Acts 035 – Apostolic Priorities

Transcript

Acts 035

Apostolic Priorities

Acts 6:4-7

January 17, 2024

Dr. Andy Woods

Alrighty. You guys really know how to bring in the global warming? Let’s open our Bibles this evening to the book of Acts 6:4. So the first part of this chapter is the appointment of the first deacons. We started studying that last time, which was our first Wednesday back after Christmas break. We’re going to try to finish that today and move through verses 4, 5, 6 and 7. But you remember the occasion. The occasion is the church, which is the Jerusalem church. Because at this point in church history, there are no other churches. So, it’s growing. The number of disciples is multiplying. And it created a problem because the widows of the Jews that came in from faraway lands to participate on the day of Pentecost and wanted to stick around because they got saved in Jerusalem thanks to the work of God through Peter’s sermon (Acts 2). They wanted to stick around, and they wanted to learn this new Christian way of life from the apostles. And it was creating an economic problem because they had to sort of live off the resources of the native Jerusalemites. That’s why the native Jews liquidated their assets, many of them, to have money on hand to help these out-of-towner Jews. The technical name for them is the Diaspora Jews. Jews in the dispersion. But at any rate, you have this situation where the church is growing, but the widows of the diaspora Jews were being overlooked in the daily administration of food.

So, it causes tension. Verse 1 says, a complaint arose. The idea is there’s some smoldering resentment. And you can imagine how you would feel if your family was being overlooked in something that was blessing the whole church financially because you were from out of town. I mean, that would bother any of us. And so that’s sort of the situation that’s taking place here. So essentially what happened is the apostles give some advice. We need to appoint deacons. So, this is the beginning of the office of deacon in the church– to handle this food crisis issue.  ‘And as that happens, that will liberate us apostles to continue with our ministry of the Word of God in prayer’. So, they lay out these qualifications for deacons to administer this food project. And those are mentioned there in verse 3. There are about five qualifications. So, if you’re looking for the qualifications of a deacon, you could find a lot of them right there in verse 3. There’s some more over in First Timothy chapter 3. And it’s at this point that the apostles say, okay, this is a good thing that we’re doing, because that frees us up as apostles who were functioning as elders of the Jerusalem church to pursue our apostolic responsibilities, our priorities. So, what are the apostolic priorities? If the apostles are not supposed to be involved in this service project, but instead be liberated from it because it’s been handed over to the deacons, allowing them to pursue their own priorities– What are their priorities? So, I’m so glad you asked me that question, because they’re right there in verse 4.

“But we–“ that’s the apostles functioning as elders of the Jerusalem church. “But we will devote–“ the idea of devoting is priority. “–we will devote ourselves to–“ and notice the order here, “to prayer.” That’s number one. And number two “to the ministry of the word.” So, verse four is a description of what the apostles functioning as elders were supposed to be doing. And I don’t see how this these priorities have changed over the last 2000 years. Anybody that’s a shepherd or shepherds of a church, those are their two responsibilities: prayer and the Word. And then it says in verse 4, “[while] we…” In other words, the deacons are doing one thing– verse 3, a task, the administration of food to the widows and making sure everything’s equal and people aren’t being discriminated against. So as the deacons are doing that, the apostles say, “[while] we devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” So obviously the apostles or the elders have different functions in the deacons. So, this is your first verse in the Bible, verse 4, that tells you the deacons are to do one thing, and the apostles functioning as elders, are to do something different.

What are they supposed to do that’s different?  We devote– prioritize– ourselves to the ministry of the Word of God and prayer. Something that the apostles could not do as the church continued to grow. So, I take this as another internal attack on the church. Most of the things that we read about so far in the book of Acts are external attacks coming from the outside. The first time something internal happens is the Ananias and Sapphira incident in Acts 5. The Lord dealt with that through maximum divine discipline as we’ve studied. But the second internal attack is right here in Acts 6. And you have to understand that if the decision had had not been what it became, the early church would have suffered severely because the apostles would become absorbed in service projects. The ministry of the word and prayer wouldn’t have continued, and the church wouldn’t have continued to grow because the growth and the conversions that are happening in the church are related to the ministry of the word. Romans 10:17, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. You can get a big crowd of people in a room by teaching psychologically-based motivational principles, but those psychologically motivated, motivational-type principles don’t convert anybody because conversion happens through the Word. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.”

So, the early church would have suffered numerically big time if the apostles had become absorbed in service projects. So, this is the second way that the early church overcame an internal attack. Now, the exact same thing happened in the book of Exodus in the prior dispensation of the law. The nation of Israel was coming out of Egyptian captivity. They were coming out of Egyptian bondage. They had passed through the Red Sea, and they were on their way to Mount Sinai. And this is what happened as they were on their way to Mount Sinai. In Exodus 18:13-27, which is the Old Testament parallel of what’s happening here in Acts 6, it’s the identical situation. Exodus 18:13-14 says, It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. Now, when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” And you have to understand that there’s probably over a million people that he’s leading if you take the numbers in the book of Exodus literally– which I do. [verse 15-16] Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me and inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and his laws.”

So, Moses is out there working himself to death, taking care of every little issue that comes up in a flock of about a million Israelis that had just come out of Egypt. [verse 17-21] Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing which you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of the people able men–“ now this is not deacons. These are lower court judges. “–you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God–“ so he’s laying out criteria for these lower court judges, just like criteria, character-wise, was laid out for deacons back in verse 3. So, people who fear God, those who hate dishonest gain– not hate the truth. What am I thinking here? “…hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.”

So, his father-in-law is saying, you need a judicial system. You know, you can’t handle every single dispute. You’ve got to have some lower court judges or you’re going to wear yourself out. [verse 22] “Let them–“ that’s the lower court judges– “judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.” In other words, Moses, you’re the Supreme Court– you know? You take care of the big cases, and you’ve got to hand off these lower-level cases to this judicial system based on people that you select that have reputable character. [verse 23-24] “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people—” over a million of them who didn’t do anything but complain against Moses as you study the story. “…and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” So, Moses listened to his father-in-law… Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten in my personal life has come from my father-in-law, to be honest with you. Your father-in-law is a pretty good person to listen to if he’s walking with the Lord because he has your best interest at heart.

[Verse 24-27] So, Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land. So, the nation of Israel was saved from legal chaos by creating a lower court system to lift the burden from Moses. The same type of thing is happening here in Acts 6 for the church age. Because if the apostles had been sucked into this task of administering food to the widows, it would have pulled them away from what God wanted them to do– prayer and the word– and the church would have suffered. So, it’s kind of interesting to me this concept of delegating authority. And leaders not being control freaks where they have to micromanage everything; being able to pick people of reputable character to manage tasks; how it alleviates burden off of leadership. That whole issue is narrated for us in the dispensation of the law and again in the dispensation of the church age twice. So, it must be an important leadership principle as far as God is concerned. And I think this is something that every church, frankly, every generation, needs to relearn this over and over again.

Because what people do is they run to the person they see that’s the most visible– which in a church is usually the pastor. And they run to him with every single problem. And the truth of the matter is, if he became involved in managing every single problem, he would burn himself out. And most pastors burn themselves out. They don’t really survive long in ministry because they haven’t paid enough attention, in my opinion, to what God says. So, leaders have to be willing to abdicate authority to people that you can trust. And if you don’t do that, you’ll work yourself right into the ground. By the way, in ministry, you have total permission to go and totally burn yourself out if you want to. I mean, you have the ability to do that. Let me put it that way. And that’s not God’s best for spiritual leaders. He wants some longevity. And so, leaders need to learn the art of delegating authority to capable people. Which means that the type A person that wants to do the job themselves all the time because only then is it going to be done exactly their way– they need to get over that. Delegate authority to people you trust. Let them do things their own way. Let them make a few mistakes. But that’s how you expand your longevity in ministry. And this is how the nation of Israel was saved from judicial chaos in the wilderness through the appointment of different lower court judges.

