SERVANT LEADERS FOR A SERVANT CHURCH Acts 6:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:1-13 Theme of the Month Intimacy and Family
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Sharp
Lead Pastor, English Congregation Vancouver Chinese Baptist Church, Vancouver, British Columbia
Sunday Sermon for 6 June 2010
Scripture Passage Acts 6: 1-7
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 1
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. 1 Timothy 3:1-13
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, selfcontrolled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. 1 2
8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. 11 In the same way, the SERVANTLEADERSFORASERVANTCHURCH 1
women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. 12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
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Today’s sermon is a bit different in that it is more informational. In your bulletins you have an insert – a Guide to VCBC’s Deacon Ministry and 2010 Deacon Nominees. Some of this, you saw over a year ago. It is information about Deacon Ministry at VCBC and particularly in the English Congregation and the names and some brief information on seven members of our congregation who have been put forward as the first group of Deacons in the English Congregation. These seven names are from you and from the Congregation’s leadership team. I will saying more about this material a little later. But what I want to say here at the outset is that this is an historic moment in the history of this congregation and the church --the choosing and setting apart of Deacons in the English Congregation. What I want do today is say something about the nature and purpose of Deacon Ministry. I have pastored four Baptist church over the years and grew up in churches that have had Deacon Ministries and have been a member in other churches that had Deacons. I have conducted Deacon Training classes, and if there is one thing I have learned over the years is that there are some misunderstandings regarding who and what Deacons are and their place and ministry in the church. Many Christians have misconceptions about deacons and their function. Brian Harbour, pastor of First Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas told of meeting a little girl in the hall at church after Sunday School. He asked her, "Susan, what did you learn in Sunday School today?" And Susan replied, "We learned how to heal the sick and cast out DEACONS!" Well tragically many people in churches think it wouldn't be a bad idea to cast out deacons because, thanks to a general misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of Deacons, some deacon bodies do not have a popular track record. Some who have served as Deacons have seen the position as an honorary, prestigious office, others have seen it as a position of power, especially over the pastor. Others have seen it as primarily administrative, overseeing and directing the church. But members have also misunderstood the meaning of Deacons. Some people feel that Deacons don’t do anything, others that they aren’t necessary, others that they have too much control. Others think that Deacons are a good idea, but that only those really, really special, super, supersaints can be Deacons. All of these understandings are wrong. They find no valid support in Scripture. Now let me say here at the outset that the New Testament clearly recognizes the need for and importance of Deacons in the church, but at the same time it doesn’t give us a definitive job description or too many pictures of precisely what a Deacon does. Paul talks about them the most. He mentions them in several of his letters. 1 Timothy 3, which Naomi read earlier, is one of them. And he also mentions them in the first verse of Philippians, chapter 1 along with Bishops. And we see what is probably the beginning of Deacon Ministry here in the Acts 6 passage which Naomi read for us a little while ago, although they aren’t called “Deacons” in this passage. And although the New Testament doesn’t give us a definitive job description for Deacons, what we will find in the New Testament is a focus on their character and their general function or responsibility. There primary purpose is to help the pastors in the equipping the church for ministry and in shepherding the church. And we’ll look at that in a few moments. SERVANTLEADERSFORASERVANTCHURCH 3
So, as we think about Deacons in the English congregation I want us to go back to the beginning, back to this passage in Acts 6. And while they aren’t called “Deacons” they provide the jumping off point for what later become Deacons in the church. You'll remember that before Jesus' return to the Father he commanded his followers to return to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit. They obeyed and Acts 2 tells us that on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and Peter preached and 3,000 people trusted in Christ and were added to the church on that day alone. But not long after this, the infant church underwent a time of persecution. The Jewish religious leaders had apparently thought that the death of Jesus would settle their problems in regard to his followers. Destroy the head the body will die. They felt certain that this small band would fall apart and that the budding Christian movement would be stopped in its tracks. But they soon realized that something had happened to these Christians. These followers of Jesus were living out their faith, witnessing and preaching that Jesus had been raised from the dead. The movement wasn’t dying out. In fact, it was growing! So the Jewish leaders decided on another strategy. They thought that if they persecuted the leaders of the church, the movement would break up. As a result of this new approach, James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in the Jerusalem church was martyred and Peter and John were put in jail. But this persecution...this storm from without...only strengthened the church further! It was like pouring fuel on the fire-and that is the way it has always been. Down through the centuries persecution or struggles from without have only caused the church to become bigger and better and stronger and more mature. I’ve seen it in Vietnam, I’ve seen it in the former Soviet Union. Unfortunately, history has also shown that storms from within the church can have incredible destructive power. And during these early days, a storm developed within the church at Jerusalem. There is a crisis in the church. Now like most church "storms" it concerned a little thing. There arose in the church one of those low murmurs that can be heard when all is quiet. It was the same kind of indistinct mumbling that goes on between pews at some Baptist business meetings. Here is what happened. Like churches today, the Christians in the church in Jerusalem enjoyed getting together to share a meal. We see Paul talking about this in 1 Corinthians 11 when he talks about the Lord’s supper which was a part of a communal meal, a sort of potluck where the church came together, shared their food and at the end of the meal, they remembered Jesus’ last meal with his followers and celebrated their unity in Christ and with one another. But here in the Jerusalem church something happened that threatened that unity. There were cliques developing. At that time there were a large number of Greek-speaking widows in Jerusalem. Many pious Greek Jews from various places around the Empire would settle in Jerusalem when elderly so as to be buried near the Holy City. Because often the widows of such men had no family nearby to look after their needs, they often became dependent upon public charity. And, for some reason these widows were being neglected in favor of the Hebrew/Aramaic-speaking Jews. The Greek widows were being overlooked in the distribution or diakonia or service of food.
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You have to remember that the early church was composed almost exclusively of Jews. This makes sense when you consider that the church started in Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem there were two kinds of Jews: those who were born and raised locally and whose mother-tongue was Hebrew or Aramaic; and those who were born and raised abroad and whose mother-tongue was Greek. Each tended to visit and worship only within their own group. The Greek-speaking widows began to complain that they were being treated unfairly at these meals. Now, this senseless prejudice hadn’t split the church yet, but it was straining the fellowship. But the church was facing a service or in Greek- diakonia problem The Christian writer/theologian Calvin Miler suggests that it might have gone like this: The widows would come to the meal and come to get her food (picture the serving window in our kitchen downstairs). If the widow came to the window and said "shalom," a good Hebrew greeting, she got an extra serving of food (because those serving were Hebrew-speaking ; but if she came by and said "eirene," a good Greek greeting, she got a noticeably smaller portion. Because of this, the Greek-speaking widows of started to complain. And I’m sure that the Hebrew-speaking servers and maybe the widows responded. This bickering and complaining got so bad that ultimately the apostles themselves, busy with the important matters of the Kingdom, were called in to supervise the meals. And this is what lead to the statement in verses 2-4 of our text where the apostles said, "It wouldn’t be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” The diakonia of food distribution took up so much time and effort that the apostles were neglecting the diakonia of prayer and preaching and nurturing (6:2). The apostles found themselves spending so much time looking after the widows that they were neglecting their primary responsibility – the diakonia of the Word, the service/ministry of the Word. What was suggested by the Apostles/the pastors was a division of service. A group, chosen by the church and affirmed by the church and the Apostles would take over the diakonia of food and the Apostles would focus on the ministry/service/diakonia of the Word. Verse 5 tells us that: "This proposal pleased the whole group" So seven were prayerfully chosen to help straighten things out so that harmony could be restored to the church. And it worked! These seven have traditionally come to be known as Deacons. The task of those first deacons was the daily diakonia or distribution of food. Or, as verse 2 puts it, their task was "to wait on tables." This diakonia of food distribution is based upon Christ's command to love one's neighbor. When it comes right down to it, then, the deacons' diakonia is to show love. Today, deacons may no longer be waiters, but the love of Christ continues to be their diakonia or ministry. They continue to care for the church by being involved in pastoral care, getting to know
