An overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” Sunday School lesson, for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders. Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text overview and highlights, illustrations, discussion questions for your class, and spiritual life applications. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:

??? Can you share a time when someone served you/ministered to you in a specific way that was meaningful to you???

(Here in Angleton, Texas and the surrounding area, we got a direct hit from hurricane Beryl, and we had so many limbs down at our house, blocking our driveway. I only have an electric chainsaw, and our power was out, so I was trying to cut some pretty big branches with a little pole saw. I got most of big limb’s branches cut off, and went inside to rest for a minute — but when I went back out, someone had cut the big main part of it into pieces for me and set it on the curb! I was SO thankful!

You/your group can share your experiences about someone serving you in a meaningful way, then talk about how meeting needs is so important — especially in the church, where we are to demonstrate God’s love for each other and for the world — and that our passage for today shows how the early church was led to minister to some people in their church who had needs. 

CONTEXT:

We’re continuing our study through the Book of Acts, seeing some of the challenges the early church faced. They were challenged by EXTERNAL persecution from the Jewish leaders, who commanded them to stop preaching and teaching in Jesus’ name — then they faced an INTERNAL challenge, of hypocrisy exemplified in Ananias and Sapphira. 

Today we see another “internal” challenge: dissension that arose from a particular need in the church, and how the Lord led them to meet that need. 

OUTLINE:

I. The Need Existing (6:1)

II. The Office Established (:2-7)

III. The Living Example (:8-15)

TEXT:

I. The Need Existing (:1)

“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.”

So a lot of times we tend to “idealize” the early church, and hold them up as a model —which in many ways they WERE, as we saw in Acts 2:42-47. But that doesn’t meant that they didn’t have any problems. They did. In Acts 5 we saw how Ananias & Sapphira were hypocrites (see, even the church at Jerusalem had hypocrites — we shouldn’t be surprised if we do too!) and now here in Acts 6 we see that there was a “complaint.”

Notice:

— it was while the church was growing that this took place:

“While the disciples were increasing in number.” Just because God is doing good things, doesn’t mean there won’t be any problems. The unfolding story of the Book of Acts is how the early church faced the problems they had, and OVERCAME them, over and over, with the Lord’s help. (They will this one too!)

— While the church was growing, it says, “a complaint arose.”

The Greek word for “complaint” is “gongusmos,” Bauer’s Greek lexicon says it means “murmuring, secret talk, whispering,” etc.

Ever heard of that in a Baptist church?! Well maybe it should make us feel better that they even had it in the church at Jerusalem! 

Now, what was the “complaining” about? 

It says it “arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews againt  the native Hebrews”

“Hellenistic” means “Greek.” Both of these groups were Jews you notice, but some were “Hellenistic,” or Greek Jews. Greece and the Greek language spread all over the Mediterranean area, influencing Rome and virtually every other nation as well. Many of the Hellenistic Jews had either been born in Greek cities and had later become Jews, or had grown up being influenced by Greek culture and language. They spoke Greek, and used the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX) and were greatly influenced by Greek culture.

The “native Hebrews” on the other hand, were more likely natives of Judea and the surrounding area; they read the Hebrew Bible, and probably looked somewhat down upon the “Hellenized” or Greek ways of the Hellenistic Jews.

So you can see how there could be a natural “division” among them; maybe not even purposefully, but you would be more likely to “hang with your own kind” — which led to the problem here in Acts 6. 

— What was the problem? The Hellenistic (Greek-influenced) widows “were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.”

What was the deal with “the daily serving of food.” Well the early church was poor; many of them had been thrown out of the synagogues. And people like widows were especially vulnerable. Think about it: the Roman Empire didn’t have a “Social Security” program! They didn’t have retirement benefits. An older person’s family just cared for them — and if you didn’t have family to care for you, you were in trouble! (Especially in a society like Rome, where strength was worshiped, and mercy was regarded as weakness!)  If a widow didn’t have help, she might literally starve!

