Acts chapter 6. I do want to
make an observation about the closing verses of chapter 5,
where we spent the whole of last week's study on the intervention
and mediation of Gamaliel on the behalf of the apostles, so
that the Sanhedrin, the rulers, the Sadducees, and the high priest
would, if they had their way about it would have incarcerated
the apostles and kill them. That's where they were going,
because we understand that the intensity of antipathy and hostility
towards the apostles is at that level where the rulers would
have killed them if they had the opportunity. So Gamaliel
intervenes because he knows his own colleagues. And they agreed
with him. Over in verse 40, it says, and
to him they agreed, And when they had called the apostles,
and will you notice, and beaten them, and beaten them, they commanded
that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them
go. I just wanted to give you a little
insight into what's taking place in verse 40. And that is, the
rulers of the Jews really do view trusting in Christ as Savior
and recognizing Him as the Son of God blasphemy they really
do view the the Apostles gospel as blasphemy against God they
had no real grounds to beat them they didn't have the kind of
authority where with they could tell you you couldn't do this
and you couldn't do that and you couldn't do the other thing
otherwise we could punish you for them to beat the Apostles
was for them to show their rage and and hostility against the
claims of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This will be important
because chapter six, the 15 verses in chapter six is a bridge between
chapter five and chapter seven, where we will see our first martyrdom
of the New Testament church. So again, I would say that Gamaliel's
intervention actually stopped the martyrdom of Peter and John. So I don't want that to get away
from you They beat them and then they commanded them once again
that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them
go in your previous outline under that point in the presence of
the leadership I fundamentally Use a point wherein I say They
were exercising impenitent submission to Gamaliel suggestion Gamaliel
said don't do it Don't do anything to these men. And they agreed
with him, as you see in verse 40. But it was impenitent. They didn't accept Gamaliel's
argument as being a just cause to let these men go. They simply
accepted his person, his reputation, his authority. For them to do
something over against Gamaliel would have created a whole other
uproar for them. And so they submitted to Gamaliel's
suggestion, but impenitently. So they beat the apostles and
then they let them go. But I want you to mark this.
And they departed from the presence of the council. That is the apostles
doing what? Rejoicing. Now mark this. They
were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for his name. Do you see that? They were rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And I simply want to say that
that becomes, and that was the seventh point in our previous
outline, a very clear and marked difference for Peter, particularly
when Peter denied the Lord three times. And when Peter shrunk
away at the exposure of his Galilean heritage by the little girl,
remember, and Peter withdrew, denying the Savior and the disciples
disbanded. Here they are now, not only enduring
the opposition of leadership, but they are rejoicing that they
could suffer for Christ's sake. That requires the spirit of God.
Do you believe that? That requires the spirit of God.
See, because what Luke is saying is they had a difference of mind. They had a different perspective
on what they were going through. You and I probably would have
had a different emotional response, right? for being beat by the
authorities for the cause of the gospel. I don't think we
would have necessarily rejoiced in being beat for the cause of
the gospel. So I would assert that what you are seeing demonstrated
in verse 41 is an infusion and outpouring of the Spirit of God
in the context of the gospel. that the Spirit of God gave them
such a clarity of mind as to what they were doing and how
its impact would occur as a consequence of them preaching. Here they
are in front of the beast, the beast that could kill them, and
they are rejoicing in being beaten for Christ's sake. It's amazing.
I just want you to think that through, because some of us are
persecuted on much smaller and more minor levels. We don't have
the outcome of joy We we say yes, we're being persecuted for
Christ, but we have attitudes about it And we get mad with
God even That we would suffer for his name's sake like that.
So I'm saying don't don't jump over this because this is a precursor
to what Christ had already told the disciples when they persecute
you rejoice and you have suffered for the gospel sake and I'm saying
that this rejoicing is not a human rejoicing it's a divine work
of grace and what it required was a clarity of mind that God
was working something out this is why under the seventh point
for me the honor of suffering for Christ I have the clarity
of providence you know we do complain there it is we do complain
and we do Opine and we do struggle with adverse circumstances when
we don't understand what God is doing, right? And we probably
also complain when we don't like what he's doing But what the
Apostles had was a very clear view That God has set up a situation
wherein they were now Made to suffer just like Christ suffered
for them they're suffering for him. Do you see that? So I want you to understand it's
a mindset. It's an understanding that they
have arrived at concerning the privilege of suffering for the
one who suffered for them. And I think that's an understanding
we have to actually acquire, child of God, in the area of
being witnesses for Christ. That if you think that the goal
is to escape suffering for Christ, You and I have failed to understand
the rate of exchange that the gospel calls for his life for
your life. That the idea is he became a
ransom for our soul and the small measure of response to which
he calls us is to simply endure a little suffering. Do you see
that? Very important for us to grasp
with that because I think we really minimize our impact In
the midst of providential circumstances that God is using to bear witness
of his own glory in your life In the minds of other people
when they see us going through things and we don't bear it with
patience We don't bear it with grace, but first Peter chapter
4 verses 12 through 14, and we've been here many times I want you
to see it again. This is why I am saying that
what the Apostles are dealing with here is is an experience
of the dynamic of the Spirit of God in the context of suffering,
which is not some type of morbid wanting to simply endure flagellation. This is not what we're talking
about. We're not talking about becoming happy to suffer in the
general sense. We're talking about experiencing
the grace to rejoice that you are identifying with Christ,
of whom Christ has said the whole world hates his name. Blessed
are you when you suffer for my name's sake. This is what I'm
getting at here. Listen to what Peter says in
first Peter chapter four, verse 12 through 14. He says, beloved,
do not think it, what? So there's this struggle, right? Having strange thoughts about
something that Christ has said would be common for those who
are faithful believers. Don't turn this experience of
suffering into a strange thing, like something abhorrent, something
that we should reject and throw off. No. Don't think it's strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to what? Try you, as though
some strange thing happened to you. Is trials for the believer
a strange thing? Is suffering for Christ a strange
thing? Of course not. I would say, however,
in the 21st century, where you and I are, We probably don't
suffer much for Christ. And therefore, it is a strange
thing. And because it's a strange thing,
we don't handle it well. I guarantee you, if Christ were
to take the whole of this Western church, you, me, all of the Western
churches, and took us through the boot camp of daily suffering
as an aggregate whole, And we knew that that suffering was
specifically designed to get us used to suffering for Christ's
sake We'd have a different mind about suffering wouldn't we wouldn't
we we would have been trained by the suffering to endure and
and thus rejoice in spite of the opposition in the pain and
so what we are experiencing in Western Christianity today as
a consequence of a lack of real suffering is the inability to
acknowledge God's providence when difficult things occur or
when people lie about us or when people Scandalize us or when
people curse us out or when people show themselves difficult simply
because we are Christian If in fact we go through that Listen
to verse 13. Don't think it's strange. But
what there it is Now who said that Peter? Peter says Rejoice
in as much as you are what partakers of Christ's sufferings there
it is There it is He was rejoicing because he was made a partaker
of his master's suffering He valued God sustaining him and
keeping him God holding him together God gracing him to endure the
opposition of leadership to the point of even being beaten now,
that's bad One last time you were beaten for Christ's sake
Been a while, huh? Been a while. But what I'm getting
at is you don't want to ever overlook what the scriptures
are saying because they have far-reaching implications as
to our own character and the area of tenor of life that God
gives us. When I say tenure, tenure of
life, you and I live in a very, very, very gentle and soft Tenure
the Lord has not laid upon us as American Christians much at
all by way of suffering Not much at all And so the least we can
do is to draw out of the text when we read it the kind of reverence
and respect for and value of the suffering that other Christians
go through and let our soul say amen amen You see bless the Lord
on my soul Thank you, Lord, for gracing Peter to go through it.
