The early church was experiencing phenomenal growth, marvelous miracles, pulsating power, and unlimited blessings. Then, right in the middle of this success story, dissension arose. The Greek speaking widows were being neglected in favor of the Hebrew speaking widows.
The Apostles said that they didn’t need to leave their role as leaders of the fellowship and proclaimers of the Word to deal with this problem. They, therefore, told the congregation to select seven men who were:
1) Faithful - “from among you”
2) Reputable - “who are known”
3) Spiritual - “full of the Spirit”
4) Teachable - “full of . . . wisdom”
5) Responsible - “we will turn this responsibility over to them”
They were to address the conflict by leading the church to serve the needs of the widows in an effective and efficient manner. And this they did. This group of men (the first Deacons) worked well at providing the servant leadership needed to address the problem and get the church back on the road to pleasing God.
It is this that I want to speak about today. I want us to notice what a dynamic impact a good Deacon body can have on a church.
1. The unity of the church will be preserved.
Satan sought to divide the church family. But thanks to the work of these first Deacons, he didn’t succeed. If we are not careful, if he can, Satan will divide our church family, too. But just like the first Deacons prevented the split of the early church in Jerusalem, a good Deacon body that is focused and vigilant about fulfilling their very specialized and important task of protecting the fellowship of the church, can keep the evil one from succeeding.
Sometimes, folks wonder what all the Deacons do. I’ve even heard people criticize Deacons for not doing enough. But the fact is, if they weren’t doing anything, they wouldn’t have been selected to be a
Deacon to begin with. Being a Deacon doesn’t mean a man is to do more in service. It means he has been set aside to a particular service - which is the service of guarding the fellowship of God’s family.
I tell our deacons that they each carry around two buckets - a bucket of water and a bucket of gasoline. Now, in the church, you will encounter two kinds of fire - fires of revival and fires of dissension. A Deacon’s job is to pour gasoline on the fires of revival and water on the fires of dissension; and a wise Deacon does not get his buckets mixed up!
Our Deacons can be far more places at one time than I can. Therefore, they can help me be more aware of issues we might need to address; and they can help me make our folks more aware of what is happening in our church and where we are going as a church.
Through this unique and specialized responsibility, our Deacons can help preserve the unity of our church family, just like the first Deacons did.
2. The challenges of the church will be met.
The early church had not foreseen the challenge associated with their rapid growth. Consequently, they had to deal with a problem.
The problems of today often come upon us because we failed to anticipate the challenges of the future. But with the service of these Deacons, that changed. Working in cooperation with the Apostles, they anticipated the challenges on the horizon and planned accordingly. As a result, a problem was addressed and division in the church was averted.
We must do the same today. A good Deacon body will work with the pastor and staff to anticipate the challenges of the future by gaining God’s vision for the church and leading the congregation to organize today for the challenges of tomorrow. Often the problems of today are a result of failing to plan in the past for the challenges of the future.
A college student sent a letter to his mother prior to the Christmas break. “Dear Mom, I have flunked all my classes. When I come home for the holidays. I will be moving back home. Prepare Pop.” The following week, the student received a letter from his mother which read, “Pop prepared. Prepare yourself!”
A church needs to prepare today for the challenges of tomorrow. A good Deacon body will partner with the pastor and staff to do just that.
3. The focus of the church will be maintained.
As he so often does, Satan tempted God’s people to focus inward instead of outward. If he could have succeeded in getting the church to focus within, he would have won a great victory, but he didn’t succeed.
The deacons met the need by mobilizing the church for ministry and the focus remained on knowing Christ and making Him known to a lost and dying world. Through the Deacons assisting the Apostles, the church kept its harvest vision.
A farmer was working in his corn field one hot day when he heard a scratching sound. He saw a mouse gnawing away at a stalk of corn. He thought of the long hours spent clearing the field, planting it, and cultivating it, and now this mouse was trying to destroy it. In his anger, the farmer picked up a stick and went after the mouse. He beat, slashed, chased, and sweated until finally he dealt the mouse a lethal blow. He felt a deep sense of satisfaction until he looked around and realized he had destroyed nearly half an acre of corn to kill one little mouse.
Likewise, if we are not careful, we can become so obsessed with an internal focus, that we lose the external focus that Christ has called us to - a focus on the fact that the fields are white unto harvest!
4. The ministry of the church will be multiplied - v. 7
The result of preserving the church’s unity, meeting the church’s challenge and maintaining the church’s focus was that the ministry of the church was multiplied.
A good Deacon sets an example and the tone for church involvement and growth. If the Deacons are involved and growing, the church will be mobilized to reach out and will grow.
Sadly, the attitude that too many church folks have is reflected in the survey results which revealed that 91% of church members surveyed believed that the pastor’s job is to meet their needs.
Bud Wilkinson, former football coach of the University of Oklahoma, was once asked, “Mr. Wilkinson, what would you say is the contribution of modern football to physical fitness?” Wilkinson answered, “Absolutely nothing.” Shocked by the answer, the
reporter did not know exactly what to say. Finally, he muttered, “Would you care to elaborate on that statement?” “Certainly,” Coach Wilkinson said. “l define football as 22 men on the field who desperately need rest being watched by 50,000 people in the stands who desperately need exercise.”
Sadly, that’s a picture of too many churches today. But what does the Bible say? Paul says that the pastor’s responsibility is . . .
“. . . to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” - Ephesians 4:12 (NLT)
A good Deacon will reinforce what the Bible says about every member ministry. Sadly, in too many churches, there are Deacons who have confused position with performance. These are men who are more into self-exaltation than servant leadership.
A teenager came out of a witness training class with a real burden to share the gospel with everyone he saw. He approached a man after church and said, “Sir, are you are saved?” The man replied, “I’ll have you know I’m a deacon.” The boy replied, “That's all right. The Bible says that God can forgive anything!”
Well, thank God for good Deacons!
I see a picture of the role of Deacons in Exodus 17:8-13:
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up - one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
Moses represents the pastor; Joshua and the fighting men represent the church family; and Aaron and Hur represent the Deacons.
Just as Aaron and Hur helped both Moses and the Army of Israel, good Deacons are a blessing to both pastor and people!
How? By working to preserve the unity of the church; to meet the challenges of the church; to maintain the focus of the church ; and to multiply the ministry of the church.
