Serving the Church

Mark 10:44-45; Acts 6:1-7; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:8-13

Last week we learned that Christ cares for the church as a shepherd cares for his flock of sheep. And we learned that men called pastors (or shepherds, elders) care for the church on his behalf. We learned that these men should provide Christlike care and guidance to the church, while the church should allow its pastors to lead them.

But there is one other formal, official role within the church besides that of pastor/elder. This role is that of being a deacon. But what is a deacon and why is the role of being a deacon important in the church?

Today we will learn (or remind ourselves) about the role of deacons in the church and see how this role (and our view and response to it) helps us to cherish the church well.

Christ calls us to a life of service.

Before we understand the role of a deacon in the church, we must first understand the importance of service and of being a servant.

We should devote ourselves to serving others.

Throughout the Bible, in many ways, we see that God regularly emphasizes the importance of service (or behaving, living, and thinking like a servant) as a main priority in the lives of his people.

Even Jesus Christ conducted himself as a servant during his earthly life and ministry. Though he is God himself and would eventually become the recognized king and ruler of all things, he did not behave as a king who insisted that people bow down and serve him. He behaved as a servant instead and insisted that his followers do the same.

In one instance, two of his close followers – James and John – were arguing about which of them would be given the more high-ranking position in God’s kingdom. This argument displeased Christ deeply and he responded this way:

Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:42-45)

In these comments, Christ pointed out that even him himself was not ashamed or ashamed of being a servant. As a result, he insisted that his followers adopt the same mindset and values in life. We, too, should choose to be servants.

In these comments, Christ speaks of being a servant in two ways. He uses the word servant first, then he uses the word slave second. Both these words describe a person who focuses on fulfilling the desires and meeting the needs of someone else rather than expecting someone else to fulfill their desires or meet their needs for them, instead.

• The first word, servant, portrays someone who does this voluntarily while maintaining personal agency, freedom, and independence.
• The second word, slave, portrays someone who does this involuntarily because they have to due to some forced or formal arrangement.

What’s fascinating about how Christ uses these words is that he uses them interchangeably and as a pair. So, on the one hand he wants us to choose to be servants voluntarily of our own free will, not serving because we feel forced or obligated to do so. On the other hand, though, he wants us to realize that we actually do have an obligation to be a servant, not only to God but to all people.

Today – even in our own F-M community – service can be a popular, trendy buzzword or topic. We can feel good about partnering with some special agency or program to meet a need in our local community or somewhere in the wider world. We may even choose which church to attend or become a member of based upon the kinds of unique community service programs that church promotes and provides.

While many of these programs are good and have real human and gospel value, this does not reflect the full heart or meaning of what Christ teaches about being a servant. To be a servant means far more than contributing to or participating in an annual or occasional “community service event.”

It means to behave like, feel like, and think like a servant each moment of every day. It means to conduct yourself in such a way that you view any scenario you’re in from the perspective of “how may I help?” rather than “what should other people do?”

We should commit ourselves to serving in the church.

Knowing that this is how Christ desires for his followers to think, feel, and behave, we should view the church, then, as a greenhouse for this type of living. Throughout the NT, you can find teaching as well as examples of people in the church who show us what it means to be a servant in the church. Today, I will draw your attention to three examples – a man, a woman, and an entire family.

I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. (Phil 2:19-22)

Here was a man named Timothy. Paul said that he was such a servant that he genuinely cared for the needs of other people in the church and for the progress and success of the gospel. Unlike many other believers, his motives for serving and goals in serving had nothing to do with advancing, accomplishing, or promoting his own personal agendas, goals, or preferences.

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. (Rom 16:1-2)

Here was a woman named Phoebe. She was known by many as a servant of the church in Cenchrea, a seaport village on the eastern coast of Greece. She was a woman who had helped meet the needs of many other people in the church, including Paul.

I urge you, brethren—you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted [addicted, KJV] themselves to the ministry of the saints— (1 Cor 16:15)

Here was an entire family, the family of a man named Stephanas. This family had been among the first to believe the gospel in a region called Achaia. And not only that, but they had gained a reputation for being devoted to and focused on serving people within the church. Another way of explaining this is that they would intentionally arrange (or rearrange) the goals, priorities, and schedule of their family to ensure that they would be able to be regularly involved in Christian service to the church.

Some men serve as official servants of the church.

Serving within the church is so important that though Christ desires for all his followers to devote themselves to Christian service within the church, he also provides an arrangement in which some men are assigned specific roles of service. These men are not pastors, but they accompany, assist, and come alongside of pastors in the church.

To free up pastors to focus on spiritual care.

At the start of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, he speaks directly to “the overseers and deacons” (Phil 1:1). We know the “overseers” are the men who are also called pastors and elders. But what about the “deacons,” who are they?

The word “deacon” means “servant.” That’s literally what it means, so it describes a man who has agreed to become an official servant in the church. Acts 6:1-7 tells us why and how the role of being a deacon began.

In those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then 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, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

From this, we see up to this point, the disciples of Jesus were serving as pastors for the church in Jerusalem. But as the church grew in number and size, some of the widows in the church were not receiving financial and material care. As a result, some people were complaining that the church was being careless, insensitive, and unfair.

Rather than meet this need themselves, the pastors pointed out that to do so would require them to give less attention to the ministry of the Word and prayer, which are the primary responsibilities of a pastor. While a pastor must be glad and willing to do any kind of service needed in the church, it’s the material, practical, programmatic type work that can easily squeeze out the necessary spiritual work that pastors must do.

