SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to let all of you know, because I don't think we've made an announcement about this in our worship service yet, but this is Anton's last Sunday for a month.
SPEAKER_01: Anton is uh has reached the time of service here at Faith where he qualifies for a sabbatical.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, Anton.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't gonna let you go from the pulpit.
SPEAKER_01: It's it you can come back.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: He's sitting back there a little nervous, I can see.
SPEAKER_01: Anton and Mariki are going to take some time off in the next month.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be enjoying some time with family in South Africa as well as some ministry opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you would be in prayer for them.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, why don't we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we bow in prayer and pray for the Van Strattans and then we'll move into our study of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we give you thanks that all of our tomorrows are in your hands.
SPEAKER_01: We face tomorrow, we face this year not because of our own confidence, not because of our own stability, but because of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And we give you thanks that you remain the same.
SPEAKER_01: You are the same yesterday, today, and you will be the same tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: And we can rest in that and we can trust in that.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for the Van Strattans as they take some time of sabbatical beginning this week, that you would guide them, that you would comfort them, that you would strengthen them, that you would refresh them, give them safety as they travel, and bring them back to us next month, refreshed and ready to serve again.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask now that your spirit would intercede on our behalf before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01: That as we open up your word, we would be challenged by it, stretched by it, and even perhaps convicted.
SPEAKER_01: That we'd be molded more like Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I've mentioned before that I spent many of my formative childhood years with the Little Missouri River nearly in my backyard.
SPEAKER_01: Like some of you, I lived with a levee or a dike behind our house, on which the other side was the Little Missouri River.
SPEAKER_01: The Little Missouri begins in Wyoming near Devil's Tower.
SPEAKER_01: It twists and turns for some 560 miles, traveling, flowing north through western South Dakota, then western North Dakota until it turns eastward toward Kildeer.
SPEAKER_01: The flow of the river changes drastically throughout the year.
SPEAKER_01: And every segment of the Little Missouri River is different.
SPEAKER_01: And it changes constantly.
SPEAKER_01: There are small yet deep channels and pools, and there are wide spots where you can practically walk across without getting wet.
SPEAKER_01: Many, many areas are vastly changed year after year as they are impacted by the prior stretches of river that come before them and the years of runoff and erosion of all of those muddy sediments.
SPEAKER_01: So it changes constantly.
SPEAKER_01: It's muddy, mostly shallow, but with pockets of water deep enough to catch some catfish occasionally.
SPEAKER_01: You can splash around and sometimes swim, but you mostly just get muddy.
SPEAKER_01: And you occasionally feel silly for calling it an actual river.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, it can flood a town and take out churches if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the history of deacons is shallow.
SPEAKER_01: And there's not much to show for it, but a lot of mud.
SPEAKER_01: But deacons are an essential part of the ecosystem of the Lord's church, just as the Little Missouri River is to the badlands of the Dakotas.
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned a month ago that there will be times when we pause our study of Acts to consider some practical or theological elements related to what we find in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: And this is one of those weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Our last look at Acts was at the beginning of Acts chapter 6, where we saw seven men chosen to meet a need.
SPEAKER_01: I thought today would be a good day to consider deacons because many people think that deacons were instituted in Acts chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: So let's look at what Scripture says about that group of people and how they function in a church setting.
SPEAKER_01: It's an important topic to consider because a kind of, for lack of a better term, a kind of mythology exists about deacons in church history.
SPEAKER_01: And that trend has led people often to be slightly off-kilter in their beliefs about who deacons are, what deacons are supposed to do, and how they support the church.
SPEAKER_01: Strangely, as it's sometimes true in life, truth about deacons, the truth, historical truth, can be stranger than fiction.
SPEAKER_01: The truth about deacons in church history is that that term, deacon, has been applied to almost every position thinkable in the church, stemming partly from the fact that Scripture has very little to say about deacons.
SPEAKER_01: So that would probably be a good place to start.
SPEAKER_01: What does Scripture say about deacons?
SPEAKER_01: Well, first we have to define the word.
SPEAKER_01: Our culture is dominated by miscommunication because we define and use terms differently.
SPEAKER_01: So it's important to be on the same page, especially about biblical terms.
SPEAKER_01: You've probably heard several different words that sound similar.
SPEAKER_01: They're deacon, deaconess, deaconate, those kinds of terms.
SPEAKER_01: Any word with the word deacon in it is a transliteration of a Greek word.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it means that it's not a translation, it doesn't tell us anything about what the word means.
SPEAKER_01: A transliteration is you take the letters of the original language and you just put those languages in the new language.
SPEAKER_01: So the Greek word is diakonos, from which we get deacon.
SPEAKER_01: But that doesn't tell us anything about what it means.
SPEAKER_01: It's just putting that word exactly as it sounds into English.
SPEAKER_01: So we have to go back then a step to what that Greek word meant to find a definition for our English word.
SPEAKER_01: Languages are complicated sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: So an oversimplified but still appropriate definition of that Greek word, diakonos, is servant.
SPEAKER_01: It's an oversimplified but still appropriate word.
SPEAKER_01: The verb form would be service or serving.
SPEAKER_01: It implies doing something for someone else or doing something on somebody's behalf.
SPEAKER_01: It implies doing something as an extension of your love and your care and your devotion to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Some of our Bible translations will interpret that in a Christian context with the word minister or ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to stick with the idea of servant this morning and of service and serving, because I think that's the clearest and most helpful definition for understanding deacons in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't worry, this is going to be applicable for every single one of you.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you have served as a deacon or not served as a deacon, whether you are serving in some kind of capacity or not, every Christian is a servant.
SPEAKER_01: And it is therefore applicable to every single one of us.
SPEAKER_01: So the New Testament then shows us that deacons are servants.
SPEAKER_01: And the New Testament doesn't have a lot to say.
SPEAKER_01: We see the term in the Gospels, that term diakonos, as a servant, or we see it as serving.
SPEAKER_01: In the Gospels, it is always translated as servant or serving.
SPEAKER_01: Only when we get past Acts does it suddenly become translated as deacon.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we make of that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we make of it a few things here.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, servants are pictured first in Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Acts does not suggest the establishment of an office in the church or any initiation of the modern concept of a board.
SPEAKER_01: So when we look at Acts chapter 6, and we see that there were these two groups of widows that were in need of daily distribution of food, and one group didn't get enough, and the other group got maybe too much.
SPEAKER_01: There was neglect going on, maybe not intentional, but unintentional.
SPEAKER_01: The apostles said, We can't give up the priority of preaching and teaching and prayer to do this.
SPEAKER_01: So they asked the whole Jerusalem congregation, give us seven names of people that we can appoint to this need.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't suggest the establishment of an office or what we might think of as a board.
SPEAKER_01: But service on behalf of others is attached to Acts chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: That is, these seven individuals serve the risen and ascended Christ by distributing food and serving tables and making sure that needs are met.
SPEAKER_01: So in Acts chapter six and verse three, it says, Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
SPEAKER_01: That's that word duty there in the ESV is maybe better translated as need.
SPEAKER_01: There's a need here.
SPEAKER_01: And so the apostles call the appointment of the seven people meeting a need.
SPEAKER_01: A need exists.
SPEAKER_01: We have to fulfill that need.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get it done.
SPEAKER_01: Now the apostles in verse 4 say that we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the word.
SPEAKER_01: So interesting.
SPEAKER_01: That if if this is going to be the institution of deacons in the New Testament, it's a little bit strange that the apostles are the ones doing the deaconing.
SPEAKER_01: Is that a word?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: So the ministry of the meeting the need is a service.
SPEAKER_01: The apostles are serving the word.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really hard to make both of those situations point to this is the establishment of an office.
SPEAKER_01: What's really happening here is they're meeting a need.
SPEAKER_01: You see, there are differing types of service for those in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The apostles were devoted to the service of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: The seven were devoted to the need of serving tables, if you will, serving food, making sure that food got distributed to the needy widows.
SPEAKER_01: Acts six is about prioritizing the types of service needed in the Jerusalem church.
SPEAKER_01: Not so much about establishing a local church office.
SPEAKER_01: So the apostles are establishing priorities, they're putting boundaries around teaching, preaching, and prayer while also ensuring that all of the needs of the church were met.
