Organized Religion
Special Message #87
Acts 6:1-7        2-16-2014
Summary: God is organized and so religion should be organized. But we can err on either side of too much or too little organization. The balance is found in Acts where their organizational efforts were responses to what the Spirit was already doing. They focused on Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and worship, God provided growth, and the leaders were responsible to steward that growth with organizational structure. In Acts 6 they addressed the problem by asking the congregation to select seven to help the Twelve with their responsibility. That is the prototype for the deaconate. 
Introduction
Organization Is Good
Too Much Is Bad
Not Enough Is Bad
The Problem: Complaining
Benevolence Conflict
Responding to the Spirit
The Solution
Not Us
The Seven
The Result
The Deaconate
Our Crisis
South Campus
Reward
Standing
Boldness
Not Self-Confidence
Prayer
Application Questions (James 1:25)

Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Introduction
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “organized religion”? That is a phrase that is always used in a negative way. No one ever says, “Man, my life was totally messed up but now thanks to organized religion, things are so much better.” Whenever I hear that phrase it is always the opposite – “I can’t stand organized religion. I believe in God and everything, but I’m just not into organized religion.” What are we to make of that? Should religion be organized? And if so, how organized? And in what way?
Organization Is Good
Based on what we know about God just from observing His creation, would you assume Him to be organized or disorganized? The creation reflects levels of organization that boggle the mind. To be organized simply means that something functions in an ordered sequence or operates according to an intentional design – so that the various parts work in relationship with the other parts. The organization of the simplest human cell is orders of magnitude greater than any level of organization any human being has ever generated. Everything we observe about God points to order and structure.
And the people who say they are against organized religion – they live lives of organization. They have routines and systems and structure in their lives and even self-imposed rules and policies and procedures – like change the oil every four or five thousand miles. Why make a rule like that for yourself? Why not just get the oil changed whenever the Spirit prompts you to get it changed? Because if you only do it when the Spirit prompts you to do it, you will end up on the side of the road with your engine seized up and a $3000 repair bill.
Our lives are organized; God is organized – so why wouldn’t God’s interactions with us also be organized? He certainly required a lot of order and structure in Old Testament worship. What about in the New Testament? Same thing. In the church in Corinth they became fixated on the miraculous spiritual gifts, like tongues. And they got so enamored with the idea of direct control of the Holy Spirit that. everyone was just acting and speaking on whatever impulse they felt was coming from the Spirit, and the result was chaos.
1 Corinthians 14:33 God is not a God of disorder but of peace. 
40 Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. 
Should religion be organized? God’s Word says that where you have disorder – that is not of God.
Too Much Is Bad
So yes, God wants us to be organized. But how organized? Some people take it to the extremes of human organization. They want to run the church like a corporation, or like a government bureaucracy with all kinds of boards and committees and subcommittees and branches and little boxes and lines and an organizational chart that looks like a diagram of the US power grid. And when someone says, “Where is the Holy Spirit in all this?” the answer is, “Oh, that’s easy. He’s right here in this box, right there between the executive committee and the worship pastor…”
Not Enough Is Bad
That is one extreme. The other extreme is no formal organization at all – you just pray when you feel like it, do a good deed when you feel like it, and that’s about it. Others do not take it that far – they are ok with some level of structure, but only on a small scale. That is the house church movement. They talk a lot about “body life” (which baffles me – they seem to think the more the body gathers together, the less body life happens, which makes no sense). They think the church should not have any staff, they shouldn’t own a building – just keep everything real simple. No systems, no programs, no official leadership, no planning, no budget, and definitely no rules or policies of any kind. Everyone just kind of moves around independent from the body of Christ, guided only by direct impulses from the Holy Spirit and nothing else. The problem is, what do you do if one guy says, “The Holy Spirit is telling me we should all get together and pray tomorrow at my house at 10:00 am,” and someone else says, “The Holy Spirit is telling me we should do it at my house at 10”? The problem with everyone operating on the impulses of the Spirit is what do you do when people get conflicting impulses? 
And invariably, when people try to defend this point of view, they point to the early church – the church in the book of Acts. They want to get back to the pure, simple beginnings when it was nothing but house churches and simplicity and ease and tiny little groups without any programs or systems. The problem with that whole theory is that is not the way the church was in the book of Acts. The church was never like that – not even on the very first day. 
What was it like? What is that middle ground between the two extremes? I know many of you would draw the line in a different place than we have drawn it here at Agape. Some of you feel we are way too structured, and others feel we are not nearly structured enough. Is there guidance in God’s Word about where to draw that line and find the right balance of being led by the Spirit but also fulfilling our leadership responsibilities? I believe there is. In the first five chapters of Acts the church is firing on all cylinders.  Multitudes are being saved through the powerful preaching of God’s Word. Amazing love exists in the church. The community of believers is sharing everything. And they are turning the world upside down. But in chapter 6 they run into a crisis – a crisis that has to do with organization. Let’s take a look at exactly what happened. In verse 1 Luke begins with the problem.
The Problem: Complaining 
Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained

“That’s the problem? That happens every day in the church. What’s the big deal?”
It was a very big deal – so big that the Apostles themselves get involved. The Apostles are busy men. You have 12 guys trying to lead a church that over the past four or five years has grown from 120 to thousands – probably tens of thousands. They are leading the entire church, and they are going to get involved in a little situation where a few people are grumbling and complaining? Why is this such a big deal?
It is big because it threatens something that was a priceless treasure – their unity. Satan was making an all out effort to destroy the church. First he tried persecution, and that didn’t work. Then he tried contaminating the church with sin in chapter 5 (the sin of lying). But God dealt with that by just putting those liars to death, and that scared everyone so much that the people in the church said, “Wow, guess I’d better not get into unrepentant sin!” and those outside the church said, “Wow, we’d better not join that movement unless we are really serious about it.” And as a result the church grew even more powerful.
So all these efforts keep backfiring on Satan. First he tries persecution, then contamination, and now in chapter 6 he’s pulling out his third strategy – division. He wants to destroy their unity. Satan knows if he can do that, he can destroy the church. And the Apostles also knew that. So this is not a petty little matter. The life of the church itself was at stake, and so it was something that most definitely called for involvement by the Twelve. 
If you are a complainer, give this some thought. God once killed a whole generation of His own people for the sin of grumbling. It is a very serious issue. And it is hard, because most complainers won’t even admit to themselves that they are complainers. 
 “I’m not complaining. I’m just making observations about reality so that people can have an accurate understanding of how horrible everything is for me.”
I was like that for many years, until finally one day I sat down and said, “Ok, what is the difference between what I do, and complaining?” And I realized, “Oh, no difference.” And I have worked hard on that in my life because God hates grumbling – especially grumbling against people. And that is what was happening here.
Benevolence Conflict
Acts 6:1 … the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 
They had a very structured benevolence program that operated on a daily basis. They had an offering every day, and they distributed the benevolence gifts every day. But there was a problem that arose along ethnic lines. There was some racial tension. Most of the people were from Jerusalem, and they all spoke Aramaic. But a small minority was from out of town, and they spoke a different language – Greek. They were Jews, but they had lived out there in the world in Greek culture, and were not quite as Jewish in their lifestyle as the local Jews. And as you can imagine, some tensions arose.
The benevolence distribution seemed unfair to them. Luke does not even comment on whether their complaint was valid. Maybe it was valid, maybe it wasn’t, but that is not the issue. The issue is, they had some disunity. And what caused that? They had such amazing unity a couple chapters earlier – what caused the disunity? Growth. Look how verse 1 begins.
Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained… 
This disunity arose as a result of the fact that they were increasing in number. They had been sharing with each other already – right from day one. But once the church got to a certain size, their method of handling that was no longer adequate. Some people felt that they were falling through the cracks, so there was a need for increased organization. 
Responding to the Spirit
And that brings us to a very important principle. I asked at the beginning, what is the right balance between following the Spirit and fulfilling our responsibilities as leaders to provide some order and structure and organization? One important key to answering that is this principle – our organization should be for the purpose of accommodating what the Holy Spirit is already doing. They just devoted themselves to preaching and teaching and praying and fellowship and worship, and God added to their number. And when He did, that created problems. And the leadership then had to respond and come up with increased organization to deal with the problems caused by the Holy Spirit and all His growth.
In the world, leaders try to be visionaries. They dream up something they want to do, and develop ways to do it. The church does not operate that way. We just do what God said to do in the Bible, and then when God starts blessing it with fruit, we strive to be faithful in how we steward that fruit. We don’t cause growth, but we are responsible to be good stewards of it.
