All right, I'm reminded of the old farmer who had his neighbor with him, and he was complaining about the horses. And his neighbor said, what's the problem? He said, you see that one horse? He said, yeah, what about him? He goes, well, the problem is he's willing to pull. He goes, well, what's wrong with that? He goes, well, all the rest of them are willing to let him. What a picture of the local church. Some years ago, a pastoral assistant conducted training for deacons at an urban church. And as part of the preparation, she called the director of Philadelphia Restaurant School on the phone and asked, you ready, what qualities are you looking for in a waiter? And the director explained that above all else, a good waiter, watch this, is someone who notices what people need and gives it to them even before they ask. Now, it may seem strange to us to compare deacons to waiters, but the connection is biblical because, now watch this, you can't see it in English, but the word the apostles use for serving tables is the Greek word for deacon. It's the word diakonine. And so deacons are the waiters of the church. Okay, I wanna know when Al's gonna bring me my cup of coffee. You're laughing, but you go, never, okay. But isn't it interesting? I think this is a fascinating study because in fact, ready, the seven men that were chosen by the early church to serve food were the first deacons. Acts chapter six, we'll look at it. But if you look at their concordance, you know, you get the Greek concordance out and you look up, or maybe you got, I don't know, you got a logos or whatever. Joel has shown me this where you run the cursor over the word and all the lexicon information comes up on the right. You could do it. Bible Hub, Dan was telling me about, there was all these, the Blue Bible, whatever it is Lynn used for woman's study. A survey of New Testament words, if you look up the word servant, it's the word for deacon, by the way, and you look up the word service, and you look up the word serve, all of those three words reveal this truth, that all Christians are servants of the Lord and of his church. And some, you ready, should be official servants with the title of deacon. So in a sense, then, all the qualifications of elders are what all Christians should be. All the qualifications of deacons are what all Christians should be. There's not a higher standard. I just will encourage you with this. This is what we stupidly think. I use stupid because it's just crazy. But there I was at McMinnville. I was at the courthouse. And there's the lawyer trying to set us up ahead of time. He's defending this crook. I don't know, maybe the guy was, maybe he wasn't. But he wanted to let us know that the cops are held to a higher standard. And I said, excuse me. I said, the cop has the same standard as you and me and the judge. And the judge is going like this. Now, the cop needs to be an example of the standard. I get it. But the standard is the same for everybody. It's Christ-likeness. And if you don't think I'm telling you the truth, Matthew 5, 48, be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. If you say perfect means mature and God's just mature, you got a problem. Perfect means what? Perfect. Okay, and we can talk more about that. We had a whole sermon on sermon on the mount. But all Christians are to be servants of the Lord and his church. Some should be official servants with the title of deacon. The US Marines telling us that they're looking for a few good men. And Jesus is also looking for a few good men to lead his church and to model godly attitudes and actions that should mark all Christians. Now, if you're thinking, and I sometimes do this with people, I love to do this, no one's good, Jesus said, no one's good except God. You're right. In an absolute sense, none of us are good compared to God, okay? But a believer in Christ can be made good in terms of sanctification by the Holy Spirit working in his or her heart. We had a whole study on it. The fruit of the Spirit is goodness, right? Galatians 5. Jot it down if you want, Acts 11, 24, Barnabas is called a good man. It's not talking about compared to God, because compared to God, no one's good, okay? But in that Barnabas was regenerate, he was given saving grace and faith and repentance. Thus, there was in him this lifelong process of sanctification that had begun. And so he's good, not compared to God, but he's good compared to people who are not saved. Are you with me? Now, he would not look at himself probably that way, and I get it, but scripture calls him good, because God looks at our heart and he sees the work that he's doing and has done and is doing and will complete in us. Three truths, and we're done. You ready? First, the importance of deacons. Second, the qualification of deacons. And thirdly, the function of deacons. Now, if you wonder, someone said to me last week, I don't see how all this applies to me. I had to laugh. Because believers are part of the household of God. We're going to see that in verse 15, which is the church of the living God. which is a pillar, notice not the pillar, a pillar and buttress of the truth, verse 15. The main truth the church is to bear witness of is the person and work of Christ in verse 16. So if you ask why go into all this, okay, you're gonna see as we get into it. I will tell you, God is raking me over the coals. My life is not anything like it should be compared to Jesus, I'm just wanting to tell you. And as I dive into this text, I'm thinking, why was I foolish enough to go back to 1 Timothy? I should have stayed in 2 Timothy where it was safer. Just saying. All right, first then, the importance of deacons. If you look at Luke 22, and we'll come back here to, we'll come back to 1 Timothy 3, but if you look at Luke 22, we have Jesus and he's washing the disciples' feet. Now, I want to go into this historically a little bit before we actually get into this text. Historically, there are four reasons why the ministry of deacons has been neglected. Let me just mention them really briefly before we look at Luke 22. First, there's an unbiblical exaltation of the pastor or elder. We might call it the pedestal complex. And supposedly, in this viewpoint, that the elders, the pastor, have an unlimited authority which downplays the need for and importance of deacons. But here's the issue. Christ is the head of the church. Not a pastor, not an elder or group of elders, not a deacon or group of deacons, and definitely not the congregation. We said that last week. I could say it all I want, but someone's going to say, yeah, but you're the preacher. Jesus was a preacher. Here we go. How does the mindset change? Sometimes, I guess, by a good swift kick in the rear. I don't know. But there's been an unbiblical exaltation of the pastor or elder to the downplaying of the need for and the importance of deacons. Secondly, though, there's also been an unbiblical separation of the spiritual and the physical. What do I mean by that? Well, we've been influenced by this Greek philosophy, this view of mankind, which sees the soul or