The Deacon’s Fitness-3

The DEACON’S FITNESS-III—1Timothy 3:8-13

Attention:

Fitness/Able/Suitable/Appropriate/Pertinent/Apt/Proper

The ‘Fiscal Cliff’s’ application/initiation/commencement.

Severe Federal budget cuts were initiated on March 1st, 2013 which were designed to SLOW Governmental overspending. To keep the reach of Federal government from strengthening & expanding so that dependency upon Federal monies is recognized & limited. To make us wake up to the fact that our Federal Government—as is— has become & maintains an inherent invasiveness, costliness & destructiveness to personal freedoms that have neither been experienced nor anticipated fully.

These cuts will hurt many & those in Washington will now be forced to deal with such measures decisively & specifically. Will the cuts be redirected & guided OR will taxes be raised—essentially denying the pervasive existence of politics built upon greed & dependancy— allowing the governmental fingers of greed to continue unchecked as at present?

Now it appears, Congress & the President are willing to meet for extended hours late into the night in order to resolve their difficulties.

Thru the Fitness(application) of these newly initiated measures, we will discover exactly how dependent we—as individuals—have become upon our own federal government!

It is very Fitting that such forced meetings are now occurring to deal with what has always been known.

Need:

Paul related the moral qualifications for deacons of the Church.

Character traits for deacons of the church are definitive/unequivocal.

?What character traits define the deacon’s fitness for office?

?How is the deacon’s fitness determined?

Characteristics by which an deacon’s fitness for office is decided.

The deacon’s fitness is decided by...Collaborative/Collective ...

We discovered previously that The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...

1. His REVERENCE(:8a)

2. His HONESTY(:8b)

3. His SOBRIETY(8c)

4. His FREEDOM From MATERIALISM(:8d)

5. His CHRISTIAN COMPLIANCE/Surrender(:9)

6. His UNIMPEACHABLENESS(:10)

7—The deacon’s fitness is decided thru...

His COUNTERPART(:11a)

Explanation:(:11a) Designated Driver(God’s chosen spur to greatness) Fulfillment/Complement/Companion/Team

:11—“Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.”

The focus of this passage is upon the deacon’s teamship with his wife. This sheds much light upon the deacon’s ability to accomplish the Lord’s work fully, properly & competitively(vying for the hearts of the lost).

Concerning Gen. 2:20—Along with the provision & prohibition, YeHoWaH, concerned for man’s well-being, also provides on another plane. God does not want man to be “alone.” It seems evident from YeHoWaH’s decision, that personal loneliness is detrimental to His plan for the man. God’s solution is to provide “a helper” who is similar/“comparable”/meet for him. Thus this helper will offer real aid. The man too must have a counterpart within his own kind.

A godly “wife” supplies a counterpart to her husband’s(deacon) vulnerabilities. A godly ‘husband’ supplies a counterpart to his godly wife’s vulnerabilities.

A godly couple aids each other in overcoming their individual vulnerabilities. They work together in the Lord’s will.

This does NOT say that deacons ‘must’ be married. But it is important for a deacon to be a husband ‘if’ he is married.

God designed marriage for man & thru a man’s willingness to become a husband, he becomes the better for it.

Again the word “likewise” comes into play. This assumes that verses :8-10(minimally & :1-7 maximally) not only apply to the “deacon” but also to the deacon’s “wife.” These descriptors would also rightly apply to the pastor’s wife.

As with the bishop/overseer(:4-5), so it is important that every deacon’s family fall under spiritual scrutiny. The “deacon’s” “wife”(gunh) is specifically mentioned here whereas the bishop’s is indirectly implicated thru the ruling of his house which secures his children’s obedience. The wife & mother to the children of both deacon & pastor is the vital link to obtaining such obedience with reverence among their children.

Due to the culture in which we live(in America) the mere concept of a wife as counterpart necessarily does away with the idea of homosexuality.

“Likewise”[See :8]—wsautwv—In like manner, likewise. Strong—As thus, i.e. in the same way.

“Wives”—gunh—1) A woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow; 2) A wife—2a) Of a betrothed woman. Strong—A woman; specially--A wife.

Argumentation:

Ezek. 44:19-24—““When they[the priests, the Levites] go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, & put on other garments; & in their holy garments they shall not sanctify the people. They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests. And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy & the unholy, & cause them to discern between the unclean & the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, & judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws & My statutes in all My appointed meetings, & they shall hallow My Sabbaths.”