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Come Praise And Glorify My Worth Is Not In What I Own Charge to Deacons & Church Pastor Michael Introduction of Russ Pratt Deacon Testimony: Russ Pratt Pastoral Prayer: Pray for Russ as he takes on the responsibilities of the deacon office Introduction of Ken Durkee Deacon Testimony: Ken Durkee Ordination Prayer: All ordained men can come forward and pray for Ken Closing Prayer

GRIT INTRODUCTION

I am currently reading a book a by Rebecca McLaughlin called, “10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask About Christianity.”

The first chapter is titled, “How Can I Live My Best Life Now?”

And the author goes on to explain all of the ways that Christianity benefits us in the here and now.

She certainly goes out of her way to speak of the eternal benefits that come from following Christ, but she also shows lots of evidence that people who live a Christian life are living a more abundant life.

In the chapter, the author lists out the evidences of the abundance that comes to us in the Christian life.

Christians are healthier and happier.

Christians give and receive sacrificial love.

Christians help others.

Christians are grateful.

Christians are forgiving.

Christians have a proper understanding of money.

All of these are listed as reasons that Christians experience more abundant living.

But for our purposes tonight, her final evidence was most intriguing to me.

Christians have grit.

What is “grit?”

As a sports fan, grittiness is a word used to describe a player that does all the things no one else wants to do.

In the custodial world, grit is the dirt that is hard to get rid of.

But in the psychological world, grit has actually become an official term.

It is a “personality trait characterized by perseverance and passion for achieving long-term goals.”

And apparently psychologists have found that this trait makes more of a difference to long-term success than the things the world tends to value—talent, good looks and intelligence.

McLaughlin points out that the call to grittiness is all over the New Testament.

The call of Christ to walk on the narrow road

The repeated calls to steadfastness in the letters of the Apostles

The call to run our race with endurance in Hebrews 12

But the text that captures Christian grit the most for me is Jesus’ initial call to daily death in discipleship with him.

Matthew 16:24 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Day in, day out, until the Lord returns—taking up your Cross and following Him in obedience each day.

Whatever He has called you to in that season.

Whatever He has called you to in that time.

Whatever He has called you to on that day.

Tonight we have two men who we are hearing from.

One has been a deacon in other Southern Baptist Churches, but will be taking on the title for the first time here at SBC.

The other has never been a deacon before and we are setting him aside for that work tonight.

And in both cases, I want to call these men—as well as all of our active deacons, to grit.

Diaconal grit.

Servanthood grit.

True Christian grit.

THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEACON PROTOTYPES

If you have been with us on Sunday mornings, you know that in Acts 6, we have deacon prototypes.

They are not called deacons in title, but they certainly seem to be a lot like deacons in function.

Allow me to read this text that has been familiar to us recently:

Acts 6:1–6 ESV

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

There is a dispute in the church. There is a practical need in the church. There is a strain on the leadership of the church.

These men are turned to by the congregation as those who can solve these problems.

They are looked to the sort of men who can restore peace to the congregation, meet the needs and help holds up the arms of the leaders.

For this is what deacons do.

Let’s examine each of these areas a little further.

1) DEACONS CARE FOR PHYSICAL NEEDS

In this passage, widows are being overlooked.

This was a serious issue.

The widows were alone in the world and needed the help of young church community to survive.

This was likely food that they are depending on for survival.

So the deacon prototypes are called on to bridge the gap.

The word deacon means servant.

It was primarily used of those who served tables.

And that is what they are doing here.

They are serving the tables of the widows—making sure enough food is coming to everyone—the Greek-speaking widows and the Jewish widows.

It is doubtful that these men did all of the work themselves.

Deacons are not superheroes. They can’t do everything on their own.

There were thousands in the church in Jerusalem at this point.

There is no way seven men could handle everything.

Surely they administrated the situation and organized food distribution and facilitated the work of the church to meet the needs of the widows.

So this is what deacons do. They meet the physical needs of church members.

They help come up with solutions so that brothers and sisters do not go without.

They bridge gaps that have formed to make sure that the life and love of the church is traveling to all of her members.

And in doing this, our deacons are:

Serving our physical well-being

Serving their own spiritual well-being, because it is a blessing from God to help others

Serving the witness of the Gospel to the watching world

2) DEACONS WORK FOR UNITY IN THE CHURCH

The need in Acts 6 is a very practical and physical need.

But it is also a spiritual issue.

It is spiritual because it is stirring up disunity in the body.

You have Greek-speaking, Hellenistic widows not getting food.

In Jewish synagogue life, Greek-speaking Jews were looked at as worldly.

These were Jews who had taken on the language of the marketplace and the world.

There was racial tension there.

So once you have this food issue rise up, all of the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians are going, “Is this how it is? Does that same prejudice exist in the church?”

Amazingly, the names of the men who are selected to handle the issue reveal that they were all likely Greek-speaking themselves.

They were the perfect ones to step in and absorb the potential shock of this situation and help maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Deacons should not be the complaining, grumblers of the church, they should be those who build up the body with their speech.

Deacons should not be unforgiving, grudge-holders, but those who are quick to offer second chances.

They should be the last ones to get sinfully angry. The last ones to tear down. The last ones to give up on people. The last ones to get territorial and small-minded about their turf.

Here is Paul’s high relational standard for every Christian:

Ephesians 4:29–32 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

The deacon should lead the way in this sort of behavior.

A church should always be able to look to her deacons as peacemakers.

3) DEACONS SUPPORT THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

In many ways, deacons are pastoral assistants, but we have to say it goes beyond that.

In truth, the deacon does not serve the man.

Not first and foremost.

Because if someone other than Michael Howard or Ben Little were the ones pastoring this church, our deacons would support them to.

The deacons serve the Word.

A byproduct of that is that they serve the men God has called to govern the church with the Word.

These deacon prototypes in Acts 6 are doing this work so that the Apostles, who are shepherding the church, would be able to continue in teaching and prayer.

Acts 6:4 ESV

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

And here is the thing about the best deacons—they don’t just wait tables because they see work that needs to be done.

They wait tables because of other work that needs to be done.

They are joyful to deacon the table so that the pastor can deacon the pulpit.

In other words, they love the ministry of the Word and that is why they wait the tables.

Those are the sort of deacons that we want.

We want deacons who love the Word so much that they agree it must be primary and are eager to use their position as a deacon to clear the way for the pastoral work of the Word to continue.

DON’T LOSE YOUR GRIT

Caring for physical needs. Maintaining unity. Supporting the work of the Word.

This is the deacon job description in a snapshot.

And we don’t just ask anyone to do it. Paul instructed Timothy that deacons should be tested first.

1 Timothy 3:10 ESV

And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

So the men we have serving are men that we believe have been tested and are fit for the office.

As we set Ken aside tonight, we believe this about him.

But I want to challenge you all to not allow your testing to be over.

Now you have the office, but you must maintain your grit.

You must take up your cross everyday as a Christian who has been called to be a deacon.

There will be temptations to relent.

Satan will come for your character.

The church will come for your time.

Your ego will come for your own importance.

You must stay on guard.

You must be faithful each day.

And be encouraged that you do not face this alone.

First of all, you have a church that loves you and other brothers in the deacon body who are in your company.

But more importantly, the Lord is with you.

And He has given you your weapons for warfare.

Ephesians 6:10–18 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Be diligent. Carry your Cross. Maintain your grit.