spirit as good, but it's trapped in a physical body which is bad. Okay, now I'm gonna just say this really simply. There are people that go the other way, and it's just materialistic. Man doesn't have any spirit, doesn't have any soul, it's all body, and it's just whatever, you live by your five senses, whatever you can see here, feel, touch, whatever, you know, smell, that's all there is. No, we know that's one extreme, but the other extreme is the hyper-spiritual person, who says that the physical doesn't really matter, it's really your soul. You never pray for people's healing, because it's really their soul that matters, that's it. No, deacons who serve people's physical needs by people that think are super spiritual, they see that as less important than those who serve people's spiritual needs. But let me ask this question. Let me just challenge that viewpoint. How much of life is under God? Would that include the physical? Okay, well, hello, Betty. You know, and how much of what we're to do is under God's glory. All of it, whether you eat or you drink. Interesting that he mentions physical things. When God created Adam's body from the dust, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living being. What is it, Genesis 2, 7. So we're a combination of spirit and soul on one side and body on the other. I am saying, biblically, Christian, please do not separate what God has joined together. Are you with me or not? Third, there's been an unbiblical adoption of business model for the church rather than a family model. And so what do I mean by that? Well, too often churches look for a man's business credentials rather than the biblical qualifications. Someone asked me yesterday, can I be a deacon? Can I be an elder? Well, do you meet the qualifications? Do you desire to do it? And thirdly, would the congregation confirm and affirm that, yeah, you're the guy? It's pretty simple. And my point is, to compromise God's standards for these offices of elder and deacon is to deteriorate the character and ministry of the church. It's to diminish our testimony to the world. God's glory is ultimately at stake. I don't think we think that. And I'll prove it as we get into this text. As a local church, we will experience a lack of godliness, chapter four, and effectiveness, chapter two, of God desiring to save how many people? We talked about all people. We're going to experience a lack of godliness and effectiveness in our mission if we fail to train and select biblically qualified elders and deacons. That is really key, by the way. Finally, fourthly, under this first point, there has been an unbiblical abandonment, I could say abdication, but unbiblical abandonment of mercy ministries by churches in favor of county, state, and federal services. You heard of the New Deal with FDR? I call it the Raw Deal. And we've abdicated our responsibility to take care of orphans and widows. It didn't happen just by people going to those agencies rather than the church for help. No, somewhere along the line in history, churches abdicated the responsibility to do good to all men. Where's that? Galatians 6.10. But since when, here's the question, when are we exempt from what God commanded us to do because of what the government does? No, never exactly. As soon as you've got it, shake it in your head. What makes you and I think that we can relinquish our responsibility to love our fellow man to the government? You say, Sean, you get upset. Amen, I do. Can the government love God in our place? And I say, No. And so this unbiblical abandonment, abdication of love, has greatly diminished the role of deacons in the church. I say we've got to get back to the Bible. Yes, yes or no? Let me ask. OK, let's go to Luke 22, the last supper. Jesus asked. Who is greater? This is what he asks in the text. Who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? And then he asks, is it not the one who reclines? And then he says, but contrast, but I am among you as one who what? Serves. And so Jesus, what's he doing in this last supper? He's turning the tables on our idea of what true greatness really is. And what he's doing is pointing us, right, to a principle, not to a principle, but to himself as the pattern for the Christian life. And he demonstrated what he meant by doing the lowest servant's task. He grabs the basin, and he grabs the towel. You see, in the upper room, there was no servant. They're using somebody else's place, you know. If you had your place, you'd have a servant there for your wealthy, but they're using somebody else's upper room. There's no servant. There's nobody there hanging out ready to wash your feet. Well, who's going to do it? None of them stepped up to do it. The Lord of glory grabs the towel in the basin. This is just amazing to me. And he washes disciples' smelly, dirty feet. And so greatness in his kingdom, he said, if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, you've got to be the servant of, oh, everyone's servant. We don't get that. But just back up for a minute. Amazing, Jesus, the preeminent one who left eternal delight and glory of his father's presence to come to a world of sin and misery. And why? And here's what he says, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10, 45. In fact, Paul says in Philippians 2 that he served to the extent of dying in our place on a cross. Well, then may I ask you, you want to be great? Of course I do. Sometimes we ask people, how about being good? You want to be good? Well, good's okay, but great's better. That's a fascinating thing. I like fame and fortune. We're going to get to that in chapter six of 1 Timothy. But here's what I'm asking. How much more should we who want to be great be the servants of all? I mean, look at Jesus and think of this. Do you seek after Jesus' kind of greatness, or, I'm asking, are you, am I serving ourselves and seeking to be served by others? See, that's why I want Al to bring me that cup of coffee. Because obviously, I'm greater than he is. No, but once he brings me the coffee, he's greater than I am. According to Jesus in the text, am I right? Isn't it interesting he said it's more blessed to give than receive? What? That doesn't sound right. Not if you want to get rather than give. Amen? Let me ask this. If the disciples struggled, okay, with the world's version of greatness, don't you think we'll struggle with it, too? I'm saying we will. We will. You know, somebody, Lord Sanney of the Navigators or whatever, he said, you know, the issue is you really find out what a servant is when you're treated like one. and you begin to balk. And yet one of them, the disciples, remember they were talking about which one would be the greatest. Right around the time that he's washing their feet, I'm like, time out. Something's wrong here. But John says, by this we know, love, that he, Jesus, laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our life for our brothers. Brother brothers, that's 1 John 3, 16. Let me try to get this, because you know I have to do this, because if you go, oh, a bunch of doctrine, man. Okay, doctrine