We are beginning the qualifications for deacon tonight. So this will be part one. I'm not sure how long it'll take. I don't think it'll take as long to get through this because some of these qualifications are more or less repeats or very similar to the ones of the earlier verses, verses one through seven for the elder. And but we are talking about what the deacon must be, just like we were talking about with qualifications for an elder, we were saying this is what the elder must be. It's no less necessity, it's no less of a, you know, absolute that this is what, these qualifications are what the deacon must be. And so what we're gonna do here as we look at verses eight and nine tonight, we're gonna look at one observation, And then we've got five qualifications. Now I don't know if we're going to get through all of them. Tonight we'll see how far we get. But we'll start with the observation. And the observation is... that the qualifications are necessary. You must, just like with the elders, you must examine these men the same way to make sure that they're qualified. It's necessary, and we know this. Well, first of all, let's talk about what we're talking about. We're talking about the office of deacon to begin with, and the word deacon is diakonos. It means someone who is like a servant. It could mean someone in classical Greek, like someone who could wait tables, and not just wait tables, but do all kinds of different menial jobs. And somebody that obviously, as you look at the way that the term develops in the New Testament, it goes from like a general term of service, like, okay, here's someone who's just generally serving God, right? To very specifically, it becomes an office. So look at Philippians chapter one, verse one, and you'll see that it is an office. there in Philippians 1. And we are only given two offices in Philippians 1. Philippians 1. says Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. We've already said the overseers is a synonymous word for elder, so you've got two offices in the church. This is kind of a Baptist distinctive that that's what we hold to, elders and deacons. You come over here to 1 Timothy 3, you've got the qualifications laid out. in depth for both. So very clearly you're talking about a specific office. The general term, we should take a look at the general term for a minute where it's used in other ways. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21. Ephesians 6 verse 21. says, so that you may, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. So that word minister is that same word, diakonos. And so this is one of those examples of someone who's just, we don't know whether or not he was technically a deacon or not, but we do know that he was a minister of the Lord, a servant of the Lord. Colossians chapter four, verse seven is another example of this. Colossians chapter 4 verse 7. Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister. So it's another, just another reference, same guy. He's a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. And then you go to 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 6. And he's speaking here, challenging Timothy. There's a lot of discussion about what Timothy exactly is. He wasn't an apostle. He seems to be some kind of church planter, maybe a church planting evangelist. type person, but nobody that I know has said that he's a deacon. But the word diakonos is used here to describe generally his desire to serve the Lord and what he did. So that's what we're talking about. It's a general term that means serving God in a way all Christians are serving him, but the office is specific. We know that from Philippians 1.1. We know that from right here in 1 Timothy 3 and the qualifications. So the qualifications are necessary. Why do we know that? Because the grammar indicates it. If you look at the very first part of verse 8, deacons likewise must be dignified. You've got a noun, but you've got no verb. There's a noun and no verb. That's a problem. So what verb are we talking about? Well, you gotta go back to 1 Timothy, I believe, chapter three, verse two. And back there, there's another one in verse seven, and it's really kind of the same idea. But in verse two, I think it's really the parallel, because we've got two sets of qualifications in parallel. Verse two, therefore an overseer must be above reproach. And where it says must be, There in verse 2, that's your verb. So it's a necessity, must be. That's why I said what the deacon must be at the beginning of this message because the grammar indicates that. It is necessary, and honestly, common sense demands it. So it's necessary according to the text, but also common sense demands it because we're gonna look at what the deacon does in a little bit, and one of the qualifications that comes out, that he can't be somebody who's greedy for a lot of money. The reason for that is because if you look scripturally what the deacon did, he was handling money. And so if he's going to handle money, he can't be somebody who's liable to have money stick to his hands, right? Five-finger discount from the offering plate or something like that. So common sense indicates that there must be qualifications, that you must make sure that the man has a high moral standard because he will be handling money, among other things. So qualification is necessary. That's the observation. The first qualification, then, is in the next part