| Introduction James tells us that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…" (Jam. 1:17). The office of the deacon is one of those good and perfect gifts that the Lord has given to his Church in order for her to grow into the fullness of her head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Deacons are chosen from the membership of the church, elected by the members of the church, and confirmed to the office by the elders of the church. The choosing of an officer of the church is a serious and solemn occasion and the church needs to prepare itself accordingly. Because of the importance of occasions like the choosing of deacons, we have developed a process that allows everyone involved in this decision to be thoroughly informed. This process is based on 1 Timothy 3:10. Here is the process. The Session appoints a man to serve as a deacon-intern for up to six months. In those months, the man serves like our ordained deacons do, though without decision making power. The church, then, has the opportunity to see the man functioning as a deacon. The Session can evaluate if indeed the man is fit for the office. And the man himself is able to make his calling to the office sure. The passage before us this morning is the fullest description of the men who should be commissioned to the office. By giving us the characteristics of the men, Paul implicitly gives us a description of the job of the deacon. But before we get to this passage, I'd like for us to consider a couple other passages. I. The Reason for the Office of Deacon: God invented deacons in order that the Church might really reflect the unity of the Spirit in the bond of love. A. We see the reason for the office of the deacon in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, Jn. 13:1-20 1. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he and his disciples had made their way from Bethany to Jerusalem to the upper room where they were going to celebrate the last Passover of the Old Covenant and the first-ever Lord's Supper. a. It was a long dusty road, and when they arrived at the upper room, it would have been customary for the host to provide a servant who would have gone about the menial, but very practical, task of washing their feet. b. But when they arrived, there was no servant there. c. One can imagine the disciples looking nervously at one another. 1) Is Matthew going to do it? 2) Is Peter going to do it? 3) Is John going to do it? d. While they were debating with one another, Jesus took his clothes off, stripped down to the loincloth and wrapped a long towel around his waist in the manner of a slave. e. And he knelt down, and one by one he began to wash the dirty feet of people that John has already told us he knew were going to abandon him that night, including the man who was going to betray him. 2. After he finished washing the disciples' feet, at the end of John 13, John tells us that he looked at the disciples and said the following: Jn. 13:34-35– A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. a. Jesus was saying to his disciples that the way he had served them all his life, in that symbolic act that night–and certainly in what he was going to do the next day in dying for their sins–was an example to them as to how they were to tangibly love one another. b. As he had served them tangibly, they were to serve one another. B. This is very important because the gospels tell us that the disciples were having a heated conversation on the way to the upper room that night. 1. They weren't debating the Five Points of Calvinism. 2. It wasn't about the order of the decrees. 3. It wasn't about covenant baptism. 4. It was about which one of them was the greatest. 5. So, Jesus washes all of their feet, and says, "You treat one another like I've treated you." C. Now you are saying to yourself, "What does this have to do with deacons and the reason for deacons?" 1. God invented deacons to incarnate the example of Christ in tangibly and concretely loving and serving the congregation in our midst. 2. Deacons are to embody Christ's own service of his people, especially as they administer mercy in the life of the local congregation. D.Let me prove that to you. Acts 6:1-7– Now in those days, when the number ofthe 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 goodreputation, 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, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 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. 1. A dispute arose in the Christian church in Jerusalem. a. Good things were happening there. 1) The church was growing, and the church was very active in caring for people in need, especially widows. 2) The godly Jewish people and the early Christians were very concerned about widows and orphans and those who were in need who are part of the believing community. 3) And the Christian church in Jerusalem was apparently doing a pretty good job. b. But a controversy arose. 1) There were some Jewish-Christian widows in the church who spoke Aramaic, or Hebrew, and there were others who spoke Greek. 2) The Greek-speaking Jewish-Christian widows thought that perhaps the Hebrew- or Aramaic-speaking Jewish-Christian widows were getting a little more attention. 2. When the controversy is brought to the Apostles, the elders of the time, they do something very interesting. a. They don't say, "It is so important that we are committed to the ministry of the word and prayer that we are just going to forget this mercy ministry to widows. Forget it." b. Nor do they say, "You know, mercy ministry to widows is so important that we are going to forget all this praying and teaching and reading our Bibles and leading the congregation in discipleship in the word." c. Instead the Apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "We are going to appoint deacons." d. Acts 6:1-7 is the appointment of the first deacons in the New Testament. E. The reason for establishing this office is so that Christ's love can be tangibly manifest in the congregation. 1. The elders cannot fail to devote themselves to the shepherding work of teaching and praying and leading the congregation in discipleship. 2. So, the elders–the apostles–say to the people, "Look, here are the qualifications for the men that are going to lead in the mercy ministry in our congregation. Now you pick some men that meet those qualifications." a. The congregation looks at those qualifications, and they look at the men in the congregation, and they say, "We have seven men that meet those qualifications." b. So, the Apostles appoint those men as the first deacons of the church because Jesus has told the disciples that their witness to the world will depend on the way that they tangibly love and serve one another. F. So, what is the reason for deacons? Twofold: 1. Deacons exist so that the ministry of the word and prayer can flourish under the direction of the elders, and the elders can devote themselves to that. 2. And deacons exist so that the ministry of mercy and tangible love can flourish in the local congregation under the leadership and exhortation and example of the deacons. a. Deacons are given to the church as a gift so that the church will love in both word and deed, so that the truth will be ministered in the congregation and so that mercy will be ministered in the congregation. b. The Gospel ministry is a ministry of word and deed (1 Jn. 3:18), and neither must be neglected. c. And so, it is for the church's wellbeing to have two classes of officers that are devoted to fostering both of these aspects of the ministry of the church. 