needs to be in life, right? So let's illustrate it. A man used to visit a tiny general store that had a clerk named Jake, and Jake seemed to be the laziest man on the whole earth. One day, the man noticed that Jake wasn't around, so he asked the owner, hey, where's Jake? Oh, Jake retired, the owner answered. Retired, huh? The man replied. Well, what are you going to do to fill the vacancy? The owner replied, Jake didn't leave no vacancy. You're smiling. He didn't do anything. There's no hole to fill because he sat around doing nothing. And somebody said this, the same thing could be said of many Christians with regard to their service for Christ. They didn't leave no vacancy. Think of that. Every Christian should leave a vacancy when he or she moves on because we're called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this. If the greatest among you will be your servant, are you great in God's kingdom? That's a good question. Am I great in God's kingdom? If you ask, that's in the question, somebody, ask people that are close to you, would you call me a servant? Go further. Would you call me a servant of all? Ask someone who really knows you. When you're inconvenienced, you don't have the time, you gotta go out of your way, you gotta go the extra mile, money, time, whatever it is, stuff, just think about that. Will you, will I, through service, lessen the sorrow and increase the joy of all whom God brings across our path? I say that's what Jesus did, and he left the world vastly different than before he came in. Or am I wrong? Okay? Will you, will I leave this world better, holier than it was before we came into it? I'm asking simply under this first point, will you, will I follow the example of the ultimate deacon? Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. Now we could pray and go home and that would be enough. Amen. But we haven't even got to the text yet. So secondly, then. We're studying further the concept of serving in the New Testament, it becomes clear that some Christians should serve in an official capacity of deacons, which brings us to their qualifications. And we'll just look at eight through 16 of 1 Timothy. Dan read the text, did a great job. Deacons likewise, likewise to what? Elders in chapter three and verse one. must be dignified, same thing as verse two. The word dignified means serious mindset or outlook which is expressed in a humble courtesy that gains people's respect. In other words, what he's saying is, does this man take people's cries for help seriously? And the great example of this is in Acts 6 and Stephen. But then he goes on and says, notice, must be dignified, not double-tongued. Okay? Which would stem from a double heart. He doesn't talk out of two sides of his mouth, literally. He's consistent in his speech. This is funny. He's the kind of man of whom Will Rogers described as not afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. It's funny, isn't it? And then he says a deacon must also not be addicted to much wine. Interesting that the word addicted is some elsewhere translated devoted. It indicates that a deacon must not be one who preoccupies himself with much wine. He has to be a teetotaler and not drink anything. I don't see that in this text. But any man who is a hero at drinking wine, Isaiah 5 and 22, but a failure at sobriety must not be a deacon. He's to be filled with the Spirit, not with wine, Ephesians 5, 18. Next, he's not to be greedy of sordid gain. Notice that. A deacon cannot be someone who loves money. Why? Anyone, any person, man, woman, whoever, who loves money more than God, cannot be a disciple of Jesus, much less a deacon. Where's that? Matthew 6 and 24, Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon, meaning money. That's the way one person put it. Judas was not the last treasurer who betrayed his Lord for a few pieces of silver. Yikes. OK. Contentment is the antidote for greed. We'll see that in chapter six. And so these three negative traits are to be avoided. They point to the positive quality of self-control that like the elder, the deacon must have learned to control himself by the grace of God so that he's free to give himself away in service of other people. And this is the way one person put it, I like this, this is good. His service will bring him in close contact with people who would be tempted to slander or gossip or abuse alcohol if it's offered to him or embezzle funds of the church allotted to him for the needs of people. It's pretty practical. Someone said, by definition, a deacon is one who serves, not one who helps himself. You can't be selfish and be a deacon, like duh. But here it gives specific points. And then verse nine, notice what he says. They, the deacon, must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. So his faith must be seen in evidence of his godly life. He has to have a practical love for the truth, especially God's plan of salvation, which centers in Jesus Christ and the cross. So if we saw this in chapter one, unlike the false teachers in Ephesus, chapter one, verse 19, he avoids everything that would stain or sully or mess up his conscience. One person said he does all he can to stay in close communion with God as Joseph did when he ran away from Potiphar's wife. Now here comes the question, and I think it's a practical one, why? Why does the deacon have to have a hold on the essentials of the faith since he doesn't have to be able to teach like the elder? I mean, I think it's a good question, okay? And here's the answer. In dealing with people, the deacon will inevitably be asked for his counsel, okay? At times, he's gonna need to comfort those who are bereaved, right? Okay, and he's most likely gonna need to lovingly confront someone once in a while, and therefore, he needs to know his Bible well. Not in the sense of teaching, though he may do some teaching. He doesn't have to be able to teach like the elder, but he's got to know the scripture as well. What's interesting is when the New Testament speaks of this word mystery, musterion, it's not referring to things that the church is still trying to figure out. The gospel is not a theological whodunit, someone said. This is Philip Ryken. Rather, a mystery is something long hidden in the past, but now revealed to us by God. It refers to the secret thoughts and plans and dispensations of God that are hidden from human reason, as well as from all other comprehension below the divine level, and hence, they must be revealed to those for whom they are intended. Okay? He's quoting someone else, though I can't remember who it is. If you look at this, the mystery of all mysteries, okay, is the eternal plan of God, okay, his plan of salvation that he has revealed in Jesus Christ. You could see it in Romans 16, verses 25 and 26. And so let's ask the question practically. I'm going a little bit deeper today than we usually do, okay. What are some deep truths of the faith which deacons must hold, okay? Well, there's one God. He exists in three persons, the Trinity. How about this, that God created everything out of what? Nothing. How