Text: 1 Tim 3:8-13, Title: Humble Church Servants, Date/Place: 4.22.18, WHBC, AM
A. Opening illustration: “The world may assess a man’s greatness by the number of people whom he controls and who are at his beck and call; or by his intellectual standing and academic eminence; or by the number of committees of which he is a member; or by the size of his bank balance and the material possessions which he has amassed; but in the assessment of Jesus Christ, these things are irrelevant.” -Barclay, the pastor at the Promise Keepers conference who was always in the competition to serve his wife more that she did him. “some churches wrongly elevate deacons to the position of executive board members, others mistakenly reduce deacons to building managers, glorified church janitors, or sanctified groundskeepers.” -Strauch
B. Background to passage: the church of Christ whom God has called out from among all nations to reflect his praise and worth for all eternity. It is the most precious and valuable entities on the planet, because he shed his blood for it. It will be the only one that will be gathered together one day to a marriage to Christ the King. Ephesians tells us that the church’s eternal purpose is to put on display the manifold wisdom of God to rulers and authorities. Therefore, God has a design for leadership and operation in his church (many things that distinguish us as Baptists rely on our understanding of these things). He sets aside (ordains) men to rule and lead in service as examples to all those who minister in the church. Raise your opinion of Christ’s bride!
C. Main thought: Three aspects of deacons
A. Their relationship to character (v. 8-10, 12)
1. They are to be esteemed as worthy of respect and honorable. They are not to be two-faced, hypocritical, or insincere. They are not to pay attention to or be concerned about wine and alcohol. They are not to be shamefully greedy. They are to have a good knowledge and conviction of the faith, but not necessarily must be able to teach it. Some may have that gift, but it is not required to be a deacon as it is an elder. We must test them and see that they are found unaccusable (same word used as with elders). Also, just as the elders, his marital fidelity inside and outside must be clear. They are to manage/disciple their home well.
2. Verse 11: I believe is dealing with the wives of the deacons, not the female deacons. Here are the reasons. (1) the word deacon is not used in v. 11 as it is in v. 8 and v. 12, (2) word for wives/women is same usage as in verse 12, (3) Paul’s concern for purity in relationships between men and women in the church would more easily be achieved if they were wives instead of female assistants to the deacons, (4) there is no mention of the marital status of these women as done with both elders, clearly male deacons, and older widows who remain unmarried and chaste, (5) it better explains the placement in the paragraph
3. Col 3:12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
4. Illustration: “The Christian who desires to be great and first in the kingdom is the one who is willing to serve in the hard place, the uncomfortable place, the lonely place, the demanding place, the place where he is not appreciated and may be persecuted. Knowing that time is short and eternity is long, he is willing to spend and be spent. He is willing to work for excellence without becoming proud, to withstand criticism without becoming bitter, to be misjudged without becoming defensive, and to withstand suffering without succumbing to self-pity.” -JM
5. Just like last week, these character traits are not uniquely Christian and are listed in other places in scripture as expressions of godliness that all Christians should aspire to and strive to attain. These are must-haves for deacons, and they are should-haves for us. Therefore, all of us should ask the questions about whether or not we exhibit these traits, whether or not the Holy Spirit has wrought them inside of us. Notice I said that the Spirit has worked them. This is not to say that we are passive in our pursuit of sanctification and godliness in our walk with Jesus, but that we are dependent upon God to have any success. Thus, when we do express those traits, we have nothing to boast about except Christ. I say that to remind us that Christianity is not moralism, nor is it self-reliant on abilities, personality or strength to “do” the Christian life. It is a holy conjunction of grace and providence on God’s part that is determinative, and diligence, discipline, and hunger that is secondary on your part.
6. Are we worthy of respect and honor? Are we hypocritical, saying one thing with our lips and doing another thing with our lives. Are we whitewashed tombs having the appearance of holiness, yet hollow and full of dead men’s bones? Are we controlled by alcohol, money, or other binding vices, or crippling idols of “good” or benign things? Are we firm in the faith without wavering? Are our homes, marriages, and children a glory to Christ, adorning him with praise and beauty in the eyes of a watching world that longs for security and joy that is permanent? Are character accusations and assaults able to stick with any appearance of guilt reality or genuine basis?
B. Their relationship to the church (v. 10, 13)
1. Elders, previously mentioned, are to lead/rule the church as servant leaders for teaching, prayer, and direction. Deacons are set aside for service. A person who did menial labor such as serving tables or house cleaning, the lowest level of hired help. Don’t hear that there is not dignity in the office of deacon, just understand their role. God set all believers in specific roles in the body of Christ. All true believers are gifted by the Spirit and empowered to minister in and through the body. Originally, they were chosen from among the congregation, and appointed by the elders to serve the widows in their daily food distribution, which included managing church finances related to that duty. They are still to tend to widows and the fatherless as well as the body in general, serving any way they can. They are examples to us in life and ministry.
2. “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” -John 13:12-20
3. Illustration: the catholic rite of ordination of deacons supposedly conveys power, “The self-serving, self-promoting, self-glorying ways of the world are the antithesis of spiritual greatness.” –JM, “God’s great men are not sitting on top of lesser men but bearing lesser men on their backs.” –commentator RCH Lenski,
4. The deacons are supposed to lead our church in service. We should expect them to be the first to step up in the middle of a need that we can meet. To the most difficult service, to the most menial, to the most humbling, they step up. We must ensure that they meet these qualifications before we vote to ordain a man as a deacon. Even when rotation comes, we cannot assume that a man still meets the qualifications as he did when he was first ordained. I have even had deacons step down in the middle of their term because they felt like that had crossed a line to represent Christ and his church in this service. Remember that these are our examples to follow. We follow them because they emulate Christ. So, we serve as they serve. We step up because they step up. We lay down our lives in service because they lay down theirs because Christ laid down his first. This is the image of the deacon. This is the image of service: Christ served all, sacrificed all, and as He did, so should we; not out of guilt, but out of desire please God and thanksgiving for all He has given in service to you.
A. Closing illustration: 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
B. The deaconate is about service, and Jesus says that service is about the gospel. Deacons serve, we all serve, in order to demonstrate the gospel to others, to lay our life down for others. We can’t provide the ransom for many, but we can let them know by our love that the ransom has been paid. 2 Tim 2:24-25 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
C. Ross, “A Reconsideration of the Diaconate,” indicates that from the earliest times deaconesses visited the sick, acted as doorkeepers at the women’s entrance for the church, kept order among church women, assisted in baptism for women, taught females in preparation for baptism, and acted as sponsors for exposed children (153). An insightful presentation of the role of women in the early church (including both heretics and heroines) appears in Christian History 7:17 (1988).
D. The early Christian writing known as the Apostolic Constitutions presents a picture of church life near the end of the third century. It outlines the work of a woman helper or deaconess as follows: “Ordain also a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministrations towards women. For sometimes he cannot send a deacon, who is a man, to the women, on account of unbelievers. Thou shalt therefore send a women, a deaconess, on account of the imagination of the bad. For we stand in need of a woman, a deaconess, for many necessities; and first in the baptism of women, the deacon shall anoint only their forehead with the holy oil, and after him the deaconess shall anoint them: for there is no necessity that the women should be seen by the men” (Apostolic Constitutions 3.15).
E. the story of John Egglen, who had never preached a sermon in his life before the Sunday morning when it snowed and the pastor wasn’t able to make it to the church. In fact, he was the only deacon to show up. He was not a preacher, but he was faithful and that meant on that particular Sunday morning he preached. God rewarded his faithfulness, and at the end of his hesitant sermon, one young man invited God into his heart. No one there could appreciate the significance of what had taken place that morning. The young man who accepted Christ that snowy Sunday morning was non other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the man who has often been called, the "prince of preachers." God blessed his preaching and when he was still less than 30 years old he became the pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. His sermons were so powerful that although the building could hold 5000 people, the crowds who came to hear him were so thick that they would line up outside trying to hear his sermons. That amazing life of faith all started on a cold Sunday morning with the faithfulness of a deacon who had never preached a sermon before that day. Faithfulness means being committed to what God lets us have the chance to do, whether it looks like a big assignment, or a small one. Giving the sermon to a handful of people on a Sunday morning when almost no one shows up doesn’t seem all that significant, but it demanded faithfulness & God blessed John Egglin’s faithfulness.