1) The deacons' work is to complement the elders' ministry of the word and prayer, and the deacon is to lead in the local congregation's ministry of mercy to those who are in need in the local congregation. 2) It is an office of service and deed. 3) It embodies Jesus's example. II. What the Office of the Deacon Is Not. A. Starting with an obvious one the deacons are not elders. B. The deacons are not just administrators. 1. They are in charge of the operational and maintenance aspect of the church budget, and they are in charge of the material property of the church and making repairs. 2. They only do those things because they love you. 3. Deacons are not social services directors. a. Some think that the deacons' job is to really get out into the community and for the church to do community services. b. But in the New Testament, the focus of the deacon is always in leading the congregation in ministering to the congregation of Christians, and other Christians in need, and not setting up some sort of a community social services. 4. More on what deacons are in a moment. III. God wants men for the office of deacon who want to serve, men who want – concretely and tangibly – to show the love of Christ in the body, 1 Tim. 3:13. A. The office of deacon is emphatically an office of service, not just in some generic sense, but in reality, and specifically. 1. The deacon is not out for power or prestige. a. He is a man who wants to serve, he wants to help when the people of God are hurting, and he wants to aid them. b. When the people of God are in need, he wants to comfort and assist them. c. He wants to make the Christian claims of love tangible. 2. Paul doesn't describe the office in any kind of great detail in 1 Timothy 3. a. But in Acts 6 and in 1 Cor. 12:27,28 (where Paul talks about the gift of helping and the gift of administering), and in Romans 12:6,7 (when he talks about the gift of service, or 'in serving'), Paul indicates that the office of deacon is not the office of elder-in-training, it's not the office of janitor, it's not the office of "one day I'll grow up and be an elder." b. It is the office of service in the church. B. When men are elected to the diaconate who are approved by God, their desire is to serve the flock in the ministry of mercy. 1. Very often men are elected to the diaconate who are never elected elders. 2. That doesn't mean that they haven't made the grade or moved up in rank. 3. The two offices are distinct, and some are given the gifts for one, and the desire and calling for one, and some are given the gifts and desire and calling to another office. 4. And we want men in the diaconate who exude that kind of a desire: to serve the flock. 5. We want men who love serving the Lord's people in time of need. IV. God wants men who are godly and self-controlled, qualified by their desire to serve, their faith, and their proven character, 8-10, 12-13. A. Notice that just like with elders, Paul's list of qualifications is primarily moral. 1. They have to have the desire to serve. 2. And they have to have the character quality of a man who is going to faithfully minister in the Lord's church. B. Notice several parallels. 1. Deacons, just like elders, are asked to be good spiritual leaders in the family – it's vital that if they're going to spiritually serve the congregation that they know how to spiritually serve their own families. 2. Notice also that they are to be tested, 10 – our process. 3. Notice also in this passage that the moral qualifications for office basically fall into five categories. a. First of all, notice that the deacon is to have self-control in speech. 1) A deacon, if he's doing his work, is going to find out things about the life of families of the church that could be hurtful to them and divisive to the fellowship if he were to share. 2) He has to be a man who can keep his lips tight, even when he finds out about a lot of things going on in the lives of needy people in the congregation. 3) He needs to be a person who's trustworthy, and so he is to be one who has self-control in his tongue. 4) He is not double-tongued. b. Notice also that he has self-control in the area of drink. 1) He's not addicted to much wine. 2) This is a person who manifests his own self-control with regard to those things that are intoxicating or addictive. 3) By doing that he inspires confidence that when money is entrusted to him for mercy ministry it won't be misspent. c. Notice also, he is not to be fond of gaining money unlawfully or unethically. 1) He has self-control in the area of money. 2) If he is in charge of taking all the benevolence gifts that you gave and making sure that they get in the hands of the people who really need them, then he needs to be a man that you can trust with money. d. Notice lastly that he is orthodox in their beliefs, 9 1) Deacons are not required to be able to teach (like the elders are), but they are required to hold to historic, faithful, biblical Christian orthodoxy with a clear conscience. 2) Notice how God wants mercy to be tangibly ministered by people who really believe the Word. i. So often in the last hundred years we have seen the people that are most interested in mercy be least interested in doctrine. ii. But God wants the people that are ministering mercy in a local congregation to be sound and committed theologically. e. God wants men who have upstanding moral character: men of dignity, husbands of one wife, good managers of their children and households. C. The fundamental requirement for the office is godliness. D.But notice that these requirements are not super-Christian requirements, but what every man in the church should be. A. Three interpretations have been set forth for this verse: wives of deacons, female deacons, women who serve with the deacons. B. Because a woman could not meet some of the qualifications for the office, we must discard the interpretation that these are deaconesses. C. Because of the proximity with the previous verses and the nature of the work of the deacon, the best interpretation is that this verse is referring to the wife of the deacon (if he is married). 1. But this sheds light in the necessity of women's involvement in diaconate ministry. 2. Not as an officer, but a helper. VI. God wants men who only seek the "well done" of Jesus in their service of the Church, 13. A. The only reward offered to the deacon is the approval of the Lord. B. Paul is saying that those who serve in this often quiet, behind the scenes, work of deacons will be rewarded with high standing. 1. Though they may be last in the eyes of the world, and even some in the church, they will be made first. 2. They will hear the "well done, my good and faithful servant" from their Master. C. They will have great assurance, and courage, and boldness, and freedom. 1. We see this pattern happening all the time in the Christian church. 2. Those who most give themselves away, and most die to their own selves–their own desires, their own agendas–are the ones who live with the most freedom and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment.
Deacons give themselves away in washing the feet of the brethren, in serving them in mercy ministry, they attain high standing and great confidence in the Lord. And they are also an example to us because the deacon does by duty what all of us ought to do by love – serve each other.
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