[2] Isn’t it nice to be served? You know, when you go to a nice restaurant and you have a great waiter that really takes care of you? Makes you feel good to be served. I went to a restraint once with my family and they had the best wait staff you could imagine.
[Napkin in the lap story.]
But usually, we loved being served. We go to the beauty shop…the car wash…the spa…all to be served. And you know, there’s really nothing wrong with that on occasion.
But when we start to think that our life is about being served, then we’ve got this Christianity thing backwards! Christianity is about serving God and others – not the other way around. Look at what Jesus said about this very thing. [3]
“Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28
Christianity is about serving others.
Now the early church did a great job at this. As we’ve been studying through the book of Acts and focusing on how to ‘be the church’ in this world we’ve seen how the early church took care of each other to the point of extreme selflessness.
But the more the church grew the more needs came into the church. And sometimes those needs went unmet. Probably not because people didn’t care, but just because it was an oversight. Remember, this Christianity/church thing was brand new to everyone. They had thousands of new believers and they were going to have some growing pains.
[4] One of those growing pains was how to take care of all the widows that needed help. You see what had happened was that the widows of Greek descent felt like they weren’t being given the same support that the widows of Jewish descent were. Somehow they had slipped through the cracks. So the Apostles had to make some changes so everyone’s needs could be met. And this is where the idea of selecting deacons in the church was birthed.
[Read Acts 6:1-6.]
The Apostles met the need of the moment by granting these seven men the
authority to oversee the needs of the Greek widows. People in this position would later be known as ‘deacons’ because the Greek word for serving tables is ‘diakonos’ or deacon.
Now this isn’t where the official office of the church deacon was started. That would come a little later. But this is where the idea began that eventually shaped what it meant to hold the church office of a deacon.
Remember, at this time in history the New Testament hadn’t been written yet. But as it’s written it would define what it means to be a deacon. We will get into that in a moment.
But before we do, let’s look at why the Apostles understood that this was the best way to meet these women’s needs. They understood the [5] roles and responsibilities of church officers. They knew they couldn’t do everything and that God didn’t want them to do everything. Everyone can bring something to the table when it comes to church ministry.
[Read Acts 6:2-4.]
The Apostles knew their main responsibility was prayer and preaching. That’s what they were called to do and that’s what the church needed them to do. If they had to care for the hundreds of widows in their congregation they’d never have time to pray for the church or study God’s Word to be able to teach the people. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about those women, it was just that they needed to focus on prayer and preaching.
As we go through the books of Acts we’re going to see the church become more and more organized as they go along. Their structure would become more clear through their history. Basically, the early church’s structure was the Apostles who were the leaders and biblical teachers of the church, the elders who helped administrate the church, and the deacons who oversaw the care ministries of the church.
Here at Bay Ridge we follow the early church’s example along with Scriptural teachings that follow this model. The pastoral staff does the leading and the majority of the biblical teachings in the church, our elders help administrate the church and our deacons and deaconesses oversee the care ministries of the church.
Now this doesn’t mean that deacons never teach and that pastors never visit people. But it does mean that we understand our main roles and responsibilities and they must be fulfilled. And you know what, if everyone does their part, no one slips through the cracks!
So what exactly does our deacons and deaconesses do? Well, our deacons main responsibility is to minister to people who are sick, shut-in or who are in care-facilities. They also oversee the church’s Fellowship Fund which is an account set up to help people when they find themselves in a financial crisis. Our deaconesses main responsibility is to minister to people who are sick, shut-in or who are in care-facilities. They also facilitate our times of communion and baptisms.
Basically, our deacons and deaconesses are on the front lines of ministry when it comes to people who can’t care for themselves like they used to. And I tell you what, we’ve got some of the best people around who fill these offices here at Bay Ridge. I want you to hear from one of them this morning about what it’s like to serve in this capacity.
[Interview Gerry Fricke.]
[How long? Why? Rewarding experience? Importance?]
Now when the Apostles decided to turn this area of the ministry over to others they wanted to make sure and put the right people in place. The criteria they used along with other New Testament teachings show us the [6] requirements to be a deacon or deaconess. And as we’re going to see, they weren’t checking résumé’s – they were checking character!
[Read Acts 6:3, 5.]
Here the criteria was to have men who were wise, who were full of faith, who were full or controlled by God’s Spirit and men who had a good reputation. In other words, men who were known to be godly men. They weren’t looking for good business men. They weren’t looking for men with community clout, they were looking for godly men.
Now as we said before, as the church continued to grow the idea of being a deacon became the office of a deacon some time over the next 30 years. Deacons kept the same purpose, just became more official in the church.
We know this because when Paul wrote his book to the Philippians he said in 1:1 “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” Paul also identified the deaconess Phoebe of the church in Cenchrea in the book of Romans 16:1. Obviously deacons had an official role in the church at this time.
Then later in Paul’s first book to pastor Timothy he outlined the specific requirements for a man or a woman to become a deacon or deaconess.
[Read I Timothy 3:8-13.]
These requirements had everything to do with the person’s character and faith. Men were required to: be dignified
Not double-tongued
Not addicted to wine
Not fond of making money
Holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience – (walk the talk)
Tested
Beyond reproach
Husband of one wife, one-women men
Good family men
Women: Dignified
Not gossips
Temperate, disciplined
Faithful in all things
You see, if you wanted to fill the office of a deacon or deaconess, it was important that you be an example to the entire church of what it means to be a true, servant of God. That’s why the requirements for these offices are spiritual in nature.
Well God had laid out a servant-structure for the organization of the church that would not only function well, but would be an inspiration to all. Let’s go back to the book of Acts and see the [7] results of appointing these ‘deacons’.
[Read Acts 6:6-7.]
They selected these great men of the faith to wait on the tables of the needy women in the church. Once they were selected they prayed for them and laid their hands on them to affirm them before all the people that they had been called to their new role in the church.
The Bible then says the church continued to explode on the scene and now even some of the Jewish priests were coming to the faith.
You know I can’t help but think that the more the lost people around them saw that they truly loved God and each other that they just couldn’t help but want what they had. I mean when you see a group of people that go out of their way to minister to the forgotten of society, that says something. That says more than words ever could.
So I think that once the word got around that the people of that church really took care of each other, it caused more and more people to come in wanting what they had. And when they came they told them about Jesus. Deacons and Deaconesses play a vitally important role in the church.
Now, please remember this, just because you aren’t a deacon or deaconess it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t minister to shut-ins or sick and hurting people. God wants all of us to be deacons in the truest form of the word. Remember what Jesus said in Matt 20?
[8] “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
All of us should be looking for ways in which we can serve our fellow man just like Jesus did. All of us.
But deacons and deaconesses focus most of their servant ministry in helping those who can’t help themselves like they used to.
Last week we elected some new deaconesses at our annual meeting. What I’d like to do is have them and all existing deaconesses and deacons come forward so the elders and I can lay hands on them and pray in affirmation of their ministry. [9]
[Lay hands, pray for deacons and deaconesses.]