Or some of our other brothers and sisters who are in the world
presently suffering for Christ's sake. You do know they are, right?
I could spend the rest of the hour talking about the sufferings
of Christians all over the world for Christ's sake. Been taken
from their homes, being sold into slavery, being married off,
particularly among the Muslim cultures, where the manner in
which they destroy Christianity is to marry off Christian girls
to Muslim men and destroy the process of proliferation. That
way, you guys do know that's going on, right? You don't? You
should. That's what it means to care
about the body of Christ so you can pray for the saints every
day. When you pray, you should pray
for the whole church, not just Grace, not just me, the whole
church, because you're part of that body. And I got a feeling
saints is coming. I just got a feeling it's coming.
Do you understand what I mean? I just got a feeling that we
won't escape the tribulation. And I'm saying, Lord, what you
going to do? You going to let me get old? I mean, like real
old before it comes? Because I've been expecting it
for the last 25, 30 years. I thought when we were breaking
through the Cold War that we would have an increase of suffering
in America because of the policy changes that we've been Seen
incrementally in the white house, which are growing more and more
fierce against christianity But god has staved those off over
the last 35 years or so But I thought by now you and I would be suffering
more severely, but we're not Not in the overt frontal attack. We're suffering in other ways
the apostle says rejoicing that you're partakers of his suffering
that when his glory shall be revealed When his glory shall
be revealed, you may be what? Also with what? Now that doesn't
necessarily mean his glory in his final parousia. That's true
too. We always are looking for that
day when Christ will come and justify his name and vindicate
his people and affirm his truth. But can I share with you what
the text also implies by when his glory shall be revealed?
Can I share with you that? That's when God uses you, places
you in a situation where even though you are weak in faith
and you are a very, very poor witness, he still uses you in
the context of conflict and misunderstanding. And because he holds you up,
the outcome, the net effect of you enduring that trial is that
someone comes to Christ. That's a revelation of his glory.
That's a revelation of his glory. where a situation occurs and
you don't necessarily see it as a moment of redemption, but
God knows it is. And the outcome is someone bows
the knee to Christ. That's a revelation of his glory.
Or a situation occurs where in your family, there are some obtuse
events that go on and they're ugly. You know how trials are
ugly, right? Trials are ugly. My sister emailed
me a wonderful illustration today and I told her I knew exactly
what she was referring to when she talked about trials being
like riding a horse and being on the saddle and the saddle
coming loose. Anybody knows something about that? Where the saddle
starts shifting. Been there, done that. I grew
up in horse country in Texas and jumping on horses and that
horse riding and the saddle coming loose because I didn't strap
it into you. You holding on. It don't look good, but you're
holding on. That's how the trials are sometimes. And then after it's over with,
you are repenting because you just really jacked it all up.
And lo and behold, somebody in the family says, you know what?
I'm coming to church. See what I'm getting at? God
revealing his glory. God revealing his glory. This
is what Peter is saying. So in our outline, I have the
clarity of providence, the revelation of his glory, and a zeal to stand. The clarity of providence, that's
having a spiritual intuition to know what's going on, what
season you're in. The revelation of his glory intrinsically,
and the manifestation of it, as I said, by the outcome of
your obedience to suffer for Christ, and a zeal to stand.
We're happy because he gave us grace to stand, aren't we? Verse
14. And if you be reproached for
the name of Christ, happy are you, watch this, for the spirit
of what? The spirit of glory and of God
rests on you. I take that to mean this, that
without the spirit of God, which is the spirit of glory, you cannot
suffer for Christ. You cannot by yourself take the
hit for Christ. This is what I mean. If you suffer
for Christ's sake, apart from the spirit of glory, it's a selfish
suffering with your own personal agenda in view. You know how
sometimes we can make ourselves martyrs of situations? We can
set ourselves up to take hits, but it's really all about us.
When you are suffering for Christ's sake, you don't have even the
slightest desire for it to redound to your glory. That takes the
spirit of God. This is what the apostles are
being trained to do. So listen to what he says The
spirit of glory and of God rests upon you and on their part. He
is evil spoken of that's Christ But on your part he is what so
the people of God glorify God when by the grace of God We stand
for the cause of Christ. All right, let's go back to our
text and open up this amazing sixth chapter It's an amazing
chapter. I want to deal with In the book
of Acts because it's a it's a brief transition that gives us a little
more insight Into the the growing pains of the local church. So
you guys ought to be able to identify with this This is in
your outline. I think we have our PowerPoint
for that too. So the beginnings of church structure That's what
you're going to be looking at here here to for we don't have
a whole lot at chapter 6 verse 1 we don't have a whole lot of
of Official meetings taking place where the leadership in the church
is starting to develop an infrastructure They're not they're not having
elders meetings and deacons meetings This has been heretofore just
grassroots gathering of the people of God where they are sharing
the Word of God with one another and the Apostles are bearing
record to the unusual blessing of them being with Christ for
three and a half years and So what the apostles are doing in
this group of new believers, 10 to 15 to 20,000, who are still
doing church the old way, by the way, they're still going
to synagogue, they're still going to temple, but they're also meeting
from house to house. What they're doing is taking
the Old Testament system and bringing it to its fulfillment
by interpreting those passages Christocentrically. What do you
mean? Well, when they gather together
for synagogue Sabbath, And the leader of the synagogue stood
up to read the scriptures. Doesn't matter where they were
reading. The apostles would say, now that's talking about Christ. Here, let me help you understand
how Christ fulfilled those passages of scripture. And now all of
a sudden, the Jews are being confronted with a New Testament,
Christocentric interpretation of the word of God, and it's
spreading everywhere. And guess what? people are being
satisfied with that interpretation. The spirit of God is doing something
in the soul with that interpretation because heretofore they were
under the assumption that we are still waiting for Jesus to
come. And we're under the old pedagogical system of the external
system of works and sacrifices and offerings and prophecies
that have yet to be fulfilled. The apostles are saying, no,
let me, let me help you understand a better way to interpret that
passage. As you and I will see when we
get to ask chapter eight, right? Where Philip has given the assignment
to meet our brother who is an Ethiopian on his way back home,
reading the scriptures, Isaiah chapter 53. He says, do you understand
what you're reading? He says, I do not. We can concur
with him. When someone has not taught us
the gospel, we do not know what we're reading. Can we concur
with him when someone has not been filled with the spirit of
god given the gift of biblical exposition to show us the sum
and substance of biblical truth We are reading reading reading
and we are longing longing longing and we are we are anticipating
something but we have not arrived at the satisfaction Of the truth
of that text until someone says this is about christ That's right
Until Christ is seen, the soul is still longing for the answer
because he is the reality of scripture. And so the Ethiopian
was absolutely overwhelmed by the revelation of Christ in Isaiah
