The DEACON’S FITNESS-I—1Timothy 3:8-13
Paul related the moral qualifications for deacons of the Church.
Character traits for deacons of the church are definitive/unequivocal.
?What character traits define the deacon’s fitness for office?
?How is the deacon’s fitness determined?
Characteristics by which an deacon’s fitness for office is decided.
The deacon’s fitness is decided by...Collaborative/Collective ...
1— The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...
His REVERENCE(:8a)
Explanation:(:8a)
:8—“Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,”
Paul now shifts to revealing the qualifications for “deacons.” “Likewise” very tightly ties the qualifications of the previous verses(:1-7) with what follows here.
Thus many of the same characteristics which are to distinguish bishops/overseers(:1-7) are also directly & indirectly applied to “deacons.” The list is also comprised of both positive & negative qualities as with the bishops/overseers.
These verses also describe the fact that particular people were openly & authoritatively recognized as “deacons.” Judging by the following wording & qualifications, these “deacons” must have held office within the local(& beyond?) church. Thus as with bishop/overseer, the one who desires to effectively serve in the capacity of “deacon” also “desires a good work”(7:1).
In the same manner(“likewise”) as are overseers/bishops, “Deacons” are expected to exhibit a character which exudes “reverence.”
“Reverent” is unqualified but is instead listed concisely as a character trait.
**In other words, deacons must approach all others(in general) & all situations with a “reverence” or proper regard, which bespeaks the same regard Christ has towards them/it. This of course can only be done by the saved sinner when he allows himself to be controlled by the Spirit of God.
“Deacons”[See :8]—diakonov—One who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master, a servant, attendant, minister.—1a)The servant of a king- 1b) A deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor & has charge of & distributes the money collected for their use, 1c) A waiter, one who serves food & drink. Diakonov represents the servant in his activity for the work; not in his relation, either servile, or more voluntary. Diakonov may designate either a slave or a freeman, it denotes a servant viewed in relation to his work. Strong—probably from an obsolete diakw(to run on errands; compare diwkw); An attendant, i.e. (genitive case)A waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specially--A Christian teacher & pastor(technically, a deacon or deaconess).
“Reverent/Grave/Men of Dignity/Men worthy of Respect”[See :11 & :3—semnothv]—Adj.—semnov—August, venerable, reverend; 2) To be venerated for character, honorable— 2a) Of persons 2b) Of deeds. Semnov is that which inspires reverence or awe. In classical Greek it was often applied to the gods. But frequently it has the lower idea of that which is humanly venerable, or even refers simply to externals, as to that which is magnificent, grand, or impressive. Strong—from sebomai[an apparently primary verb; To revere, i.e. Adore] Venerable, i.e. Honorable. Used 4X.
Argumentation:
Acts 4:32-5:13—“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart & one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, & brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, & laid them at the apostles’ feet; & they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, & brought the money & laid it at the apostles’ feet. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, & brought a certain part & laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit & keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down & breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose & wrapped him up, carried him out, & buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, & they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet & breathed her last. And the young men came in & found her dead, & carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church & upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs & wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.”
These were revered because they were apostles chosen of God & sent to establish the church thru the Gospel of Christ. To not recognize them as such constituted opposition to God Himself!
Ex. 20:12—““Honor your father & your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
Rom. 13:1-7—“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, & the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, & those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, & you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
1Pet. 2:13-17—“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers & for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”
Lev. 19:32—“‘You shall rise before the gray headed & honor the presence of an old man, & fear your God: I am the LORD.”
1Pet. 5:1-7—“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder & a witness of the sufferings of Christ, & also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; & when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, & be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
Lk. 20:25—“And He[Jesus] said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, & to God the things that are God’s.””
Illustration:
Every driver expresses a Reverence for the rules of the road/We calmly pass one another on two-lane roads at 55mph with no fear/REVERENCE
Building a house or business/Must have all the proper permits so as not to succumb to impoundment or loan foreclosure/REVERENCE
Sewer line within the city limits/Cannot continue using an individual sewer system/You must tie in to the city sewer/& you must pay the taxes covering such service!/REVERENCE
Application:
?Do your deacons exemplify a godly REVERENCE?
