Sermon: A Man of Service - Deacons
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Welcome
Welcome
Good morning,
I missed seeing everyone last week
I hate missing for something as silly as a cold, but also didn’t want to be spewing my cold everywhere
Our elders have asked me to teach on the qualifications of deacons this week, so we’re taking a quick break from our Mark series.
So, just a reminder:
Assignment
Assignment
Read Mark 1:21-45.
Jesus - A Man of Service
Jesus - A Man of Service
The request to teach on deacons came at a really good point in our series on Mark because next week’s lesson will be “Jesus - A Man of Power”, so it’s appropriate for this week’s lesson to be drawn from Jesus’ example as a man of service.
And this provides our first lesson on the day: all ministry in the body of Christ is modeled after the person of Jesus Christ, which means that deacons emulate Jesus’ servanthood.
So we begin with Jesus:
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The mission of deacons is to be the physical embodiment of Christ’s servanthood: they are the servants of the church who lead the church’s ministry of service in serving the physical needs of their local church body.
Repeat twice > > >
And so, in a very real sense, the deacon’s ministry of service is the tangible expression of God’s love in the Church!
The Body of Christ - Sent to Serve
The Body of Christ - Sent to Serve
Jesus came to show humanity the way of life. We see in Jesus what it means to really be human. One of the things I love about Mark’s gospel is that the lessons we learn are drawn directly from how Jesus lived. But Jesus’ life was bigger than any one individual, so we understand the identity of the Church as being the body of Christ. We carry out together the life that Jesus lived on earth!
We can see this vision for the Church’s ministry of service at the very beginnings of the Church:
1 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.
As more and more people began to follow Jesus and learn his way of life, the need for the kind of love by which Jesus served his disciples became too much for the apostles to handle on their own.
CHALLENGE: Do we recognize our need and the need of our community for this kind of love?
The first point we need to see here is that the Church’s ministry of service was born out of her growth; healthy, growing churches respond to serve real, felt needs, both within their fellowship and to their community. Churches that grow rapidly SERVE.
Simply put: deacons lead this service in the church.
So, as the need for Christian service grew, the body’s needs for Christian service eventually grew beyond what the apostles could manage. For them to give the time and attention that was needed to this ministry would have been unfaithful to the ministry of the word to which they were appointed. The apostles weren’t saying that they wouldn’t serve, or that they were too good to serve others, but that the demand was too great for them to lead without compromising on their ministry of the word.
Continuing:
3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
We are able to see the spiritual nature of this ministry by the attributes that mattered most: if someone put me in charge of selecting qualified men to serve tables, I would probably look for specific skills, like being quick on their feet, personable, and so on, but the qualities that matter most to the kind of service these deacons were to provide were all about being “full of the Spirit and wisdom”. And this is because deacons are not asked simply to serve, but to serve as the tangible expression of God’s love in the Church!
Later I will also make the case that the qualifications Paul gives Timothy for deacons should be understood as explaining on how we know they are “full of the Spirit and wisdom”.
And their being full of the Spirit and wisdom like this matters so much because deacons are positioned as the examples of Jesus’ servanthood for the whole Christian body to emulate! What we see in our deacons is what we are all meant to practice in our lives, in our families, in our fellowship, and in our community. And, by the way, this “lead by example” model is how all Christian leadership works: you’re to practice what you see in your Church leaders.
Reading on:
5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.
6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
We see how this wisdom met the needs of the moment in the life of their young Church. So they chose these seven men, who were known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom, and entrusted to them the church’s ministry of service by praying over them and laying their hands on them.
We shouldn’t miss how this specialization of ministry is associated with an explosion of growth in the Church that even resulted in the conversion of many priests to the Christian faith. When those God has called to one ministry are free to excel in the ministries to which they were called and appointed, so much can be accomplished in the Church! But when those God calls into ministry are divided in their attention, the whole body suffers, and often the result is the spiritual stagnation of the whole Church.
So now let’s look at the deacons themselves:
Deacons - Men of Service Full of the Spirit and Wisdom
Deacons - Men of Service Full of the Spirit and Wisdom
Being “full of the Spirit and wisdom” is the perfect description of those who are called to represent Jesus’ loving service to the Church, but, what does all this mean in practical terms? One person might think being “full of the Spirit” refers to someone’s personal charisma, or another might think it refers to some powerful giftings; you might look at Stephen’s martyrdom and think that’s what it means.
