For example, God gave mankind the wisdom and the ability to produce television sets for our homes, to provide wholesome and godly programs to be a blessing to our families. But look how the devil has taken the “scum” of Hollywood to corrupt the minds of our families.
The devil has used television as an instrument to shape the minds of our nation.
• Ted Turner, speaking to a group of Broadcasters in 1983 said, “Delegates to the United Nations are not as important as the people in this room. We're the ones that determine what the people's attitudes are. It's in our hands.”
• Malcolm Muggeridge said, “Of all the inventions of our time, TV is likely to prove the most destructive. Whereas nuclear power can only reduce us and our world to a cinder, the camera grinds us down to spiritual dust so fine that a puff of wind scatters it, leaving nothing behind.”
• David Frost said, “Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room, by people you wouldn't have in your home.”
I reiterate, the devil is great at taking something that is good, and turning it around and using it for something bad.
The point I am trying to make is this; WHEN GOD DOES SOMETHING GOOD, you can be sure THAT THE DEVIL IS GOING TO TRY AND DO SOMETHING EVIL WITH IT.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger knew of a church in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, that was without a pastor for almost a year. He saw one of the good deacons of the church, and asked him how were things going at his church. The deacon had a big smile on his face and said, “Things are going great, we have a new pastor, souls are getting saved, the church is growing so fast that it is scary.” He asked him, “What do you mean the church is growing so fast that it is scary?” He said, “I am sure you know that WHEN GOD MOVES, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT THE DEVIL IS GOING TO MOVE ALSO. WE KNOW HE IS GOING TO STRIKE, WE JUST DO NOT KNOW WHEN!”
That is a wise deacon, a lot of folks do not know that.
Some think all problems come from an INDIVIDUAL or INDIVIDUALS. But what most folks in the church do not realize is that God and the devil have one thing in common, they BOTH desire to use us.
We cast the deciding vote on which one will be able to use us. ALL CHURCH PROBLEMS CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE DEVIL.
The early church was a fantastic church, but like all churches they had their problems. To eliminate some of these problems, God instituted deacons in the church -
I. LOOK AT THE PLAN OF A DEACON
Deacons are a part of the scriptural organization of the New Testament church. Deacons are a vital part of what God has provided to make the church strong and effective in its work. The office of deacon is important and needed.
• Deacons are not men who are not quite “good enough” to be elders.
• Deacons are not merely those who are “on their way up” to becoming elders.
We need to view the deacon’s work in a better light - it is important in its own right. God placed deacons in the church to ELIMINATE PROBLEMS.
Look at Acts 6:1-7, we read, “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. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost 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 of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 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.”
One problem of the early church was that as the church grew at a rapid pace, it was putting more and more pressure on the pastors of the church. In fact, their job time of praying and preparing spiritual meals from the Word of God was being consumed by having to serve tables.
The demands got to the place where they did not have sufficient time:
• To meet the demands of their job (as ministers of the gospel)
• To meet the demands placed upon them for the care of the widows and the orphans in the church.
Some of the Grecian widows felt like they were being neglected, while the Hebrew widows perhaps were getting more attention than they should have.
This was not a “bellyaching” problem, if it was, it would have probably been ignored. This was a legitimate complaint. It was taken to the apostles, and they realized that a pastor can not pastor a church alone.
So they made a plan, in verse 2, “Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and serve tables.”
Then they said in verse 4, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”
DID THE PLAN WORK? Yes, look at verse 7, we read, “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 Word of God tells that three things began to happen immediately:
(1) The Word of God increased.
(2) The number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.
(3) A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
The church began to increase SPIRITUALLY and NUMERICALLY!
But notice this, the church had come to a STANDSTILL with a lot of griping and legitimate complaining going on UNTIL:
• The apostles had sufficient time for prayer and preparation of spiritual food for God’s people
• The deacons began to serve the congregation as God intended for them to serve.
This is a winning plan and Satan can not stop it.
There are churches all over America that could take off, if God’s plans for pastors and deacons were activated as God intended for them to function.
Notice, the deacons were placed in the church for two reasons:
1. TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS, not CREATE THE PROBLEMS. The deacons often get into people’s personal lives, and if they are not right with God, they can do a lot of harm to individuals and to God’s church.
2. To assist the pastor by giving him time to do what God has called him to do.
One of the problems in today’s church is that the same thing that happened to the pastor, has now happened to the deacons.
WHAT IS THAT? Remember I told you at the beginning of this sermon that the DEVIL is great at taking the things of God, and using them for something evil?
It is clear in the scripture that the office of deacon in the church is a position of SERVING God’s people.
But today, the devil has turned the deacons into:
• The Finance Committee
• The Property Committee
• The Nominating Committee
And everything else you can imagine that can be pushed off on them.
The devil knows how important it is for them to SERVE THE PEOPLE of God, and he throws every distraction he can throw in their path to keep them from doing what God has called them to do.
And now, the devil has them so involved in these other things that they do not have time to take care of serving the WIDOWS and the ORPHANS of the church. This is a trick of the devil, to sidetrack deacons from their position of service to the people of God.
We have looked at THE PLAN OF A DEACON but let us-
II. LOOK AT THE PREREQUISITE OF A DEACON
There is nothing more important than working with people…NOTHING!
