“WE MUST HAVE GODLY SERVANTS”
1 Timothy 3:1-13
FBCF – 6/27/21
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Hymn #434 in my 1956 Baptist Hymnal – “Serve the Lord w/ Gladness”:
“Serve the Lord w/ gladness in our works & ways,
Come before His presence w/ our songs of praise;
Unto Him our Maker, we would pledge anew,
Life’s supreme devotion to service true.”
There aren’t many things that bring more joy to a Christ-follower’s life than to serve the Lord. And the way we serve the Lord is by serving others in His name & for His glory.
- We don’t serve begrudgingly, but w/ gladness & thankfulness to God for sending Jesus to save us.
- Had a deacon who was elected chairman one year b/c he said, “Well, I’ll do it if no one else will do it.” Probably the worst year we had w/ deacons in that church.
One of the foundational truths for us as Christ-followers is that we are ALL called to love God & love others, which means that we are called to serve God & serve others. We don’t just SAY we love others – we SHOW them that we love them by serving them.
- 1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love w/ words & speech, but w/ actions & in truth.”
- “When we try to love God w/out loving our neighbor, we cut ourselves off from the ‘pulmonary artery’ of God…Just as our blood must flow from our heart to our lungs, so God’s love must flow out to His creation.” (Richard Foster, Prayer, p. 255)
Jesus is our Master & we are His servants. Old hymn – “O Master let me walk w/ Thee, In lowly paths of service free.” Walking w/ Jesus means we are available to serve in whatever way He needs us to serve. A servant is to be immediately available to his master when he calls. Same is true for us in our relationship to Jesus as our Lord & Master. We joyfully respond to Him & gladly serve Him by serving others in whatever way we can.
EXPLANATION – 1 Timothy 3:1-13
“The importance of this passage cannot be overstressed when it comes to the building & protection of God’s church & people.” (The Preacher’s Outline & Study Bible – Thessalonians-Philemon, p. 136)
That’s why we are studying this passage as we continue thinking about “How to Do Church.” A strong church needs to have strong leaders. Not headstrong, “My way or the highway” kind of leaders. But leaders who understand that to truly lead, they must serve. Strong leaders are humble servants.
Story of DL Moody, one of world’s most famous evangelist. Held conference in the US for a group of European pastors in late 1800’s. European custom in that day was to put shoes in hallway at night for the hall servants to shine. In US, there were no hall servants. When he walked down hall of dorm, Moody saw shoes. Didn’t want to embarrass the pastors, so he gathered up the shoes & shined them himself. The European pastors never knew who shined their shoes. But this gives us great insight into one of the reasons why DL Moody was used by God in such a powerful way. He was a man w/ a servant’s heart – the basis of his true greatness.
2 offices in a NT church: Elders & deacons
v. 1 – “overseer” – synonymous w/ elder, pastor, or bishop (KJV). This position is the position that the pastors in a local church hold. It’s a position of responsibility & oversight. The Gk word – “to inspect; to look out for, to look after.” So, the elder/overseer/pastor is tasked w/ the HUGE responsibility of looking out for the church – leading it – protecting it – caring for it as a shepherd cares for his sheep. That’s why Paul said it was a “noble task” – an important task that must not be taken lightly.
v. 8 – “deacons” – diakonos – servant – literally, “table waiter.” One of main passages that tell us how deacons are to serve & what they are supposed to do in the local church is Acts 6:1-7. These men were set apart to take care of the physical needs of the church members so that the apostles could stay focused on prayer & preaching the Gospel. And when the deacons did what they were supposed to do & the apostles did what they were supposed to do, it was like a beautiful symphony w/ everyone working together in harmony. Result? Verse 7: “And the Word of God continued to increase, & the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem…” – Lots of folks got saved & the church grew numerically & spiritually!
- Joe McKeever – “What exactly is a deacon to do? Answer: to serve the congregation in a Christ-honoring way. We aren’t enlisting CEOs to run the congregation & not in search of managers of the Lord’s work. We are looking for a few faithful members of each flock who will have their heads screwed on straight, their hearts right w/ the Lord, & their lives reflecting honor to Christ & the body of believers.” (Help! I’m a Deacon, p. 16-17)
This is why it is SO important for us to have a clear, biblical understanding of what these godly servant leaders are supposed to be & do.
