Deacons Likewise Must Be...#1

So this morning we're going to be continuing our study in 1 Timothy. We've been studying for the last several weeks off and on the qualifications for elders and pastors, seeing what an overseer's character and life have to be like. And this week we're going to move on to deacons. And as we move on, one of the things that you'll notice is that there's a lot of overlap in the qualifications. And this morning what I don't want to do or won't be doing is spending a lot of time going through the qualifications. for deacons that we've already covered with regard to elders because they're the same. Instead, what I want to do is I want to spend our time this morning studying the nature and the authority of the office of deacons. We're going to be reading 1 Timothy 3, verses 8 through 13. That's the whole section on deacons. But really, we're going to spend our whole time on the first word, deacons. By the end of it, I hope you know what a deacon is because that's my sole purpose is that we would all say, I know what a deacon is now.

and I know what he's supposed to be like, and I know what he's supposed to do. That's the whole point. Next week we'll carry on and move on in the verses. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. Deacons, likewise, must be men of dignity, not double-tongued nor addicted to much wine, or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. These men must also first be tested. Then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife and good managers of their children and their own households. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So I mentioned already that there's a lot of overlap.

between the qualifications for elders and deacons. And I told you, instead of going, we're not going to go through those again, but I do want to draw our attention to one particular lesson. And the lesson is this, that there's a lot of similarity between deacons and elders with regard to what kind of men they're supposed to be. They do different work. They have different gifts and different callings in the church, but the quality of the men is supposed to be very similar. Now, why would I start out by saying that? I start out by saying that because I don't think that we know what a deacon is. I think often, if I were to ask you, what is a deacon? If you came from a Baptist background, you might think of a deacon as more of an elder. Someone who rules in the church. Someone who actually does the work of an elder. And I'd say, no, that's what an elder is. And maybe you might think, well, what is a deacon? Well, sometimes you'd hear it described that the deacons are the hands and feet of the church. They attend to the...

to the needs of the people. And that's true. That is what they do. But one of the difficulties and one of the things I think people don't understand about the diaconate and those men is the nature of their work. It is true that they're the hands and feet. It is true that they are doers in some sense, that that's their work. But they're not just busybody men with long lists of things to take care of. They're actually men with authority. It's actually an office of exercise. where they exercise authority. And I hope by the end of our time this morning, you're going to see more of that. Deacons are not just supposed to be the men who do the work that isn't important enough for the elders, or isn't spiritual enough for the elders. Remember that these men are supposed to have very similar characteristics to elders. Same type of character, same type of life.

And so they're not just busybodies doing stuff around the church that other people don't have to do. They're not just a team of people. They're actually men who are ordained to office and who have, as we read, a great reward waiting for them if they do well. That last verse says, And so deacons are not just... the doers of the church. They're not just the men who aren't quite good enough to be elders, but we need somebody to do the legwork of the church so you can be a deacon. No, that's not what a deacon is. The difference between, again, elders and deacons is not a difference of quality, but a difference of gifting and calling. Elders exercise spiritual authority in their work, and the same is true of deacons. I hope that you see that by the time we get through our sermon this morning.

And so from the very beginning, I want to say to you, if in your mind you think of a deacon as somebody who doesn't lead or doesn't exercise authority, then you don't have a biblical view of what a deacon is. So what is a deacon? What do they do? Well, we have basically three chapters of Scripture devoted to this work. Acts 6 to Acts 8 is all about deacons. Every bit of it. There's one little part in there about Saul and how he's a persecutor of the church. But all three of those chapters of Scripture are this extended description and examples of what a deacon is and what a deacon does. So I want to start by reading you Acts 6, verses 1 through 4. It says, 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.

and the daily serving of food. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples, and they said, It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, who we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. So what were the deacons in this passage when the office of deacon is created? What are they supposed to do? Well, it says here that a dispute arose and their job is to settle it. So the first thing you learn about deacons is that their business has a lot to do with conflict. The whole purpose that they made deacons was to settle a dispute that the elders wouldn't have to. Now I want you to think for a minute. Maybe your dinner table is a good example of this. What is it like when people fight over food? Do you have kids that fight over food? Not yet?

