Who is a D(d)eacon?

[Slide 1] Well today will be a little bit different.

As you’ve noticed, I am not standing behind a pulpit today, but rather here on the floor among you. The reason for this is to communicate very clearly that we are not preaching. The difference between preaching and teaching is that preaching must call all people to respond, since it is the declaration of the gospel and its ongoing effect on God’s people and the world as a whole. Unlike preaching, teaching does not need to call people to respond, although I will call you to respond at the end of this lesson. Teaching also differs from preaching in that we will not necessarily be basing all our thoughts on the gospel of Jesus Christ but rather on the logical conclusions we must come to about the subject matter of Deacons when we look at the word of God.

We’ve done teaching series before where we have looked at matter that relates to the gospel and is drawn from scripture but is not wholly relying on what God has said alone but is meant to teach, inform, and possibly illicit change.

As I’ve said before, the Elders consider this teaching to be of the utmost importance to our church, and I will elaborate on that a little later. For now, let’s jump right in.

On the screen behind me, you see the question, “What is a D(d)eacon?” Ignore the parenthesis for now – it is there for a reason but we will get to it momentarily.

If we are going to study what a “Deacon” is, it would do us well to try to define our terms.

So, I have a white board up here and we will spend some time defining this together. First, I need a volunteer to come up and be my scribe.

[Slide 2] So, what do you think a deacon is? I should say, that if you participated in this study back in June, I’d ask that you refrain from giving answers – at least at first. Give everyone else a chance.

Ok. Thank you scribe for your help.

So, we have quite a list up here. So far, this is what we in our “group mind” have come up with for a definition of Deacon.

[Slide 3] But what if we wanted a more definitive answer? Where could we go to find the exact definition of the word?

[Slide 4] How do we use the bible to get a good definition for the word deacon? Well, we could do a word search for the noun and verb forms of the word. Since it is an office of the church – the word is probably used about 1000 times in the New Testament right?

[Slide 5] The Greek noun is dia;konoV. Say it with me. Diakonos. And as you can see, the noun form of this word is used 30 or fewer times in the New Testament.

What you see on the screen is how different translations when finding that Greek word – go about translating it. This will help us to understand the semitic range or the fullest expression of this word.

So, even though this is only a small sampling of 4 English translations, we start to see a pattern emerge, don’t we?

Although there are some random glosses, or definitions of the Greek word – it pretty much comes down to 2 definitions.

The overwhelming majority say that the noun dia;konoV means servant or minister.

We also notice that in every version only 3 times is the noun used to refer to the office of a deacon. So 3 times in 30. That is only 10% of the usage of the noun actually referring to the office of a Deacon. That is… surprising.

[Slide 6] What about the verb form of the word. That’s right. There is a Greek word – to deacon. It is diakone;w. Say it with me. Diakonehoh.

Again, this verb is only used 37 times in the New Testament.

Let’s look at the same translations and how they translate the verb.

So again, although it is a small sampling of versions – the pattern emerges fairly quickly. To deacon, means to serve or minister.

We also see that the VAST majority of uses of this verb, deaconing, is not in reference to the office of a Deacon. In fact, only 5% of the time is the verb used to talk about the office of the Deacon, deaconing. That is… shocking.

Although it would be far simpler for us to go to those 3 verses for the noun and 2 verses for the verb. Especially since 2 of the verses from the noun are in the same passage of scripture and the verbs are there too.

In case you didn’t catch what I just said – in the entire New Testament, the office of a Deacon is only mentioned in verb or noun form… in two, yes, two passages. And one of those passages teaches us virtually nothing about the office of a Deacon. As we’ll see next week.

Because there is so little to go on regarding what a deacon is, it makes much more sense for us to look at the non-office uses of this word first.

What we’ll find, is that the word deacon is older than the office of a Deacon.

In fact, the office was created and named because of people who were… deaconing. Or being deacons (lowercase d).

What is clear, is that if we can understand the word “deacon” it will greatly help us understand the office? So, let’s see how the noun is used, specifically when it is NOT talking about the office of a Deacon.

[Slide 7] Before you is all 26 times in 24 passages where the noun is used but DOES NOT refer to the office of a Deacon. Let’s read each of these and see how it is translated and what is the context.

I’d like to read each one back to back with little to no break. I may make a comment or two but if you are next to read, just go right in to it. To expedite that process let’s assign each number quickly –

So who wants 1-24

Now that all have been assigned let’s listen to each being read. Readers, feel free to get a bit of context before or after if you think it will help us understand what is being said.

[Slide 8] So, we have seen the noun form of deacon used 26 times in 24 verses. What can we determine about the word – deacon? What does the word deacon mean?

Yeah. So, it means servant, minister, someone who physically and spiritually aids someone.

Now rather than going to every verb -and reading all 37 of those occurances, I think we can reasonably assume that they essentially communicate the same meaning.

[Slide 9] Unless you want to turn to all 30 verses? I thought not.

[Slide 10] So… who is (or ought to be) a deacon?

Notice the lower case! We are not talking about the office just yet.

