Our second son, Owen Paul, is such a joy in our home. He is never short on imagination or personality. For so long the first thing he’s done after waking up each morning is put on a Buzz Lightyear costume that I’ve taken to calling him, “Buzz” all the time. One of Buzz’s current traits is that he can easily become distracted. We set him off to clean his room or do some chore, and he seemingly disappears for an unusual amount of time. We eventually find him preoccupied with something—usually a toy or game—other than what he was supposed to be doing.
The Concentration of Faithful Ministry
Something quite similar is happening in Acts 6. The apostles’ preoccupation with serving tables is endangering their original marching orders from Christ. What should the apostles be giving their time to? Look at 6:4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
If 6:2-3 give us insight into what a healthy deacon body looks like, 6:4 gives us the priorities of pastoral ministry: praying and preaching. To read the rest of the New Testament, particularly the pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus, is to see this bear out. Faithful pastors and elders are those devoted, like the apostles they emulate to some degree, “ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
If the great danger threatening the church in this passage was distraction—distraction from occupying their ministry with that which is of first importance. And this Satanic scheme makes so much sense doesn’t it? If faith comes by hearing and preaching is the ordinary way God gives life to His people and grows His church, why wouldn’t the Enemy want to distract pastors from praying and preaching? Why wouldn’t he want to distract some of you from devoting yourselves to the praying and preaching ministry of the church each week in gathered worship? A distracted church is a powerless church.
We will devote “ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Oh, how we can’t—I can’t—forget the first side of the apostle’s devotion. Charles Bridges, in his classic work The Christian Ministry, wrote, “‘The spirit of our ministry is a spirit of prayer.’ Prayer is the ornament of the priesthood, the leading feature of our character. Without prayer, the minister is of no use to the church, nor of any advantage to mankind . . . It is prayer alone that gives the whole strength and efficacy to our different administrations . . . Prayer therefore is one half of our ministry; and it gives to the other half all its power and success.” I am incredibly thankful to serve in a church where preaching is valued, encouraged, and prayed for. I frequently get text messages and emails from you expressing encouragements about and prayers for this pulpit. From Acts 6:4 let me also ask, as I’m sure you are doing, to not forget to pray that your elders would be men of prayer.
A Biblical Pattern
Few things bring greater anxiety and expected stress in my life than returning home with self-assembly furniture . . . particularly from Ikea. Their “how-to/assembly” guides have no words, just pictorial steps that cause non-mechanical people like me to labor and toil far too long on a piece of furniture that sure looks like it should come together in a matter of minutes—not a matter of hours. From my perspective, the builder and the building guide cannot be trusted.
It seems to me that Satan wants us to believe something similar when it comes to the church: that the builder and the building guide cannot be trusted. Yet, the first seven verses of Acts 6 announce the builder (Jesus) and the building guide (His Word) are worthy of full trust—of total devotion. We can delight in and rest on the pattern of ministry according to Acts 6:1-7 Jesus’ promise that He will build His church (Matt. 16:18) through His word (Eph. 5:26).
As we conclude I want to point out a few pillars, according to Acts 6, of a church living in a faithful pattern of ministry.
Pillars of Faithful Ministry
A Word-centered ministry. I’m sure we’ve said enough on this point already, but the labor of ministry is to always keep God’s word at the center. The greatest threat to healthy ministry is anything that steals the centrality of the word—for the Word brings life and power to God’s people.
A Spirit-empowered ministry. To read the book of Acts to see a church empowered by God’s Spirit. A constant key to perpetuating unity and delight in a local church is members growing in the fullness of the Spirit. Is there anywhere in your life where you sense growing power from the spirit? It seems that few things test out the true spirit of a church as there life of prayer. Prayer-filled churches are Spirit-empowered churches.
A compassion-saturated ministry. Some people think the apostles acts in this text as though compassionate care of the widows is unimportant. But that’s not the case at all. They lead the church to ensure the widows needs are met. Devotion to God’s word is never severed from compassion towards God’s people.
A gospel-advancing ministry. We keep the Word central, long for the Spirit’s power, and fill our hearts with compassion in order to see the gospel advance in our lives, church, city, and world.
This then is the pattern of ministry we must pursue. One centered on God’s word, empowered by God’s spirit, saturated with compassion for one another, and advancing the gospel for God’s glory in all nations.
This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Pattern of Ministry,” on Acts 6:1-7.