So the church took care of their widows. Evidently they brought food to them every day. It talks about “the daily serving of food.” So the early church had the original “Meals on Wheels” (or “meals on camels” or whatever!)  Except these Hellenistic/Greek widows were being overlooked.

So there was a legitimate problem behind the “grumbling.”

And often there is, right? We often talk about how grumbling and complaining is wrong – but sometimes there IS something legitimate behind it; some need that does need to be addressed. And that was so here. There was a real need here. People were hurting, and something needed to be done about it.  

Do we have needs in our churches today? Of course we do. That first church was not perfect, and neither are ours. The “perfect church” does not exist here on earth. 

Does growth ever cause problems in churches today?

Do different groups ever cause problems in churches today?

??? What are some of the different groups that can bring differences/cause problems in churches today???

(new members vs “old timers;” younger vs older; different ethnic groups; various economic/social backgrounds, etc. It’s good to have these varieties of people — we should WANT there to be different kinds of people in our churches — but if do, there will be some issues that will need to be addressed.)

So just like the early church, we will have needs and problems in our churches today too. When they come up, we need to address them, and do the best we can to fix them. That is what the early church did, as we see next in Point II, in :2-7: 

II.  The Office Established (:2-7)

:2 “So the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, ‘It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.’”

So the apostles said, we can’t let this distract us from what God has called us to, which is to spread the word of God — the gospel.

They re-emphasized that in :4 when they said, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 

So they were saying, this is a legitimate problem, that needs addressed, but we can’t neglect what God has called us to do, to do it.

So what should they do? We see the answer in :3:

:3 “Therefore (in other words, because of this problem) brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

So the solution they gave was for the church to pick some men to do this work. NOTICE several things about these:

(I plan to ask my group: ??? WHAT ALL DOES THIS TEXT TELL US ABOUT THESE MEN??? You could list these on the board:)

— “(you) select” — the congregation selected them

— “from among you” — so they were to come from the church; they weren’t bringing in anyone from outside to do this ministry

— “seven”: they were to pick 7. Why 7? Maybe because it is a spiritual number — or maybe because that is just how many they thought it would take to do this job!

— “men” — they told them to pick men for this job

They talked about the qualifications they were to have:

— “of good reputation”

— “full of the Spirit”

— “and of wisdom” 

and then finally it says:
— “whom we may put in charge of this TASK. This was not merely a “position of honor;” it was a specific task, a specific work that they were to do: making sure the Greek widows were  taken care of in the distribution of food.

So we learn a lot of things about the kind of people who were to be selected for this ministry, how they were to be selected, and what they were to do. 

After reviewing these, you could talk about how these principles might apply to our churches, and maybe your specific church, today. How do our deacons/our process/our deacon ministry, compare with what we find here?

So then :5 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.”

So the congregation was happy with this idea. And they did choose the seven men listed here. 

Someone has pointed out that ALL SEVEN of these who were selected, had GREEK names! 

??? What do you think might be the significance of this???

(It was the Greek widows who were being neglected, so it seems like they appointed Greek (Hellenistic) men, to take care of this problem and fulfill this ministry!)

Do you recognize any of these names?

— You probably recognize Stephen; we’ll see more about him and his ministry in the second part of this passage (:8-15) and in Chapter 7.

— Then Philip, we will see again in Chapter 8, when he goes and preaches in Samaria, and then witnesses to the Ethiopian treasurer.

— We don’t specifically hear from any of the other 5 again in Acts, but they may have just served quietly, ministering to the Greek widows! 

Another good discussion question for your group might be:

??? Why would these deacons need to be men of “wisdom”???

Why might wisdom be an important quality for these men to have?

(They were dealing with people’s needs, and probably with some of the money of the church, as they met those needs. When you’re dealing with practical needs like that, you need wisdom!)

So :6 says “And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.”

That’s how they set them aside for their particular ministry.  

And I do believe that this passage describes the origin of the deacon ministry.   Now I will say this: you might notice THE WORD “DEACON” ITSELF IS NEVER ONCE USED IN THIS PASSAGE. A number of commentators mention this, and some even go so far as to say that these are NOT deacons, and that this is NOT the beginning of the deacon ministry, for that reason.

But I do believe that these are deacons, and that this describes the origin of the deacon ministry in the church, and here’s a couple of reasons why:

— First, although the noun “deacon” is not used here, the VERB is. Our word “deacon” is really just a transliteration of the Greek word, “diaconos,” which means one who serves tables. “Diakonos” the noun is not found in this passage. But the VERB related to it, “diakoneo,” which means to serve tables, IS found in the passage, in :2. So it’s “cutting it pretty fine” to say that the “word deacon” is not here in Acts 6. The verb meaning the same thing IS in evidence here.

— Secondly, the “laying on of hands” here seems to be significant. They seem to be setting them aside for a special, important ministry. There are only 2 “offices” mentioned in the New Testament, that of the pastor/elder/overseer, and deacon. We see the office of elder/pastor referred to elsewhere in Acts, but not the deacons. Which leads to the 3rd thing:

— If this is not the origin of the deacon ministry, then nowhere else in the New Testament do we have a passage that explains the origin of the deacon ministry, or what it was supposed to be! In Paul’s letters, etc., we see references to the two New Testament offices — pastors and deacons — but what IS a deacon? Where did they come from? To me, it obviously comes from this passage. And as several have pointed out, if it does not arise out of this passage, the origin and purpose of the deacon ministry is not found anywhere else in the New Testament!  

So I do believe that this does describe the origin and function of the office of deacon in the New Testament church.

In light of that, let’s look at the word “deacon” in the New Testament:

diakoneo: means “to do/render a service;” was used of “to wait at a table.” It was used in a general way of one who was serving.

(NIDNTTE, Moises Silva. p. 701) 

The following are some verses in which this word is used. You could either just talk about the following verses — OR distribute them before class to some volunteers to read at this point: 

— In Luke 10, Martha was distracted with her “much serving”

— Mark 1:31 when Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, it says she got up and “she began to wait on them” 

In these verses we see the basic meaning of waiting tables. But it is also used to describe other means of service:

— Matthew 27:55 of the women who followed Jesus “to care for His needs”

— Mark 10:45 “The Son of Man did not to be served but to serve” — here Jesus uses this same word “diakoneo” to speak of His service in a more general way.

— Romans 15:25 Paul on his way to Jerusalem “performing a service for the saints” (he was bringing a financial contribution to help) so it can mean other means of service than just waiting tables – though that is the basic meaning. 

So these verses indicate to us that this word can mean to be a server of tables, OR just to serve in a general way.

So how do we apply this to deacon ministry?

Here in Acts 6, the deacons took on specific responsibilities, that allowed the spiritual leaders, the apostles, to focus their time and energy on “prayer and the ministry of the word” (:4)

I personally believe (and I will emphasize that this is just my personal opinion) that there is a room for a lot of differences in application in the particular ways that individual churches use deacons. I believe that whatever they can do, in their particular church, that will allow the spiritual leaders of the church to focus on “prayer and the ministry of the word,” is a legitimate Biblical ministry of deacon. 

— For some churches that may mean visiting widows and homebound; 

— for others that may involve taking care of the physical needs of the church and its finances; 

— for others it may mean adopting a number of church families to care for; 

— for others it may be something different entirely. 

But I believe that any deacon ministry that serves the membership of the church, and allows the pastor and other spiritual leaders to dedicate themselves to prayer and the word, is a legitimate application of the New Testament deacon ministry. 

??? You might discuss with your group: What do OUR deacons do, in our church??? 

You could review your church’s deacon ministry at this point. What do OUR deacons do? (Maybe introduce WHO your church’s deacons are, if people don’t know.)

ALSO: let me suggest that you don’t limit the application of this text to “deacons only.” We don’t want our focus to be “THEY (the ordained deacons) should be doing this and that.”  Make the point that serving people and meeting needs in the church is something that ALL of God’s people should do! 

You certainly don’t need to have the title “deacon” to care about people in the church, and minister to them! 

??? What are some ways that ALL of us can serve and apply this passage???

— You personally can visit widows and elderly people in your church

— You and your Sunday School class can visit the nursing home, or adopt one or more widows/homebound to care for.

— We have a group from our church that sings in a local nursing home each Monday night.

— I just preached on James 1:27, where he says that “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is to visit orphans and widows in their distress …” and we handed out a list of all the people our church has in local nursing homes, so that our people would know who they are, and could go visit them. They don’t have to be an “ordained deacon” to do that. 

So DON’T limit the application of this lesson to “deacons” only.

There is a principle here: that the church DOES CARE about widows, and other needy people in the church. 

The deacon ministry is certainly ONE way of meeting some of those needs. But it is also certainly not the ONLY way we can do that. EVERY ONE of God’s people should care about others in the church, and do what He leads YOU to do about it.

So put these principles — and maybe some of the specific needs that your church has — in front of your people Sunday, and challenge them to get involved and care in some specific ways. 

Again, it might be good to have a list of some specific needs/ministries/people (nursing home/homebound, etc.) so your people can take some very specific action in response to God’s word this week.

III.  The Example Personified (:8-15)

So after talking about the problem that arose, and how the deacon ministry started, now Luke gives us in :8 an EXAMPLE of one of the deacons, and what he did afterwards:

(:8) “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.”

(:9) “But …” As with anything good that God is doing, there are people who will oppose His work. Acts is not the story of how the church advanced without any troubles, but how they persevered through the obstacles they faced. “But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.” So again there is opposition.

The NAC commentary points out that this episode ends a series of three trials of the disciples before the Jewish Sanhedrin:

— The first ended in a warning (4:21)

— The second ended in a flogging (5:40)

— and this one will end in Stephen’s death.

So the pressure and the persecution is increasing. As I mentioned, after Stephen preaches a long message to the Jews here (which goes past chapter 6 and takes up 52 verses of Chapter 7) and they get mad and at the end of Chapter 7 they stone him to death. 

So there’s a number of points and applications you can make in this last section, among them:

— that :8 says this “deacon” who was appointed to the specific task of serving the widows of the church, was also a Spirit-filled man, who powerfully witnessed for the Lord, and who gave his life testifying to Jesus. He’s a great example for us all in this. 

— :11 says his opponents “secretly induced men to say ‘we have heard him speak blasphemous words …’”. It’s not God’s people, doing God’s work, who have to do things in secret. If you’re having to sneak around and whisper, you’re probably on the wrong track! 

— :13 says “they put forward false witnesses” 

Stop right here: does this remind you of anything? It sounds just like the trial of Jesus, doesn’t it? They brought forth false witnesses to the Jewish leaders, who would kill Stephen, just as they killed Jesus.

Which Jesus told us: “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20)  We’d like to think, that if we really follow Jesus, we will have a “blessed” life with no problems, and that everyone will like us — but that’s just not always the case.

The devil hates the Lord, and if He is in us, the devil and his people will hate US too — so we should expect that we might be treated just as they treated Him. 

One very appropriate question we should each ask ourselves in this section is: AM I BEING A FAITHFUL WITNESS FOR JESUS?

Can people tell that I am His follower?

I remember hearing the testimony of a former beauty queen, who  told about how when she was in high school, she showed up at a FCA meeting at school, and while she was there, one of the other students looked very surprised and said, “I didn’t know that YOU were a Christian!” She said that really bothered her, that she had lived such a life that someone would be surprised to find out that she was a follower of Christ. 

But that should challenge all of us. Is my life and words such that people know that I am a Christian? Would they be surprised to find out that we are His? Is the reason I am experiencing no opposition and persecution that I am just not following Him very closely?  In Matthew 26:58, when Jesus was being taken to trial, it says of Peter that he was “following at a distance.” Are we too “following at a distance” — maybe at such a distance that no one can even tell that we are following? 

So there are several good challenges and applications for us in our text for this week — not only in the origin and practice of the deacon ministry, but also in the way that we personally serve others in our church — as well as for the way we follow Him in lifestyle and witness. 

____________________________________________________

— If you’ll type your email in the “follow blog via email” blank, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s lesson and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com