In our final study on leadership in the Church, we emphasise the "like manner" by which Elders and Deacons are to be people of Christ-likeness and spiritual maturity; and then explore the key differences which arise in the list of qualifications. These differences relate to the nature of the roles of deacons and Elders, and are to do with (1) ability to teach, (2) longevity in the faith, and (3) gender.
Leadership in the Church pt 7
The Qualifications of Deacons
1 Timothy 3:8-13
06/12/09
Introduction
Today we come to the conclusion of our series on Leadership in the Church, as we look at the qualifications of those who serve as Deacons.
Before we begin let’s just do a quick refresh of the role of Deacon so that you can be up to speed on that:
· A Deacon is someone who serves the needs of the local church by performing specific tasks as a recognised representative of the Elders.
· In our church Deacons who serve on our Deacons Board are elected by the congregation once they have been approved by the Elders. These deacons serve as assistants to the Elders in managing the general affairs of the church, taking on specific tasks that are helpful in maintaining the effective running of the church and participating in the decision making process relating to those tasks.
· Our church also appoints people to specific ministry tasks through our Annual General Meeting. These people are not necessarily on our deacons board but function as deacons in a biblical sense. They should also meet the biblical requirements of deacons.
· The Bible never teaches an exact method for appointing deacons, instead emphasising the qualifications of those who serve in this way.
So let’s dive into our text for today:
1 Timothy 3:8-13
8 Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. [1]
In the same way…
It’s very easy to skip over that word “likewise” and just treat this as a completely separate list of qualifications to those we have just examined relating to Elders. But in fact, Paul sees these lists as a re-application of the same principles that he has just applied to Elders. The word “likewise” means “in the same manner”. So in regard to their character, Deacons should follow the same pattern as the Elders, which is to say that they should imitate Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit is the One who helps us to have the character of Christ. That’s why the Bible tells us to live by the Spirit instead of according to our own sinful nature. When the first deacons were appointed, they were to be men “full of the Spirit and wisdom”. In other words, their lives were marked by good spiritual fruit and the wisdom necessary to fulfil their tasks.
Now the Spirit helps us to have the character of Jesus, but not necessarily to do all the things Jesus did. In the same way, the Spirit is transforming all of us to the character of Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we will all do the same sorts of things. He gives us different gifts at different times to enable us to serve according to God’s will.
So while deacons are to be demonstrating the same sort of Spirit-filled character as Elders, there are some differences in other expectations. First of all, an Elder must be someone who is able to teach. This is an essential part of their spiritual oversight. Depending on their tasks, it may be necessary for a deacon to be able to teach and it may not. As we see in Acts 7 and 8, both Stephen and Philip, who were deacons of the church in Jerusalem
The second key difference has to do with the length of their journey in following Jesus. An Elder must not be a recent convert. We discussed some of the reasons for that several weeks ago. A deacon on the other hand, “must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.” (v10)
It is possible for a fairly new believer to have shown such transformation of character and an enlightened mind that they “keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience”. This is the sort of person who has shown a hunger to learn God’s truth and apply it to his or her life. They are ready and raring to serve God and the church can be confident in them. They will have the supervision and support of the Elders and the congregation as they continue to grow and serve their Lord.
Remember that an Elder must be blameless – above reproach. This characteristic should be clear to everyone because they have a long history of growing in their faith and living it out with integrity. People have witnessed their progress.
With a newer believer it is necessary to have some way of checking – of testing – to make sure that they are developing a blameless character. They are not holding on to sinful habits and they deal with sin promptly and honestly when they do fall short.
Some people may consider that a congregational vote is a form of testing, as people who are aware of issues will not vote in favour of a person being made a deacon. I guess this is true, but the problem is that any supposed issues are not identified or addressed. Other people might suggest that the blessing of the Elders is a form of testing, as in their oversight role they should be aware of any disqualifying issues. I would say this is a better approach, as the Elders can then follow through with any issues that arise. Elders do need to be careful that they take this role seriously though and don’t just appoint anyone who is willing to do tasks that need to be done. Under this approach, if someone else is aware of an issue that needs addressing they should mention it to the Elders to be followed through.
Another key difference in between Elders and Deacons of course has to do with gender. We believe that Scripture teaches that and Elder must be male, however deacons in the Bible are both male and female.
Now obviously there is some disagreement on this point, because the word diakonos is used both to describe someone who serves the church and someone who has been given an office of service within the church. So where the term is applied to Phoebe in Romans 16 – the exact same word used in 1 Timothy 3:8 and 12 referring to male deacons – some commentators say it’s not calling her a deacon of the church, it’s describing the fact that she serves the church.
Now of course we could go off into lengthy arguments on this point, but we are going to avoid that and I’ll just give you the basic facts which I think you’ll find very helpful to understand.
Firstly, in verse 11 we read in the NIV “In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect…”
Notice that that when Paul begins to address deacons in verse 8, he does it in exactly the same way. The NIV has phrased it a little differently to make it more readable, but in the original Greek the words are identical except the word for deacon and the word for wives, which is simply the word for women.
So just as Paul transitioned from Elders to Male Deacons by saying they need to be of the same character, he now transitions from Male Deacons to women to say they also need to be of the same character. The question is, are those women he is referring to the wives of the male deacons or are they female deacons (often called deaconesses)?