Illus: Maybe God has gifted someone to use their talents in the maintenance of the church. They can mess up something in the church that might be electrical, or in the plumbing, and the church can go back and redo it.
But listen, Deacons work with people. They are men full of the Holy Ghost, and they know that if they mess up with the people of God, the problem might not be able to be fixed!
Some of the greatest things that have ever been done in God’s church have been done by dedicated deacons and pastors. But regretfully, I must also say that some of the worst things that have been done in the church were done by pastors and deacons.
This was such an important job in the church, that God gave REQUIREMENTS for those who would serve in this capacity. This was a work to which Christian men were appointed in the various congregations, only if they were considered by their brethren to possess certain scriptural qualifications of godliness.
Look at 1 Tim. 3:8 13, we read, “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Notice, these requirements involve the MAN and his WIFE.
After Paul states who is qualified to be a deacon, he said this, in verse 13, “For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Look at the word “Purchase”. This is the Greek word peripoieomai, (Pronounced as per-ee-poy-eh'-om-ahee) which means acquire.
Now he certainly is not talking about salvation, because the Lord Jesus purchased our salvation on Calvary.
WHAT DOES THE DEACON PURCHASE?
(1) They purchase (earn) the respect of God’s people.
Illus: Parents often teach their children that respect has to be earned, AND IT DOES!
The same thing is true in the family of God, a deacon has to earn the respect of the congregation by doing his job well.
Illus: The deacon lives in a glass house. Like the pastor, people watch how they live their Christian life. Almost anyone in church can miss a church service and most folks will not even notice or say anything about it. But if a deacon does it, you can be sure that someone is going to say something.
When a deacon faithfully serves God and His people, they purchase for themselves the respect of God’s people.
(2) They purchase for themselves eternal rewards.
We acquire our salvation from what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on Calvary.
Those who are privileged to serve the Lord as deacons, are placed in a position to earn themselves some wonderful eternal rewards.
Illus: Suppose I came to you this evening, and I was in a position to place you in a position where you could make lots of money. That is, if you will take the position I offer you, you will be able to make enough money to buy a new car, a new home, a new wardrobe and many more things. I think we all would agree, YOU WOULD BE A FOOL NOT TO TAKE SUCH AN OFFER - RIGHT?
When a man has been selected to serve as a deacon in God’s church, he and his wife are in a position where they can stack up a lot of eternal rewards for themselves.
We have looked at THE PLAN OF A DEACON and THE PREREQUISITE OF A DEACON, but we need to consider one more thing. Let’s -
III. LOOK AT THE PATTERN OF A DEACON
In Acts 6 we have the selection of the first deacons, but in chapter 7 we have the ROLE MODEL of a deacon.
One of the seven that was chosen was Stephen. What a wonderful role model he was for all deacons to pattern their lives after.
One of the qualifications in Acts was that the men they selected must be full of the Holy Ghost. Stephen was such a man.
HOW DO WE KNOW? Because the more of the Holy Spirit we have in us the more we are like Christ.
Notice that Stephen was a deacon in the church when it was not popular to preach the Word of God. He was a lay preacher also, and one day, he was preaching and he told the crowd exactly how things were. He did not get any handshakes afterwards.
Look at Acts 7:54-60, we read, “When they heard these things,(That Stephen had preached) they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
They stoned Stephen for preaching the Word of God. What a horrible death! But the Bible records how this deacon, that was full of the Holy Ghost, responded as they stoned him. Look at how Christ-like this deacon that was full of the Holy Ghost acted.
Look at verse 59-60, we read, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”
His prayer was almost identical to what Christ prayed when He died on the cross for our sins. He was full of the Holy Spirit, and when a believer is full of the Holy Spirit they are Christ-like.
But notice something else that the Holy Spirit slips in here. As he is being stoned to death, the Bible says there was a man there by the name of Saul of Tarsus, and he saw this deacon calling upon God, and asking God not to lay this sin to their charge.
When Saul the Sinner saw this, it is believed by many that this was the deciding factor that led Him to believe that there must be something to this Christianity stuff. It is only a few chapters later when the devout Jew, Saul of Tarsus, became the devout Christian and became the Apostle Paul.
Aren’t you glad that God in His wisdom saw fit to place deacons in the church? Every church needs these men of God serving in this position.
ORDINATION SERVICE
At this time we believe that it would be pleasing to the Lord to ordain ____________________ to be a deacon in this church.
He has been tested and proven to be qualified for this high honor that we are preparing to bestow upon him.
(Ask the candidate to come before the church and stand. Also, ask all the ordained deacons to come and stand behind him.)
Charge to the Deacon:
Minister: Do you promise to strive to live so you may honor Christ by your life; and do you promise, in the presence of this congregation, to accept the responsibility of the office of a deacon in this church, and to the best of your knowledge and ability to discharge all duties of this office?
Candidate: (I do)
The candidate is asked to kneel, facing the congregation.
The Laying On Of Hands:
The pastor and ordained deacons will file by and lay hands on the head of the candidate.
Prayer Of Dedication: (Preferably the pastor)
Have the candidate stand with the other deacons. Ask his wife and all the other deacon’s wives to come and stand with their husbands, and have the entire congregation file by and shake their hands.
Benediction:
