DEACON = SERVANT

Guys, as people are coming in, we've got some more chairs over here behind the curtains, and some of the guys can start helping out

with that if we need some more seats.

But I'm so grateful that you're here today.

This is a special Sunday.

Every Sunday is special, isn't it?

Every Sunday when we get to gather with the saints, as we mentioned the writer of Hebrews saying, do not

neglect the gathering of the saints for the purpose of encouraging each other, more and more as we

wait for the return of Christ.

But today is a unique Sunday for us as a church, because today essentially

marks our three -year anniversary as a church.

Amen.

That's right.

We started in our home, in the living room, on September 20th of

2020.

In the perfect time to plant a church, right?

Right in the middle of 2020.

But we started there not knowing what God had in store, and God has just proven

himself faithful.

When he calls you to something, he brings the people, he brings the resources, he

brings the opportunities, because Jesus is building his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail

against it.

And we are so thankful to him, and so as we gather today, we just have a lot to celebrate.

Also, and we'll be talking a little bit more about it here in just a moment, today we get to

introduce new deacon nominees to the church.

We're also celebrating, we have a three -year anniversary, deacons getting ready to be implemented as a church,

but we're going to celebrate the fact that God has provided a new location for us.

If you had to park out here, you know exactly what we need.

We need parking, we need a space to meet.

And so God has provided that, so what a celebration.

But we also have this morning, as you're going to see, we have two baptisms.

We have, yes, we are seeing people saved.

God is doing the work that he said he's going to do.

He said, I have an elect from every tribe, nation, and tongue, and I will call my people.

I will gather them, and we're just simply the mouthpiece to share the gospel, and God is saving and doing a great

work in our midst and around us.

But we're also going to be implementing a new member, acknowledging a new member to the church today.

We got a lot going on today, don't we?

And we're starting a little late, so just plan on being here for the day, I'm sorry.

But it's going to be good.

For Quintinia Feast, we've catered in some food, so we're going to be bringing in some food.

So many of you wives, let's be honest, the women, right?

You didn't have to prepare crock pot this morning for food.

So you're kind of a morning off, right?

That's good.

Praise God.

Well, hey, welcome.

First off, as I do every week, I want to welcome all of our covenant members.

Thank you for what you do.

Thank you for being here and bringing your gifts, for what that writer of Hebrews said, to encourage the

body, to encourage the saints.

Thank you so much.

We love that you are being obedient to the Savior, while worshiping Him together as a church.

And as I said the past couple of weeks, and I'll just continue to say it, in here, you are loved.

Amen?

You are loved.

Out there, you are despised.

In here, you are loved.

Because Christ loves you.

And so we are together in this.

So thank you for being part of this body, and welcome for being here.

But I also want to say welcome to our guests.

Thank you for being here.

Some of you are regular attending guests, and some of you, this may be your first time.

If you don't mind, I didn't bring one of the cards up with me, but in the back, we have a Connect card.

If you wouldn't mind filling that out, at the bottom of it, we have an area where you can write a prayer request.

Which, by the way, even members, if you just want to grab one and jot down a prayer request, if you've got something you want us to pray for,

do it.

Utilize those.

But we want to be able to pray for you.

We want to get to know you.

And maybe let you know a little bit about what it means to be a part of this covenant body,

and maybe answer some of your questions.

But thank you for being here.

We look forward to getting to know you.

But the idea is that all of us, covenant members and guests, that today we would

grow in the knowledge and love of the triune God.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one.

Because that's why he's called us together, as we encourage and grow in that great love.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and hand this over to Adam, because we get to celebrate

this wonderful picture of the gospel in baptism.

About a week and a half ago, I've been talking to my son -in -law, and he expressed that

he wanted to be baptized.

And he expressed it, a faith in Christ.

Well, we went to Pastor Nathan right off, and Nathan asked him,

when you stand before God, and God says, why shall I let you into my

kingdom, into my heaven?

Well, Justin prayed about it, and thought about it, and got back with Pastor Nathan.

Apparently, he expressed that Jesus Christ is the only reason why I would be able to be allowed into your

kingdom.

So, while we're baptizing here today, if you want to go ahead and help

in the water.

This is a beautiful picture, as Pastor Nathan just said.

And the picture it's painting is, if you look at Galatians 2 .20, Paul says, I have been crucified

with Christ.

It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.

So, it's personal that Paul says that he died for me, and that's what he

expressed to Pastor Nathan, that he believes that Jesus

died for him, rose again on the third day, so that he was vindicated in his

resurrection.

And now, that's what the scriptures say, that when you put your faith in Christ, you will be

justified when you believe in Christ.

So, if you'll kneel down here, I'm very grateful that, I'm hot too,

that today I get to baptize my son -in -law.

Cover your mouth.

I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Welcome.

Now he gets to walk in there and say blah.

Yeah, if you step out on the concrete, you're bound to end up on the floor.

So, that's why we've got a mat out here.

Well, hey, God is so good.

I have been praying over the past three years as a church plant.

God saved people.

And I'll be honest, for the first couple of years, he just didn't see any evidence of an

outward expression of people being saved.

We had people come from other churches that were already Christians coming to the church, and that was awesome.

But I desired, I longed to see the work of the Holy Spirit awakening in people.

And so, as we've been able to see that, and Justin, as Adam just expressed all of that, but we

also have seen it in our brother Andy here.

Most of you recognize Andy.

He's been around now for a few months now.

He's been coming on Wednesday nights and coming on Sundays.

And Andy, at the beginning, just had a lot of questions, didn't you?

Just questions of what is this about?

What does this look like?

But he kept coming.

And you could tell it seemed as though God was just preparing the soil, preparing the soil.

And just recently, in the past, what, three or four weeks?

Yeah, in the past three or four weeks, he was meeting with his roommates, the guys that he lives with,

and they were just like, hey, what are you waiting on?

If God's working in your heart, run to Christ.

And Andy has called out to the Lord, and we've been talking.

I asked you a hard question, and Andy, I guess you're very analytical, right?

So you really wanted to answer it right.

So he took some time, but eventually he came to me, and he's like, it seems like it's not a complex answer.

It's Jesus.

It's Jesus.

I get to be in the presence of God because of what Jesus did for me.

Nothing that I do.

Not my surrender over to him, but what he has accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection.

And so let's go ahead and step in here real quick.

Andy, I'm going to ask you, brother.

Once again, is your faith

in the finished work of Christ and Christ alone, and nothing of your works, only of his?

Yes.

And it is my pleasure, brother, to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, buried with Christ,

raised to walk in newness of life.

Amen.

Amen.

Hey, brother.

Amen. Amen.

I want to turn the mic off before I walk in front of the speakers and shock everybody with the feedback.

Man, what a good day already.

Hey, we could just stop right now and just go ahead and eat, right?

We've worshiped, haven't we?

Praise God.

Well, let's go ahead and officially start our service.

Let's stand for a call to worship this morning with our read and our response.

It's a compilation of verses from Psalm chapter 40, verses 9 through 11, and then 16

and 17, where the psalmist says, I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation.

Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.

I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart.

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation.

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from us.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.

May those who love your salvation say continually,

amen.

And all God's people said?

Amen. Amen.

Amen.

Man, let's go to that great God in a prayer of adoration before we begin to sing

today.

Lord, Lord, we come to you right now.

We ask that we may rejoice and be glad in you, Lord, because of the great salvation that

is yours.

It was yours to give, it was yours to provide, and you accomplished it.

God, you loved us.

You loved us before you created us.

And Jesus, you sought after us, you came after us, and you purchased us by blood ransom.

And Holy Spirit, you now seal us and work in us, sanctifying us and growing us and

molding us more to the image of our wonderfully beautiful Savior.

So I pray this morning that you are honored in our worship.

I pray that we would worship you in spirit and in truth.

I pray that as we sing these wonderful truths, that they would penetrate into our hearts and into our minds,

making us a people that are doers of the word, not just hearers only.

Be honored in our lives, God, in Christ's name, amen.

I

praise

you

so

much

for

calling

me

here

below.

And forevermore, you will be mine, and I am yours.

We love you and we praise you, and we thank you for this awesome worship service.

Lord, we pray that you are pleased this morning as we worship you.

Lord, as we prepare to take up this morning's offering, Lord, I just pray that you would bless this offering.

Bless the one who gives in obedience to you.

We love you, we praise you, and we ask all these things in your name and Jesus' name.

And all of God's people said, amen.

Amazing grace.

That's why we get to stand

here and worship him in spirit and truth, because of that amazing grace.

Amen. Amen.

Well, today we're going to be taking a break from our study through Ephesians that we've been in over the past few months to take

a look at one of the two offices of the church that the New Testament prescribes,

the office of deacon.

Being a young church, as we're just now celebrating our third year together,

we do not yet have anyone residing in that position.

It's something that we're having to grow into, just like everything else.

One of the slogans around here with me and Pastor Jeremiah is, crawl before we walk.

We have to remind ourselves, slow down for a moment.

It's Christ building this church.

We've been careful not to just put someone in that role as a simple placeholder, which,

I'll be honest, is a very tempting thing to do, especially in the context of a church plant.

With all the work that goes into this, most of you that have been along for this ride, any more than just a few months, you

know what all that involves and takes.

And so it has been a tempting thing to establish deacons, people to come alongside that

seemingly have skin in the game, right, that have responsibilities.

But by the grace of God, we've been patient.

We've been patient to wait on the Lord to raise up the right men, to raise up the

men that he wants in this particular role.

And hopefully after today, you'll begin to understand why we've been so cautious, why

we've been patient in the pursuit of filling this particular office.

Because we weren't just waiting for the right men to be raised up.

We were, but that wasn't it.

We've also been waiting for you.

We've been waiting for us as a church, as a whole, to have really a firm

grasp of how important it is to align ourselves as a

church, as a whole, with what Scripture teaches and not with our traditions

of how it has always been done.

That's always a tempting default, isn't it?

Well, this is the way church has always been done.

This is what a deacon has always been.

This is what a pastor has always been.

That's the way we need to establish it.

But we want to make sure that we have a firm grasp of, no, we're not making any moves.

If that tradition is not in alignment with Scripture, we're going to throw it out and start

over.

And so that's why we wanted to do this.

We needed to be patient and wait on the Lord.

And the reason is because you play such a massive role in all of this, in

these men being established into this office.

We see that pictured, actually, in Paul's greeting right at the beginning of his letter to the church at

Philippi.

Right at the beginning, he says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints

in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.

And then he pinpoints two offices with the overseers

and the deacons.

Notice Paul acknowledges these two distinct offices.

Overseer, which is just another phrase for pastor in the New Testament, and deacons.

However, he doesn't just write to them.

Notice that he's writing to all the saints that are in that church.

Every one of them.

The church is not simply pastors and deacons, office holders, doing everything while the

church goes along with it.

That's not how the church functions.

Paul calls all the saints to participate in holiness and

in obedience within the church life.

You see that?

He's writing to all the saints.

He's identifying the two offices because they play a distinct role, as we're going to see today, with the office of deacon.

But he's calling all saints to live this godly life and to be a part of this process.

So you are responsible to make sure that how and what this church, 12 .5 church,

does is in accordance with God's word and not based on, grounded in,

or in any way, man's opinion, man's tradition, or man's preference.

It's all about what God has prescribed.

Amen?

That being said, open your copy of God's word to 1 Timothy 3.

1 Timothy 3.

This letter that Paul wrote to his protege, Timothy, his namesake,

right, is one of what is referred to as the three pastoral epistles that we see

in the New Testament.

Timothy had been assigned to establish church structure within the church at Ephesus.

He's sent there on mission for a purpose of establishing what needs to be set up.

So Paul is essentially counseling him on matters of church leadership, proper worship,

establishment of elders and deacons, those offices.

He's informing him how to combat false teaching in the area.

Essentially what's happening is Paul is pastoring him as to how to pastor, which is why we call these the pastoral

epistles.

And I want us to start reading at the beginning of the qualifications of an overseer at verse 1 of

chapter 3, leading us into the qualifications of a deacon.

And the reason I want to do that is because I want to set the groundwork here because I think this will help us distinguish between the two

offices and how they connect together.

So look with me there, chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, starting in verse 1.

The saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,

sober -minded, self -controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for

God's church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the

devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders,

so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of

the devil.

Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not double -tongued,

not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

They must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them also be tested first.

Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober -minded, faithful in

all things.

Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their households well.

For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the

faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Here we have the qualifications of both overseer elder and the deacon.

So before we dive into this, let's stop and let's go to the source and pray that God would give us wisdom, the Holy Spirit

would illuminate our minds to be able to see what he is calling us to

here.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you that it is clear and true.

Lord, help us to see it.

God, help us to lay aside all of the traditions and maybe some of the bad habits

and wrong perspectives when it comes to this office of deacon.

God, I pray that we would seek to do it in accordance with your word.

Father, give me wisdom as I speak this truth.

And God, I ask that it not just be information to the

people, but today this information about the body, about the

office of deacon, I pray that it would be saturated in Christ

with a gospel -mindedness.

Lord, help us all to look to the ultimate goal of

why you're setting all of this in place.

Give us wisdom in Christ's name, amen.

Well, I have four things that I want us to see about deacons today.

As a matter of fact, up on the screen, I actually have bullet points today for us to follow.

And the first one is deacons are not leaders.

First thing I want us to see is that deacons are not leaders.

Many denominations and traditions tend to blur this distinction, I believe, by treating the deacons as some sort of a de

facto elder board, or treating the deacons as some sort of a board of directors, at

least.

They have a lot of power.

You've probably seen it specifically in like Baptist type of churches and backgrounds, where deacons kind of rule the roost.

They make the decisions.

You've got your pastor, or pastors, hopefully, but they have to answer to this

group of deacons.

They give an account to these deacons, and these deacons hold them as

an employee of sorts.

Or at least, they seek to counsel with and get the deacons' input before any

decision.

So you see how they're kind of a de facto elder board, and or just simply a board of

directors that help make decisions within the church.

Yet in Scripture, we see no such thing.

We don't see them making any kind of leadership decision whatsoever.

There's nothing to this in Scripture that we can see.

Look back at the passage that we just read.

Look back at the beginning, verse 1, when it talks about the office of elder.

It says, if anyone aspires to the office of, and the ESV translates

it, overseer.

Okay?

Translates it well.

Because overseer is what?

It's an elder.

It's a pastor.

That's what he's talking about.

He's talking about the position of an elder.

And this is translated overseer because that is the purpose and the meaning of pastor -elder.

It's someone that is overseeing the flock.

That is keeping the things that God has called from Scripture in

account and in accordance with the church.

The church is staying in alignment with this.

Look down at verse 4 and 5 actually there.

An overseer, he must manage his household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

Why?

Why must he manage his household well?

Look at it.

For if someone does not know how to manage his household well, how will he care for God's church?

You see it in the qualification of an elder and overseer.

The overseer's job is to care for God's church.

That's his job.

And he has to do that in alignment with Scripture.

But look down at verse 8 when we introduce the deacons.

It says, deacons likewise.

Right?

So now we're talking about the deacons.

And so we have some comparison here.

We have some qualifications that we'll go over in a moment that are very similar.

But look down at verse 12 and 13.

Look at 12.

Paul says a similar thing about them that we just read about the overseer.

He says, let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their household well

for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves.

Notice he doesn't talk about them managing or caring for the household of God.

He just refers to them as in service.

So there's a difference.

Right?

We also see Peter only referring to the elders in regards to oversight over in 1

Peter 5.

If you want to flip over there with me, you can look at the first two verses of 1 Peter 5, or you can jot this down.

Peter's calling the overseers, the people that are managing the church here, he's

calling them to do their job, essentially.

He says in verse 1, So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder.

Now, he's an apostle, but he's essentially in that similar role of overseer,

and a witness of suffering of Christ as well as a partaker of the glory that is going to be revealed.

In verse 2, he says, shepherd the flock.

What does he mean by this?

Lead the flock.

Care for the flock.

Love the flock.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight.

Notice he doesn't refer to the deacons.

Why not?

Paul had referred to the deacons when writing to the church at Philippi, right?

He acknowledged the two offices.

Why would Peter not acknowledge the two offices that are leading oversight and caring for the church?

Because it's not the deacon's job for the oversight.

It's the elder's job for oversight.

Paul told Timothy later in 1 Timothy 5, verse 17, he says, let the elders who rule

well, right?

The elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.

But he says, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

That's actually one of the most obvious distinctions within the qualifications of our passage in 1 Timothy 3.

Right?

Because in verse 2 he says, therefore an overseer must be above reproach.

He goes on list and at the very end he says, able to teach.

We don't see that qualification talked about with the deacons, do we?

Why is that?

It's because they don't hold a position of leadership.

Preaching and teaching is shepherding, is leading, and there is no call to the office of deacon for that.

It doesn't exist.

So what is it?

What is this office of deacon?

If it's not to lead, if it's not how we've seen it before, you know, pastors come and go in these typical

Baptist churches.

Pastors come and go, but the deacons are here.

And they're in control, and they have all of the structure of the church.

They lead, they take care of everything, but that's unbiblical.

That's not what we see in the New Testament.

They're not leaders.

Well, what do they do?

Well, that leads us to the second thing I want us to see.

I have it on the screen.

Deacons are servants.

Deacons are servants.

You know, we actually get this word deacon from the Greek word diakonos.

Okay?

You can hear the word, right?

It's one of the few Greek words that sounds kind of like our word, doesn't it?

You can remember that, diakonos.

This word simply means servant or minister.

Now, we think of minister, of course, in the terms of, well, a minister is a pastor.

Well, no, that's not the meaning of the word.

A minister is someone that cares for someone, that serves someone.

We see this word being used in that most simple form all throughout the New Testament,

okay?

And this is where some confusion sets in, actually.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, what is apollos?

What is Paul?

Servants through whom you believe.

Diakonos is in the Greek.

It's the same word for deacon.

Is Paul saying that him and apollos hold the office of deacon?

Well, no.

They don't hold the office of deacon.

For sure, Paul doesn't hold the office of deacon, right?

It's simply meaning that they're servants of Christ, that they are ministering to the body of Christ

in service.

That's all this word means.

And not understanding this has led to much confusion about passages like Romans 16 .1.

A lot of people bring this to the table, where Paul says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe,

a diakonos of the church.

Confusing, right?

The ESV translates it servant, not deacon.

But it's the same word in the Greek.

And this leads many to believe that women can hold the office of deacon.

Even though this contradicts what we read in 1 Timothy 3, doesn't it?

Completely contradicts it.

Referring to the qualifications of a deacon in verse 11, he says, their wives likewise must be

dignified, right?

Talking about the deacons, the people who are qualified to this office.

Their wives likewise must be dignified.

Now, I will admit here.

I'm going to give you some insight on some grammatical stuff within the text.

The ESV actually adds a word here.

The word is there.

That very first word you see, if you have an ESV with you, is there.

Their wives.

This, mind you, is not uncommon.

Don't think for a second, oh no, they're adding to scripture.

This is a common practice, because you've got to understand, translating from Greek to English requires readability.

If you ever look at a Greek lexicon and try and read word for word, it's so unbearably confusing, you don't know which way's

up.

You have to put some words in there to fill in the context, all right?

But the confusion comes in with what Paul means by this word that he used for what we translate wives.

This word can also simply mean women.

It's the same word being used elsewhere when just referring to women.

We have to identify it, though, within the context.

That's just how Greek works.

We have to understand it within the context of reading.

Leading some to read it like this, women, likewise, must be dignified.

Thinking that, it must be referring to either women deacons or women who help

the deacons in some way.

Now, I'm not convinced of that.

I don't hold to this.

It seems to me that the ESV translators, they got it right in adding the word there and then

translating the word wives, because it is used for wives elsewhere, but women and wives, depending on

the context, okay?

But I think they got it right because of what Paul says next in verse 12.

Look at it.

Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and

their household and their own household as well.

Now, wife here is the same word, right?

But in the context, we see that, well, husband is before it, so it has to be meaning wives, which

means that they must have been talking about the wives of the deacons in the previous verse

because this is a qualification.

They must be the husband of one wife, but also in the context of this, there's very little

confusion because what are they called to do?