about this, that Adam and Eve sinned against God, which has brought all humanity under judgment. Would you agree with that? Yeah, that, how about this, you ready? That God in his great love, I love this, God the Father sent God the Son into the world to save sinners. That's the gospel, isn't it? I mean, basically. And that Jesus is both God and man, okay? He doesn't have to figure this out. He can't figure that out complete like the Trinity, I'm sorry. But he's gotta believe it, he's gotta hold it. That Jesus gave his life as an atoning sacrifice when he died on the cross for sinners, those who would trust in him, for sinners who would trust in him. That everyone who believes in the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit receives eternal life. And that these mysteries are revealed in the Bible, which is the infallible word of God. The deacon must hold these truths. The deacon must believe and defend these basic doctrines of the faith. He cannot say stupid comments like, well, that's above my pay grade, man. No, no, no. And what's fascinating to me is that the first deacons, at least two of them, Stephen and Philip, if you look at Acts 7 and Acts 8, were great evangelists. Now, I could go into this more in my study and my reading. Does that mean every deacon's got to be a great evangelist? No. But whenever deacons help the poor, they're doing it in the name of Jesus Christ with a testimony of his saving power. Otherwise, the church just becomes another social service agency. And the church is not just a social service agency. That's what the liberal churches do. We just help the poor. We don't preach the gospel. It's wrong. Now. Here's the question, why does Paul say that they must be tested first? Notice that. Let them also be tested first, verse 10, then let them serve as deacons if, conditional, they prove themselves blameless, or the idea is above reproach. What does he mean? Well, because the church must not select someone to be a deacon for superficial reasons. Have you ever done that? We need a warm body. Well, so and so will do. No, there also must be enough time for potential deacons to prove themselves blameless. When the first seven deacons were chosen by the church in Jerusalem, notice this Acts chapter six and verse three, they were men of good report or repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And no accusation could be justly brought against them. And they should be proven and well known in their character before they serve. Now, here's a question. I put it in your questions. How should they be tested? The Bible doesn't specify. It doesn't tell us how they were examined. Scrutiny is mandatory according to the standards in this list, but how the scrutiny takes place is left to discretion of the local church. And often deacons prove their worth by serving in other ministries. Here's a universal principle of ministry. You ready? Jesus said, if you're faithful with a little, you'll be faithful with Yeah, with much, exactly. And so, the way to prepare for greater service is to be diligent, to be faithful in some lesser service. Why? Faithful ministry is both rewarded by God, vertically, and recognized by the Church, horizontally. It's pretty simple, okay? Let me, again, illustrate this, because I can't just give you a bunch of truth. This isn't just transfer of information. You got to see how it works out in our life. At one annual congregation meeting, new candidates for the office of deacon were presented to the church. But when it came time for them to be introduced to the congregation, they were nowhere to be found. Why? They were finally discovered in the kitchen, busily washing the dishes from the congregational dinner. Well, of course, where else would you expect to find potential deacons, right? Serving. Right? Everybody else is out there getting done eating and they're expecting someone else to come and clean away the dishes and actually wash them for us. We won't talk about the guys that don't help their wives with the dishes. We're not gonna even go there, right? I remember preaching at one sermon at one church. And I said, these guys who won't change diapers. And there was a whole bunch of the congregation busted up laughing. Because there was like one guy in particular said, I don't do diapers, man. And he let everybody know. And I didn't know about it. I just threw a rock, and he got hit. Amen. I don't know. It was funny. I just was like, what's going on with that? We'll tell you later. Keep going, preacher. I'm like, OK. So verse 11, notice what it says. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, okay? Or wives, likewise, must, or women, likewise, must, the textual variant down there on the bottom of the page, be dignified, not slanderous, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. This has caused quite a stir. What's Paul referring to? There are, I read like there are six different reasons or seven different reasons why he's talking about deaconesses. And there's like six or seven different reasons of why he's talking about deacon's wives. Okay. I didn't put them in my sermon and I'm not putting them in the bulletin. And if you want them, you can see them. But you know what? At the end of the day, you won't be pleased because it's as clear as mud. people went that-a-way on it, okay? So some think he's referring to deacon's wives, because the reference is sandwiched between these qualifications of deacon above and below. But if that's true, then why didn't he mention any qualifications for elders' wives? I think that's a great question. That's a great question, and I can't answer it. And I saw some people try to do some fancy footwork in the commentaries on that one. Others, though, say, secondly, that Paul is talking about female deacons, deaconesses, because they say the character requirements for these gals are parallel to those that are mandated for men. And they say if Paul wanted to specify wives, he would have added the word their or their own to the word for woman or wife. The problem though with that view is that Paul, the word he uses, gunikos, can mean women as well as wives. There's only one word for it. So it's as clear as mud. Also, some people argued that one short verse hardly seems adequate to cover the qualifications for deaconesses. I mean, do women need less qualifications than men? Now some women may think so, but the gals who are shaking their head no right now are right. A third possibility, which I tend to lean to, by the way, and I'll tell you why after the service if you want to ask me, is that Paul's not referring to the deacon's wives nor the female deaconesses, but that he's referring to women who assisted deacons, especially in ministering to women in the church. And he may be referring to widows that are mentioned in chapter five that fulfilled this ministry, okay? Like deacons, notice, the women are to be dignified, the NIV translates it worthy of respect, and not slanders. Why? If they went from house to house with juicy tidbits of private information, they could ruin the church very quickly. And they