Qualifications for Deacons

Transcript

GR 1268
3/21/2004
Qualifications for Deacons
1 Timothy 3:8-13
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to I Timothy 3, and we are literally taking care of some housekeeping details as Paul instructs Timothy how the household of God is to be ordered and arranged. You know certain things that we have to deal with in our Christian life are just what we would call the mundane, necessary tasks. And that’s like much of our lives generally. Most of life is not lived on the exciting edge, and most of us are glad for that. That those emotional peaks, those exceptionally exciting times are thrilling, but we’re not built to be able to live there constantly. Most of what we do in our lives comes to be the routine, normal day-after-day activities. We try to build into our children as they are young and then they get a little older, how important it is to do what they need to do. But I don’t feel like it, it’s no fun. We need to tell them, this is what you need to do. Because you know that in the doing of those things, they will be building a life that is effective. That’s the way it is with our Christian lives. Sadly, some professing Christians think that their Christian life ought to be lived on the emotional edge all the time, always looking for that new high, the next exciting, thrilling moment. But really the Christian life is lived, and the church’s activity is basically carrying out, the normal, mundane things in serving the Lord. Now how can you call serving the Lord mundane? Maybe that is an oxymoron. Maybe it’s a contradiction—mundanely serving the Lord. But what I’m talking about is the routine activity—some things we have to do today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

We talk about how the church is ordered and arranged in its structure as Paul has been doing in I Timothy 3. We think, well look it doesn’t really matter to me whether we have elders, whether we have deacons, whether we have one board or three boards. You know, that’s fine with me. But you know these necessary details determine the effectiveness of the church and the ministry God has given it to do. What he’s really telling us about, according to I Timothy 3:15, remember, is how we conduct ourselves in the household of God. That’s the Church, God’s household. And Churches that do not follow this pattern and are not careful to be biblical in how they are organized and structured will get into trouble. If you do not have godly men responsible for the teaching of the Word and the oversight and care of God’s people, how are you going to deal with error when it infiltrates the church? If they are not godly men, they won’t know it when they see it. And when they do see it, if they are not godly men, they won’t know how to handle it; they will not handle it properly. And so the church begins to disintegrate, begins to drift. We must do it God’s way, and we must be careful of not thinking, maybe what God said is not important. Like our children, some things they have to do without even understanding why, simply because you as their parent have told them, this is what you must do. You may not appreciate it now; you may not understand it now, but some day you will. It’s sad for a child who does not have that kind of discipline and order brought to his life, and gets closer and closer to adulthood without having learned certain of those basic structures of life.

So Paul has established that God’s plan is that His church be shepherded by godly men, called overseers, elders or pastors—same people, different names, little different emphasis on their responsibilities. He has spent time in the first 7 verses of chapter 3 laying out what are the qualifications for men who would serve as elders. And we have looked into these qualifications in some detail. And there is a fair amount of information in the New Testament on the role and responsibility of elders, overseers or pastors. The two main passages are this one in I Timothy 3 and then a parallel one in Titus 1:5-10.
But there are other passages as well that we looked into.

The second group appointed by God and specified by God to carry spiritual responsibility and leadership in His church are the deacons. And their qualifications are set forth in I Timothy 3:8-13. Now we have a little more difficult time in dealing with the deacons because this is the only passage in the New Testament that clearly identifies deacons and speaks to their qualifications. One other reference mentions them by name—Philippians 1:1. Paul addresses the letter to the Philippian church, to the saints including the overseers and deacons. What we do find out is the church at Philippi, and that letter was written before this letter to Timothy, had a recognizable group of overseers, plural, and also a recognizable group of deacons, plural, along with the rest of the saints. Now we went back to Acts 6 in our previous study, and in Acts 6 we noted that it seems that we may have there the beginning of what developed into the office of deacon. The men appointed in Acts 6 are not called deacons. You may want to turn there, just remind you of a couple of points that will lead into what Paul says in I Timothy.