And this is how the church in Acts chapter 6 survived a second internal attack as the Holy Spirit is at work here, raising up another office in the church, the office of deacon. And the deacons would handle the daily administration of food. Not anybody could be a deacon. You had to meet character criteria. Not anybody could be a lower court judge, Exodus 18. Your character had to meet a certain criteria. But once that criteria were met and there were no major character issues, the delegation of authority is of God. So, this was the apostle’s advice. The apostle’s advice is select deacons, verse 2. Here are the qualifications, verse 3. And that will liberate us apostles to do what God has called us to do. If I did everything people wanted me to do at Sugar Land Bible Church, and if I did everything people wanted me to do in the community, I really would have no time at the end of the day to be a decent Bible teacher, or to study. I really wouldn’t be a very good family person at the end of the day. It would pull me away from what God wants me to do. And so, this is what’s laid out here I think is a healthy principle. So, what follows in verses 5 and 6 is the appointment of these deacons.

You have their approval, the enumeration of who these deacons are in verse 5. And then they’re appointed into their role, verse 6. So, notice if you will, verse 5. It says, The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. Verse 6, And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid hands on them. So, notice this first expression here: The statement found approval with the whole congregation. Why is the whole congregation happy with this? Because it’s a way of resolving the Diaspora Jews widows being overlooked for food. That’s why they’re happy. And just because the statement found approval with the congregation doesn’t mean the congregation had the authority to implement the decision. What you’re going to see here is these deacons make the apostles/elders aware of the problem. They nominate deacons for the position. But they’re not actually installed and appointed until the apostles become involved. So, this is an example of what we would call an elder-led church here, which is the same model that we follow here at Sugarland Bible Church. Decision making, when it comes to the final say, is made by the elders, which consists of a plurality of godly men. And you know, we think that’s the model that best fits the New Testament understanding of the church.

We don’t follow here a congregational-led model where the authority is vested in the congregation. There are a lot of churches that do that. That’s why there’s continual votes on this and that. That doesn’t happen here at Sugarland Bible Church because we want the congregation’s input. We want their involvement. We want their nominations. We want them to have the freedom to come to elders when they see needs. But when it comes to making the final decision of, are we going to do this or are we going to do that? It’s made by a plurality of godly men, and the reason we don’t follow the congregational led model is, the function of the local church is to bring the sheep to maturity. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, God has put gifted men into the church so that they can use their spiritual gifts so that the flock, the body of Christ, can be matured so they can be equipped for service. So those that you are leading into maturity don’t call the final shot– right? That would be like letting the inmates run the asylum. It’d be like my daughter, you know, telling Mom and Dad how things are going to go. That’s not how it works in the natural world. It’s not how it works in the church world. The sheep don’t control the shepherds. It’s the shepherds that lead the sheep. It’s the other way around.

And I think a lot of that gets lost in sort of this American mindset of one man, one vote kind of thing; where the authority, in many places rests with the congregation. We don’t really find that in Scripture. We see final decision-making being made through a plurality of godly men. The apostles are made aware of a need here in Acts 6 by the flock. Nominations are brought forward, but the actual installation and the decision to install deacons is something that resided with the apostles, who in this case are functioning as elders. So, keep that in mind when you read these verses that say this statement found approval with the whole congregation– if you look at verse 2, it says, So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples– it’s the twelve that are implementing the decision. If you look at verse 3, it says, “Therefore, brethren–“ the apostles now are speaking. “select from among you seven men of good reputation,” etc.. So the authority is vested here in the elders/apostles. And as you look at verse 6, it says …these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they (the apostles) laid hands on them (these deacons). So, yeah, they’re making decisions that’s pleasing to the group. But the group is not controlling what the apostles are doing. This is not a congregational model as some try to turn it into. But it’s an elder-led model.