Paul takes the time here to work out how we can know someone is “full of the Spirit and wisdom”:
8 Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
Sometimes we read these qualifications like a checklist of job-prerequisites. And, while I guess that’s not altogether wrong, I think it rather misses the point: because deacons are called to tangibly express Jesus’ love, they must express his love with the same Spirit, and the same wisdom that Jesus used to express his love.
So as leading representatives of Christ’s servanthood and love in the Church, deacons must be a certain kind of person.
They must be:
Worthy of respect
Not hypocritical
Not an excessive drinker
Not greedy for money
Holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience
Taken together, deacons must be honorable, sincere, temperate, moderate, and faithful to the word.
Continuing on:
10 They must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.
Only a cursory review of Paul’s first letter to Timothy is necessary to recognize that the church in Ephesus was suffering from poor leadership. Leaders were arising who were misusing the law, causing strife over matters of opinion, and inflicting all kinds of trouble on the church. This qualification addresses that problem: poor, untested leadership is destructive to the Church.
Both the character and the faith of those who serve as deacons must first be proved. And this “proving” carries the sense of “testing to see if something is true or genuine;” it’s the same kind of language used for testing metals, and it refers to the kind of test that is passed in life, not the classroom. These are men whose spirit and wisdom for service have been proven in life.
Such men should “prove blameless” in these things. Now this word can be terrifying because we often associate it with sinlessness. We think to be blameless means being without error. But, how one handles personal deficiencies and failures says as much about one’s spirit and wisdom as anything else. Because the Bible is very clear that there is no one without sin, “blamelessness” refers to the God-disposed direction of someone’s heart and the humility of their character in all things, both in their successes and failures.
Reading on:
11 Wives, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything.
Pause & Reset > > >
We believe in this church that this verse speaks to the wives of the deacons. But, whenever we come to God’s word, we inevitably face various questions that we have to interpret as we all seek to please God. And we’re all ultimately seeking to please God.
So, since I’m new here and you aren’t familiar with my teaching style, let me explain what I want to do here: whenever we come to difficult passages where there are valid competing interpretations, I like to present the best version of both arguments before explaining and applying the interpretation we take. My reasons for teaching this way are twofold: I want everyone to come away feeling honored, respected, and heard, and, most importantly, I want everyone to understand the reasoning behind the view that guides how this church body fulfills its Kingdom mission.
So let’s quickly look at this:
“Wives” (γυναῖκας): When we approach this verse we have to make an interpretation; does this word refer to the wives of the deacons, or to women who serve as deaconesses?
Now, some of you have already spotted the challenge this verse presents by the choices different translations make: versions like the ESV, NKJV, CSB, and NET use “wives”, presenting these verses as qualifications for the wives of the men who serve as deacons, while versions like the NASB, NRSV, NIV, and the CEB use “women”, presenting these verses as qualifications for women who serve as deaconesses.
So let’s briefly summarize both views and then we’ll apply this verse for our church:
On the one hand, translating “women” is more consistent with the discourse beginning from 1 Timothy 2:9-15, where “γυναῖκας” means “women”. There appears to be a clear parallel construction between 2:9 and 3:11, where Paul begins with "Likewise women", suggesting that he's following the pattern "Adam was formed first, then Eve” (from 2:13). This view is also appealing because 3:11 doesn’t have the kind of possessive language (like “their wives”) one would normally expect if “γυναῖκας” were to mean “wives”. Likewise we don’t see any character qualifications placed on the wives of the elders in the preceding verses. So this view concludes that this verse is presenting qualifications for women who serve as deaconesses.
Now on the other hand, translating “wives” is more consistent with the flow of the discourse from 1 Timothy 3:8-13, where both the preceding and following verses seem to address qualifications for male deacons. One would not expect Paul to use such a disorganized structure in giving qualifications first for male deacons, then for female deaconesses, and then again for male deacons. Considering that deacons were viewed as leaders of the general assembly (as we see in Philippians 1:1), this view concludes that women serving as deacons would undermine the instructions Paul gave about authority in 2:12 and so is presenting qualifications for the wives of the men who serve as deacons.