I believe this passage is talking about female deacons, and here’s a quick summary of why:
· It’s the same transition between office bearers as was used in verse 8
· There’s no grammatical reason to assume that women here must be wives as opposed to the more general use of the word to mean women of any age.
· It seems very strange for the wives of deacons to be addressed when the wives of Elders have not. Even the comment about not being malicious talkers is far more appropriate to wives of men who have pastoral oversight than it is for wives of men entrusted to particular tasks!
· There is no biblical reason for a woman to be excluded from a position as deacon unless you wrongly apply the principle of 1 Timothy 2:12 about women having authority over a man which we have discussed at other times. This passage talks about the presiding role of Elders in the assembled congregation, not the entire scope of church life. To incorrectly interpret this passage as referring to every aspect of church life is to basically restrict women’s service to their own homes.
· There are many passages which describe the valuable work done by women in the church, particularly in Romans 16 where 9 of the 26 persons greeted by name were women who are frequently identified as working hard in the Lord. At the beginning of the chapter Paul commends Phoebe as a deacon of the church in Cenchrea and asks them to support her in her work. It is hard to imagine women like these working hard but never being given formal responsibility or recognition.
· We know from church history that deaconesses played very active roles in the life of the Church for several centuries. There are numerous manuscripts that refer to female deacons, including a letter sent by a Roman governor name Pliny (the Younger) to Emperor Trajan, as he described how he had dealt with people accused of being Christians. He wrote: “I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses” (Letters 10.96-97). This letter was written between 113 and 115 AD. There are many records of the roles played by deaconesses in the church, but as the church grew more powerful as an institution, and as positions within the church became positions of influence, prestige and even wealth, women tended to be squeezed out of recognized positions as men took control. Positions became more about authority and power than service and sacrifice. Thus, while it was apparently a very normal thing for women in the early church to be closely involved with Apostles like Paul as co-workers with them, over time the church became authoritarian and male dominated, distorting the principle of male leadership into male dominance. Unfortunately, some of our churches today are more influenced by the practices and ways of understanding the Bible that developed after 500 years than we are by the practices and understandings of the original church and those who wrote the Bible under the inspiration of God.
Again, when Female Deacons are described in these verses we see the same sorts of characteristics listed, but with some minor variations. In this case, the qualification of “not malicious talkers”. This literally means “not slanderers” or “not accusers”. The Greek word is diabolos from which we get the word “Devil”. It is a description of Satan. He is an accuser, a slanderer. He slandered God to Adam and Eve (Gen 3), He slandered Job to God (Job 1), He accuses the saints day and night before God (Rev 12:10).
In contrast, even God’s holy angels don’t bring accusations against Satan or his angels (2 Peter 2:11)!
Being a person who is an accuser of others is not godly, it is satanic! This isn’t an issue just for deaconesses, it’s an issue for everyone. This doesn’t mean we should not confront evil – we should! It means that we shouldn’t be people who talk about others in a destructive, accusatory way. We should love others as God does, not be malicious toward them like our enemy the devil is.
Malicious talk happens when churches divide into camps – different people with different loyalties and different agendas. There is only one camp in the church of God
The last thing this passage addresses that we haven’t already dealt with in our other studies is the issue of excellent standing mentioned in verse 13.
Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus
There’s a very simple yet profound principle being described here. This has nothing to do with a person’s assurance of salvation. It has nothing to do with our position in Christ. In Christ we have been given the full measure of God’s grace, and there is nothing we can do to earn any more of God’s love than we have already been given.
The standing that is talked about here is rather the position of being well respected and appreciated by those you serve and who observe the way you conduct yourself, and also refers to the favour you find in the Lord’s eyes as a faithful servant who will be justly and generously rewarded (1 Cor. 3). There is also a sense in which deacons who serve faithfully in their specific tasks show themselves of good character to be entrusted with a role of general oversight as Elders. This is not a promotion as the world sees it, but rather an opportunity to take on even greater responsibility in service. The church does not need or want Elders who will lord it over others and use their position for their own benefit, therefore it is well advised to seek out men with a proven track record of faithful service rather than self-promotion.
As well as gaining an excellent standing, those who serve well gain “great assurance in their faith”. This is not talking about a greater certainty of salvation, but rather a greater boldness and confidence in living out and expressing their faith.
Many of the tasks that we take on in serving God and His Church are nerve-wracking or daunting to us at the start! However as we step out in faith and obedience we find that God enables us to do what He has called us to do. There is a confidence that grows in a person who has experienced that. The longer we serve in any particular task, the greater the confidence we have in doing it.
People of various ages have often remarked about how comfortable I seem to be in front of a group of people. The truth is that I don’t always feel that confident, yet I take on public tasks boldly because it is one of the things that God has called me to do. Early on in my journey, this was a much more terrifying thing for me to do than it is today, because I am further along in my journey of service. Christians should never hold themselves back from service, because if they do they will not only disobey their Master and leave His work undone, but they will stop themselves from growing in confidence and usefulness to God and His Kingdom.
Deacons who serve well are noticed by God and by others, and they grow in their own confidence in allowing their faith to make a real difference in the Kingdom of God
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