Service Starts At Home

Your Service Starts At Home

Today we have been given the opportunity to commission one of God’s servants, Bro. Darryl Johnson, into the office of Deacon. This is not something that should be entered into lightly, because it carries with it a great responsibility.

Jesus said in Matthew 20:26-28 “…but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servants and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” The leaders of the Church should have an attitude and disposition of a servant. The goal of the leadership is not to be served and/or worshipped, but to be of service to others. This goes for the Pastor, Assoc. Ministers, Deacons and everyone who holds a leadership position within the Church. This is the model that Christ gave us, that we should serve one another. The Deacon especially must be mindful of this. Their first responsibility is to God, then their family and finally the Church. As it relates to each of these, they should have the heart of a servant, not one of a ruler. I believe that Bro. Johnson has the heart of a servant and upon this recognition, we will ordain him for the service for which God has already called and prepared him to do.

We have discussed in the past what the role of a Deacon is within the Church. Remember in Acts 6 we find where the first deacons (servants) were selected. There was a situation where the Church was growing and some of the members “Hellenistic Jews” complained because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. When this complaint was brought to the disciples’ attention, they called the congregation together to discuss the matter. The disciples understood that their primary focus should be on studying the word of God so that they would be able to feed the people spiritually. This was their primary responsibility, yet they recognized that the physical needs of the people still needed to be attended to, so they made this recommendation to choose seven men who could serve in this capacity that later became the office of Deacon. Their task was to serve and take care of the membership.

Understanding and recognizing that this is a leadership position within the Church and carries with it a lot of responsibility, Paul gave some additional instructions for those being considered for this office. He says the following:

1 Tim. 3:8-13 “In like manner the deacons must be worthy of respect, not shifty and double-talkers but sincere in what they say, not given to much wine, not greedy for base gain, craving wealth and resorting to ignoble and dishonest methods of getting it. They must possess the mystic secret of faith, Christian truth as hidden from ungodly men with a clear conscience. And let them also be tried and investigated and proved first, then if they turn out to be above reproach, let them serve as deacons. The women (deaconess) likewise must be worthy of respect and serious, not gossipers, but temperate and self-controlled, thoroughly trustworthy in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of but one wife and let them manage their children and their own households well.”

There are two verses in this scripture that I want to speak to today, verses 10 and 12.

Verse 10: “And let them also be tried and investigated and proved first, then if they turn out to be above reproach, let them serve as deacons.”

Paul said that the deacon should be tried before they are placed in the office. In other words, it is the responsibility of the leadership make sure that this person would not bring shame on this office. This was not a task that could be taken lightly. The testing was focused on making sure that the person understood what they were getting into, the impact on their lives as well as that of their family. It also included making sure that the person’s reputation within society was such that selecting this person would not reflect negatively on the Church and its mission. Bro. Darryl has passed the test. I, as well as others, have spent time with him, to understand his calling, his acceptance and his new responsibilities. His reputation within the community is fine and he loves his family. We will not have a deacon or deaconess in this ministry who does not accept the fact that their first ministry is their family – I will discuss this more in the next verse. With that said, I am very comfortable with him taking on this responsibility. Now the next verse is the one that I really want to make sure he as well as you understand.