of the verse. He's serious-minded. The ESV translates here, yeah, deacons likewise must be dignified. Some translations will have it grave. Dignified, grave, New American Standard says men of dignity. The Amplified says worthy of respect. Some Bible scholars think that this is an umbrella term. That's the first thing I'll say about it. Like 1 Timothy 3 verse 2, the first qualification there where it said that the elder must be above reproach, in the same way deacons must be dignified. It's kind of an umbrella term that's defined by all the rest of the qualifications that follow it. So if you follow these qualifications, it's really gonna tell whether or not you're dignified, is sort of the idea. Just like the above reproach term up there in 1 Timothy 3 verse 2, did the same thing for the elders. So it's an umbrella term, but there are some other places where it's mentioned, and it's mentioned in the same chapter just a few verses later in verse 11. We're talking about deacon's wives. The wives likewise must be dignified. So there's a qualification for the deacon's wives there and it's the same qualification. You go over to Titus chapter 2 verse 2 and Titus is told to charge these older men how they should live. And it says, older men are to be sober-minded and dignified, as well as self-controlled, sound in faith and love, and in steadfastness. And so, this is really what it's saying. It's a thorough term. Well, what I want to say is it's a thorough term. It's not just talking, again, you're talking about all these qualifications, it's not just talking about dignity of life, but I believe in the context of 1 Timothy 3, it's also talking about dignity of doctrine. Doctrine and life. A lot of times we can look at these qualifications and try to limit it to people's behaviors, but it also is reflective of what someone believes. And we're going to see that especially in verse 9, when we get to verse 9. W. Gunther, in his article in Brown's Dictionary of New Testament Theology, he says, seriousness of both doctrine and life is expected of the leaders of the church. So it's not just the qualifications, the integrity, characteristics of a guy's life, but what does he believe is very important. In the modern church, not many people care about that anymore. And so we must examine, even a deacon we should examine regarding their doctrine. Just because they don't teach doesn't mean what they believe isn't important. They're an officer of the church. They're representing the church and serving the people in the church. In the process of doing that, doctrine comes up. Doctrinal matters come up. It's as simple as knowing who's in the church, right? Who's a member of the church? Well, how do we know who the members are? Well, they've been baptized and they profess faith in Christ and do they understand the gospel? And so deacons ought to be able to make that distinct, be able to tell that and make that distinction. So it's a thorough term and regards being grave. It's not just being, you know, super grave and You know, you never smile, you look like you've been sucking on lemons all the time, something like that. But it just means that there's a seriousness about the way that he handles himself as a rule. So there's that. The second qualification we'll look at here is that he does not engage in double talk. Does not engage in double talk. The next, well, verse eight, the next qualification says they're not double tongued. not double tongue. Now this one's kind of a difficult thing to get to as far as its meaning is concerned because this is the only time it's used in the New Testament. But not only that, in the classical Greek it was only ever used once in the classical Greek. So once in Greek at all, and then so twice in all the Greek language. This is a very unique term. The Amplified version says, not shifty and double talkers. I like that, not shifty. And the New English Bible, not indulging in double talk. Yeah, I already mentioned that. So what does this mean? Well, it implies that this person wouldn't be changing his speech for his audience. changing his speech for his audience. That's what it means on one hand. What it also means is that it implies he does not use his speech to deceive or manipulate. So he's a person of integrity in the way that he speaks. He's not saying one thing to one person and one thing to another person. That's really the idea of double tongued. This is, I think, what you're getting at. And it's embarrassing. I'll just say I did this before I was a believer and I was pastoring. forget Deacon for a minute, I did it. I remember an instance where this church I was pastoring up near Buffalo, New York, we had a guy, there was one guy in the church that was a pilot, he was a FedEx pilot or something, and he was wealthy. And he came to me and he said, he asked me, are you Calvinist or Arminian? And I suspected he was Arminian. So I said, I'm Arminian. And then I had another guy come up to me from the same church. Are you Calvinist or Arminian? I suspected he was Calvinist. So I'm a Calvinist. So what do you think happened? They met. It's not, I mean 200 people, it's not really like a mega church, right? They're gonna run into each other. And they did and compared notes. Oh yeah, and guess what happened? One of them left, and I don't know why they both didn't leave, but one of them left. And I say all that to say that it's a shameful thing, but the reason