1/08/2010
Intro
When I was about 8 years old I stayed at a friend's house overnight and we went to school together the next day. The routine in his family was that the kid's made their own school lunches in the morning - that's not how it worked in my family! I was all at sea trying to get the Glad Wrap out of the roll and around my sandwhich instead of all stuck together in a clump - it was clear I had no idea how to do it. The mother seemed very surprised that I had not ever done this before, but every family has it's own routines and it's own rules.
Similarly, each church has it’s own ways of doing things that aren’t necessarily obvious when you’re first settling in to the family. It's not always obvious as to who is expected to do what, and who is allowed to do what.
One of the key pictures that the Bible uses to describe the church is “The Body”.
Ephesians 4:15-16 is a great example:
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
There is meant to be structure to the church - derived from Jesus Himself - by which people are connected in, helped to grow and equipped to work.
How do we make sure that the way we do things is living up to this biblical picture?
How doe we make sure that our church remains intimately connected to Jesus as its Head and isn’t being led astray from Jesus? How do we make sure that everyone Jesus brings into our fellowship actually get’s connected in the way He has designed them to? How do we make sure that each one of us is doing the good works He has planned and shaped us to do? How do we make sure that each part is loving God and each other part of the body?
When you look at the instruction given in both the New and Old Testaments on this issue, the answer is always the same: godly servant leadership.
To get some answers for these questions, let’s take a look at the very early church that’s described for us in Acts 6:1-7
Acts 6:1
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
Here’s the first point to realise – whenever a church grows it’s leadership and it’s structures need to change. Here’s a church that exploded from 120 or so to over 3000 in one day, and then after that it just kept growing despite increasing opposition.
The Church at this point had a leadership of 12 men who personally knew Jesus and had been trained for ministry by Him. They were responsible for basically everything that went on, but they’re finding themselves swamped by the sheer volume of stuff they’re supposed to be looking after, and people are falling through the cracks.
Now the issue here is that Grecian Jews were complaining against Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. People would bring in money or food to be used to help widows in need – women and their families who did not have the financial support of a husband or other family members.
There’s history here. Most likely the Grecian Jews are those who have come from outside the local area where the main language is Aramaic. These are possibly people who have travelled to Jerusalem
When I was growing up in Busselton I used to really enjoy the tourist season where a lot of young people would come down with their families and we would hang out at the campsite where I lived. But I also resented the tourists as well. I didn’t like the extra traffic on the roads and queues in the shops or other people trying to catch my waves!
As a local you have a sense of entitlement, and you don’t always feel inclined to share.
I can imagine the Hebraic Jews sometimes felt the same during the 3 big festivals each year when their city would be overrun with visitors. It’s a great time of celebration of God and each other, but it’s also a bit of a pain in the neck! And the visitors I’m sure sensed sometimes that the welcome wasn’t all that warm. There would have been that natural pride from living in the sacred city and surrounding villages as opposed to an unclean Gentile city or region, and there would have been that natural reticence to share.
So you have outsiders and insiders, who on the one hand are one people, but there’s also a niggling history of prejudice between them.
That feeling of uncertainty or suspicion is then aggravated because their widows aren’t being looked after in the same way that widows among the Hebraic Jews are being looked after.
There’s nothing in the text to suggest that there is any deliberate or malicious oversight. It’s just that the church has grown and the structures haven’t changed to include everyone yet. It’s hard to serve people well when you don’t really know their needs. It’s hard to serve people well when you’re too busy to give careful thought to your service. That’s the situation the 12 Apostles were in.
It’s interesting that the Apostles don’t rebuke the ugly attitude of complaining that was in evidence. They go to the heart of the problem – leadership and structure.
Whenever you have resentment, hostility, complaining, exclusion or anything of that nature going on, you need to look at leadership and structure. Something’s not working properly. Yes, we ought to expect better behaviour and better attitudes from followers of Jesus, but those attitudes and behaviours also highlight a problem that needs to be fixed, which is exactly what the Apostles did.
Acts 6:2-4
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.”
As the Church grows the needs grow and it is beyond the ability of the Apostles to meet all those needs well. So what do they do? They expand their ministry team!
Their primary task was the ministry of the word and prayer. Of course, everyone in the Church was equally able to pray and we read in Acts 2 that they were devoted to it, however not everyone was equally able to teach and apply the Word. Jesus had trained these men and entrusted this task to them. They needed to do what they had been prepared and called by Jesus to do, and let others do what God had called them to do.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:5
“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.”
Paul calls himself a servant (deacon) of the gospel in Ephesians 3:7, and there are many other references that we could look up where this word is being used.
Whatever role you have in the church, you are a servant of God and of others.
What was needed in this case was to connect the right servants to the right tasks.
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
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem
So it’s interesting that this story starts with infighting and ends with unity and growth.
That’s what good leadership does in the Church. It applies the wisdom of God and the leading of the Spirit to the practical family-life issues that come up in order to help the whole church grow in unity, in ministry and in number.
How does this story help us know how to structure our church?
In our church we have Pastors and Elders who together make up the Ministry Team; and Deacons, who make up our Board of Management.
The interesting thing about this text is that it does not mention Elders or Deacons! It mentions 12 men who had the responsibility pray and teach and 7 men who were given responsibility to overlook the daily distribution of food to widows who were in need.
A quick history lesson will help you understand how this passage applies to us today.
Originally as we have already heard the 12 Apostles were responsible for overseeing all the affairs of the church. Then they appointed 7 men to oversee a specific area of responsibility so that they could concentrate on fulfilling their main ministry. So we have one group with general oversight and another entrusted with specific responsibility.
By Acts 11 we read of Elders in the Church at Jerusalem
In Acts 14:23 we read that as they returned from their first missionary journey, “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”
In Acts 20:17-38 we get a great picture of this process of the Lord’s Apostles handing over responsibility for spiritual leadership to Elders – men who had not been appointed by Jesus personally as the Apostles had, but rather men who had been appointed to leadership because of their maturity, holiness and firm grasp of right doctrine.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus Asia . 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God
32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
This passage teaches us a lot about the ministry of Elders, which we won’t explore in detail today. I want to just pull out some of the big ideas though. You can see in this passage that Eldership:
· Continues the ministry of the Apostles in the teaching and governing of the Church. (Interestingly, the Apostle Peter calls himself a “fellow elder” when writing to Elders in 1 Peter 5:1. The Apostle John simply calls himself “the Elder” in the letters of 2nd and 3rd John).
· Follows the example and teaching of the Apostles ministry (v. 18-26)
· Involves watching over their own lives first and the lives of those who God has entrusted to their care (v. 28)
· Involves guarding the church from error and attack (vv. 29-31)
· Is hard work! (v. 35)
So getting back to Acts chapter 6, let’s apply the pattern of what happened in that situation and apply it to our own context.
As the church in Jerusalem Jerusalem
So in this particular situation, which was to do with financial administration and distribution of food, the Apostles invited the church to bring forward 7 trustworthy men, who the Apostles then commissioned for that task, giving them the authority to carry it out. Notice that the Apostles specified for the church to choose men “Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”. In other words men of demonstrated spiritual maturity and the discernment necessary to make good decisions in carrying out their role.
Over time the word “Deacon” was applied to people serving in these recognised capacities within the church. Deacon simply means “Servant”. Of course we are all servants of Christ and of His Church. We are all to serve one another in love, and we have all been shaped by God in order to do good works which will build up the Church.
So what does this actually teach us about the role of Deacons in the church?
Simply this, that we all have different areas of service, and that it is important for our leaders to be able to delegate responsibility to other believers who demonstrate suitable Christian character and suitability for the tasks which they will be given responsibility for.
When it comes to our Board of Management, we follow a similar process to Acts 6. Given the nature of their role and the authority they have it’s important for members of our Board to be recognised by the whole congregation for their character and calling. They need to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
However it is that we organise our Deacons or what titles we give them, the main thing to keep in mind is that being a deacon means being a servant. It is not a title to pursue. It is not an office by which you get to have a say in what goes on. It is being entrusted by the congregation to serve faithfully in a particular area.
So to wrap up the different roles, we could summarise to say that Elders have governing authority in the church and are to watch over it as under-shepherds to Jesus Christ. Deacons are people who have been entrusted with a particular responsibility within the church and have been given the authority necessary to carry out that responsibility.
[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids
