Elders and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-13

Drivers Ed with Coach Hale, intersection and he pointed right but said “Turn left”, I responded with “Turn left?” and he said “Right”, so I turned left. We then had a little chat about following instructions.

Sometimes when we look at texts, as Western Americans, we want crisp and clean clarity as what to do, but sometimes it isn’t that super clear.

“Nothing Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 3 is possible without the gospel of Jesus Christ. The character qualifications, the roles, and the responsibilities of church leaders are possible only as a result of Christ living in His people.” David Platt

The church is:

Organism

Living, Breathing people.

Been around for 2,000+ years

What happens if you don’t nourish and take care of an organism? Dies.

2. Organization.

God has given us structures and systems for how His church is to operate

Titles, positions.

Why? We’ve all either worked for or shopped at an organization that is poorly structured and poorly led. DYSFUNCTIONAL!

God’s design TRANSCENDS culture settings, transcends historical application.

The Design God has give us is:

Not a dictatorship

The church is ran by 1 person or a select group of people

Not a democracy

Everyone has equal voice and impact

The church that has committees who run committees who run committees

Met with a church leadership who was looking for help, averaged 12 people on a Sunday, they had over 8 different committees.

“Maximize Ministry, Minimize Maintenance”

As we look at 1 Timothy 3:1-13 This outline came from David Platt

1. Elders are servant leaders. vv. 1-7

15 Character Descriptions (7 positives “Must”, 4 negatives “Must not”, 4 positives “Must”)

Lead under the authority of Christ.

1 Peter 5:4 “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Care for the body of Christ.

1 Peter 5:2–3 “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”

Teach the Word of Christ.

“able to teach” v. 2.

Acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.””

Model the character of Christ.

Nothing that is described by Paul for the character quality of an elder would be above and beyond what Paul would say every follower of Jesus.

The only thing that separates an elder from any other follower of Jesus is this:

v. 1 says “Aspires to the office of overseer”. Practicality of this at FCC. Meet, Ask, Pray, Respond.

v. 2 Skill of teaching. What does this mean? Is teaching mean standing in a pulpit? Is a Sunday School classroom, Next Steps Class, Spiritual Growth Class?

He must KNOW the Word, LIVE the Word so he can confront, comfort, and communicate in any way the WORD to the people.

Some of the most influential “teaching” in my life did not happen in an “educational” setting. Rather happened on a river bank, a walk into the woods, building decks,

What’s not said in the text?

How long should an elder serve?

When and what do they actually do?

How many elders should there be per person in the church?

What is the process of interviewing and appointing elders?

List of qualifications rather than specific duties. How frequently does your job description change? Duties responsible for? Rather, the Word focuses on the qualities/character of the people.

God’s Word is Transcendent.

Elders are Servant Leaders

2. Deacons are leading servants. vv. 8-13

Acts 6:1–7 “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. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became…”

Meet needs according to the Word.

As the church grew in Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, so did the needs in the church.

Acts 2:45 “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

52 One Another’s in the NT.

In Acts 6, the need greatly surrounded around Widows “Of marriage age, but not married”

The Word calls us to ACTION.

Support the ministry of the Word.

For elders to elder, they must be freed to do so.

In Acts 6, due to the needs that were needed to being met, they couldn’t pray and proclaim the word.

Great Deacons are pressure relief values for the ministry of the word, not adding pressure.

The deacons in Acts 6 didn’t do everything and tell everyone else “watch me do the work” but rather they were organizing others to make certain the work of the word was getting done.

Unify the body around the Word.

Deacons bring and lead in unity, not disunity.

Not for personal gain, but for the Body.

I have heard of many of stories of the “Deacons” needing to meet with the pastor or wiht people and it is gossip central, or self-centered emporium.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 3:13

“Though the position of deacon seems by worldly standards to be menial and unattractive, to close followers of Jesus Christ it looks quite different. Those who fulfill their servant roles faithfully gain two things: first, an excellent standing before fellow Christians who understand and appreciate the beauty of humble, selfless, Christlike service; and second, great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. Humble service, which lacks all the rewards the world deems important, becomes a true test of one’s motives.” Duane Litfin

Some of you may be thinking “Ethan, I know I have heard about our ‘elders’ but what about our ‘deacons’. Do we have deacons? Yes, yes we do, they just don’t have the “title”.

Trish Bush-Stephens Ministry and Her Impact Life Group

Heather Yates-Connections Ministry

Jori Ortegon-Life Group Leader

Ray Moore and Butch Kitts-Care Portal

Jay Greenway-Student Life Leader

Craig and Jennifer Kitchen, Patrick and Nancy Stultz-Celebrate Recovery