The Making Of A Deacon Part 1 Series

This week and next we will look at the office of Deacon. Starting next week, you, the body of Christ gathered here at Rosemont will nominated men from our congregation to fill the open slots we have on our deacon team. The Bible calls for two offices in the church, the office of Pastor and of deacon. The office of Pastor is sometimes referred to as overseer, elder, bishop, or shepherd. In fact the word "Pastor" is the Latin word for Shepherd.

The office of deacon in the church is an often misunderstood doctrine. Many assume that the deacons act as a board of directors directing the affairs of the church. Others assume the deacon is the pastor police, exercising authority over the Pastor and in many churches they do. (As pastor, I answer first to God, then to the you, the Congregation). The Deacons and Pastors are co-laborers in serving the people of God.

What does the Bible say about deacons? We will be exploring that this morning and next week. But, for starters, the word deacon comes from Greek, "diakonois," which translated literally means servant, and in general usage, it means just that, a servant. Are not we all called to be servants?

John 2:5 (NKJV) His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (diakonois -Servant)

John 12:2 (NKJV) There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. (diakoneo –to serve - the verb form of the word)

1 Peter 4:10 (NKJV) As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (diakoneo –to minister - the verb form of the word)

We are called to minister, or to serve one another. So this message is for everyone. Today we are looking at the those called to the office of servant of the church. Those that we call deacons.

Acts 6:1–7 (NKJV)

In my time flying in the military, I experienced new rules and regulations and/or new procedures every time there was an incident, or a mishap of some sort. New conditions force a change in the way we were doing things. It was the same in the early church. Things in the new church were changing daily. The growth of the new church was phenomenal!

Acts 2:41 (NKJV) Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Acts 4:4 (NKJV) However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

5,000 was just the number of men, it did not include the women or children so this number could have easily have been doubled or tripled. But when a church grows, there are problems. Who is going to do duty in the nursery, who is going to teach the children. Who is going to visit all the sick, and minister to those in need? In that early church, they had those problems and some cultural divisions to deal with as well.

Acts 6:1 (NKJV) Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

There was a lot of people that needed ministering. Plus there were cultural problems. There were problems between the Grecian and Native born Jewish Christians. No surprise here. Even outside the church community there were problems. These were not racial problems for the Jewish community stayed within their own bloodlines more than any other culture – this true even today.

However, The Native born Jews were “more pure,” more traditional. The foreign born Jews were more “liberal.” The native born held tightly to the ancient traditions. The foreign born had new ways and customs. The Native born had their traditional hymns and songs. The foreign born were more contemporary. There was friction between the traditional folk and the contemporary people.

Any of this sound familiar? There is an old saying, the more things seem to change, the more they are really the same. We have these same problems today.

And one group was not being cared for like the other.

Now here is the real problem: The Apostles were not preaching, they were not attending to the Word. They were putting out fires. You can image the squabbles that were happening. Unity in the church had to maintained and the apostles couldn’t keep the people and everyone happy all by themselves. Harmony in the fellowship is a critical thing. A church that is squabbling is not reaching their community for Jesus. They are focused inwardly on themselves. And the apostles were doing it all. what were they to do? So they called a church into a business meeting: