Well now let me invite you to take your Bibles in hand once again and turn now to 1 Timothy chapter 3, page 992 if you’re using one of our church Bibles. It will help you to have the Bible open before you and to keep it open as we work through the teaching of God’s Word together. First Timothy chapter 3. You may remember Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, this young pastor, serving in Ephesus, and it is something of a manual for church life. First Timothy 3:15 says that Paul is writing to give instruction to Timothy on “how one ought to behave in the household of God, the church of the living God.” So he’s writing about the good order and the health of the church. And as we began to see last time, central to the good order and health of the church is the role of gifted leaders ordained to sacred office. And so we considered in the first seven verses of chapter 3 the qualifications for the office of overseer or elder. And now this morning we come back to chapter 3 to look at the very similar list of qualifications addressing the other class of permanent and abiding officers in the New Testament church – the office of deacon in verses 8 through 13.
If you’ll look at the passage with me, 1 Timothy 3:8-13, let me give you our outline before we pray and read the text. First of all, in verses 8 through 10 and in verse 12, there is the assessment that Paul requires. In order for them to identify the men whom God is calling to be deacons, there is an assessment required, and Paul helps Timothy and the church to make that assessment in verses 8 through 10 and in verse 12. The assessment Paul requires. Then in verse 11, there are the assistants that Paul instructs. He has a word addressing the women of the church and the qualifications that are required of them as they assist the deacons in deaconal ministry. And then finally, in verse 13, there is the assurance that Paul promises. There is a great blessing, a blessing of growing assurance and confidence in the sight of God that comes to all who serve faithfully and well in deaconal ministry. So there’s the outline. Have you got it? The assessment – 8 through 10 and verse 12. The assistance – verse 11. And the assurance – in verse 13. Before we consider each, let’s pray and ask for the Lord to help us and then we’ll read His Word together. Let us all pray.
Our God and Father, as we’ve worked our way through 1 Timothy, You have been teaching us about how to live for Your glory in the fellowship of the church. Would You continue that ministry in our hearts, teaching and instructing, rebuking and correcting, training us in righteousness that we all may be thoroughly equipped for every good work? Would You do that now from this portion of Your Word, for Jesus’ sake? Amen.
First Timothy chapter 3 at verse 8. This is the Word of God:
“Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken in His holy, inerrant Word.
In 258 AD, there was a man named Lawrence who served as a deacon in the church in Rome. He oversaw the church’s finances and the care of the poor. The emperor Valerian decreed that all the bishops, priests and deacons in Rome should be rounded up and executed for their faith. And so Lawrence was summoned to appear before the magistrate. He was commanded to surrender the treasure of the church to the Roman state or else suffer the death penalty. Lawrence immediately agreed, only asking for time to gather the church’s riches to which the magistrate consented. Ambrose of Milan, the man who discipled Augustine, records what happened next. When Lawrence appeared before the magistrate, instead of bringing the money entrusted to him for the care of the needy, Ambrose said, “On the following day he brought the poor together. When asked where the treasures were, which he had promised, he pointed to the poor saying, ‘These are the treasures of the church.’” Ambrose then says, “Lawrence, who preferred to spend the gold of the church on the poor rather than to keep it in hand for the persecutor, received the sacred crown of martyrdom.”
He was a faithful deacon, and his story highlights, doesn’t it, the central task as well as the great dignity of his office – an office and a ministry that stands right at the heart of the church’s calling to bear eloquent testimony to the love of Jesus Christ in a dark and loveless world. In the third century, Tertullian, one of the African bishops, said that “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another.” You remember that Jesus said, “By this will all people know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” It is the special ministry of the diaconate, of deacons, to embody and promote the expression of Christian love in concrete and practical ways before the gaze of the watching world. It was precisely that kind of love that gave rise to the diaconate in the first place, wasn’t it? Do you remember in Acts chapter 6, the first deacons were appointed by the apostles in response to a concrete, practical need to ensure that the Greek speaking widows were not being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Because the church in Jerusalem was committed to caring for these needy ladies, there were seven men chosen by the congregation who are above reproach, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who were set apart, ordained for deaconal service, in order that the apostles, who were being overwhelmed by the burgeoning needs that were coming to them, could be free to focus on the ministry of prayer and the Word. And these new mercy ministers could care for the growing, practical needs of the poor in their midst.
