Grant Avenue Baptist Church
2215 Grant Avenue Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Phone 310-376-7890 Fax 877-248-2998
DAVID M. WILSON, Pastor
THE FIRST CHURCH BUSINESS MEETING
Acts 6:1-7
Verse 1 GROWTH PANGS
In the early history of the church we quickly find a division between those who were Jewish Christians (with a Jewish heritage, a Jewish culture,
and the Aramaic language) and those Christians from other backgrounds. It did not take long for Jewish believers to establish themselves as morally
and spiritually superior to gentile believers.
In verse one of our study of Chapter 6, we see that division already growing. There is a great deal of debate about who these “Greek-speaking Jews” were. We don’t have to argue this idea much because it is sufficient for our study to see that they were believers who had a different background, a different culture and even a different language than the
Jewish believers. This meant that they were so different that somehow there was a valid difference (whether perceived or exaggerated) in the
ministering towards the widows of these believers.
Even though we cannot easily identify the two groups we can quickly understand that there was a group of Hebrew Jews. These folks were born of Jewish descent and had extremely conservative ideas in
regards to Jewish traditions and practices. The others are called “Hellenists” a word which implies that they not only spoke Greek, but also lived as Greeks. This group would obviously not hold Jewish traditions and ideals in the same type of respect as those known as Hebrews.
God has always had a special concern for widows and it was no different in the early church. Prophets had cried out against nations which
oppressed widows. (For further study See Zech. 7:8-14, Ezekiel 22:6-7, Malachi 3:5, and Isaiah 1:17) God Himself made special promises to protect and care for the widow and the fatherless. (Deuteronomy 10:18).
In his letter to the church, James wrote that ministering to the fatherless and the widow was an important of pure religion. (James 1:27). It is no
shocking revelation to find that the church needs to minister to the needs of widows.
It is amazing that many churches will work diligently to minister to youth. They will call a special minister to meet the needs of the youth.
Often, in our churches today, the widows are ignored. How rare it is that people will even go to a widow’s home to sing a Christmas carol or take her
grocery shopping! These ministerial activities should be as important today as they were in the early days of the church. God has not stopped caring about the widow and the orphan.
Verses 2-6
A SOLUTION- THE FIRST CHURCH BUSINESS MEETING
The apostles were very wise in their response to this problem because they did not let the problem distract them from the ministry which God
had called them to.
On the surface, it may seem that their attitude was that they were ABOVE “waiting on tables,” but in reality they remained focus on the
responsibility that Christ had given them.
Their proposal was not to resolve the issue all by themselves, but to bring the matter before the entire congregation and allow the congregation
to be involved in the solution. The congregation was to choose the first deacons (literally table waiters).
The practice established here makes two issues very clear (at least to me).
FIRST- the CHURCH selects deacons, not the pastor.
The church chooses men of good report and who meet the requirements later established by the Apostle Paul in his pastoral letters.
The church has this responsibility. The apostles did not take it upon themselves, but presented the matter to the assembled congregation.
SECOND- Pastoral leadership has the responsibility to bring matters before the church, with a positive direction that the church can be
involved in.
The apostles made the proposal but the congregation made the decision.
If the pastor just makes decisions for the church and never allows the members to have their say or express their opinions then he is shutting
them out of the kingdom work. Believe me when I present this simple advice- especially to my fellow pastors who may hear or read this text- “If
the congregation is not allowed to have their say INSIDE the church, they WILL have their say outside the church-- in the parking lot or the coffee
shop!”
But note that the apostles didn’t just say, “We have a problem- how are we going to fix it.” They also proposed a positive direction for the
church to go. I can only assume that they received this direction from the Lord. They presented what they felt was God’s will to the congregation.
A pastor leads the church, but the congregation must discern whether or not the direction he is leading is God’s will. At times, like the
children of Israel in the Wilderness, the congregation may step out of God’s will and refuse to follow a direction that truly is God’s will. At other
times, a pastor may get ahead of God and attempt to lead the congregation in “his” direction rather than God’s. A pastor may try to lead the congregation into a ministry that God has not called them to. He may get
excited about an opportunity to buy a piece of property that might not be in God’s will. To discern God’s will, both congregation and pastor must
walk in humble submission to one another, respect differences of opinion,and take such differences to the Lord in prayer in order to discern God’s
true direction. This is a delicate balance and difficult to achieve, but I truly believe that God’s direction for the church generally comes through the
pastor and is confirmed as God’s Spirit bears witness within both pastor and congregation. This does not mean that others in the congregation may not discern a direction that God is calling the church toward, but that direction should be confirmed by the pastor as well. Of course, all of this process breaks down if congregation or pastor somehow are ignoring God’s
will and pushing forward their own agenda.
