Organizing the Church for Maximum Ministry (Acts Sermon 13)

In this passage comes the question how should the Christian church best be organized for ministry. How could the Christian Church be best organized for ministry? The medieval Roman Catholic Church had a top-down structure with the bishop of Rome, called the Pope, at the top and then hierarchy of authority, layer upon layer, college of cardinals and archbishops and bishops and abbots and priests and all kinds of structure that, really, actually in many senses continues to this day, that was their structure.

During the reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers began to identify a doctrine called the priesthood of all believers in Scripture

During the reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers began to identify a doctrine called the priesthood of all believers in Scripture saying that all Christians are priests of Christ, and that we don’t need a human mediator to go between us and Christ.  They started seeing more and more of the ministries of lay people and that no one Christian was more valuable than another. As the reformation continued, some free church offshoots began to take this concept more and more seriously and advocated a complete leveling of all organization. Most extreme of these groups were the Quakers, the Society of Friends, who meet without any pastors or officers at all, no deacons, no church board. They just assemble and wait for the Spirit to move on any one of them, and the leadership is something done collectively. That’s how they approached church organization.

In our day and age, some mega-churches have overwhelming organization with hundreds of ministries and a structure not different from the American corporate setting with an organizational chart and clear lines of authority and power from the senior pastor down through associate, assistant pastors and various committees run by chairs of those committees.

In our passage today, we see the beginnings of the organization of the Christian church to meet specific needs that arise in ministry. We see how the Spirit moved the leaders of the church to delegate certain tasks and functions to other members of the church so that they could, as it says in the text, focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word. Therefore, I believe this passage is given by the Holy Spirit as a timeless display of some vital themes in church organization for maximum fruitfulness in the gospel ministry.

I. A God of Exquisite Order

As we come to the Bible and we study it, we come to a God of exquisite order. God is a very orderly being and, as applied to this topic, the church is ordered as well but the church is an organism not an organization as some have said, and I think there’s validity to that. Corporate America is highly organized but it is not like the church. Why? Because the church is spiritually alive. The images of the church are that of the pulsating power of the Spirit moving through the body of Christ. The church is likened, as I just said a moment ago, to a body, the body of Christ with life flowing through each of its members. Or, in other images, it’s likened to a developed olive tree with a root system and nourishing sap drawn up from the root system to each branch and we, the Gentile believers in Christ in Romans 11, are grafted into that living tree and receive life-giving sap from the root system. A similar image is in John 15 where Jesus said, “I am the true vine and you are the branches.”

Again, it’s an image of life, of fruit-bearing through abiding in Christ. All of these images show the living nature of the church. The church is also pictured architecturally as a structure in which God dwells by His Spirit but, amazingly, in 1st Peter 2, this architectural image is made up of living stones. What is that? What are living stones? That’s what it says, “As you come to Him, Christ, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” There’s a structure and order but it’s pulsating with life, and that’s why I like what it says when people say the church is an organism not an organization. And yet, within this organism, we see organization as we do with all living things.

As I was doing some work on creation and evolution, I started to realize the complexity of the living cell. Each living cell is astonishingly complex like a city with all kinds of biological functions going on within the cell walls, it’s remarkable. But how much more a higher order of creature like human beings with various systems such as the circulatory system and the respiratory system and the nervous system and the digestive system, all of these systems with specialized cells enabling the body to live. We see the exquisite ordering of God even within this organism that is the body of Christ. In today’s passage, we see that order, that organization coming in the context of spiritual life and the organization of the body of Christ to meet certain needs. God made the church alive, He makes the church alive and then He organizes it to fulfill all of its functions.

II. The Problem Described

The context of this organization is a problem that came to the early church, and that’s in the context of its explosive growth. Look at verse 1, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.”  We have this explosive growth, more and more people are coming to Christ. We know that 3,000 were added to the number of the church on the day of Pentecost, that’s a huge in-gathering of genuine disciples. Then, after the lame beggar was healed, the number of men we’re told had grown to 5,000, similar to the feeding of the 5,000 where only men were counted, but then you would imagine probably a greater number of women and then children as well so we’re probably looking at 20,000- 30,000 disciples of Christ in the city of Jerusalem alone. But the church had continued to grow even beyond that checkpoint which is the last numerical checkpoint we get in the book of Acts. In Acts 5 we’re told more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number and then, in verse 42 of chapter 5, “Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is Christ.”

The church kept getting the Gospel out, they kept proclaiming, and more and more people were coming to the Lord. The apostles have already, therefore, met the first checkpoint of the spread of the Gospel geographically that we have in Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth.”  You can put a check in the box next to Jerusalem, that mission has been reached. As the enemies of the church said in Acts 5:28, “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” Everyone in Jerusalem’s heard the Gospel, they’ve done that. Now, they’re about to roll out, they’re about to move out in Judea and Samaria, as we’ll see in chapter 8 where Philip goes to Samaria and preaches. More and more are coming through Judea, probably it was already happening at that point in Judea, and they’re going to move out to Samaria and then, at some point, they’re going to move out, in Acts 10, with Cornelius to the Gentile world. It’s going to keep moving.

