Deacons - Short Series Part 1

This is the first in a short series on deacons in the church, from Sunday 31st May 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Just while we were waiting to begin, I asked you to imagine a situation in which a church member does not have enough. Maybe it's not enough money, not enough food. How does the church respond? Who responds? In what way? What bits of the Bible, what biblical principles inform the church's response? Might even the church ever say no? Now we're thinking today about the work of the deacon. And God willing, next week we'll think about the character of the deacon. And I'm going to explain where this comes from in just a minute, though that kind of scenario is really the answer to where this comes from, the church member who is in need. Before we begin, before I pray, I want to ask a question, just to kind of get our brains and hearts in the right kind of place. Does the Lord really care about the body and about material things? Or is the soul all that the Lord is concerned about? Or when the Lord looks at his church, you know, she is his church, is he concerned only for our souls or also for our bodies and material needs? Now, plainly the Bible would say that the needs of our bodies are lesser than the needs of our souls. The soul is immortal. This body is not. Outwardly, it is wasting away. Jesus says things like, do not fear those who kill the body. So it is a less grievous thing to suffer loss and harm to the body. When Jesus was confronted by a paralysed man in Mark chapter 2, do you remember that? It was much more important that he forgave the man's sins, the need of his soul, than that he healed the man's body, even though very grievously marred it was. And yet, God has built us as embodied creatures. We are bodies and souls, we are in souls bodies, or we are embodied souls. That's how we are in his good design. Even if this body and these bodies in front of me are not the bodies in which we will spend eternity. The Lord does care deeply for physical things and material things. He's built a physical and a material creation. So in the Lord's Prayer, give us today our daily bread. He knows what we need. Think in the book of James, which we've been preaching through, the deep concern for the church to provide for poorer members. Jesus' earthly ministry, when you read the Gospels, he prioritized the ministry of the Word and the soul, forgiving sins, but he also ministered indeed to the body. Jesus tells Christians who give up much in order to follow him that they will receive from him not only eternal life, but they will also receive a family and lands and homes in the family of the church. Think about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts that the Holy Spirit endows the church with are either gifts of word, bringing scripture to people, or they are gifts of deed, bringing the answer to material needs within the body. So God's concern, it is reflected in the shape of the church. The Lord Jesus Christ, who's the head of the church, his ministry through the church today is meant to be led by and represented by both elders and deacons. And so we read in Philippians chapter 1, verse 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers, it's another word for uh elder or pastor teacher and deacons. So we we are, I think, pretty familiar with elders and overseers and pastor teachers, and wonderfully, by the grace of God, an awful lot of deaconing goes on, and we'll talk about that in a minute, but we're not familiar with the office of a deacon, and with the Lord's help, you want to work towards uh remedying that and appointing deacons in the church. So that's a bit of a preamble. Let me pray, and then we will get going properly. Let's pray. Father in heaven, uh, the church is your creation, your son shed his blood for her, and she is deeply precious to you, therefore, and we ask that we uh would all care for your church in the ways that the Lord of the Church wants us to. And we ask that for Jesus' name's sake. Amen. Amen. Uh turn over to side two of the handouts, and in your Bibles, would you please open up Acts chapter six? So here is the origin of the office of deacon. Acts chapter six. I will read verses one to six. 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. 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. 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, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. 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 Procorus and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenus, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them, 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. Thanks be to God for his words. Just imagine for a moment if Emmanuel grew like the church in Jerusalem in the days of the apostles. Just imagine. 120 church members to start with. That's Acts chapter 1. By Acts chapter 4, there are 5,000. And that's just the number of the men. To that was added multitudes of both men and women. We read in Acts 21 that there were thousands who believed just from among the Jews. The mind boggles, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be amazing? Or would it? It would be glorious chaos, wouldn't it? But it would be chaos. Proper full-on chaos. The word of God brings growth, and growth brings problems. A growing church means growing needs. Growing needs of the body as well as needs of the soul. And that's what this passage here puts before us. Problem number one, there is a dispute. Now, what lies behind this dispute is actually something really beautiful. Church members were sharing their possessions, they were distributing their goods to any in the church who were