God’s Design for the Church (Acts 6:1–7)

Sermon for MHBC (14 March 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.

You may know that there are multiple church structures in use today. Some churches have business boards. Others think the deacons are a governing body. Others follow a hierarchy with bishops. Others have a multiplicity of pastors. Now I do think Scripture describes a proper church structure numerous times, but we don’t need to delve deeply into that this morning. What we want to look at is a basic structure where we see elders and deacons functioning to preserve the unity and ministry of the church. I truly believe that following the church structure we find in Scripture leads to the healthiest churches.

Let’s look at the setup in Acts 6. Remember the church is growing. More believers are coming in. Look at v. 1: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

So a complaint arises from the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews. This is an ethnic struggle. There is some racial tension. Hellenistic Jews primarily spoke Greek and had a different culture than the Hebraic Jews who primarily spoke Aramaic and retained a more traditional Jewish culture. Now the church is still young at this point. It is still primarily made up of Jews. That is, there aren’t non-Jews yet. So you can imagine the problems that would arise then and they do if you continue reading Acts.

Now this tension between the two groups is an important issue because it could bring reproach on the gospel. A church’s witness is significantly impacted by the way they care for their members. We could say a lot about the lessons churches should learn from this, but for now we need to focus on the solution.

Look at v. 2: And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. The twelve have a primary responsibility. They are to preach the word. To fail to do this would be a great travesty for the church. The twelve realize something that pastors and churches must realize. Pastors can’t be all things for all people. Pastors can’t faithfully fulfill their office and do every ministry in the church. Instead, they must give diligent attention to the tasks of preaching, teaching, and prayer.

Now you may be wondering how I’ve jumped from the twelve apostles to pastors. First, this passage appears to set the pattern for pastors and deacons in the church. Second, the job description of pastors found throughout Scripture is consistent with the twelve in this passage. Take, for example, Eph 4:11–12: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Or Paul’s advice to young pastor Timothy in 2 Tim 4:2: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. Or consider the fact that the distinguishing mark between the qualifications for pastors and deacons is the ability to teach: Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach (1 Tim 3:2). Finally, there’s 1 Tim 5:17: Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Hopefully, that sampling of verses has convinced you of the prominence of preaching in the life of the church. Have you ever been to a gathering of the church where preaching does not occur? Like a children’s play or special music replacing the proclamation of the word? Or a political candidate or some other well-meaning person giving a talk? I have and I cringe when these things happen. The act of preaching and teaching is absolutely non-negotiable for the church. Acts 2:42 makes this clear when it relates to us the four central devotions of the early church: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The commitment I have made to you from the beginning is a commitment to the ministry of preaching and teaching. You don’t need devotions. You don’t need to hear endless talks on me or my stories. You don’t need some life advice. You need the word of God, opened, proclaimed, explained, and applied. John Piper writes, “[P]reaching itself is worship and is appointed by God to awaken and intensify worship. It does this by heralding the reality communicated thought he words of Scripture, which was written to create and sustain worship.”[1]

I truly believe I will have failed you and betrayed my office if in my study I do not engage the biblical text with all the intellectual and spiritual rigor the Lord has afforded me in order to expound and apply Scripture to the life of this congregation week after week. When that is not my priority, I am afraid I would be disqualified from the office of pastor.

“It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” The word “wait” is the verb form of deacon. Deacon only means servant. The verb means to serve. What is table service? I suppose you could think of this as a soup kitchen for the congregation. This is how they are taking care of each other. They are distributing the resources of the church to care for the membership.

Now they aren’t saying that this table service is unimportant. They are saying that others should be appointed to it. Look at v. 3: Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

Notice the necessary qualifications: good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Why those things? These qualities will enable them to best discern how to provide care for the congregation. Remember the church isn’t a business. The church is God’s people. The rules of government then are not the world’s but God’s. Deacons need to be spiritually mature so that their solutions don’t sound like the world’s. They need a good reputation because they are dealing with church resources including finances. They need the Holy Spirit and wisdom because their task requires discernment and care.