They're managing their household well, and we know that leadership within the home is whose

responsibility?

The husband's.

The husband leads.

The husband leads under the headship of Christ.

The head of the house is the husband, so you're confirming to us that Phoebe did not hold the office of deacon.

That's not what Paul was saying.

Paul was simply pointing out her tremendous God -honoring life of service to the church, right?

This is all it means.

So we must make a distinction between every Christian who serves, as

they should, mind you, because diakonos is service, and every Christian that serves, we have to

make that distinction from them and the office of service, the deacons,

while maintaining the purpose of that office.

Here's the kicker, which is its namesake, servants.

Are you trekking with me?

I feel like I'm getting some.

We're having to deal with some grammar and stuff here, so I apologize, but I

want you to really grasp that, okay?

We have to make a distinction between just every Christian who's called to serve, diakonos,

and the official office that the New Testament lays out of men who are

qualified to that office, which is an office of service.

They are servants in an office, which we have to remember,

right?

That office is about service, period.

So a deacon is a servant.

Remember that passage that I read at the beginning in Philippians, the first

verse, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi with the overseers and deacons.

All the saints are called to serve within the church, yet Paul is sure to acknowledge the distinct office of

service, right?

Every Christian is called to serve.

We're on the same page, but yet he still calls out that distinct office of service, the

deacons, in connection with the office of overseer, mind you.

So what does this look like practically?

What are we looking at?

If we have two offices, we have one that leads, and then one that is servants that serve,

how does this play out within the life of the church?

What is the reality of it?

How do we make this fit?

Well, that leads us to our third thing that I want us to see about deacons, which is that deacons are

assistants to the elders.

Deacons are assistants to the elders.

As a matter of fact, turn with me over to the book of Acts, chapter 6.

I want us just to look at how and why the office was established.

Acts, chapter 6.

If you're not familiar when you're turning there, just look just past the Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.

This is the Acts of the apostles, the early church.

In Acts, chapter 6, starting in verse 1, he says, Now in these days

when the disciples were increasing in number,

disciples, don't get confused.

We're not talking about the men that followed Jesus, the 12 guys that followed Jesus.

Those are apostles at this point.

Disciples are anyone that comes to Christ, that comes into the church and is baptized and brought into Christ

as a disciple.

This is growing.

You've got to realize the Pentecost has happened.

Thousands of people are just coming into the church all at once.

As they were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews

because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

There's a lot here.

Don't get lost here.

Hellenists, this is a group of Jewish people who don't speak

Aramaic.

As a matter of fact, their native language is Greek.

In that culture, the Arabic -speaking Jews kind of looked down their

nose at the Greek -speaking Jews like, Oh, yeah, you're kind of a half -breed.

You're a part of us, but you're not full.

They're called the Hellenists.

There's a divide that's always going on there culturally.

But a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected

in the daily distribution.

Now, this is interesting.

Being a Christian back then was a little different than us today.

It meant losing everything for the most part.

You didn't just come to Christ and your neighbor high -fives you and says, That's awesome.

I'm glad you were baptized.

Or, I'm not a Christian, but good for you.

No, it was you lost everything, your family.

You were dead to them.

You lost your business.

You lost your ability to make money for the most part in a lot of cases.

Specifically, back then, widows didn't have Social Security to rely on.

They were destitute.

So the church, what did they do?

They had a daily distribution.

They were providing resources for the needy.

They were coming along and saying, Hey, there are physical needs within the church.

There are true, actual needs that have to be met.

We can't just meet them with spiritual needs all the time.

We have to meet them with physical needs to care for them.

After all, that's what Jesus has called us to do.

Look at verse 2.

And the twelve, and this is the apostles, summoned the full number of the disciples and said,

It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Interesting statement, right?

I think in our cultural sensitivities, we look at it and go, What, do they think

they're above serving tables?

That seems kind of arrogant of them.

There's physical needs that need to be met.

Why aren't they willing to meet these needs?

Why aren't they willing to sacrifice everything to meet the real, tangible needs of the people?

I have to say, this is partly why the line between deacon and elder is blurred these days.

It's blurred because many pastors, many overseers, are so busy serving tables,

so busy with hospital visits, so busy with home visits, so busy caring for the physical

needs of the people, which, by the way, they truly exist.

Physical needs are absolutely present.

But these pastors are so busy doing all of these things that they have essentially given up the preaching of the word.

I mean, yeah, they preach, they give a

sermon on Sundays, but their lack of preparation, their lack of study, their lack of

prayer, their lack of communion with God throughout the week because of all the busyness that they've been a part of has

rendered that sermon powerless.

It makes it shallow and worthless.

It falls short, and it doesn't equip the saints for the good work.

And the people are left wanting because this person hasn't been filled up with truth from

God's word.

How are they supposed to fill you up with it?

They're too busy visiting you in the hospital or serving tables and caring for physical needs.

It's impossible, and that's what the apostles see here.

This is what the apostles were trying to avoid as church responsibilities were growing.

There's too much going on.

They can't do it.

Well, look at verse 3.

What do they do?

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.

What duty?

Serving tables, physical needs, right?

Look at verse 4.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the

word.