In fact, over in Acts chapter 4:37, just to show you the authority of the elders/apostles, it talks there about Barnabas who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. So, it’s the apostles that are determining how money is to be spent and how is to be distributed in the local church. So again, not a congregational-rule model, but an elder-led model. And then as you look at the second part of verse 5, you see the names of these deacons that have just been selected. [verse 5] The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose– and it lists several people here. The first is Stephen. And by the way, all of these names: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas— those are all Greek names, which means all these deacons come from the diaspora. So, in this position, they didn’t appoint native Jerusalemites. Everyone that’s appointed comes from the diaspora to participate on the Day of Pentecost. Now, why did they do that? Why did they appoint all Diaspora Jews to this position? And we think that’s true because all these names are Greek names. Just to make sure that there’s no accusation that these widows are being treated unfairly. Because the accusation was the Hellenistic Jews, not the native Hebrews, but the Hellenistic Jews, their widows were being overlooked.

And so, the apostles said, well, we’re going to solve this problem by making every single deacon, a Hellenistic deacon– see that? And so that’s why all these names, interestingly, are Greek names. So, let’s kind of go through each of these guys very fast. The first one’s name is Stephen. And Stephen is described here. There are two things said of Stephen. Number one: he’s a man full of faith. That’s who you want as a leader in a church. Someone who’s “full of faith.” That issue of faith is so significant to God, because Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him. So, people that should become leaders or deacons in a church should be people of faith. Not only people that have been justified before God through faith alone, but people who continue to walk by faith and allow the Lord to use them. The second attribute of Stephen here is he is “a man full of the Holy Spirit.” He’s a spiritual man. Very different than Ananias and Sapphira, right? What did Peter say about Ananias? “…why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?” Ananias, we think, was a believer, but his heart was filled with satanic things, self-centered things.

Stephen is the exact opposite. I think it’s the same Greek word “fill” (pléroó). Stephen was a man that was full of the Spirit. So, Stephen is what we would call a spiritual man. So, this is the heritage of these deacons who came from the diaspora, as we’ve tried to explain. Stephen was a man full of faith, and he was a man full of the Spirit. You know, First Corinthians 3:1-3– right? Where Paul says: I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. So, when he says “in Christ,” he’s talking about Christians. There are three kinds of Christians: spiritual, carnal, and babes. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indee, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? So, a carnal Christian is someone that can take in milk, but they can’t take in solid food. They thrive on milk but reject the meat. They have an inability to go deeper into spiritual things. That’s why this church drives out carnal Christians all the time. Because the carnal Christian will say, well, you can’t expect us to sit here and listen to the Bible for an hour. Well, that’s a revelation of someone’s carnality.

They will take in a surface, 20 minute, three points and a poem, but they can’t take in any more than that because they’re in a state of infancy or carnality. Carnality is also evidenced by their dominated by fleshly ambitions and desires like jealousy and strife. So, Paul the Apostle and actually a carnal Christian, when he says, are you not behaving like mere men? A carnal Christian can out-sin an unbeliever any day of the week. That’s why Paul in First Corinthians chapter 5 says: you know, the pagans don’t even do what y’all are doing? You’ve out paganized the pagans as Christians. So, he’s not calling into question their salvation. Paul took the world, and he divided it into two. The unbelievers and the believers. He calls the unbeliever the natural man. And for most people, their thinking stops there. But Paul says, no, I’m going to keep drawing. I’m going to make some more categories here. I want to divide the world of the saved into three kinds of people. Number 1) there are the infants. Did you see the word “infant” there? Babes. First Corinthians 3:1. Those are people that are new in Christ, and they’re doing things that are age appropriate. Like sucking your thumb when you’re three years old. That’s age appropriate. When you’re sucking your thumb at age 17, it’s not age appropriate anymore.