How many churches fall into the trap of thinking like the world? They conduct business like the world. They make decisions like the world. Many churches choose deacons and other leaders not on the basis of spiritual maturity but on worldly measures of success. That’s why Baptist churches often have 25–30 deacons failing to meet the criterion of spiritual maturity. In some cases, they don’t even attend the church. Have you ever heard of that? It’s a shame.

Now, as an aside, the topic of women as deacons is not addressed by this passage and we don’t really have the time to address it this morning, but let me say that Scripture is abundantly clear that women can and should serve in this role. The only person in all of the NT who is referred to as a deacon of a specific church is a lady named Phoebe in Romans 16. This past Wednesday’s teaching addressed that in some detail if you want more information.

It’s clear from this passage that deacons are tasked with the practical care ministries of the church. Here we see them providing the daily distribution to widows. But this would also include things like care for shut-ins, managing the benevolence funds, maintaining the building, working in food ministry, bereavement ministries, and other administrative tasks of the church. In short, deacons should be the servants of the ministries of the church. I’ve long thought that the proper application of this would be for the church to appoint deacons over these committees.

What then do pastors do? That’s v. 4: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Pastors are called to exercise spiritual oversight over the congregation—hence, the title overseer. So areas in the life of the church that concern the ministry of the word and prayer, like Bible study and worship services, and the spiritual vitality of the church fall under the duties of the pastors. Pastors lead and exercise spiritual oversight. Again, the church is not a business but the people of God.

The stories abound about the deacon or deacons always being a source of contention with the pastor. Some deacons take pride in this. Not only does this reveal a lack of spiritual maturity, disqualifying them from the office, it reveals a severe misunderstanding of the responsibility of deacons. Deacons are not the nay-sayers. They are the leaders in service. They do this so that the elders can focus on leading well through teaching and prayer. They do this to care for and unify the congregation.

And notice back in v. 3 that the congregation is tasked with picking the deacons. This pattern seems consistent throughout Scripture. Membership and leaders are addressed by the congregation.

So the congregation elects deacons. Verse 5: And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. And from here the apostles affirm this decision through prayer and commission. Verse 6: These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Why is all of this important? What is the relevance to us? The fact is that following a biblical church structure is a matter of obedience and God blesses obedience. Our Baptist heritage has recognized this structure. Allow me to cite some places from the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. In 1845 when the SBC convened for the first time, every single church represented adhered to a confession consistent with the 1689 London Confession.

LBC 26.8: A local church, gathered and fully organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members. The officers appointed by Christ are overseers or elders, and deacons. They are to be chosen and set apart by the church called and gathered in this way, for the distinctive purpose of administering ordinances and for carrying out any other power or duty Christ entrusts them with or calls them to.

LBC 26.9: Christ has appointed the way to call someone prepared and gifted by the Holy Spirit to the office of overseer or elder in a church. He must be chosen by the collective vote of the church itself. He must then be solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer. The body of elders of the church must lay hands on him if there are any already in place. A deacon must be chosen by the same kind of vote and set apart by prayer and laying on of hands as well.

LBC 26.10: The work of pastors is to give constant attention to the service of Christ in his churches in the ministry of the word and prayer. They are to watch over the souls of church members as those who must give an account to Christ.

In my opinion, these paragraphs from the 1689 Confession rightly capture the biblical church structure. The benefit of this structure is twofold. First, unity is upheld. Remember the circumstances. There is a complaint in the church that is threatening to divide the church. A biblical structure ensures that the proper channels are in place to preserve unity. Second, ministry is able to flourish. The apostles are not distracted from the primary tasks of preaching and prayer. The church doesn’t just become a non-profit. However, neither does the church neglect its ministries of care. When the structure is biblical, the church flourishes. We see that in v. 7: And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

It is paramount that we take up our calling as the church, the people of God, and that we allow our structure, our practice, and our life as a congregation to be guided by God’s design. There are a 1000 alternatives in the world. We are not called to be a business or the salvation army or a community organization. We are called to be the church of Jesus Christ.

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[1] Expository Exultation, 51.