Something interesting occurs in the selection of these seven men. For some reason, all of the names provided are Greek names. While it is only a guess and we cannot be certain, but it appears a strong possibility that the congregation came together in such unity to resolve this issue that they elected seven of the Greek men to administrate the division of food-- a powerful demonstration of the trust of the Hebrew believers. This may or may not be true, but it is interesting to acknowledge the Greek names given
in the text.
The official name “deacon” is not used, but rather the Greek verb diakonia is used to describe their duties. The translation “serve tables” is
correct since this word was used for such activity. In other words, one translation for the noun form of the Greek is “table waiters.”
The focus of deacons has changed throughout the years in some churches. It seems that deacons in many churches seem to feel that their
need is to function as mediators between the church and the pastor. The
focus given here is meeting NEEDS. Deacons are to be NEED-MEETERS,
not somehow have a special charge over the ministries of the church. Do
you see any possible room here for the deacons to meet with the pastor and
ask him for his resignation as has happened in some churches? Do you it
described as the responsibility of the deacons to correct the pastor’s
behavior, even if wrong? Do you see any authority granted to the deacons
to take power over anything except meeting the needs of widows? I
certainly don’t. I say gain.. DEACONS ARE TO BE NEED MEETERS-
NOT AUTHORITIES! They are to meet practical needs (minister) in
order to allow the pastor to focus on his responsibility to preach and teach
the Word of God.
In order to meet these needs, the first deacons would have to pay
attention to the needs. They would never meet their new responsibilities if
they were following the apostles about around in an effort to discover
whether or not they were doing God’s will for them.
In An Interpretation of the English Bible, B.H. Carroll describes
hearing a sermon by S.S. Lattimore of Mississippi that was titled “We
Cannot Leave the Word of God to Serve Tables.” In that sermon, Bro.
Lattimore took the position that the deacon is elected for the purpose of
serving tables. Specifically the deacon is to serve the tables of the poor, the
tables of the Lord’s Supper, and the table of the pastor.
Carroll goes on to state that the preaching of two of these elected as
deacons, Stephen and Philip, is not to be taken as evidence that deacons are
called to preach, but rather that these two deacons did preach.
The laying on of hands was important in the book of Acts. It
demonstrated that the congregation was in agreement AND that these men
were set aside for this task. Such laying on of hands continued to be a
formal declaration of confidence by the church that these people were
called to ministry. The church laid hands on those that they sent forth as
missionaries. The church laid hands on Timothy in response to his gift and
calling. Moses laid hands on Joshua in the Old Testament.
The church has a spiritual responsibility to be involved in the calling
and confirming of the call of God on an individual’s life. If an individual
declare that he has been called to a particular ministry or even gift and the
church cannot agree then either the church is so unspiritual that they
cannot clearly see God’s will or the individual is aspiring to a calling or a
gift that he does not have.
In this day and age of denominations we have lost sight of the part
of the church in confirming (agreement) callings. We have lost sight of the
church commissioning missionaries. We have lost sight of the church
acting as a body and helping each part of that body find its proper place.
We have lost sight of the concept that churches begin missions, churches
affirm a call to the ministry, churches send forth missionaries in response to
God’s call.
VERSE 7 CHURCH GROWTH CONTINUES
The natural result of a church acting in harmony to resolve
problems, continuing its focus on the Word of God, and allowing the people
to be involved in ministering to one another is continued growth. Churches
grow as needs are met. Churches grow when the Word of God can be
preached without distraction and disunity within the congregation.
This verse also mentions the salvation of some priests. Some have
doubted that many priests from the temple in Jerusalem were actually
saved. The Word that Luke used for priests could have included Levitical
workers (Levites- those who kept the temple in proper repair as well as
worked. ) as well as priests. Some have suggested that the Essenes, (a
Jewish group most famous because they were involved in the preparation
and storage of the Dead Sea Scrolls), which were also becoming commonly
accepted among the population of Judea as being “priests” as well. We
know that the Essenes believed that they of a priestly line from the order of
Zadok. Whether these were priests from the actual temple or not makes
little difference. The real point is that there were Jews who had some form
of spiritual/religious responsibility that became obedient to the Christian
faith.
SUMMARY of MAIN POINTS
1. God wants us to minister to widows.
2. Business Meetings are important.
3. Pastors should lead the congregation in positive
directions.
4. Congregations elect deacons.
5. Deacons are servants rather than authorities
6. The church commissions its workers (in accordance
with God’s will)
7. When congregations work together and focus is on
God’s Word the church grows.
