Deacons and The Session and Ministry of Our King

Acts 6:1-7
October 3, 2021
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

Lord willing, in a few weeks, we will have deacons. New English-speaking deacons for our church. This is exciting. This is historic. And in light of this exciting and historic time here at Highland, I thought it would be good for us to consider this account from Acts 6:1-7. An account about deacons and the session or ministry of our king - of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

After Jesus finished his work of salvation, after he lived a perfectly righteous life for us, after he died to pay the penalty for our sins, and after he rose again from the dead in victory, Jesus ascended into heaven. And what happened after that is very important. Jesus, who is God the Son, sat at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus, who is the King of kings, received exaltation and authority.

This is the session of Christ. The word “session” is just a nice Latin-based word that means “sitting.” Jesus is now sitting upon his throne. The church is under his session. And as the chief Pastor and Minister and Teacher and Shepherd to the church, as the chief Elder and Deacon of the church, Jesus loves and grows and serves and cares for the church.

This is what church is all about. And this is what the Book of Acts is all about as well. Jesus actively ministers to his church. And here in today’s passage, Jesus lovingly created and provided the person and work of the deacon for the care and well-being of his church.

Jesus’ church was growing in numbers. In verse 1 it says that “the disciples were increasing in number.” There were more men and women, more boys and girls, and more babies becoming visible members of the church. This was a good thing. But good things often bring about good problems.

The church in Acts 6 began to lack in manpower. In verse 1 it says that “a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” Food and resources were being collected and distributed for the sake of church members who were poor and powerless, and one of the poorest and most powerless of all were widows. Women without families. Women without physical protection or economic stability. Because of the lack of manpower, certain widows were neglected. There is no indication that the neglect was intentional or malicious. It looks like there was simply a breakdown in manpower and logistics. But the breakdown in manpower and logistics began to result in a breakdown in unity. Since Hellenist widows were being neglected, the Hellenist church members submitting a complaint against the Hebrew church members. Hellenists were members of the church who were Greek in language and culture. Hebrews were members of the church who were Hebrew in language and culture. This was becoming a big and serious issue. There was a lack of manpower. There was a breakdown in the distribution and care for certain widows. And there was the beginning of disunity among church members.

But praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ. The issue was big and serious. But Jesus is the head of his church. He is in control. And he loves his sheep. He cares for and loves the widow. He cared for and loved both the Hellenists and the Hebrews. He cares for and loves his church.

And so this is what Jesus did while sitting upon his throne. This is what Jesus did for his church that is under his session.

Jesus had the twelve apostles separate the manpower and the ministry of diaconal care from the manpower and the ministry of pastoral care. He designed and structured his church so that two different groups of men would focus these two different duties and acts of service for his people. Verses 2-4 says this. “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.’” Jesus made this happen. This was his will.

This is profound. The fullness and the totality of all of Christ’s ministry was and is and always will be way too much for one group of men to handle. Jesus’ session is that immense and extraordinary. Jesus’ session is that magnificent and breathtaking. The twelve did not do what they did because they thought that serving tables was beneath them. They did what they did in order to uphold both the glorious importance of serving tables and the glorious importance of the ministry of the word and of prayer - both at the same time. Jesus’ session is too huge and wonderful for the church to either have to pick one side of ministry at the expense of the other. Jesus’ session is too huge and amazing for the church to do both at the same time but do both with a subpar and lukewarm job. The feeding of people’s poor souls with the word of God, and the feeding of people’s poor stomachs with God’s literal daily bread - what man or what singular group of men is able to do all that is included in the fullness and totality of all of Christ’s ministry? They needed more men to do all of Christ’s ministry. They needed more men to administer Christ’s session.

The result of Jesus’ session activity is such an encouragement to us. The whole gathering of the church was pleased with what the twelve apostles said. And they chose seven brothers to focus upon the diaconal ministry of the church. According to verses 5 and 6, 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.

A little bit about these seven. Stephen was the one who was killed and martyred by stoning. Philip was the one who evangelized to the Ethiopian eunuch. Nicolaus was a proselyte of Antioch. The word “proselyte” means that Nicolaus first converted from a Gentile to a Gentile who practiced Judaism and then he converted a second time from a Gentile who practiced Judaism to a Gentile Christian who believed in Jesus.

We don’t know much about the other names that were chosen. But we do know this. There were seven of them. This symbolizes the abundance of Jesus’ provision for his church and the perfection of Jesus’ session over his church. And so, the whole gathering of the church set before the twelve apostles these seven men. And the apostles prayed and laid their hands on them. This laying of hands was an ordination. They were conferred or bestowed with the authorized calling to administer the session of Christ Jesus. There is nothing magical here about the act of laying of hands. Rather, it is a visible recognition that the calling and the ministry did not ultimately belong to or come from the seven new servants of the church. It belongs to Jesus. It comes from our King. This is so encouraging to us. Jesus actively built his church in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is a book about his acts.

But there is even more to be encouraged about. Verse 7 tells us about the outcome of Jesus’ session activity. It says this. “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 very important that you notice these words: the word of God continued to increase. It does not first and foremost say that the numbers of church members continued to increase. It does not say that the work or the ministry itself continued to increase. It says that the word of God continued to increase.

God’s word is central. The session of Christ happens when the word increases. When the written word of God that is the Bible is read more and preached more and taught more and studied more and meditated upon more and shared more. Diaconal ministry is good and necessary. But it exists to uphold the primacy of the ministry of the word and of prayer. Remember the words of the apostles: “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God….” Thanks be to God that the ministry of the word was not given up but instead lifted up for the sake of the sheep of Christ. We can safely assume that the Hellenist widows finally received their distributions. We can safely assume that the breakdown in unity was avoided. But above all, we can absolutely know for sure that the word of God continued to increase. And that is everything to us. Therefore, we are so encouraged to read this. The word is central to the session of Christ.

Dear Highland, lord willing, in a few weeks, we will have deacons. New English-speaking deacons for our church. This is exciting. This is historic. But remember that Jesus is now sitting upon his throne. Remember that the church is under his session. Remember that Jesus “invented” deacons. Remember that Jesus is the chief Deacon of the church. This is all about his ministry. This is all about his love and care for his people. That’s what makes this so profound and so encouraging for our church, for Highland Presbyterian Church. Let us give thanks and praise as our King brings forth for us new deacons.

In the next few weeks, Lord willing, we will consider deacons and their actual work, deacons and presbyterianism, and more.

May the grace of the Lord be with you all. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria