Deacon Ordination Service
“Through the Dust”
Sept. 29, 2002
AM Worship
For the next 28 days you are being asked to join us in prayer and fasting with the sole desire being that God will not just “show up”, but that He will “show off” in McLean County. On September 18th we embarked on a 40 day spiritual journey that would lead us up to October 27th when we begin two Sunday morning worship services – one at 8:30 and the second at 11:00. Our desire in making this move is to open up opportunities for more people to come and worship, for more people to come and hear the word of God, for more people to come and find cleansing from sin, for more people to come and find fellowship and love, and most of all for more people to come and discover the very presence of God. As one of our members said so appropriately just a few weeks ago, “God has always been here, now we’re acknowledging His presence”. I don’t know about you, but I want people to leave our services and say, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place”. Deuteronomy 4:7 says that “Our God is near us whenever we pray to Him”.
What happens when God is near us? What could happen if God showed off today? If you acknowledged the very presence of God today your life could change forever! Your stress would vanish! Your fears would dissipate! Your marriage could be revitalized! If God showed off today your emotional pain could be healed!
If God showed off today your physical illness could disappear! If Jesus displayed His power today your sins could be forgiven!
2
The Bible says in Psalm 97:
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side. His lighting lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.
Our sole reason for existing, as a church, is to bring glory to God! Just imagine what would happen if every member of this congregation began praying the same prayer at the same time – praying that the people of McLean County would be touched by the very presence of God! We must become intentional about being a witness to our community and the world. If we truly want God to show off then we must strive to grow closer to God in our personal lives and as a corporate body.
Ø If you’ve come here to criticize – then you’re in the wrong place!
Ø If you’ve come here to snooze – then go back home and go to bed!
Ø If you’ve come here to impress someone – no one is impressed!
Ø If you’ve come here to sit with your mind closed, your heart untouched, and your life unchanged – then you’re in the wrong place!
Ø But, if you’ve come here to witness the power and presence of God then hang on because you’re in the right place!
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You see, I believe that God is doing something in Calhoun Baptist Church very similar to what He did in the early stages of the church. We find God showing off in the opening chapters of the book of Acts. One man speaks and hundreds hear his words in their own native language! The Holy Spirit fills the disciples and it’s evident by the way they act. In fact, people are accusing them of being drunk at 9:00 in the morning! Visit most churches at 9:00 on Sunday morning and the people don’t look drunk – they look hung over! In the opening pages of Acts we don’t find a group of people sitting on their hands. We see the church in the streets witnessing and sharing the wonderful news of the presence of God that changes lives. We see an active church involved in ministry. We see a group of people on fire for God and changing their world. We see three thousand saved and baptized in a single day. We see people devoted to the teaching of the Word of God. We see people committed to prayer and enjoying fellowship with one another. To use the words of Acts 2, “everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done…All the believers were together and had everything in common…They met in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Calhoun Baptist Church has the potential to be that kind of church. Now if you just said to yourself, “I don’t want to be that kind of church” then you’re in the wrong place because we are and will continue to be about the business of bringing glory to God by leading people to faith in Christ and on to spiritual maturity! We have one purpose and that purpose is to let God show off to McLean County in whatever way He chooses!
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There’s a key element to all of this that we cannot overlook. Satan’s greatest fear is that God will indeed show His power and His presence in such a way that no one will be able to deny His existence. For centuries, Satan has been trying to distract the church from its primary purpose. From time to time, he will persecute the church from outside its walls much like he did in the opening chapters of Acts. In chapters four and five the church leaders were arrested and thrown into prison. They were beaten and told not to speak the name of Jesus. But this only strengthened the church. As we approach Acts chapter 6 we see that Satan changes his method. Instead of trying to destroy the church from the outside, he seeks to destroy it from within. This is where we find ourselves today – on the verge of making a dynamic impact on our community or finding our church destroyed by the ploys of Satan himself. How? Acts 6:1-2 tells us that it was “jealousy”. [Read Acts 6:1-2]
This chapter begins by saying that as the number of disciples was multiplying there arose a problem in the church. There was complaining among the members of the church. Out of that controversy we are introduced to the creation of the deacon ministry. The need for deacons in the church came from a problem in the church. So let’s get one thing straight – deacons are here to fix problems not create problems. Nowhere in the entire New Testament do we find the idea of a “board of deacons” who operate the church or run the church or who set themselves up as the appointed spokesperson for a disgruntled group of members. Deacons do not exist to create dissension in the church. They exist to dissolve division. Deacons are the pastor’s right arm, his mighty men, his men of support.
