Introduction to deacon series:

I’d like to start by sharing with you what the deacons have been praying about, considering and discussing with one another over the past month or so.

There are a couple Scripture verses, in particular, that direct us, very plainly I think, in regards to the function and purpose of the office of deacon; I Tim 3:8-13, where qualifications for a deacon are presented and Acts 6:1-7, where the narrative relates the first appointment of qualified deacons and the bountiful harvest that was yielded by the Spirit through the proper execution of their duties.

To begin with the latter verses, the narrative in Acts tells us that as the Church body grew the needs brought by each individual multiplied to the point that they weren’t able to be rectified without a significant amount of attention being paid to them. Of course, as was properly recognized by all through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, it was not proper that these needs be allowed to displace the primary responsibility of the eldership, and for that matter, for the Church; prayer and the ministry of the Word. So to meet this need, 7 men were appointed to manage the particular situation that had arisen, Stephen being the most prominent among them, of course.

Now getting to the former verses, one of several qualifications required of a deacon is that they manage their children and their own households well. In Paul’s outlining of this exact qualification for the eldership immediately prior to this, he tells us exactly why this is necessary; “for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (the 2 operative terms in that rhetorical being ‘manage’ and ‘care for’.)

So all this to say that our focus and task as deacons, as specified by the Word of God, is to manage, or minister to, the satisfaction of the needs of the Church body so that the overseers, or the eldership, are able to focus on their primary duties, as defined for them in the Scriptures.

(I recognize that there are a whole many more things that could be said about the office of deacon, and perhaps you have immediately in mind some other functions or responsibilities of that office, but that’s really not my main purpose here, so I’d ask that we hold off, at least for the moment, any further thoughts or conversation specifically regarding the office of deacon.)

Purpose of deacon series on serving the Saints:

From a practical perspective, and what I’m hoping we’ll begin to see when we look at today’s Scripture reading, is that just as we’re all to have a part in prayer and in the preaching of the Word of God (note Stephen’s recognition of this fact in Acts 7) we’re also to have, each one of us, a part in the ministration of one another’s needs.

Most, if not all of us, are pretty well familiar with the examples that other churches provide us in regards to leading both the deacons and the body in this endeavor; in both positive and negative ways. One approach that our church could take would be to seek to establish structures, rules, lists, policies, procedures and such in order to define parameters and metrics for our behavior and ministry towards one another. I’m pretty confident, however, that everyone here would agree with what Jay, Jason and I have come to agreement about is that this would an approach that’s pretty incompatible with our philosophy of ministry as well as our personality as a body.

Rather, what seems to be a more reasonable approach for us would be to develop and prayerfully nurture a consistent heart attitude of sincere love and fellowship, holding one another in higher regard than ourselves; just as we’re directed to do in Philippians 2:3.

Over the next month or so, Jason and I will be using the Scripture reading time, and on some weeks, the family teaching time to examine the Word of God and see what it has to say to each and everyone one of us in regards to how (regardless of age, gender, individual capacity for understanding or teaching) we are to minister to one another and why; which, in short, is to say in love and for the praise and glory of God.

Introduction to Scripture Reading:

As you open your Bibles to Philippians 1:1-11 for today’s Scripture reading there are a few things that I would like to draw attention to before we begin.

Philippians is a letter written from Paul to the believers at Philippi. It is not a book written to or about the unelect. In this letter, Paul gives thanks for the church’s gift to him as well as a report on someone named Epaphroditus, who had delivered that gift to him on behalf of the church and then become ill. Additionally, Paul, because of his sincere heart-felt love for them, sought to encourage the church to unity, service and love toward one another so that ultimately they would be found with a pure heart and blameless before Christ. He also wanted them to enjoy and have available to them the full and complete benefits of the faith given them, through Paul’s ministry, by the Holy Spirit.

There are direct references in the letter to believers preaching Christ from impure motives, such as envy and rivalry (1:15). While Paul doesn’t lose sight of the ‘big picture’ (as it were) by being very clear about his joy that the more important thing is getting accomplished, that is ‘Christ is being proclaimed’ (1:18), he’s also just as clear that to do so from impure motives, from ‘rivalry or conceit’ (2:3), is shameful to the individual and not something able to provide a cause for them to glory in Jesus Christ, who is, of course, the author and finisher of our faith.

Lessons from text:

Paul is very specific that what he’s written is not intended only for those hearing it read but also for those reading it. No one is exempt from his instruction, which is this:

1.       The source of thankfulness and joy that we have for each other is in our joint participation in the Gospel

2.       We can have absolute confidence that what we are doing is a good and excellent thing if it’s God’s will that we are obedient to and not our own

3.       An examination of our heart should result in a self-evident love that we have for one another (for it’s from here that God will witness either for or against us)

4.       A sincere love will produce an insatiable core desire for fellow workers and for the work

Application/conclusion:

To mash together a couple of popular phrases; we’re to be cautious not to find ourselves flailing about our hearts with an emotionally guided hatchet, as it were, in the blind hope of carving out some vapid ambiguous ‘love is all you need’ kind of feeling for each other. What is produced with this type can best be likened to tall stately reeds rising high out of a marsh or bog. These reeds might even have very attractive flowers budding at their tops. At the first wind of trouble or storm of crisis, however, these reeds are blown wildly about, uprooted and broken in pieces. What, if anything, remains once the storm has passed looks nothing like its former self. It’s ugly, knurled and misshapen. Ultimately, of no use even to look at.