In the sermon 'The Hands of Christ' by Peter Allison, the focus is on Acts Chapter 6, where the establishment of the deacon's office in the early church is discussed. The rapid growth of the church led to complaints from the Hellenists that their widows were neglected in the daily distribution of needs. The apostles recognized the necessity of addressing this issue and established the role of deacons to ensure the equitable distribution of resources and to maintain the unity of the church. Deacons were chosen based on their good reputation, being full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. The sermon emphasizes the importance of deacons as the 'hands of Christ,' serving the physical and spiritual needs of the congregation and acting as a vital part of the church's ministry and witness. The role is not seen as lesser than the apostles’ work but different and equally essential. The deacon's ministry of mercy is crucial for demonstrating the church's faith in action and is a necessary evidence of saving faith.

Please turn in your scriptures to Acts chapter 6. I contemplated, since Brother Carl has already read this, I contemplated reading the other passages in the New Testament that speak of deacons, but I decided that there are too many, that would be too long. Let's look at this Acts chapter 6 again. I would like to look at this passage this morning in light of the ordination that we just performed. Acts 6 beginning at verse 1, hear God's word.

Now in those days when the number of disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the Twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit 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 saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenos, and Nicolás, and Proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.

And then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Thus far the reading of God's word. May He write its truth upon our heart. Almighty Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We ask that You would give to us now Your Spirit that we may understand it.

We ask that You may speak to us this morning in the preaching of Your Word. And that You would sanctify these sinful lips that they may proclaim the wonder and the beauty that is in Jesus Christ, our beautiful Savior. Amen. Please be seated. Amen.

Please be seated. Well, this text that we have read this morning a couple of times is the occasion of establishing the office of deacon. We see all the characteristics that are a part of that process. Taught elsewhere in the Scriptures, they're all present right here in this text. This book of Acts is the story of the early Church from the time when Christ ascended into heaven and took His seat at the right hand of God the Father and the sending of the Holy Spirit to the church.

The giving of the Holy Spirit to the church, which Jesus said could not happen unless He went to the Father. The Holy Spirit who He said would come and testify the things that Jesus had said. He would testify of Christ. That was His work, to testify of Christ. And the Holy Spirit came and testified of Christ.

And one day when the Apostle Peter preached, 3, 000 people were added to the church. And they continued to preach. And more people were added to the church every day. And there was, Acts tells us, one accord in this church. The people were of one mind.

There were problems though. There was persecution. But that caused the church to grow more. There were other problems now. The church is becoming very large.

Thousands and thousands of people are in the church. The problem of pride came in. Self-aggrandizement of wanting to be seen as holy and a big giver. And it tempted two people to sin against the Holy Spirit. And they brought their gift to the Apostle Peter, and they lied about what that gift was that they were giving.

They said it was everything from the sale of their property, when it wasn't everything from the sale of their property. And God killed them, took their life right on the spot, and it brought great fear upon the church. But then the fellowship of the church now in this chapter is broken. This church that endured persecution, that was so close, that was walking in one accord, there were problems that arose. Problems that were directly due to the rapid growth of the church.

Our text says that the number of the disciples was multiplying. There arose a complaint. The Greek, the Hellenists, the Grecian widows, were getting shortchanged in the distribution of needs, in the showing of mercy. Remember, there are thousands of people here. Verse 7 says that many priests were obedient.

Now what do you suppose happened to a priest if he is obedient to the faith? This priest who had the sign of the covenant of grace, he says many of them believed. These priests who knew the Bible, God brought faith to them. And they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you suppose happened to them?

If they were prominent in the Sanhedrin? I don't think we have to wonder too much. They were probably thrown out, excommunicated. The person that Jesus healed was cast out. Many of the Pharisees and the people that were in authority there hated Jesus.

They hated His disciples. These priests that believed, they may have lost their livelihood. They were supported by the tithes that people brought to the temple. They were without work now. They were in need.

Their families would have been in need. There were many other people in these circumstances that had come from other parts of the world. These widows that are being neglected, it says that they were Grecian widows. They may have been Jews, but they had been in other parts. They were Greek speaking people.

They had been in other parts of the world. They were in Jerusalem. Remember when Peter preached in Acts 2, there were people from all over the world. From east to west, all over the world were in Jerusalem. And they heard Peter speaking in their own language.

They were amazed. So we know that there were many people from other countries that spoke other languages that were present in Jerusalem. And so there's a lot of need. And the church is meeting this need. Acts tells us that they held all things in common.

People were even selling property to be able to meet this urgent and extraordinary need of the church at this time. But there's a break in the fellowship because of all this growth. Because there just wasn't adequate resources. There wasn't adequate organization. There weren't enough people focused on all these many little details that needed to go into a church that did things decently and in order.

And they were getting missed. And they brought a complaint because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the apostles here, They are the only leaders in the church. This falls upon their lap. They had been doing this work.

Remember, Ananias and Sapphira brought their gifts to who? They brought it to Peter, the apostle. And the apostles apparently were performing this oversight of the distribution. I'm sure they certainly weren't doing it all themselves, but they were responsible for the oversight of it. But what do they do here when there's this complaint?

Did they tell these people, stop complaining? Don't you realize your complaints are breaking the fabric and the fellowship of the church? You need to be... No, they didn't say that. They didn't say, no, your complaining is wrong.

They acknowledged the validity of the complaint. They acknowledged that this is an important part of the work of the church. It's a vital part of the work of the church. And they recognized that it wasn't good what was happening. It was a problem.

The complaint was legitimate. It was a valid complaint. And they as the leadership in the church at that time, addressed it. They addressed it by establishing another office in the New Testament church. That of deacon.

Where do we get that word? Deacon. It's in the second verse. They said it is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. That word, sir, is the word in Greek, it's a verb, it's diakonio.

Diakonio, emphasis on the last syllable there. It means to serve. And they said it is not good. It's not desirable that we should leave the work that we are doing of the Word of God, ministering the Word of God, preaching the Gospel. It's not right, it's not good that we should leave that and serve tables.

But this is a very important work. It's so important, it's so vital to the ministry of the church that we need to find men who are gifted in this area and set them apart and dedicate them to this work. Basically their reasoning is if God wants us to do this work of evangelism, and this work of evangelism must be a ministry to the whole person. Remember, when Jesus ministered, He didn't just speak words, But He fed people, He healed people, He comforted people. And that is the work of evangelism.

That is the work of making disciples. We are ministering to whole people. We don't preach the Word to disembodied souls. We preach the Word to living souls. And living souls have flesh and blood.

And that flesh and blood has needs that the church must minister to. That's a vitally important ministry. And they said, But if God wants us to do this work, and He's called us to do this work of preaching the Gospel, and He also wants this other work done, then God must also raise up people to do it. There must be others whom God has called to do this work. And so they sent out word to the congregation, to the multitude, and they said, find people who are of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

Because when God wants something done, He usually calls people to do it. Usually. He raises up somebody and puts that burden on their heart and sends them to that task. Just like He raised up Hudson Taylor to bring the Gospel to China, and He raised up William Carey to bring the Gospel in India, He raises up people and He sends them even if everybody else is laughing at them. And the Apostles realized this.

And they said therefore, God must be raising up other people to do this work. Every ministry in the church depends upon someone. Every ministry in the church depends upon a person to do it. In God's economy, in God's church, every person has a ministry. The Spirit divides gifts and gives to each one according to the proportion of grace.

God doesn't give the same gifts to everybody. He doesn't equally give everybody all the gifts. In fact, very rarely does He give everyone all the gifts. The church is described differently. The church is described as a body of many parts, and each part has a gift.

Each part has been given special grace, charisma, gifts of the Holy Spirit to do those ministries to which Christ is calling you. That's one of the things that we have to learn as a church, is to depend upon other people. Other people to do the work, to exercise the gifts and do the things where we lack those gifts. And the apostles recognized all this, and so they established this new office of Deacon to fill this need. Now they're not saying here that the apostles are not saying that we're above waiting on tables.

They're not saying that our work is more important than this work. They're not saying that. They're saying simply that our work is different. When the church was small, yes, we could do all of that. But now that the church is bigger, the church has more gifts, we can't do it all.

This is the work that we've been called to. It's not more important. It's not more honorable. It's different. We're the mouth of God.

To us has been given the duty of proclaiming the Word of God, of teaching the Word of God. And if we're going to be faithful to that call, then we have to focus on that. And we have to recognize God's going to give the waiting on tables now to other people. That's just as important. It's in a sense just as honorable.

Every ministry in the church is honorable. And so The apostles then call upon the people to choose among themselves, to choose men who met these certain qualifications. Men who were of good reputation, filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. So there you have the election, the choice of the people is involved in the selection of officers. Then you have the apostles come along and lay hands on those that have been chosen by the people who meet the qualifications of the Scriptures.

And they set them apart by the laying on of hands and prayer. So what exactly were these men being set apart to do? What ministry did they have? Well we can start by looking at what that word means. What does this word, when they said, it's not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.

They are describing right there the work that these men were to do that was different from their work. Well that word means to be a servant. The English word would be minister. We use the word deacon, but that's a transliteration of the Greek word. It's not a translation of the word.

It's a transliteration of the word. There's a lot of that in the English language. But if we were to translate this word, it would be like your Bible has, serve. This word means to be a servant, to be an attendant, to be a domestic, to wait upon. And that word means to minister.

If you want an English translation or English word that means the same as diaconas. It's minister. And what is minister? That's a Latin word that just means servant. It is a lesser servant compared to the magistrate, which the magister is a greater servant.

There's a comparative thing there. A magistrate is a greater servant. We refer to the civil government as magistrates because they're the greater servants and ministers are lesser servants. This means, but it means servant, a lesser one. Servants, this word would be used to wait on a table.

If you are what we call a waiter today or a waitress, is somebody who waits on tables. That's what this word is talking about. To offer food and drink to people is what this word literally means, to serve them. It's used of women who are preparing food. It's used to, if you refer to supplying the necessities of life, to relieve necessities, to take care of people's needs.

The work in the medical field is very much a part of this. To care for the poor and the sick is encompassed in the meaning of this word. It's basically to minister to anything that may serve someone else's needs, to supply a want, a lack. Remember Paul said we're not to look out for just our own needs, but we're to look out for the needs of others as well. We're to cultivate that ability.

We're to cultivate that sensitivity. Paul said to the Philippians, let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Look out not just for yourself, but learn to look out, Paul told the church in general, learn to look out for the needs of others. And interestingly, this letter to the Philippians was addressed to the church this way. The saints, that's the people that God has redeemed.

The bishops, the overseers, and the deacons. Because that's a full church. Saints, elders, and deacons who are at Philippi, He said to them, look out not only for your own interests, but for others' interests. And that's what this word means. The word deacon, the word we get deacon from, the Greek word means to serve, to look out for other people's interests, especially with respect to their physical needs and necessities of life, to show them mercy.

Let me just show you a few of the many other places that this word is used in the New Testament and how it's translated. When Jesus was being tempted, The devil tempted him, afterwards the angels came and ministered to Jesus. They deaconed him. They deaconed to him. When he healed Peter's mother-in-law, she rose up and deaconed to them.

The Son of Man came not to be deaconed to, but He came to deacon. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, your text says, and to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus came to do this work of service. That's why it's so important. It was what Christ came to do.

Matthew 25, when Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats. One side is going to say to Him, when did we see you hunger or a thirst or stranger or naked or in prison and did not minister to you, did not deacon you? After Jesus, in Jesus' crucifixion, there were many women that were far off which followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to Him, beekoning Him. Anytime you see that word minister or serve in the Bible, it's often this word. Martha.

You remember Mary and Martha. And Martha was complaining about her sister Mary because Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet and not helping her deacon. Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to Him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to deacon alone? To serve alone. Bid her that she come and help me." Of course Jesus told her, Martha, Martha, you're concerned about many good things, but Mary has chosen what's better at the moment.

It talks about servants serving. It talks about servants serving. Luke 22, but you shall not be like the Gentiles, Jesus told His disciples, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief, as he that does deacon, as he that serves." And there in John 12 they made him a supper. Remember Jesus raised Lazarus and Martha deaconed.

But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. If any man, Jesus said, may serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also My servant be, if any man deacon Me. If any man serve Me, in this case not to Jesus' personal needs, bodily needs, because He's not bodily present, but serve Him, serve His kingdom. Him will my Father honor.

Him will my Father honor. And then, those are all in the gospels. Then in the epistles, Paul speaks about going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints, to deacon the saints. And in 2 Corinthians 3, he says to the Corinthians, For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the Apostles of Christ ministered, deconed by us, Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." And in 2 Corinthians 8, a little later in that letter, he speaks of this word serving, ministering, with respect to money and the finances. He says in not only 2 Corinthians 8 and 19, and not that only, but who also was chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace which is administered by us." What grace?

This gift that they were going to deliver. It was deacon. It was administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and the declaration of your ready mind. He says in the next verse, avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered, which is deacon, which is administered by us. And then in 1 Timothy 3 is actually the only place where this word is transliterated to deacon.

In 1 Timothy 3, where the qualifications of the diaconal office are given, Paul says that, let these first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless." And he says, they that have used the office of a deacon well, to purchase themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. That's the same word, but it's translated deacon. And Paul goes on then to speak of serving, of ministering. And then Peter, one last place. 1 Peter 1.12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister, they did deacon the things which are now reported among you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost.

But then 1 Peter 4, it's back to this need for, he's calling the church to deacon, to serve one another, to serve those who are in need. He says, as every man hath received the gift, the charisma, even so minister, even so deacon, the same to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. So there's the prophetic office, the office of teacher. If any man minister, deacon, let him do it as of the ability which God gives, that in God all things may be glorified through Christ Jesus, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

Amen." Well that should give you some idea of what the work, what the function of the office of deacon is. It's to serve. It's to be the hands of Christ in bringing and meeting the bodily and the physical needs of those who can't meet them themselves. It's to show mercy in the name of Jesus Christ. It's to give the cup of cold water in Christ's name to those who need it.

That's the function of the diaconal office. And we're commanded, we're all commanded, to perform that function. It's like we're all commanded to speak, to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, to give an answer of the hope that lies in us. But there are certain people that have been set apart to do that office specifically. And just the same with this ministry.

See, there needs to be, if things are to be done decently and in order in the church of God, there needs to be people who are dedicated to ensuring that this work is being done, to lead in doing it by their own example of doing it. The deacons are to lead by example our service to one another and to those that are outside the church. So in Acts 6 there wasn't anybody paying attention to this. There wasn't anybody ensuring that things were done decently and in order in this area. And it wasn't happening.

And the apostles didn't get up in front of the group and say, now you people, you have to make sure that nobody is neglected in the district. No. No, they didn't just go out to this group en masse. Because you know, if everybody is responsible for something, anybody that has a few more than two in their house know the rest of that. Nobody is responsible for that.

If that job is assigned to everybody, nobody does it. And nobody doesn't do things very well. I've never seen nobody do very much at all. He's still absent in our house. So the apostles identified specific people to lead, to be responsible for seeing that somebody does this work.

Because it's a vitally important work. We're all called though to serve in direct proportion to the gifts that God has given us. We are just as useful in God's kingdom as we want to be. Anything that God has done for others, He will do for us if we ask Him, if we are willing. If we say, Lord, here am I, send me, here are my hands, use them.

It's the deacon's role though to ensure, to lead by example in doing this work, and to ensure that this work is being done, that the people in need are being taken care of, That this vital part of Christ's church and the ministry of the church is being taken care of. Because they represent Christ. They are His hands in this work. Remember, Jesus told those people in Matthew 25, in that you did it not to the least of these, you didn't do it to me. And to those who did, He said, in that you minister to those who are sick and in prison and in need, in that you did it to the least of these, you did it unto Me.

So those who would be examples in this vital area must meet certain qualifications that they not bring disrepute upon the church of Jesus Christ and upon the name of Christ. They are to be full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. Well, full of the Holy Spirit means they tasted the reality of regeneration. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the first work of the Holy Spirit.

In calling us. To change us. To give us a new heart. To put a new song on our lips. To make us new creatures in Christ.

To give us a new mind. And to give to us new obedience. But the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, He said He would send the Holy Spirit who would come alongside us, the paraclete, come alongside and minister to us, who would come alongside and teach us and instruct us and testify of what Christ had said. The Spirit glorifies Christ. And so to be full of the Holy Spirit means to be those who have a burning desire to glorify Christ with their hands.

A desire to see Christ's people ministered to. A desire to see the church of Jesus Christ in Christ's name, ministering mercy, extending mercy and grace to those who are without, to those who are in need, to those who are widows and orphans, giving them a home, showing kindness to them. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that you have a desire to do those things that the Spirit does, to come alongside people and to minister, to show mercy in Jesus' name in order that the cause of Christ not be blasting, in order that Christ's name be glorified, in order that people are moved by the kindness of God to become the repentance. Because that's how the Bible says people are brought to repentance. They're brought to repentance by the kindness of God.

Deacons are the hands of Christ that show that kindness of Christ. And that's why they must be qualified. They must be men who people see and recognize are filled with the Holy Spirit. Have these gifts of service to come alongside and minister. The man who has a work of the Holy Spirit within him will be very evident when He speaks of Christ.