You will. Did you and your brother fight over food? Yeah. Do the rest of you know about fighting over food? Yeah, Christian's like, yeah, I know about that. Easy things to resolve? Would you rather, here's a question, would you rather resolve that tension between two men, two women, or men speaking on behalf of women? None of it sounds very easy, does it? That's what the deacons were assigned to do. This is their first job. And when the elders say, it's not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables, there's not a subservient, go handle it. Go be a kitchen server. We've got a soup kitchen going here, and we need somebody to dish up the soup. Just go dish it up. You ever worked in a soup kitchen? People generally satisfied with what you give them? They go, thank you so much. This is wonderful. Even there, they're like, do they say thank you?

So this is a deacon's work. It's not just busy work. And we know it's not just busy work because Stephen tells them what the men are supposed to be like. He says that you need to select from yourselves seven men of good reputation, full of wisdom and the spirit. And so diaconal work is hard work with real consequences. Now here's the thing about diaconal work. A lot of it is hidden. You don't see it. You don't know about it unless you're the recipient of it. And then you know. what kind of work they do. But even then, only you know what they did. Because the nature of their work is quiet, it's hidden, it's veiled. Acts of mercy and compassion, caring for the weak and the poor, the widows in their distress. And so what I want you to see from this passage first in Acts 6 is that there are different needs in the church. People have spiritual needs, and the elders deal with that through teaching, through preaching, through prayer.

But they also have physical needs, which are no less important, that have a great impact on their soul and their spiritual well-being. And that's the work of deacons. They're supposed to look after the physical needs, knowing that in their work of caring for the physical needs, they're going to be at work with the people's souls. And so it's not a less spiritual work than an elder's work. It's just focused on a different aspect of the care of God's people. If the church and the people of the church have different needs, it follows that you'd have people, men in the church, who meet those different needs. Sometimes that division of labor is informal. We might say, hey, I need somebody to mow the grass. And you say, okay, who's got time? Who knows how to run a mower? And we can do that. But sometimes that division of labor is formal. And we say, here's what an elder does, and here's what a deacon does. Two different things. Same type of men, generally. Two different callings. Two different gifts.

In short, the elders are responsible for the spiritual oversight of the church. They rule. And the deacons are responsible for the physical needs of the people and for the grounds of the church. And their work, a deacon's work, is aimed at freeing up the elders and the pastor to do their job. So this is just simply a biblical division of labor. Same type of men doing different work. If you went into a business, you have a similar type of division of labor. In every business, I'd say generally you have... four categories of people or type of work. The first is management or owners, that type of guy. And then you have someone who does, you have a department that does sales, and you have a department that does customer service, and then you have a department that does the actual work, whatever the work is, the laborers. And every company has these types of departments, this division of labor. And in a business, or if you were to think about yourself, you might say, you know,

There's something that's true about all of my employees. I want a similar thing in all of them. Let's take integrity for an example. You want integrity in your management, right? Do you want integrity in your salesman? How about your HR department? How about the guy who does the work for you? Does he need to have integrity? Yes. All doing different things, same type of men. Same thing you're dealing with in the church with elders and deacons. Same type of men, different callings. meeting different needs. One of the things that deacons are often thought of is second-rate elders or elders in training, and I think that's a degradation of the office. It is true that some men who are deacons end up becoming elders. It may also be true that some men who serve as elders should end up being deacons at some point instead of elders. But a deacon is not an elder in training, per se. He's not a...