The second category he describes is the carnal; people that should have grown up a long time ago. But their spiritual life as a Christian is still devoted to the meat. In this case, the flesh, the sin nature. They haven’t learned to reckon the sin nature dead and live according to the desires of the new nature. Not that God calls us to be sinless, that’s sort of impossible. But a carnal Christian is not sinning less. They’re the same way they were 1 or 2 days or 1 or 2 weeks after salvation. And people can very sadly stay in that state for decades and decades and decades. That’s why the author of Hebrews says, by this time some of you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word. So they were, in Hebrews 5:11-14, in a state of carnality, far longer than what’s age appropriate. So, they’re not infants anymore. They’re just carnal. And then the third category of the saved is the spiritual. And I’m drawing it this way because Paul uses three different words here. And these are people that are growing Christians. They don’t have a birth issue, and they don’t have a growth issue. The infant has been born, but there hasn’t been enough time to grow. The carnal has been born, but they haven’t grown beyond infancy when they should have by now. But the spiritual man is not the believer that’s sinless, but is sinning less, and is learning to reckon the old desires dead and to live according to the desires of the new nature.

Lewis Sperry Chafer has a book entitled He That is Spiritual, describing that third group of the spiritual man. And that’s who Stephen was. He was full of faith. He was full of the Spirit. He was a spiritual man. And that’s why he was appointed to the office of deacon. And that’s why he’s the first one mentioned. So, the apostles chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Now, why is Stephen’s name mentioned first? Because he’s going to become the main act at the end of Acts 6. He’s going to be arrested. In Acts 7, he’s going to give one of the greatest speeches and sermons ever. And in Acts 8, he’s going to be martyred. So, he becomes the main act in chapter 6, 7and 8. And it’s his death– the first martyrdom in the church age that’s going to lead to persecution against the church by the unbelieving Jews. Which is going to push the church out of Jerusalem into the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. And what revolves around all of that, includes the conversion of Saul, who was going to administer Stephen’s execution. And as he sees Stephen go to his grave glorifying God, I think a deep seed is going to be planted in Saul’s heart, leading to Saul’s conversion in Acts 9.

So, if you don’t have a Stephen, you don’t have an arrest in chapter 6. You don’t have a tremendous speech in chapter 7. You don’t have a martyrdom at the end of chapter 7. You don’t have a persecution of the early church in chapter 8. And you don’t have a conversion of Saul, who later became Paul, who’s going to write two thirds of our New Testament epistles. So, the central character in this coming section that I’ve tried to outline is this man, Stephen. That’s why he’s mentioned first. Deacon number two is Philip. He’s mentioned second because he’s going to be the main character of action after Stephen goes into the presence of the Lord through martyrdom. Philip is going to do two things. He’s going to start a revival in Samaria. And Philip is going to lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ in Acts chapter 8. And if the Ethiopian eunuch is not led to Christ, Acts chapter 8, then how in the world can the gospel get into Africa? So, the Ethiopian eunuch is going to believe because of the influence of Philip. And presumably the Ethiopian eunuch took the truths of the gospel and took it back to Africa, Ethiopia. And that’s how the gospel made its way into Africa. So that’s why Philip is the second guy mentioned, because of the revival he’s going to lead in Samaria, and he’s the one that’s going to lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ.

So, Stephen is mentioned first because he’s the main guy in chapters 6, 7 and most of 8. Philip is mentioned second because he’s the main guy with the revival in Samaria in Acts 8 and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. And then there’s a few more of these deacons mentioned that we don’t have a lot of information on. Prochorus– don’t know much about him. Nicanor. Timon, Parmenas, and then Nicolas, if you’re looking for a Saint Nick in your Bible, that’s probably as close as you’re going to get. Now, what does it say about Nicolas? This is very interesting… a proselyte. It doesn’t give any other information on any of these other guys in between Philip and Nicolas other than Nicolas. More information is given about him. He is a proselyte. What is a proselyte? There were proselytes present to hear Peter preach on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:10 says: Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. You see Rome way up there in the West. There were people from Rome visiting Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and happened to hear Peter’s sermon, many of whom were converted, who came from Rome in the West; Diaspora, Jews, and proselytes. So, what is a proselyte? A proselyte is basically somebody who wanted to follow the ways of Yahweh. And consequently, they converted to Judaism in the sense that they came under the authority of the Mosaic Law.