53, and he moved quickly to say, I'm ready. I'm ready to be baptized. That's the impact of a Christocentric
approach. So in chapter six, it opens up
this way. In those days, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then
the 12 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. Wherefore, brethren, look out
among yourselves, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Spirit, our Holy Ghost, and wisdom whom we may appoint over this
business. But we will give ourselves continually
to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the same pleased,
watch this, the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man
full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Procurus,
and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of
Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had
prayed, they laid hands on them, And the word of God increased
in the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Wow. Verse one, let's begin to deal
with it. So I have an outline, the beginning of the church structure,
the church structure, and we call this growing pains. Verse
one, and in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
see that? So what we call it imperfect
verb form. It means they were growing. It was a constant growing
thing. I've already told you the process
was the seed being sown in the midst of the old system where
people are now being satisfied with an interpretation of scripture
that lands on Jesus. Many people are coming to the
Bible studies now. Folks are coming to synagogue now. Folks
are coming to the temple now because the Spirit of God always
works where Christ is preached. He always works where Christ
is preached and they are there and they're growing but also
with growth comes responsibilities and we saw in the early part
of Acts 2 and 3 and 4 how that the number grew from 4,000 to
9,000 and maybe up to 10 or 15. That's a lot of people to now be committed to the trend
of coming out weekly to hear the Word of God. That's a lot
of people. Now, those of you who have been in leadership or
been part of the church a long time, here's what you understand.
That if you have a comprehensive understanding of the nature of
the church, that the church is not simply a Bible study. So I wanna drive that home because
there's a fallacy often in the thinking of people about what
constitutes the church. The church of Jesus Christ was
never ever depicted to simply be a Bible study. What that means
is the church is not the church simply because you come and have
someone teach you what the word of God said and then you disband
and there's no relationship, no connection, no responsibility,
no interaction, no objective, no purpose, no mission, no goal. No, the church is far more than
a Bible study. Are you hearing what I'm saying? It becomes a lifelong responsibility
of men and women who have been so impacted by the presence of
Christ in the preaching of the word, by the power of the Holy
Ghost, that they collectively commit to the cause of the gospel. And when they commit to the cause
of the gospel, now they begin the koinonia. The fellowship,
the koinonia, the real true fellowship. Acts chapter two, verse 42. Let's
work this through. Here's my proposition. As we
begin to look at the growing pains of the church, you have
not done church in the biblical sense, in the sense in which
our masters told it, just because you go to Bible study. Acts chapter
two, 42, listen to what it says. Now they continue steadfastly,
that's in the present tense, ongoingly, in the apostles doctrine,
right? That means they did open the
word of God, right? They did hear the apostles teach about
Jesus and what? See it, see it? Not just Bible
study, what? That's right, that's our word,
koinonia. Fellowship means a common sharing in the commonwealth of
Israel. The idea of fellowship means
that we join hands in a common cause. Biblical fellowship is
when we identify with the person of Christ and become members
of his body in the most comprehensive way that our lives now are publicly
marked out as following an agenda of Christ as Lord. I'll say it
again, in this anti-organizational age, in this anti-structural
age, in this anti-church age, Christ said, I will build my
church. Ecclesia the called-out ones
called out from the world called into the kingdom and in the calling
into the kingdom It is manifested by a people who love sound doctrine
and by a people who are committed to fellowship Are you hearing
what I'm saying fellowship? that fellowship becomes the place
of refuge the place of strength, the place of edification, the
place of building up on the part of the new Christian, because
the new Christian is coming out of a world system that's going
to pay you. They're going to cause you to
suffer for now cleaving to Christ. And you need a community to assist
you. How, how intensive was the community? Listen to what it goes on saying.
They continued in, uh, the apostles doctrine fellowship and breaking
a bread. You know what that means? They eat together. Is that true? It's amazing. That was a common
practice among them. Granted, it was Middle Eastern.
As we have stated, folks in the East, Far East, Middle East,
whenever we gather together, we eat. But the eating was an
opportunity to break it down into sort of an authentic context
where we can be who we are as individuals and get to know each
other in a proper way in a non-formal setting. where we can then begin
to share with each other our desires, our longings, our passions,
our needs. And then we can correspond with
those passions, desires, and needs according to God's objective
for us as a group collectively. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So naturally, when the gospel is being preached in power
and God is gathering together a new body of believers, generally
it's younger people. This is why I've said there's
advantages to church growth There's advantages to new Christians.
We talked about this again on Thursday as well, that the benefit
of being a new Christian and a young Christian is that you
will do things as a new Christian and as a young Christian that
you won't do when you're old. You just won't do it. Young Christians
will gather together more frequently. Young Christians will do things
that older Christians won't do. The energy level is down. The
passion is down. The gifting is down when you're
younger, you're willing to do those things. How many of you
remember the early days of your Christian walk when you couldn't
wait to get together with brothers and sisters and eat and talk
about the things of God and then be engaged in tasks like evangelism
or sharing the word of God and seeing other people come in and
talk about the Bible together for you during that time. If
you recall it, those were wonderful days for me. They were absolutely
marvelous days. Some of us could stay up almost
all night long, just talking about the things of God all night
long over and over. We only worked in order to pay
the bill so we can get back together with the saints and continue
in fellowship around the word of God. Does anyone, let me see
if I know any real born again, people have been through that.
Okay. That's if you're younger, when you get older, it's different.
It's just true. When you get older, it's different.
That's why God generally works in a typical pattern chronologically.
by saving younger people. Not that he doesn't save older
people, he does, I know that from experience, but it's the
young people that he uses for movement, for movement. And so the dynamic is that we
get together, we study the word of God, we pray, and then we
get to understand each other's needs. Because what you're gonna
be looking at here in Acts chapter six is needs. But watch what
the text said was the natural outgrowth of a study of doctrine,
a sincere fellowship of the saints eating together and in what?
Prayers. A huge neglect in the Western church today. And fear
came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by
the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things
in what? You're going to see here in a moment that that's
not the case in chapter six. We're just two chapters over
and it changes. Look at verse 45. And they sold
their possessions and goods, and parted them all men, everyone,
according as they had what? And they continued daily with
one accord in the temple. I told you they were in a temple.
And breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat
with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. And in that context and atmosphere,
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be what?
Now we jump over two chapters. Chapter six. And listen to what
the Holy Ghost says. Now in those days when the number
of the disciples would still be multiplied and the apostles
were already being accosted and thrown into prison and the angel
of the Lord are delivering them out and the news is ruminating
that The leaders of the church are now rising up in opposition.
They've been told not to preach, but they're still preaching.
And you know, we're kind of, you know, we're, we're like the
early church. We're kind of, we're kind of rugged people.
We love to disobey authorities that we don't think we agree
with. Ain't that right? So that was, that was, that was cool.
You know, just, they said, we're not going to preach, but we're
going to preach. They tell us not to get together, but we're
going to get together. And so there's a kind of a thuggishness
to it that I kind of like. You may not but I do and I understand
that dynamic. I really do Because here watch
this now every law is not ethical Every rule is not moral. Every
set of judgments doesn't come from god All authority is not
right and there are times when you and I have to act over against
the trend of oppressive fascist government In order to demonstrate
the reality of the lordship of jesus christ and young people
will do it faster than old people Why would they do it faster than
old people? Because they don't have much to lose. That's smart. Think about it. A young person,
most of the time they're broke. And in our context, probably
in debt. So, you know, giving up their life for Jesus, you
know, they're not losing. Older people, you got houses,
you got bank accounts, you got legacies, you got all this. The
moment you start getting in the bullseye of the adversary, you
got a lot to lose. It's a huge temptation for older
people. For younger people, they can handle it. But in chapter
6 verse 1, you notice what we're dealing with? Our outline calls
it the practical necessities of church life. The practical
necessities of church life. This is what I meant earlier,
Saints. Church is not just a Bible study. You are not fulfilling
Christianity in the full by just doing Bible study. Church, in
the biblical sense, is a community a life that we share in common
with goals and objectives in view. Listen to what the text
says in verse one, and we'll go through our three points briefly.
In those days when the number of the disciples were multiplied,
there arose a murmuring. See the word murmuring? Do church
folk murmur? Yes, they do. Church folk murmur. It's terrible. It's terrible,
but we do. And notice the murmuring is an
interesting Greek term. I'm not going to try to quote
it, but there are a couple of Greek words in the New Testament
for murmuring, and they basically amount to unintelligible speech
that basically is the grunting, sort of grumbling under your
breath. And then it rises to a level where people can hear
it. You know, you can hear the lowest decibels of noise as long
as it's continuous and unending. You know how things can be just
so low, but eventually you hear, where's that noise coming from?
And so murmuring is like that. It's low, but over time it becomes
clear. And so it became evident that
the church had moved from, they had all things in common, that
they were walking in fellowship and in the spirit of God and
the joy of unity to murmuring. Wow. Wow. Isn't that amazing? to murmuring. And it says, of the Grecians
against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in
the daily ministration. So you have murmuring church
folk. That's the first way I'm going
to put it. Murmuring church folk. We don't have those here at Grace.
I know that. But we're going to talk about
murmuring church folks. And then we're going to talk
about discrimination. Because that's what we're dealing
with here now. And we don't have discrimination at Grace either.
The discrimination against The Aramaic Jews and the Grecian
Jews. This is pathetic, but it's true.
They're both Jews. But one has their origin in the
Aramaic culture where they did not, through the dispersion of
dysphoria, get moved out into the Gentile culture and had to
learn Hellenistic Greek and become part of that culture. They remained
among the Jewish people and were Aramaic and spoke a little bit
of Hebrew, but mostly Aramaic. But then the Grecian Christians
who were way out in the extreme regions of Rome, who basically
had grown up as Jews, but in the Grecian culture, they spoke
Greek. And they were now in fellowship
with their Hebrew brethren who spoke Aramaic. And you would
think because we are all one in Christ, that a Grecian Jew
and an Aramaic Jew would have never been an issue. But because
of our sinful nature, we love to make superficial distinctions. We love to make superficial distinctions
that do not amount to anything. Now, we know it goes on in our
secular culture. We know it goes on in our own
ethnic groups. I've said it before. The issue
of racism is not a black, white thing. It's a human thing. So
among white folks, they've had historically in the archives
of history, white people enslaving white people, black people enslaving
black people. We have caste systems where certain
people thought that they were better than other people in their
own ethnic groups. Is that true? These tribal squabbles
that go on are superficial distinctions that do not have any real substance
to them genetically. otherwise and here we're seeing
this emerge it's emerging it's emerging chapter 6 verse 1 really
is a strategy on the part of the devil to destroy the atmosphere
of the kingdom of God in the midst of the church we have to
be careful about this we're going to see this as we work our way
through the seven churches of which I've told you we're going
to be taking our time through the book of Revelation and covering
it for a couple two or three months you have to be careful
because The one thing that you and I are constantly challenged
with is being knocked off point. The one thing we're challenged
with a lot is being knocked. You know how God will give you
clarity on what's important? And you will set it in your heart
to do what's important. And some little wind will come
and blow you off course. And now all of a sudden you are
not fixed on the main things. You're fixed on a very minor
issue and it's hindering you and impeding you in your walk
with God. This is what's going on here.
It's a real challenge to walk with God and stay on point, isn't
it? Now, the people or the person or the church that you find staying
on point have learned how to resist the winds of temptation
to actually be distracted by superficial things. That takes
a lot of maturity, a lot of maturity. It requires that kind of maturity
in a marriage. Husbands and wives have petty
arguments over Absolutely nothing and it destroys the presence
of the kingdom of God in the home. Isn't that amazing? Been
married 35 years plus now and I think about the the rich Fellowship
I have with my wife and my kids at this present time, but it
was the consequence of many years of struggling through the vanity
of Arguing over things that have absolutely no eternal value nor
even any temporary benefit in the home And if you don't learn
it, you'll destroy your home and by the time you look up the
home is destroyed over nothing over nothing and when once God
brings you through the superficiality of of Arguing over whether or
not the toilet seat is up or the toilet seat is down or whether
you turn the rope backwards or upward or whether you shut the
door and lock the windows or not all of the dumb stuff people
argue about of which they're ready to break up and Destroy
their homes and destroy the kids can't wait to get out of the
house Cuz mom and dad are like the Hatfields in the McCoy's
don't want to be there I'm using an analogy to make sure I drive
it home because the area of Christian practice that should be most
coveted is your home and You're not gonna do well in church if
you're not doing well at home. And by the way, we won't have
the deep and profound and natural and authentic fellowship with
one another if our homes are jacked up. You're not gonna have
me over if your house is jacked up. And I'm not gonna have you
over either. So we're gonna be compartmentalized
even though we come to church on Sunday. Am I making some sense?
