Acts 6:1-7
God’s Handiwork
In tonight’s worship service, we complete a work that was begun a
month ago when the church recognized the gifts that God had given to
Brother Leroy. We complete this ordination.
In our church, ordaining a deacon has four steps:
1. The church recognizes that someone is doing the work of a
deacon. The Bible does not teach that a church has the
ability to make a deacon. God does the making by giving to
certain individuals a concern, and some abilities, and gifts.
After God does the making, it is the church’s place to
recognized the one has those gifts and in fact is doing the
majority of the service and to merely grant to him officially
the title for the work that he is already doing. That took
place on Leroy Humphrey the second Wednesday of September.
2. The church then appointed a group of spiritual and ordained
men to examine Bro. Leroy in the areas of his doctrine, his
character, and his testimony. That council was convened by
the church tonight. It was comprised of Pastor Carl Hall,
Pastor Roscoe Kornegay, Deacon Joel Copeland, and GP deacons
Gaston McGavock and Charles Davis. After examining Bro.
Leroy, their recommendation is that the church proceed with
the ordination.
3. In this third step, Leroy Humphrey will be clearly and plainly
charged from the Word of God as to what God expects of him in
his ministry to the church.
4. The last step will be that those who have previously gone
through this ordination process, come and lay hands on Bro.
Leroy, praying for him that God would empower him for the
task that He has called him to.
So tonight, I speak to the candidate, Leroy Humphrey, but I also
speak to the church and its members to remind us all what the office
of the deacon is and to remind us all that we need to be faithful to
God in the tasks that He has called us to perform.
I. \\#Acts 6:1-7\\ Cause of the Office
A. The office of a deacon was created because people had needs.
1. \\#1\\ Widows were being neglected.
a. The church began to do what the Old Testament
indicated the Jewish nation was to do, to care for
the widows of the church.
Ex 22:22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or
fatherless child.
23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they
cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;
Isa 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow.
b. As the church grew and the Jews recognized the church
as an entity separate from temple and Old Testament
worship of God, the duty of caring for the believing
widows fell completely upon the church.
(1) There was no welfare.
(2) There were no retirement accounts.
(3) The poorer widows had nothing to depend upon but
God and the church.
2. \\#1\\ This was a "daily" ministry as they needed food to
live, firewood to cook with, water to be brought into the
house, and perhaps other things that needed doing.
3. \\#2\\ All of this was done so that the widows might have
a table set for them as indicated by the phrase "serve
tables."
B. As for as the preachers, they could either study the Word and
tend to the unusual needs of the people or they could spend
all of their time caring for the growing numbers of widows in
the church, but they could not do both.
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude
of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not
reason that we should leave the word of God,
and serve tables.
3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to
prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
C. So an office or a position was created to look after the
widows, primarily making certain they had food to eat.
D. By the time Paul wrote to Timothy, those who filled that
positions were officially called “deacons.”
1. The word is only used in the Bible as an official capacity
five times, 4 times in 1Tim 3 and once in Philippians.
2. However, the Greek word which is translated into that
title is used 61 times in the New Testament.
a. It is the Greek word dee-ak-on-as.
b. It means a servant, an attendant, a waiter, someone
who tends to the table and the menial tasks that need
to be done.
E. So both in text of creation and in the meaning of the word,
the office of a deacon is one who serves.
1. This is and always has been the primary function of the
office.
2. In time, the office was expanded to look after the needs
of more people.
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God
and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world.
3. This is not to say that deacons are the only ones that
should be doing this.
a. This is the ministry of the whole church, including
the pastor.
b. However, the deacons have the lead and the primary
responsibility in this.
F. In the process of time, the role of the deacons in some
churches seems to have shifted from being a servant to being
an administrator, directing the affairs of the church and in
some church, even directing the pastor.
1. I understand how this came to be. I see it as the
pastor’s fault and not the deacons’.
2. Many pastors began to jump from church to church, leaving
the church without a stable form of leadership.
3. Deacons, attending the church in the communities where
they lived, were able to give a more stable hand to the
church.
a. No doubt, they began to stand in for the pastor when
the churches were without pastors.
b. As pastors began to spend less time at a church, the
need for stability became greater and the deacons
just keep what should have been at the most a
temporary role.
c. But again, if pastors were shepherding their flocks
instead of seeking a greener field, the problem would
not have never gotten to the place it is.
4. But hear this church and deacons, the role of the deacon
is not to be the administrator of the church.
a. That is the role of the pastor.
b. If the church is without a pastor and the deacons need
to step into guide the church on a temporary basis,
they must also be sure to step out of that role when
a pastor is called.
c. God is not in the habit of creating beings with two
heads. When you see a being with two heads, you can
rest assured it is not normal but abnormal.
II. Notice the credentials of the office.
Acts 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among
you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business.
A. Three are given in this text. If you want to be a godly
deacon, seek to have all three.
1. Be honest
a. It makes sense that those who will be taking care of
the business of others must have a pure heart.
b. The church is not a place where its servants are
supposed to profit.
c. It is a place where its servants are to serve others
and by doing so, serve Christ.