The most famous proselyte in the whole Bible that I know of is a woman named Ruth. There’s a whole book written about her and her story. She was a Moabitess, meaning she lived adjacent to the land of Israel in the west. And she was converted through Naomi and the situation that took place there in the book of Ruth. And Ruth, the Moabitess, said to her mother-in-law, your God will be my God, your people will be my people. And so, she converted to Judaism in the sense that she is a Gentile, and deliberately put herself under the Mosaic law. That’s what a proselyte was. Apparently, there were proselytes in Rome who went with the Jews to celebrate the feast of the day of Pentecost, and then heard Peter preach, and were converted to the way which later is going to be called Christianity. Jesus in Matthew 23:15 said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites–“ I love the way Jesus talks. “–because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” So, the Pharisees were really interested in gaining proselytes. It’s just they weren’t doing it the right way. When they gained one, they would put them under all this legalistic bondage. But that’s not really what a proselyte is in the true sense of the word. So that’s who this man Nicolas was.

Notice that Nicolas is also from Antioch. It says: Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. Why should I care about Antioch? Whenever you’re reading the Bible, you have to ask yourself, why is the writer telling me this? Why should I care about Antioch? Well, Antioch is on the northern tip of Israel and it’s going to become a big deal. Because it’s from Antioch, many, many people will get saved. The apostles will go there in great numbers, discipling the masses. And the Apostle Paul from Antioch is going to launch his three missionary journeys… [INAUDIBLE] why Luke tells us that this man, Nicolas, came from Antioch. Maybe Nicolas played some kind of role in seeing that the gospel made its way to Antioch, which is going to become a key geographical sending place later in the book of Acts. Now, in the book of Revelation, there’s a heresy floating around called the heresy of the Nicolaitans. It’s related to the church at Pergamum and the church at Ephesus. Jesus says this to the church at Ephesus much later. [Rev 2:6] “Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” And then to Pergamum he says, [Rev 2:15] “So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” And scholars spend all this time trying to figure out what’s the heresy of the Nicolaitans? Nobody knows. I’ve read probably every theory that can be out there, and nobody knows exactly what it is. The best you can do is put the heresy together from the name.

–Laitans means laity, people. Nico– where we got the Nike company. Nikaó means victor, conqueror. So, when you put nikaó together with laity it was some kind of system– I think. And I can’t prove this. I’m just getting it from the etymology of the word. It was some kind of system where there was a laity clergy distinction. Where the laity were told they couldn’t get to God unless they came through the conquerors; kind of like Roman Catholicism says you can’t come to God unless you go through a priest. I think that’s what the heresy of the Nicolaitans was. Gnostics did this constantly. They told people, you can’t really be complete in Christ until you have our secret knowledge. So, they put themselves right in the middle of the laity and God and promoted themselves as a pathway to God. It’s the beginning of Clergy-laity type distinctions. So, in churches that follow this kind of thing, the clergy all have a special place where they sit, and they have these special robes and all of this stuff that other people don’t have. That’s kind of what I think Nicolaitan-ism is. And the reason I’m bringing this up is a lot of people speculate that Nicolaitan came from Nicolas. There’s a similar sounding word: Nicolas…Nicolaitans. So, a lot of people see Nicolas as sort of a drifter who started this heresy that Jesus confronts in the Book of Revelation. And it’s something that’s very interesting to think about. I just don’t think you can be 100% dogmatic about it. But you’ll read that in a lot of commentaries coming from Nicolas.

So, these deacons are now appointed, verse 6: And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them. So, notice who’s making the decision. The congregation is making the apostles aware of the need, but it’s the apostles functioning as elders that have the final say. And then as they’re appointing these deacons, they’re laying hands on them. Now, what’s this whole business of laying on of hands? What does that mean? The first time it’s used in the Bible is Numbers 27:22-23. It says: Moses did just as the Lord commanded him; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest. And before all the congregation. Then he laid hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. So, it’s a ritual where you publicly lay hands on someone when you’re appointing them to an office of some kind within the church. And since these are all Jewish people, they all knew that custom. And so, it’s carried over into the church age. Paul, when he writes to Timothy, refers to this laying on of hands. He says [1 Tim 4:14], Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery– or elders.