Because we're not serious about Christ through and through. And
I'm saying as we are reading through Verse one, we see the
superficiality rising up. Now, I want you to see how this
works, because we've just seen a model of care given in Acts
four, right? 32 through 37. Now, my second
point is the erosion of grace in our outline, the erosion of
grace. That's what's taking place. And I want to kind of show you
a dynamic. In the previous context, you
had a model of care, right? a model of care. And the model
of care was because the people largely constituted, watch this
now, givers. In Acts chapter 4, you have givers.
You have givers in Acts 4. In Acts chapter 6, you know what
you got? Receivers. I'm going to be nice
with that. Receivers. I could say takers. But if I do that, I would be
assuming something that I may not be able to demonstrate scripturally
at this point. I can in other passages where
the apostles are giving correctives in the New Testament. Remember
what the apostles said, if a man don't work, don't let him what?
That's right. And if people are busy bodies
in the church where they're kind of just meandering around, getting
in people's businesses and not doing the things that pertain
to a quiet and a noble lifestyle, minding your own business is
what the apostles said. You mind your own business. You
work with your own hands. Be quiet. You don't make a ruckus
in society. You don't make a ruckus in the
church. You're not known in the church for always getting in
arguments with people. You are staying in your lane. You guys hearing what I'm saying?
You're staying in your lane. And when you stay in your lane,
you're demonstrating maturity where the simplicity of the protocol
of biblical truth in terms of how we operate in the church
has come home to you. But some of us are like little
kids. The only thing that stimulates us are arguments, right? Where we're not even alive. If
we're not mad at somebody or somebody mad at us and we're
debating and arguing, that's immaturity. Ladies and gentlemen,
that's immaturity. That's immaturity. I delight
in the presence of the kingdom of God in my life. I delight
in the righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That
is a consequence of maturity. Oh yes, it's grace, but I mean
maturity. Because you have to daily make
adjustments in your journey to sustain an atmosphere of peace
and joy. You have to make sure you don't
get tempted to get off the exit on, you know, curiosity lane,
you know, uh, history lane. And let me go see how this brother's
doing. The Lord didn't tell you to go see how that brother's
doing. You're just going to, you want to be nosy in somebody's
business, pick up the phone and just, I ain't got nothing to
do. So I want to be nosy. No, you're no, you got other things
to do, but now you're getting ready to start something. And
then you go find out he's in trouble. Now you're going to
go call somebody else and get it. Now with that, you got the
whole mob thing going on. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Of course you are. So we can imagine that when the
grace of God, the atmosphere of grace is eroded, what we begin
to do is we start to now turn in on ourselves. Verse one is
a turning in on ourselves. Look at it. The Grecians against
the Hebrews. Isn't that crazy? The Grecians
against the Hebrews. Now we're talking tag team matches
in the church. Who sides you on, man? I'm a
Grecian Christian. Well, what are you, man? I'm a Hebrew Christian.
Well, the Hebrews don't like the Grecians. Now watch this. And here's the context in which
this happened. And so when I use the idea of givers and receivers,
here's what I'm saying. There's a danger when receivers
don't quickly labor to become what? Givers. There's a danger. When you are a Christian, Your
job is to learn to reciprocate the grace of God in your life.
When you are a Christian, your job is to learn to reciprocate
the grace of God in your life. When God is giving you something,
turn that into an act of giving. When God is giving you something,
you turn it into an act of giving. That's exactly what God wants
you to do. He does not want you to simply
be a receiver. To take in to take in because
you move from receiving now to taking And it is more blessed
to give than to what? That's right. And so every christian
should be operating out of this principle The lord has given
me now give me grace and wisdom to be able to be a giver in some
area of my life so that there can be an equity of my relationship
with you and them This will this will keep you from loading up
and getting too fat and toxic with all the stuff you receiving
from the kingdom It's very important to know that Now this to Saints
requires spiritual maturity doesn't it? Because some of us come into
the kingdom in in a in a way by way of conversion But we still
have a lot of deficits in our character from our fallen nature,
don't we? I mean major deficits now some folks have spent a long
time outside of the church and being really knocked around by
the world really, really bad. By the time they come to church,
the only thing they want is to receive. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. That's right. That's right. As
soon as they walk in the door, they expect everybody to acknowledge
them, to love them, to show honor to them, take away all the pain. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And then when you find out that at least 50% of them don't do
that, now you're all upset. So there's a growth that needs
to take place on the part of believers to understand that
when you are saved, you are a gift. You are a gift from God to others. Now you become a source of reciprocation
and blessing. The natural response of a newborn
believer when he understands this is that he would have got
to pour into him so that he can pour into somebody else. Pour
into me and then pour me into somebody else. Pour into me and
then pour me into somebody. Did you guys hear what I just
said? Pour into me and then pour me into somebody else. Lord,
use me. Lord, use me. That's what you're
supposed to be saying, you young Christians right now. Lord, make
me a vessel of your honor. I don't want to be just taking.
Lord, use me, pour into me the fullness of your spirit. We're
going to see how this works out when we choose our deacons here
in a moment, because the deacons are going to be these vessels
where in God has already demonstrated he can pour into them and they
can be vessels to pour out to meet these needs that are rising
up. So the model of care was seen a few chapters ago. The
erosion of grace is taking place because we have created more
receivers than we have givers. and the challenge here occurs.
And the Hebrew Christians were being neglected in the daily
ministration. Do you see that? So the next
thing that I want to say about that is that there are two things
that are taking place, a daily, not a monthly, a daily ministration. What do we mean by that? What
is the apostle talking about? What is Luke talking about? Needs,
needs, food care, clothing care, in some cases, living care. See,
remember, we're talking about just a few months after the resurrection
of Christ, after most a year or two, and we've got 10, 12,
15,000 people, right? Somebody is homeless. Somebody
is poverty stricken. Somebody needs clothes. They've
got a full food line going on here. They've got a Salvation
Army process going on here. They've got a ministry of having
to take... See, these are poor Christians. These are not middle
class Christians. These are not Christians where
everybody has a home. Everybody has a car. Everybody
has a job. The vast majority of these Christians
coming in are poor Christians. So the ministry that the apostles
find themselves undertaking early on is a ministry that most Christians
would not want to be involved in today. Are you hearing me? And it's the ministry of people
who need your help. More than your money So like if most of our churches
were involved in mass poverty issues And people who don't understand
the blessing of pouring their life into disadvantaged people
would not be part of the church See, it's easy to be a part of
a church where you have the dignity of a kind of autonomy, where
when you come here, there's not much that you have to do other
than sit and write a check and go home. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Very important to know that the
early church that our master deposited into the hands of his
apostles were very much like the people he ministered to,
if you remember. Everywhere he went, thousands
followed him. Thousands and you know what our
master said the poor you will have with you always So needs
always become a part of the nature of the church and when we construct
a theology That abandons that reality we fail to understand
the nature of the gospel Are you hearing what I'm saying?