?Your deacon/deacons Fit for Office?
?How do you measure up regarding the same qualifications?
2—The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...
His HONESTY(:8b)
Explanation:(:8b)Hypocrite
:8b—“Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,”
Neither are “deacons” to be “double-tongued.” “Reverence” would dictate such a stance or personal control.
This is not a description of someone showing discretion with truth. It is rather a description of one who tells two different things(lies) to two different parties regarding the same subject.
Thus the “double-tongued” lies to two(or more) parties in order to placate these so his own personal interests &/or position are protected. He only promises something to each in order to buy time that his own ends may find fruition. The “double-tongued” person believes his ‘golden tongue’(‘he thought up a lie & he thought it up quick’) &/or the time afforded by it, will right the potential conflict to which he has been party & has wrongly advised.
Since ‘deacons would be frequent visitors in homes, they need to be consistent in what they report to others.’..... & “not to spread rumors to different groups of listeners.”—NAC
Argumentation:
Lev. 19:35-37—“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, & an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes & all My judgments, & perform them: I am the LORD.’””
Lk. 20:19-23—“And the chief priests & the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people--for they knew He had spoken this parable against them. So they watched Him, & sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power & the authority of the governor. Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say & teach rightly, & You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But He perceived their craftiness, & said to them, “Why do you test Me?”
Php. 4:8-9—“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue & if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned & received & heard & saw in me, these do, & the God of peace will be with you.”
Gal. 2:11-21—“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew & separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles & not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, & not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ & not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! “For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; & the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me & gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.””
Am 5:7-10—“You who turn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth! He made the Pleiades & Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The LORD is His name. He rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon the fortress. They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.”
Rom. 13:12-14—“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, & let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry & drunkenness, not in lewdness & lust, not in strife & envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, & make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
1Pet. 2:11-12—“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners & pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Further Concepts:
Be true
NOT hypocritical
Admit weakness but not be lead by them
Be transparent
Illustration:
Negative:
The church has voted to purchase a new sign/Billy Bob is supplying 90% of the money for the sign & has convinced the deacons that the church needs an unpowered sign for nostalgia’s sake....whereas the Building Committee has discovered that the church majority desires a digital sign/Both have valid reasons/The committee puts the deacons in charge of procuring & installing the sign/The deacons tell the sign company that the church wants an unpowered sign/The deacons tell the committee that the digital sign cannot be procured or installed for an entire year/The unpowered sign is installed/DIS-HONESTY(Double-tongued)
George wants to join the church/The deacons are charged with examining him to determine if George is lost or saved, baptized or not, abides in the doctrine of Christ, etc./The deacons tell George that he is ‘good to go’ without examining him properly/They tell the pastor that they are unconvinced about George/DIS-HONESTY(Double-tongued)
Positive:
**Tax time/You are a businessman who is doing well for himself/You take advantage of available tax breaks that are true ‘tax breaks’ but do not ‘look for loopholes’/You do not confuse ‘business use’ with ‘personal use’ items/You are you upfront about your reporting even though it might be to your personal financial disadvantage?/HONESTY
I was driving for CT & had delivered my product & spent the night in their parking lot/In the morning about dawn, I pulled out & a couple miles down the road, entered the first little town/A local policeman pulled me over just for a check of my credentials, etc./He discovered that I was ~30min. shy on my down time(I hadn’t slept long enough!), which the the law precisely regulates/I had to spend the next 24hrs. in that town & was forbidden to crank up the truck during that time/My honesty—in filling out my logbook— got me in trouble/Many truckers will lie & fill out their logbooks ahead of time & then just doing what they please....Telling one thing(in the logbook) & doing another/HONESTY
Application:
?Do your deacons exemplify a godly HONESTY?
?Your deacon/deacons Fit for Office?
?How do you measure up regarding the same qualifications?
3— The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...
