God’s Glorious Church
Deacons: Modeling Biblical Leadership
1 Timothy 3:8-13
Woodlawn Baptist Church
April 17, 2005
Introduction
“Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Today I want to continue our study of the Lord’s churches with a three-week study of the deacon. I first began attending Missionary Baptist churches a little over 14 years ago, and during that time, I have often found deacons to be on the receiving end of a lot of complaining and bad jokes. Church members complain about them, pastors talk about what they might have accomplished had it not been for them, and community members tell tales of what they saw the Baptist deacon out doing on the weekend. Like any other church member, deacons are subject to their faults, but not every deacon is joke material. Listen to the testimony of one Baptist deacon.
“For 33 years, from 1861-1894, Joel B. Lemon demonstrated effective leadership as a deacon in the Mill Creek Baptist Church in Virginia. Spanning the Civil War and Reconstruction, his life as a deacon reflected important leadership traits and achievements.
“As an active participant in Mill Creek’s Sunday School, Lemon studied the Bible faithfully, learning principles of biblical leadership along the way. He then modeled what he learned by serving from time to time as church treasurer, moderator, trustee, pulpit committee member, discipline committee member, and messenger to the Valley Baptist Association. He also arranged hospitality for church guests, visited absent members, urged members to contribute toward the church’s financial needs, supported mission causes outside the church, and served on a committee charged to send food and other provisions to Richmond College.
“Lemon was a loving husband, a caring father, and a community-minded citizen. He and his wife reared a large family of sons and daughters, of whom all received a basic education and several graduated from college. Two sons became Baptist ministers, and one became a physician. In 1870 Lemon helped form one of the first public schools in Virginia, and he strongly supported the building and maintaining of roads in his county.”
While you may not find that deacon’s name engraved on any monuments in Washington, I want you to know that the man was a leader who modeled biblical change in his life. You see, it is not men who are giants in the eyes of the world that we need serving as deacons today, but ordinary men who allow God to go the extra mile through them, being a positive influence on others in their homes, churches and communities, so that anyone examining their lives is able to see biblical change taking place in their lives.
That’s how deacons lead – not by barking out orders or “running the show,” but by modeling, by showing the way, which necessarily means that they have gone that way first. In Mark 10:42ff, Jesus said,
“…Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister (diakonos): and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant (doulos) of all.”
That word minister is translated from the same word from which we get our title deacon, and it means an attendant, a waiter, a Christian teacher or shepherd; a servant. How does a deacon lead in a church? By serving and ministering. Jesus said that He didn’t come “to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom…” That’s the essence of biblical deacon leadership – to minister, and to give your lives for the good of others.
Deacon Leadership Is Essential
Effective deacon leadership is essential in our church. It is essential because people don’t follow your words, they watch your life. They follow your lead in church business, in worship, in relationships within the church and more. Your moral and spiritual tone will to a large degree be a mirror to the church, so it is absolutely essential that your lives be changing into Christ’s likeness. You see brethren, as church leaders, whether you like it or not, your lives are on trial. It is one thing to minister and serve in the body as a member, but when you and I accepted roles of responsibility, we willingly placed ourselves on the stand for all to examine – and it is absolutely essential that what they see and what they hear measure up to the standards in God’s Word. It is essential because that’s how leaders lead – by example, by ministering and modeling the life we want others to live.
I want to stress that you as deacons lead by serving, and perhaps one of the most effective ways you serve others is by being a model of what God desires from our lives. In other words: by being a model of biblical change. When a church ordains a man as a deacon, it recognizes that man as a Christian disciple, it affirms its confidence that you are going to be a man who has potential for increased leadership, and states its expectation that you will accept and mirror biblical patterns of life transformation.
Not only is deacon leadership essential…
Deacon Leadership Is Biblical
To say that deacon leadership is biblical is to say that servant leadership is biblical. We lead by serving: by placing the needs of others as more important than even our own needs. What kind of men make the best servant leaders? Listen to what the apostles were looking for when they appointed the first deacons:
“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we appoint over this business.”
It is interesting to me that the apostles were so concerned about the spiritual characteristics of these men whose job it would be to wait tables. They didn’t want warm bodies, but hearts aglow with love for God and others. In our passage in 1 Timothy 3, we find several characteristics, or identifying marks of deacon leadership, or of servant leadership. Men, your lives are being examined today by these marks, so I want you to determine how you measure up. But while the rest of you listen in, let me stress to you that there is not one identifying mark of effective deacon leadership that should not also be found in your own life.
Effective deacons lead by living daily under the control of the Holy Spirit.
To live daily under the control of the Holy Spirit implies first of all that deacons possess the Holy Spirit through a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. If anybody ought to be saved, it ought to be a Baptist deacon! The deacons we have serving in our church may seem like fine men, but every one of them at some point in their lives had to come to a place where they admitted they were sinners before a holy and righteous God. They had to admit their sin to themselves and to God, repent of that sin with godly sorrow and had to trust in the blood atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. All of our deacons have a good testimony of their salvation – do you? Can you remember having placed your faith in Christ?
But being saved isn’t enough – there are plenty of saved men who wouldn’t make good deacons because they’re not living daily under the control of the Holy Spirit. If you look with me at our text, verse 8 says that deacons should be honest, honorable men: men who tell the truth, who don’t talk in circles or talk out of the sides of their mouths. It says that they aren’t greedy for money, and that they’re not given to much wine.
