The Church 8

Timothy chapter 3 please. And we want to give attention to the first 13 verses of this chapter today,

Lord willing. First Timothy 3. In our study of the

Holy Scriptures on the subject of the local church, we have shown that the local church of the

New Testament was independent and self -governing. Congregational church government is reflected in the teaching regarding the local church and the practice of the local church as set forth in the

New Testament. Every local church is independent of all outside authority except of course for the

Lord Jesus because he is the head of his church. However, the

Scriptures also reveal how the Lord Jesus would have local churches govern themselves under his leadership.

And so local churches are to be governed by elders and deacons. We saw that last week, last two weeks.

Today we want to consider the qualifications for elders and deacons because this is laid out quite clearly for us here in First Timothy 3.

And so we want to read the first 13 verses. This is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

A bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife, temperate, sober -minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.

One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the

Church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double -tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

Let these also first be tested, and then let them serve as deacons being found blameless.

Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Paul had penned these words to Timothy, a young man, of course, who had accompanied

Paul in his mission work, establishing churches, planting churches.

And in this epistle, Paul was writing to Timothy to instruct him on how to reform the church at Ephesus.

Timothy was being sent there, basically, to pastor the church at Ephesus. And so this instruction was necessary for Timothy.

Timothy needed to know what he would be facing and how to address it. And, of course, the desire, ultimate desire, was that the blessing of the

Lord would continue upon this church and its ministry. In fact, we stop reading with verse 13, but the very next two verses really address the purpose,

Paul's intention, of writing this epistle. These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly.

But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living

God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now that was written to Timothy directly, that Timothy would know how, basically, to serve

God within that local church setting. And so it was

Paul's personal letter to Timothy. And this is, therefore, commonly called a pastoral epistle.

And so it contains instruction primarily to the pastor on the nature and activity of the pastoral ministry.

First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus comprise the three pastoral epistles of the

New Testament. Now we've already seen that the selection of elders or bishops to the churches was through congregational deliberation, as well as deacons.

And yet we may conclude from this passage that we just read, First Timothy 3, 1 through 13, that one of the important responsibilities of the pastor is to assure that the

Church of Jesus Christ has qualified elders and deacons serving in the church. This is what

Paul was telling Timothy. When you arrive at that church of Ephesus, you're going to have to deal with these matters.

And by the way, I think both of these principles, that is, the congregation selects its elders and deacons, as well as the responsibility of the pastor, the elders, to have oversight over this process, is reflected in our own church government, the manner in which our church operates.

And so the members of the church, the congregation, may nominate a man to serve as an elder or deacon, but then the elders assess the biblical qualifications of that man to assure that he's qualified, biblically speaking, to stand before the congregation for their vote, resulting in the installation of him to his office as elder or deacon.

And so both principles are in place,

I believe, in the manner in which we conduct ourselves. Now again,

Paul wrote this epistle to Timothy in order to commission him and instruct him to minister in the church at Ephesus.

Now Ephesus was a good church, but it wasn't a perfect church. There is no perfect church. This was a church that was beset with problems, actually.

And Paul, as the apostle entrusted to care for this church, as an apostle, he had the responsibility of care of all the churches, he intended to send

Timothy to correct the church's faith and practice. And so Paul gave Timothy the task to reform the faith and practice of the church.

The church needed reforming in certain areas. And so a major problem that existed that needed correction was the leadership of the church, and perhaps a major reason the church was troubled was due to the failure of the leadership in its responsibility to lead and teach the church rightly.

Heretical teachers had corrupted the church with their error. And so Timothy would need to reform the church leadership in order to set the church back on a right course.

And so in order for the church at Ephesus to be all that God would have that church be, Timothy would need to see to it that godly qualified leaders were serving in the church.

And so here in chapter 3 we see the qualifications that Timothy was to use to, I think, screen potential new leaders, but also perhaps to assess the current leadership of the church.