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and love the members of the church, extending hospitality, welcoming visitors, serving at the Lord’s table, and the list goes on. With the seven busy at work doing the diakonia of food distribution, the apostles/pastors were able to devote themselves to the diakonia of "prayer and the ministry of the word." In this fashion they could remain obedient to Jesus’ final command before He left this earth: (Matthew 28:19-20) “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” With the help of these first deacons, the church's fellowship problems were solved and the apostles were able to get out of the kitchen and get back to their teaching and preaching and nurturing ministry. But notice something else. We have here a picture of faithful service and the maturing of the church. Acts 6:7 says, "So the word of God spread.” Notice that word "so." Because of the special diakonia/ service of both the seven and the apostles, the church was able to grow. The church grew because of the faithful service of the apostles and deacons. No longer did the flow of the word of God, the love of God, the Good news of God get choked off or sidetracked because of the bickering or inward looking or side-choosing behavior of the church. Led by the Pastors and the Deacons they were focused on what mattered – the making of disciples. And so Luke tells us: “the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly (or some would translate that multiplied). Up until this point in the life of the early church, Luke has been telling us, that people were simply "added" to the church. But now the writer of Acts says that the growth of the church was not by addition but multiplication, the number of disciples increased greatly. I take this to mean that not only were people drawn to Christ and the Gospel because they saw it being lived out in the church community, but also that those who had embraced Christ were growing and becoming more like him in heart and mind. And Luke tells us that the choosing of Deacons and the enabling of the Pastors to focus on their primary calling of teaching, preaching and nurturing contributed to this maturing of the church. And it doesn’t stop here. If we follow the story through the book of Acts and through Paul’s letters and the other letters in the New Testament and down through the rich history of the church, we see that the church continued to grow and as it did, other, different kinds of service/ diakonia/ministries also became necessary to serve the church and carry on the mission that Christ has entrusted to his church. Paul makes that clear in 1 Corinthians 12. There is the diakonia of the seven; there is the diakonia of the elders/pastors – to keep watch over the flock, the church; there is the diakonia of the members – to serve one another. Within the church there is and must be different kinds of diakonia so no areas of ministry is neglected. And when we talk about ministry in the church, we need to realize that all of this service, all of this diakonia is spiritual in nature. Did you notice, the seven deacons were picked because they
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were "full of the Spirit and wisdom" (vs 4)? And they were installed by the laying on of hands/ ordination. The seven deacons needed spiritual qualifications and were installed in a spiritual way. But all service, all diakonia, is spiritual in nature – whether on the part of myself, Pastor Johnny or Pastor Cindy, the Deacons, ECLT Ministry Leaders, Ministry Team members, Children’s workers, Youth workers, LIFE group leaders, or whomever. All diakonia, all service, within the church is spiritual in nature. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6). And then there is the second passage for today. The one from 1 Timothy 3. In the first seven verses, Paul is describing the character (and a little bit of the responsibilities) of the “Overseer” or “bishop.” If you compare what Paul says here with what he says over in the book of Titus, chapter 1 (and Acts 20:17-38) where he describes the character the responsibilities of an “Elder” you see they are practically the same. Now let me stop here and clarify something. In this church we don’t have Elders or Bishop/Overseers as church leaders. But there are Baptist churches which do. We talk about Pastors. But did you know that the word “pastor” as a church leader only occurs once in the New Testament? In Ephesians 4:11. Some scholars see the three terms – Bishop, Elder, and Pastor as referring to the same position but looked at from slightly different angles – Bishop – Overseeing the church/flock; Elder – administration; and Pastor – nurturing/caring leading. But that is a topic for a different sermon. We are concerned here with the character and responsibilities of a Deacon. The first thing we see in this 1 Timothy passage is the focus on character. And from what Paul says in this passage and particularly his choice of words in verse 8, “In the same way”, he is making it clear that the personal qualities of character required for a Deacon are similar to those of a Pastor. Character is important. It is especially important for a church leader. We aren’t talking about perfection here. Only Jesus was perfect. But those who are called to lead and care for the church should be people of high moral character. And just as not everyone is called to be a pastor, not everyone is called to be a Deacon. Now, let me insert here, that there are some people who don’t think they have the character or calling to be a Deacon, but who actually do. Sometimes they can’t see it or their understanding of what a Deacon is is so distorted that they have unrealistic and unbiblical standards. That is why the calling of a person to the Deacon ministry is a part of group discernment. It is the result of people seeing something in you that is confirmed by others. And all those who are listed in your bulletin insert are people who fit in that category. By focusing on the character of the deacon, Paul reminds us of the importance of being and how it leads to doing. As we have seen from the passage in Acts 6, first and foremost a deacon is a servant. In fact, the Greek word for deacon-diakonos-literally means "servant." Behind it is a word picture of one who runs to serve, is willing to serve, looks for ways of serving God and the people of God. Their original function was to literally serve tables, to minister to the needs of the people