There’s a tremendous influx of believers and that implies already a certain measure of organization so that there’s not utter chaos for the ministries that we know were going on. If the church was, let’s say, 30,000 or more, consider what kind of organization would be needed for the basic functions. For example, evangelistic preaching done by the apostles but we also have Stephen and Philip doing this kind of preaching. They’re preaching but who’s going to do that preaching, where are they going to go, what city, what part of the city and what part of Judea will they go? They’ll be organizing that, who’s going to go where and do what, and then there’ll be discipleship of new Christians, as it says in the Great Commission, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. There would be catechetical classes and doctrinal classes and discipleship classes, who’s going to organize that? There’d be daily gatherings at the temple for corporate worship. There’d be teaching and public reading of scripture and worship and prayer that had to be organized. There’d be regular meetings we’re told in people’s homes so who’s going to go to what home?

We have a tremendous home fellowship ministry here and Andy Wynn in particular does a tremendous job along with the others organizing that, who’s going to be in what home. You don’t want 96 people showing up at your home.  We’d love to have you but we just don’t have room.  So, there would be organization of those kind of home studies even in the early church. Then there would be baptism for new believers as people were being converted. You had to confirm that they understood the Gospel that they actually had crossed over from death to life, there’d be some kind of process involved just in having baptism. Then where would you do the baptism, who would perform it, who would be there, et cetera? You had the Lord’s Supper, there were elements of that, the bread and the wine, who’s going to provide that, how much do you need, who’s coming, when is that going to be done and how often? And, closer to the home of the text, there’s going to be benevolence needs. We’re told that people, from time to time, sold possessions and goods and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had needs so there’s going to be a distribution of resources to the poor and needy among the church. We’re told that in Acts 2 and Acts 4 this kind of thing was going on, so this required a great deal of organization, work and organization.

In our text, a problem arises in the midst of all of this that showed a need for even greater organization. Now, we can see Satan at work here trying to derail the church, trying to stop the church. If you know what to look for, you can already see three great categories of attack on the early church that are really timeless.

First, you’ve got persecution as the Sanhedrin is rising up and starting to threaten the church and ordered them to stop preaching the Gospel under threat of imprisonment and death, so persecution was happening. Persecution can make the church more timid and weak, fearful of the consequences or, in some cases, can actually inflame loyalty and boldness and courage as happened in the early church and that’s incredible. The apostles were beaten and they counted it amazing that they were worthy of suffering disgrace from the name of Christ, and they kept preaching even more. That’s persecution and that’s going to keep happening more and more.

Secondly, we’ve got the attack of sin within the life of the church.  We have this with Ananias and Sapphira. Satan filled their heart, you can see the activity directly, Peter ascribes it to Satan that Satan has filled their heart to test the Holy Spirit. After they sold a piece of property, keeping back some of the money for themselves and lying about the amount that they were bringing to the church. Satan sought to attack the church with sin but God acted decisively. Ananias dropped dead, then Sapphira dropped dead, and the church was filled with a holy fear and so that issue was addressed as well. But it’s a continued issue.

We have this third great attack, and that is division within the church on some issue that comes up. Factions and divisions within the church, it’s a terrible attack by Satan and it continues throughout all centuries of the church, discord and division. If Satan can cause disunity within the church, he can maybe stop it from its awesome evangelistic power and fruitfulness.  You see, for example, in First Corinthians 1, it’s a bunch of factions and divisions, “I follow Paul,” “ I follow Paulus,” “ I follow Sceva,” and they’re at each other’s factions. They’re divided and this is a very great problem that Paul addresses in the Corinthian church. It says in James 3:16, “Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” You’re having factions within the church and what James calls “disorder, disorder and every evil practice.” The remedy is spirit-led order, spirit-led organization.  This problem is addressed by the apostles moving out and bringing organization.

Let’s look at the problem stated, look at verse 1, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews [Hellenistic in the ESV] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.” We’ve got the issue of care of widows. The ongoing care of widows was a major focus in church life, this is a big deal. James in 1:27 says, “Religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless as this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Caring for orphans and widows. Paul also focuses on this in 1st Timothy 5 with what he calls a list of widows. It’s a list that would be cared for by the church, but he’s very careful about what names are going to go on that list and he definitely doesn’t want to put a widow on that list whose son is a church member. Paul’s very strong on this issue saying, “if you have not cared for your own mother, your own family, you’ve denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever,” but that’s a list of widows that would be cared for with the resources of the church.

There’s that, but then you’ve got a racial divide somewhat here, the Hellenists and the Hebraic Jews. These are all Jews, the church has not moved out into Gentile territory yet. It’s going to and that is very much the motion, the movement of the book of Acts from Jew only, to Jew plus Gentile by the end of the Book of Acts. But that divide, that continental divide goes over in Acts 10, although there’s already some early converts. It’s really significant when Peter goes to the house of Cornelius. We’ve not gone there yet but we’ve already got this racial tension between Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews and Hebraic-speaking Jews. This comes after the diaspora, after the spread of the Jews with the Assyrian and the Babylonian exiles. The Jews were scattered over the Mediterranean region, they were everywhere. They grew up in those cities and then Alexander the Great came and conquered that part of the world, and Greek became the language spoken, the common language of that region.