must be able to control their tongues, in other words. And then he says, sober-minded. which is the same quality mentioned for elders in verse 2 of this chapter. But also, it gives the idea of sober and not addicted to much wine, for the deacon. It means clear-headed, able to make sound judgments. Now watch this. This is tricky. Not living by one's emotions, but by obedience to the word of God. And we make stupid comments. We really do. Women are more emotional than men. That's a generality. I've seen some guys that act like women, emotionally. I'm just saying, no names, I don't want to be mean here. But I'm getting at this, and I think this is really important. These women, as well as the men that are listed here, are required to have this quality of sober-mindedness. Why? Because the man or the woman is not going to be able to lead needy people to God's truth. In this case, women leading other women to God's truth, which is the only source of true healing for these gals' problems. The Word of God, amen? A woman needs to be able to discern truth from error if she's to serve effectively. She cannot be swerved by her emotions. Again, we've said it before. Emotions have got to come along for the ride, but they're not in the driver's seat. You've seen this before. I just love him. But he's an unbeliever. But I know, but he's great. I love him. No, no, no. You shouldn't be dating him. Yeah, but he really makes me feel good. Stop, walk away, say no. Quickly, we pray that he'll repent and trust in Jesus and then start dating him again, you know? I mean, and so the point is that we've got to go rationally, yes. And does it include our emotions and our affections of our heart? Yes. But if you're going to live by your emotions rather than the word of God, you're going to go wrong. Are you with me? Much more could be said. And she must be faithful or trustworthy in all things, meaning she's got to follow through on assigned tasks. So if an elder comes to this gal and knows of a family that needs some care of some kind and he assigns it to this gal, the elder needs to be able to trust that she's going to follow through. And then notice, like elders, deacons must be the husband of one wife. It's a one woman man. We talked about this last week. Managing their children and their households well, verse 12. And we said that the home is the proving ground for ministry. Okay, I could go into this, but we went into it last week. So I'm not gonna cover the same ground. I'll just say this. If a man fails at home, don't make him a deacon at church. It's pretty simple, okay? Now let me say this, a quick word. A biblical work of a deacon is very demanding and sometimes it's difficult to know what mercy means in a particular situation. It's not just difficult, it's not just demanding, it's draining, meeting the same needs of people over and over again. Somebody said this, it is thankless grunt work, not stage work. And if you look at verse 13 and ask, well, then what keeps this deacon going? What keeps him, or if it's a gal assisting, steadfast? What keeps them going through amid, what, exhaustion and discouragement? The promise of two gifts in increasing measure, their respect and boldness. And that's what he says. For those who serve well, verse 13, as deacons gain a good standing for themselves, he's talking about horizontally, and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus, he's talking about vertically. That's the whole point there. So the first comes horizontally from the church, the other descends vertically from God. A faithful servant can go boldly before God in prayer, knowing that he has a clear conscience in doing God's will, and also such a person can have quiet confidence in dealing with people, knowing firsthand the reality of the Christian faith. Okay, this is the way somebody said it. There's a new book out on deacons, and I don't have it, but sometimes I get these little blurbs, and I copy them, and I read them, and there it was, and this is what he said. Though the service of a deacon is not glamorous, the reward will be glorious. Question, did Jesus wash the fellow's feet? Do you think he was rewarded when he got to glory? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so will you, Christian. Do you really believe that? Well, yeah, but I'm not going to wash dirty, smelly feet. And there we go. So you don't really believe it. The proof's in the pudding, right? No wonder Paul says, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we don't give up. Galatians 6, 9. And you say, well, that's OK for deacons, but I'm not a deacon, and I don't want to be one, and I don't care about washing dirty, smelly feet, and don't tell me to do the dishes after the congregational dinner. And I'm not taking out the trash, Sean. I'm amazed, Travis, he looks for stuff to do. He puts out the hymnals. He dumps the trash every week. He's looking for stuff to do. If you say, well, can we make him a deacon? I'm like, if service was required, he'd be the guy, amen? Okay, someone says, well, hey, this is just for deacons, it's not for me. Wrong, because the work of a deacon is actually the work of all who profess to be Christians. What's that? To show forth the compassion of Christ to everyone to follow the example of the ultimate deacon incarnate, Jesus Christ. Now if you say, this has nothing to do with me, Sean. I'm sitting here, I'm not a deacon, I don't desire to be one, or a helper of a deacon, a gal. No, these qualifications are essential, not optional. They require us to wisely and carefully select elders and deacons according to God's standard, not the world's standard. So an elder or deacon doesn't have to be a successful businessman. Can I hear an amen? An elder or deacon doesn't have to be a great salesman. Are you ready? An elder or deacon doesn't have to be a seminary graduate or like, I like to call it cemetery graduate. Ready? An elder or deacon doesn't have to be financially well-off or famous or anything else. What is required is Christ-like character. You see it in the text? That's it. Please pray that God will work in the hearts of our men and women, if they're assistants of deacons, both to mature them spiritually and give them a desire to serve his church. Listen, this is practical here. No one should ever be thrust into these avenues of service, whether it's elder or deacon, in order to get his or her life together. No, no, no. These qualifications are meant to prevent that foolishness. I've said, why don't you make him a deacon, man? Because he really struggles, man. Maybe he would step up to the plate if you make him a deacon. I've heard this stuff over the years. I'm like, bad idea. Have you read 1 Timothy 3? You don't do that. Well, let's put Biden in office. Maybe he'll get it together. I'll just challenge you. Let's put Trump in office, and maybe he'll stop being all about him. Did it work? Did it work? No, no, no, no. They said man's the only creature you can pat on the back and his head swells. It's true. Listen, here's the point, are you ready? These qualifications are meant to prevent that