SPEAKER_01: So many ministry needs exist in a local church, but it's important to prioritize them.
SPEAKER_01: Fellow believers in the Jerusalem church were needed to serve, to meet needs so that the priorities could remain intact.
SPEAKER_01: So what we see in Acts 6 is that these servants are pictured here.
SPEAKER_01: People who are giving of themselves to serve.
SPEAKER_01: Servants, though, are recognized in the early church a little bit later.
SPEAKER_01: You can see in Philippians chapter 1, this is stated quite clearly, the most clearly, I think, in the New Testament for the establishment of an office or of a role, of a position.
SPEAKER_01: It says Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and servants, otherwise known as elders and deacons.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what is significant about Philippians 1:1 is that elders and overseers are linked to deacons and servants in a way that indicates a kind of similarity.
SPEAKER_01: The similarity is that they represent official roles and official titles in the church.
SPEAKER_01: This is the first time that we have any proof of an official deacon or servant position in the early church.
SPEAKER_01: This is the first time.
SPEAKER_01: Now to help put that in context for you, Acts chapter 6 is probably a year max from Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you want to date that, some date it as early as 29 AD, others as late as 33 A.D.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Philippians was written about 55 to 56 AD.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not for two more decades later that we find an official statement that says this role exists in the local church on a similar kind of level to elders.
SPEAKER_01: Similar in that there's a role with a title.
SPEAKER_01: That's a crucial detail to grasp for considering the significance of deacons in the church.
SPEAKER_01: If Acts 6 is the institution of the deacon role, why is it another 25 to 30 years before we see documented proof?
SPEAKER_01: That's a good question.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have an answer for it.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, if Act 6 is the picture, notice the difference?
SPEAKER_01: One says, this is the institution of a role, the other says, here's the picture of what would later come to be.
SPEAKER_01: If Act 6 is the picture and the example of what would become the role of deacon, then the fact that it's 20, 25, 30 years later that it becomes documented suggests something about the authority and the need for that role.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: Just a few chapters after Acts 6, we see the Apostle Paul traveling around appointing elders in every city.
SPEAKER_01: We don't see him appointing deacons.
SPEAKER_01: That suggests that the elders were necessary for the life and function of the local church, but deacons were not so vital as to require establishing and documenting that role immediately in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Now, jump with me a little bit here.
SPEAKER_01: We also see that the term servant, deacon, is applied to a handful of people in the early church.
SPEAKER_01: For example, Romans chapter 16, verse 1 speaks of Phoebe being a servant of the church.
SPEAKER_01: We believe from other records that Phoebe is a servant who is carrying the letter that Paul wrote to the church at Rome.
SPEAKER_01: That was her role.
SPEAKER_01: She served as his emissary to carry the scroll of the book of Romans to the city of Rome to give it to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Paul and Apollos are called servants in 1 Corinthians 13 and 2 Corinthians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Tychicus in Ephesians 6 is called the beloved brother and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: Epaphoros in Colossians 1 and I think Colossians 4 as well is called your beloved fellow servant.
SPEAKER_01: He is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: So the term is applied to lots of people, but not an overwhelming amount of people.
SPEAKER_01: Emphasizing again, we have scant evidence that helps us bring along a theology or a doctrine of deacons in the local church.
SPEAKER_01: Now we do have a little bit more information in the passage that was read for us earlier by Stephen.
SPEAKER_01: There are qualifications assigned and a time of testing that is expected for these servants in Paul's letter to Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: Timothy's probably serving at the Church of Ephesus in 1 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: He's dealing with all kinds of issues, all kinds of problems in the Church of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: So these letters are designed to help him lead the church through those problems.
SPEAKER_01: One of them may have been do you have proper people serving?
SPEAKER_01: So we have in 1 Timothy 3, verse 8, deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.
SPEAKER_01: They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
SPEAKER_01: And let them also be tested first.
SPEAKER_01: Let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.
SPEAKER_01: So these are character-based qualifications to establish a high ethical and spiritual character.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that the qualifications are not listed in such a way as to expect a certain kind of ability to carry out a task or a certain kind of ability to be responsible for a certain kind of task.
SPEAKER_01: It's character in ethics and character in spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we find in Acts 6.