He was coming into an established church. And so we see from this passage the great need and importance for a local church to have biblically qualified leadership.

That is, if it's to be a church blessed of God. If a church's leadership is sound, a weak church may become sound in time.

However, if a church's leadership is faulty, the church will most certainly suffer spiritual decline and difficulty and forfeit the full blessing of the

Lord. It hinges on leadership, spiritual leadership.

Now please understand this point. Timothy's task involved placing the right men in established, legitimate offices that were already in place.

He was not starting a new church here. He was coming to an existing church. And although, you know, and I've said this before, although I have a lot of Reformed pastor friends, not a lot of Reformed pastors have ever had to reform a church.

They've come into a church that was already Reformed. Just between us,

I don't know how private it is with being recorded, but I was talking with David Bedanza today, or the other day, and talking and seeing how he was doing up there in Gardner, and it's going well.

And of course, he's got issues that he's dealing with. And I urged him, you know, to be patient,

David. Take one battle at a time. Address one matter at a time. Not all at once, you know, because it takes time to reform a church.

He says, thank you for affirming that for me. He says, you've done it. I was there when you did it. And I'm attempting to follow that course, too.

Because frankly, a guy can come in and just tear up a church where he's supposedly standing for the truth, but ultimately he's doing damage to the church in the way that he does it.

The truth is being evil -spoken of by the manner in which he conducts himself. And this is not good.

And so it seemed that Timothy did not need to restructure the nature of the offices of the church. When I came here in 1998, that was a need.

The church was run by a board of directors. And every member of the church could be on that board of directors that governed the church, rotate

I think every three years, both men and women. We weren't following a biblical pattern of leadership.

And it took some time, didn't it, before we reformed in that way. It took four or five years.

In fact, I remember it was after we preached a series on 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy, and it was David Benanzi himself who stood up in a church meeting.

You know, our church government isn't in accord with the scriptures. I think that we ought to work on this or address this. And so it came forth from the church body, and we were able to begin to move in that direction.

There's always a need to reform. When the church was first founded, Paul had established the proper church structure with its leadership positions.

Again, we saw last time, or two weeks ago, how Paul had identified the leadership of the church into two groups.

There is the office of the bishop, which is an overseer. The bishop is also called the elder, or does the work of the pastor.

And then there were deacons. We see that in Philippians 1. We have it identified here as well.

The office of the bishop, and then the office of the deacon is introduced in verse 8. The offices of bishops and deacons were ordained by God and instituted in all the churches that were begun by the

Lord's apostles. And Timothy would therefore only need to place the right men in the positions that already existed.

Timothy would need to reform this church to biblical standards, which is a task that is always before the elders of a church.

As a church, we're always to be undergoing a work of reform, seeking to conform ourselves to God's ideal as he has revealed himself, as he has revealed his will in the scriptures.

None of us as individuals are what we should be or can be, and nor is any church what it should be or can be.

We're moving in that direction. But as we strive as individuals to grow to maturity, so we as a church should seek to grow to maturity.

And the work of reform is not always fun or pleasant. In fact, it often meets with resistance.

And Paul warned Timothy, you're going to meet resistance there in that church. And it's not going to be from the people out there in the world.

It's going to be right from the family of God itself. Change is uncomfortable.

Our nature does not readily accept the fact that our belief or behavior is in need of correction. After all, we've always done it this way.

Remember one preacher talking about the reaction of the people to the four men who brought the paralyzed man, broke up the roof and let him down, and it resulted in his sins being declared forgiven by the

Lord Jesus, and then he was healed? And what was the reaction of the crowd? We've never seen it done in this way before.

And I think sometimes that's the standard we use. We've never done it that way before. But that's no valid standard, is it, for the people of God or the church of God?

What do the scriptures say? So we may not be ready to hear that perhaps we are faulty or deficient in our practice.

There needs to be correction in policies. Paul had sensed resistance in his efforts to correct the churches in Galatia.

He therefore appealed to those churches. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? He started those churches, and yet they were resisting him.

But we are to be humble before the Lord. We are to be willing to receive instruction and correction. It must always be our desire to conform our thinking and practice to the will of God.

Let God be true, and every man a liar. God is true. We are bound to be true to his word.

Well, let's look through these qualifications of church leaders. We have first the qualification of elders, and I hope that we're all familiar with these.

Verse 1 reads, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires a position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

And so the man who desires to become an elder desires the good work that it entails.

This is not a statement of God's calling. Just because a man desires it makes him qualified necessarily.

We talked about God's calling last week, how important it is. Even false teachers desire the office of a bishop.

And so the desire to have the office of a pastor and elder in itself isn't necessarily means a man is valid before the

Lord. But the desire to serve in this office did reveal something of the man's character.

For in the first century, a man who stood and served in a local church as an elder would encounter much opposition.

He would be willing to sacrifice much to serve the Lord's people. As one wrote, again and again persecution would rage from the side of the

Jews, of the Gentiles, or as often of both. False teachers did their utmost to undermine the true foundation.

Truly in such a time and amid such circumstances, an incentive to overseership, that would be the office of a bishop.

And the word of implied praise for the man who indicated a willingness to serve in this high office were not at all out of place.

And the office itself was surely a noble work. It still is, but it was never more so than in the early decades.

A man who desired to serve in the office of an elder in a church in the first century was entering into a place and an office in which there was some risk to him personally.

But he was desiring a good work. There are many qualities of an elder listed in our passage.

I forget how many I listed, 15 or 16. The first seven characteristics are positive in nature, and then he begins to address things negatively.

In other words, he first lists what a pastor should be like, and then secondly he speaks about what a pastor should not be like.

So let's work through these. First, a bishop then must be blameless. An elder must have a good reputation, and here probably principally among the people of God.

He'll talk about among those who are not the people of God later in the passage, but here it's talking about an elder has to be blameless in the eyes of the congregation.

In other words, he's one who's not to be blamed for any scandal or impropriety. It's not a standard by which he may be said to be sinless.

Thankfully it doesn't say a bishop then must be sinless, or we'd be without elders, wouldn't we?

But rather without blame. An elder who has the responsibility to teach the people of God may have his teaching dismissed if he can be discredited in his life, and that's commonly how people justify themselves.

You have a look at him, find some inconsistency. That's the way of the world.

The world, if they can do anything well, they can detect a hypocrite, can't they? Or a perceived hypocrite.

Being blameless, the man of God will leave the detractor of his ministry without ammunition. Again, as one wrote, this was

Calvin, there will be no one found among men that is free from every vice, but it's one thing to be blemished with ordinary vices which do not hurt the reputation because they're found in men of the highest excellence, and another thing to have a disgraceful name, or to be stained with any baseness.

In order therefore that a bishop may not be without authority, he enjoins that there should be made a selection of one who has a good and honorable reputation, and not chargeable with any remarkable vice.

And besides, he does not merely lay down a rule for Timothy, what sort of person he must select, but likewise reminds every one of those who aspire to that rank to institute a careful examination of himself and of his life.

This is a high standard, isn't it? Secondly, the elder must be the husband of one wife, a qualification that is debated by good people.

Different opinions as to the meaning of Paul's words. Some argue he was saying that an elder of a church could only be a man who has been married one time, the husband of one wife.

In other words, a divorced or remarried man could not meet this standard. But it may also be said, if this were the case, that a man whose wife had died and he remarried afterward would also be unqualified to serve the church, if you take that meaning, the husband of one wife.

Surely a widowed man who remarries would not be barred from serving as a pastor in the church, and yet you'd have to conclude that if you make those words mean that.

You follow what we're saying? It doesn't follow. Others argue that what

Paul was prohibiting was a man who was a polygamist from serving as an elder. This would seem to address a rather uncommon situation in the

New Testament, however. There was some polygamy, but it wasn't widespread. And for Paul to place this requirement at the head of the list,

I think his prohibition of someone who is a polygamist is not the best way to understand this phrase.

But rather, I think we should understand Paul's words. He was just simply saying that a man ought to be devoted to his wife.

He's a one -woman man, devoted to his wife and only his wife.

In other words, the elder should be known to be a man devoted to his wife, as one who is chaste in his morality with respect to the opposite sex.

In other words, the elder, again, must be a one -woman man. He must be an example to others of faithfulness to his one and only marriage partner.

Third, the elder must be temperate. What does that mean? There's a stability of character always present.

He is dependable and therefore somewhat predictable. I know that won't fly with the pastor or with the elders.

All know how he is and how he will react and respond when a crisis arises. The opposite of one who is temperate is one who is temperamental.

So there you get the idea of what a man who is temperate is. A man who is temperamental would be volatile, reacting to happenings in an extreme manner.

He's a devoted and dedicated man to his calling and cause, the man who is temperate. He disciplines himself so that he may be faithful in his responsibility.

The elder is not a man of excess. He is a careful, thoughtful man with regard to his duty. Fourth, the elder must be sober -minded.

In other words, he's a clear and reasonable thinker. He's sound. He's got a sound mind in matters.

It doesn't mean he's always right, but he's always willing and ready to learn.

But he's not carried away by extremes or he doesn't ride hobby horses, chase tangents.

Lord save us from hobby horses. Fifth, the elder must be of good behavior.

We might say this describes a virtuous man. He is honorable before others, but he's equally so when not before others.

This speaks of the man being well -ordered in his life. He's known for his stability and consistency. He is virtuous.

He is morally stable. Sixth, the elder must be hospitable.

Now this was a trait of particular importance in the ancient world. It was a common occurrence to open one's home to others for temporary lodging and even strangers, maybe even especially strangers.

For the Greek word translated as hospitable is the Greek word philosophenon.

And if you listen to that word, actually it's a combination of philo, like in Philadelphia, love, and xenon, which means stranger.

We speak of a xenophobic, someone who hates or you know, other ethnic people or nations are xenophobic.

But this is a man who loves strangers. This is what a hospitable man is.

And so he would lodge a stranger coming, passing through his town and open his house to him.

And so this reflects the idea that an elder must care for people in general and be willing and desirous to assist them.

Some are not that way. Some are so into themselves and those around them that they never seem to extend themselves to outsiders.

Seven, the elder must be able to teach. The elder must have the aptitude to teach. Some elders we've seen, we've pointed out, have a special call of God to proclaim the word of God.

But every elder should have the ability to sit down and instruct another in the matters of the faith, able to teach, either individually or publicly.

Eight, the elder must not be given to wine. Now later, the same apostle who told

Timothy, take a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities, here declares that a man given to wine is not qualified to serve as an elder in the church.

He's not talking about a man who drinks wine. He's talking about a man who is governed by wine. He's a drunkard.

That's what's being prohibited here. One who's controlled by his drink rather than controlled by standards of righteousness.

He cannot be given to wine. When I came into town in 1998,

I remember several people coming and telling me about a local pastor of another denomination that was frequently seen in a bar.

He was always in the same bar and everybody knew they could find him there. Incredible. Nine, the elder must not be violent.

The elder's not prone to excessive or outbursts of anger. The King James uses the terminology, no striker.

In other words, he doesn't strike people. He must not be quarrelsome. He must never resort to violence or the threat of violence.

Rather, he reasons and appeals, and that with mildness and gentleness. Some connect this trait of nonviolence with what went before, not given to wine, because the man given to wine would tend to be a violent man.

Calvin linked these two together. The true interpretation is that which is given by Chrysostom.

He was a preacher back in the fourth century, known as the silver tongue or golden tongue.

I forget which one it was. He was a very rhetorical man. He could really preach, and he was known as that.

But anyway, he says, Calvin says, Chrysostom had it right. The men of a drunken and fierce disposition ought to be excluded from the office of a bishop.

As to the opinion given by Chrysostom that a striker means one who wounds with the tongue, that is, who is guilty of slander or of outrageous reproaches,

I do not admit it. In other words, he thinks he goes too far there. Nor am I moved by his argument that it will be no great matter if the bishop do not strike with the hand, for I think that here he reproves generally that fierceness which is often found in the military profession and which is utterly unbecoming of the servants of Christ.

It is well known to what ridicule they expose themselves, who are more ready to strike a blow with the fist, and we might even say to draw the sword, than to settle the disputes of others by their own sedate behavior.

Strikers is therefore the term which he applies to those who deal much in threatenings and are of a warlike temperament.

An elder should not be like that. Tenth, the elder must not be greedy for money.

A godly elder cannot be a greedy man. Somebody is always after the money of others.

This man is never content with what God has given him, and he always desires what God has given to others.

A greedy man cannot be a man who cares for the good of others, for he only cares for the good of others.

There are men like that in the ministry, and they should not be. Verse 11, rather the elder must be gentle.

Earlier here we see he is to be gentle rather than violent. The two ideas are linked in 1

Timothy 2 .24. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle towards all.

Twelve, the elder must not be quarrelsome. He is not to be argumentative in his interaction with others. He has a calming demeanor and manner.

He does not incite others and promote dissension, but rather coalesces the people of God to see themselves as one and act as one.

The elder must not be covetous. The elder must be a contented man. He is contented with what

God has given him, and he is contented with what God has not given him. He does not desire that which belongs to another man.

He is a thankful man. Fourteen, the elder must be one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.

For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? It is assumed here the elder is married and has children.

It is not a command that the elder be married and have children. Paul apparently was not.

But if he is married, and he probably is, he should order his family in a godly manner, and his wife and children support him and his ministry.

I went back to seminary rather late. I began my Master of Divinity degree in the fall of 1982.

I had been in the ministry since 1974, so I had been pastoring, associate and pastoring, for about eight years.

One of the two semesters required was a supervision of ministry, where they were taking a theological student and introducing him to a pastor who would mentor him over the course of a semester.

I actually went to two pastors one semester, and both of them ended up getting out of the ministry, and both of them, it was because of their wives.

So I found myself meeting with these men who were supposed to be mentoring me, and it ended up to be like a counseling session, them confessing their grief over what was going on in their ministry.

And it was a sad thing. The wife sitting over in the parsonage would not come to church to sit under her husband's teaching, and finally he had to leave the ministry.

He did not meet this qualification. We see that a man may otherwise be a good and qualified man for the office of an elder, but he may be disqualified by his wife and children.

He may be a good man in all respects, but not qualified because of this. As William Hendrickson, a very good reformed commentator, wrote, now this ability to manage or govern well his own family becomes evident when the father keeps his offspring in submission.

The so -called progressive idea of permitting the child to do as he pleases finds no support in Scripture. But though authority must be exercised, this must be done with true dignity.

That is, it must be done in such a manner that the father's firmness makes it advisable for a child to obey, his wisdom makes it natural for a child to obey, and that his love makes it a pleasure for a child to obey.

Well said. And then 15, the elder must not be a novice.

Lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. The devil fell through pride, apparently.

And so an elder must not be too young in the faith. It takes time for the Lord to teach a man to be a humble man.

Gotta go through a few battles for that. And if a man is placed in a position in which some measure of respect is rendered to him, and he wields some measure of authority before the

Lord has dealt with him in this manner, he will tend to think too highly of himself, of his importance, his indispensability to others.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. And so the

Lord will prepare a man to become an elder. And part of that preparation is teaching him the folly of his own self, and the fact that if he stands, it is because the

Lord enables him to do so. Only after he is no longer a novice, that is, a neophyte in the faith, may he be considered for the office of an elder.

And then last, 16. The elder, moreover, must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into the reproach and snare of the devil.

The devil would catch him in a snare through this. So he must have a good reputation among unbelievers as well as in the church.

A good man in the church may be regarded as a bad man in the community due to his family relationships, his business dealings, or his public interaction with non -Christians in the community.

We'd have to say elders are not men who are commonly found. There are too many factors that could easily discredit someone from service.

But again, it's important for the local church to maintain these high standards that our Lord has set before his people through his apostle.

And I would hope that every one of us would aspire to rise to this level, right?

This isn't just some standards that are we ought to desire for our elders.

We ought to each desire these kinds of things to characterize us as Christians and particularly as Christian men, of course.

Well then with verse 18, the apostle begins to set forth the qualifications for deacons and some of these are quite similar to those of the elder.

When the significant need for ministry arises in the local church that requires organization, direction, management, then the ministry of deacons is necessary.

Of course Acts 6 is commonly viewed as the first instance when the service of deacons is seen in the

New Testament church. However, we recognize the word deacon is not used in that passage.

Acts 6 verse 1, Now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the

Hebrews by the Hellenists. There were Palestinian Jews in that region, very devout historic traditional

Jews. But then there were Hellenist Jews who were more inculturated with the

Roman worldview, the Hellenist Greek culture. And when they became

Christians, you had Palestinian or Hebrew Jewish Christians and you had

Hellenistic Jewish Christians who were a little broader minded. They weren't all in agreement on matters.

And the very strict Jewish Christians had a tendency to look down on those others as compromisers and ones who were not as devout as we are.

And apparently in the daily distribution for the widows, the

Hellenist Christians, they thought their widows were being neglected. And so the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said,

It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation.

That's congregational responsibility. You people, you seek out those seven, full of the

Holy Spirit wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. There you have the oversight of the apostles, and we would say elders.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose

Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, Philip, Propurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they sent before the apostles.

All of these men had Greek names. In other words, they were probably from that Hellenist Christian group who thought that they were being neglected.

They selected seven men from that group to put in charge over the whole thing, so that there wouldn't be any problem whatsoever.

And they came before the apostles, and when they prayed, they laid their hands on them.

In other words, they installed them into their office. And the result was the word of God spread, the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the

Jewish priests were obedient to the faith. And so we see the deacons assume the entire ministry of giving assistance to the needy widows, and their assistance, their service, enabled the apostles to do what they were called to do, minister the word of God and pray.

And the service that these seven men, godly men, rendered not only brought true practical assistance to their widows, but it enabled the cause of Christ to advance in that region.

And so by way of application, we can say that there are very practical matters in local churches today that should probably be under the governance of deacons.

Again, under the oversight of elders, granted, let's say financial, administrative concerns, building maintenance, as well as practical ministry to those in need, are tasks suitable for the deaconate.

But again, not just anybody should be put in this responsible position of handling these matters.

And so we have qualifications laid out for us here in 1 Timothy 3 verse 8 and following.

First, deacons are to be reverent. They must be reverent. This says a deacon must be characterized by a sense or air of dignity.

But not just dignity. I think the ESV might say dignified or something like that. I'm not sure.

But, you know, a non -Christian can be dignified. This carries more of an idea of devout reference.

Of course, he's to be one who loves God and is concerned about God's glory. But he's concerned about God's people, and he's concerned about their well -being.

Deacons are to be reputable. They are to be perceived as trustworthy to administer justly both goods and finances on behalf of the people of God.

Secondly, deacons must not be double -tongued. A deacon is to be a man of his word.

He should be sincere, honest, open with all. He's not to say one thing and do another. He's not to say one thing to one person and then say something else to another person.

This undermines his trustworthiness before others. And third, here you have it again, deacons must not be given to much wine.

A man who is addicted to alcohol should not be a deacon. Again, it brings reproach to him, and his trustworthiness and general character is brought into doubt.

Four, deacons must not be greedy for money. Oftentimes, deacons administer the funds of the people of God.

Greediness of character will influence his judgment and his willingness to distribute to those in need.

Judas Iscariot was a greedy man and a thief. Fifth, deacons must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

In other words, he must be absolutely convicted and committed to the faith, the faith of the

Scriptures. He is to be a Christian, obviously, but one who has an understanding of the faith.

The mystery of the faith is a reference to New Testament Christianity. Much of what we know as New Testament Christians was unknown to saints during the

Old Testament days. There were aspects of the faith that was a mystery to them, but it is known to us, revealed in the

New Testament, and a deacon must have an understanding of this. He must be a sound

Christian, an established one. And the reason his ministry should be designed not merely to administer to the practical needs of the

Church and the people, but to use his ministry for the furtherance of the cause of Christ. And actually, if you look at the book of Acts, it wasn't chiefly the twelve apostles who took the gospel out and broke out of Judaism.

It was the work of the deacons, as we'll point out toward the end of the service, which we're coming to.

Sixth, deacons must be proved that it's tested, then let them serve as deacons being found blameless. Respective deacons should be observed first to assure they're of consistent character.

If they're determined to be beyond reproach, then they may serve in this office. And then, seventh, they must be good husbands who are devoted to their wives, husband of one wife, same ideas, what we had for elders.

And eighth, they are to be good fathers toward their children. Interestingly, right in the middle of the qualifications of deacons, you have qualifications for deacons' wives.

Verse 11, likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

And so we see that a man may otherwise be qualified, but his wife may disqualify him from the deaconate.

Men do not serve alone. God has given to men their wives to assist them in their service toward him and his people.

And in a sense, a deacon and his wife serve as a team. He holds the office, granted, but he's only able to discharge his duty properly and fully with her assistance.

If she detracts from him rather than assist him, he may not be suited to serve as a deacon. That's what the scripture is saying here.

And so we have four qualifications for deacons' wives. They must be reverent. Okay, the deacon's wife, just as her husband, must be characterized by a sense of air of dignity, reverence, that would be love for God.

She's concerned for God's glory. The wives of deacons, secondly, must not be slanderers.

A slanderer is one who says things about other people in order to defame their written name or their reputation.

A woman who's characterized by discrediting others with her words disqualifies her husband from serving as deacon.

Interestingly, the Greek word for slanderers is diabolos. Does that sound familiar?

Which is a plural form of diabolos, which is often translated devil.

A slanderer is what the devil does. He slanders Christians, accuses them.

And wives of deacons should not be devils, seeking to find fault and defame others with their words.

Third, the wives of deacons must be temperate. Same idea we dealt with already.

Stable, have self -control, sound judgment. And fourth, the wives of deacons must be faithful in all things.

They are to be trustworthy and dependable. And here, faithful is not just dependable, but probably carries the idea they need to be full of faith.

That's what faithful means, isn't it, ultimately? She used to be a Christian, even a sound and stable

Christian. It's clear from this passage of 1 Timothy 3, both for elders and deacons, that they are to be examples of how the

Christian family should function. It's the man who alone holds the office, yes, but his wife is his helpmate serving alongside him, and she may help him greatly in his service, or she can disqualify him from service as a deacon.

His children should not detract from his effectiveness or discredit his reputation so as to render him a poor witness and unfruitful servant.

His children, while under his authority, we would argue, and living in his household, may also disqualify him from the deaconate, or they can enhance his witness and service in the church.

Now, verse 11 is actually a debated verse, and we need to take a few moments to talk about this before we close.

The word Paul uses is commonly translated, women. Now, in the New King James, it's translated deacon's wives in the

King James, and I think the ESV also, the deacon's wives. But some translations have the women, and the

Greek word can be translated as women rather than wives. Translators have commonly translated the word wives, in other words, wives of deacons, but some argue, because of the

Greek word, that Paul was not addressing the wives of deacons, but rather he was addressing a third order of church officers, deaconesses, likewise the women who were to assist the deacons perhaps in their service.