The Greek-speaking Jews were immersed in that culture but they came back regularly, they came back for the ceremonies, the Passover and Pentecost and all that in Jerusalem, but they were Greek in culture though they were Jews. As to the Greek-speaking Jews, I think there’s a sense in which the Hebraic-speaking Jews would think of themselves as more Jewish than the Greek-speaking Jews. They were more the true Jews, there was a caste system of Judaism. You get a sense of that where Paul says I was excelling in Judaism beyond anyone else of my age. That’s like, “I’m more Jewish than you are,” this kind of thing. You definitely see this indication in the Jews-Samaritan divide. They were like, “They’re not even Jews, they just seem to be Gentiles, pagans and all that kind of thing.” So, the Jews of Jerusalem also look down on Jews from Galilee. Remember how Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Galilee or Nazareth?” They were looked down on as country bumpkins, you get this hierarchical, true Jews, not so true Jews divide, this racial divide.

Also, after the exile of Babylon, when they’re coming back to rebuild the temple and the wall, Ezra and Nehemiah, there is a significant problem among the Jews there of intermarriage with pagan women so that the next generation of Jewish kids don’t even speak Hebrew at all. They only spoke the language of their mothers, and that was a very big deal in a shameful thing. All of this is set up for a hierarchy of holiness and a superiority within the church of the Hebrew-speaking Jews above the Greek-speaking and that divide is set up there. Now, that Christ has come, we’re going to find out in Ephesians 2 that the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been removed entirely, and that God’s intention which was to create, in Christ, one new person out of the two, thus, making peace. So, if there’s not going to be any superiority between Jew and Gentile, why would there be any superiority within Judaism either? All of those divisions have been removed and dealt with but they have to be addressed and so that’s what we’re dealing with.

III. The Apostles’ Proposal

To sum up, we’ve got a practical issue, the daily distribution of food to widows, that’s a practical issue. You got a racial issue of Greek-speaking Jews versus Hebrew-speaking Jews, all of this has to be addressed and we can see Satan able to use this to divide the church and stop it in its mission. These are problems, and  the apostles lead the way in solving it.  They make a proposal, and they lead the way. Look at verse 2, ”The twelve gathered all the disciples together and said . . .” The apostles know that it’s their job to solve this. The money from the sale of real estate and all that was put at the apostles’ feet, literally and metaphorically, meaning it’s your job to distribute this money. It’s also a symbol of, in general, every significant problem in the life of the church is laid at the feet of the apostles, ”Solve this, we need some answer to this.” It’s laid at their feet metaphorically, they’ve got to solve this and they do, they lead out.

Their priority structure is going to be vital for centuries to come. Look what they say in verse 2, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” The primary responsibility of the apostles is clearly stated, prayer and the ministry of the Word, that’s their top priority. Not mentioned in that is what is going on that I just alluded to a moment ago, leadership. The apostles’ role is also leadership. Prayer and the ministry of the Word and the leadership of the church, that’s the job of the apostles, but the glowing heart of their ministry is prayer and the ministry of the word.  It is by this powerful combination, ultimately and above all else, that Christ builds His church. It is by prayer and the ministry of the Word that the lost are rescued from hell. It is by prayer and the ministry of the Word that new converts are built up to full maturity in Christ. The ministry of the Word is paramount in the life of the church.

Paul writes in 1st Timothy 3:15, “The church of the living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” What we do better than any other entity in the world is truth, the truth of the Word of God and the truth of Christ, that’s what we have to offer to the world. Also in Ephesians 2:19-20, it speaks of God’s household, the church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. We are built on the scriptures, the apostles and prophets, the Old Testament, the New Testament. We’re built on the foundation of the Word of God. We know that individual sinners are saved by the Word of God, “Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ,” [Romans 10:17]. By the clear proclamation of the Word, the sinner is saved. That’s what the apostles need to do, they need to minister the Word of God. Paul says that the ministry of the word of God primes the pump for every other ministry in the life of the church.

In Ephesians 4:11 and following it says, “It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Then he says a moment later, “as each part of the body does its work.” We have this body image but he starts with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. What do all of those five roles have in common but the Word of God? Apostles and prophets delivered the Word to us, the Old Testament, New Testament. Evangelists take it to the ends of the earth physically, geographically, and then pastors/ teachers settle down in locations and teach it week by week. He gave those, the ministry of the Word, to prepare God’s people, the saints, for works of service. That every member of the church is prepared for their works of service by these five roles, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, so that the body of Christ then builds itself up by those good works.

Figuring it all out, the ministry of the Word of God primes the pump for every other ministry in the whole church and, therefore, it’s vital that the apostles continue to devote themselves to it.  The works of service are primed by the Word of God. For this reason, Paul commands Timothy to focus on this. 1st Timothy 4:13 says, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and teaching.” We would gather every week and read the scriptures together, and there would be explication of that and exhortation from it, this is expository preaching. 1st Timothy 4:13, you’re reading the scripture, you’re expounding it and applying it, and he says three verses later, if you do this, you’ll save both yourself and your hearers. 