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and when they understand this and give themselves to acts of servanthood, it has a powerfully positive effect on the entire church. Deacons, first and foremost, are servants. They are people who put the needs of others above their own. And when they do this, the church thrives; which is exactly what happened when the first deacons were chosen! A stagnated church surged forward into a new period of growth and outreach! Another thing --Deacons are gifted and called. As we’ve said, not everyone can be a deacon. These are uniquely gifted people chosen from among the active members of a local church. Today's text from Acts teaches that deacons should be "full of the Holy Spirit" which means they must be mature Christians with a deep commitment to Christ and a growing relationship with Christ. And because of their closeness to Christ they are open to hearing his call to service. And when this call is recognized and affirmed by the church, they serve knowing that they are fulfilling a call that God has given them, a claim on their life. But Paul goes on to say some other things about those who serve as Deacons. I won’t go into them all. They are dealt with in some detail in the Deacon material you have in your hands/ bulletin. But Paul says that another requirement for this office is a deep faith in God. In other words, deacons must not be spiritually near-sighted! They must have vision! It also takes wisdom to serve as a deacon- that is, scripturally-based, scripturally informed common sense. They must be team-players-humble individuals who don’t use their office for personal gain. Deacons must be serious minded, steady people whom others can rely on and draw strength from. They must be full of integrity, honest and unhypocritical. They shouldn’t be people who say one thing and mean another. They shouldn’t be materialistic, but instead should be good stewards of all God gives. And if they are married, being a deacon requires a sound home life (if they are married); a relationship with spouse and children that is healthy and stable, strong enough to bear up under the demands of a deacon ministry. The text says deacons are also to be tested in ministry and life to insure that they measure up to the requirements of this important office. They aren’t a novice or a brand-new Christian or new to the congregation. They should be people worthy of respect–men and women of high principle. They should be people not indulging in much wine–that is not a heavy wine-drinker. They should be moderate in their use of alcohol, if used at all. They should hold to the deep truths of the faith– that is, they have a sound grasp of essential Bible doctrine. They are people who live with a clear conscience– nothing in his/her conduct is inconsistent with what they profess to believe. The text mentions two rewards for faithful deacons: they gain an excellent standing, that is, they win the respect of the entire congregation by virtue of their humble, selfless, Christ-like service.
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And they gain great assurance in their faith, that is, there is a growing sense of personal confidence that comes from serving the people of God. Notice that the standards are set very high because the servant-work of a deacon is a high-profile ministry that requires spiritual maturity. And because it is they are to be affirmed and supported in their ministry. Just as the pastors need to be affirmed and supported, so should Deacons. Not only is their ministry demanding, but it can also be lonely. Sometimes it requires making hard, unpopular decisions for the health and the guidance of the church. Deacons, like Pastors need to know that they are affirmed in their calling and supported in their ministry. Now, you may be sitting there thinking...This is interesting information, Pastor Jeff, but what does it have to do with me? Why take so much sermon time for this subject? Because, as I said at the outset, we are at an historic moment in the life of the church and the English congregation. This congregation needs Deacons to help the Pastors with pastoral ministries – to see that the congregation is cared for and to help provide direction and leadership as we seek to be faithful to the calling and gifting which God has given to us and requires of us as a congregation. In the insert you received today on the Deacon Ministry, we have laid out for you the Biblical basis for this ministry, the spiritual and personal qualities of those who are called to the Deacon Ministry, what their duties and ministries are; and how we will proceed in embarking on this stage of our journey which will help us to mature and grow as a congregation and as a church. We have introduced our “seven” who have been approached and vetted and presented for your prayer and consideration and support. Your role as a member of VCBC and, in particular of the English congregation, is to pray for this ministry; to be informed about this ministry. We have included a brief bio of the seven we are presenting as nominees for the first group of English congregation deacons. You see something about their family life, their years of membership and types and years of service in this church, you see their faith testimony and call to this ministry. For the text two weeks we are asking you to go over this material, to pray for these listed here, and, if you have some reason for why they shouldn’t be considered, you are to contact me or Pastor Johnny or Pastor Cindy and to let us know why. At the end of that period of prayer and discernment these seven will be presented to the Church Council and then presented by the Council to next month’s membership meeting for affirmation and setting apart as Deacons of VCBC serving the English Congregation. Our hope, the Pastors, the ECLT and the Deacon Selection committee’s hope is that you will do this in all seriousness and prayer. Our hope also is that as we establish this Deacon Ministry, like that church we saw in Acts 6, our church too will be blessed and strengthened with greater growth and maturity and effectiveness in our common life together as we seek to live out God’s will in all areas of life.
