We Need Men to Lead the Church - Part 2 Deacons (Servant or Minister)

[0:00] If you would please take your Bibles and go to 1 Timothy 1 Timothy or for all of you from the UK 1 Timothy It's meant to be funny 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy Chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3 I'm going to start reading verse 8 1 Timothy 3 verse 8 Oh, there's a Bible in the chair in front of you You can pull that out and go to the back Find page 163 163 in the Bible in the chair in front of you 163, 1 Timothy Chapter 3 I'm going to start reading in verse 8 1 Timothy 3 Starting in verse 8 to 13 Deacons likewise Men of dignity

[1:01] Not double-tongued Or addicted to much wine Or fond of sordid gain Holding to the mystery of the faith With a clear conscience And let these also first Be tested And let them serve as deacons If they are beyond reproach Women or wives likewise Dignified Not malicious Gossips But temperate Faithful in all things Verse 12 Let deacons be husbands of one wife Good managers of children And their own households Excuse me For those who have served well as deacons Obtain for themselves a high standing And great confidence in the faith That is in Christ Jesus One of the few things That I remember about high school And my memory is going If you want to know more details Just ask my wife She'll know One of the few things

[2:02] I remember about high school Is the pep rallies Especially before a big football game I played high school football My sophomore, junior, and senior year Small school So they took little guys like me So for a big football game We would have the pep rallies On Friday And the cheerleaders would come out And get us all fired up You know And then the drill squad Would do a routine For everyone And that's where my wife came in She was on the drill squad So you know They have their little flags You know And they'd be like Going like this And flipping it up And then catching it Thanks Aaron Catching it And doing this And then And I was like Wow I want to marry her Yes actually And I did

[3:03] And she's like Who's that moron In the audience I will never marry him No She didn't say that Well maybe she did Actually I never asked her that Well we get all fired up Right Yeah we're going to win We're going to beat them Like a rival's school Rah rah rah Shish goombah Let's go Go go The euphoria was high The excitement You can sew thick You can cut it with a knife That's why I love to watch College football NFL They're a bunch of Spoiled brats Getting paid millions of dollars College football players Aren't supposed to be Getting paid In theory But college football players They're just They're driven They do like Dumb things Because they're like In their like Late teens Early twenties No offense Riley You know and they're

[4:03] They're like Just do like Just stupid things And then it like Works right So then they're all Excited And people are like Yeah yeah The college students Like yeah yeah So the crowds Everything You know that's That's why I love Watching college football And friends That's what deacons are That's what deacons do They get everyone Fired up That's the job Of a deacon He's a cheerleader Now don't expect You know like When Travis was a cheerleader He wasn't gonna come out In a miniskirt Or pom poms Well maybe the pom poms You still have them Anyways He has the ones I gave you I say root for Jim But they're the cheerleaders Of the local body They say Yes

[5:04] Isn't it great To be here They say Yes Isn't this such An awesome church That's a deacon I told you Last week We were gonna do A two part series On the need For leadership In God's church When I started out Which I'll start again This way With this statement We need men To step up And give leadership To God's church In this way I'm talking about deacons There's lots of changes Happening in our little congregation Different things happening Going on And last week I preached on elders Or pastors Or overseers Or bishops They're the same thing If you're curious

[6:06] About that message Go and get that message And listen to it A bishop is an overseer Who's a pastor Who's an elder It's the same thing It's the same guy But today But the elders Or pastors Last week Today The need for leadership In God's church Part two Deacons Deacons What is a deacon?

[6:36] Holistically In the New Testament In general Deacon simply Means Servant Sometimes translated As minister The word refers To service In general Or caring For physical needs These are marks Of a Christ Follower Not just a leader In general But simply Someone who Knows and loves The Lord Jesus Christ Their servants Serve Serve one another In love Deacon One another In love It's also Interesting Is how Jesus Described himself Jesus Actually Described himself As a servant He's the Suffering servant Isaiah 53 Who gave his life

[7:37] On behalf Of sinners As Paul said Taking the form Of a slave We read that A few moments Ago What God Demanded He himself Did on our Behalf By sending His son Jesus Was the Servant Jesus Didn't come To be served He came To serve To die For us As sinners That's what Jesus did He's the Servant Who came To serve And give His life As a ransom For many There's the Gospel We serve Because Jesus Served us We serve Each other Because Jesus Served us By dying For us And if you're Here You're not A Christian You Can allow God to Serve you God will Serve you Yes How does He do That He will Have His He died For your Sins Embrace

[8:38] And repent And trust In Christ And he'll Save you He'll serve You in that Way Jesus Came To serve That's what Deacon Means Even going Beyond this Paul Paul Describe Themself As a Deacon Timothy He was Described As a Deacon Those who Serve So really In essence All Christians Are called To deacon Or to Serve Or to Minister To one Another Father But then You also Have this Office Of deacon From 1st Timothy 3 Which we'll Look at More in Detail In just A moment Unfortunately Today This office Of deacon Has evolved Into a Kind of Executive Or financial

[9:39] Body for the Church Particularly In congregations No longer Have elders Often They serve Actively for Limited time Periods But yet Recognition Is usually Permanent When I First came Here Come to Bible Church That time First Southern Baptist Church It was Told to Me Once a Deacon Always a Deacon Well that's Not in The Bible And this Idea Is notorious In Baptist Churches Even Southern Baptist Churches There is The deacon Body And then The pastor But friends It's not Supposed to Be that Way That's Not Biblical That's Man-made We need to Get back to What the Bible says About What is A deacon Get back to

[10:41] What the Bible says What are Deacons Alexander Strauch Wrote a book Called the New Testament Deacon He said This They Relieve the Shepherds So that they Can give Priority Time And attention To the Word and Prayer And to Provide Official Responsible Care for The Physical Welfare Of Needy Believers End quote That's what Deacons are That's what They do So You want to See a Deacon In action Go to Acts chapter 6 Verse 1 Through 6 You're in 1st Timothy You can put Your finger There We'll go Back to 1st Timothy A little Bit later But go Back in Your Bibles To the Book of Acts Go to Acts chapter 6 Acts Chapter 6 Acts Chapter 6 Starting In Verse 1 Acts

[11:44] Chapter 6 Starting Verse 1 Now at This Time The Disciples Were Increasing A complaint Arose On the Part Of The Hellenistic Jews Against The Hebrews Because Their Widows Were Being Overlooked In The Daily Serving And The Twelve Summoned The Congregation Of The Disciples And Said It Is Not Desirable For Us To Neglect The Word Of God Nor To Serve Tables But Select From Among You Brethren Seven Men Of Good Reputation Full Of The Spirit And Of Wisdom Who May Put In Charge Of This Task But We Will Devote Ourselves To Prayer It's In The Ministry Of The Word And The Statement Found Approval With The Congregation They Chose Stephen Or Stephan A Man Full Of Faith And Of The Holy Spirit And Philip Procurus Micanor Timon Parmenius And Nicholas A Prosely From Antioch And

[12:45] These They Brought Before The Apostles And After Praying They Lay Their Hands On Them So Based Upon This In Acts Chapter 6 What Are Biblical Deacons What Are Biblical Deacons We're Going To First Three Aspects We're Going To Look At The First Three Come From Here In Acts Chapter 6 Number One Biblical Deacons They Care For The Physical Needs Of The Church They Care For The Physical Needs Of The Church They're Called To Deacon Or Serve Tables They Provide Loving Service To Needy Believers And You Notice How The Apostles They Would Focus On The Word Of God In Prayer Not The Finances Not The Servant Of Tables The Apostles Had The Responsibility Of

[13:45] Elders To Shepherd And To Pray That's What Elders Do That's What Pastors Do That's What Overseers Do That's What Bishops Do We Looked At That Last Week To Minister With The Word Of God And Prayer That's Their Responsibility To Shepherd God's People And The Apostles Represent This It's Important To See This Elders Shepherd Deacons Care For Needs It's Important To See That Distinction As Vital To The Health Of A Church It Says He Would They Told Them That The Apostles To Select These Men From Among Them Seven Doesn't Have To Be Seven It Can Be But Most Likely Didn't Do All The Work Themselves But