Who ought to be described as a servant or minister? When we speak of ministry what are we speaking of?

And what is the ministry of Christians? What does it mean to do the work of the ministry?

Let’s go to Ephesians 4:11-16

What is the work of the ministry? Who does the work of the ministry?

This is a very important passage for us to consider as we understand what the church is and how it is to function.

READ

All Christians should be deacons (lower case d). All Christians should be loving and caring for one another. All Christians should be visiting the sick, helping the poor, showing compassion on the downtrodden, giving mercy to those who need mercy and compassion to those who need compassion.

All Christians should be doing what has traditionally been assigned to “Pastors” or “Deacons” – as such Pastors and Deacons have become outsourced hirelings to do the work of the ministry that the rest of the body is supposed to do. It effectively flips what the scriptures say. Instead of the pastors equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, the saints are hiring the Pastor or electing the Deacons for the work of the ministry. While the rest of the body does what? Well, that is the question, isn’t it?

If you are not a producer, what are you? A consumer. The rest of the body exists to be served rather than to serve.

It is very important for us – before we go ANY further in this study to realize this. Neither the Elders nor the Deacons of a church have exclusive responsibility to perform these functions within the church. In fact, the Elders have been called to equip you to deacon.

Christians serve. Christians minister. Christians love and help each other. Christians care for each other spiritually and physically.

[Slide 11] So before we can go anywhere, before we can move on from here. We have some things to address.

You might have expected to learn about the office of a Deacon today… but perhaps you are starting to see that unless we understand what it means to deacon… we cannot possibly hope to understand the office of a Deacon.

In this you must realize that one of the reasons that the Elders could not simply select Deacons for office from among us, is because there is a need for all our church membership to all be deacons (lowercase d).

When we set out to solve this issue about Deacons – we discovered that for various reasons, our church has a little bit of a crisis of culture.

Such a culture reveals that we have a faulty understanding of who the church is, and how they are to deacon one another.

But those who wrote our constitution before I was your pastor understood this – at least to some degree. For they called upon every single member to serve one another.

Let’s read the church membership covenant.

Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God and angels, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.

We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love:

To strive for the advancement of this Church in knowledge, holiness and encouragement;

To promote its prosperity and spirituality;

To sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines;

To give it a sacred pre-eminence over all institutions of human origin;

To contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations;

We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions;

To be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior;

To train up fathers to be the spiritual head of their families.

To religiously educate our children;

To seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances;

To walk circumspectly in the world;

To be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our character;

To avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger;

And to be controlled by the Spirit alone, and not be controlled by any practice, substance, or experience.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love;

To remember each other in prayer;

To aid each other in sickness and distress, bearing one another’s physical burdens and so fulfilling the law of love;

To bear one another’s sin burdens also; to reprove, rebuke, correct, and instruct in righteousness, so that others may be able to stand once again in the Spirit against temptation and grow into the full stature of Christ;

To cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech;

To be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

To esteem others better than ourselves by forgoing liberties when others will follow our example and sin against their own conscience;

And to esteem others better than ourselves by loving and fellowshipping with those that do not share our personal convictions.

Are we fulfilling this? To each other? To our families? Are we serving each other?

I will close with an example. It is a real example but I have changed the names and situation so as not to embarrass the individual if they should recognize the story.

Some time ago, a couple in our church – Bobby and Betty – showed up early for church just like every greeter does. Their name was next on the list, they knew the schedule, and they came early to greet people at the door. Little did Bobby and Betty know, because that Sunday was not a normal Sunday, there would be no greeters at the door. I apologized profusely, letting them know it was my fault. I should have contacted them that week to let them know that we didn’t need greeters this week. But as I told them, I rarely even look at the schedule and didn’t even think about the conflict. They were very gracious and kind – they didn’t mind being early, and it was no problem for them. In good Christian love forgiveness was extended without hesitation.

A few minutes before the church service began, Betty came up to me and said, “Pastor, I’d really like to volunteer to contact each person on the greeter list the week they are going to be greeters. I may not know all the numbers, so I may have to reach out to you to get them – but I’d like to take that off your plate.”

Rather than becoming offended or irritated by an Elder’s failure – in service and love for both the Elder and for their fellow church members – Betty stepped forward to ensure that the problem would not happen again.

CBC – THAT is deaconing!

And it is not the responsibility of an office holder here. It is our responsibility. To serve one another. To see needs and meet them. Whether they are physical, spiritual, to help the church body at large, a specific family or group, or even to peel things away from the Elders – THAT IS DEACONING.

Perhaps today, you need to confess some sin. Perhaps you need to cut something out of your life to enable you to serve this body. Not as an officer. Not to earn an office. But just because that is what God’s people do. We serve each other. The qualifications for this kind of deacon (lowercase d) is simply being a Christian.

If you are a Christian, how are you serving? And if you are a member here… how are you serving this particular body? And if you aren’t a member here, wouldn’t you like to be a member of a church where we are all deaconing? I hope that is true of CBC very soon.