foolishness, yet God does and can use these qualifications to cause a man whom he's calling to serve the church to repent of known sin and grow spiritually. Did you hear that? You could be reading these qualifications and go, you know what, I messed up in that area of my life. You had known sin in your life and needed to repent. Huh? Okay, let me go further. Not every man is called, or woman in case of helpers or deacons, to serve in these ways. But every man and woman helpers or deacons ought to ask if God would have him or her to serve in one of these ways. I'm saying simply, will you make yourself available to the Lord? What we do is we look at our ability. God's not looking for ability. God's looking for your availability. Are you available? Well, I would be, but. Yeah, but. No. Alan Ross went to Al and said, hey, would you be willing to be a deacon? We need a song leader because you're helping me out as an elder. And he did. He was willing. Here's one of the horses that said, no, you don't have to pull all by yourself. I'll pull along with you. Hey, man, thank you, brother. Now, you can look at with a critical eye and say, well, all the other stuff, why isn't he keeping the books? Why does he come to Sunday school all the time? And all the stuff I hear over the years, I get tired of it, doggone it. We judge each other wrongly and we shouldn't. You say, Sean, you're messed up too, don't you judge? Yeah, and you need to come and kick me in the butt when I do, amen. I'm telling you, we need to love each other. Listen. Pray for those of us who serve that we would do for God's glory, amen? And by his strength and for your good, these are high callings from God, and they must be treated as such because they affect the health of the church, which is the household, it's God's family. He gets the glory when the world looks in and sees. and one person put it, Thomas Schreiner, the pastoral epistles are like a short handbook so we know how to behave, notice that, verse 15, how to conduct ourselves in God's family. So I would just say this, if you say this is for Timothy, or this is just for the elders, or this is just for the deacons, you're wrong. Unless you don't belong to God's family, if you don't belong to God's family, then this isn't for you, okay? In my house, none of my kids I could say, well, I don't have to keep that rule. Do you live under my roof? You're part of my household? You do have to keep this. It's so simple. Now what's Paul done? So far in chapter one, he's talked about true doctrine versus false teaching. Chapter two, he's talked about God's desire to save everybody in the right relationships we need to have in the church, men and women. Men praying, women learning submissively, they can pray too, we talked about that. Chapter three, now he's talked about spiritual leadership. But if you look at 14 and 15 and 16, what are the essentials, the basics that we need to understand? Well, let me go through them really quickly. Notice verse 14. He's hoping to come to Timothy soon, but he's writing these things so that if I delay, you, Timothy, may know how one, that's you and I, ought to behave or conduct himself in the household of God or herself. Watch this, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth, and then great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness, and he goes into the person and work of Christ. Watch this. Did you look at the text? I'm gonna walk through these really simple. The church is God's household, not our household. Would you agree with that? Okay. just as a household has certain order to it, with a husband leading and a wife helping and children obeying, so God's household has a certain order to it. There's elders and there's deacons and there's members. And since this is God's house, it's God who defines the roles and responsibilities of each person. In other words, what I'm saying is, Jerry and myself and Al, we can't make it up as we go along. We gotta go according to the blueprint, amen? Why is that important? Let me get practical. You say, well, duh. Let's get practical, though. That our relationships with one another should reflect Christ to the world. We're family. You go, that's a problem. We're at each other's throats if we're family. Here's what I would say. Americans tend to be very individualistic and goal-oriented, which influences our view of the church, okay? So let me get practical. If you and I view the church as an organization rather than an organism, like we said last week, we're gonna think that the church ought to have clearly defined goals, which offer programs in line with those goals to meet our needs. In other words, it's really all about who? Us, me, my, I. And because of that, then we're going to say, look, we like efficiency. And so if people like our programs, they're going to come to our service. And we know that numbers equal success. Isn't that right? See, you're shaking head. And you're right by shaking your head no. Why? Because whatever we win people with is what we win them to. And we're going to attract people. And, you know, people told me, you need to get the singer in here, preacher. Get the country singer up there that first week, you know. And then the second week, you gotta have somebody better. You know, Garth Brooks one week, you know, up here, you know. I mean, it reminds me of this one guy, Ed Young, he's got the Corvette one week, you know, he's got the, he's got, I don't know, some slick gal another week, you know, some movie star, Dolly Parton, whoever's singing. Every week, it's gotta be bigger and better. You know, it's ridiculous. Whatever you win them with is what you win them to. And secondly, notice what he says, the church is the dwelling or the residence of the living God. This is fascinating because it's the house, the household, the place where God dwelt. In the Old Testament, it was the temple, but now we're the temple. We're the dwelling of the living God with whom we're to have daily intimate fellowship, not a dead idol we give lip service to once a week. This is what Paul says, Ephesians 2.22. He says that in Christ, we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit. Now, again, I can't get into all this, but the goddess Diana's temple in Ephesus was considered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but it was devoid of life, and why? Diana's a dead idol or God? Let me ask you. A dead idol. So in contrast, Paul wanted to remind the Ephesians and us that the church of Jesus Christ is the real temple. Reminds me of Ray Steadman. Little kids chewing gum in a church. And this old lady, tell him to stop chewing gum in the church. He goes, actually, it's the church that's chewing the gum. Because God dwells in that little kid. Amazing. Brought her up short. Amen. Can you chew gum here, by the way? Amen. Just don't stick it anywhere. Bill will be upset. OK. Okay, here's the point, you ready? The living God doesn't dwell in temples built by human hands, Acts 17, 24. No, he lives in his people, especially in our public worship. Listen, I don't think we get this or people would be here. There'd be more people here right now. Or if you don't come very often, you need to listen to this. That whenever Christians gather for prayer and for praise and for the word and the Lord's supper, God's present among them. God shows up. And sometimes he shows up in greater ways than others, I'll tell you. And when visitors enter the church, they should say, surely God is in this place, okay? Let me give you an example. I've used this before. One day, several years ago, the phone rang at a pastor's office in a church of Washington, D.C., where the president sometimes attended. And an eager voice said, hey, do you expect the president to be there Sunday? The pastor replied, that I cannot promise, but we do expect God. and we believe it will be incentive enough for a reasonably large attendance. Not a bad answer, amen? Right? Listen, when unbelievers come in among us, they should see evidence that God is here. Where? In you and I. How awesome is our privilege, beloved, to what? To be God's dwelling place. Have you thought about that? Has it ever occurred to you? So, the household of God, the church is what? Residence, dwelling for the living God, and thirdly, the church is a pillar and buttress of the truth. The church is to truth as a pillar and buttresses are to a building. Now, this is tricky, because does that mean that truth really depends on the church? The answer is no and yes. The church is built on the truth, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2. So I'm asking, how can the church be the foundation of truth if the truth is the foundation of the church? It can't. That's a Roman Catholic view, by the way. The pope says something, ex cathedra, and it's equal with the Bible. No, no, no, no. So then what happens is the truth is built on the church of the pope. No, no, no. The Bible is the foundation which tells about Jesus Christ, and the church is built on Jesus and the confession of Jesus through the prophets and the apostles. whom he inspired by the Holy Spirit. Simply put, the gospel creates the church, the church doesn't create the gospel. Okay, and yet the church, and here's the clarification, the church has the privilege and responsibility of preserving the word throughout the generations. We're to hold it firm. That's a buttress. From generation to generation, we're defended against what? False teachers. And yet we also have a responsibility of proclaiming God's word. We not only hold it firm, we hold it high, like the columns of the temple. There were a hundred columns in this temple of Diana, I read. And they weren't just to hold the roof up, by the way. Each one was like from a king of a different country or whatever province. And what they did is they were covered with jewels and some of them were overlaid with gold and they displayed the beauty and the glory and the majesty of those kings. He's using a metaphor here. Okay. We're to display the truth to the world, John Stott said. Those pillars, the purpose of pillars is not only to hold firm, the roof firm, but to thrust it high so that it can be clearly seen even from a distance. Just so, watch this, the church holds the truth aloft so that it can be seen and admired by the world. Indeed, the church's function is not to advertise itself, but to display the truth. This is the problem, we think it's all about us. Can you meet my needs? What can you do for me? And what have you done for me lately? Hey, now, where's my cup of coffee? Wrong, I say time out. If I stop and say, how can I glorify God? How can I give to you? Instead of, what can you do for me? I'm serious. I know I am meddling. I may get my pink slip this afternoon, okay. I'm serious, this is not comfortable preaching for me either. But what's Paul's point? You ready? That if the church swerves from the truth, the truth doesn't suffer. It's the witness of the truth that suffers. You got to get that. God's truth will prevail no matter what. But the witness of it, the witness of it, do you care that God's name is dragged through the mud to the world? You say, well, it doesn't matter. Hyper-Calvinism, I say, stop it. Stop it. Don't go there. You better care. That's what we do, you know, well, kay, surah, surah. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. What's for lunch and what's on tonight? On the other hand, it all depends on us. And we discount God and what he can do in and through us. And we give into unbelief. We can't do much, man. We're just a small church and we're mostly old people. We don't have a lot of time, money, energy. Are you really looking at what you can do? I was just reading this morning, Caleb, 85 years old. Give me this mountain. Read it, Joshua 14. I got enough strength right now as I had when I was, what, 40 years ago. Use weight. It's coming, Lord willing. I wanna preach that. People bearing fruit in old age, the psalmist says. No, I'm sorry, I'm just tired, Sean. Or retired. I said, it's time to go to Les Schwab and get a retread, amen? Notice, God uses the truth to regenerate spiritually dead sinners and transform the lives of saints. Not man's wisdom. What's that? Philosophy and psychology. It's terrible. It's invaded the church. You're okay and I'm okay. You're not that bad and I'm not that bad. We're not dirty, rotten, filthy, idiot, jerk sinners. We need self-esteem. That's your problem. You just don't think highly enough about yourself. That's not what the Bible says, Romans 12, 3. We're not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but to think soberly, sanely. That's what the Bible says. How about man's opinions? We come up with all these man-made rules and regs. Can't smoke or choke or chew or go with those who do. And how long must your skirt be? You know what I mean? And one can't wear pants anyway. especially those tight ones. Now, I believe in modesty, but I'm saying we're talking about all these rules and rights, and you can't go to movies. Well, you can go to movies, but you just can't watch R-rated ones. And you can't play cards. And you can't play in a band, pastor. But by the way, let me get out and get in my car, and I can listen to rock and roll music all I want. You stinking hypocrite, I want to say to that person. You got two standards, one for the pastor and one for you. Well, yeah, I'm not a pastor. So you can't have any fun, but I can have all the fun I want. Really? I'm like, you know what? I get really tired of it after a while. After almost 30 years of pastoring, you say, you sound like you got a chip on your shoulder. If I do, may the Lord change me, okay? May he help me to repent inside. And I said it to people this last week, I need to change. And they said to me, you're too hard on yourself. No, I'm not. The truth comes and convicts and we need to repent, amen? Including especially me, not including me. Listen, I'm saying, beloved, are you ready? Not man's wisdom of philosophy and psychology, not man's opinions of man-made rules and regs, not man's innovation by marketing techniques or man's possessions, whoever gets the money, the golden rule, whoever has the gold rules. I did