[14:45] Organize And Delegated To The Believers To Help With The Task The Task Of Administration And Then Notice The End Of Verse Six Laying On Of Hands What Is This Laying On The Hands They Were commissioned Not Ordained They Were commissioned They Were Sent To Do The Work To Serve In This Way They Were Commission That's Why The Laying On Of Hands We're Commissioning You We're Giving You That Blessing From Us As The Shepherds Go And Do This Physical Care Is So Vital Because It Demonstrates Christ Like Love Toward Believers So Deacons Were To Care For Others Which Fostered Unity And Display Love For Others That's What Deacons Are Called To Do They Help To Relieve Christians Brothers And Sisters Who Are Suffering They Need That Help This Is Grace Put Into Practice I

[15:49] Want to Point out Something To You From Verse One The Disciples Were Increasing A Complaint Arose A Conflict Started Happening Friction And When Friction Started Happening It Created Disunity What's The Result And The Neglect Of These Widows Disunity It Was Bringing Disunity To The Body It Was Bringing Disunity To The Church So Deacons They Care For The Physical Needs Of The Body Number Two They Maintained The Unity In The Church That's What Deacons Do To Edify And Unify The Church Is Their Priority Listen Deacons And Their Wives Should Be The Happiest People With The Church They

[16:50] Should Be The Happiest People With The Church They Are The Cheerleaders Not The Skeptics They Are The Biggest Supporters Not The Most Cynical They Are The Strongest Devotees Not Half Hearted And If Deacons Are Anything Other Than That They're Not Deacons They're False Teachers They're Trying To Bring Disruption To The Church That's What Deacons Do That's Who They Are I'll Talk More A Little Bit Later About The Biggest Supporters That'll Be Number Three This Is The Deacons Are This Is What They Do Something Else They Praise The Shepherds The Church And The Direction

[17:50] Of The Church Expressing Thanks Every Way They Turn With Attitudes And Actions As An Example To The Other Members Mark Dever Related Deacons To Shock Absorbers You Ever See Cars Going Down The Street Where They're Doing Like This And They're Not My Mexican Heritage Where They're Doing They're Not Doing That It's Bad Because You Got Oh Boy That Guy's Shocks Are Going Right That's What Deacons Are They're The Shock Absorbers They They Absorb That Shock So You Don't Feel Those Ripples Because That's What You See Here Right That's What You See Right Here In Acts Chapter 6 They Were Going To Absorb That And Bring Unity To The Body We'll Take Care Of Those Physical Needs Make Sure Maintain That

[18:50] Unity We'll Take Care Of It They Are Builders Of God's People Binding Us All Together With Kindness Love Thanks Praise And Just Happy Affirmations They Think About The Whole For The Good Of The Whole For The Glory Of God That's What Deacons Are That's What Deacons Do That Is Not Blind Support Or Some Kind Of Blindness I Mean We Read This And We'll Go Back To In Just A Few Moments When We Go Back To First Timothy Chapter Three They Hold Fast To Sound Doctrine Too Where They See Sound Doctrine They Show Their Devotion So They Care For The Physical Needs They Maintain The Unity In The Church Number

[19:52] Three They Support The Ministry Of The Pastors Verse Two The Twelve Some Of The Congregation Of The Disciples And Said It Is Not Desirable For Us To Neglect The Word Of God Nor To Serve Tables Now The Apostles Weren't Saying Oh We're Too Good For The Serving Of Tables No They Weren't Saying That No No No That's That's Not What's Going On Here They're Not Saying That That's Not Important The Apostles Knew Serving Was Important But They Also Knew That They Couldn't Do It All So They Delegated This Responsibility To A Group Within The Church To Handle These Important Tasks Deacons Deacons Are Servants Who Are The Most Supportive Ones

