As in last week, we are looking at the text that addresses deacons. And we're going to finish that today, Lord willing. And so that text is 1 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 8, down through verse 13. And our focus today is going to be on verse 13. So 1 Timothy 3, follow along as I read verses 8 through 13, and then we'll remain standing for prayer. Paul says, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. May God bless his word. Please bow with me in prayer. Father, thank you so much for those that are here today. And thank you, Lord. We've come to be fed and to be blessed by you. And I pray that you would do that, that your spirit would meet with us. Father, we are so blessed to know Christ as our Savior, just to be Christians, to name the name of Christ, to walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to know that our sins are forgiven, to know that we have all the promises in your Word, and to know that our eternities are secure, no matter what happens here on this earth. And Lord, I pray that you'd encourage our hearts today as we look at the Scriptures, And help us, Father, to recognize the special blessing that is given to us in the text that we're going to look at today. Help us to realize something that is given to us, that is available to anyone that wants it as a believer, if we will but recognize something that can be cultivated in our lives, something that is available to any believer, not just deacons. And I pray, Father, that we would value it. It's something that we would realize is important, that we would long for it and strive for it. And Lord, I pray that you give us your power and help us to walk with you. Bless us today. Bless those who are on their way. And may Jesus Christ be praised among us. We ask this in His precious name. Amen. And you may be seated. Good morning, everyone. Good to have you here today. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Timothy 3. Everyone have a good week? Tell me all about it. I know you can't do that, can you? Not in this setting, right? All right, we are preaching through, I am preaching through, you're not preaching, I'm preaching through 1 Timothy. And we've been looking at what some commentators have called duty codes, which apparently were a common thing back in the Greco-Roman period, that first century. And many think that Paul was just following a common pattern. So when he is writing to Timothy, who is at Ephesus, And he's giving to Timothy some things that Timothy needs to be looking for as he starts picking out men to be pastors and people to be deacons. So he gives them a list of duty codes. So first we've already looked at lists for qualifications for a bishop or pastor, and then he moves into the qualifications for deacons. And basically, the things that are in the list for deacons are some of the same things that are in the list for pastors. And we've already gone over those lists, so because there's repeats, I'm not going to break down each of those same things, because we've already looked at that. So, look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, and in verse 8 he says, likewise. He's kind of going along the same tenor of these qualifications. He's saying, Timothy, be careful. Just like he said, a bishop must be blameless, above reproach. He's following along the same lines. He's telling Timothy, you need to be careful to choose godly men, just like in the book of Acts. Chapter six, when they chose men to serve tables, when the apostles were getting overwhelmed with some of the needs, they chose men to serve tables and they chose godly men, men that were filled with the spirit, men that were, you know, just walking with the Lord. And so, Paul gives this list for deacons. He says, beginning in verse 8, they must be grave, in other words, they must be godly, they must be, we looked at that last week, double-tongued, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. We looked at that last week. Then, and we've also looked at verse 10, a great verse, so I'm not going to focus on this today, But he said, let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. This is very much along the lines of the quality for a pastor where he says, not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of a devil. Same idea. In other words, you don't want to just, because there's a need, you don't want to hastily put someone into a position of rank where they have not been tested. Whether it's a pastor or a deacon, you want to make sure you know that person. You want to make sure they've served. You want to make sure that everybody knows them, that they've been in a position, that they've served in the church for a while. before you trust them with a sacred position, a position of, you know, where you need to trust them. The Bible says in Proverbs, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. And if you've ever put your trust in someone prematurely, if you ever needed someone and you depended on them and then you regretted it, you realize, Well, we're talking about the Lord's work. We can't do that there. Better to not have someone serve than to hastily throw someone in a position and then regret it. And so, that's the idea there of verse 10. And then, just like with pastors, A person's wife also can qualify or disqualify them from ministry. And so in verse 11 it says, "...even so must their wives be grave, that is, dignified, serious-minded with the things of God, not slanderers." Same idea with the pastors and the deacons. So much is revealed about someone regarding their tongue. They must be sober, serious minded, faithful in all things. And then the idea of their moral life. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife. Remember that Greek phrase. A one woman man. In other words, it's not saying they have to be married. If that was the case, Allah wouldn't be a deacon. But he's a good deacon and it's talking about their moral quality. They're faithful morally. and ruling their children and their own house as well. In other words, we're talking about someone's character. And then, now, we want to look at verse 13 now, because there's something unique in here. By the way, when we talk about a deacon, the Greek word that is used for a deacon, diakonos, is talking about a servant. It's a servant. And so there are things That, and we've mentioned this throughout this whole thing, that these qualities, while they are referring to positions of leadership in a local church, they're qualities that we should all strive for. These moral qualities are things that every one of us should want to have in our life. Because they're really Christ-like qualities. And we're going to pick up in the statement of verse 9 is what we focused on last week. It says this, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. I really parked there for a little bit last week. The mystery of the faith speaks about New Testament revelation. It's everything that encapsulates Christianity. All the revelation that is found in the New Testament that was not in the Old Testament. And so, what Paul is telling Timothy regarding servants, deacons, but also this would apply to anyone that is living a consistent Christian life. That they are, we are, to hold these truths with a pure conscience. We talked a little bit about the conscience. last week. But as we go on, and he gives all these qualities, he's talking about you and I, and really the deacon, but anyone that's serving the Lord, he's talking about us being the genuine article of Christianity. It says again, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Living consistently a moral code. Do you live the life that you profess as a Christian if you give a Christian testimony? Now, we do have something called closet Christians. You know, you may have a job at work and nobody knows you're a believer. You hide it well. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know, what did Jesus say? Let your light so be put under a bushel that nobody... Wait a minute, I think I'm getting something mixed up here. He doesn't say that. He says, let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father. You know, the New Testament, the first century church were known as followers of the Way. And pretty soon they got a nickname that was not popular in that first century. And in fact, in Antioch, they started calling the followers of Jesus, in a derogatory way, they called them Christians. That was not a flattering term. And by the way, it did not carry the same connotation today. Today, at least in America, it's still okay to be called a Christian. Back then, it was a label of disdain to be a follower of Christ, Christian. Do people you work with, do people that you go to school with in the neighborhood, do they know you are a Christian? They should. Now, if they do, count on it. There are going to be some expectations people have of you. And yes, there's a lot more atheists out there than there used to be. And there's going to be some people that are just looking for you to trip up. You notice that? In fact, Jesus said, the world is going to hate you And if the world hates you, he said ahead of time, know that they hated me first. Don't ever get upset or hurt if somebody hates you for no other reason than that you are a Christian. And don't be surprised. Please don't be surprised. There will be people that have nothing against you except for your Christianity. And that will be enough. It really will. So here's the key now. Verse 13. Especially if you're serving the Lord and you're making it known. Verse 13 is a very special promise, not just to the deacon who is serving in the front, you know, elevated. People see him. But it's also a promise to anyone that is holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Look at it, verse 13. Paul wraps up these qualifications of a deacon, and he says, For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree. In other words, they obtain. They purchase. They've earned it. What have they done? In other words, when you and I serve God, and again, I'm convinced there's application here to anyone that serves the Lord. If you're living your Christian life publicly, and you're seeking to be a witness, you're telling others about the Lord, you pray for people, you seek to minister to people, if you do that, You purchase to yourself two things. There's two promises here. Number one, you purchase to yourself a good degree. a good degree. What's that mean? We'll talk about it. And number two, great boldness in the faith. Now both of these things go back to verse 9. And it's the product of a clear, pure conscience. So, first of all, I want to look at this