Now rather than indulge useless arguments about how much wine a deacon can or can’t drink, I want you to see what is more important. Look with me in Ephesians 5:18. Here Paul says,
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
You see, the point about wine is simply a matter of control. In other words, who, or what will you allow to control you? A drunk allows his drink to intoxicate him, to control him, but you don’t have to be a drunk. You can allow your work to control you, or your love for money to control you. Anything in the world can control you: sex, recreation, your past, your hurts, your worries, your family, drugs – anything! But the alternative is to allow the Holy Spirit to fill you, to control you, to intoxicate you!
It is the man who is filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God that makes for effective deacon leadership. We glorify the flesh when we single out a man and talk about his integrity or good personality or any other trait he might have. The fact of the matter is that the only good thing in any man is that which is produced by the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness” and so forth. Be controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Effective deacons lead by committing themselves to the historic purposes of the church.
Verses 9 and 10 say,
“Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.”
Time won’t permit us to chase down all the references in the book of Acts to the godly deacons who served their church so faithfully through their doctrinal soundness, evangelism, preaching, teaching, and serving. Effective deacons commit themselves to the historic purposes of the church, but what are the historic purposes of the church? What is the mystery of the faith that they hold to? There are a number of things that might come to mind, but think about these:
• There is the purity of the gospel message that we preach: that not one man or woman can enter heaven without a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ by grace through faith in Him alone; that Jesus Christ was virgin born, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, that he was buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose from the grave on the third day victorious over sin, death and the grave!
• There is the Great Commission that belongs only to the church: Jesus didn’t leave us here to pay taxes and die – He told us to go throughout the world making disciples of every race of people on this earth, to baptize those who believe, and to see that they grow in the image of Christ through the teaching of His Word.
• There is the responsibility of every church member to get involved
• There is the privilege of every child of God to engage in assembling every week for corporate worship
• There is the honor of lifting up our ministries and families to God in prayer.
Why were deacons appointed in the first place? Because the pastors were staying so busy tending to the physical needs of the church body that their one purpose for existing was being neglected! If all a deacon does is to serve tables, then he is doing his part in promoting the historic purposes of the church.
Effective deacons lead by engaging daily in personal and family worship.
In verses 11-12 we read,
“Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”
Just a couple of things I want to say here – men, you absolutely must be spending time alone with God every day in prayer and in the reading of His Word. That is your time of personal worship. I don’t care if you do it on the couch, on the lake, in the woods, or in the garage. You’ve got to have time for personal worship. Second, you absolutely must lead your family in worship. If you are going to demonstrate effective deacon leadership, your family cannot worship without you. If you don’t lead them in worship, you set the example for every other man in this church. If you will make time for personal worship, and give priority to family worship (and I’m not talking about doing church), then chances are your wife will be the woman verse 11 mentions. If you are being sincere in your worship, you’ll be faithful to your one wife, and you’ll raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Effective deacons lead by responding enthusiastically to God’s will for their lives.
Verse 13 says,
“For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
God expects all His disciples to follow Him. When He invites you to drop your nets and follow Him, it is up to you whether you will respond enthusiastically. God’s not looking for modern day martyrs. He’s not impressed with anyone who would go around talking about what they do or what they’ve given up to serve Him. He’s looking for people who enthusiastically respond to His call.
What might happen if the men in our church, deacons and otherwise responded to God with zeal, fervor and optimism? What might happen if we began each day with excitement about our roles as leaders? What might happen if our congregation sensed that we as church leaders were excited about our responsibilities and were serving the Lord dynamically? It was William Carey, that Baptist missionary of long ago who said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” That is the cry of someone who has responded enthusiastically to God’s will for their life. That’s the cry of someone using the office of deacon well – not for personal gain or glory, but for the pleasure of the One who has called.
Deacon Leadership Is Practical
In the first church I pastored, my experience with deacons turned out to verify all the bad things I had been hearing through the years. It was that experience that led me to quit after only nine months. When I came here I silently feared the same thing, but I want to tell you I was pleasantly surprised and am today grateful to God for the deacons we have.
Is deacon leadership practical? It is if they are being controlled by God’s Spirit. It is if they commit themselves to promoting our biblical purposes. It is if they are engaged in private and family worship and if they are responding enthusiastically to God’s will for their lives. You see, deacons are servants; first and foremost servants of God, and as they serve God from hearts aglow with great love for Him, then their leadership here is going to be invaluable.
Conclusion
Men, those of you who hold the office of deacon, let me urge you to examine your relationships with God today. Are you walking with Him as you ought? Are you leading by example here in the church as you ought? If not, then make that right today. Commit yourselves to Him today, and accept with great zeal your office of deacon. I don’t mean the title you carry. Some men throw that title around like leverage – and that only shows the depths of our sin. What I mean is that if you are a deacon, then serve, and as others in your own home, in your church and in our community observe your life, imagine what a difference it will make!
James said “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles!” Brethren, let the sparks of renewal and revival begin with you and watch it spread!
Many of you this morning may feel like you are spectators in a sermon intended for a very select group, so I want to leave you with two things as we close. First, I haven’t said anything to the deacons today that you can’t apply to your own life. A church may only appoint a few deacons, but God has called every one of you into intimacy with Him. Where do you stand with God today?
Secondly, it might be easy to look around and point fingers and hope that one of the deacons heard a particular point today. If you have done that, why don’t you look at the three fingers pointing back at you, and rather than preying on your deacons, lift them up to God in prayer – pray for them, thank God for them, encourage them, and even help them.