[20:52] Of The Pastors They Don't Listen To This Members Kind of Chirping And Like Little Chihuahuas Nipping At The Little Ankles They Don't Listen To That They Don't Give Ear To That No No No No No This Is A Great Place And You Not No That Doesn't Happen It's A Good Place To Be They Don't Listen To That No They Don't Listen To That They Support The People They Support The Word Of God They Support The Glory Of God They Support The Ministry Of The Pastors And The Pastors We We We Must We Must Not Neglect The Word Of God Notice Verse Four But We Will Devote Ourselves To Prayer And The Ministry Of The Word That's What Elders Are Supposed To Do What Pastors Are Supposed To Do What Bishops Are Supposed To Do What Overseers Are Supposed To Do They Minister The Word Of God And Prayer And The Deacons Take That Load So That Way They Can Do That This

[21:55] Is God's Plan For His Church This Is Jesus Structure For His Body So They Care For The Physical Needs Of The Church They Maintain Unity In The Church And They Support The Ministry Of The Pastors Now Is A Good Time I Think For Us To Look At What Deacons Are Not Then We'll Look At The Last Aspect Number Four So Based Upon These Three Positive Aspects Care For Physical Needs Maintain Unity Supporting The Pastors We Can Deduce What Deacons Are Not Deacons Are Not A Separate Power Block In The Church So Many Times That Happens In Churches The Deacons End Up Being The Ones To Actually Bring Disunity To The Church It's Like Wait What That's

[22:55] Not A Deacon That's A False Teacher They're Not A Separate Power Block In The Church No They're Subordinate To The Overseers Or The Pastors Or The Elders Same Guys So They're Not A Separate Power Block In The Church They're Not A Group That Disrupts The Church Too many Times You see Churches That Do That Deacons That Are Doing That They're Not A Unit Which Does Not Support The Pastors Or The Elders No Deacons Are Not That Deacons Are Not A Body That Gets People On Their Side Many Maybe Even Seen That Before In Churches Where They're Actually Deacons To Start Getting People On Their Side To Go Against The Pastors That That's That's That's Not A Deacon That's A False Teacher Should Be Kicked Out Of The Church That's

[23:55] Serious See That's Deacons Are Not That They Care For Physical Needs They Maintain The Unity They Support The Pastors Which Which And That Leads To Number Four They're Men Of Character And That's Where We Go Back To First Timothy Three Go Back To First Timothy Three And I Said Last Week That You Know When We Go Through First Timothy We're Going To Go Through This In More Detail Because I'm Just Briefly Touching On This In First Timothy Three When We Get To First Timothy Three We'll Go Through That More Detail Like December Or Something Maybe January But They're Men Of Character And Notice They have The same Characteristics As Elders Or Pastors Except They Don't Need To Teach And

[24:55] This From Ephesians Chapter Four Verse Eleven They Don't Need To Be Shepherding That's Not The Rule To Shepherd They Don't Have The Ability To Teach You See That Main Difference There Between Deacons And Elders Or Overseers Here In First Timothy Three But They Should Be Men Of Dignity They're Respected Not Double Tongue They Say One Thing To One Person Another To Someone Else Not Addicted To Wine Fond Of Sorted Gain Greedy For Money Notice Holding To The Mystery Of The Faith They Hold To The Christian Faith They Hold The Sound Doctrine And They Live It They're Beyond Reproach Their Wife Has Integrity I'll Talk More About That In A Moment A One Woman Man Good Manager Of Children Responsible Home

[25:55] Is Not On The Verge Of Collapse And Notice They're Tested And Then I'll Touch On Verse 11 Which We'll Probably Look At That More In Detail When We Go Through First Timothy Three Later On It Seems Better To Regard Verse Eleven To Speak About The Wives Of Deacons As Opposed To Deacon Is We Here At Cottonwood Bible Church We Don't Take The Stance That There Can Be Deacon Is Although I Me Personally I Don't Think It's A Bad Thing If A Church Has Deacon Is As Long As That Church Establishes These Women One Do Not Have Leadership Over Men And Two They're Not A Ruling Body In The Should Not Happen That Violates First Timothy Chapter Two But From Verse 11 You See A Deacon's Wife Should Be Dignified Not A Malicious Gossip Tempered Faithful