phrase, um, purchase to yourself. You gain something. And I want to address it real quickly because, you know, there's a lot of people that think that Christians shouldn't be looking at what they can gain. Jesus made this statement. He said, lay not up for yourselves. Are you familiar with that in Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew? Right there, and I didn't finish it. Because there are some Christians that think that we should not have any desire for gain at all. Think of it, Jesus said, lay not up for yourselves. How do you view Christianity? How do you think Jesus finishes that statement? Because there are some Christians that when they hear that on the surface, might think Jesus says this, lay not up for yourselves anything, anywhere. Because that's how some Christians act. Some Christians act like, well, you know what? I don't care about getting anything. I just want to give, give, give, give, give, give. I just want to spend and be spent, like Paul said. I don't care if when I'm done this life, if I am empty and I don't have anything anywhere. Do you know that's not scriptural? What? Well, let me address that statement Paul just said. I quoted Paul. Paul, when he was writing to the church, he said, I will gladly spend and be spent for you. But you know he says something after that? He says, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Paul, you want to be loved? Yeah, you kind of did. You see, he was pouring himself into the believers, but it wasn't that he wanted some return. In fact, when he wrote to the Galatians, he said, Now see, if Paul was only into serving the Lord, with no motivation or any kind of desire to get any return, he would have said, that's great, I will gladly spend to be spent for you, and I'm just going to be spent until I'm done and there's nothing left of me. No, he said, the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. And again, when he wrote to the Galatians, he said, I'm afraid for you, lest I bestowed labor in vain. Paul did not want to waste his time. He wanted to see a return on his investment. That is, he wanted those believers to grow back to Jesus. In Matthew 6, Jesus said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures. Period. No. He said, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth. Now get this, he wasn't saying it's wrong to desire to get gain, period. He was talking about the nature of the gain. Think about it. He said, don't lay out for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal. Think about it. He wasn't saying, don't gain anything. In fact, he's saying, don't gain something that's not going to last. That's what he was saying. He said, don't lay up treasures on earth because it's going to go away. He was actually saying, you need to desire to gain something that's going to have value. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves cannot break through and steal. You see, it is not wrong to desire to gain if what you gain is of eternal value and lasts forever. He wants us to make investments for eternity. That's not wrong, that's not selfish. So, now we come back to here, 1 Timothy chapter 13, and we see this idea of gaining something. So immediately, if you think, if you've got this attitude, I just want to serve God and I don't care about purchasing, I don't care about being rewarded, I don't care about gaining anything. Well then, this verse isn't for you. But Paul wrote it because he wants people, deacons, not just deacons, but people that are serving, he wants them to desire to want something. It says, they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves. You know, we're supposed to want something. Again, not just deacons. But there is something available to every Christian who maintains a pure conscience throughout their life, who works hard to have a clear conscience, who lives their life as a Christian, exercising themselves, as the way Paul worded it, to have a conscience that is always void of offense before God and before men. That's what he's talking about here. There are two things that you get when you work to keep your conscience functioning well. And that's what he's talking about here. And I want to encourage you, no matter where you're at, if you have not worked hard to keep your conscience functioning well, It is not too late. It reminds me of, have you ever had somebody give you a car? Or have you ever bought a car, a used car? Probably every one of us, unless you're so well and so rich that you only buy brand new cars and buy it. If you're rich and you can afford it, that's OK. Just realize that once you buy that brand new car, as soon as you drive it off the lot, it starts depreciating. If you can afford it, that's fine. But most of us, when we get a car, we buy it, it starts depreciating. But we have a relative, an older relative, that is so generous that he has given us some of his older cars, and our kids too. And it's a blessing. Because this relative is known to take care of his cars meticulously. That's the kind of car I want. Don't you? I mean, if you're going to get a used car, wouldn't you? In fact, there's a company called One Owner Car, which, by the way, they actually sell cars that aren't just from one owner. But there's this mentality that if you're going to have a car, it's best if it wasn't owned by 500 people, right? But if you're going to get a car, you want that person to have taken care of that car, right? I mean, regular oil checks. Anything that's wrong with the motor and the engine, you want them keeping up on it, brand new tires, you want someone that doesn't neglect their car, because when it comes to you, have you ever heard of a lemon? I'm not talking about the fruit, the thing you make lemonade with. Nobody wants a lemon of a car. But you can't always tell just by looking at the outside, can you? You ever bought a lemon? We have, too. Not fun, is it? It looks good on the outside. Start it up, looks good. When the dealer's selling it to you, it's like, this car is nice. And then you drive it, and then within a couple months, all the negative things come out, right? But when somebody takes care of a car, keeps it well-oiled, Doesn't let the oil run dry. All the things for an engine, everything for a car, it keeps it functioning well. That car is going to treat you right. Now, every one of us has a conscience. We can't get a new one. But we are stewards of our conscience. And if we take care of it, if we maintain it well, it is going to benefit us in a big way. You see, the conscience, and we talked about this last week, the word conscience is two Greek words that means with knowledge. And I want to read a few quotes from last week, just to remind you and get us up to speed. And I'm just going to read a couple snippets from two books on the conscience, and briefly. One writer said, the conscience functions like a skylight, not a light bulb. It lets light into the soul. It does not produce its own. Its effectiveness is determined by the amount of pure light we expose to it, and by how clean we keep it. Cover it up in total darkness, and it ceases to function. And then later in that book, this writer says, "...our conscience is like the nerve endings in our fingertips. Its sensitivity to external stimuli can be damaged by the buildup of calluses or even wounded so badly as to be virtually impervious to anything." And then a different book. We make conscience insensitive by developing a habit of ignoring its voice, of warning, so that the voice gets weaker and weaker and finally disappears. Paul talks about a conscience that is seared. So, as you and I read the Word of God, and we, what one writer calls, calibrate our conscience, if you're in the book, You can tune your conscience according to the Scriptures. Some people have an overactive conscience. In other words, your conscience is so oversensitive that it doesn't work in harmony with the Word of God. We learn a lot about the conscience in the first century church. You had Jew and Gentile. And they were both brought up with different training. And Paul had to address them because sometimes the Jews couldn't do things because their conscience would convict them that were okay. And sometimes the Gentiles couldn't do things which biblically would have been okay. They had to calibrate their own conscience. That's why it's important as Christians that you are in the Word of God regularly to calibrate your conscience. But here's the important thing. As you grow in the Lord, you need to be sensitive to your conscience. And as you are growing in the Lord, you need to get your conscience lined up with the truth of the Scriptures. It's like True North when you've got a calculator. And as you grow, you need to allow the Scriptures to calibrate your compass, your conscience, so it's in harmony with what really is right and what's really wrong. But if you ignore the promptings of your conscience, The promptings get less and less and less. And pretty soon, people who have seared consciences can do things, wrong things, that they no longer feel guilty about. And that is not a good place to go. But the person that lives according to the Word of God, in harmony with their conscience, lives a life consistent with these standards in the Scriptures. And when they do it, look at verse 13, they use the office, in other words, they serve the Lord, and then these two things happen. First of all, They purchase to themselves a good degree. What does that mean? They purchase to themselves a good degree. In other words, another way to word that is they obtain to themselves a good standing. They get respect from other people is the way the Greek is there. When you live consistent continually following a moral code before others, God will elevate you. In fact, the way I word it is, you will get respect among the respectable. That's the idea of to purchase themselves a good degree. You will gain a good standing before people with whom it matters. And it's important if you think about it. You and I have to lead lives of integrity. Think in the book of Acts. And we don't have time to turn there, but if you look at Acts chapter 6, beginning of verse 1, there was a major problem that developed in the early church between the Grecian widows and the Hebrew widows. And one of those groups was neglected. And the leaders of the church said, it's not reasonable that we would leave the word of God to serve tables. And so they had to choose among them godly leaders. How did they do that? Well, they said, let's look for the most godliest people and choose men that are full of the Holy Spirit, are being led by the Lord, and so they had to go by public reputation. And so they chose what many believe are the first deacons. Philip, Stephen, a whole list of them. And then they laid hands on them, that is, they selected them and they prayed over them, and God blessed. But these were men that were held in high esteem among the godly people of the church. That's how we do it here. When we choose deacons in our church, it's not just that the pastor says, I want this guy, I want this person, I want this person. We have a congregationally run church. And so there may be someone that I say, you know, I think this person would be a good person. And as we all seek the Lord collectively, we are looking for the godly people, people that have a good testimony. And people that, first of all, have first been proved they've been serving the Lord. If somebody came to the church next week And they came to church for three weeks. And I said, you know what? I really like this guy. Let's make him a deacon next week. That would be a bad thing, wouldn't it? And we would all know that. It's someone that has lived a consistent life. Someone that we've all gotten to know. Someone that has demonstrated themselves to be godly. And so what happens is, when you do that, Living before others with a pure conscience, one of the things you gain is you purchase to yourself a good degree. In other words, good status. And that's something we should all strive to have. Respect among the respectable. By the way, you've probably heard it said, don't try to please people. And there's some truth in that. Paul said this to, I believe, the Corinthians. He said, you are bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men. You know there's a balance? You and I ought never to have the attitude, I couldn't care less what people think. That has to be said in context. You and I should never operate based on what we think other people are going to like or dislike. That's pleasing people. And that's what Paul's addressing when he says, Be not ye the servants of men. You and I have to live. There's only one person. We should live to have an audience of one. Have you ever heard of that? You know who that audience of one is? God. When someone lives for an audience of one, it means we should live to please God and God alone. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a place where we serve others. When Paul said, be not ye the servants of men, he meant don't be a people pleaser. But, if you and I are living to please God, We will end up pleasing those who are worth pleasing. Paul wrote it this way to Timothy. He talked about a good soldier. In fact, let me look at Timothy. In fact, it's in for Timothy. He says, no man that woreth and tangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. So when you and I make our purpose, that audience of one, I want to please him who has called me to be a soldier. When we do that, we will end up pleasing those who are worth pleasing. Is that where your focus is? Second thing, go back to 1 Timothy chapter 3, there's a second thing. In fact, let me just say this as well. It is possible, the opposite of that, if you and I don't live to have a pure conscience, here's what happens. 1 Corinthians 9.27, Paul said, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." When you and I don't live consistently with our own conscience, we end up being a castaway. We've all heard the stories. Someone who has built up years of reputation for godliness and won folly, one foolish decision, and they fall, and they become a castaway. I want you to think about your testimony. Do you live listening to the conscience? First of all, are you calibrating your life with the Scriptures, so that your conscience is working and functioning well? And then, are you listening to your conscience? Are you who you say you are in private? Do the people that know you publicly, is that how you are in private? Second, look at verse 13 again. They that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree. That's the first thing. And then the second thing is, and great boldness in the faith. The second thing that happens when you and I are working very hard to keep a pure conscience. In other words, we're in the Word, we're calibrating our conscience, making sure it's not weak or based upon the wrong thing, we're bathing ourselves in the Word of God, and we're living consistently. When we feel convicted based on truth, and we live in harmony, just like the deacons here, the list here, when we do that, not only will we be respected among the respectable, but we will also gain great boldness in the faith. Quoted this last week. The Bible says in Proverbs, the righteous are bold as a lion. but the wicked flee when no man pursues." That's the result of a guilty conscience. Have you ever heard of, in fact I heard a crime show where some guy got away with some pretty serious crime and it was only like 30 years later when the police came to his door. I love DNA. And I love this genetic, you know, where because of like, where they trace, it's this new thing, kind of new, where People are tracing their genealogical roots. And so people, they give their DNA. And now they're able to find out where you come from, what country, and all that. And all of a sudden, I think it's in the last few years, they're able to match crimes. If they got DNA, and if your name isn't in the database, like if