why I did it was I was caught up in all of that stuff, the purpose-driven church stuff, and everything was about filling the pews. And when you're about everything being filling the pews and everything being about the amount of money you have coming in the plate, you'll tell people what they want to hear if they've got a lot of money. I did it. And the other guy was the new guy that was coming in. And I just wanted his butt to fill the pew, right? And so that's what happens. So I confess that to you. It's a sin. It's a terrible sin to do that, especially in the ministry. But it's happening all over the place. And so, yeah, that's how an unconverted pastor acts. And so he doesn't change his speech for his audience, and he doesn't use his speech to deceive or manipulate, just to get what you want to get, your little power play, whatever it is. Maybe you're not talking to two different people, but for one audience, you say one thing, and one audience you say another one if you're preaching in public venues, if you're trying to deceive people like doctrinally and things like that as to what you are, you try to be slippery about those things, right? That is double-tongued. And so we need to be very careful about those things that, and look, if you're just honest and you have integrity and you speak the same way all the time, you don't have to worry about people running into each other. So, yeah, that is out of order for someone in the ministry. The next one, he must not be habitually addicted to alcohol. This is almost identical to the earlier qualification, but 1 Timothy 3, verse 8, not addicted to much wine, not addicted to much wine. He should not be habitually addicted to alcohol. We've said this before, so I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time here because we talked about it earlier, but it is not for leaders to drink wine. It's true not just for the pastor according to the text, it's also true for the deacons, right? And so I pointed out last time, I'll mention it again, that the priests in Leviticus chapter 10 verse 9, the Nazarites who took the Nazaritic vows, Numbers chapter 6 verse 3, And the kings, in Proverbs 31 verse 4, all of them were forbidden to drink wine in the Old Testament scripture. John the Baptist also abstained from drinking wine. And so, look, I mean, for leadership, it's definitely out. And, you know, we got the whole issue, should you take a little wine for your stomach's sake? Yes, you can use that medicinally, right? It's not completely ruled out there's a medicinal. But beyond that, for leaders in particular, you need to stay away from it because it's deceptive. So it's not for leaders to drink wine. And I'll also mention that just generally, it's not for leaders to be addicted to any substance. To any substance. And that would include caffeine, so let's just say it. We can be addicted to all kinds of different things. And for substances, you say, well, it's legal. A lot of things are legal that we shouldn't be participating in and that can be harmful for us and can affect our judgment. And so whatever, if you're on, by the way, it's just true of any believer, don't be addicted to stuff. You're supposed to have self-control as one of the fruits of the Spirit. So since that's the case, if you have an addiction, come talk to somebody. Come talk to us and we can help you, you know, find help for that. We'll help you with that. But don't, you know, if that's in your life, get free of that. The next qualification, he must not be greedy for money. In the next part of verse 8, not greedy for dishonest gain. In particular, this is saying, you know, don't rip people off, on one hand. But we've already dealt with the fact that we shouldn't be, back with the elder in verse 3, not a lover of money, right? So the same idea is in play. You don't live for money on one hand, and you're not ripping people off on the other hand. That's what this qualification talks about. And I mentioned before that a deacon would regularly handle money. It's that way for us in this church. The deacons do handle money. They do the counting of the money after the service, and so they're involved with that. Sometimes there's times where we help people with money, and that would go on. You see that in the New Testament. Romans chapter 15, verse 25. Romans 15, verse 25. This is Paul speaking, but this is one thing that he did. At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem, and he talks about bringing aid to the saints. Verse 26, for Macedonia and Achaia had been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. It's very likely the deacons were probably involved with taking that money up. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 19 is another example. Not only that, but he, who are we talking about here? We're talking about Titus. Not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that's being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. So there's this thing going on where they're taking up money to help out churches that are poor. Handling money is part of leadership within the church. And so, again, he can't be somebody who would be tempted to steal. And so, he should have the testimony, of someone like Samuel from the Old Testament. We use this Old Testament example. Look at 1 Samuel 12, verse 3. This is Samuel's farewell address. Listen to what he says as he ends his ministry and his life. 1 Samuel 12, verse 3. Here I am. Testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you. That's confidence. That's a man who's got a clear conscience before God. And as he gets to the end of his life, he says, hey, if you're gonna accuse me of stealing something, bring forward the evidence and I'll take care of it. That's the way we ought to be. That's the way we should be able to speak with that kind of confidence in the way that we handle money. No, we're gonna get through it. So this last qualification, the fifth one, is verse nine. And what this means, let me read the verse first, then we'll say what it means. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. What does that mean? What it means is the deacon must live up to his doctrine. Remember what we said before about doctrine, how doctrine's important? Well, here's another reason why it's important. It's in this qualification. He must live his life consistently with that doctrine, is the idea of the text. Now, so when you're looking at the verse and it says they must hold the mystery of the faith, what does that mean? Well, mystery, Whenever you see that in the New Testament, it's talking about something that formerly was hidden, but it's been revealed. And so the mystery of the faith, faith here is talking about doctrine. It's talking about all that Christianity, all the doctrine that represents Christianity. And so this mystery has been revealed, right? The Christian faith, Jesus Christ, death, burial, and resurrection, and everything that Paul is teaching throughout the epistles, it's all being revealed, justification by faith, sanctification, glorification, expiation. All that has been revealed, and he's saying there, that has been revealed, and he must hold onto that. He has to hold onto that. And sometimes if you look at the use of that word, oftentimes it's a literal use, but this specific derivative of the word often means carrying something. So how you carry that doctrine, if you've got something precious, how do you carry it? Carefully, right? Carefully, if you've got something precious, you know where it is at all times, right? You've got it there, you hold it carefully. And so you do that, but it's shorthand for Christianity in terms of doctrine. Calvin said, it would be exceedingly absurd to hold a public office in the church while they were ill-informed in the Christian faith. It'd be crazy to give somebody an office in the church and they don't know anything about this precious doctrine that we're talking about, right? And along with that, the last part of the verse, his conscience will not condemn his doctrine. The way he lives his life, his conscience is clear. He holds the mystery of faith, how? With a clear conscience. A clear conscience. Now, I don't know if you remember this or not, but back in chapter 1, verse 5, there's a reference to conscience. This is the aim of our charge is love the issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. The commands that Paul's giving Timothy are not cooked up or contrived but they come out of a pure heart. and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Paul was living this out. Paul's saying, look, this is how I'm living. This is how the deacons need to be living in this regard. And we have examples of a seared conscience here in the pastoral epistles. If you go to chapter four, verse two, it speaks of the latter times. And it says, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. One characteristic of false teachers is that they are liars, and they have seared their own consciences. Titus chapter 1 verse 15 is another example of that. Titus chapter 1 verse 15, we're just about done. To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They're detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. So when someone is going down that path, that's a dangerous path. When someone begins to sin against their conscience, conscience with knowledge, conscience, you have a, innate conscience that God gives us on one hand, but we can sear that conscience when we do what we know is wrong. And that's how it gets seared, how it gets burned, like that. Homer Kent was quoted by Alexander Strock in his book, The New Testament Deacon, which by the way is a really good book on deacons. Homer Kent wrote a commentary on the pastoral epistles. This is what he says, to hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience is to live in the light of the Christian truth that the enlightened conscience will have no cause to condemn. A pure conscience indicates a pure life. The man can live before God with a pure conscience. It means that he's living with a pure life before God. So these are very important, these five qualifications that we have here. These are things that we do look for in deacons and we're trying to be, by the word, Baptist Church, trying to be a biblical church that's what we strive to do this here and we'll pick up next time in verse 10 and continue on in these qualifications let's pray Lord thank you for your faithfulness to us you don't leave us alone just trying to figure it out for ourselves How do we know who to put in leadership? How many offices are there? You don't just leave it to our good ideas. We would mess that up. Lord, thank you that you have given us the offices. Thank you that you have given us the qualifications. Help us, Lord, to be faithful to what you've revealed. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.