How He thinks of Christ. His desire to follow Christ. His passion to obey Christ. They will long for the Bride of Christ to be more like Christ. They have to have wisdom.

Remember, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, but He's also the Spirit of wisdom. They need to have great wisdom in giving benevolence. To discern, do I give to this or do I not give to this? Because not every case should be handled the same. Some people, the Bible says, should not eat.

And if we feed them, then we're sinning. We're doing what the Bible forbids. The Bible says they should not eat. It doesn't say they won't eat. It says they should not eat.

So we should not feed the people that God says should not eat. The people that should not eat are those who can work but are unwilling to work. They'd rather live off of other people. So deacons need to know, is this somebody who shouldn't work or is this somebody who can't work? Do we extend this money here that has been given to the church to help this need, or do we give it over here to this other need?

They need wisdom. They need the mind of Christ in this. That they may be faithful representatives and faithful hands of Christ. They need to know what to do when somebody has a complaint. They're getting overlooked in the daily distribution.

They need to be able to handle that. They need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to represent Christ in that situation. They need to be men who have a good reputation in the church and the world. Now lastly, the vital necessity of this ministry to a healthy church. This is not an optional thing.

This is not a trivial ministry. We can have it or maybe not have it. That's why it's important that the men who hold this office have been trained and examined and found qualified to hold this office. Because it's vitally important to a healthy church. First of all, this ministry of mercy to those in need is crucial to the church's witness in the community.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, James says, that we visit widows and orphans in their distress and keep oneself unspotted from the world. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father. Jesus is looking. God is looking at us. And He says that pure religion is to visit widows and orphans in their distress.

That's James 1. The world is watching too. And they are very quick to point out our hypocrisy. They are very quick to point out where we fail in this ministry of mercy, where we are looking only for our own needs and not for the needs of others. If we fail in this ministry, we cannot say that we have the true religion.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is that we visit widows and orphans in their distress. And so this ministry of mercy that the deacons are responsible for leading is crucial to our witness. The ministry of mercy though that the deacons are responsible for leading is crucial to our witness. The ministry of mercy though, that the deacons are responsible for leading, is necessary to the faithful preaching of the gospel. Yes, the ministry of mercy by the deacons is necessary for the faithful preaching of the gospel.

Why? Because James says that if You hear the Word, but you don't do it. You deceive yourself. We deceive ourselves if we come and listen to the preaching of God's Word and we read God's Word and we say, wonderful, that was a great message that blessed my heart. I hope it does.

But if that's all we do, we deceive ourselves. We have to be doers of the Word, James says, as well as hearers. And you see, it's the ministry of the aconite. It's the deacons who lead us in doing. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." So if we are to rightly hear the Word of God, then we also have to be those who do it. This is what the ministry of the diaconate is. To be the hands of Christ, to be doing, to be ministering, visiting the orphans and the widows.

But the ministry of mercy is a necessary evidence of saving faith. The Ministry of mercy to those in need is a necessary evidence of saving faith. Why? Because James says, faith without works is dead. And brothers and sisters, a dead faith is not a saving faith.

If your faith does not produce in you these works of mercy, this ministry, then James says it's a dead faith. He says show me your faith apart from your works, I'll show you my faith by my works. These works of showing mercy, of ministering to the orphans. You see, that is the context. This whole passage, things we've been talking about, is the context of that verse that the pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, that we visit orphans and widows in their distress.

Christ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. We're about to come to the Lord's table. And as we come, we remember His sacrifice for us. He laid down His life. The greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

But Jesus also came to deacon, to serve. And if we are His people, if we are His bride, if we've been born from above by His Spirit, then we ought also to have likewise a desire to serve, to deacon one another, and to show mercy to those who are in need. Let's pray. Almighty Father in heaven, we thank You that you have come to minister to us, that you came to minister to us. You gave to us an example.

And because of your love, because you loved us, When there was not anything in us that was lovable, You laid down Your life for us. You offered of Yourself a sacrifice. We bless your name as those who now love you because you have first loved us. And we ask that you would give to us likewise The desire, the willingness to minister to others that they too may be brought to see Your love and Your mercy and Your goodness to them. Father, we ask that You would grow us where we need grown.

We ask that You would teach us where we are ignorant. We ask that You would move us where we are lazy. We confess our sins in these areas to You. And we ask that we might in Your grace, out of the abundance of your riches to us in Christ. Minister unto one another.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Again.