that in Newburgh for 13 and a half years too long. No, no, no. Instead, we're to lift up one thing, the Word of God. Christian, let us magnify it. Let us amplify it. Let it spotlight it and spread it in the church and all over the world. That's what we're to be about. And then verse 16 sums up the truth. The church must hold firm and hold forth to the world. What is it? Not seven steps of success, not 10 guidelines to godliness. You ready? Not 12 hints to holiness, not a procedure, not a process, not a program, but a person. Who is it? Jesus, that the essence of godliness is not moralism, but it is a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, which will be seen in a changed life of progressively loving God more and more and loving our neighbor more and more. And he gets into, from his incarnation to his ascension, Jesus is the one who brings heaven and earth together. He's the mind-stretching, heart-enlarging truth that we're to hold up before a fallen world. An elder is to faithfully teach the truth. A deacon is to hold it firm with a clear conscience. Why? And here's the truth. Sermon in a sentence. Our mission has everything to do with our message, which is summed up in our master. That's it. It is all about Jesus, and it cannot be about Jesus and the pastor, or the elders, or the deacon. It cannot be. Or about you. Christ is the glory of his church, and he's the only hope for a world lost in sin. And they ask you, what other plan do you have? What other hope do you have? It's futile. In the end, it will fail. Let me give this funny illustration. There was once an old church in England. A sign on the front of the building read, we preach Christ crucified. But after a time, Ivy grew up and obscured the last word. And the motto read, we preach Christ. Yeah, but then the ivy grew some more and the motto read, we preach. And finally, the ivy covered the whole sign and the church died. That's the fate, beloved, of a church that fails to carry out its mission to the lost world. And that brings us lastly, third and lastly, to the function of deacons. Act six, I gotta go through this quick. Contrary to what some Christians think, deacons are not those who meet together, sit in the front of the church, and talk trash about the pastor or the elders. What do deacons do? Well, the problem was that the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food to those who were destitute. We're not told why. The apostles had too much on their plate, no pun intended, I guess. Satan's crafty. He didn't overcome the church by external attacks on the Jewish leaders, nor by the inward corruption of Ananias and Sapphira. So he tries to distract the apostles by preoccupying them with physical needs of those in the congregation who are destitute. And though this need is legitimate, Okay, just as legitimate as their spiritual need to be fed with the word and to be prayed for, the apostles don't neglect the word and prayer in order to serve tables. They're responsible for preaching, teaching, praying, worship, healing. and then they have that distribution of food added to all of that. What's the solution to the problem? They don't downplay the people's physical needs, nor do they try to slack up on the ministry of prayer and the word. Instead, the solution is delegation. The congregation then was to select some men of good repute, good reputation, and above reproach, full of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because they're gonna definitely, they couldn't do the task on their own. They need wisdom in order to prevent any further friction between these Hellenistic Jews and the native Hebrews. And then the apostles approved or confirmed the congregation's selection, Acts 6.3. So there's a middle road between the apostles' word being law, them being tyrants, on one hand, and then the congregation's whims in the driver's seat, disorderly license, on the other hand. and the people gave their input by selecting these men, and the apostles wisely screened those who were selected, so, application quickly, you as a congregation have a very real important role to play in the organizing and extension of Bible Baptist Church. As someone said, I love it, it's okay to organize love. Now let me say it, things are not more spiritual when they're spontaneous. There are some of us who believe that. It's not true. Can the Holy Spirit lead spontaneously? Of course. And he does, and he will at times. The result, verse 7 in Acts 6, was that the proclamation of the word increased, was effective to convict and convert many people in Jerusalem. Even a great many of the priests were saved who strongly opposed the gospel beforehand. What's the principle? God's work done in God's way results in God's blessing. If you say to me, it sounds too simple, preacher, I just say this, when all else fails, guess what? Read God's instruction manual. Okay? Deacons' function was to care for the physical needs of the destitute. They were to be people-oriented, not just task-oriented. They were to lead by example of love, and then they were to help others to get involved in ministry of caring for others as well. Someone said it this way, I love it. Elders are servant leaders, and deacons are leaders of servants. The deacons are, in a sense, are like shock absorbers for the elders. So the elders are freed up to what? Pray and be in the word and feed the flock and care for them. Let me end with this thought. A number of years ago, Newsweek article dealing with the Middle East conflict, like Afghanistan, right? Okay. or the Arabs and the Jews, and this is what it read. Help wanted, experienced negotiator to handle high-level talks among hostile nations. Objective, a just and durable peace. Then it went on. The successful candidate will be familiar with all the facets of the situation, political, military, and historical. And then it said, patience, flexibility, and ability to work long hours are a must. Apply, White House, Washington, D.C. Would you apply for that job, let me ask you? No way. Well, are you ready? The job description and the qualifications are tough because the job's crucial. Ah, but someone higher than the president and with a job more crucial than peace negotiator is looking for qualified applicants. And his help wanted ad might read, you ready? Servant, in big bold letters, servant. Someone to do often miserable work for the sake of the king of kings. needs to know the love of Jesus personally and be able to demonstrate it to others, must be in daily contact with the greatest servant of all in order to continue training. I love that one. Work requires being on call 24 hours a day to meet the needs of family, friends, and even strangers. must be willing to give up his or her rights. Pay is often non-existent in this life, but great rewards in the next life. I love this one. No experience necessary. You know why? On-the-job training begins today, right where you are. Isn't that great? Listen, whether you're an official servant, a deacon, or otherwise, there are no job shortages if you and I are willing to wash dirty, smelly feet.