The Deacons' Call

Introduction

The church is under attack from many different directions, and she needs men who will defend her.

The church is under attack from without. On March 13, 2020, Nancy Pelosi introduced the “Equality Act” (so-called), a bill that, if passed, would add sexual orientation & gender identity as protected classes under federal civil rights law. The original Civil Rights Act was good and necessary because the law of the land enshrined inequality towards blacks and other minorities. This bill would penalize Christians and others who believe that marriage is for a man and woman only, and those who believe that only two genders exist. The “Equality Act” hasn’t been called for a vote, but if it were to pass, the following scenarios could become a reality at Bear Swamp Baptist Church:

If we allow the church for a wedding, we must also marry LGBT couples or go to court.

If we host a baby shower, we must accommodate LGBT couples who adopt.

If we took a youth mission trip, we could not legally stop a boy from sleeping in the girls’ room.

Two days ago, members of Antifa in Portland, OR gathered Bibles, doused them in fuel, and set them on fire.

For months we’ve been told that gathering in churches must be accompanied by social distancing and the wearing of masks; simultaneously, we’re informed that protesting by the thousands is a minimal risk for spreading the Coronavirus and, in fact, may be necessary to further public health.

The church is under attack from without. But the church is also under attack from within.

J. D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, NC, has been the president of our Southern Baptist Convention since June 2018. Since he assumed the office, Pastor Greear has apologized to the LGBT community for “not standing up to…discrimination” and for “the rights of” the same community. Pastor Greear has also used the language of “wokeness,” referring positively to “white privilege” & “intersections of power.”

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, a parachurch agency funded by the SBC, several years ago hosted the MLK50 Conference in Memphis, TN. At this conference pastors and other SBC leaders talked about “white privilege” and basically granted sainthood to Martin Luther King, Jr. Now I’m not here to bask MLK Jr; his voice was necessary at a time of true racial inequality in this country. But a church conference is not the place to exalt the life of a serial adulterer and heretic.

If all of this weren’t bad enough, Satan surely is planning to attack our local church, BSBC, through interpersonal strife, disagreements, and personal preferences. Satan excels at getting church members to fight so much with one another and be so dissatisfied with one another, that we forget that He is the real enemy.

The church is under attack from without and from within. And that’s why we need godly deacons.

Usually when we begin to think about who the church should elect to serve as deacons, we think long and hard about the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3. This is good and we are right to consider the character of the men we are considering. We did this two weeks ago in my sermon, “The Deacons’ Criteria.”

But have you stopped to consider why deacons are called to higher character than the rank and file in the church? I think when we read 1 Timothy and slow down enough to consider the “why?” and not just the “what?”, we will see that God calls godly men to the diaconate because only godly men can defend Christ’s church from the attacks that come from without and within.

The Call to Serve

Acts 6:1-7 describes why and how the church chose the first deacons. The church was growing, and some of the Gentile Christian widows in Jerusalem were being neglected (early racism). The Twelve Apostles said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (Acts 6:2b). That word “serve” is διακονέω, from which we get deacon. The same word is used for servant in John 2:5.

The first deacons were enlisted to shoulder the burden of the more routine tasks so that the Apostles could concentrate on the more obviously spiritual tasks like preaching, prayer, and counseling.

Deacons may have begun as table servants, but their role in the early changed morphed fairly quickly into any service the church required. Some of the early deacons, like Stephen, even preached, though that is not a necessary qualification.

The point is that the call to deacon is a call to serve. I have a few thoughts:

If you are not serving now, you probably are not called to be a deacon.

Men/Deacons, don’t be tempted to view the diaconate as a path to power/influence.

The Call to Struggle

Leadership in the church means spiritual combat against “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). It’s warfare against the “cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Eph 6:12). Deacons, alongside the pastor, serve on the frontlines in this war.

Before instructing Timothy on the kind of men who should be deacons, he explained indirectly why those men should have such a high character. It’s because the church is Christ’s body and is under attack. Listen to these verses from 1 Timothy

“Remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1:3).

“I am writing these things to you so that…you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God” (3:15).

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirts & teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared...” (4:1-2).

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine & does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ & the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit & understands nothing” (6:3).

“Fight the good fight of faith” (6:12).

Ie, deacons must be men of high character because they are called to protect the church. It’s true that protecting the church is the pastor’s primary job, but deacons assist him in that task.

Stephen the Martyr is a great example for us here.

When we see all the warnings against false teaching in the church, it’s easier to understand why God insists that the pastor’s right hand men be brothers of high character, godly men who know the Scriptures, live by them, and will fight for the truth found in them.

Some thoughts:

Brothers, do you know your Bibles? How can you defend against the lies of the devil if you don’t know the truth of God?

Second, are you willing to defend the Word? Eg, if a Sunday School teacher began instructing their students in the value of seeing the spectrum of all genders identity for the glory of God, how would you respond? If you learned that a church member were working behind the scenes to foment discord against the pastor, how would you respond? If you learned that a big giver were threatening to withhold their contributions unless they got their way on an issue, would their financial contributions affect your view? If a family member were living in open sin, would you be able to stand on the truth of God anyway?

Ie, are you a man of courage?

Conclusion

Years ago, when the Cowboys were in the post-Troy but pre-Romo era, the Cowboys drafted a QB from the University of Georgia named Quincy Carter. He wasn’t great, but I hoped. And because I hoped, I was frustrated.

My brother gave me some advice one day. He said, “Don’t blame Quincy for being a bad quarterback. Blame the Cowboys for putting him in a position in which he can’t succeed. He’s not a QB.”

Men, if you are willing to know your Bibles, and to know the issues that threaten our Church, and to confront those issues with courage and compassion, then you are fit to be a deacon. If you are unwilling on any of these points, then you are not fit to be a deacon.

Brothers, be men of character and of courage, for the glory of God.