And the point is that it was love, care, concern for the needy that originated the diaconate in the first place – the love that Jesus says is one of the distinctive marks of the church’s countercultural testimony in a dog eat dog world. Deacons are not elders in training. They are vital mercy ministers who help the church fulfill its corporate calling to love our neighbors as ourselves. But of course that means, doesn’t it, that it really matters that the church is served by men of God whose hearts beat with this kind of compassion and care for the practical needs of God’s flock. Ensuring that the church in Ephesus could identify and find such men is why Paul wrote the passage that is now before us.
Let’s look at it together, shall we? First Timothy 3:8-13. And I want you to notice with me first of all the assessment that is required in order to find these men who will display and facilitate the love of Christ for the needy in the life of the local church. The assessment required. In verse 10, you will see Paul says, “Let them be tested first, and then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.” So the church is to make a careful determination of a candidate’s suitability. Let them be tested first. He’s not talking merely about an examination at the end of a short period of training, however valuable and useful that may be. He’s talking really about the man’s life demonstrating to the congregation in the regular course of his ordinary service in their midst over years that he is – notice the word – that he is “blameless.” That doesn’t mean sinless. It means unimpeachable. It is the equivalent of being above reproach, the qualification Paul requires of those who would be overseers or deacons back in verse 2. The church is supposed to be able to see that in a man from the way that he lives and worships and serves and works among them. And so Paul calls the church to make an assessment.
And the assessment he urges is to look for three things in particular – three areas are to be the focus of the church’s assessment. We are to assess for character, verse 8, we are to assess for convictions, verse 9, and we are to assess for commitment in verse 12. First of all, we are to assess for character. Look at verse 8. Notice the four “d”s of godly character here in verse 8. Do you see them? A deacon, Paul says, must be “dignified” first of all. The word means “serious, stately.” A deacon is a man of gravitas. He is not flippant. He is not trivial. He is not a joker or a goof ball or a space cadet. He’s not the kind of man people just can’t take seriously. His carriage, his bearing, his demeanor demonstrates that he feels deeply the weight and the urgency as well as the enormous privileges of Christian service. Dignity.
And then negatively, Paul says that deacons must not be “double-tongued.” There’s the second “d.” Dignity; not double-tongued. It’s a picturesque expression, isn’t it? Double-tonguged – like a snake; fork-tongued. It means he doesn’t say one thing to you and say the opposite to someone else. He’s not such a people pleaser that he goes back on his word just to fit in. His story doesn’t change based on his audience. You can trust what he says. His word is his bond. He’s living by James’ rule. You remember the rule that James gives us in James 5:12? “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’” So he’s dignified. He’s not double-tongued. He’s a man of his word.
Then the third “d,” Paul brings this up again – he’s already mentioned it back in verse 3 in connection with elders – the third “d” is the issue of drink, of alcohol. Deacons are called to sobriety and moderation and wisdom in their use of alcohol. A deacon, he says, “must not be addicted to much wine.” And in our contemporary context, I think we would have to add here also all forms of unaddressed substance abuse and addiction as disqualifying vices. So deacons must be dignified, not double-tongued, not drunks.
And then the fourth “d” of godly character, he must not be greedy for “dishonest gain.” Being known as someone who is greedy for dishonest gain, well that’s hardly compatible with the kind of humble, generous service of others that the Scriptures call deacons to embody. Honestly work and the careful refusal to let greed drive his life ambitions, those are the marks of someone we can trust to put the needs of others ahead of his own. So assess, Paul says, for character first of all.