In Acts 6 in the early church, we are in the early stages of the church when the church is still Jewish, comprised of Jews; hasn’t reached out to the mixed-blood Samaritans or to the Gentiles yet. But a conflict has arisen—the church is experiencing explosive growth, thousands, literally, are coming to Christ. And the apostles are being overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, and a conflict comes up because the Jews with a Greek background who have moved into the area and have become believers, didn’t believe their widows were being treated fairly. Part of the church’s responsibility is seeing that these matters were taken care of. The apostles said that they did not want to turn away from their ministry of prayer and preaching the Word to take care of these kinds of physical needs. So they gave instructions, verse 3: therefore, brethren, select from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task, and we’ll continue our ministry of prayer and preaching the Word. And so they selected 7 men. And many commentators, and I tend to agree with them, believe this is probably the beginning of what we know of as the office of deacon. With the apostles moving off the scene and the church expanding, elders are appointed in churches, wouldn’t be apostles in most of those churches, elders are appointed to oversee the ministry.

But now to serve with the elders, and to be sure the elders are able to keep their focus on the ministry of the Word that’s been entrusted to them, deacons carry on the responsibility. We want to note something while we’re here. We sometimes think that deacons do service, the lower level things, and elders teach the Word and lead the people.
But you understand, deacons, while they may have responsibility in other areas of ministry, also may very well be involved in the preaching and teaching of the Word and in the leadership of God’s people. They just do so under the elders. Stephen, one of the men appointed here, one of the most powerful preachers that we have in the early church as recorded in Acts 8. Philip will be known as Philip the Evangelist, as we noted, at a later time. They are put in charge, at the end of verse 3, of this task of seeing the ministry to widows is cared for. Doesn’t say they have to do it, but they are responsible to see that it is done properly, and they have to be men of highest character, of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. And Paul is going to elaborate a little bit on those qualifications in I Timothy 3, to what it means to be of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.

Turn over to I Timothy 3. Deacons come up rather abruptly. He’s mentioned elders, but we have some history of elders in the book of Acts by name, where elders were appointed in the churches in Acts 14. Money was sent to the church in Jerusalem and put into the care of the elders there in Acts 11. Paul met with the elders from Ephesus in Acts 20. So we have some background for elders and their ministry, but here aside from that clear reference to deacons in Philippians 1:1, deacons just are addressed and it is assumed they are familiar. Evidently from that time in Acts 6, a pattern was established by the apostles that has been carried out. And even though it’s not delineated for us in detail, by the time we come to this letter to Timothy it is pretty much an established practice.

So he wants to tell them what must be the character and qualifications of men who would serve as deacons. Begins in verse 8 by saying, deacons likewise must be men of dignity. The word deacon here, and we’ve just carried it over, transliterated it into English. We’ve just taken the Greek letters and replaced them with English letters. The Greek word is deakamos and you hear it—deacons. We’ve just taken the Greek word and made it an English word. There are various forms of the word; they all sound about the same, some verbal forms. But a deacon is just someone who serves. The word itself is used about 100 times in the New Testament, so it’s a common word, various forms of the word it means to serve, to be a servant. Sometimes it’s translated minister, sometimes it’s translated help. So there are a variety of English words that might be used, but the basic idea of the word is to be a servant. And so we talk about deacons or servants. Back in Acts 6, those men who were going to be appointed to meet the needs of the widows were going to be serving tables, doing a ministry of service. So even though they are not called deacons, a form of the word deacon is used in the context there to speak of the ministry that they will be having.

These are going to be godly men; they have important roles in the church. So they are marked out as men who likewise must be men of dignity. Likewise, just like the elders had to meet the qualifications of godly men, so deacons must also be godly men. We’re going to see some overlap and we spent some time in a rather detailed fashion through the qualifications of elders. I noted then we would be doing a much more summary consideration of deacons, since what is said about the deacons has really been covered to a large extent by what is said about the elders. Sometimes a different word is used, but carrying the same idea, and we’ll note that. Deacons must be men of dignity. Dignity: a word that refers to dignified, serious behavior that causes people to respect that person. We sometimes think the word dignified means serious or solemn. We noted when we considered elders, that's not the idea. But there ought to be a respectability about the person. That’s what we’re talking about with this word.