His SOBRIETY(8c)
Explanation:(:8c)
:8c—“Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,”
Just as overseers are not to be “given to wine,” so “deacons” are not to be “given to much wine.”
People who are stone cold sober will be those who do not stumble into matters bull-headedly. They will NOT be ‘like a bull in a china shop’ regarding the personal struggles & experiences of others who are in need. Sobriety aids in his outward focus rather than an inherent selfishness.
Rather the fit “deacon” as is the pastor/bishop/overseer will be “gentle”(:3) in his approach toward helping others. He will—in opposition to the effects of being fleshly impaired—be fair & equitable to all in any given situation.
**Sobriety is not merely limited to alcohol but must be applied to any mind-altering chemical substance(natural or otherwise) which has potential to change one’s perception!!
Seeing as deacons are entrusted with leadership roles in directing others, as are overseers, so it is vital that they have no predisposition toward escaping such responsibilities artificially.
Our society recognizes the effect of beer or wine & liquor as ‘being under the influence’(DUI) or ‘driving while impaired(DWI).‘ Neither should deacons or pastors be (LWI)leading while impaired.
Being ‘under the influence’ is being ‘under the influence’...of something other than God in Christ. One’s Christian principles lived by are openly ‘forgotten’ or laid aside for the sake of personal indulgence.
Pot/weed/ganja/marijuana use is the same—its sole purpose is to get the person high. People will say to me, ‘Oh but preacher, Nobody smoking weed would harm anybody! It makes you more mellow, dude.’
Well, folks whether you are mellowed out/relaxed or enraged, your thinking has still been willingly & chemically impaired!
*Its not about niceness vs. badness, but is all about impairment & flesh & the Holy Spirit!
What would happen if we were to meditate on the goodness of God & be allow the Spirit of God to relax us? We would find relaxation can come substance free!
We all must learn to approach each day’s difficulties with sober seriousness. Each day is a gift of God. And each day day holds individual trials of varying degrees. We must personally learn to appreciate such ‘troubles’ with God’s help & not chemical help.
Mat. 6:33-34—““But seek first the kingdom of God & His righteousness, & all these things shall be added to you. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
“Given to much wine”(See :3—“Given to wine/Addicted to wine”—paroinov—Given to wine, drunken. Staying near wine.)
Here the same concept in 3 words—“Given to”—prosecw—“Much”—poluv—“Wine”—oinov.
“Given to”—prosecw—To bring near, bring near; To turn the mind to, attend to be attentive—2a) To a person or a thing: of caring for, providing for; 3) To attend to one's self, i.e. To give heed to one's self—3a) give attention to, take heed; 4) To apply one's self to, attach one's self to, hold or cleave to a person or a thing—To be given or addicted to, 4b) To devote thought & effort to.
“Much”—poluv—Many, much, large.
“Wine”—oinov—Wine.
Argumentation:
Eph. 5:17-18—“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,”
1Cor. 10:13—“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Lk. 12:42-48—“And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful & wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ & begins to beat the male & female servants, & to eat & drink & be drunk, “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, & at an hour when he is not aware, & will cut him in two & appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master’s will, & did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; & to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
Isa. 28:5-8—“In that day the LORD of hosts will be For a crown of glory & a diadem of beauty To the remnant of His people, For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest & the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit & filth; No place is clean.”
Lk. 21:34-36—““But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, & cares of this life, & that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, & pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, & to stand before the Son of Man.””
Illustration:
In my ‘Bread Route’ days/I would have to be at work by 2:30am—something my body never got used to!/I would be so sleepy that I would arrive at my first stop(8-10 miles away) & wonder how I got there/
Imagine our deacons meeting together & presenting something to the church in such a condition/Chemical impairment is akin to that!/SOBRIETY is needed!
Application:
?Do your deacons exemplify a godly SOBRIETY?
?Your deacon/deacons Fit for Office?
?How do you measure up regarding the same qualifications?
CONCLUSION:
Action:
The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...
1. His REVERENCE(:8a)
2. His HONESTY(:8b)
3. His SOBRIETY(8c)
Presented 02/03/2013pm to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
