God's servant, the deacon

Last Sunday Pastor Rob preached a sermon based on the two classic text outlining the qualifications and requirements for deacons, 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Pastor Rob first gave us an overview of what Scripture has to say about servants. Psalm 84:10 I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Isaiah 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.

Philippians 2:6 although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

These are just a few of the many examples Pastor Rob gave us. His second point was to illustrate for us the work of deacons. Their primary role and function was, and is, to aid elders primarily by helping with practical needs (Acts 6). Included in our bulletin was a short article by John Piper entitled "What Did Deacons Do?" Piper says that 'from Matthew 25:44 we could include dire needs arising from hunger, thirst, alienation, nakedness, sickness, imprisonment. That would imply that the basic notion of "serving" in the sense of being a deacon is to help meet the needs for food, water, acclimatization, clothing, health, and whatever needs arise from emergencies (like imprisonment)."

Lastly Pastor Rob helped us to further understand the qualification of deacons by putting it into terms we might better be able to understand. He said that the Bible says deacons are to be respectful and respected in the community, honest and consistent in speech and action, sober with alcohol and drugs, not greedy or abusive of power, orthodox in their beliefs and practice, and go through a period of testing before being assigned office.

The reason that I have chosen to write about this is that I feel that all Christians everywhere should strive to possess these qualifications and qualities. Look at the present deacons in your church and imagine if the entire congregation were like these servants. And why not? Isn't that the point of our Christian walk, to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him so that we can glorify God in all that we do.