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Now having pastors and choosing Deacons doesn’t mean that the rest of the church is let off the hook when it comes to ministry. All believers are ministers and called to service. In fact, the three most common words to describe “service” or “ministry” or “servant” or minister” in the New Testament (diakonos, diakonia, diakoneo) are used in various forms over 100 times in the New Testament. Most of the time, they don’t refer to the “office” of Deacon or Pastor. They refer simply to the believer, the follower of Jesus. We are all called to be servants. We are a servant church. Yes, we have servant leaders, but they help us to be a servant church. And when we forget that, we have lost our way and we are no longer following the example of Jesus. In 1992 Word Perfect was the number 1 computer word processor with over 7 million registered users. In poll after poll, it was the word processor of choice among computer users. It wasn't that Word Perfect's product was superior to anything else on the market. It wasn't that the price was lower. Word Perfect was number 1 because of its superior service. One-third of the company's employees, 750 in total, were trained and equipped to handle customer questions and problems. They dealt with more than 16,000 toll-free calls each day at a cost of half-a-million dollars in long distance charges per month. Word Perfect's operators were on call 11 hours per day and could be reached at over 25 different 1-800 numbers. Corporate policy was not to have any customer on hold for more than 60 seconds. Ten years later very few people were using WordPerfect anymore. The word processing market was pretty well dominated by Microsoft Word. What happened? In 1994 WordPerfect was sold to a company that decided service wasn’t important – they eliminated most of the 1-800 numbers and operators were on call only during business hours. And, they decided not to develop updated versions of the product. Service is as important in the church as it is in the business world. The church is committed to service – the service of God, of each other as well as the service of the broader community. The role of Pastors and Deacons is to help equip the church and support the church and encourage the church and lead the church in service. Service to God, to one another, to the larger community. And so let me invite you to pray and support this Deacon ministry. Your life will be blessed, the life of the person next to you will be blessed, and those who still need to hear and know the love of God and the gift of New life that can be theirs in Christ, will be blessed. And as we move forward, let’s rejoice in what God continues to do in our church and in our lives. And as we rejoice, remember that the future God is calling us to, is His future for us. And if we are faithful in our response and are open to the new things God wants to do in our midst, our lives will be changed, our church will be changed and our world will be changed. And in that, God will be pleased.
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Reflection Questions 1. As you read today’s Scripture passages, what images, thoughts, questions come to mind? 2. When you hear the word “Deacon” what comes to mind? What is the basis of this? What has been your experience of Deacon Ministry in the church? 3. Deacons are essentially pastoral helpers. How do you think this would/should work in VCBC’s English congregation? 4. How do you understand the Apostle’s statement that they were to give their “attention to prayer and the ministry of the word”? 5. Would you agree that sometimes people don’t know that they are called to Deacon Ministry? 6. Is there anything in the 1 Timothy 3 passage that strikes you? 7. In what ways can you affirm and support Deacons in their ministry? 8. Do you agree that all believers are ministers? If not, what is the basis for your position? 9. What service are you engaged in for God, the church and the world? 10. What questions do you have about today’s sermon? Sermon topic?
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