Acts 6:1–7
1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Why, brothers, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

The Early Church Faces It’s First Problem

So the apostle, the leaders, had a problem. Their great calling was to teach and to preach and to study and they were losing time in that because of these other tasks. So they give a statement of their priorities in verse four..

verse 4. “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.” They said that they could not leave their important job of preaching to do this task. Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul says that the Lord has given to the church apostles, prophets, teaching pastors, and evangelists to do, what, perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry. We’ll bring you to maturity; you do the work of the ministry, that’s the point.

So they were determined not to let any service take precedence over the ministry of the Word and prayer. This is the priority. This is the primary task of the church to teach the Word of God, to teach it as it ought to be taught, not platitudes about the Bible, not stories about spiritual truth, but to unfold the text.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 5:17–18, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’ ” In other words the church should value the ministry of the Word so highly that it is willing to pay elders who devote their life to it.

When Christ ascended into heaven, it says in Ephesians 4:11, “his gifts were that some should be pastor-teachers.” This is an office distinct from the rest of the people in the church, because it says that the pastor-teachers are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

To minister the Word, whether preacher or teacher, one must study.

The life of the church hangs on the word of God (Matthew 4:4). 4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

And that inspired word has come to us in the form of a book written in Greek and Hebrew. None of us comes into the world able to read, let alone read Greek and Hebrew. These things must be learned. And they must be learned by study.

And even when they are learned, they only become fruitful when uses them to expound what is in the Word of God. And the only way to do that is to study. Ezra, the Scripture says, because he “had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel” Ezra 7:9–10. And Paul tells Timothy to be zealous to present himself to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed because he rightly handles the word of truth 2 Timothy 2:15.

And let it be emphasized that with all the good and bad books on theology the ministry of study should always remain primarily a study of the Bible, and that in the original languages.

Richard Baxter wrote something that could save many pastors and teachers years of regret in misdirected study. He said, “Till at last, being by my sickness cast far from home, where I had no book but my Bible, I set to study the truth from thence, and so, by the blessing of God, discovered more in one week than I had done before in seventeen years’ reading, hearing, and wrangling.”

We must beware of the temptation to replace the study of Scripture with the reading of good books about the Scripture.

We make a great mistake when we think that study consists mainly in reading, as many try to make the act of ready, actually studying, even reading the Bible. Fruitful bible study is primarily thinking not reading. To often, if we are not careful, reading, which was meant to become a stimulus and guide to independent thinking, usually becomes a substitute for it.
To minister the Word one must pray.

Someone said, study without prayer is the work of pride. Prayer without study is presumption. This is what the Proverbs teach: “If you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding (that’s prayer), and if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures (that’s study), then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” Proverbs 2:3–5.

E.M. Bounds is right when he says, “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use, men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.

To minister the Word, one will encounter suffering.

2 Timothy 1:8, “Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God.”
1:11, “For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do.”
2:3, “Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

It belongs to soldiers to suffer for the war effort. No soldier in conflict expects things to be easy or comfortable. When God calls us into the ministry of the Word, he recruits us into front-line artillery action. It is not a safe place to be.
Galatians 6:17 “Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” When you have been wounded in the service of the Word of Christ and have not gone AWOL or hated your enemy, there comes a new certainty and depth and power.

Ministering the Word, brings joy to the minister, whether teacher or preacher.

There is no better way to spend a brief life, because your study is the endless terrain of the infinite glory of God.

These early men set the pattern.

They revealed the importance of studying and presenting the Word of God,

This thing demands total commitment. verse 4. It says, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” It means there is no letting up.

The apostle Paul never let up. In Acts 20:17, “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ‘Ye know that from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many trials and tears, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shown you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.’

At the end of the book of Romans, it says that when he was in Rome he taught the Bible from morning to night every day for two years.

2Timothy 4:13 The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.

Paul’s commitment to the life of the church was the teaching of the Word of God and the preaching of the Word of God, and he had to give himself to that.

Paul says to young Timothy, v 12, “Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believer in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith and purity.”.
The truth of the Word must be kept in front of people so that God through the work of the Holy Spirit can use it for people in order that they might see His light and turn to Him.