Then he says assess for convictions. Look at verse 9. “They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” Now that expression, “the mystery of the faith,” doesn’t mean that a deacon candidate is a mystic or that he thinks Christianity is a mere fabric of vague spirituality. It’s all a mystery. Or that he’s someone given to esoteric speculation. That’s not what Paul means by mystery. Actually in the New Testament “the mystery” has an almost technical meaning. It refers to the truth of the Gospel that had been hidden and obscured in the Old Testament but has now been fully revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ along with its implications for all the nations. And if you look down at verse 16 of this chapter, you’ll see that Paul tells us that that is exactly what he means here by “the mystery.” “Great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. He,” the Lord Jesus Christ, “was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” Now quite possibly verse 16 is a kind of early creed currently in use in the church in Ephesus, and Paul is quoting it here as a helpful summary of fundamental Christian doctrine. A deacon, he says, is to hold the mystery of the faith. That is, he is to embrace the system of doctrine taught in holy Scripture.
And notice what Paul says in verse 9 about how he is to hold the mystery of the faith, the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. He is not simply to acquiesce in it. He’s not to shrug and say, ‘Well, I’m a simple man. I have the basics. I don’t really need to trouble myself with anything further.” He’s certainly not to be indifferent to sound doctrine or to play games or engage in intellectual gymnastics in order to get around doctrinal commitments that he doesn’t quite like. No, he is to hold the mystery of the faith – look at the language – “with a clear conscience.” That is, with heartfelt sincerity and deep personal integrity.
In the Presbyterian Church in America, the denomination of which our congregation is a part, when we ordain elders and deacons we ask them to make a series of solemn promises. Let me read the first two promises to you by way of reminder. Ordinands are asked first, “Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as originally given to be the inerrant Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice?” And secondly, “Do you” – here’s Paul’s language to Timothy – “Do you sincerely receive and adopt the confession of faith and the catechism of this church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the holy Scriptures? And do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine you will, on your own initiative, make known to your session the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?”
These solemn promises that we ask elders and deacons to make reflect the duty required by the apostle Paul in our text to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. A candidate for office in the Presbyterian Church in America must know and love the doctrine of this church as contained in our confession and our catechisms. He must embrace it sincerely as the confession of his own faith and as a summary of the teaching of the Word of God. He mustn’t make those promises, you know, with fingers crossed behind his back. His conscience must be clear as he will answer to God. Doctrinal indifference is the scourge of the church, and we all need to beware of men who want to be officers because they love the thought of leadership, or perhaps even more appropriately have a genuine heart for service, but we ought to beware of any of them who simply do not care to grow in their grasp of and love for Biblical truth.
So we must assess for character. We must assess for convictions. Thirdly, we are to assess for commitment, specifically here, verse 12, commitment to the man’s wife and family. Verse 12, “Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their household well.” It’s the same requirement, almost in the same language, that Paul pressed upon elder candidates back in verses 4 and 5, isn’t it? And no doubt the same reasoning applies here as applied there. After all, deacons too are called upon to care for the household of God, aren’t they? So look long and hard at how a man cares for his own household – for his spouse and his children. Is he faithful to his bride, delighting in her company, cherishing her opinions, prizing her wisdom? Is he devoted to the Christian nurture of his children? Next to commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ in a man’s life, does family take priority over work, over friends, over leisure? Assess for character. Assess for convictions. Assess for commitment to the household of God. And one of the ways you will see if he is committed to the household of God is if he is committed to faithfulness in his own family and household at home. So the assessment that Paul urges the church to make. That’s the first thing.
Now look with me at verse 11 and notice what Paul says about the assistance. These are women who, so far as we can tell, participate in some way along with the deacons in their work. Verse 11, “Their wives, likewise, must be dignified not slanderers but soberminded, faithful in all things.” Now there are three major interpretations of this verse, and we do need to take a few moments to work through them because they have significant implications for the way the life of the church will operate. First of all, scholars will note that the same Greek word translated in our version, “wives” – “their wives, likewise” – can also simply mean “women” – “the women, likewise.” And that has led some to suggest that Paul isn’t talking about the wives of deacons; he’s talking about women deacons, about deaconesses. And for confirmation, they point to Phoebe in Romans 16:1 who is called a “deaconos” – a servant, a deacon even of the church. This all proves, so the argument goes, that women were deacons in the New Testament.
But not so fast. If women and men serve together as ordained deacons without any distinction, why does Paul feel the need to single women out, not calling them deacons, not even calling them deaconesses, which is a word, by the way, that is not found anywhere in the New Testament. He doesn’t call them that. He calls them “women” and he singles them out in verse 11 as if they belong to a different group distinguished from the deacons and who also require to be qualified for ministry. When the first deacons were appointed in Acts chapter 6, it is surely significant that there were no women among them. The apostles called for “seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” Now we’re often told that we need women officers because of all the sensitive issues that require a female presence and a female perspective. Well if ever there was a situation of special delicacy and sensitivity that might have usefully deployed deaconesses, surely it was the care of vulnerable widows in Jerusalem. But that’s not what the apostles did. It seems to me the only reasonable explanation for their exclusion of women in this moment is the apostolic conviction that the diaconate, just like the eldership, is not a role to which God has called Christian women. That’s one interpretation.
Another interpretation, a second interpretation acknowledges the difficulty of that first approach and argues instead that the women in verse 11 are not deacons or deaconesses, but they are a class of unordained female diaconal assistants on whose services the deacons could call when circumstances required. And let me say that I completely agree that godly women in the congregation very often prove to be invaluable helps to the officers of the church. And The Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America, the book that sums up how we’ve all agreed together to run our congregations, The Book of Church Order makes explicit provision for just such a useful ministry. It says, “It is often expedient that the Session of a church, the elders of a church, should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners and others who may be in any distress or need. These assistants to the deacons are not officers of the church, and as such are not subject for ordination. That is a wise and helpful provision that affirms and celebrates and makes use of the gifts and the wisdom of godly women in our churches.
But the difficulty of interpreting verse 11 as providing formal, Scriptural authorization for an order of female diaconal assistance is that in 1 Timothy, every time Paul addresses a group who are given a distinct ministry to fulfill, he describes their qualifications and always adds a word about their marital status. So an overseer is to be “the husband of one wife,” verse 2. Deacons, likewise, are to be “the husband of one wife,” verse 12. And in chapter 5 verse 9, when Paul describes the godly widows who also seem to have exercised some kind of caring and discipleship ministry in the churches, he says they too must have been “the wife of one husband,” using exactly the same construction he’s used for elders and deacons. But if the women of chapter 3 verse 11 are a distinct group of apostolically mandated diaconal assistants, why is the marital requirement which he insists upon in every other place in 1 Timothy entirely absent here? In my judgment, the simplest and most natural reading of the text interprets Paul’s words just the way the English Standard Version, our pew Bibles, translates them here. The women in verse 11 are the wives of the deacons. The reason no marital qualifications are mentioned for them is because they are the wives of the deacons whom Paul will require in the very next verse to be the husband of one wife.
Now sometimes the objection is raised that if this is a requirement for deacon’s wives, why isn’t there a parallel requirement for elder’s wives? Why should diaconal candidates be more strictly judged on this issue than elder candidates? And in reply, I think we can point to the unique challenges of church life in Ephesus. We know, don’t we, from our study a few weeks ago of chapter 2, 11 through 15, that Paul has had to deal with women in the church who were usurping roles that God had not given to them while the men of the church were abdicating leadership responsibilities. Some scholars suggest the reason Paul emphasizes that deacons are particularly to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience in verse 10 is that the false teachers in Ephesus, who were perhaps inciting these women, actually came from among the diaconate. And so he wants to make sure that future deacons would be men of sound doctrine. And if we grant that, it also seems to me reasonable to suppose that Paul singles out the wives of these candidates for deacons not because the same godly character requirements are not expected of elders, but because it was from especially among the wives of the Ephesian deacons that so much of the controversy in Ephesus had been generated. He wants to make sure going forward that the deacons and their wives would be in lock step when it comes to godly character and doctrinal commitments and ministry priorities that will promote the health and the welfare of the church.