That’s my job description, I’m here every week to save you and me. To save myself and my hearers from what? From sin. I want our salvation to be finished and it’s not finished yet. Justification is finished for I hope all of you, if not, I’m going to address some of you that haven’t been justified yet at the end of the sermon that you would believe in Christ and receive forgiveness of sins but that’s just the start of salvation.  Then you’ve got this race to run, this marathon race, this sanctification and I’m not done with that. Trust me, I’m not done with that. Anyone who knows me, you know I’m not done with that, I have a long way to go, so do you. I’m here to save myself and you all, my hearers, by the preaching of the Word. This is vital for us to understand that in the context of this whole thing with the Greek-speaking widows, the priority of the ministry of the Word of God. The ministry of the Word of God is hard work, there’s labor in it. 1st Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who,” listen, “labor in preaching and teaching.” There’s a labor in the Word of God, it’s hard work. He says in 2nd Timothy 2:15,  “Study to show yourself approved unto God workmen who don’t  need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.” That’s the labor of the Word and the apostle said it would not be right for us to neglect that. There’s tremendous study.

Why does it say prayer and the ministry of the word? Why not just the ministry of the word? They go together. Apart from this activity, the Holy Spirit, the Word will achieve nothing. The Word will achieve nothing on its own, it’s got to also be the activity of the Spirit, illuminating, convicting, making the Word come alive in people’s hearts. It’s not enough to just preach the word, you also have to pray that God would bless and that God would be active and God would be moving. There is that combination of prayer and the ministry of the Word that produces fruit. As Jesus said in John 15:7-8, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then ask whatever you wish and it’ll be given to you, this is to My Father’s glory that you bear much fruit and show yourselves to be My disciples.” So, two requirements, you abide in Jesus and His words abide in you, then what? Then you can pray and, as you then pray, you’ll bear fruit and so we see that prayer and the ministry of the Word.

God has to work— He has to work insight, He has to work conviction of sin, He has to work growth and maturity, so the apostles combined the holy combination of prayer and the ministry of the Word. By the way, no Christian leader displayed this combination better than the apostle Paul whose constant prayer life for the churches and individuals he was ministering to is clearly on display in his epistles. In Romans 1:9-10, Paul wrote this, “God whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of His Son is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times.” “I preach the gospel and I pray for you at all times,” it’s a beautiful combination.  

Now, it’s very important that I say this, the apostles were not denigrating ministering to the widows, waiting on tables, not at all. It was rather a division of labor, religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after widows in their distress, they’re not minimizing that. Also, the idea of waiting on tables could be seen like a menial task but Jesus Himself elevated it. Luke 22:27, Jesus said these words the night He was arrested, the night He was betrayed, “Who is greater? The one who is seated at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at the table but I’m among you as one who serves?” That’s Luke 22:27, that’s a powerful statement. There’s nothing menial in the body of Christ. Even more amazing, in Luke 12:37, Jesus talks about eschatology, the end of the world, the  Second Coming and all that, He said, “It’ll be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the tables and will come and wait on them in heaven.”

There’s nothing menial about waiting on tables, it’s a glorified task. All of the ministries of the church are vital

You’ll be at the banquet table of heaven and someone will tap your shoulder and say, “Do you need some more drink?” and you’ll look up and it’ll be the Lord. How awesome is that? There’s nothing menial about waiting on tables, it’s a glorified task. All of the ministries of the church are vital, it’s just that the apostles were specifically called to labor and prayer in the ministry of the word. The sense of this organization of the church as a body in which each member is vital, is fully developed, in 1st Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, “Just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function so, in Christ, we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” That’s how God organizes the body of Christ by spiritual gift ministry.

IV. The Apostles’ Proposal

That’s all the theory, what’s the solution? Look at verses 3-4, “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, we will turn this responsibility over to them and we’ll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” First of all, they delegate the choice to the church. You all choose some men.  The apostles lead but this is an early version of congregationalism and the church has the right to choose these men, these leaders. 

The requirements, first of all, male leadership in this particular case. The Greek word “andras” specifically means “male,” and so they were to be men who are to lead as opposed to women. God has ordained male leadership generally in the church. He makes this very clear in 1st Timothy 2 but here in this verse it’s surprising. Sometimes, when we have the word “men,” it just means people but here it’s very clear. And again, this is in no way to denigrate women, not at all, any more than it denigrates the men who are not chosen for this leadership role, most are not chosen for leadership roles. Nobody’s denigrated, it’s just that these are the requirements for the specific function that’s going to be noted.

Secondly, they’re said to be full of the spirit. In other words, they give evidence of the spirit of God at work in their lives, they give clear evidence of the fruits of the spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. You can see the fruit in their lives, they’re Christ-like, they’ve got this. And it says, not just full of the spirit, but full of wisdom. What does that mean? Wisdom is a practical “rubber meets the road” insight and an administrative skill, the ability to solve problems.

The Greek-speaking widows have been overlooked in the daily distribution of food, so what’s involved in that? I don’t know, it’s not my gift but I could imagine there would be different regions of the city and there would be numbers of Greek-speaking widows in some parts and in others, some more, some less. There would be the need for a food supply, whatever that was, what kind of food was distributed, we don’t know. It wouldn’t be maybe just food but also resources, maybe money, other things like that, and they’ve got to solve all that. And it’s daily, friends. Every day there were needs, it never stopped.

So, they had to be full of wisdom, a lot of practical wisdom and also people skills. They had to be the kind of people that people liked to work with. They were amenable, they were socialized and they were skillful with people and they could minister well. That’s what we’ve got, full of the spirit and full of wisdom. Then it says, we will turn this responsibility over to them. The key to this is delegation of tasks. We’re going to give you this job and then we’re going to get to what we’re doing, prayer and the ministry of the word, so you got to be willing to cut the string.

