Pastors and Deacons

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

PASTORS AND DEACONS

Acts 6:1-4

6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

NIV

Once again, we must ask the question, what happened to the New Testament church? Here we see that the twelve gathered to handle a situation that arose between the Grecian and Hebraic Jews. It is interesting how these two groups were identified. What appears to be the main difference is the Grecian Jews were those who mainly spoke Greek, and who lived in other lands or the diaspora, while the Hebraic Jews were born and bred in Israel, however, both were living in Jerusalem. These Grecian Jews may have returned to retire, or simply wanted to come back to the homeland, but as with today, they may have been seen as immigrants and thus not the same as those who always lived in Israel. The Grecian Jews may have adopted some of the cultural or social customs of the various countries that lived in before returning to Jerusalem and so they were not "normal" Jews. From what we learn from this narrative there must have been some sort of soup kitchen, as it were, for the poor, which was to include the widows. This would have been in line with the Torah and in Deuteronomy to take care of both the foreigner and the widows. However, it seems the foreign widows were being overlooked. Of course, that was not right, it even went against the teaching of Jesus. However, bias has always existed, and it has never disappeared. Still, what is most interesting is that the twelve felt it was not right for them to become so involved in the administration of the church which kept them from the spiritual matters of the church. Here is the introduction of the deacons into the church. There are two truths we should consider. First, the deacons need to be men known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. The second is the role of the pastors. So let us think about the deacons first being full of the Holy Spirit. What does that look like? Perhaps we could look at Stephen as one example of a man filled with the Spirit. Of course, to fully examine the life and legion of Stephen, it would take a book. Nevertheless, we know he did not just work in the soup kitchen but also preached the word of God, he would not remain silent. However, the main role of the deacons was to serve the people in the material sense. This seems to have continued throughout the years, being the administrators of assistance to the people. On the other hand, the Apostles or the pastors of the church felt they should restrict themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. This may happen in some churches today, but in other churches, it seems the pastor views himself as the CEO and becomes so involved in the administration of the church he does not have the time to spend doing that which he should, prayer and the ministry of the word, at least at the same level the Apostles did. Has life become that much more complex that we have lost certain aspects of the early New Testament church? Does it matter? Is it better to evolve to keep abreast with the local customs of our current society? After all, we may have left behind choosing men who are filled with the Spirit and wisdom and gone to accepting whoever will volunteer to serve on a deacon board, which today includes women. This is not being sexist, but merely stating that we are adopting current societal pressures. This is not to say that women have not and are not used by God in various ways. We have examples of powerful women in the bible. It is just according to this narrative; they chose men who were filled with the Spirit and wisdom. These are the qualities that must exist if someone is chosen to serve as a deacon, rather than allowing anyone who volunteers to serve. Have we left the course? Have we strayed from the standard for both deacons and pastors? Maybe it is better to change with the times, then we would be more comfortable with how things are, it is more familiar with our world’s norms. Nevertheless, it should be noted that being filled with the Spirit and wisdom are desirable tracts, and being a person of prayer and ministry of the word should be a trait highly sought after.