Again, my purpose in contrasting these two views is to help us all see and appreciate the challenges represented in this verse, and, in seeing this, to help us respect, appreciate, and love those who draw different conclusions than we do. Remember, what unifies us in our Kingdom mission is not that we always agree on individual points, but that we are all wholeheartedly pursuing Christ together. And in that pursuit, we serve our Lord in this body with the understanding that this verse is speaking to the wives of the men who serve as deacons.
Now I want to make two applications:
First Application: What this view means for the life of this church is that we gain an important insight into the nature of Christian leadership: unlike in the world, where individuals stand above those they lead, Christian leaders never stand above others by themselves. Deacons do not serve the church simply by their own merits, but as part of their families.
And this principle is often recognized to be true for all Christian leadership, not just for deacons. I could not stand here before you to preach and minister the word of God the way that I do without my wife. She is the sounding board against which many of my thoughts are measured. She is the strength that keeps this family moving while I am in prayer and study. And I know the same is true for all of our elders, who have all told me as much about themselves and their wives.
In the same way, deacons, your wives are at the heart of your ministry. Your attention and service to your wives is unquestionably necessary to the success of your ministry in the Church. Your wives are an important part of your ministry.
Second Application: This also gives us an important insight into the Christian conception of masculinity: men are servant-leaders. The point isn’t that women don’t serve in the Church - I’m new here, but I can already point out many of the ladies in this congregation who are diligently serving behind the scenes - instead, the point is that men don’t ask women to get beneath them to serve in ways that they aren’t taking the lead to serve in!
Deacons are men who take the lead by example in serving the needs of the church.
So let me speak to the wives of the deacons: you are entering into a high calling from God with your husband. You can see just how high this calling is from verse 13. Your husbands cannot succeed in this calling on their own. Your example of honor, how you praise and build others up, the discipline you exercise in your life, and the faithfulness you demonstrate at work, in the home, and in your community is like a lampstand for the light of Christian servanthood that you have been called into with your husband.
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And this is why I think a strong case can be made that one of the reasons the deacon’s wives are mentioned, while the elder’s wives aren’t, is because this is meant to draw our attention to how special this role is in the life of the church. You see? One of the features of Christian community is that we honor humility. The world looks down on those who serve, but Jesus exalted such service with great honor:
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”
So we are sometimes tempted to think very little of the work deacons do because they don’t stand in front of everyone on the stage; they often get very little attention because their service doesn’t always happen in full view of everyone. How often will a faithful Christian servant repair a door on the building, take groceries to shut ins, or go mow a widow’s lawn without public recognition? Even more than this, how often will the sacrifices the wife makes for all these things to happen go unrecognized? God sees! And so your reward is great in heaven!
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Continuing on:
12 Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently.
To understand this verse requires understanding that the first century Church existed in a polygamous world. And from the very beginning, Christians understood marriage as a sacred depiction of the relationship between the divine and humanity:
3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.
Jesus is the head of the Church, which is his body. And this relationship is symbolized in marriage by seeing husbands as head of their wife; which itself symbolizes God as the head of Christ. Christianity entered the seen into a world where marriage was merely transactional, and Christianity argued that marriage was sacred and had special meaning as a reflection of God himself.
So it was especially important in this kind of society that Christian leadership exemplify monogamy because this symbolism is important to the Christian faith:
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Jesus has one bride. Therefore, since men represent Christ’s relationship to the Church in the symbolism of marriage, Christian leaders must be monogamous.
Their managing their homes carries forward this symbolism: deacons are to demonstrate that they are “full of wisdom” in how they raise their children, love their wives, and manage their home.
And this brings us to the promise of the deacon:
13 For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
As we began our look at Christian service with Jesus, so I think it’s fitting that we end by returning our thoughts to him as the one before whom deacons serve.
So, deacons, remember that Jesus knows what it means to be a servant:
4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. 5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
Jesus looked out for the needs of others, and it is this attitude, this wisdom that must characterize deacons so that others can see in you what they are called to aspire to. Even though Jesus existed in the very form of God, he did not exploit his own privilege, but emptied himself to serve others as a lowly man.
In this spirit and by this wisdom, deacons serve the body, providing to us all the living example of Jesus’ love and servanthood so that we also might aspire to live with the same selfless humility that we see in them!
So I wanted to conclude with this thought as we all now turn our minds to lift Jesus’ praise high:
The ‘service’ of God means the worship of God
Christian Conduct, 57
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones