of the message proved unsuccessful as the apostles simply continued doing what the Lord had ordered them to do. This was followed by an arrest, real threats, and a flogging – again led primarily by the Sadducees. Neither of these events stemmed the growing tide – in fact, it merely caused it to increase. Satanīs next move was to introduce sin into the church via a couple named Ananias and Sapphira who told a bold-faced lie about the purchase of some land in order to receive special recognition. This effort by Satan to muck things up also failed as both husband and wife dropped dead at the feet of the apostle Peter. So the devilīs next move, which weīll talk about today, was to stir up an old rivalry among the Jews that predated the preaching of the gospel. This became evident with what weīll call:
 
2. A Worrying Accusation.
 
Verse 1b: “…a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.”
 
Apparently the early church took care of its widows by providing meals for them from a common fund. We have no way to know how many widows there were in a church of 20,000 or so people but they must have been numerous. The method of distribution of the help initially was for the people to bring funds and lay them at the apostlesī feet. Presumably these were distributed under the careful oversight of the twelve apostles. With the rapid growth the Jerusalem church had experienced, it isnīt hard to imagine that this quickly became a mammoth task that, in and of itself, threatened to sidetrack the progress of the gospel. Now toss in an old pre-gospel enmity and you have the makings of a big problem. A church racked by internal strife grinds to a halt in its outreach, both then and now. Surely Satan understood this.
 
This complaint arose from the Hellenistic Jews who claimed that their widows were being neglected – not just widows, but their widows. It sounds as though they considered the slight deliberate. The native Hebrews were the target of the complaint. These were Jews born and raised in Israel. For the most part, they diligently spoke and preserved their native Hebrew language. They did not mix with outsiders and stubbornly refused to allow other cultures to encroach on their traditions. They attended worship often in the Temple and used the Hebrew Scriptures. After Pentecost, the Jerusalem church was made up mostly of these natives. The "Hellenistic Jews" or "Grecian Jews" as some translations translate it, were Jewish people who lived abroad. They spoke Greek and other languages, adopted some of their local cultural practices of the regions where they lived, and depended upon a network of local synagogues for their worship. They used the Septuagint version of the Scriptures which was a Greek translation  of the Hebrew Scriptures. They made it to the Temple only on special occasions, if at all. Apparently, some of them were converted to Christ and had perhaps remained in Jerusalem after Pentecost to learn more from the apostles.
 
You might imagine the rivalry that developed. The native Hebrews looked at the Hellenists as compromising, second-class interlopers – feeling that they had sold out and abandoned their native culture. On the other hand the Hellenists resented this condescending, “nativist” attitude. Much like the case of these early Christians, it is sometimes true that disputes in the church today can be traced back to our differing backgrounds before we came to Christ. It is also sometimes true that even if disputes never erupt, unspoken rivalries run deep beneath the surface of the fellowship. Coming to Christ doesnīt automatically erase our past prejudices. These must be dealt with as we do battle with our sinful natures and surrender to the growing new nature within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christ gives us the ability to love those who are different from us, but we must cooperate as we lay aside the old self and put on the new. Unity with those who differ from us isnīt automatic.
 
At this point we should stop and realize that the potential for a split was present within this growing body of Christians in Jerusalem. This church that had been so successful very well could have gone from being the First Church of Christ to the First Church of Christ Hebrew and the First Church of Christ Hellenist. Sadly, modern churches have split with less cause than was present in this situation. And perhaps that might have happened, but just in time there was a solution – and it came in the appointment of what I believe were the first deacons of the church. Iīve summarized it under the heading:
 
3. A Wise Answer.
 
2 And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”
 
By the way, as an aside, note that Luke referred to the apostles as “the twelve” here, though Paul had not yet been converted or joined their number. Lukeīs Holy Spirit inspired terminology removes any doubt that God approved of the appointment of Matthias back in Acts chapter 1. Had Mathias not been counted as a genuine apostle, Luke would surely have referred to the apostles as “the eleven.”
 
Upon first reading of this verse we might get the mistaken idea that the twelve were saying that they just didnīt want to serve tables. However, that phrase, “It is not desirable” in the NASV indicates more than a mere whim. The NIV puts it this way: “It is not right.” The ASV renders it, “It is not fit.” The meaning was that the preaching of the gospel, which was to this point primarily carried out through the apostles, ought not to be sidetracked while they took care of serving tables. Thus, the very first deacons of the church were appointed.
 
3 "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."
 
You may wonder why I would say that this passage describes the very first deacons of the church when the English word "deacon" never appears in it. While the word “deacon” doesnīt appear in this passage in our English versions, the Greek word that is very closely related to our English word "deacon" appears in verses 1 and 4. The word is diakonia and it is translated by the NASV, "serving" in verse 1 and "ministry" in verse 4. The Greek word "deacon" is diakonos (diakonia/diakonas - you can see the similarity) and it means simply, "one who serves." Both words are used rather generically in the New Testament, referring to many kinds of servants and service. Diakonos is also used to describe what became a formal office in the church which included well-defined qualifications and responsibilities. To any who would disagree and say that this passage has nothing to do with deacons, I would not argue, but I would point out that it describes more than the generic, everyday “serving” that every Christian is called to do. We have here the appointment of certain men with specific qualifications who were carefully scrutinized by the congregation before they were formally set apart to their service. That, in my opinion, describes the office of deacon. 
 
These seven men selected were to be “full of the Spirit” as Luke puts it.  I take that to mean that they were men who had much evidence of the Spiritīs influence in their lives. Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit….” I donīt believe that this was the supernatural filling of the Spirit that imparted miraculous powers as in the case of the apostles on Pentecost in Acts 2. These seven were simply very spiritual men who showed great evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Yes, very shortly they would receive miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit when the apostles laid hands on them. This is evidenced later in the remaining verses of this chapter of Acts and the next two chapters as we see Phillip and Stephen doing miracles. Here though, before the laying on of apostlesī hands, they were simply men who were very spiritual – or full of the Spiritīs influence.
 
Notice also that those chosen were to be men of “good reputation.”  This is the same qualification that Paul prescribed for elders in 1 Timothy 3:7. All the officers of the church must be men who have been practicing their faith long enough that others have seen the effect on their lives. The idea that every several years a modern church has an election of elders and deacons from a pool of all the men in the church, regardless of their character, falls far short of what God established here in Acts 6.
 
One more thing to note from this verse – these men were to be “put in charge” of the task at hand. This would imply either that they were to do the work themselves or organize it so that others got it done. If the size of the church at that time was 20,000 people and, letīs say, 5% of them were widows, that would be 1000 mouths to feed several times a day. It isnīt likely that 7 men could get that done without mobilizing others to help.
 
So the seven were appointed in Acts 6 so that the apostles could continue to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. In this we see an important function of the modern deacon in the Lordīs church. He is to take care of some of the serving tasks so that those who preach can fully devote themselves to the ministry of the word. Letīs move on…
 
Verse 5a: And the statement found approval with the whole congregation….
 
Isnīt it great when that happens – that is, that all join together in approval of a certain direction? It has happened in this church a number of times and every time it does, Iīm reminded of that statement in Psalm 133:1, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!"
 
5b… and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
 
There is something else to note here. All seven of the names listed here are Greek names. Not one is a Hebrew name. Some commentators point out that this may imply that the native Hebrew brethren graciously allowed the church to appoint men from among those in the Hellenist camp – the camp that originally had the problem. We donīt know this for certain but it is a great thought, and possibly suggests a great way to diffuse strife. Enlist the help of those most affected. If this is indeed a gracious concession on the part of the native Hebrews, then Iīm reminded of Paulīs words in Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.”
 
So seven spiritual men were chosen – literally (as per the title of this message) seven men who may have saved the church.  I say that because it doesnīt require much imagination to see that this situation could have gone much differently. That pre-gospel rivalry and prejudice could have spread. People could have chosen sides, started gossiping, accusing and counter-accusing – and the whole thing could have erupted into a fight, leaving the church as a mere memory of something great attempted that quickly failed. Satan would certainly have liked it that way, but it didnīt happen.
 
Paul would later write in Ephesians 4:16 about the body of Christ, the church - that it was held together “by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part….”
 
So then we see here in Acts 6 that a problem arose. The leaders quickly assessed it and proposed a solution. Spiritual men stepped up to put their shoulders to the work. The brethren cooperated, a potential crisis was averted, and the church continued to thrive and grow in what we could call:
 
4. A Widening Acceptance.
 
7 And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem….
 
This chapter began with Lukeīs words, “Now at this time the disciples were increasing in number….” Now he says, “…the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem….”
 
So, rather than a potential squabble splitting the church, the wise solution proposed actually caused their influence to increase greatly. And look at what Luke highlights next:
 
“… and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
 
While this probably did not include many – or perhaps any – of those who sat on the council (I say that because this group of men would soon shed the first Christian blood in their opposition to the faith) it did likely include many of the rank and file priests who obeyed the message of salvation.
 
While this was a remarkably significant advance, we must note that these priests would now be counted as traitors to the council, a fact that would embitter the leaders of the Jews even more toward the ever increasing spread of the gospel. It is no surprise that the next thing Luke covers in his book is the hatred of the council that spilled over in the martyrdom of Stephen, one of the seven. But weīll have to leave that for next time.
 
Conclusion
 
So what does this portion of Scripture have to do with you and me?
Let me suggest three quick things.
 
It lets us see how the early church functioned in the face of difficulties that could have destroyed it.
 
Problems werenīt swept under the rug and ignored. They were recognized, analyzed, and addressed with wise solutions. In the same way problems in the church today must be properly addressed. The same devil who would have gleefully brought down the church back then still loves to destroy churches today – and he is still very powerful. We must be ever vigilant against his schemes.
 
It reminds us of our need to be organized according to the pattern found in the New Testament.
 
As Moses was told to build the Old Testament tabernacle according to the pattern God had shown Him on Sinai, so too we today are to build the church according to the standard or pattern we find in the New Testament.
 
In Philippians 3:17 Paul wrote, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”
 
This pattern included a leadership structure set up to deal with the issues faced by the body. It included deacons, as weīve seen here, overseers or elders, as we see elsewhere in the New Testament, and evangelists. Man has innovated so much since the pattern was established that many churches bear little resemblance to what was laid down by the apostles. But our focus isnīt other churches. Our focus is us. We need to live by that pattern revealed in the New Testament writings.
 
It reminds us that the church needs spiritually qualified men to serve in the various offices.
 
Every man among us should diligently pursue the kind of spiritual life that might one day qualify him to serve as a deacon, an elder, or an evangelist so that even if he ultimately cannot serve in that capacity, he knows enough about it so that he can wisely support those who can. This certainly calls for attention to marriage and family life, for a growing knowledge of the Scripture, and an increasing conformity to the image of Christ. The church will seldom rise higher than the capacity of her leadership.
 
These early Christians set the bar for which we must strive. Letīs all be diligent to pursue the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.