Deacon: Worthy of the Call to Serve

“A pastor was ten minutes into his sermon when two police officers came in the service, pointed to a deacon to come out of the pew, handcuffed him and took him away. The amazing thing was that the pastor kept preaching, but even more amazing is the deacon’s wife stayed for the entire service.”

Two rural church deacons who were having a sociable beer in the local tavern when they saw their minister drive by and take a good long look at their pickup trucks parked outside.

One deacon ducked down and said, "I hope the reverend didn't see us or recognize my pickup."

The other replied indifferently, "What difference does it make? God knows we're in here... and he's the only one who counts."

The first deacon answered, "Yeah, but God won't tell my wife."

Seems all those deacons may have missed the mark on more than one of the qualifications the Bible gives for what kind of man should serve in the role of deacon, or they were just absent when their pastor preached on the qualifications of deacons.

Today we finish examining the aspects of the Deacon ministry.

Last Sunday was more about the ministry, or what it means to be a deacon.

Today is about the man, or what it takes to be a deacon: morally, spiritually and family.

If you have not already found the scripture passage, please take your Bibles and turn to the NT several books in to the book of 1 Timothy 3, after GEPC and 1 and 2 Thess. Or, if you are a smart device person I am sure you are already there before I finished saying this.

PLEASE STAND AND HONOR GOD AND HIS WORD THIS MORNING

1 Timothy 3:8–13 NKJV

8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. 11 Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13 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 doesn’t go into very much detail if any as to what the deacon should do. You could say he knew it was self-explanatory since the Greek word means servant or minister.

He did give great detail as to who the deacon should be in his character and lifestyle.

“Likewise” is a word in v.8 that seems to link the qualifications together with the prior ones listed for elder/overseer/pastor; which is only fitting since the two are partners in the work of the Lord.

From these verses we can see that the man chosen to fill this role or office of deacon should:

Demonstrate Personal and Public Morality - v.8

Demonstrate Growth Toward Mature Faith - v.9, Acts 6:3

Demonstrate a Life Accepted by God and the Church - v.10, 13

Demonstrate a Life Accepted by

Demonstrate an Influential Christian Home Life - v.12

These are all the outflow of His convictions seen here.

Let’s examine closer the first one:

The Man Serving as Deacon Should be Worthy Because of His Moral Convictions

A deacon should be a complete man, meaning a man of integrity which is the opposite of hypocrisy.

The word integrity comes from the Latin word “integer” meaning “whole” describing an undivided life. A wholeness coming from the qualities you see here such as:

honesty (not double tongued) - or insincere - saying what you don’t mean or doing what you say you won’t do, not doing what you say you will. Speaking one thing to one church member, then telling another church member the total opposite of what was just said to the other one.

The Man Serving as Deacon Should be Worthy Because of His Spiritual Convictions

The Man Serving as Deacon Should be Worthy Because of His Familial Convictions

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