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Let’s look a little closer at what’s happening in Acts 6. It seems that the Hellenistic Jews were convinced that the Hebraic Jews and the Apostles were showing favoritism to one another and they were being slighted. A spirit of jealousy crept into the church. Just to give you a little background, the Hebraic Jews were natives of Palestine. They were more conservative and traditional in their approach to life. The Hellenistic Jews on the other hand were Greek-speaking Jews from other nations who had gathered in Jerusalem. They tended to be more progressive. They felt a little bit like outsiders, maybe not as accepted.
There are two potential dangers that were facing the early church. One was prejudice and division and the second was a misunderstanding in the role of the pastor. There was this underlying belief that the Apostles were to do it all: teach, preach, and minister to the needs of the people. But, the reality is that this is an impossible task. In churches where the role of the pastor is misunderstood, you will either have a minister who is great at preaching but limited in his ability to minister; or you will have a minister who is a great pastor to the people but who fails in his preaching. So the apostles introduce the idea of servant leaders called deacons. Verse four of Acts 6 says that the deacons free the pastors to do what they’re called to do “administer the word of God”. They chose these men according to verse three to oversee quote “this business” which is really the word “this need”. Deacons are to meet the needs of the people. Their primary function is to create an atmosphere of unity and love by serving the church.
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[Read Acts 6:3] This passage lays down the qualifications of a deacon. First, it says that they are to be taken from the fellowship. In other words, they are to be Christian men who belong to the church body.
They are to be men who have the same mind and spirit as the church. That’s why one of the central questions I ask each deacon candidate is, “Are you comfortable with the current direction of the church?” If that man is not comfortable with the vision and direction of the church then he can’t be about the business of bringing unity to the church when he is opposed to it from the outset.
Notice that verse three of chapter six also says choose seven men. There seems to be some confusion these days about the role of women in the church. Most of the time the word “men” in your New Testament is a translation of the Greek word anthropos. It’s where we get the word anthropology. It actually is a generic term meaning both men and women. For instance, Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men”, but we know that we are not to be witnesses to only men, but by using the word anthropos he means both men and women.
Yet, in Acts 6:3 we don’t find the word anthropos being used. Instead we find the Greek word andros which means male or husband and it never refers to women. Deacons are to be men. They are to be Christian men. Some of you may still say, “I don’t like that.” Or “I don’t agree with that”. And we could spend a great deal of time on discussing why God has arranged things this way, but the bottom line is that God’s word says that a deacon is to be a man and we just need to accept it whether we like it or not.
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Finally, verse three said they were to be men of good reputation and full of the Holy Spirit. They need to be men who are respected in the church and in the community. If you are a deacon of Calhoun Baptist Church and you’ve acted in a way that is unbecoming of a Christian then you need to apologize and make it right. If it was a lapse in judgment or a moment of weakness then we can overlook your offense. But if you have a continued attitude of being difficult and disrespectful to God or other people then you need to resign your position as a spiritual role model within our congregation. If we are getting ready to embark on something major for God like reaching 10% of McLean County by the year 2010 then we must maintain a standard of being filled with God’s Spirit. The are a lot of men, even Christian men, even men respected in the community who have no business being a deacon because they are not filled with the Spirit of God.
What’s the result of doing this right - of having deacons as servant role models and spiritual supporters of the church? God shows off! [Read Acts 6:7]
This verse assures us that there are three things we can look forward to when we ordain deacons according to the Word of God. 1. God’s Word is going to spread. 2. People are going to be saved. 3. Religious people are going to get their life right with God.
Invitation
Ø Join us in spreading the gospel (membership/baptism)
Ø Accept Christ as your Savior
Ø Get your heart right with God
Ø Pray for God to show off in McLean County
Contributor Note: Portions of this sermon have been adapted from O. S. Hawkins sermon "Deacon Ordinaton Sunday" featured in the book "Good News for Great Days".