If overseers are to lead, they must first be led by the good shepherd.

They must devote themselves to prayer.

Their lives should be a life of prayer.

Every saint should be, but how much more a man who's tasked with the oversight

of the church, the very local ecclesia, the local representation of the bride

of Christ, how much more should he be communing with Jesus in prayer?

How much more should he be diligently studying His word so that he might proclaim that word

accurately?

He may be able to discern the word well.

In order to do this, we need help.

We need help.

Just as I said, physical needs are a reality, aren't they?

Physical needs are real.

We can't just over -spiritualize it and forget that we still live in a physical realm.

That's not helpful.

You're not going to hear our words if our lives and the body itself isn't acting

upon what God has called us to do and meet physical needs.

We live in a world that is broken, a world that has hunger, a world that has sickness, a world that

has physical needs.

And praise God that He provides for that body.

He provides for this, and He is the one that has established this structure in order

to accomplish fulfilling those needs.

This body with Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd as the head, knows what He's

doing.

He knows what He's doing, and He's prescribed the best way possible for us to

function as a people while we're left here in the wilderness for a

season to gather and to be used for His kingdom purposes so that He may gather all of

His children from every tribe, nation, and tongue.

That's the purpose, right?

It's not the overseers.

We're not the leaders.

We're not the head of the body.

We're simply part of this body.

We're under the head, which is Christ.

That's why we're looking to His Word and saying, How do we structure?

I could come up with all kinds of business structures for you.

You want to run this church like a business?

I can do that.

Let's set up some board of directors here.

We'll set up all the business stuff, and we'll run this thing like a good, well -oiled machine.

If I'm the head of the church, that's what I'm doing, right?

But that's not the best way.

As a matter of fact, we cease to be a church when we do that because we're not obeying the head.

Us overseers, Pastor Jeremiah and myself, we're not in charge here.

Everything that we do as oversight has to be in line with the head of the

church, which is Christ, when He's told us exactly.

And we're seeing it as we're walking through, aren't we?

Because Jesus knows that us elders, we need assistance.

And He's designed it with the deacons.

And since they are assistants to the elders, God has required that they meet certain qualifications.

If they're called to assist the overseers, well, that's an important role,

isn't it?

So they must be qualifications.

Keep your place there in Acts.

We're going to go back to that here in a moment, but turn back with us to 1 Timothy 3.

Let's just do a quick walkthrough of these qualifications, okay?

In verse 8, He introduces the deacons.

He's already talked about the elders, and now we see very similar qualifications.

Slight distinctions, but similar.

Deacons, likewise, must be dignified.

Essentially what He's saying is someone who is composed, someone who is serious, someone who is

worthy of respect.

Those that look at Him, that see Him, respect His demeanor.

He's a dignified man.

He says, not double -tongued.

Well, there's much meaning here, but really it boils down to just

someone that is honest.

Honest, but also speaks with clarity.

They're not the type of person that will kind of slide of hand.

They're not going to full -on lie to you, but they're going to take truth away just a little bit in order to manipulate their

way.

It's being double -tongued.

Not addicted to much wine, okay?

Somebody that's not a drunkard.

Somebody that can control themselves.

Not greedy for dishonest gain.

Working with their own two hands.

Men that provide for their families in an honest way.

They're not looking to gain something physical in favor for

themselves through the church or through the people of the church.

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

Do they know the gospel?

Are these spiritually mature men?

Do they see the word of God?

I'm not talking about somebody can stand up here and preach a sermon.

We've already talked about that.

They're not called to that.

In conversation, are these men that love the word, respect the word,

can articulate the gospel with clarity?

And let them also be tested first.

And here's the kicker.

This is why we have been patiently waiting for three years for deacons.

Because this is one of the qualifications.

They must be tested first.

You can't just pick a man out of the group because he's a good businessman.

You can't just pick a man out of the group because he's a local contractor and has a lot of tools so we can get a lot

accomplished when needs arise.

You can't just pick a man because he knows how to deal with the stock market and give

financial advice.

You can't just pick a man for any physical reason.

That means nothing to me.

Does he meet these qualifications?

Has he been tested?

This is a dignified man.

Is this a man worthy of this position?

Tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove

themselves blameless.

And then it goes on.

We see in verse 11, their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanders, but sober -minded, faithful in all things.

And in verse 12, as we read, they must manage their household well.

I think the reason he adds the wives in there is because if their wife is a slander, if their wife is not sober -minded and

not dignified, they're not managing their household well because they are not leading their wife as they're called to.

So then they're not qualified.

This is a high calling, isn't it?

I don't know about you, but I read the qualifications of an overseer and a deacon,

and I think, who among us?

This is a serious matter, and I think, is this for real?

Do I know anyone that meets these standards to perfection?

I don't.

I can't imagine anyone else.

None of the men that we're going to present today meet them perfectly.

Only our Savior, Jesus Christ, meets them perfectly.

That's what we're looking to.

We're still looking to Christ.

Quit looking at men.

We're talking about qualifications of men right now because Jesus has called us to.

But if you set your eyes on men, you're in trouble.

They're going to disappoint you.

They're going to fail.

They're not going to live up to those standards.

Oh, but Jesus does.

Jesus is the ultimate overseer, the

perfect Savior.

See, here's the thing is these requirements should be the habit,

should be the pattern of these men's lives.

Are these men pursuing these things?

Because there's a big difference between a man who slips up and makes mistakes and sins

and a man who just has a life that is a pattern of debauchery.

There's a difference between a man who is dignified

and makes a mistake and does something that's not very dignified and a man who just lives a

habitual life of not being dignified.

Those are very, very different things.

Any of you men manage your household perfectly?

Let's raise some hands.

I want to see the perfect men in here.

Notice I'm making sure my hands stay down so I don't accidentally raise my hand.

Sometimes I'm a terrible husband.

Sometimes I'm a terrible father.

The question is what's the pattern of my life?

It's the same thing with the deacons.

What is the habit of their life?

This is what we should be looking for when looking for deacons, men to serve in this office.

And that leads me to the fourth and final thing about deacons that I want us to see.

Deacons are called out by the church and commissioned by the elders.

Deacons are called out by you and commissioned by us.

Look back with me at Acts 6.

I told you we were going to go back there.

Acts 6.

I want you to see there in verse 3.

It says,.

Because it's not right for us to serve tables all the time.

Notice those qualifications, right?

They're essentially summing up what Paul then writes in 1 Timothy, isn't it?

They're saying, hey, they've got to be a good repute, full of the spirit, full of wisdom.

Those qualifications must be present.

Pick those men out from among you.

You pick them.

Whom we, the apostles, the overseers, will appoint to this duty.

Okay?

Stick with me.

Look down at verse 5.

And what they said pleased the whole gathering.

And they, the congregation, the people, chose Stephen, a man full of

faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and then it goes on and lists the other men there.

But notice the church chose the men from among them.

Men of good repute, full of the spirit and wisdom.

But then look at what happens next in verse 6.

It says, Who set them before the apostles?

The people.

The congregation.

And they, speaking of the apostles,

You see it?

Deacons are called by you, commissioned by us.

The church chose the men, and the overseers affirmed these men to be qualified, prayed over them, and laid their hands

on them, essentially commissioning them to the task, to the office of deacon.

And what did this produce?

Calling them from among the people that have good standing, that meet those qualifications,

the elders establishing that, affirming that, laying hands and commissioning.

What does this produce?

Look at verse 7.

And the word of God continued to increase.

And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the

faith.

Even the priests in Jerusalem were becoming obedient to the faith.

God was saving a people.

He was saving his people.

This is why God has chosen these means, to carry out his plan of uniting all things to himself,

isn't it?

This was the purpose of this plan.

This is why it's so good.

This is not just some ecclesiological church structure for the sake of being organized.

That's not what it's about.

This is being organized for the sake of the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's its purpose.

That's the means behind this structure that Jesus himself has called

us to.

And this is why Paul finished the qualifications for a deacon there in 1 Timothy 3 by saying, for

those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence

in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

So good.

This is all for the sake of Christ, isn't it?

This isn't just boring church structure stuff.

This is kingdom work.

This is kingdom mindedness.

If those men meet those qualifications, why do they meet them?

Why do they live up to those standards?

Why do these men that we're going to present today, why do we believe they meet those qualifications?

What got them there?

Christ.

It's because of Christ.

If the church calls those men from among them, if you call those men from among you, which we believe you have,.

Why?

It's because of Christ.

Because Christ is leading his church.

He's the one that laid on your hearts to bring them forward.

He's the one that gave them the ability to live up to those standards and meet those qualifications.

He's the one that has given his righteousness to them and brought them forward to us.

If the overseers, if me, if Pastor Jeremiah and myself affirm and establish these deacons, it's because of

Christ.

It's because Christ has led us to do so, and we're seeking to be obedient to him.

And if all of us stand firm in the gospel, why do we do so?

Because of Christ, right?

It's all about Christ.

This is all the whole purpose of all of this.

Don't lose sight of it.

Today we celebrate three years as a church, and it is all because of Christ.

He's the one doing it, right?

If this was me when Erica and me and the kids opened the first service right up

the street in that smaller house that we lived in, just up the road, right here on Peachtree.

If I had started that church outside of Christ, it would be all for naught.

It would be nothing.

Christ is building his church.

I had no idea who God was going to bring here.

I had a list of probably 60 people that I knew for certain would show up, and they definitely wanted what we were going to be

building.

Not one of those people ever showed up.

Ever.

Not even first service.

And over time, God brought the people, and it was Jesus saying, you're not building my church,

Nathan.

I am.

Obey me.

It's because of me.

And that's exactly what's happening today with these deacon nominees.

This is not us trying to do something in our own power that we think is wise and

good and prudent and going to help us grow.

We're doing something that Jesus said to do for the sake of the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He's raised up three men from this congregation, men that you,

as a church, have nominated.

By the way, there were many men nominated.

Honestly, it was kind of fun.

Pretty much every male member of the church was nominated.

That tells you something about the church.

Praise God.

But in the process of talking to different men and going through that, going through those steps, we ended up with

the three.

These men have spent the past few months reading, praying, and learning about this office,

evaluating, if this is what they're called to, men whose lives have been evaluated by you

and by Pastor Jeremiah and myself, men who, after months of praying and studying, have

accepted this nomination.