So, the elders recognized the spiritual gifting of Timothy, and when he was appointed to the office of pastor teacher over the church at Ephesus, there was a public ceremony where the leadership of the church laid hands on Timothy. Paul in the same book, first Timothy 5:22 says this: Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourselves free from sin. In other words, you can do it too fast– publicly appoint someone to some kind of position before they have the character to handle it, or without the leadership knowing the full character of the person that they’re appointing. I’ve seen this happen in churches where they have a gap, a ministry that needs to be filled, and they’re so eager to fill that gap that they just grab the first person that they think might fit, and they rush them into the position before that person has really been vetted. So that’s why Paul, when he’s writing to church leaders, says: Be careful. Laying on of hands is a good thing, but don’t do it too fast. And don’t do it with elders, and don’t do it with deacons, because there’s actual character attributes that an elder or deacon has to have. It has to be visible and understandable and known to everyone before you lay hands on somebody.

But anyway, there’s approval, there’s the enumeration of the deacons, and then you see their appointment into this office. And because the church was doing things God’s way, there’s a blessing that follows. And the blessing is recorded in verse 7, which is the last verse we’re going to look at tonight. It says: The Word of God kept on spreading; and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. So, three good things happened because deacons are appointed, and the apostles are liberated to pursue prayer and the Word in a in a more prioritized way. Three good things happened: 1) The word of God increased. You see the focus here on the Word? Verse 4: we will devote ourselves to the ministry of the word. Verse 7: The Word of God continued to increase. Verse 2: It is not desirable for us to neglect the word to wait on tables. So, the word (logos)– which I think here is the Scripture– is spoken of in verses 2, 4, and 7. That’s why this is an internal crisis. There could have been a crisis of the word because the apostles/elders would have been too busy doing something else and had no time for the word. But because they did what God was directing them to do, they had time for the word, and the Word of God increased. Which is a good thing– Amen? –because when the Word of God increases, power increases. Because there’s power in the word. Isaiah 55:10-11: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” So when God’s word goes out, it doesn’t return empty. I have to be honest with you, I must hang on that promise constantly. Because a lot of times you’re up here and it’s kind of lonely. You’re trying to teach the word and you don’t know exactly what’s happening. So, you hang on the promise that when God’s Word goes out, it doesn’t return empty. It always succeeds in the reason for which it was sent. [Jeremiah 23:29] “Is not My word like fire?” Declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters rocks?” [Hebrews 4:12] For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [Second Timothy 4:2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

So, the word increased because the apostles/elders had time to devote themselves to a study and a proclamation of the word because they weren’t sidetracked into a service project– which on its surface was a good service project. But not for the apostles. That’s a deacon’s project. The apostles and elders have a different set of priorities. The second good thing that happened is the number of disciples increased. Verse 7: …and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. Why did the number of disciples increase? Because conversions happen through the Word of God. [Romans 10:17] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. [Second Timothy 3:15] and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. [First Peter 1:23] for you have been born again not of seed, which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. All these verses say people get saved through hearing the word.

Remember the guy that went to hell, and he said: I’ve got five brothers; send somebody out to warn my brothers. Remember the answer that was given to him? Luke 16:28-31: “‘–for I have five brothers–in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'” In other words, the Word of God is the best. It’s the very best ingredient that God has to save us all. And if a person doesn’t want to hear that, you could do miracles until the cows come home– they won’t listen because there’s a certain degree of authority and power in the word. So, the disciples here are increasing, because now the Word of God is going out. And the church continues to grow since there’s no longer a division concerning the Hellenistic Jews being overlooked. I think Luke includes this because it’s one of his progress reports that he’s giving to Theophilus about the birth and the growth of the church. Documenting how the church started and how it grew geographically, ethnically and numerically. And he documents the numerical growth of the church as we’ve studied through various progress reports, 3000 are saved. Later, the number is up to 5000. And there’s some more, less clear indirect progress reports like the one we’re reading here. The church continues to grow.