2. To be full of the Holy Ghost
a. The church is God’s business.
b. We cannot run one like an earthly business for other
business are designed to make a profit.
c. The church was designed to be profitable to others.
d. The only One who tell a church what it should do is
God and God does not appear when summoned.
(1) If you want to talk to God, you must keep Him
with you.
(2) So for the Green Pond Baptist Church to be lead
properly, we must all be filled with God.
3. To be full of wisdom.
a. If you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you will be
filled with wisdom.
b. If you get God, you get all of His gifts and
abilities.
B. Paul added to this list in 1Timothy 3, perhaps because he saw
the church needed more specifics in the selection of these
servants.
1. You must be a man of right in character.
1Tim 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave,
not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not
greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience.
a. Grave - Able to be serious when needed.
b. Not doubletongued - Saying the same things to
everybody.
c. Not given to much wine - We prefer a teetotaler.
d. Not greedy
e. Pure in conscience - Only you know the secrets of
your heart. If you are secretly bound by a sin,
find the deliverance needed to be free.
2. You must be right in the church.
1Tim 3:10 And let these also first be proved;
then let them use the office of a deacon, being
found blameless.
a. The Bible requires you to be proved and blameless.
b. That means experienced in the things of God without
fault.
(1) But you should have been saved long enough to
have left a trail of your walk behind you.
(2) Your path thus far should clearly show that you
are following Jesus.
3. You must be right in your personal life.
1Tim 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not
slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife,
ruling their children and their own houses well.
a. The office of a deacon is not just the office of the
man.
(1) To some extent, it is the office of the man’s
family.
(2) Again, no one looks for perfection, If we did,
the church would be empty.
(3) What God seeks is see the right direction.
b. Married to one wife.
c. Ordering the children in your home well.
d. Your wife must likewise be right.
(1) Grave - Also able to be serious.
(2) Not a slanderer.
(3) Sober - Able to see things as they are.
(4) Faithful - To the Lord, to her husband and
family, to the local church.
4. You must be right in goals.
1Tim 3:13 For they that have used the office of
a deacon well purchase to themselves a good
degree, and great boldness in the faith which is
in Christ Jesus.
a. Both the deacon and the deacon’s wife should
understand that this office offers them great reward
in heaven.
b. I believe God gave this truth as an incentive. God
wants the deacon and wife to want a great reward.
c. Wanting that reward will motivate them to serve much
for little now, knowing that God’s accounts will be
settled once we arrive home.
III. Listen to the charge. If you understand these Scriptures, then
you should understand these charges.
A. Understand why the church sees in you a deacon.
1. The church is not calling you to be a deacon because they
see in you a great leader.
a. Although that might also be the case, that is not what
the office of deacon is about.
b. If you ever find that you needed to lead in the
church and you feel God wants you to do so, then do
but never confuse that duty with this office.
(1) They are not the same.
(2) And having the gifts of one does not mean you
will automatically be good at the other.
c. If, when the church is without a pastor, you must step
into leadership, do so; but as soon as the church
calls a pastor, quit leading and start supporting
the church’s pastor.
(1) If you even find that you cannot support your
pastor, then you either have the wrong pastor or
you are in the wrong church.
(2) It will never be a deacon’s job to lead the
pastor.
(3) It may behoove you to pray for your pastor, to
offer advice to your pastor, to even rebuke your
pastor as the Scripture teaches, but it will
never be your job to lead your pastor.
(4) If you feel your pastor needs leading, then you
need to take whatever steps are necessary to
correct that situation; not because you are a
deacon, but because you are Christian and part
of a local New Testament church.
2. Neither is the church calling you to be a deacon because
they see in you to be a great Bible teacher or preacher,
although that might also be the case. It is not what the
office of a deacon is about.
3. The Green Pond Baptist Church is calling you to be their
deacon because they see in you a great heart.
a. A heart that cares for people.
b. A heart that loves people.
c. A heart that they need to help care for the people,
especially for the people that cannot take care of
themselves: specifically, the Christian widows, the
Christians orphans, and the Christian poor.
d. As perhaps the pastor might be consider the head for
the local church, the deacons are its heart.
e. A church needs to love people and while the pastor—
this pastor—might be busy thinking about what needs
to be done, the church needs a heart that starts
loving even before the mind has decided what needs to
be done.
f. Together these two office may complete the church for
the body needs both a head and a heart.
g. That is why there is an office in the church called
deacon.
h. You are officially the arms, the legs, and the hands
of this church to help take care of its weakest
members.
B. To do this, you must keep yourself pure and filled with
Christ and His Spirit.
C. This is not an office from which you can easily resign.
1. God gave you the heart.
2. The church has only recognized that you have the heart.
3. You can’t give a heart back. So as far as I can see
in the Bible, this will be your job until you are no
longer able to do it or until you no longer qualify
to do it.
If you heed these three thoughts, I believe God will make of you a
great servant for Himself and His church.
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