you have never committed a crime, they're able. This is amazing. This blows me away. They're able to, if they have a DNA sample from a crime, They're able to send this to like, what are these, family genealogy things? They're able to send it to them and they're able to do these, so they're able to trace from a crime sample, they're able to trace families from people that have just tried to trace their genealogies. Just heard one recently. This crime had gone unsolved for like 30 years. They had a DNA sample from the crime. But apparently, this person had never, ever committed a crime again. And they finally traced it to a lady who had two sons. At least, she had two sons. And they knew that one of these sons committed the crime. And so they went and visited. And one son, they were able to see that he had an alibi. And the other son was in prison. And because he had never given a DNA sample, they scoped him out. They followed him for a couple months. And they had to get the DNA sample from him legally. So they followed him and waited till he threw out a piece of trash. I think they followed him in a restaurant. And he drank something. And they snuck in and got the BP. Now think about it. If you've ever committed a crime, guess what you don't have? A clear conscience. So if you've committed a crime, you better be careful. Just going to a restaurant and drinking some soda could be your undoing. Can you imagine that? I mean, just going to a restaurant and drinking a soda. But if you don't have a clear conscience, every restaurant you go to, you better take all your silverware. But you hear that happens. The wicked flee when no man pursues. And so they finally got the guy. And you hear this all the time. When he was arrested, it was like for 30 years he was looking over his back. 30 years he was looking over his back. Because the wicked flee when no man pursues. When you don't have a clear conscience, you're always looking over your back. Now think about it. In this one example, 30 years, nobody knew that this guy had committed a crime. It was only in the last couple of years when they did this genetic thing that they were even able to pinpoint to his family. Nobody, well no, somebody did know. The Lord and his conscience. And so when this says, they that have used the office of a servant well, in other words, when you do what Paul said, he said, I have always exercised my conscience. Good. In other words, Paul kept his conscience in functioning order. He made sure he would always listen. First he made sure his conscience was tuned to the scriptures, was calibrated so that it wasn't based on the wrong information. And then he exercised his conscience to always be void of offense with God and men. And when you do that, you have a clear conscience. And you purchase to yourself a good degree. In other words, you're going to be respected among the respectable. And you're going to get great boldness in the faith. The righteous are bold as a lion. You're not going to be looking over your shoulder for 20, 30 years when you have a clear conscience. That boldness comes with it. Paul said this in 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 19. He said, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. How is your conscience? If you haven't been in the Word, and you're not meditating on the Scriptures, and you're not growing in the Scriptures, your conscience may not be calibrated properly. In other words, your conscience may be more in tune with your culture. You may be convicted for not recycling. And that may give you a guilt trip. And you know, the Bible doesn't say anything about that. But you may be able to do things. You might not be convicted about doing things where the Scripture says this is wrong. You see, it's important that we calibrate our conscience based on the Word of God. And as we do that, and our conscience is calibrated properly, when we do things wrong, We're going to be convicted of it properly. And that's going to guide us in the right way. And then, we will be respected among people that are respectable. And we will have great boldness in the faith. We won't be looking over our shoulder. We'll be able to be confident because we know we're right with God. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your Word. Lord, we want to serve you in boldness and confidence. We want to have that pure confidence. We want to hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. And so, Lord, I pray that you'd help every one of us to grow. We are not all going to be deacons. We are not all going to be pastors. But we all can hold the mystery of the faith, can all hold the precious truths of the gospel, the New Testament revelation, with a pure conscience. And Lord, we know you'd want us to do that. So Lord, help us to be growing Christians. And Father, those that are listening, those that are here, that have never experienced a new birth, Lord, would you open their eyes to the glorious light of the Gospel. Show them their need to be saved, to be born again. Convict them of their sin. Show them that they have to repent of their sins and be born again. And may they experience the new birth. May they be regenerated. May they cry out to you for mercy so that you can save them and they can experience eternal life. We ask your blessing in Jesus' precious name. Amen.