And why wouldn’t it grow? Didn’t Jesus say, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it? So, when Christianity spreads, it shouldn’t be a big shock to us. Jesus said that would happen. But these conversions happen through the word. And as the apostles are giving themselves to the word, the church is increasing. You’ll notice it says: …in Jerusalem… because the Book of Acts is divided into three parts. “You’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth.” That’s how you outline the book of Acts. Jerusalem Ministry, chapters 1 through 7. Judea and Samaria Ministry, chapters 8 through 12. Remotest Parts of the Earth Ministry, the missionary journeys of Paul and his trip to Rome outside the borders of Israel, chapters 13 through 28. We’re not even in those latter sections yet. We’re just early in the book of Acts. We haven’t even gotten outside of Jerusalem yet. So, it says the Word of God is expanding in Jerusalem. Later, it’s going to get out into the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. Ultimately, it will get outside of the borders of Israel and all the way to Rome where Theophilus is going to hear the message and be saved. So, Luke is documenting all of these things for Theophilus.

And then the third good thing that happened through the appointment of deacons is the end of verse 7—it’s amazing: and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. Who are the priests? The Sadducees who were always sad-you-see, right? “Sad-you-sees” because they didn’t believe in miracles; they didn’t believe in resurrection and they only believed in the first five books of Moses. And here’s this church in Jerusalem proclaiming the word, and even these hard-minded, prideful, hard-hearted Sadducees are getting saved. I mean, the least likely group of people to get saved or getting saved. So, you’ve got people in your life and you’re saying that person will never get saved. Well, let the Word of God do its thing. And you’ll be shocked at the number of people that you never thought would be saved, getting saved. And these Sadducees are being won to the faith. See that? “a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” What’s “the faith”? Definite article in front of the noun faith. It’s the apostolic doctrine of the resurrected Christ that the apostles are teaching, going all the way back to Acts 2:42. What does it mean there when it says they were becoming obedient to the faith? Does that mean when you get saved, you have to submit every area of your life to Christ? –the way Lordship Salvation teaches. No, all you have to do is accept a gift. A free offer of salvation. So, you have to understand “obedient” the way John 3:36 describes it.

It says: He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. When it says, “…but the one who does not obey the Son…” you have to ask, obey the Son to do what? To believe. God’s command is to believe. But there are people that won’t obey that command. There are others that do obey the command; they believe and get saved. So that’s how Acts 6:7 is using this expression obedient to the faith. People are obeying the command to believe in Christ alone and consequently be saved. And so, it’s just a wonderful thing that God does here through this significant office of deacons. And God’s hand is on it so significantly that it’s going to result in Stephen’s arrest at the end of the chapter, leading to the one of the greatest speeches– with no sermon notes, I might add– in front of the enemies of Christianity in chapter 7. Leading to Stephen’s martyrdom at the end of chapter 7. The first martyr of the church age. And as Stephen dies, Jesus will be portrayed in heaven as standing. Jesus never stands in heaven. He’s always seated at the Father’s right hand. But at the end of chapter 7, Jesus is standing. I think, to welcome Stephen into heaven and to honor him as the first martyr of the Church Age.

And the guy that administers this martyrdom and presides over it is so mad that he’s just gnashing his teeth. My dentist would have a field day with that guy– because I’m a grinder. I have to wear a little thing to keep me from grinding my teeth at night. There are some real teeth grinding going on here, and they’re not even napping. They’re grinding their teeth because they’re just so angry at what Stephen says, because he points out all of Israel’s faults. And the teeth grinders, Saul being one, are so angry at the content of the speech that the martyrdom of Stephen is not enough. They then launch a persecution against the whole church, which is exactly what God wanted, because it pushed them into Judea and Samaria, which they probably wouldn’t have gone into absent persecution. And what spearheads this whole thing– this whole chain of events– is the appointment of deacons. So, for next time, you could read verses 8 through 15. We’ll try to finish chapter 6 next week.