in need. People brought the proceeds of what they had sold, and they laid it at the apostles' feet, and then it was distributed to each as any had need. That's what we read in Acts 2 and Acts 4. Amazing growth numerically, but also amazing spiritual growth, deep generosity. But out of it came a dispute. And that's what we read about in chapter 6. There was a legitimate complaint. So something had actually gone wrong. The complaint was favoritism. So kind of two broad groups among this new church. There were the Hebrews, so believers in Christ from a Jewish background, and at this point in time that would have been the vast majority, but also Hellenists, Greek-speaking converts. Again, possibly, probably from a Jewish background, but ethnically different. So you've got the Hebrews and you've got the Hellenists. And there was favoritism apparently being shown towards the widows of the Hebrews, and the neglect of the Greek-speaking widows. So it was a legitimate problem that needed addressed, but there was also a complaint, a murmuring, a bit like the Israelites in the wilderness. So the church was not happy. There was a rupture in the communion of saints where there should have been joy. And this is actually the first great internal test of the church. Satan trying to halt the growth of the church. You read about them in the Book of Acts, persecution, but internally within the body of Christ. Here is the first great go by the evil one at the body of Christ. There's actually lots to learn here. The danger of favoritism. James has plenty to say about that in his letter, doesn't he? Also, growth does not uniformly bring joy and an easy ride. It actually brings challenges and problems. Second problem, distraction. So here is this growing church. More people, more needs, more bodily needs, more material needs, people who didn't have enough. Maybe there were people with struggles with health, physical health or mental health. And as the church multiplied, such things, such needs multiplied too. And so there was a need for those who were called to prayer and the ministry of the word to prioritize that. That's actually a really timely word for those called as pastors or ministers or elders in the church. But there was also a complaint here that could not be ignored. On the one hand, it wouldn't have been right for the apostles and those leading in the ministry of prayer and the word to ditch that, but equally, nor would it be right simply to neglect that complaint. And the solution is deacons. And I want to try and show us from this passage how that is indeed the solution. When you look at the church in the book of Acts, it had two really clear priorities. One, making disciples through preaching the word, and then second, caring for the church, and especially for disciples in need. Now, in your Bibles, would you just look back to Acts chapter 4 and verse 34? It is a most remarkable verse. Acts 4.34. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. So that first sentence, there was not a needy person among them. It was unthinkable to the church that a fellow disciple of Jesus might be hungry or in need. And those needs were met by the generosity of other disciples. And into this situation come these seven men, these seven deacons. Now, where do we get the word deacon from? So deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos. And it simply means servant. Now all Christians are called to be servants, but here in Acts 6 is the beginning of a distinct office of deacon or servant. Men called to lead the church's service and represent the church's service in a particular way. So if you look at the end of verse 1, the daily service of the widows, it's the daily deaconing of the widows. End of verse 2 is talking about being called to serve tables, to deacon at tables. And so you've got these seven men who are appointed in their service, it's contrasted with the service of the apostles. So end of verse 4, the apostles' ministry. Now that word, it's slightly unhelpful in the English language, isn't it? It's the same Greek word behind it, ministry. It's service. Their service is service of the word, contrasted with the service of tables. Now just to underline, all Christians serve. Jesus was a diaconos. Ministers should be willing to clean an oven. But there is a distinct role for these servants, who would come to be called deacons. And they were not just waiters at table. They were actually responsible for this distribution. They had an authority over this service, over this ministry of the church. Imagine a world that has no NHS, no benefits system. That's most of the world in most of human history. Imagine a society which is broadly poor. And then imagine the Church of Christ is dropped into it and called to look like the family of God. And then it grows and it multiplies, and men and women and boys and girls from that kind of world come into it and are discipled within it. Who decides? Acts chapter 6. Who decides which widows are in need? How they are to be looked after. That's actually the job of the deacon. And it did become a formal office, that is official. It's not something invented by men, it's designed by the Lord Jesus Christ. You can see in verse 6 that these men were ordained into this. That is, they prayed and laid their hands on them. And other corners of the New Testament make that clear too. There's not masses of data in the New Testament about the exact role of the deacon, but clearly it was an official role alongside the elders. And the result was growth. You can see that in verse 7, and the word of the Lord continued to increase. You could think of it a little bit like clearing a blocked pipe. I don't know if you've ever had a blocked-down