And today, I'm excited to officially present them to you as a church.

And I'm going to ask these men to come up, Adam Carmichael, Brian Agee, and Justin Stazny, if you men would

stand right up here.

I can't tell you how excited I am that these three men are standing up here.

I mean, look what God is doing.

Look who God's bringing.

Look what God is establishing.

Look what our Savior is setting up in this body.

These three men that you've called out and that me and Pastor Jeremiah have been walking through,

just evaluating and talking with, and these men have, I've put them through the wringer a little bit, haven't I, guys?

You've probably done more reading in the past four months than you do, yeah, normally, yeah.

Just evaluating.

So in one month, okay, in one month, we will announce the date we will have a special ordination service for these men,

wherein you, as the church, will affirm them, and Pastor Jeremiah and myself will officially

commission them.

And so over the next four weeks, roughly, what we're asking of you as a church

is to pray for them, pray that God would give them wisdom,

pray that God would guard them and their families, because the moment they

go into this office, I warned them, so the moment you enter the office,

all arrows are pointed at you and your family.

There's nothing more that the enemy wants than to destroy families of people within these offices within the church.

They need prayer.

Pray for them.

I also want you to encourage them.

Speak words of encouragement to them over the next month.

And the other thing that I want you to do as a church, if you're a member here, is that

you are to bring any disqualifying accusation against any one of them to either Pastor

Jeremiah or myself so that we may evaluate it.

That's why we wait.

We're not just establishing them today.

We're introducing them today as the nominees that me and Pastor Jeremiah affirm.

And for you, if anything comes up, if there's any issues, you have a month to bring them forward,

and I ask that you do so.

That's gonna be the process.

We will announce that date, and it will be a great time.

I think we're talking about a Saturday night where we maybe do some food and just do a wonderful

celebration.

Of an ordination of these three godly men that we love dearly.

And by the way, these three men are standing here because they already do

acts of service throughout the church, which is why you have nominated them.

They're already acting like deacons.

We might make it official, right?

So, Pastor Jeremiah, I would ask for you to come on up if you're able to squeeze out of there.

Sorry, I didn't give Pastor Jeremiah a heads up, and he sat right in the dead center.

All right?

And we're gonna pray over these men right now, and I ask that you pray with us

that God would guard them over the next 30 days and that we, as a church,

would rally around them and lift them up.

That this is what God is calling, not what we are, what Jesus is establishing.

Amen?

Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,.

Lord, we come to you once again.

We thank you for building your church.

God, I thank you for how you are working.

Lord, I thank you for these three men and their families.

Father, what a blessing they are to us and their service.

Lord, and their love for you.

Father, I lift them up right now.

Over the next month, we pray that you would just continue to mold their hearts, give them

wisdom and discernment, be with their families, their wives, their children.

God, as we come back together in a month and prayerfully stand before this congregation,

that as they stand in affirmation of these three men and Pastor Jeremiah and myself able to

officially lay our hands on them and ordain them to the office of deacon in this church, that they

would be servants that are men that love you and long to serve you

above all things.

I pray that their desire of service would be less about a desire to serve us as the

church and more as a desire of serving you as their savior, which feeds into your

bride, the church.

We thank you for them.

Lord, bless us, give us wisdom.

We rest and trust in you in Christ's name.

Amen.

Thank you, men.

Thank you, men.

That's exciting time, right?

Amen. Amen.

Before we go to the Lord's Supper, I have one more exciting thing to do.

Andy, you might come on up here.

We're putting Andy on the spot for the second time today.

Way to go, Andy.

Way to go, Andy.

Yes.

Andy was baptized just less than an hour ago, brought

into the church, and we this morning would like to officially

bring him into this body as a covenant member.

He's gone through the classes, and he has been very thoughtful about this.

I praise God.

I love that.

And seeing what it means to be a part of this body.

This is a serious matter.

We take membership very seriously.

It's not just coming forward and moving a letter from one church to another around here.

No, you're signing membership covenants and committing to be a part of a body,

and we're grateful to have you.

We're excited to see how God uses you, man.

We're excited to help you think through your gifts as they benefit this body and as our gifts

benefit you.

We're looking forward to a long life of being family.

Right?

Family.

And as we do every time, we're going to commission you with a Bible, but first things first.

Members of 12 .5 Church, if you affirm Andy as a covenant member, please stand.

Praise God.

Uh -oh.

You almost had one no.

Adam better stand on that one.

Yes, praise the Lord.

You may be seated.

Andy, just as we do every time, we've commissioned you with this ESV study Bible.

Look, and here it is.

It's got your name in it for 12 .5 on today's date, but as I say every time, this is not a gift.

It's a commissioning, right?

This is what we're about.

We love the Word of God.

This is how we know who our Savior is.

This is how we know what he's called us to as we've been talking about today, and so study it, love it, consume it.

Let your life be surrounded around learning who God is through it, and we're excited to watch that process, Andy.

Hey, welcome to the family, brother.

I told you it was going to be a good day, didn't I?

And it isn't over.

We're going to go to the table together now.

It's time to go to the Lord's table.