Back in I Timothy 2:2 it is a quality that is to be found in every believer. We’re praying for kings and all in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. That doesn’t mean Christians have to be gloomy, but there is a seriousness about us. There is to be a respectability about us. We conduct ourselves in such a way that it ought to bring forth respect. That doesn’t mean people won’t slander us falsely and so on, but the deportment of our lives ought to be worthy of respect.

In Titus 2, just after the letters to Timothy, Paul wrote to Titus about the same time. And he said concerning older men, Titus 2:2, older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible. That word dignified is the word we’re talking about. You say, well, old men with gray beards, they ought to be solemn and gloomy. But down in verse 7. He says in verse 6, likewise urge the young men to be sensible. In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified. So it is to be a characteristic of a believer regardless of age. We ought to conduct ourselves with respectability. That doesn’t mean we don’t have fun, we can’t enjoy ourselves. We have our own personalities; everybody doesn’t have to fit into a mold. We have to be careful of that. Some people are going to be more outgoing, more fun kind of people; other people are going to be more serious kind of people. I think of it in the context of being a parent. You sometimes let your hair down with your kids and you get on the floor and you play with them. In one way you’re acting like a 4-year-old but in another way you’re not. I realize some parents today can’t make a distinction between playing with their kids and acting like their kids’ friends. There ought to be a distinction between a parent and their 6-year-old’s friends. In other words, even though the parent can have fun with his kids, you can do all of that, but in your carrying yourself as a parent there is a difference. You are to have a dignity and respectability about you. There is a difference. They are your kids; you are their parents. And that is true in everything you do. Doesn’t mean at times there is not a certain maybe silliness as you’re playing with your kids, but there is never a loss of distinction. You are the parent, they are the child, there are friends of your children that are their age. There is a difference between them and you. That’s what I think of when I think of the respectability here, this day of “fun” Christianity. So we ought not to lose sight of when God picks church leaders, He expects a certain quality about them that will be true of them, that will reflect something of His character and His work in their lives. So here is a man who is dignified and who is worthy of the respect of God’s people.

He is not double-tongued. This is a word we see, the idea all around us. We have a Presidential campaign going on and one of those who will be candidate said of the other who will be a candidate, he’s been in the Congress long enough to have been on every side of every issue. Well if we were using the Greek terminology, we would have used this word to express that. I’m not saying I agree with that man or not, I’m using it as an example of what’s carried in this word. This is a person who says one thing to one person, but on the same subject he may say another thing to another person. He could convey two different ideas to two different people. There are people that you wouldn’t trust what they tell you. Why? You’re not sure they’re telling you the same thing they would tell someone else on the subject. They’re double-tongued. Or a person who would say one thing and mean something else could be included in this word. You know, it depends on what “is” is kind of thing. In other words, I’m parsing out words. I’m telling you something, but you know what? I probably don’t mean what you think I mean. But I want to give you the impression that I’m saying what you want to hear, but I’m really saying something else. So these kinds of people... in other words, a person who is devious with words. I just don’t trust them, you just can’t trust what they tell you, you don’t know. You meet somebody and they say, well they told me the exact opposite.

So men who would be appointed in this position must be men who can be taken at their word, have honesty and integrity when it comes to their speech. You may not like what he said, but you can be sure that he spoke truthfully to you, what he really believed. And he speaks to someone else later today; he won’t give them a different opinion on the same subject. He’s a man of his word.

Not addicted to much wine. We mentioned this with elders, same idea was mentioned with the elders in verse 3 of this chapter. Not addicted to wine. Not the same words, but the same idea. This is a person who doesn’t give much attention to his wine. And some basic things. We wouldn’t even consider a man for elder or deacon who would get drunk. But in those days they had to be careful; that was clear. We covered this with the elder—not given to wine. Not involved in drinking.

Not fond of sordid gain. This same qualification was mentioned for elders in Titus 1:7, using the same words—not fond of sordid gain, not in it for the money. In I Timothy 3:3, he says at the end of the verse, free from the love of money. Saying the same thing, using different words in I Timothy 3:3. And we noted then the parallel to it in Titus 1:7. It’s the same words in Titus 1:7 as we have here in I Timothy 3:8 regarding deacons. In other words, deacons should not be in it for the money, they should not be driven for it by money. Church leaders are sometimes paid for their ministry. He’ll talk about elders in this context. But deacons, by nature of their ministry, will be involved in handling of funds. For example in Acts 6, if they are the forerunners of deacons, and they’re going to see that the needs of the widows are cared for, they’re going to have to have money at their disposal. They have to be men who can be trusted with it.

This is to be true of all of us as believers; it must be true of those who would come to be part of the spiritual leadership of the church. Listen to Hebrews 13:5, make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.
That’s true for all of us as believers. We find our satisfaction, our fulfillment is all we need in the Lord who has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. So Paul could write to the Philippians, I have learned to be content with every situation. I know how to get along with abundance, and I know how to get along with lack. So what is not being condemned here is anyone who has an abundance. It’s our affection for abundance, or doing what we do for the monetary reward of it.

How do you know what’s in a heart? You know, all of these qualifications must be observable. Sometimes we run and hide behind it and say, nobody knows what’s in my heart. That’s true. No one but God knows what’s in your heart, but it’s not relevant to the discussion. Because if the church is to make decisions on these men, and we noted this with elders, they are going to have to observe these men, their conduct, their behavior, what they do, how they live, and make decisions on that basis. Oh judge not that you be not judged. Well, that has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. We just don’t run around throwing out verses of scripture that happen to come to our mind, and we don’t have any idea what they refer to. Neither does anyone else, but it must have something to do with something. Judge not that you be not judged. Good verse of Scripture that must be understood in its context as it was given. Here we’re being told to exercise judgment. We’ll get there in a moment. These men must first be tested. You know what they have to do? They have to undergo judgment, be evaluated. When we talk about not fond of sordid gain, how are we going to see that? We’re going to have to observe their lives. Oh I think he lives in too big of a house, or drives too nice of a car, or wears too nice clothes, or goes to too good restaurants. Well maybe a factor to consider and look at, we may have to spend time and get to know him well enough. I’ve been with people who are very wealthy and come away convinced—they have a lot but it’s clear that’s not what motivates their lives. God has made an abundant provision for them, far more than they need, but they don’t give any evidence to me of being attached to it in the wrong sense. And you can have very little and be greedy and desirous of it.
So it’s not amount of possessions. We’ll get to it later in Timothy where there’s a warning, when you have much, there is danger attached to it. You begin to develop affection for those things you have. I’m not saying it’s not without danger, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about that desire. And so those who would be deacon have to be clear they are not in what they do for the money, and there’s no question about that area of life.

Now you’ll note how this comes together. Verse 8 he says, they must be men of dignity, worthy of respect. That means, so then he explains it further by giving you the negatives. That they are not to be double-tongued. A person who you can’t trust what they say is not respectable. You don’t respect a person whose word you can’t trust. Not addicted to much wine. Drunks don’t get much respect, they’re not respectable. Not fond of sordid gain. I realize the world admires greedy people. But as believers, they’re not respectable. So you have the statement made, the negatives further elaborate it, then he comes back to the positive in verse 9—holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. The mystery of the faith. Mystery is something that was not prior revealed, could not be known apart from the revelation God gave. The fullness of the truth of God’s work of redemption in Christ and the establishing and building of the church was a truth that awaited New Testament revelation. In fact Paul is going to elaborate on this in verse 16, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. And it’s about Christ who came in the flesh, performed the work of redemption on the cross, and ascended back to the glory of heaven. That’s the mystery, the truth concerning Christ and the fullness. There were prophecies concerning Him, concerning His death, but the fullness of revelation concerning the work of Christ and that redemption and the gathering together of Jew and Gentile into the church, that’s New Testament revelation. In Ephesians 3, a letter written to the same church that Timothy is serving, Paul says the mystery of the Church was revealed to me. So that is truth that would not have been known had not God chosen to reveal it and make it known. And He did that in this case through the Apostle Paul, primarily.