I think about what Joseph said to Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39:8, “With me in charge, my master,” Potiphar, “does not concern himself with anything in the house.” Think about that. He doesn’t concern himself with anything in the house, he’s put me in charge. Taking that verbiage over to this, the apostles don’t need to concern themselves anymore with the whole Greek-speaking widow thing, they just delegate that to these seven men and they can move on. They can entrust this matter entirely. It would be bad for the pastor elders or the apostles in this case or pastor elders to be micromanagers, and it’d be bad for the people to need micromanagement.

You need the right men and the right situation, then you just need to give the job to them and not have to micromanage the things so that’s what they do and then they can, it says in verse 4, “We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word.” It has actually intensified a degree. They are going to do what they are given to do while others serve in this new capacity. 

V. The Proposal Accepted, the Men Chosen

That’s the proposal. The proposal is accepted, and the men are chosen. Verse 5, this proposal pleased the whole group so everybody’s happy with that, a sense of relief has come over the church, the problem is being addressed by the apostles, everybody can calm down and move back off of the brink, everything’s going to be okay.

Then the men are listed in verse 5. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. Right away, though you may not know this, we understand all of these names are Greek names. These are Greek men, Greek-speaking Jews, all of them. It’s really interesting how, a lot of times, when you have a committee, you’re going to have the different factions represented like a search committee. You’re going to have some of this, some of that, one of that for this group, they didn’t do that. They just went entirely for seven Greek-speaking men to look after this problem and it’s beautiful. Two of them would be famous beyond this list. Stephen, one of the great heroes of early church history, one of the great, great men, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. We’re going to study him closely in the rest of this chapter and then on into his magnificent sermon and presentation of Christ in chapter 7, so that’s coming up.  I believe he was the key human factor in leading Saul of Tarsus to faith in Christ, I’m going to argue that; he’s an incredible man. Then we’ve have Philip, so-called the evangelist, whose exploits are recorded for us in Acts 8 where he goes to Samaria and preaches the Gospel there, and then we’ve got his famous encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch and that whole story in Acts 8. Other than that, the other five, we don’t know anything about them again, we don’t see them again. 

The question rises were these seven the first deacons? The text doesn’t say that, it doesn’t use the form, the noun form “deacon”. It does use the verb form “diakoneo” which is to “serve, wait tables, et cetera,” from which the word “deacon” comes in English. However, I think these men, Stephen and Philip, they act much more like elders, even somewhat like apostles. Stephen does since he did signs and wonders, he’s a great leader. I don’t know that we necessarily can say the seven were the first deacons. Philip also had a higher level in the church than a deacon.

We do have these two offices, elder and deacon, in Philippians chapter 1 and also in 1st Timothy 3 so those are the two offices. Traditionally, churches have seen elder and deacon, and then have reasonably asked the next step, what does a deacon do, and we don’t know. The deacons qualities are described in 1st Timothy 3 but we don’t have any job description, what are they supposed to do. Traditionally, churches have gone to Acts 6 and have taken this practical addressing of a physical need in the life of the church so that the apostles can give their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word as a cue for what deacons should do.

Deacons, therefore, do practical ministries, taking practical things off of the elders’ hearts and minds so they don’t have to attend to it. This would be practical like benevolence needs within the life of the church or other type of things, caring for widows and others and then beyond that, they’re just practical things, or whatever the elders ask them to do that would be helpful for them, so I think that’s beneficial but we don’t have that link for sure, it’s more traditional. Does that make sense? Beyond that, I just don’t have a job description for deacons in the Bible.

VI. Order and Fruitfulness Restored

Order and fruitfulness are restored as a result of this. In verses 6-7, they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them 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.  There’s a bookends aspect of this. In verse 1, the number of disciples is increasing rapidly. In verse 7, the number of disciples is increasing rapidly. You really get a sense from the Holy Spirit that the problem has been addressed, the problem has been solved ,and the church can keep doing its evangelistic business, it’s very encouraging.

I also think it’s amazing how it says a large number of priests became obedient to the faith, this is really incredible. I have a sense, I can’t prove it absolutely but I’m going to talk about it, that Stephen had a clear understanding of the movement to the new covenant and the time for animal sacrifice was over.  He understood that Jesus would change the customs that Moses handed down to us, namely, animal sacrifice. Was it true? Yes, it was true. The curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The old covenant sacrificial system is obsolete but they didn’t really know it yet. There’s still this momentum, it was still going on.

And I think it’s really interesting that this text tells us that a large number of priests became believers in Christ, and I think they were the source of the information that the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. How would you know that the next day? You wouldn’t unless you’d been there when it happened and you watched it happen. I can imagine some priests seeing that miracle, wondering what was up and, in the course of time, coming to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. How awesome is that?

VII. Applications

The first and greatest application of every sermon from this pulpit is the same, repent and believe in Jesus. How do I get this from this text? The ministry of the word of God is implied in this text, people are coming to faith in Christ. That needs to continue, this problem can’t derail. The greatest need every single sinner has is forgiveness of sins, salvation through faith in Christ. There’s no point in you coming and hearing a sermon on church organization and walking out of here lost, dead in your transgressions and sins.

What do you need to do? All you need to do is trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Look to Christ, it’s the gift of eternal life that was given. The indescribable gift is salvation through faith in Christ. So, repent of your sins and trust in Him and you’ll find full forgiveness. This is the most important application.

 But secondly, for us as Christians, that we would see and delight in the beautiful ordering of the church, that we would see the orderliness of God in the church, and we’d see the primacy of the word of God in prayer. It’s the most important function in the life of the church because what good is it to have full stomachs and empty souls?  What would it profit someone to gain the whole world and lose their soul? Caring for widows doesn’t save their souls, more important is that they would hear and believe the Word of God, but needs are still important. So, Jesus said in John 6, “Do not labor for the food that spoils but for the food that endures to eternal life,” and that’s the Gospel. We see the benefits and the importance of wise church organization and the value of every ministry in the life of the church but also the primacy of the ministry of the word of God in prayer.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank You for the time that we’ve had to study today, thank You for the word of God and for its clarity, thank You for the word of God and its perfection. I pray that we would take these words that we’ve learned and delight in the orderliness and the wisdom of God and the body of Christ, the organization, the body of Christ. I pray that every member of this church would esteem highly every other member, every ministry in this church would be seen as valuable and essential but, above all, that we would esteem the Word of God as central, that which saves our souls and that which prepares us for every good work. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

How should the Christian church be organized?

The medieval Roman Catholic church had a top-down structure with the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) at the top. Like the Federal Government.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers began to celebrate the “priesthood of all believers,” saying that all Christians are like priests in Christ… no one of them more valuable than another. Some free church offshoots began to take this very seriously and advocated a complete levelling of all organization. The most extreme of these groups were the Quakers (the Society of Friends), who meet without any pastors or officers at all; no deacons, no church board. They assemble and wait for the Spirit to move on any one of them, and leadership is something done collectively.

In our day and age, some mega-churches have overwhelming organization, with hundreds of ministries and a structure not different at all from a major American business, with an org chart and clear lines of authority and power from the Senior Pastor down to various committees run by chairs of those committees.

In our passage today, we see the beginnings of the organization of the Christian church to meet specific needs. We see how the Spirit moved the leaders of the church to delegate certain tasks to others so they could focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word. I believe this passage was given by the Holy Spirit as a timeless display of some vital themes in church organization for maximum fruitfulness in the gospel ministry.

I. A God of Exquisite Order

A. The Church is an Organism, Not an Organization

1. Corporate America is highly organized, but is not like the church

2. The church is ALIVE with the pulsating power of the Spirit of God

3. It is likened to a BODY, the “body of Christ”… with life flowing through it

4. It is likened to a giant olive tree with a developed root system from which we draw nourishing sap

5. It is likened to a vine with fruit-bearing branches, Christ the vine, we the branches

6. All of these images show the LIVING nature of the church

7. Even the architectural image of the church as a temple has amazingly LIVING STONES that make it up

1 Peter 2:4-5  As you come to him, the living Stone– rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him–  ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house

B. YET We Still See ORGANIZATION in this Organism

1. Living things are extremely highly organized…

2. The living cell is like a city with astonishingly complex biological functions going on

3. God is a God of astonishing ORDER

In today’s passage, we see the order of God coming to fruition in the organization of the early church for ministry.

God makes the church ALIVE and then God organizes it to fulfill all its amazing functions.

II. The Problem Described

A. The Church’s Explosive Growth

Acts 6:1  In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,

1. By this time, the early church has exploded in size

a. Three thousand came to faith on the Day of Pentecost

b. After the lame beggar was healed, the number of men had grown to 5000; that means there were probably tens of thousands of men, women, and children at that point

c. But the church had grown even larger from that point

Acts 5:13-14  No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.  ¹⁴ Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Acts 5:42  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

2. The apostles have already fulfilled the first part of the mandate

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 5:28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching

3. Now they are ready to branch out more and more in Judea and Samaria

4. Soon, they will see the gospel exploded upon the Gentile world

B. Already a Huge Degree of Organization Was Needed

1. If the church was 30,000 in number or more, consider what kind of organization the church already would have needed to avoid chaos

2. Remember some of the basic functions

a. Evangelistic preaching by the apostles: but where, when, how, who?

b. Discipleship of new Christians: “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”

c. Daily gatherings at the temple for teaching, prayer, worship

d. Regular meetings in peoples’ homes for fellowship

e. Baptism for new believers (after making sure they were truly born-again)

f. Lord’s Supper… someone had to be sure there were sufficient elements of bread and wine, and how they would be distributed

g. Benevolence needs: the text implies there was a daily distribution of food to widows

h. The church was repeatedly bringing resources and laying them at the feet of the apostles:

Acts 2:45  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Acts 4:34-35  There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales  ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

i. This required a great deal of work and organization

j. BUT the problem arose that showed a need for even greater organization

k. Satan could easily have used this… orchestrated it even… to derail the church

C. Three Timeless Satanic Attacks

1. Persecution… the Sanhedrin had ordered them to stop preaching on threat of imprisonment and death; but that hadn’t stopped the church

a. Persecution can make the church timid and weak, fearful of the consequences of bold proclamation

b. But in this case, all it had done was purify the church from nominal people and had made the church even bolder than ever to proclaim the gospel

2. Sin… Ananias and Sapphira

a. Satan sought to defile the church from within with the sin of these two selfish, lying churchmembers

b. But God had acted decisively and had purged the evil from within them by causing these two to drop down dead immediately

3. Discord… division

a. If Satan can cause disunity from within the church, he can possibly stop it from its awesome evangelistic power and fruitfulness

b. Acts 6 is a display of this kind of thing

c. Factions and divisions within the church based on some sense of injustice or wrong, or perhaps even from jealousy or pride

James 3:16   For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

d. “DISORDER”…

e. The remedy is Spirit-led organization

D. The Problem Stated

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.

