Acts 6:1-7 “First Deacons”
Three pastors are talking over coffee on a Monday morning respite from their usual pastoral duties. They begin to talk about how offering is collected in their respective churches. The first pastor states that after the funds are collected, he brings the two plates to the altar and everything that is in the right-hand plate is kept for his maintenance, and everything in the left-hand plate goes to God.
The next pastor explains to his colleagues that he uses a similar system, with the exception that everything in the left-hand plate he keeps for his maintenance, and the contents of the right-hand plate goes to God.
The last pastor looks astounded at his two other colleagues and claims that his system is much more practical. He said that after the offering is collected in his church, he throws the contents of both plates up into the air toward God in heaven. Anything that God wants to keep, God can take then.
To be sure, when we first read the intent of the scripture for today from Acts 6 it seems as if the main complaint is that money in the early church is not being distributed as it should. The Hellenist Jewish widows are not getting an equal amount to the other Jewish widows. But really, I don’t think that the issue is so much about money. I think the issue is about people in the early church who feel as if they are not being cared for. The Hellenist widows feel as if they are being neglected, or slighted, or quite literally disenfranchised from the church.
We know from the Bible that the church was growing rapidly at that time. Things were moving quickly. New people were coming to belief in Jesus by the thousands. It seems that some of the people were getting a little lost in the shuffle, in the hustle and bustle. It felt as if someone had forgotten to care about them. Somehow they had become invisible as all of the other needs of the church were being met.
You know, there is the “Lego block theory” that happens in churches, and in fact in any growing organization, that says that as a number of new people come in they must find a place to attach onto the organization. This is similar to attaching Lego blocks together, knowing that there are only so many places to attach the blocks together. In order to attach new blocks, some of the old blocks need to be taken off.
Of course, I do not believe in the Lego block theory—or not as it is said to function. I believe that when the original blocks allow themselves new attachments, and then those new attachments allow themselves other new attachments that this kind of growth can go on infinitely. When the 12 Apostles bring the 7 deacons on board in the ministry, this is what they are supposed to do. They are not just supposed to attach themselves to the Apostles, they are supposed to allow others to attach themselves to them!
Many of you know that my mother passed away this last year. She was homebound by her illness for years. During her convalescence, the pastor of our home church would make a point to come out and visit as he could every 10 weeks or so. My mother appreciated those visits sincerely—thought that he stayed too long in fact as she would get very tired sometimes. Yet, there was one woman from the church—her name is Shirley Woodruff—who would come over every Friday to visit my mother. She would always do a little shopping for her and stop by a place to get hamburgers for lunch. She would bring in her little dog to visit, too.
What was interesting to me about this set-up was that my mother and Shirley Woodruff had never really been close. And, it was not as if they lived right next to each other. And, it was not that the church had asked Shirley to go visit my mother regularly. But my mother spoke about this woman whom she had really only known as someone sitting in a pew at church became part of her “lifeline to the outside world.” What a blessing that was to my mother!
I think about our own church how we always seem to be throwing out lifelines to one another in this body of Christ, and I am truly amazed! We really do concrete things to care for one another. If you have a car problem, a plumbing problem, if you need someone to draw blood, someone to go to the store, someone to watch over a loved one in need so that you can take a respite, if you need a place to live—this church body seems always to be throwing out more and more of these lifelines that really bring home the point that we as Christians do care!
In this last week, I have visited some folks who are in a state of convalescence from this church. I keep hearing how wonderful it is that the extra soft blanket or hand made quilt is for the person in need. How this gift from people in this church has made a difference because it connects that person back to the outside world with the strong message that someone cares! I was thinking that if this church were to pick a motto that it might be “We got you covered.”
I want you all to consider that caring about others is really an extremely critical emphasize in the ministry of any church. You have heard me preach over and over again the Gospel message of eternal imperishable salvation through the acceptance of Jesus into your heart. This is in fact the one sermon that you hear every Sunday week after week. We are saved to eternal life with Christ—Alleluia and Amen!
That means absolutely nothing if we do not care enough about the people around us to also want to give them this gift of grace! This is really the question at the heart of Christianity: “Do we care enough to want to save this world to Christ?” If we do not care about others, why should we express any faith at all? You see, it is critical!
Let us all turn to John 13:34-35 where Jesus also makes this point to his Disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This last Tuesday in our morning Bible Study I was asked “By what name do you call all the people who come to church on Sunday? Are we apostles? Priests, because of the priesthood of all believers? What are we called?” And, I answered that the people who come to worship on Sunday mornings are I would prefer to call “disciples of Christ” because you come to hear the Word of the Lord and to live accordingly. However, here is even a better reason: When the rest of the world looks at you and the love and care that you share for one another, the world will know indeed that you are disciples of Jesus! People will walk in off the street and exclaim: “Wow, feel the love in this place among these people. They must know Jesus!”
Now, I want to hit the second point of this two-pointer of a sermon: That has to do with the first deacons of the church who are listed here. How did they get lifted up in the ministry by the apostles? What were the criteria for their receiving this new office? Three things, right? We find these listed in Acts 6:3. The new deacons are of good standing, are full of the Holy Spirit, and are full of wisdom.
This last week I got into a conversation of a political nature when someone asked me about my choice for president. Now, mind you, I cannot and will not tell you for whom to vote—oh yes, I will! You should vote for—get ready to write this down—“someone of good standing, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” You will probably realize that in this answer I do not name whom I desire but rather the qualifications the office of president requires.
When we go into our annual Pot-Bless meeting later this morning and consider the various offices of the church, we can keep this in mind. When you are called to serve the church as a deacon or in another capacity it is because you have been known to be of “good standing, full of the Spirit, and wise.” You must, take this as an incredible affirmation of your faith in Christ that you have been chosen from among many to care for others as Christ commanded! Amen to that!
In verse 7 then we read: “The word of God continued to spread; the number of disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” We must understand that this further increase in the number of disciples is a direct result of the naming of deacons to serve the ministry! When we call people out to take special responsibility for others in caring for them in this ministry, we do this so that the number of disciples can grow. We want the disciples to grow so that the love can grow because we do care!
I will share with you that I have heard many non-Christians describe the church (not our church in particular but all churches) as being filled with hypocrites who talk about love but really do not. Have you heard this? I am sure you have. C.S. Lewis used the example of the story Beauty and the Beast to describe that kind of magic that happens in churches. In that story, the beast is loved for the first time. He does not know how to deal with that. Not until he is kissed and is transformed do we see his real self. And, those really are the people who are leading the beastly life who need that love the most to transform them!
At the very end of verse 7 we see that the priests in the Temple (the very ones who had crucified Jesus and had imprisoned Peter and John) were now joining the ranks of those new disciples. They were being transformed by that love! If that is hypocrisy, then the world needs a whole bunch more of it! Amen.