They must be holding to the mystery, the mystery of the faith, the truth concerning what we believe, the truth concerning Christ. They must have a grasp of that, they must know the truth. So deacons must be men of the Word, they must know the truth of the Word. And you’ll note, they must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And that’s the emphasis here. The emphasis is on the clear conscience, not on the holding. They must be holding and have a grasp of that truth, but they must do so with a clear conscience. Some people take in knowledge, they sit in Bible studies and they learn a lot of facts. But they’ve never really believed and submitted to the truth.
You know the picture in II Corinthians 3:18, as we are beholding as in a mirror the truth concerning Christ, we are being transformed into the same image by the Spirit, that supernatural work of the Spirit taking the Word of God as we take it in. As newborn babes long for the pure milk, that you might grow with respect to your salvation, Peter wrote.

That’s what we’re seeing here. These deacons are to be men who know the Word of God and live it. They hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
II Corinthians 1:12, for our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience. So here’s what my conscience testifies, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you. This is the testimony of our conscience—a holy life, a godly life, living in light of the grace of God and its work in our lives. That’s how we conduct ourselves in the world and in our relationship with you. That’s what we’re talking about, about these men who would be evaluated.

Now the conscience, the conscience is a guide, it is a standard. And the conscience acts according to the standard we give it; maybe that’s a better way to put it. You know it accuses us. You’re taught something is wrong, then you do what you were taught was wrong. You what? Have a sense of guilt--what I did was not right. Our conscience was conditioned by what we were taught and acted accordingly. Now everyone has a conscience and to one degree or another, that conscience acts as a guide, because we were created in the image of God. And even though sin has brought corruption and distortion, Romans 2 tells us that even the unregenerate person has an innate sense of right and wrong. You have people you talk to, an unbeliever, who has committed a sin, stolen money, been immoral. They say, I felt so guilty. Why? They don’t believe the Bible, they haven’t studied the Bible, but they had a sense of guilt and wrong. That’s why Romans 1 says that all humanity is guilty before God because they suppress the truth. They know, but they won’t acknowledge. But the conscience is not a perfectly reliable guide because of sin. If wrong standards are given to people, the conscience operates with a wrong standard. But as a believer we need to be careful about violating our conscience. If we cannot do it in good faith, we should not do it. Whatever is not of faith is sin. If it violates our conscience, we shouldn’t do it.

Go back to I Timothy 1. Now we’re talking about the conscience of a believer being conditioned by the scripture. Occasionally I have people come and talk to me and they’ve done something sinful. And they say, I think it’s all right with the Lord, I don’t feel guilty. But it doesn’t matter how you feel. I can tell you, you are guilty. Because the Bible says what you did was sin. We want to be careful that we don’t begin to think, well if I don’t have a sense of guilt I’m okay. Our consciences have been affected by sin, and so the Word of God now becomes the standard. And our conscience must act according to the standard of what God has set down. In I Timothy 1:5, but the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith. You see a good conscience, a conscience that doesn’t accuse you, has not been violated, functioning in the context of a sincere faith and a pure heart—the consistency that is there. There is danger for those who would violate their conscience. Paul referred to this in I Timothy 1:19, about the importance of keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected. You know what happens when you reject the faith and good conscience? You suffer shipwreck in regard to the faith. And that’s a warning. Now people profess to be believers. Even if you are a believer, it violates your conscience. The pleasure of sin is attractive. There is a sense of guilt, there is an awareness that what I did was wrong, but I like it. But we’re on the road to wreck, ruin. So believers must not violate their conscience. Their conscience must be lived in obedience to the Word of God. That’s the standard by which my conscience now is to operate.