The ministry of the Word and prayer includes preparing and providing biblical, insightful, relevant counseling, doctrine, mentoring, preaching, training, and theology to people in the church, as well as reaching out to nonbelievers and poorly taught believers in the community. It also includes praying for the needs and people of the church.

To ensure that they could do these things well, the pastors of the church in Jerusalem arranged for seven men to be assigned specifically to this pressing need of distributing resources to the widows of their church fairly and well.

To meet material, practical needs of the church.

Here is the key distinction between the role of a pastor and a deacon. A pastor is primarily responsible to care for and lead the church by being an example to the church of Christian living, teaching and preaching the Word, equipping church members to be mature followers of Christ who are serving Christ effectively, and providing spiritual direction and guidance for the church as a whole.

A deacon is primarily responsible to meet specific areas of need within the church as a servant would do. If the pastors are unable or unwise to involve themselves in some area of material or physical service without diminishing their effectiveness and responsibility in their primary areas of spiritual service, then men in the church should be chosen as deacons to meet those needs, instead.

Examples of this sort of need are reflected by the roles of our own deacons here at Brookdale. These areas of need include building maintenance, financial stewardship, hospitality events, member care, and technology support. Do you know who our deacons are and what areas of need they are personally focused on meeting?

In Acts 6, the need which deacons needed to meet were caring for widows, but any such needs which are not “the ministry of the Word and prayer” which prevent the pastors of a church from doing those primary things may qualify as a deacon role or responsibility.

The church suggests candidates and the pastors affirm them.

So, how are deacons selected in a church? From what we can see in Acts 6, the following sequence occurred:

• A problem arose due to a procedural failure, oversight, or weakness in the church.
• The pastors recognized they could not meet that need well, so they asked the congregation to recommend men who could meet that need.
• These men must have a good reputation, be spiritually minded, and make wise decisions.
• The pastors then acknowledged and affirmed these men, asking for God’s blessing on their service in this role.

As a result of this arrangement, the pastors were able to carry out their spiritual care more effectively and the needs of the widows in the church were met more fairly and well. The result of this, then, was that biblical teaching was able to spread, more people believed on Christ and followed him, and the church continued to grow.

Some years later, Paul provided some more detailed qualities to make clear what it meant to “have a good reputation, be full of the Spirit, and wise” (1 Tim 3:8-13):

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. But let these also first be tested; 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.

Notice at the end of these requirements that Paul acknowledged a special benefit that comes with being a faithful, honorable deacon (or servant) in the church. They “obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 13). This means that deacons who serve well can experience excellent opportunities to be a witness for Christ, to share the gospel with people, and to put the good news about Jesus in a positive light in the community.

Since being a deacon often consists of doing business and interacting with people outside the church, when they do these tasks in an honest, God-honoring way, they put Christ and the church in a positive light in the community.

On the flip side, we must acknowledge what happens in a community like ours when deacons do not serve well. I played handball at the Y with a man sometime within the past few years. He told me that since childhood, he has been very involved in church, but in his later years of adulthood, he has largely withdrawn from church involvement except for maybe Easter and Christmas. But why?

He said that if he’d learned anything from his parents’ and his own involvement in church, it was that getting involved in church boards, committees, and ministry groups was the most guaranteed way to see the worst side of humanity. In former years, he’d volunteered in all sorts of ministry roles in the churches he’d been part of, only to experience infighting, mismanagement, jealousy, arrogance, gossip, and more. Sadly, this is often the case. Men serving as deacons, for instance, can put church, Christ, and the gospel in a negative, undesirable light when they carry out their tasks in a selfish, proud, and insensitive way.

That’s why the personal character and life qualities that Acts and Paul describes are important, because men who are identified as the official servants of the church should be men who will put the church in a good light to a watching world, and who will build confidence in the church and in the gospel, not raise questions, fuel doubts, and turn people away.

The church should thank God for faithful, servant-minded deacons.

For this reason, we should thank God for the faithful deacons who currently serve our own church here at Brookdale: Brad Harris, Mark Hulbert, Rod Johnson, Tim Kremer, Dan Lund, Ken Otto, and Jerry Sayler. If you don’t know these men, make sure you do soon. Pray for them and pray for their families. Thank God for their faithful service, thank them for their faithful service, and ask God to give them godly wisdom and strength to carry out their tasks well as they voluntarily serve. You should visit our church website today to remind yourself about the areas of focus for each of our deacons.

To be a deacon – or an official servant of the church – is not glamorous, but there is no greater honor. As a pastor of our church, I am personally grateful for each deacon and look forward to any future deacons that God raises up among us, too. I appreciate each one and the effort they put in to making it possible for Pastor Will and myself to focus on the ministry of the Word and prayer. They are faithful men who I trust. And in the areas that they are serving, I love saying, “Here are my thoughts on this or that from a pastoral perspective, but I’ll trust your decision. Thanks for what you do!”

In conclusion, let me encourage all of us to do our part to make being a servant to the church and to one another a main priority in our lives. May we not rely on pastors and deacons alone to get important things done and to provide important services to our church family. The more that church members get involved in the work of the ministry, the fewer actual deacons we will need because the work of the ministry is getting done by all of us. Just as “many hands make light work” is true, so “many members serving makes the church work well” is even more true.

May Brookdale increasingly become a church where its members are servants in the truest sense of the word, modeling the life and example of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve. May we be a church of many members like Timothy, Phoebe, and the family of Stephanas who had devoted themselves to serving within the church, arranging their lives for that purpose, and putting the interests of one another over their own.