[26:55] In Everything That Goes For Elders Wives As Well They're Faithful Table Waiters I Know With Olvira Saying It's Hard To Go Out To Eat These Days Remember Days We Used To Go Out To Dinner Oh Yeah I Remember That And You Remember You Go Out To Dinner Or To Lunch And Sometimes Waitresses Or Waiters It's Like You Get To That Last Drop Of Your Cup And You Put It Down And Then You're Talking And You're Like Oh I Need More Whoa It's Like The Person And Puts It There And You're Like Wow I Didn't Even See Them Do That You Know And They're Like They're Just So Sly They They'll Take Things Out Of Your Way Like Whoa You're Like So On Top Those Types Of Waiters And Waitresses I Know There's Some That Say Yeah I'm Okay You Okay You

[27:55] Okay You Okay You Okay Yes I'm Okay Stop Asking Me But There's Some Waiters And Waitresses They're Just So Good Right You're Like Man That Gal Is Just On Top Of This You Don't Even She's Like And Waiters Like That's That's That's What That's What Good Deacons Are They're They're Eager To Serve They're Not Intrusive Don't Those People Make The Best Waitresses And Waiters And Don't Those Men Make The Best Deacons They Do Leadership Is Vital I Ended My Message With This Last Week Leadership Is Vital please pray for God to raise up leaders for us elders and deacons and so in doing that this is according to our constitution we need to nominate people are going to be elders, deacons church treasurer and church clerk eight Sundays before our next members meeting next members is like the second Sunday of December

[29:18] I think it's December 8th, December 9th, something like that so eight Sundays from that I think it's actually next week so I need to do a nomination according to our constitution to do that nominations have to take place eight Sundays before that and I was talking to Carolyn Butler she's been our treasurer and you know Jane was really thinking about being the treasurer I'm just totally kidding they arm wrestled Carolyn won so I'm going to nominate Carolyn Butler to be our treasurer just kidding I'm actually going to nominate Allie Willis to be our church clerk come 2021 but here's the order I put it I nominate today Kaylin Howe as a deacon for 2021 so now he'll be tested in the next eight weeks and test him if you have an issue with that please come talk to me and now you know now you know what deacons are supposed to be his miniskirt and pom-poms are the dry cleaners they'll be here tomorrow so

[30:30] I'm just kidding I shouldn't kid about that it's funny so I nominate Kaylin as deacon and then I nominate Carolyn Butler as treasurer and I nominate Allie Willis as church clerk so that's on the floor there's no votes that takes place those votes happen when we have our members meeting come December but I need to make those nominations but although you're encouraged that I'm nominating Kaylin to be a deacon and I just kind of asked no I actually told him I said I'm nominating you to be a deacon I just want you to know that and and so he's like okay are you good with that I'm good with that so but keep praying that God will raise up men to be pastors or elders or overseers or bishops keep praying for God to raise up men to be deacons and now you you know and this is like probably fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, twelfth time that I've taught on this for you but it's needed we need to be reminded what are elders what are deacons so let's take a moment and thank the Lord and pray and ask for him to take this message and to implant this and the gospel into our heads and that's what we pray

[31:42] Father that you by your spirit take your message from the word of God and encourage us towards growth by means of the gospel and the power and the power of the spirit and we pray that we would as we are changing as a church raise up men to shepherd your people and to deacon your people we thank you for Allie and her heart's desire to to serve as church clerk thank you for Daniel and his ministry in that way thank you for Carolyn nobody else wants to be the treasurer I know that so we're thankful we are very thankful and and we laugh and we jest and yet we mean that we're very thankful

[32:46] Lord for Carolyn doing that and Father we thank you for Caitlin and that we tested this time so we pray that you would rise and and really be all kidding aside a cheerleader within your church him and Shauna the happiest people with us as your church thank you Jesus as our senior pastor your shepherding shepherd us from your word don't ever let us lose sight of the gospel and I want to encourage you take a few moments and which that's what we do just a few moments of silence for you to take time to think to pray reiterate gospel truth yourself take this time and pray for leaders take this time to pray for Caitlin there's a few moments between you and the Lord and then you know we'll we'll sing and do our closing prayer but again just take this time just you and the Lord and reflect on gospel truth for God to work in your own heart and life pray for Caitlin pray for Carolyn and Allie too and just a few moments where we can do that do that now please through this and

[34:38] Thank you.