1. Care of widows

a. The ongoing care of widows was a major focus for the church

James 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

b. Paul also focuses on this in 1 Timothy 5, organizing which widows should be put on a list for ongoing financial support

2. Racial divide

a. There was a racial aspect to this problem

b. These were ALL Jews… Jewish Christians

c. But some were from the diaspora… the widespread Gentile world

d. The common language out there was Greek

e. SO… the divide was between the Aramaic-speaking Jewish people and the Greek-speaking Jews

f. There was always a tendency for the Jews to have a hierarchy of holiness… the “true Jews” vs. “the defiled, paganized Jews”

g. The Jew-Samaritan divide was part of this

h. So also the way the Jews of Jerusalem looked down on Jew from Galilee… the northern regions of Palestine which were much more immersed in Gentile culture than those in Jerusalem

i. In the days after the exile, there was especially a disdain for Jews who didn’t even speak Hebrew, but only the Gentile tongues

j. Ezra and Nehemiah both vigorously addressed the sins of the returning Jews who intermarried with Gentile women after the exile and started that whole process again… especially galling was the fact that their children didn’t even speak Hebrew but having Gentile mothers, their mother tongue was a pagan tongue

k. BUT now that Christ has come, the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile had been removed, according to Ephesians 2:14-16

l. God wanted one new person—Christian—made out of the two… Jew and Gentile

m. So any sense of superiority Hebrew-speaking Jewish Christians had over Greek-speaking Jewish Christians should have been obsolete

n. Gentiles hadn’t even started to come into the church yet

o. But God wanted to get out ahead of this issue and deal with it

3. To sum up: a practical issue and a racial issue

a. Practically: the widows needed to be cared for daily, and there were lots of them; this required a huge amount of detailed work

b. Racially: there was the beginning of a caste-system in which the truly Jewish Christians (so to speak) were seen as holier than those of more Gentile origins… HAD to be nipped in the bud

III. The Apostles’ Proposal

A. The Apostles Lead the Way

Acts 6:2  So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said…

1. The problem was rightly brought to the apostles for the solution

2. It was their responsibility to lead out and put out this growing fire of dissension within the church

3. Also their priorities would be so VITAL for centuries to come

B. The Absolute Requirement to Focus on Prayer and the Word

Acts 6:2  “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

1. The primary responsibility of the apostles is clearly stated: prayer and the ministry of the Word

2. Not mentioned here is what is clearly going on in this chapter: LEADERSHIP… solving problems that arise

3. But the glowing heart is prayer and the ministry of the Word

4. It is by this powerful combination ultimately and above all else that Christ builds his church

a. It is by prayer and the ministry of the Word that the lost are rescued from hell

b. It is by prayer and the ministry of the Word that new converts are discipled and built up to full maturity in Christ

5. The ministry of the Word is paramount

1 Timothy 3:15  the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Ephesians 2:19-20  God’s household,  ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Romans 10:17  Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

6. Paul says that the ministry of the word primes the pump for every other good work in the church

Ephesians 4:11-13  It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,  ¹² to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up  ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The apostles and prophets delivered God’s Word to the human race by the scriptures

Evangelists spread that divine word all over the surface of the earth

Pastor/teachers settle in particular locations to teach that divine word to a people over years

NOW… all of that “prepares God’s people for works of service”… spiritual gift ministries like hospitality, giving, prayer, evangelism, works of healing and ministry to the needy…

AND those “works of service” together with the ongoing ministry of the word builds up the church to full maturity

BUT the ministry of the word starts everything… primes the pump for everything else that happens in the church

7. For this reason, Paul commands Timothy to focus on this

1 Timothy 4:13-16  Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.  ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.  ¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.  ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers

Public reading of scripture… teaching the meaning of scripture… and exhortation to obey scripture… this is what expository preaching is all about…

And to what end??? That Timothy might save himself and his hearers

By the ongoing Word of God is salvation worked from beginning to end!!

8. The ministry of the Word is hard work… labor

1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

a. Rightly dividing the word of truth is HARD WORK

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

To “rightly divide” the word of truth means to handle it accurately; to make certain that everything you teach is accurate and in harmony with all of the revealed word of God

There is a tremendous amount of STUDY in this labor

If the apostles broke off from this to attend to the overwhelming details of the daily distribution of food to the widows, the whole church would suffer

9. Why PRAYER? Not just ministry of the Word?

a. Jesus linked them directly

John 15:7-8  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

b. Why? Because apart from the direct activity of God blessing the word, even the mighty word of God is ineffective

c. Apart from God no good thing happens… the ministry of the word is not automatic! Like some mindless machine!

d. God has to work insight, conviction of sin, repentance and faith in all the hearers at all times; if he doesn’t, then nothing will happen

e. So the apostles had to give themselves to the holy combination of prayer and the ministry of the word

f. No Christian leader displayed this better than the apostle Paul, whose constant prayer life for the churches and individuals he was ministering to is clearly on display in his epistles

Romans 1:9-10  God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you  ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times

10. Now… please keep in mind, the apostles were not denigrating waiting on tables!! That was a VITAL ministry, as James says, pure and faultless religion is to care for widows; those doing this vital ministry will receive an overwhelming reward from God on Judgment Day

11. Also the “waiting on tables” could be seen like a menial task, but Jesus himself says he did it and will do it in heaven

Luke 22:27   For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Luke 12:37  It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

So, “waiting on tables” is exalted by Jesus himself!