SPEAKER_01: These men were wise and full of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The congregation in the city of Jerusalem that was numbering in the thousands knew them well enough as men of high repute to be able to say, these are the guys that we can trust to make sure that this is divided equally between the Greek widows and the Jewish widows.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't have to worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: We trust them.
SPEAKER_01: So we have what is at least a picture of them in Acts 6.
SPEAKER_01: We have 20 years later an identification that this official role and title exists.
SPEAKER_01: And now we have some qualifications.
SPEAKER_01: But nothing that really tells us here's what they're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how they function.
SPEAKER_01: Now we are told in 1 Timothy 3.10 that they are to be tested.
SPEAKER_01: Now that suggests some kind of official role with at least a level of authority, but an authority that's different from elders.
SPEAKER_01: It's affirmed by God in Scripture, it's affirmed and supplied by the church, but it's not teaching, it's not shepherding, it's not ruling authority, it appears to be delegated authority because that's what Acts 6 pictures.
SPEAKER_01: We do have one other thing that helps us early on in the first century.
SPEAKER_01: There's a book that was a discipleship book that was used to bring new believers along in their faith, and it's called the Didiche, which simply means the teaching, the instruction.
SPEAKER_01: And in that book we find this statement: appoint, therefore, for yourselves bishops, elders, and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean weak.
SPEAKER_01: Meek means strength, strong people who are under control, not lovers of money, and truthful and proved.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they render to you the service of prophets and teachers.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, do not despise them, for they are honored ones.
SPEAKER_01: So this book we believe was written sometime in the second half of the first century, probably after the book of Philippians, but before maybe the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: Sort of standard operating procedure in the local church at that time.
SPEAKER_01: So from the time of Acts 6 to the time about 40 years later, it has become standard function within local churches to appoint elders and deacons.
SPEAKER_01: So the biblical record suggests, I think, that our modern terms of office or board maybe aren't the best to apply to deacons.
SPEAKER_01: Those terms have come from abuses of that role throughout church history.
SPEAKER_01: So throughout church history, deacons have gone from helping the poor, like in Acts 6.
SPEAKER_01: That seems to be the very first kind of service that was provided by deacons.
SPEAKER_01: Later on, about 200 years later, we see them as administrators over large financial funds to help things go in the church.
SPEAKER_01: We see them ruling estates to serving communion and even functioning like priests.
SPEAKER_01: And because the term office often became connected with deacons, a kind of caste system developed in the local church where there was a competition for authority and rule.
SPEAKER_01: So within the first 500 years or so of church history, deacons went from being servants to wanting and holding authority in ways that they didn't want other people to have it.
SPEAKER_01: It just kind of got flipped.
SPEAKER_01: So you can then see now, just like the little Missouri River, how it just kind of, with twists and turns, sometimes it's deep, sometimes it's shallow, sometimes it's good, sometimes it doesn't exist at all.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you don't know what you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, today the Roman Catholic Church views deacons as clergy members.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we make of all of this?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I would suggest to you that the New Testament shows us that deacons serve.
SPEAKER_01: That's our foundational level.
SPEAKER_01: Deacons serve.
SPEAKER_01: They are to serve in ways that meet needs within the local church.
SPEAKER_01: That, like in Acts 6, the elders of a local church don't have time to address or that would take the elders away from higher priority ministry.
SPEAKER_01: So understand, these servants don't exist to fulfill responsibilities given to elders, even if the elders are overwhelmed by their responsibilities.
SPEAKER_01: Elders are to make preaching, teaching, and prayer their priority.
SPEAKER_01: They are the shepherds of the local church.
SPEAKER_01: So these servants don't step in to lead, they don't step in to correct the church, they don't step in to exercise church discipline or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: As someone else has very clearly and well said, deacons exist to help take away the burdens that keep the elders from doing their jobs.
SPEAKER_01: While elders are charged with word ministry, deacons are charged with deed ministry.
SPEAKER_01: That is, good deeds, good works, works that help serve the local church.
SPEAKER_01: So, like Acts 6 pictures, it could be administrating the needs of people.
SPEAKER_01: We're not exactly sure whether those seven men chosen in Acts 6 actually went all throughout the city and the region of Jerusalem to hand out food every day, or if they gathered a group of people to serve with them and they administrated that distribution.
SPEAKER_01: That's not clear to us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know those details.
SPEAKER_01: So it could be either one, because the apostles in Acts 6 describe that as serving tables.
SPEAKER_01: So it could be delivering food, it could be making food, it could be administrating a team of people who meets all kinds of needs.
SPEAKER_01: It is anything that supports legitimate ministries.
SPEAKER_01: So it could be homebound support, it could be hospital ministries.
SPEAKER_01: In our times, it could be technical aspects of our lighting, of our heating, of our live streaming.
SPEAKER_01: It could be benevolent needs.
SPEAKER_01: Deacons arise because there is so much to do that prioritization has to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And as the elders focus on the very top priorities that God has assigned, the question becomes: how do we make sure that everything else gets done?
SPEAKER_01: That's where these servants come in.
SPEAKER_01: John Collins, in his book Deachonia, researched 450 instances of those words in 90 different writers spanning about a thousand years on each side of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: He concluded that the word deacon implies three primary things in that concept of serving.
SPEAKER_01: The first, he says, is that a servant is a go-between or a kind of spokesperson, like Phoebe.
SPEAKER_01: She's a courier.
SPEAKER_01: So it's somebody who goes from the elders to the church body and says, I'm here to bring you food, or I'm here to visit with you, or to pray with you, or to help you, and whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody who speaks on behalf of another person, who acts on behalf of another person or a group.
SPEAKER_01: He says, that's the first one.
SPEAKER_01: The second one is that the person isn't an agent.
SPEAKER_01: Very similar to the first point.
SPEAKER_01: Third, he says, is it's often used for somebody who is an attendant.
SPEAKER_01: So when we look at Epaphras and Tychicus in the New Testament, they were attendants to the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_01: They helped him, they met his needs.
SPEAKER_01: They were there to serve him.
SPEAKER_01: So John Collins says the term refers to a mode of activity rather than the status of the person performing the activity.
SPEAKER_01: And the New Testament supports that.
SPEAKER_01: This role supports the elders' overall leadership and the church's needs.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they may even function as a preacher or as an evangelist.
SPEAKER_01: So Stephen was one of the six or one of the seven chosen.
SPEAKER_01: He's found preaching.
SPEAKER_01: So is Philip.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean that you don't do other things, it means in the context of the local church, you're serving the elders or the body to make sure that ministry keeps going.
SPEAKER_01: Most often, as we go from the New Testament forward, we see something like serving needs like the people in Acts 6, or being that kind of go-between, that attendant kind of thing like Phoebe carrying the letter.
SPEAKER_01: Now, because the idea is a supporting role that meets needs, a particular deacon role may not exist in every church.
SPEAKER_01: Small churches may not need deacons.
SPEAKER_01: They may be able to accomplish everything that's there while maintaining priorities.
SPEAKER_01: Larger churches may have particular deacon roles for a season of need.
SPEAKER_01: But at another point in time, that role may not be needed.
SPEAKER_01: But the kind of service provided by deacons requires spiritual discernment and trustworthiness.
SPEAKER_01: The seven men were chosen in Acts 6 because they were trusted.
SPEAKER_01: They had displayed, proven their trustworthiness.
SPEAKER_01: They were well known for this.
SPEAKER_01: They had already displayed their willingness of heart, their spiritual discernment, and their trustworthiness to the congregation.
SPEAKER_01: However, when we look at the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, there's nothing required of deacons that should not already be standard operating procedure for every Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing here is outside of the norm for every Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Every Christian should be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain, holding the mystery of the faith with clear conscience.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing unusual there, friends.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who trusts in Christ and lives in a manner worthy of Christ's calling should have no problem meeting the qualifications of a church servant.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, at its core, it's simply mimicking Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Church servants reflect the character of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's all they do.
SPEAKER_01: They mimic Jesus in who they are and what they do.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me at Mark chapter ten.
SPEAKER_01: Mark chapter ten.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus calls them and says, Listen, verse 42, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This is normal procedure in the world, but it shall not be so among you.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, your diakonos.