- If we want FBCF to be as strong as it can be & accomplish what God has for us to, then the servant leaders in this church FAMILY must function properly.
- If we want FBCF to grow numerically & spiritually, then the servant leaders must function properly.
- If we want to meet the needs of the members of FBCF – spiritual, physical, emotional, relational – then the servant leaders must function properly.
APPLICATION – Godly pastors & deacons are given to the Church to lead by serving.
CHARACTERISTICS THAT SHOULD BE EVIDENT IN GODLY SERVANTS:
DEEP FAITH – Pastors & deacons both need to have a deep, abiding, strong, mature faith. Can’t have baby Christians in these positions. Too much at stake. Too much responsibility. Too much potential for temptation to become prideful.
- Pastors: v. 6; Titus 1:9
- Deacons: v. 9-10; Acts 6:3 – “…full of the Spirit & wisdom…”
Monthly Spiritual Growth Assessment questionnaire for deacons & for staff (I fill one out, too!) – SO important that those who are the servant leaders in the church growing deeper in their faith, living a life of holiness, godliness, & righteousness.
DEVOTION TO FAMILY – Both servant leaders – pastors & deacons – are to be characterized by unquestioned, undeniable devotion to their families.
- Relationship to their wife (if they’re married) – v. 2, 12a – Their marriage must be strong. “husband of one wife” – literally means “one woman man.” In every ordination service that I’ve preached, I always warn the new deacons & remind the deacons who are already serving that they have a new target on their back. Satan will ramp up his attacks on their marriage as a result of their commitment to serve the Lord & His Church (WIVES NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS FROM THE START! They can make or break the ministry of a pastor or a deacon. Seen it happen too many times.)
- Relationship to their families – v. 4-5, 12b – To be able to manage the work of the church, a pastor/deacon must be a compassionate, dedicated, Godly father who is striving to serve & lead his family according to the Word of God. Why would we expect that a pastor or deacon would care about the church FAMILY if he’s not caring for his own family?
DEPENDABLE IN THEIR WORK – Now that we’ve established the biblical baseline for these servant leaders’ faith & family relationships, it’s time to get down to business & get our jobs done.
Pastors: Gene Getz's book, Elders & Leaders – Specific leadership functions for pastors:
1. Teaching Biblical truth
2. Modeling Christlike behavior
3. Maintaining doctrinal purity
4. Disciplining unruly believers
5. Overseeing financial matters
6. Praying for those who are ill
(pp. 191-199)
Deacons: Responsibilities are more practical in nature, as their title shows – administrative tasks, maintenance tasks, & taking care of the physical needs of church members. When we look at Acts 6, we can see that they are accountable to the elders/pastors & that the objective of their work is to relieve the elders/pastors for the ministry of the preaching of the Word, for prayer, & for the oversight of the church. (https://gracequotes.org/?s=deacons)
Colossian 3:17 – Great foundational word for all servant leaders: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
DISTINGUISHED REPUTATION – Want to be clear in my meaning here. Not saying that you must be a “mover & a shaker” to be a servant leader in the church. That’s not what at all what I mean when I say that their reputation should be “distinguished.” Some churches have mistakenly portrayed that wrong image b/c their deacons function more as a board of directors rather than serving as a group of humble table waiters. The sad result of that is that men who are eminently & biblically qualified are unwilling to step up & serve b/c they don’t feel like they are influential enough, or popular enough, or powerful enough to serve. That’s the wrong message for sure!
Our reputation as servant leaders is distinguished only comes when our reputation exalts Jesus. Our only goal is to make the reputation of Jesus better in the eyes of the church & community as a result of our humble service to Him. We want HIS reputation to be distinguished through our lives.
CONCLUSION/TAKEAWAYS
We ALL must be servants of Christ Jesus, whether we are a pastor, deacon, or a Christ-follower who does not serve in those capacities. Let’s make a fresh commitment to Him to serve Him & His Body today!