We fail to understand the nature of the gospel The nature of the
gospel is many things. We're going to affirm that. But
remember what Paul said in first Timothy chapter three and Titus
chapter one, when they started laying out the rules for leadership
in the church, for the bishops and elders, and then for the
deacons. Remember what he said? If a man does not take care of
his own household, he's worse than a what? Isn't that what
he said? So now stay with me now. He had
built a very clear ethic based on this reality that the kingdom
of God is God's institution. which automatically has God's
resources at their availability. so that there is no excuse on
the part of the church to say that we don't have what's necessary
to meet the needs of the people. That would be an utter shame
on the part of the head of the church, wouldn't it? If Christ
is the head of the church, and he sits at the right hand of
God, and all power and authority has been given him in heaven
and in earth, and the church is going around saying we have
no resources, that puts a blasphemous name on Jesus Christ, doesn't
it? Yes, it does. Yes, it does. This is why when
you go through the book of Acts, here's the thing that you will
learn that as they continue in the ministry of preaching and
teaching the gospel, the apostles laid down the rule. Do not ever
forget to take care of your poor people. Do not forget to take
care of your poor people. You hear me? So now here's the
context in which this pops up. The daily ministration was taking
place where they were feeding people and taking care of people. But apparently as it's implied,
watch this. The Grecians were murmuring against
the Hebrews because the Grecian widows were neglected in the
daily ministration. Whoa, that's cold. The word neglected there is our
term to overlook. to overlook like, like you, there's
10 people in front of you, you, you overlook nine to take care
of one. That's what we call discrimination.
Are you hearing me? So the grist, do you know what
it's like to feel, do you know what it feels like to be overlooked?
I just need to, I need to know if I got real Christians in the
house. I don't think anyone has lived for any length of time
in this world who has not experienced once or twice, and in a healthy
way so, being overlooked. It does not feel good. It does
not feel good to be overlooked and then to discover that this
is a pattern, a trend that we are being overlooked, creates
a major temptation on the part of the people that are overlooked.
Is that true? Now, it's possible that you can be overlooked in
a situation where the structure is bad and they just don't have
the wisdom necessary to meet out the needs in an equitable
fashion, and people get overlooked. But in all likelihood, you were
overlooked because there was a tacit approval among certain
people that you were less than everybody else. This is true. This is called discrimination,
like racism. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's what the text is dealing with. The text is, and I'm saying
to you, this has been going on in the church from the beginning,
overlooked. And how did the apostles deal
with this overlooking in the daily ministration? Look at verse
two. This moves us to the point of
the birth of the diaconate. The birth of the diaconate. This
is where the wisdom of God by the direction of the spirit of
God moves the disciples, the apostles, to now set up a structure
to deal with these things. I want you to mark this now because
we've got just four points in our outline, and I'll be able
to deal with that because we only got 20 minutes to go. Mark what he
says. Then the 12 called the multitude
of disciples unto them. Now, who are the 12? These are
the apostles, right? And they said unto them, listen, we are
not, as the apostles, going to abandon the preaching of the
word. That's, that's, that's one necessary
truth we have to lay down. The apostles said, we're concerned.
In fact, we have, we have not ourselves intentionally overlook
anyone, but we're concerned. We're concerned. We know that
it is not right for us to have a reputation among the secular
world or even apostate Judaism, that we would, the New Testament
church, have a pattern of life where we are neglecting our own.
This is of concern to us. But here's what the apostle is
saying, and I want you to get this. The task of taking care
of the needs of the people is large enough for us to designate
a whole leadership for it. The task of taking care of the
people is not just a one-time thing. It has become to us a
full-time ministry that needs to be addressed on a structural
level, and it needs to be addressed in a way that we don't have to
find ourselves neglecting the word like our Grecian Hebrew
widows are being neglected. Because if we start serving tables,
then we're going to neglect the word. And if we neglect the word,
the church is going to suffer. Is that true? That's fundamentally
your last point. We'll get to that in a moment.
So, you know, we have people in the church who have certain
temperaments. And some of us are gifted at
Serving we like to serve we want to help people when people get
in trouble and we're there We're ready to bend over backwards
and help in a very material way a very practical way Those people
are diminishing quickly in the 21st century mind you But there
are still some around who really are happy to serve. We're glad
to carry things and glad to lift things. We'll help you move.
We'll do this for you. We'll help fix your car, whatever.
We'll clean your house. We'll fix food. All of these
are wonderful and they are necessary elements in the church. Do you
believe that? When a sister or brother gets
ill, I'm just going to make an application to this just in case
you think that I'm on the wrong track. when a sister or brother
gets ill and they can't fix their own food. And you have gifted
brothers and sisters in the church whose heart beat with wanting
to do something for somebody. Plus they can cook. Plus they
can cook. And they find out that that sister
or that brother's down. What a grace. And I guarantee
you, the brother and sister that is down, ill and sick, when they
receive that material, that physical, that tangible gift from their
brother and sister in Christ, guess what they do? They immediately
see the Lord. They immediately see Christ. They immediately see the presence
of Jehovah Jireh. Immediately. Christ is now visibly
present in the providence of their need. Am I telling the
truth? And you go, Lord, thank you for the body. Thank you for
the so you had neglected that because you weren't sick. But
once you got sick, now the saints are precious to you. Those few
people that came knocking on your door, taking care of you.
Now they have been magnified in your heart and mind. You're
praying for them every day. You thank God for you. They were
invisible while you were healthy and whole. But now that you're
sick and the saints are calling to tell you, hey, we can help
you. You need something. You don't have to cook. We'll
come over and clean up. We will help you. Isn't that what we
do, saints? I guarantee you that's what we do. As all local churches
are to do. We will help you. And these types
of difficulties. But they can become as often
churches have done, they can become like the main practice
of the church. Such a fashion that you slip
away from the centrality of biblical truth Now you are operating a
full-fledged sort of charity ministry Okay, are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? And we'll see that in 0.5 and
we'll deal with that when we deal with the church at Thyatira
as well so the Apostles under unction under a real conviction
of the Spirit of God make sure that that They did not tolerate
the idea or continence, the idea that the word of God would be
set aside or cause to suffer because of a real felt need. So he says in verse three, wherefore,
brethren, look out among yourselves seven men of honest report. Here we have again the Hebrew sort of colloquialism or the
Hebrew mindset of a number seven. Number seven is a number for
fullness or perfection. I don't know how they came up
with 7. I don't know why they didn't come up with 70. I don't
know why they didn't come up with 12, but they said 7. And
all this is was the initial structuring of what would soon become, ladies
and gentlemen, the diaconate, okay? This is the initial structuring
of what would soon become the diaconate. That's why I have
in point 2, the birth of the diaconate. You see that, right?
And so here we have in point number one under the birth of
the diaconate serving the material needs what? Do you guys see that? So I'll just share with you You can do a Right thing with
a wrong motive And if you do a right thing with a wrong motive,
it will have a bad outcome You can do a wrong thing with a right
motive. And it will have a bad outcome
as well, but not as bad motive is critical. So even though we
are talking about a material need, material things, it still
requires spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity. You don't
want an immature person taking a sister or brother a sandwich
when they're sick. You don't want a carnal Christian,
and that's an oxymoronic statement, taking a brother or sister a
bowl of soup when they're sick. You don't want a Christian who
is not mature in the mercy ministry. Because that brother or sister
who is immature are themselves in need. And people in need really
don't do well helping other people in need in that way. Am I making
some sense? This is where very often just
a very general practical deed that we try to accomplish ends
up getting all messed up. The person comes back and the
person that was supposed to be helped are feeling worse because
the so-called helper said something stupid when they were there. Am I making some sense? And so
the apostle said, listen, This matter requires more than Madison
Avenue techniques. It requires more than somebody
having worked for, you know, uh, uh, you know, Casper's hot
dogs or, uh, McDonald's. We don't need to catch that work
for McDonald's running. They did pastor. Listen, man,
I worked for McDonald's for 12 years. I know how to set up the
system, but you're immature. The devil will use you and flip
you and abuse you in so many ways. By the time you get through
handing out those McMuffins to the saints, the whole place will be jacked
up. Are you guys following what I'm saying? Because even the
material needs of the church have to be done in a spiritual
way of maturity. So here's what he said in verse
three, look among yourselves for men. because God is still
patterning the principle of leadership in the church with men being
the leaders. Men. That's the male species. You guys got that? Male species. He's getting ready to establish
again in the church male leadership. That's the biblically inspired
presently 21st century, 1st century, 21st century, biblically inspired
protocol for leadership in the church. Look among yourself for
men of honest report. That is, they have to be people
that are known in the church. Do you see that? Men of honest
report, full of the Holy Ghost, wow, and wisdom, whom we may
appoint over this business. You see that? So now we have
to look out among ourselves and see do we have people who have
been with us long enough who have demonstrated the kind of
characteristics wherein we can entrust them to this task. They
have to demonstrate a priority in the things of the kingdom
of God, a sound working knowledge of biblical truth, and then also
character, character of life by which we can entrust them
with this task. You know what that means? Now watch this, I
want you to mark this. The diaconate, the diaconate is really a messianic
office. The diaconate is really a messianic
office. I know that may have jumped over
your head because we love the dog, the deacons. But the diaconate
is really a messianic office This is really a role of messiah
Let me ask you the question was christ a deacon Yes, he was he
was the quintessential deacon The son of man came not to be
ministered to but to minister That's our word for deacon. Did
you hear that? The son of man came not to be
ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. The idea of a deacon is a messianic
office. I've taught this for years. I've
taught this for years. When we play the idea of a deacon
down, we have completely missed the centrality of Christ's purpose
for coming, which is serving us. He served us, did he? Didn't he take off his garments
and put on the garments of a servant and humbled himself even to wash
our feet? Didn't he bring manna from heaven?
Didn't he multiply the loaves? Didn't he feed us? Didn't he
take care of us? Christ is the greatest deacon in the universe. And so the deaconate is a powerful,
powerful ministry. And for those of you who have
been with grace for many years, you know that you thank God for
your deacons, don't you? Especially the ones who have
fulfilled their office and have been anointed to do what they
do, because the deacons are taking care of almost all of the menial
tasks. One of the reasons why we usher
our men into leadership through the office of deacon and then
into the office of elder before moving them into the office of
pastor is so that they can have a healthy appreciation of the
whole structure. Like a lot of cats go to college
to get a degree so they can jump right into the pulpit without
having served one person. Without having served one person.
I've been pastoring now grace for 19 years and every Individual
that has come to me asking about ministry has has heard me say
you've got to be here 10 years Before you are in the place that
I'm in and you got to start at the entry level of loving people
and serving people because the best pastors will be those who
have served first and Are you hearing what I'm saying? That's
the only way it really works. That's the only way it really,
really works. Every now and then you'll have
an individual who may be exceptional in his exegetical skills, but
he will not be able to circumvent the necessary engagement with
people and praying for people and serving people and giving
to people and taking the humble path that's necessary to be moved
up to leadership. And this is why in first Timothy
three, the qualifications for a deacon, almost absolutely similar
to the qualifications of the pastor you guys notice that the
qualifications of a deacon carry virtually the same qualifications
of a pastor in the area of character in the area of character in the
area of service and something I had this question raised to
me by a young man who was aspiring to the ministry last week he
says you know what's the difference between a pastor and a Deacon
and an elder and and and and a teacher and I said one is an
office. The other is a gift Like you
may have the gift of teaching but you do not have the gift
of serving in the diaconate That's a calling and it's an office
and you may have messed up your life in such a way that you don't
meet those qualifications to be a deacon because deacons are
have to meet certain qualifications. You know, today in most of our
churches, any old Tom, Dick and Harry and Susie can be a deacon
today, right? You guys know that, right? Any old Tom, Dick and
Harry, Susie, Sally, Sharon, Jim, Joan, deacons and elders. Life all jacked up. No pattern
of life, no consistency, no evidence that the Lord was with them for
10 years, working through the struggles in the home, building
up the family, learning how to recover from errors and mistakes.
They don't have those prerequisite skill sets to occupy the office
of deacon and elder. And both of those offices are
messianic offices. Are you hearing me? Christ is an elder. Is he not? Is he not our elder brother?
Christ was a deacon. Christ was an elder. Is Christ
the chief pastor of the church? There's no office that we have,
standing office, which is not messianic in nature. That's why
the qualifications are critical in order for us to be successful
as a local church. And when churches are compromising
those principles, you are asking for all kinds of trouble. I'd
rather have one super deacon than 25 rough fellas who don't
really meet the qualifications. It's terrible. Isn't that terrible? You know, in our Baptist churches,
you know what the deacon looks like? He looks like the fellow
that sits over in the corner with his mouth while asleep. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Isn't that true? That's the deacon
over there. That's terrible. That's a horrible depiction of
Messiah. Did Messiah ever sleep on the
people of God anytime? You see how when we don't hold
the standard up, how easily it gets watered down. And listen,
the ladies in the church laugh at him. That's right. They may not say it, but they
laugh at it. The children laugh at him. You understand? And no one wants that office.
No one wants to be consigned to a dunce hat position. That's
right. Because it doesn't represent
Messiah. See the person that moves into
the office of a deacon, he has been called according to Timothy,
a noble work. He holds the mystery of the kingdom
of God in good faith. He is fully endowed with an understanding
of the gospel and he knows how to translate the gospel into
action. That's what a deacon does. He
translates the gospel into action. He puts substance to the gospel. Because see, you may, you may
not think you need the substance of the gospel, but when you're
in trouble, you need the substance of the gospel. Yeah, you do.