SPEAKER_01: And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
SPEAKER_01: For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_01: Let's work backward from that for a brief moment.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning with verse 45.
SPEAKER_01: For even the Son of Man came to deacon.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't come to be deaconed.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't come to be served himself, but to deacon, to serve.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to serve by giving his life as a ransom.
SPEAKER_01: He is the preeminent example.
SPEAKER_01: No act of service can supersede God condescending to become one of us to die for us.
SPEAKER_01: That is the greatest act of deaconing.
SPEAKER_01: And that statement is the reason for what comes before it.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the word for.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, this is the reason for what I've just said.
SPEAKER_01: So now we go backward to the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: It shall not be so among you, that is this elevating yourself for authority and supremacy, but whoever would be great among you must be your deacon, your servant.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever would be first must be the slave of all.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, who did not come to be deaconed, but to deacon.
SPEAKER_01: And how did he deacon?
SPEAKER_01: He set aside his prerogatives as the sovereign creator, sacrificing himself in ways that others cannot surpass.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters in Christ, your love for Jesus should be questioned if that doesn't get your attention.
SPEAKER_01: He served you.
SPEAKER_01: Now every Christian is called to emulate Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That means we take up our cross daily, crucifying the sinful demands of self upon that cross.
SPEAKER_01: And we give of ourselves to others in service to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That is every Christian's privilege and calling as a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So in that way, we all possess the privilege of reflecting Jesus to the world around us when we give of ourselves for others.
SPEAKER_01: Even more, though, even more, those who become noted servants, trustworthy, responsible, wise, and spirit-filled servants of the local church who fill a unique role to meet a need in the body, they are positioned to reflect Christ in ways that others cannot.
SPEAKER_01: See, deacons have a unique spiritual leadership.
SPEAKER_01: Their leadership doesn't come from teaching primarily or from preaching or from prayer as the elders does.
SPEAKER_01: No, their leadership is first and foremost through imitation.
SPEAKER_01: They may lead a group of other church servants to meet needs, but first and foremost, they lead by imitating Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They give of themselves.
SPEAKER_01: God's people know how to live and how to act when the Lord's churches are served by men and women who give of themselves as Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: They show us by their actions and by their spirit, I need to be like that because they are like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate how one pastor described the work of the early church servants.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and I quote, they protected and prioritized the church's preaching and teaching ministry.
SPEAKER_01: When the practical needs of the church threatened to overwhelm the apostles' times, the servants stepped in to care for those needs.
SPEAKER_01: When division started creeping into the church, the servants stepped in to create peace between emerging factions by meeting needs that reduced the tension.
SPEAKER_01: Would a lot of church problems be solved if we had proper functioning of proper roles?
SPEAKER_01: We had proper church elders doing what they have been called to do, and proper deacons doing what they have been called to do.
SPEAKER_01: So what should we do with this?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three three elements that I think we should do as a church.
SPEAKER_01: I'll talk first about a church, our church, faith, evangelical free church.
SPEAKER_01: Then I'll talk about us as individuals.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, for us as a church, notice, number one, notice your brothers and sisters in the faith.
SPEAKER_01: This is observation.
SPEAKER_01: This is opening your eyes to see what's going on around you.
SPEAKER_01: These are the people that you will spend eternity with, whether you like them or not.
SPEAKER_01: It's the way God's designed it.
SPEAKER_01: Notice those who give of themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Notice those who serve with humility.
SPEAKER_01: Notice those who are trustworthy, who are discerning, who are wise, who seem to be able to just have the right word at the right moment, or who are willing to take the trash out at the end of a meal, or willing to serve by taking a meal, or going to visit somebody in the hospital without even being asked.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to your brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, care for one another by meeting needs and serving one another.
SPEAKER_01: I have a little book in my library that I love.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great book.
SPEAKER_01: The best part is the title.
SPEAKER_01: Just do something.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about figuring out what you should do.
SPEAKER_01: If you see something, do it.
SPEAKER_01: Just do it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a family does.
SPEAKER_01: At least that's what we try to do in our family.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't always work out that way.
SPEAKER_01: But that's why we start with number one, right?
SPEAKER_01: We open our eyes, we look, we observe, we see what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And before you know, you start to recognize, oh, there's a need.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of seeing a piece of trash on the floor, and you say, Oh, somebody will get that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't know what somebody else will get.