So deacons must be those who hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. How do I know if they have a clear conscience? I’m not God. No, but I see what they do. Are they living what they profess to believe? That’s when they have a clear conscience. Someone who says, oh no, I know the Word. I might be talking to another preacher who knows the Word every bit as well or better than I do. But if he shares he’s in sin, he doesn’t have a good conscience. If there is obviously sin in his life, we see things in one who would be a deacon; then he’s not qualified. So that’s what a clear conscience is. We’re not looking into the heart; we’re looking at the evidence of what’s in the heart, what is in the mind.

These men first must also be tested. And that word also means that’s just like the elders. So these men also must first be tested. The also refers to also, just like the elders had to first be tested. He had to be above reproach, verse 2, an elder, and then he could serve. He must be above reproach. And verse 6, not a new convert. Verse 7, had to have a good reputation. So also deacons must be first tested, put to the test. That doesn’t mean that for anybody who becomes a deacon there must be a formal exam that they fill out, or an interview process they go through. There is something wrong if deacons fill out a questionnaire, if they are interviewed, that may be part of a process. The point he has in mind is what he’s been talking about—the living of their life, the conducting of themselves, their handling of the Word of God, their living out the truth of the Word of God. That’s the test. They are put to the test, they are tried, and these are men who have demonstrated. Being a deacon is not the proving ground. The proving ground is your life up until that time; and those who have demonstrated the quality of their life, the things we just talked about, then they can be appointed as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Doesn’t mean they are perfect men. We’ve been through this with elders so we’re not going to go into detail on this. There are no perfect men. That does not become an excuse or an allowance for sin. But we don’t get to the point that nobody could serve because everyone has failed in some way to be everything they ought to be. That’s true. So let him who is without sin cast the first stone. That’s another good verse. Has nothing to do with what we’re talking about here. God doesn’t contradict Himself. People who don’t believe the Bible can talk about contradictions. There are no contradictions. Here God does tell us, put these men to the test, examine their lives. When they are brought before you, men who would serve as deacons, we’d say the board of elders has examined these men, we’ve met with these men. At this point from what we know we believe that this is a man who could serve as a deacon in this church. And those men share their testimony. And then we ask you to respond. Why? You have opportunity to observe his life perhaps in contexts that we don’t. We shared this with elders, you may say I work with him, his testimony at work is not good, language at work is not good, work ethic is not good, or other areas. So it’s part of the test, he’s being examined. And if nothing comes up, there is no reproach, there is nothing that can be brought against him that is proved to be true, then he can be appointed to serve as a deacon.

All right, verse 11, women. You know as soon as we say that, there’s going to be trouble. We saw that at the end of chapter 2. As soon as we got into the women’s area there was trouble. Now we have to deal with the women. And I don’t mean bad trouble, but there’s confusion. Know what the first thing happens here? We have to decide who the women are, and there are disagreements over this, because the Greek word for women means woman. It can also mean wife. The same word translated woman in verse 11, and verse 12 it’s translated, deacons must be the husband of only one wife. Obviously the context means that woman is his wife. The same word sometimes means wife, sometimes means woman. And the disagreement that comes in verse 11 is, who are the women in view? Are they the wives of the deacons? I’m just going to narrow it down to 2 basic views here. Or are they women who serve as deacons? And there are good men on both sides of the issue. I can mention names on both sides, and you would recognize the men on both sides. It’s not an issue that is easily resolved. I tend to view that these are wives of deacons, so I’ll get that out first. I’m not going to die on that belief. If it would turn out that someone would prove that these women were really deacons, it wouldn’t change anything for me in that sense. We have godly women who carry out ministries here; if these are deaconesses they could serve as deaconesses. Churches that get into trouble over this are churches that are not governed by a group of elders, but are governed by a group of deacons. And one of the church denominations we were part of, their practice was to have the pastor be the only elder, and then there was a board of deacons who governed the church. Some churches get into difficulty over this because they say, well then there are deaconesses as well as deacons and you end up with deaconesses, women, on the governing board of the church. Well the problem comes from that church; they didn’t get things sorted our properly. The church should have been governed by a board of elders under which the deacons serve. And even if these are deaconesses they cannot do jobs that God forbids to women, so they can’t be teachers or leaders over men, according to the end of chapter 2.

I don’t want to go into all the details on this occasion or we won’t get through it.
I think the context favors them being the wives of deacons. Now if you’ll note, he talks about deacons and then he says women in verse 11. Then in verse 12 he’s talking clearly about men, because they must be a husband of one wife. I think in verses 11-12 he’s talking about the family qualifications—the qualifications of a wife of a deacon and his family situation in verse 12, rather than bringing in women deacons and then going back to male deacons. And he doesn’t say anything about the women in verse 11, if they’re deacons, that he hasn’t already said about the men. And part of this comes from the fact that some argue that there was no feminine form of the Greek word, deacon. For example, Phoebe in Romans 16 is called a deacon, translated often as servant. And the discussion often is, was Phoebe a formal deaconess? But the word deacon there is masculine. And usually in Greek that word would agree with what it modifies. If Phoebe is the deacon, you would expect a feminine form of the word deacon. They used the masculine form. So the argument here is, since the masculine form was used of both men and women, he had to specify women in verse 11 when he wanted to talk about female deacons instead of deaconesses. That’s at least partially true. But if deacon includes men and women, why did he have to go back and repeat the same qualifications for women deacons as he just gave for men deacons? It seems to me they are already included.

And then the fact he’s going to go back and continue to talk about men and their relationship to their wives and their children would seem to fit into the context to be referring to wives of deacons. Why didn’t he talk about the wives of elders? Because it doesn’t matter what the wives of elders are like, it only matters what the wives of deacons are like. No, that wasn’t true. I don’t know why he didn’t do that. Maybe he saw the wives of deacons more actively involved in their husband’s ministries. Just like we don’t hear much about the wife of Peter as he’s traveling around preaching the Word. In fact we don’t hear much about the wives of any of them. That doesn’t mean they are not important. Perhaps in this role, the wives played a more important role. We just don’t know. If it is deaconesses, I could live with that, as long as deaconesses function within the confines of what God says the role of women is. But I think it’s consistent here to stay with wives, and that explains why he’s repeating.

He says women must be dignified. That’s the same word we had used of deacons in verse 8, they must be men of dignity. Now once you give qualifications for deacons, that would include anybody who is a deacon. If they were female deacons they would automatically be included. That’s one of the indications to me we’re talking about the wives here. The wives must be of certain character. They must also be dignified, serious, worthy of respect. Not malicious gossips. We use a different word, but it’s the same idea we had with double-tongued in verse 8. Here the word is usually translated devil, slightly different form. The singular is always translated the devil, and then here when it is used as a plural, it’s of a slanderer. And that’s what the devil is, he’s a slanderer, he attacks people, destroys them with his verbal assaults. That’s the double- tongued person. So here this wife of a deacon must be someone who is faithful with her tongue. And anybody who is a malicious gossip or slanderer has become an agent of the devil. Remember Jesus said you are of your father, the devil, and you always want to do his works. If that’s the standard we apply in the church, we need to be very careful. We have a lot of servants of the devil who are carrying out his work of slander. Serious matter. So here he says wives of deacons should not be guilty of this sin. Terrible thing that we as believers would lend our tongue to the devil to do the greatest damage that could be done, because James 3 says, greater damage is done by the tongue than any other sin that is done. So serious matter here.