a second-class elder, a man who's almost there but not quite yet, so we'll make him a deacon. That's not what a deacon is. The deacons are not simply the hands and feet of the elders. While it is true that deacons submit to elders, that they're a subordinate board, a subordinate office, they're not just the errand boys of the elders. Historically, deacons did a whole lot of stuff in church. It used to be that the elders didn't distribute the sacraments. The deacons did. Now our deacons prepare it, but our elders serve it. But our deacons are up here with us, and our deacons are just as likely as not to step in and serve as our elders are. What else do deacons typically, have they historically done in the church? Well, they handle the money. Not just the money for the poor, but the money of the church. That's actually their job. They're the treasurers. They're the ones who manage the money. It's their responsibility. They're to be good stewards of it. There's a reason that they need to not be fond of sordid gain, because they're going to deal with money.

and they're going to be in charge of distributing it, and they need to be wise. They're men who must have wisdom because they have to make judgments. I want you to think for a minute. One of the things the deacons commonly deal with in our church is requests for money. Often those requests don't come from within the church. They come from people who walk in off the street. In the last week, I've had three people come to our door asking for money. One of the requests I pass along to the deacons, the other two I dealt with myself. Now, how hard would it be if someone called you and said, I got this funeral down in Mississippi. My mom died, and I don't have any money to get down there. I just paid my rent, and I just got a new job, and I really just need to get down there. And the funeral's tomorrow. Is that going to be an easy question to answer? Well, it's easy if you just say, here's some money. Go ahead. Here's a $150 gas gift card. Go ahead. Don't worry about it.

But is that good stewardship of the money if that's what our deacons were to do every time someone came and asked for money? You'd say no, and why not? Because there are people who are dishonest. There are people who don't have a mom who just died in Mississippi, but rather have a coke habit. And they come to churches because they're naive and they expect the church to give them money. This is what our deacons deal with on a fairly regular basis. It's Christmas time, so I think the requests are up right now. But they tend to come in these groups or these clusters where our deacons, I get the request and I pass it along and it gets disseminated and one of them calls and they have to listen, they have to meet with the person and they have to talk with them and they have to hear the difficulty or the hardship, the story, and then they have to make a judgment about what is the nature of this person's need and how can we best help them and be a good steward of what we have. What do they need? They need wisdom. These are not simply men who are given the work of

Go and take care of that so I'm not bothered with it. These men have hard work to do. Do you think that the people that they say no to are happy with them? Oh, thank you so much for caring more about my soul than my gas tank. Thank you so much for asking if I have a budget or if I'm on drugs or if I'm lying to you. I was talking with Abram this week and he says, you know, I think one of the questions we should start asking people, just look them right straight in the eye and say, are you lying to me? To everyone who asks us for money. Just ask them.

Just make them look you in the eye and tell you, because oftentimes the truth is they are lying. So being a deacon is not simply waiting tables and serving food and setting up church potlucks. It's exercising quite a bit of discernment. It requires quite a bit of wisdom and maturity and mercy. So deacons exercise authority. Now I want to ask you, in Scripture, what is one of the primary ways that authority gets exercised? Anyone want to venture a guess? Discipline, yeah. That's true. In what way? What do you mean? Spanking? That's true. I want you to think of the New Testament, and I want to limit your thinking to Jesus. How did he exercise his authority most often, most commonly? Teaching. Teaching. What was the constant refrain about Jesus' teaching? You don't teach as one of the scribes and Pharisees do, but you teach with authority. Now, I'm trying to create...

a scenario in your mind where you go, the men who lead the church are supposed to exercise authority, and the primary way that they exercise that authority is through teaching. You told me that deacons have authority, so what about deacons teaching? And I say, I'm glad you asked. Because the next two chapters have to do with deacons teaching. In Acts 6, the apostles say, it's not good for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Find yourself men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom to do this work. So they set about doing that work, and then what happens? Great persecution comes, and they all get scattered. So what do these lowly soup kitchen guys go and do? They start preaching. And Stephen's the first example we have. In Acts 6, verses 8 and 10, just a few verses after the inception of this office, it says, and Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great miracles and signs among the people, but some of the men...

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. But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. So what was Stephen doing? He was teaching. Where was he teaching? In a safe place? No, in a synagogue. Was it received well? Not by everyone. Maybe some did, but not everyone. And they rose up and they accused him. But they couldn't answer him. Doesn't that sound a bit like Jesus? Where they tried to accuse him and they couldn't get an angle on him and on his teaching. So what did they do to Stephen? They repented and they believed and they all said, oh, what a great wisdom you have. Nope. They did him just like they did Jesus. They hauled him up in front of the court, the council, and they got people to lie about him and what he was saying. They said this.

This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. And so the council looks at Stephen and says, are these things so? Just like when Pilate said to Jesus, is it as they say? And what does Stephen do? He like presses play, and he just goes right back at it, preaching. And if you were to compare his sermon... In the book of, here in Acts, in chapters 7, the whole chapter is his sermon. If you were to compare that sermon with Peter's sermon at Pentecost, you'd go, man, I get these sermons confused all the time because they're exactly the same. They're aimed at the people he's talking to, and he says, this man, Jesus, he was the one that they talked about from long, long, long ago. He was going to come. He's the fulfillment of all these promises from Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and Moses and all of these guys.

And then what's he say at the end of it? Well, Peter says, and this Jesus, this one whom you crucified, he's the one you crucified. And all the people were cut to the quick and they said, brethren, what must we do to be saved? What did Stephen say? Stephen says this, you men are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting, and your ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did, the prophets who killed Jesus. Which one of the prophets did their fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it. This is a deacon. This is a deacon. Sounds a lot like Peter. Sounds a lot like Jesus. And so in response, what do they do? They move to kill him. It says that they gnashed their teeth at him. They drug him out and they publicly stoned him and killed him.

Stephen the deacon was the first martyr, teaching and proclaiming the gospel, and it cost him his life. And who stood by and watched it? Saul did. And you think, okay, we're out of this. And then the scripture goes on, and it says that Saul began to ravage the church. He was breaking into people's houses, and he was arresting them. It's a very difficult time. Stephen's just been put to death. And then what? Well, another account of a deacon doing his work. In Acts 8, 5, and 6, Philip... It says, went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. Philip is the second deacon that's named in Acts 6, verses 1 through 4. It says, the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. So what did Philip do? He picked up where Stephen left off. News of his ministry and what he was saying and doing reached all the way to Jerusalem such that the apostles sent Peter.

and John to pray for the new converts. There was a thing going on and the deacons were doing it. So Peter and John come down and they pray that these new converts would receive the Holy Spirit. And what's Philip do? The Lord comes to him in a vision and says, Philip, get up and go down this road. And he meets with the Ethiopian eunuch who's leaving Jerusalem. And he says, you're reading Isaiah. Do you know what that means? And he says, I don't know how I would know what it means unless someone were to teach me. And Philip climbs up in his chariot and he explains it to him. And what happens to the eunuch?

He repents and he believes. And then what's Philip do? He baptizes him. This is the account of deacons that we have in the New Testament. Men of good reputation, men full of wisdom, men full of the Holy Spirit. Men doing heavy lifting in the kingdom of God. Serving tables, proclaiming the gospel. You know, I was telling, I think it was Daniel or Abram before the service, I was excited about this and I said, you know, I think deacons do more teaching than ruling elders do. Biblically. You've got chapters devoted to these men. If you want to roll Peter and Jesus and Paul and all of them into elders, then it's not true. But if you were to compare ruling elders, men that Timothy, that Paul's telling, said, get men like this to rule, and you were to compare them with men, he says, get like this to be deacons, I think the deacons do more teaching than the elders do. So is a deacon a second-rate elder, one who doesn't quite meet the high bar? And I say, no. Deacons have a high calling on them. You might say, well,

That was an extraordinary time. The gospel was going into all these new places, and they were doing all kinds of things that were not normal, and I grant that that's true. In addition to their teaching and preaching, Stephen and Philip, along with all the apostles, were performing all kinds of miracles, doing all kinds of things that we don't do today. And I say, okay, so what kind of deacons do you want, though? What kind of elders do you want? Do you want men who are afraid? Do you want men who cower, who don't like conflict, who run away from it? You say, no, I don't want elders like that. And I say, okay, do you want deacons like that? Because that's not the example that's set here with Philip and Stephen. These men were wise, godly, hardworking, faithful men. You might say, well, deacons, you know, the word, sometimes we like to use Greek words to hide behind. Okay, so what's the Greek word for deacon? It's really, really complicated. Diakonos, right? And what's it mean? Servant. Is it? Diakonos? Diakono? Yeah.

Finally, some shelter. They're just servants. Now, what's a servant? Well, I think we have this idea that servants are men, gelded men, I think is probably the best way to describe it. Men who've lost their male principle. When people say, we need to be like Jesus. You know, he didn't come to be served, but to serve. And I say, you're right. How did he serve? As long as we have in our definition of serving him flipping over tables and driving people out with a whip, then I can get down with our definition of servant. Now, is that all he did? No. And that's not even most of what he did. But he was not gelded. He was not, his male principle was not removed from him. He was a man. And the elders are to be men and the deacons are to be men. And they're to exercise.

great authority and care in the work that they're called to do. It's no small thing to be a deacon. And I think too often, even in my own heart, as I've been processing through this and thinking about it, I thought, well, deacons are, they're good men, but what kind of men are they supposed to be? I'm like, well, you know, they need to be faithful and they need to be, you know, they need to be hardworking and, you know, those kind of things. But as I've been studying and reading, I go, no, deacons are more than that. You know what it makes me want to do? It makes me want to have our deacons teach us on Sunday morning. Or let's say, let's have a fifth Sunday, Sunday evening service, and let's have one of our deacons preach. Would it be so crazy to do? What about when it says to test deacons? Right? Verse 10. These men will come to this more in future weeks. It says, but these men must also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons if they're beyond reproach. What kind of testing should they undergo? Don't you think they should teach? Somewhere and in some way.

And shouldn't it look something like Philip and Stephen? Not necessarily in the martyrdom or the persecution. We're not in control of those things, but shouldn't it have the sort of authority that their teaching did? Shouldn't these be men who say, yeah, I can get behind them in their outreach ministry? They got faith and wisdom. And I realized that if I was a deacon sitting here, I'd be squirming. Luis isn't, but Luis isn't normal. At least not in this regard. But you know what I could tell you is that if Taylor was sitting here, he'd be under his chair. It's true. Any of you want to be deacons? You want to go through this sort of scrutiny? It's a high bar because it's a good work. The church needs faithful deacons. We need godly men. And I say we, I mean us, but I also mean at large. We don't just need men who are willing to mow the grass and clean the toilets and tell poor people,

yes and no about whether they can have money and under what circumstances. They will do all of that work, but they'll do it with authority. You know Luis is in charge of cleaning the building. He oversees it. Some of you guys work for him. You're in Luis's school of discipleship, and I hope he makes the best of it and the best of you as he does it. If you don't do a good job, I hope he tells you so. And if you do a good job, I hope he tells you so. I hope he teaches. Did you know Luis used to have a cleaning business long before Allison? You quit that long before you guys married, right? No, he kept it on for a little while, yeah, for a year, yeah. Luis used to be a cleaner, did you know that? He used to go to offices and clean them. He's the man for the job. So if you sign up to clean the building, you've got a good man to teach you. And Luis doesn't mind telling you if you've done poorly, right? Allison, does he mind telling you if you've done poorly? She's like, no, there's no question here. You know what I think?

churches is that deacons, there are a couple of ways you can, there are a couple of big mistakes you can make in a church. And one of the biggest mistakes you can make is ordaining the wrong men to office. And it's often said that that's the case with elders. When we came up to plant this church, I was told the quickest way to kill a church plant is to ordain elders too quickly. Because if you get the wrong men into positions of authority, you'll never get it back. Once you give a man a position, you're trying to get it away from him and remove his influence with the people? It's impossible. So we've given a lot of attention to elders, because it's important that you have good elders. But I can't say that I've given the same attention to the deacons, who just thought, we need men to do work. Who can do work? Okay, you can do work. You're a good enough man.

