So, You Want To E A Deacon

So, You Want To Be A Deacon

Acts 6:1-7, 1 Timothy 3:8-13, (NLT)

Intro: The story’s told of a long-winded preacher who had a member who fell asleep during every sermon. So the pastor said to his deacon, “Bob, I want you to take this long stick and use it to tap Brother John on the head every time he goes to sleep.”

Deacon Bob was a very conscientious deacon and if the pastor entrusted him with a job, why, doggone it, he was going to make sure he got the job done right!

The very next service, sure enough, John fell asleep again.

Bob grabbed his stick and reached across the aisle and woke him up with a gentle tap on the head.

John aroused for awhile, but within minutes, he was sound asleep again.

This time, Bob tapped him a little harder, hoping to make a deeper impression.

But again, within minutes Brother John was cutting z’s.

So this time, Bob reared back and knocked John so hard, he fell to his knees.

Dazed, John said, “Deacon, hit me again. I can STILL HEAR HIM PREACHING!”

. Deacons, love em, don't care for them.

. It seems that everyone has a different opinion of Deacons.

. They do serve a purpose in the church

. We all hear horror stories of confused Deacons thinking that their role was to be the leaders, the bosses in the church instead of who the Bible clearly says is head of the church.

. For those who need reminding look with me at Colossians 1:18;

. Paul is reminding the church in colossi of the supremacy of Christ and he writes this:

18Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

. Then writing to the Ephesian church, he tells them this in 1:22:

22God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church

. Notice that Paul writes these things right away, in the beginning of the letters. He wants them and us to know right off the bat that Christ, that Jesus is the head of the church and no one else.

. Once that is settled, Paul tells us in scripture about two offices in the church.

. The first one is a ministerial and leadership role in the church which is the Elder or Overseer or Pastor.

. The other is solely a ministerial or savant role within the church which is the job or role of Deacon.

. Our church has functioned for many years, I think 15 or more long before my time, without Deacons.

. Some may say well Pastor we have done ok for this many years, why rock the boat now.

. My answer to that is that scripture, our bible, one of the core values that we put up on the screen every Sunday and put in the bulletin says that we as a church want to follow what God's word tells us.

. The answer is simple. Deacons are biblical and they are needed within the body of Christ.

. So this morning, we are going to nominate men who we think fit the criteria of God's word in qualifying to become a Deacon.

. I hope each and every one of you have a deacon nomination form this morning. If not please raise your hand and we will get one to you.

. Now, as we go through what God's word says this morning and look at the necessity of Deacons and the qualifications of a deacon, pray that God will impress upon you who you would like to nominate as a deacon.

. Listen to me, You do not have to put any name down. If you don't know people well enough or can't honestly in good conscience nominate anyone, then please don't. Just fold up you form and no one will ever know the difference when we pick them up at the end of the service.

. You need to realize that just because you nominate someone, it does not mean they will automatically become a Deacon.

. What the nomination does is give us a list of names that the selection committee can examine. Some may say no, some may not stand up to the scrutiny of the selection process. We will follow the guidelines set forth in our by-laws for this process.

. Let's look at Deacons

. the first thing we see in scripture is that there is a:

. NECESSITY FOR DEACONS (acts 6:1-6)

. Jesus has died on the cross and was resurrected and had spent 40days with the people. He had ascended back into Heaven and the Holy Spirit has come at Pentecost. The Apostles were preaching and teaching about Jesus and the churl was growing like wildfire and we come to our scripture.