They are to be temperate. A word used in verse 2 of the elders. Temperate. Means they are sober, clear-headed, self-controlled. Could be used of being sober, not involved in alcoholic beverages, which would parallel not addicted to much wine in verse 8. So it could be literally sober, not a drunk, and then could also be used metaphorically, of being sober minded.

Faithful in all things. Just like we said holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Here these wives are to be faithful in all things, in all their duties, in all their activities. Their life is characterized by faithfulness. It would be similar to what their husbands have to do—hold the Word in a clear conscience. Another way to say be faithful to the truth. Here they are to be faithful in all things, all the responsibilities to their husbands, their homes, their children, their responsibility in the church, and all of that. They are characterized by faithfulness.

Continues this idea of talking about their families, I think in verse 12. They must be husbands of only one wife. Here is what the wife of a deacon must be, and there must be only one of them. We’ve already talked about that qualification of being a one- woman man in connection with the elders, back in verse 2 of this chapter. They must manage their own households well, their children well. That was covered with the elders back in verse 4, so we won’t go into that. Because remember, if Acts 6 records the first deacons, they were put in charge of these things. These are men of character. They have responsibilities; these are spiritual leaders so they have to be of spiritual character, a godly character.

The reason given in verse 13, for those who have served well as deacons, not just served as deacons, but served well. We see this emphasis on the elders’ ministry a little bit later in I Timothy. Those who served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. So serving well produces a high standing, great confidence. It is a position of honor to have served as a deacon. This is a position worthy of respect and honor, and they obtain for themselves a high standing, that honorable position. They’re not doing it to be honored of men anymore than you are doing what you do so men will respect you. But what you do should be respectable. Men have poured their lives into being faithful and doing well the job that God has given them as a deacon, then they obtain a high standing, an honorable position. And great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus, a boldness in their service for Christ.

I think the man Stephen is probably the greatest example of this, one of the original 7 first deacons, if I can call them that, in Acts 6. Turn back to Acts 6 and we’ll close with this. Just want to note his character here. Acts 6:5, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Here is a very godly man. Look at verse 8, Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Verse 10, they were unable to cope with the wisdom and spirit with which he was speaking. They bring false witnesses against him as they bring him before the council or the Sanhedrin. And then chapter 7 he stands up and speaks boldly. Any of us who believe the Scripture and do not admire Stephen, say he obtained an honorable position and great boldness in the faith, and he served in the position he was given. So I think it is important for us to see the office of deacon is part of God’s plan for the church becoming and being all that He intends it to be. There must be godly men, and the church will benefit from their godly ministry, and their faithful service will result in influence and boldness in their ministry. And Stephen is an example of that.

Beautiful simplicity God has established. He doesn’t go into a great amount of detail on what deacons must do and how they are to do it. So there is great flexibility, but that’s great flexibility and freedom within the bounds of what God has established. It’s clear these men must be of highest character, of godly demeanor. And then they must serve well. When they do, their influence will be felt in the church. And their ministry will have a great impact. So there is reward for them, and there is reward for the church. As is always the case, when we serve the Lord in obedience to His word, in obedience to His will, we personally benefit and all those that with whom we minister and serve benefit as well. It’s God’s Church. When it’s done His way, we experience His greatest blessing.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the richness of your Word. Thank you that in these matters which might be considered mundane, to make provision for the ongoing activities of the Church in all of its ministries, you have given careful instruction. Above all, your people are to be led and influenced by godly leaders, by men who are committed to you, who have demonstrated a passion for knowing Your truth and putting that truth into practice in their lives. Thank you, Lord, that you have raised up godly men to serve as deacons in this Church. Thank you for their influence. Thank you for the impact of their ministry and their lives. Thank you, Lord, for the confidence we have that as we follow your Word, you will work your will in this Church to bring honor to yourself. We praise you in Christ’s name, amen.