pipe or worse kind of pipes than that. You clear it out, and then everything can flow again. And you can sort of see that in the life of the church here. The word is flowing, needs are being met, and there is joy and gladness. Healthy church. And this is the foundation for the complementary offices of elder and deacon, such that Philippians 1.1, which I read before in the front of the handout, just a few years later, Paul could write to the church in Philippi and talk about the elders and the deacons. So the elders leading in their work of word and prayer and enabling the saints to join with it, and the deacons responsible for their work, overseeing the relieving of body needs, relieving material needs, being a minister of Christ's mercy. Not that they were doing it all and everyone else could just slack off, but they had an authority and were called to set an example to enable the whole church to play their part in meeting the body needs, the material needs of the church. And in doing so, enabling more ministry of the word. Do you remember so that it doesn't get neglected or squashed out by taking on those matters which might hinder it? And so the result is that those two problems are fixed. And down the centuries and around the world, the church has understood this is like a perpetual pattern for the church. Now think about our situation at Emmanuel. There is so much service going on, service of the word and service of mercy. God be praised. One thing we have never had is set apart deacons to lead in the church's ministry of mercy. And with the Lord's help, that is something we want to work towards. Let's think about the task of the deacon. Next side in the handout. We've begun to think about this a little, but I want to sort of develop it a little bit more and show us there are really two key jobs at the very heart of deaconing. Deciding who the church should support and removing distractions from the ministry of the word. Think about that first one, deciding who the church should support. Now, here in Acts 6, we only read about widows. Presumably, the church should have a care for more than just widows. What about widowers? What about other serious needs? Well, actually, we've had a big fat clue already. Of course, the church cares about that. Acts 4.34. Not a needy person in the body of the Christ. In the Old Testament, we see that the Lord had a particular concern as he looked at his covenant people for the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner. So these were people who were most likely of all to have no family to care for them. The fatherless, you know, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be alone. In 2 Thessalonians 3.10, we read this if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. That also implies a broader support for anyone who is not able to work to provide for themselves, not just widows. But I think it is worth saying that widows are probably a uniquely vulnerable group, particularly in that place and time. So overall, the church should have a deep concern for any serious needs among her members. Now, one passage that really helps us here in thinking about, well, who should the church support is a passage in 1 Timothy. So please would you turn on in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 5. And if you've got a Black Church Bible, that is on page. 992. Is that right? Great, 992. 1 Timothy chapter 5. So I'm going to read from verse 3. Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she who is self indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works, if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander, for some have already strayed after Satan. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows. As we look at that passage, we can see that Paul thought in the congregations of the church that there were different sorts of Christian widows. There were some who were truly widows. See that in verse 3, verse 16, and there were some who were not. Now, Paul was not trying to be unkind in saying that, you know, true widows, not widows. He's trying to be practical. And this helps us to discern different sorts of needs and also what is and isn't the responsibility of the church. So we can discern three different responsibilities. To the bodily or practical needs of church members. So, first, where there should be no practical support from the church, because here is a woman who has family who can provide for her. And Paul says if you don't provide for your own household, you're worse than a pagan. So look first to family members to provide. And verse 16 is a really good summary. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened. So it's not wrong to protect the church from being wrongly burdened. Now, this might justify us in encouraging a needy church member to seek support from the state too, nowadays where it exists. Obviously, we live in a different world. The idea of state provision was basically unknown. So no practical support from the church. Second, temporary support from the church. When Paul talks to who he calls younger widows, he counsels them that they should marry and bear children. That is, they shouldn't make a vow to join a formal register of widows, which the church evidently had, lest they then break that vow. And when he talks here about abandoning a former faith, that I think is what he's talking about. Making a vow, becoming, if you like, an official enrolled widow. And then you don't go back on that. But there must have been a period of time between the death of a husband, you know, you've lost your security, you've lost your bulk of your income, and a gap between that happening and being able to marry again. And if they had no