And guess who comes through? The deacons. The deacons come
through. So serving the material needs.
I've got five more minutes. And so the official position
was established as first Timothy chapter three verses eight through
12. Go there with me. I'm going to just deal with two
more points in first Timothy. We'll close it down, pick this
up next week. So the official position is established
in first Timothy chapter three. Although the word deacon is in
our texts, it's the word ministry administration. Those, the word
ministry and administration have for their root word diakonos. And so in first Timothy chapter
three, I want you to mark the qualifications of the deacon.
Are you there? And they are fundamentally the same as the elder, but we
read in verse eight, likewise, must the deacons be grave. That's
sober, not double tongue. Do you see that? That means they
have to be disciplined in their spirit because you know, church
folk can be hypocritical. That's what double tongue me.
I I've told our deacons and I've told our elders, listen, I w
I want you to be known. Watch this now. for saying the
same thing to everyone everywhere. That's what it means to be single-tongued.
In other words, the deacon is not whispering behind closed
doors one thing with a group of people that he can kind of
tell silly little foolish jokes or make people look bad. And
then over here, he appears to have a kind of decorum and nicety
about himself. That's a hypocrite. That's a
double-tongued individual. Now, do you understand what kind
of discipline character you have to have to tell everyone the
same thing all the time so that everywhere you are heard of,
everybody knows, oh, that's oh, that's Deacon Jesse, because
that's the way he is across the board. Are you hearing me? That's the way you're supposed
to be. The deacons are not to get caught up in the the surreptitious,
snaky, tricky stuff that church folk like to do. Cause you know,
church folk love the hen pack and he grabbed the deacons and
gossip and talk bad about folks through the deacons. Now y'all
know that, right? Don't act like y'all don't know that folks love
the dump on deacons and get the deacon all corrupted. This is
especially so in Baptist churches. It's terrible, man. That's terrible.
Huh? Yeah, it's you get a Baptist
church where they got like 900 deacons and one and one pastor.
And the pastor is no longer the pastor. You know that because
the deacons running the show, they're just like silly women
laden with sin. Everybody knows they're silly.
Everybody knows they have no character, no, no discipline,
no integrity. The church is all jacked up.
There's nothing but a gossip center at that point. You guys
know what I'm saying, right? Listen to it. Likewise, must
the deacon be graved, not double tongue, not given to much wine.
Do you see that he needs to be sober, not greedy, a filthy looker. You can pay a deacon off. You
know that, right? As soon as you pan the deacon off, he's
no good. He's corrupt. He's holding the mystery of the
faith in a what? Pure conscious. See, he's walking
Coram Dale. He's in the presence of God.
He fears God more than he is seeking your approval. You understand
that the deacon, the deacon will shame you. A good deacon will
shame you. Do you know why? Because you
think you can pull the wool over his eyes and he'll stop you dead
in your tracks and show you the power of God in his life. And
he'll do it with the most love. It'd be so sweet, but you can
experience the power of him. Say, Hey, no, we can't do that.
Don't you know what the book says? That's a good deacon. Isn't That's a good deacon. Stop
you and your, he, you are ready to perpetuate some foolishness
and the deacon say, Hey sis, perish the thought. Those are
your brothers and sisters in Christ. You can't talk to them
like that. This is good stuff. I know, I
know it hurts, but it's good. And let these first be proved.
In other words, you have to prove deacons. You have to prove it.
Then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless.
I'll just deal with one more category in our outline. And
this has to do with the women's role in the ministry of the diaconate,
of which the apostle deals with in chapter 5. Look at it. Chapter
5. In chapter 5, he deals with what
in the old church would have been equivalent to the convent
and the nunneries. where our sisters were devoted
to serving as nuns. That was called the diaconate
back then, OK? That was called the diaconate.
They were deaconesses. They had a uniquely different
role then, because their role was largely taking care of the
children, taking care of the widows, taking care of the misfortune. That was a wonderful role, because
as we have learned in the study with Deborah as the mother of
Israel, the virtues of a godly woman's input in the needs of
those broken families, our widowed women, our fatherless children,
husbands who lost their wives the virtue of a godly woman nothing
like the virtue of a godly woman nothing like the older women
who are rooted and grounded in Christ nothing like they're being
part of the ministry as long as they are staying in their
lane nothing like them the church is served enormously by our mothers
in the church enormously listen to it I just want you guys to
hear how the Apostle set this straight because he see Is no
really, really there's no retirement in the church. So you get to
go to work after 60 in the church. Watch this now. I want you to
just mark this. He says, uh, he says, verse nine,
let not a widow be taken into the number. This is what we mean
by the deaconate, the coven tree, the ministry of the nuns under
three score years old. See that you can't even start
working in the kingdom. Tell you 60. I love it. I'd rather smart watch this Having
been the wife of one man. Do you see it with a legacy? See what a pattern Why because
the diaconate for women is a messianic office And it requires demonstrating
the same grace that a man requires When you got mothers in the church
That have been married from their youth Their husbands have died
after many years of being with him that woman has learned a
lot about raising kids and dealing with children That can be of
enormous benefit to the local church. You guys got that very
important She can be super sympathetic With the struggling wife whose
husband is selfish Because she's been there She can be super empathetic
with the husband whose wife is like a dripping faucet. Bloop,
bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. Cause she's been there. She knows how to nurture those
difficulties. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? There are situations that rise up where, uh, cause
I do a lot of counseling and, uh, a sister will ask me, you
know, Is there any females in the church that are older that
can actually minister to me? Because my situation, in my opinion,
is too tender for a male person. You know what's interesting about
that? It's a challenge to find people who are willing to serve
like that. Isn't that amazing? But that's because our 21st century
churches are not first century churches. and we have failed
to realize just because you retired from your job, there ain't no
retirement in the church of the living God. And that these young
women need you older women more today than they ever, ever did. The idea of you retiring and
just going off and living your life, that's so unbiblical, you
older mothers. That's so unbiblical. It's so
selfish. It makes no Christian sense.
Get yourself right and help these babies. Especially these women,
these young women need your help. They need your help so bad. That's
why I keep telling my sisters, I'm done here, I'll take this
up next week. Don't come to me talking about, I think I'm called
to be a pastor. Don't you tell me you're called
to be a pastor. I can tell you right now, that
didn't come from God. If you are gonna be a pastor,
first remove the word, cause you don't get to, Embrace that
title biblically, but if you're gonna pass if you're gonna shepherd
if you're gonna nurture you're gonna nurture your own sisters
You're gonna nurture your daughters The kingdom of God is filled
with women that need the care of other women Who if they want
to devote themselves to full-time ministry that way there's no
better Job than to have women who are devoted to help the other
women. Am I making some sense? All right, let's close in prayer.
Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for my brothers and sisters.
As we go our way, give us traveling mercies. We pray in Jesus' name,
amen. God bless you.