And so they say Paul addressed the elders first, deacons, and then they argue, verse 11, women refers to deaconesses.

Now, I've read carefully the arguments of good men who hold this position, but their argument is weak.

Others say that these women are not the wives of deacons, but other women in the church who assist the deacons in their ministry of the church, not deaconesses, but just women who serve.

But the argument that these are the wives of deacons is most convincing. Let me give you some reasons.

For although the Greek word that Paul uses is often translated simply as women, he does not always use it in this way.

Now let's look at some examples quickly. 1 Timothy 2, 8 and 9, I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting in like manner also that the women, and there's the

Greek word, same one that we have here in 1 Timothy 3, 11, the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with for pride in moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

Clearly, Paul is writing about women in general, not just wives. Acts 22, 4 and 5,

I persecuted this way to the death, mine in delivering into prisons both men and women, same word, as also the high priest bears me witness.

Acts 13, 50, but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women, he wasn't talking about wives there, he was talking about women, genikos.

In Acts 9, 1, Luke describes Saul before his conversion, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples, went to the high priest for letters, for authority, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he wasn't talking about husbands and wives, but women generically, genikos, same word.

In Acts 8, 3, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, dragging off men and women, genikos, committing them to prison.

And so in each of these instances, clearly the writer was speaking of women in general, not wives in particular.

However, although the Greek word genikos is correctly translated in places as women, Paul commonly used this

Greek word for wives. Here are some examples. Colossians 3, 19, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

He wasn't talking about women in general, husbands love your women, he was talking about wives.

The context determined the meaning, you know, the interpretation or the meaning of the word. Ephesians 5, 25, husbands love your wives, genikos, same word, just as Christ loved his children.

Ephesians 5, 28, so husbands ought to love their own wives, genikos, same word. 1 Corinthians 7, 29, but this

I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none.

He's talking about, he's not talking about women in general, he's talking about husbands and wives. So in each of these instances, the same

Greek word is clearly to be understood or translated as wives. And so the Greek word itself is not determinative, you see that?

The context should be determined as to how the word should be translated.

And this leads us to the second reason the proper translation of genikos should be wives in 1 Timothy 3, 11.

Because this word is placed in verse 11 which is sandwiched in the middle of the qualifications of the deacons themselves.

You have qualifications in verses 8 and 10, and then qualifications for deacons in verses 12 and 13, and right in the middle you have verse 11 in which he speaks about genikos, it's clearly wives of the deacons.

And it would be a twisting, a contorting of the context, ignoring of the context to describe this as women generically in a third office that Paul is talking about.

No, Paul was writing about qualifications for both the deacons and their wives.

And then lastly Paul has a good word to say about the honor of serving as deacons.

Those who serve well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Two personal benefits, good standing, there's honor and respect conferred upon the one who serves faithfully in the church of Jesus Christ.

This isn't personal honor he seeks, but there's respect given to someone who serves this capacity.

And then the deacon obtains for himself great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus, which is in Christ Jesus, good standing.

Deacons who serve well are emboldened in their witness. And here we could mention Stephen who was bold in his witness, was martyred because of his witness, and then

Philip, a deacon who was the first one to take the gospel to non -Jews.

And he also brought the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. The point is the ministry of deacons within the church is a highly respectful, useful, valued ministry.

May the Lord help our deacons and those who will yet serve as deacons be used for our Lord to further his name.

Amen? And again, I would hope that the Lord would enable each of us to rise to the standards that are set forth here.

That we would be able to be good examples before the Lord and before one another.

Let's pray. Thank you, our Father, for your word, and we pray that you would help us, our

God, as men and women, to be faithful to you. And may you, by your grace, enable us to grow,

Lord, in maturity. May we be increasingly sanctified and become more like the

Lord Jesus. And may we, Lord, be described by these traits here.

And so have mercy, Lord. Bless those that are serving you, the elders and the deacons,

Lord. May your grace be with them and help our church, Lord, to encourage and support them.