family, then in that period the church must have provided for them. So temporary support. But thirdly, Paul envisaged for some permanent and lifelong support. And this is the group that Paul calls truly widows. He says in verse 3 that they should receive special honour. Now, in the context, that honour means money. I think verses 17 and 18 actually make that clear. So here is a woman who is all alone. She is godly and she is also enrolled. See that in verse 9. She is enrolled. This was a formal thing. And there may likely have been a vow or faith involved. So this was a really serious commitment on the part of the church. Remember, this is an age where there was no NHS, no benefits, etc. The church was potentially the only thing that kept such a person from extreme poverty and premature death. And it was absolutely right that the church should take on in this way that particular person for the rest of their life. Because the church is a family. But here's the question: who decides? Here is a person, here is a need, who decides? Is it group one? Is it group two? Is it group three? Is it no support? Is it temporary support? Is it permanent support? It's actually a massive question, isn't it? Who has authority to make that decision? So here's the word of God. Who decides how the word of God is then applied to a real life situation and person? And the answer is the church's deacons. And that helps to explain why it is in Acts 6, verse 3, we read that the deacons needed to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Now we're going to talk next week, God willing, about the qualifications of the deacon, but the necessity was wisdom. Now obviously they don't do what they do in isolation of the church's elders. They're meant to be complementary in the way they work together, both serving God, serving the church, doing so in different but complementary ways. The mercy work of the deacon also, just to underline, it's not doing it all. It's not being a dog's body. There's a great New Testament principle, isn't it, that the saints are to be equipped for works of service. So elders are to equip the saints for works of service. I think by obvious implication, deacons, by example and actually direction, will be helping the whole church deploy their appropriate gifts. Briefly, and connected to it, 3B, removing distractions. So in addition to church members' bodily or material needs, those distractions, there might be a bit more than that. There might be things like the business of financing the church, managing the church's finances, or caring for a church's building. It's quite impertinent for us going forwards. Making sure that the building works for the purposes of gathered worship, shaping it, the building, so it enables ministry and reflects our theology and doesn't make ministry harder and undermines our theology. Now, obviously, God be praised. We have lots of this, lots and lots and lots of this going on, even without deacons. And that is a very good thing. Praise God for it. But it's worth just clocking that the New Testament does it does envisage individuals actually set apart and given authority to do this, to care for the needy and to enable more word ministry. And that is what, God willing, we are working towards. So, just overall, in conclusion, healthy churches they need biblical elders and biblical deacons, elders leading the ministry of word and prayer, and deacons leading the ministry of Christ's mercy. Now, it is perhaps just worth noting, side note. Some of us may have encountered deacons in other traditions in the church. Biblically, a deacon is not a trainee minister, it's not a transitional state like in the Church of England, nor is it a semi-elder, as in many independent churches. It's a complementary role, but it's distinct and different. So in our brains, biblical ministry equals word and it equals mercy. And are those still the priorities of the church? Yes, they are. Can those things go wrong such that a church's joy and peace and effectiveness is damaged? Yes, they can. And that is why the church still needs both elders and deacons. And so one encouragement and prayer is that the Lord would supply us with everything and every one that we need. Let's go to some questions, shall we?

SPEAKER_03 28:52

Why does it need to be formalised? Isn't there some sort of um, as elders are judged more harshly, not everybody should come and teach that kind of caveat? Is there a similar thing for deacons?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Okay, so why is it formalised? I think it is I think it is a similar thing to uh the office of an elder. So so in Acts, actually, if you're still in, if you're still in 1 Timothy 5, turn back a page and just look at 1 Timothy 3. One way that we see that in the start of chapter 3 is when you look at the qualifications for overseers, chapter 3, 1 to 7, and the qualifications for deacons, verses 8 to 13. It's important enough that qualifications are given, they're set next to each other. There are actually some quite big similarities, and we'll look at that next week. And I think the other indication that this is a formal thing is in Acts 6, 6. Uh, they uh they were set apart and they were ordained. That is, the apostles prayed for them and laid hands on them. So that is a that is a formal commissioning and ordination. Uh yeah, so that I think would be the reason. And and therefore, again, it's I guess it just reinforces this is quite important. It's not only the ministry of the word and things that minister to the soul that matters. Yeah, the soul matters more, but actually we're embodied creatures, and so the Lord takes it quite seriously that the church cares for one another. Any other questions?