12. ALL the ministries of the church are vital; it’s just that the apostles were specifically called to labor in prayer and the word

13. The sense of the organization of the church as a BODY in which each member is vital is fully developed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12

Romans 12:4-6  Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,  ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

C. The Solution

Acts 6:3-4  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.”

1. Delegating the choice to the church; congregationalism! The choosing would be by a democratic process

2. Requirements

a. Male leadership: the Greek word “andras” means males as opposed to females

i) God has ordained male leadership in the church

ii) This is not in any way to denigrate women or also men who are not called to be leaders; as we’ve already said, every member of the Body of Christ is vital

iii) But the leadership role is given to men

b. “full of the Spirit”

i) Giving evidence of the power of the Spirit in their lives

ii) “By their fruit you will know them”: controlled by the Spirit as shown by the fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  ²³ gentleness and self-control.

c. “and (full of) wisdom”

i) Wisdom is a practical insight into what this or that situation calls for; a “rubber meets the road” nitty-gritty insight

ii) The Greek-speaking widows have been overlooked in the daily distribution of food; WHY? How can we remedy that?

iii) So, “full of wisdom” means they have experience and administrative skills, as well as people skills to put out the fire of this contention and make everything harmonious again

iv) Jerusalem was a big city; and maybe by now they were reaching out into Judea to care for Christian widows

v) Lots of practical wisdom needed to go into this every single day

3. “We will turn this responsibility over to them…”

a. Key to church leadership is DELEGATION OF TASKS

[as Joseph said to Potiphar’s wife] Genesis 39:8  “With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.”

b. If you put the right people in the right positions, you can forget about that problem

c. The apostles could entrust this matter entirely to these men and give their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word

d. It is bad for the pastors/elders to be micro-managers; and it is bad for those entrusted with tasks to NEED to be micro-managed!

4. The apostles can then do what they were called to do

Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

The word implies a total devotion to these tasks.

IV. The Proposal Accepted, the Men Chosen

A. The Delight and Unity that Good Leadership Brings

Acts 6:5 This proposal pleased the whole group.

1. A sense of relief came over the whole church

2. The problem was being addressed wisely and skillfully

3. Everyone can move back from “defcon 2”!!

B. The Men Chosen

Acts 6:5 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.

1. Note right away: all seven have GREEK names!

2. It was the Greek widows being overlooked; so the church wisely chose only Greek Jews to address that problem

3. Our tendency is to make sure that the leadership is balanced… some Hebraic Jews had to be on that board to keep the Greek men from going too far!

4. NO! They entrusted this matter entirely to Greek-speaking men

5. Two of them would become famous after this in the New Testament

a. Stephen is one of the great heroes of this early church stage… described as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”; we will study him closely in the rest of Acts 6 and all of Acts 7; I believe he was the key human figure in winning Saul of Tarsus to Christ

b. Philip would be called “the evangelist”, and we will follow his exploits in Acts 8 with the spread of the gospel into Samaria and his famous encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch

c. The rest of the seven would not be mentioned again in the Bible

C. Were these the first “deacons”

1. The text doesn’t say that; just the verb form “diakonein” (verse 2) from which the word deacon comes

2. However, these men, especially Stephen and Philip, seem to do a lot more than that; they were mighty in the word, and seem much more like elders than deacons

3. However, since deacons are mentioned clearly in Philippians 1 and 1 Timothy 3 as one of the two named offices in the church, and since no other text tells us what deacons should DO, churches have traditionally seen Acts 6 as an indication of what a deacon’s job description should be: doing practical tasks under the leadership of the elders to free them up for prayer and the ministry of the word

V. Order and Fruitfulness Restored

Acts 6:6-7  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.

Satan’s attempt at thwarting the explosive power of the church is halted again… persecution couldn’t do it, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira couldn’t do it, and dissension and division within the ranks, even racial divisions couldn’t do it.

NOTE the evangelistic power… PRIESTS obedient to the faith!

It may well be that some of them were the eyewitnesses to the curtain in the temple being torn “from top to bottom” the moment Jesus died!

As Stephen will make clear, they are now out of a job at the temple; God doesn’t require animal sacrifices any more!!

VI. Applications

A. Come to Christ

1. The purpose of God in a well-ordered church is always salvation in Christ

2. The disorder caused by the complaints of the Greek-speaking widows would have distracted from the central ministry of the church, the salvation of souls

3. So, the top priority of this sermon must also be the salvation of souls through faith in Christ

B. Delight in God’s Wise Ordering of the Church

1. God is an orderly being; delight in that!

2. Delight in the two offices and their various functions: Elders, Deacons

C. Give Proper Esteem to the Value of Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

D. Also Esteem the Non-preaching Servants of the Church