SPEAKER_01: No, pick it up and put it in the trash, right?
SPEAKER_01: If you hear that somebody has lost a family member, send them a note.
SPEAKER_01: Give them a call.
SPEAKER_01: Pray with them.
SPEAKER_01: Just do something.
SPEAKER_01: Care for one another, meet needs, and serve one another.
SPEAKER_01: And if you notice a need that feels too big for you, because that will often happen, don't keep that from keep you from doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Ask somebody else to do it with you.
SPEAKER_01: Ask another leader, ask a staff member, ask an elder hey, is that is there some way that I can participate in this?
SPEAKER_01: Ask somebody to go along to the hospital with you if you're too nervous to go yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Sit with somebody that is alone at a table and just love them.
SPEAKER_01: Care for one another, meet needs, and serve one another.
SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, in a church, we notice one another.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we care for one another.
SPEAKER_01: And third, for significant needs that affect the whole church, be ready for the elders to come to you with a proposal to meet the need, just as in Acts 6.
SPEAKER_01: Because then it's important for those that you've noticed, because then we will ask you, hey, who do you think we should put in charge of this responsibility, of this need?
SPEAKER_01: And by your noticing who is trustworthy, who is responsible, who is already proven, we can begin meeting needs.
SPEAKER_01: I better add another one.
SPEAKER_01: It's a transition between the church one and the individual.
SPEAKER_01: Be willing to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Who came not to be served, but to serve.
SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the individual.
SPEAKER_01: How should we be impacted by this as individuals?
SPEAKER_01: Because not necessarily every single one in the church will be elevated or put into a position to serve in an official role or capacity of meeting a particular kind of need.
SPEAKER_01: Not every single person is going to be asked to serve in a facility kind of way or in a benevolent kind of way or in a homebound kind of way.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's going to be in a role, but everybody needs to be like Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_01: Please say yes.
SPEAKER_01: No, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_01: Number one, open your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Open your eyes to see needs.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, observe what the Lord has placed around you.
SPEAKER_01: By that I mean you don't just open your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: You look at people, you look at places, you look at opportunities, you look at needs, and you see what's going on there?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's struggling today.
SPEAKER_01: Why are they struggling?
SPEAKER_01: Why do they look discouraged?
SPEAKER_01: You might ask them a question.
SPEAKER_01: You might ask them, how can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_01: So observe what the Lord has placed around you, whether that be a person, whether that be a circumstance, whether that be a location that you're in, and you ask then, what can I do?
SPEAKER_01: That's your third thing.
SPEAKER_01: Open your eyes, observe, and then do whatever you can in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's as simple as that.
SPEAKER_01: We don't look at our service opportunities as means to advance within the church, to get noticed, to be thanked, to be praised, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: We do it to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You know what's so astounding about the early church?
SPEAKER_01: Around the time of 50 to 60 to 70 AD when those deacon roles first started to appear as official?
SPEAKER_01: The unsaved world started to ask questions about these Christians because they were feeding and caring even for the unsaved poor.
SPEAKER_01: So they don't even care for their own, they care for us.
SPEAKER_01: What's up with that?
SPEAKER_01: Some subversive kind of Christianity going on here?
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, kind of.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're being like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then the last thing you do is repeat.
SPEAKER_01: You know, on the little label on your shampoo.
SPEAKER_01: Rinse, lather, repeat.
SPEAKER_01: Open your eyes, observe, and do something.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we imitate Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's as servants of Jesus or as servants filling a role for Christ in the local church.
SPEAKER_01: That way that we make an impact for Christ, but we also support and encourage everyone in the local church, ensuring that the work of ministry is completed.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, help us to be like you.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you would take your word and plant it deeply within us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, maybe there's somebody this morning that doesn't even get what this is all about, and maybe they don't know you, they haven't trusted in you.
SPEAKER_01: By your spirit, bring them life and light, that they would see you as their savior and place their trust in you alone.
SPEAKER_01: And work in all of us by your spirit to soften our hearts, to humble us, to be willing to serve, so that we might emulate you, the one to whom all praise, honor, and glory belongs.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.