SPEAKER_01 30:27

In terms of the concentration on members, where does that stop for us as a church? Would it include mission partners, why the wider IPC and things, or are we specifically talking about emanal members or another membership list?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

So, what would be the what is the extent of the care of a church's deacons? Is it does it stop with the membership role? Does it extend to mission partners, other churches, wider community even? Yeah, yeah, that's that is a good question. Uh being honest, I think as a team of elders, we are we are thinking some of these things through for the very first time, or we're trying to think through things that we already do and trying to integrate them with a more biblical model. And this is one of the things I don't think we have uh an answer to. Historically, uh churches in reformed churches within church deacon ministry has often overspilled into the fringes of the church and beyond the church, and you can sort of see why, can't you? Um, when a church loves Christ and loves each other, then you you then reach out into other places and you try and share the gospel and material things with people who need it, are not yet Christians, and you and often that has been given to the deacons to oversee and manage. But I think there's a there is I think there is a certain priority to the local church, but then it sort of goes out from there, sort of centrifugally. Yeah. How that all works in practice, don't know. Yes, please.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Oh sorry, just on that, um I remember reading through something or other about must have been literally in Scotland at some point where in the city they decided to split it into sectors and allocate men to this sector and they would go and visit every single household to meet their needs and help them out price. So I think the question is in our context now where we are in Brentwood, um obviously we're not in fact when we've got lots of widows, and many widows have penned and so on. How do we look to evangelise plus deconize, etc., within that sort of historical model?

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Yeah. It's a very I remember you sharing that with me before. I can't remember. I looked up which church that was, I can't remember where it was. Um it's a very challenging example, isn't it? It presumes a church is able to give itself not only to the needs of the body but much more widely. It probably also assumes a sort of a more traditional parish model. There have been places and times where it's been broadly accepted that every single person in a regional country is under the care of a church. Now, technically that's the that's the basis of the Church of England's parish model, which is a very good principle, and it's been rather neglected. So there's in a sense that every parish church has got a responsible for every soul uh within its within its bounds, and you think, well, well, how do you meet that? I guess any church, given its particular place, its strengths, its weaknesses, limitations, at very least ought to have on its radar uh how can we biblically address needs of body and soul, bearing in mind things like the priority of eternal salvation, evangelism, and the word, but also bearing in mind that people have bodies and needs. And then, yes, you do have to integrate into that. We live in a world with a welfare state with all of its pluses and their set minuses. So, yeah, I'm not sure I know the answer to that, but I guess every church ought to be thinking in these terms. It's just like Jeff Rowe, actually, isn't it? It's sort it's sort of very practical and sensible, but that's also sometimes very spiritual as well, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Do you think we can learn quite a lot from the pattern of how the Lord dealt with the poor and the needy, the afflicted, in the Old Testament, and he put the honors on his people to care for them and so on. And the same must apply in the New Testament. The church has got the responsibility of ministering to the needs of the needy ones.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Especially in the church.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Especially in the church, yeah. I mean, one so absolutely, the Old Testament is super helpful. So, I mean, one scripture I think is helpful when you try and it can be overwhelming. This could this can become utterly overwhelming. When you look, when you just look with open eyes at the world around you, what on earth do you do? I think there are various responses to that. One scripture I find really helpful is uh Galatians 6 10. Uh do good to all and especially to the household of faith. Actually, the first bit is important as well. As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So as we have opportunity. So if you don't have opportunity, well, you can't do what you can't do, but you can do what you can do. That's number one. There is a command to do good to everyone. That's everyone. But there is a priority to the household of faith. And that is one thing I think we do actually get very clearly from the Old Testament. Uh, the you know, the instructions of God's law, the care for the uh the fatherless, uh the widow, and the sojourner. These are people within the covenant community. So the cud the sojourner, that's a pagan who's come from far away, but who's joined the people of God, and you should treat them like a fellow Israelite. So I I think that I think that does help us. There is a real uh love and concern. So yeah, I commend Galatians 6.10, particularly as a verse when you're just feeling overwhelmed, as one who's got to be honest, is sometimes by need. Keep cogitating, please. And if you've got questions, if you've got ideas, suggestions, reflections, please share them with me or one of the other elders. That would be super helpful to us. And God willing, we'll pick up again next Sunday morning, and we will think about the character of the elder. So we thought about the task, and then we'll think about the character. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for one another, we thank you that you have given us uh not only to Christ but also to each other. We thank you for what you have given to each one of us. Uh graces, uh, gifts, uh, also needs, all under your uh providential plan and care. We want to obey that scripture, you know, such as we have opportunity. We want to do good, uh, fill us up with your Holy Spirit that we might do uh maximal and wise good to and for one another, and especially to those of the household of faith. So, all of these things of which we've been thinking, would you continue to uh be our teacher? As we think about trying to put your word into practice more and more, we ask for your aid, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.