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Opening
It’s exciting to get to come together and set aside a brother for service in the deaconate.
I’m honored to get to preach this ordination challenge for Chuck, and I’m blessed to have you as my friend.
My aim today is to challenge both you and the church as we reflect upon our goal of imitating Christ and thus reflecting Him in and through our lives.
Our focal passage this evening is going to be in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, beginning in verse 42:
Our focal passage this evening is going to be in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, beginning in verse 42.
We’re going to read at verses 35-45 for context:
Pray
Pray
So we have this great passage where Jesus contrasts Gentile leadership and His own servant leadership that He was modeling for the disciples.
This passage isn’t specifically about deacons, but rather, it is for everyone in the church family.
We will be applying it to the office of the deacon today.
Leading up to this passage, we see that James and John take Jesus aside and basically make a demand: they want to sit at his right and left hands in His glorious kingdom.
Jesus tells them that they don’t actually understand what they are asking of Him, and asks if they can “drink the cup [He] drinks,” likely referring to His impending death on the cross.
They say that they can
So Jesus tells them that they will drink of that cup, but that those places of honor were not for Him to give.
The rest of the disciples are not happy that these two young upstarts had asked for this, and this is Jesus’ teaching to all of the disciples as a result.
We could probably all give James and John a hard time.
After all, why would they take Jesus aside and ask for this?
But this isn’t the point this evening.
Chuck, you have been through deacon training, and you’ve spent time with the rest of the deacons.
And tonight, they have recommended that you be ordained as a deacon in this church.
This shows what they think of your character, your heart, and your walk with the Lord.
This was not something that you sought for yourself.
You didn’t nominate yourself as a deacon, and you didn’t talk someone into nominating you.
You know that the position of deacon is not first and foremost a position of leadership, but a position of service, and a position of sacrifice.
Deacons are not primarily leaders.
1) Deacons are not PRIMARILY leaders.
However, for many in the church, the deacons are seen in a way as leaders.
This isn’t a far-fetched thing, and it’s not wrong.
Deacons have a list of qualifications in Scripture about who they are to be in : worthy of respect, not hypocrites, not a heavy drinker or greedy, holding on to the Gospel, and faithful husbands and fathers.
If a man has these qualities, then they would certainly be a good candidate for a leadership position in the church.
In fact, Paul even says that there’s a type of reward for serving well as a deacon:
So while a deacon is definitely a good candidate for leadership, and that deacons are in fact leaders, that doesn’t mean that the position of deacon is first one of leadership.
Look at our passage, and how Jesus starts his explanation to the disciples:
mark 10:
We’ve all heard of tyrannical leaders who just lord their power over those they are supposed to be leading.
In the days of Jesus’ ministry on earth, the Roman system of government had the caesars, who even claimed divine status as “gods,” and forced people to bow down to them, even to worship them.
This isn’t how the church is supposed to be.
The deacons aren’t the head of the church.
The pastor is not the head of the church.
The Lord Jesus is the head of the church, and He doesn’t lead like the world leads.
He goes on explain exactly what type of leader the church needs, the type of leader He Himself is:
Jesus goes on to say that it is not to be that way in the church: leaders are not to be this type of leader.
2) Deacons are primarily servants.
Repeat that, in case anyone wants to write it down.
mark 10:43-44
Instead, Jesus says that it is not supposed to be this way for those who are leaders in the church.
In fact, He says that the greatest among the people would not be the ruler, but the servant.
The Greek word for “servant” here is the word from which we get our English word “deacon.”
While it’s not right to take every single instance of this word diakonos in the New Testament and claim that it refers to the office and role of the deacon would be irresponsible.
This word literally means “servant.”
The office of deacon in the church was instituted (most agree) in .
Here in Mark, Jesus does not have in mind (necessarily) the office of the deacon in the word diakonos, which is why here it is translated “servant.”
Instead, Jesus says that it is not supposed to be this way for those who are leaders in the church.
In fact, He says that the greatest among the people would not be the ruler, but the servant.
The Greek word for “servant” here is the word from which we get our English word “deacon.”
While it’s not right to take every single instance of this word diakonos in the New Testament and claim that it refers to the office and role of the deacon would be irresponsible.
This word literally means “servant.”
The office of deacon in the church was instituted (most agree) in .
Here in Mark, Jesus does not have in mind (necessarily) the office of the deacon in the word diakonos, which is why here it is translated “servant.”
But just because Jesus wasn’t specifically referring to deacons here doesn’t mean that this passage as nothing to say to a deacon candidate.
In fact, this passage has much to say to everyone in the church body, because we are all followers of Christ.
So when Jesus says that the one who would be great among the church will be the servant, He takes the world’s values and does what the Gospel always does: He turns the world’s values on their head.
Rather than the powerful being the greatest, the humble servant is the greatest.
In fact, Jesus says, the first among us will be the lowliest, the last, the slave of all.
This, Chuck, is what you have been called to by the church family: to serve.
Yes, since you have qualities that are good qualities for leadership, you will be called on to lead in some ways in your role as deacon.
But the primarily role of the deacon isn’t leadership—it’s service.
Now, you wouldn’t be sitting here being ordained if you didn’t already live this out, and I want to affirm that you do.
However, we all have to remember that we are called to serve one another in love for God’s glory, because it is in our love for one another that others will know that we belong to Him.
But it’s in our closing verse in this passage that we really see that deacons are to sacrifice:
3) Deacon is an office of sacrifice.
I’ve entitled this message tonight as “The Deacon’s Imitation of Christ.”
The reason that I called it that is this last verse in our focal passage, verse 45:
If anyone ever had the right to kind of demand their own way on this earth, to have people treat them like royalty and to bow down to them, it was Jesus.
He is the Lord God incarnate.
He deserves all of that.
But He didn’t take it.
He didn’t demand it.
Instead, He came to serve others, even to the point of giving His life so that we could be freed from sin and wrath.
Jesus’s example is one of humble service and significant sacrifice for others.
We can’t miss this: the life of the deacon is going to be one of sacrifice.
There are going to be times when it will not be easy.
There will be times when the call comes in and you have to go.
There will be time on your knees for and with those you are being set apart to serve.
It will cost you time.
It may cost you money.
It will definitely be an investment both spiritually and emotionally.
Quite the encouragement, I know… But we have a model in the Lord Jesus Christ, a model to follow and be encouraged by.
This is why Paul wrote what he did in :
phil 2:
This is the example that we see in Jesus: that He considered us as more important than His own life.
That He looked out for our interests, rather than His own.
That He emptied and humbled Himself and took on our frailties as a slave, and then died on the cross so that we could be saved.
What if we all lived like this?
What if we all saw and took seriously our role in the Body of Christ to point to Him by constant imitation?
What if, instead of allowing this to be a challenge to Chuck, which it is, we took it as a challenge for each of us to live lives of humility and service, of self-emptying sacrifice and obedient surrender?
Closing
This is a challenge for Chuck, but it is the challenge for all of us who claim to be in Christ in this body: we are called to imitate Christ.
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