But if you were to look at our church and go say, okay, how's the elders board done since its inception? We're 10 years old as a church. The elders board is intact and doing well. The deacons board has lost a number of deacons, sadly. And as we look at this as a church, we have to go, why? What sort of reflection should we have as a church? You realize in Acts 6, the apostles tell them, the people, he says, you choose from among yourselves. seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and wisdom to do this work. And so it's not just my responsibility, it's not just the elder's responsibility, it's all of our responsibility to choose wise men, men who are qualified for this work. And I think, is there somewhere, have we dropped the ball? We've had more than one deacon leave, not be fit for the office. And you might think, you shouldn't say stuff like that. And I say, well...

How are we ever going to grow if we don't look honestly at decisions we've made and learn to seek to grow from them? We have to do that work, right? And so I think, for my part, I think I haven't given the weight to the office of deacon that I should have. I just wanted a guy to do some work. But I've become convinced that a deacon's much more than a man to do some work. Work he will do. And sacrifice will be a part of his job. But he has to be more than a man who will show up when you tell him to.

and do the things you ask him to. That's not a deacon. That's someone who can help the deacons. That's someone that the deacons can employ in getting the work done. But a deacon is more than that. He's a man who has wisdom and maturity and discretion, and a man who's able to exercise authority. Well, that's what a deacon is. Their work is very, very important. James says, That pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is to visit or to care for orphans and widows in their distress. And was this, was Acts 6, when the deacons were created, was that not what was going on? Widows in their distress, needing to be cared for. Pure and undefiled religion, that's a deacon's job description. They're to oversee and administrate our religion and the dispensing of it as a church to those who are the poor and the weak and the needy and the oppressed among us.

You want a good man for that, don't you? Good men. So when you think of a deacon, you ought to think of Stephen and his faith and his wisdom. And you ought to think of Philip, because these men set the bar for what a deacon's supposed to be like. Now that we know what type of men a deacon ought to be, next week we'll jump into some of the qualifications about what characteristics need to be true of a deacon. Then there's this weird section in the middle about women. Is there such a thing as women deacons? It's a good question. We'll answer it, probably not next week, but in the week or two to come, we're going to work at it. But you have to start with understanding what a deacon is. What's he supposed to be like? What's the nature of his work? What are we hiring him to do, if you will? If you're a deacon, or if you want to be a deacon, then my encouragement is to not be discouraged. Because the temptation to be discouraged would be quite high after seeing, oh, Philip and Stephen? Don't be discouraged. Why?

Because God's callings are always high callings, seemingly impossible. But he'll equip you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which he's called you. Those who serve well as deacons will obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the Lord. When they look back, they'll say, look what the Lord did. So don't be discouraged. Trust the Lord. And finally, to the rest of us, we need to remember to lift our deacons up in prayer. Because we've seen just a little bit. Biblically, and a little bit in what I've told you of the nature of the work and the burdens that they carry. And they need our prayer. Because they've got hard work to do. And they face many temptations as they do their work. We need to lift them up in prayer. We also need to honor them. Because they deserve it. They're men of dignity. And they need to be. So we ought to honor them. They're not just the busybodies of the church that organize and administrate and take care of the nuts and bolts.

They have real responsibility and real authority to meet those responsibilities. And so we ought to honor them for loving us and serving Christ in those ways. Let's pray.