And the wisdom of that, I think, is not difficult to see, is it? Ask any officer, any elder or deacon here in our church, and they will quickly tell you their wives are often exposed to details and difficulties in church life that require of them extra sensitivity and godly discretion. And not infrequently they will be called upon to help their husbands in a situation that would be imprudent for him to address alone. And so it really matters, it really matters that an officer, an elder or a deacon, is personally qualified, but it also really matters that his spouse should display the same godly character traits. And so Paul says in verse 11 deacons’ wives are also to be “dignified and not slanderers, but soberminded and faithful in all things.”
So first the assessment, then the assistance, and now finally notice what Paul says about the assurance. The assurance promised to those who serve well in diaconal ministry. Verse 13, “Those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” That’s such an encouraging verse, isn’t it? It tells us two things result, they are promised by God to those who are faithful in diaconal ministry. Two things – good standing and great confidence. The Greek for “good standing” uses a word that originally meant “a step” or “a stair” you would step onto. Paul seems to be saying something like, “If you serve well as a deacon, you will gain advancement. You will step up. You will climb higher.” And the expression translated for “great confidence” simply means boldness, assurance.
And the area in which advancement, this stepping up, this climbing higher happens, the sphere within which this great confidence, this new boldness, this deeper assurance is obtained, Paul says in the text – look at it – is “in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” So in other words, Paul isn’t saying, “Look, if you serve as a deacon, faithfully and well, you’ll get to climb the ladder. You’ll progress through the ranks and people will congratulate you and everyone will slap you on the back and say, ‘Atta boy!’” That’s not what he’s saying. He isn’t saying, “If you serve well, it will do wonders for your self esteem and you’ll start to be a more confident person in the office on Monday morning and everyone will be drawn to your new charisma and charm.” That’s not it at all.
What is Paul saying? He’s saying, “If you want to grow, you want to mature, if you want to climb higher and higher in your fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, if you want to deeper your assurance and your grasp of your Savior’s love for you, if you want to grow in holy boldness in His service, if you want to make progress in the Christian life and gain certainty in the faith that is in Christ Jesus, serve faithfully in showing mercy. Serve faithfully in showing mercy.” Faithful, humble, diaconal service is a means of grace. That’s what Jesus said in Mark 10:43-45, isn’t it? “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant,” literally your “diaconos,” your deacon, your servant. “Whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all, for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many.” If you want to be great and first, if you want to advance and grow and step up, the only way is service, humble, selfless and sacrificial. That’s the nature of Christian greatness.
I wonder if that’s your ambition. Is that your ambition? Do you aspire to the greatness of costly, sacrificial service? That is the path the Lord Jesus Himself walked, isn’t it? The way up is down. He served us. He was the servant of the Lord. The great deacon of God who gave Himself as a ransom for many, at the cross, bearing our reproach and the wrath and curse of God that we, that you might be pardoned and cleansed and reconciled to God and adopted into His family, holding nothing back, giving Himself to the hell of Calvary for us. “Humbling Himself,” Paul says in Ephesians 2, “becoming obedient even to the death of the cross. Therefore, God highly exalted Him.” The way up is down. The way up is the way of the cross. The way to bear fruit and grow in grace and know more of your Savior is the path of crucified service. The deacons of the church are meant to embody that so that when you look at them – not perfectly, certainly, but really – you see a miniature, a mirror image, an echo of the selfless love of Jesus Christ for you in the Gospel that should call from you a love for your Savior so that you, like the deacons, begin to emulate Him and give yourself in Christlike service.
So the assessment – look for men of godly character, of Biblical conviction, of family commitment. The assistance – look for men whose wives display the same godly character that will commend them as partners alongside their husbands in the work to which God has called them. And the assurance – the way up is down. Slay your pride. Bow before the cross. See what your Savior has done. Cling to Him and then rise to serve in imitation of Him to the glory and praise of God. That is the way of the cross. May God help us all to walk it. Let us pray.
Our Father, we bless You for Your Word. O, write its truth on all our hearts. Incline our wills in new obedience because You have melted our hearts by the cross of Jesus Christ who came not to be served but to serve and who gave Himself a ransom for us. For we ask it in His holy name, amen.