And that is always what we have tried to do in this church. We have moved twice as a church and now we are looking to move a third time. The idea is not to try to jump start the Holy Spirit by getting a new facility. God just keeps bringing people and we keep putting walls around them.
Many times we have been accused of being reactionary in our leadership at Agape. But isn’t that the model we see in Acts? There is no commentary at the end of this account in Acts 6 where Luke says, “And God was displeased, because the Twelve should have seen this coming and set up a workable system ahead of time that could accommodate multi-ethnic widows.” No, what they did is presented it in a positive light. God does not expect us to see into the future. All we have to do is observe what God is doing, and develop structures that will enable us to be good stewards if He keeps doing what He has been doing. And if He does something different, then as soon as we see that, we respond to that.
That is the balance. If you want to know the balance between being led by the Spirit and human organization and ingenuity, it is not to just do everything on an impulse with no organization, nor is it to set up all kinds of plans and structures and then tell the Spirit how He fits in. The proper balance is to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is doing, and then step up and use all the ability we have to be good stewards of it.
That is not to say we sit around and do nothing until the Spirit acts. The Spirit has already shown us plenty of things He is doing, and we need to constantly be working to become more and more effective in dealing with those things. So there is plenty of room for dreaming and thinking and strategizing and planning as we strive to improve our stewardship. But all our thinking and strategizing and planning should be a response to something the Spirit is doing.
Sometimes we think we see the Spirit moving, and so we do what we can to form some new ministry, and we present it to the congregation, but no one is really very interested, and no one steps forward to lead it, and very quickly we see, “Oh, I guess this isn’t something God is calling us to.” So we drop it. Other times something might come up in a sermon, and it starts out as just an application to some principle that I came across in my study that week. And I mention it, and it creates a big stir, and everyone is all enthusiastic about it, and we run into problems because we don’t have any organizational structure to handle the 50 different people who are excited about doing that thing. We are like the Twelve in Acts 6. The church grows, the Spirit moves, and along with that come a bunch of logistical difficulties, and the leaders then have to scramble to address those difficulties and to frame in what the Spirit was doing through systems and structures.
One expert said that any time an organization increases by 20% or more they need to completely reorganize all the procedures and how everything is done. In the last seven years our church has undergone a 20% increase in size 13 times. So if it feels to you like the systems and structures around here are constantly changing, that is because they are constantly changing. Why? Same reason your 18 year old isn’t still wearing his little onesie that he came home from the hospital in. As things grow, things change. That is by God’s design.
The Solution 
So let’s take a look at how they dealt with this problem. How do you solve a grumbling problem? By talking to the grumblers? 
“You guys grumble one more time and we’ll give you something to grumble about!”
No, they did not say anything to the grumblers. Did they have a long meeting to figure out how to make sure each widow got a fair amount? No. The very first thing they did to solve it was to get together and decide that they were not going to solve this problem.
Not Us
2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 
“Men, we could solve this whole widow problem. We have the knowledge, the tact, the insight. If we rolled up our sleeves we could get this thing figured out and solved. But that would be a mistake. Why? Because it would take up so much of our time that we would have to neglect the ministry of the Word, and that’s just simply not an option.”
So if this is not their responsibility, why are they even talking about it? The answer is, it was their responsibility. It was their job. It wasn’t anyone else’s job – it was their job. 
“But if it was their job – their responsibility, why didn’t they do it?”
Because they didn’t have time. They could not get it done without neglecting more important responsibilities. 
Why not just delegate it to those people who were already in charge of the distribution? That was not a good option because obviously those people did not have the skills that were needed to handle this problem. I am sure they were doing their best, but this is a tough situation. Any time you are dealing with money, and some people getting more than others, and making decisions about who gets what, and sometimes saying no to a poor, needy widow – that can get dicey. And add to that the fact that you have racial tensions, and a language barrier and communication problems, and you find yourself in a place where it takes someone with a great deal of wisdom and tact and knowledge, and someone everyone looks up to and trusts, to deal with it. Those people doing that ministry were no doubt godly people, but once in a while you run into a problem that is so complex, and so sensitive, that it just requires a really special kind of gift mix to deal with it. That is why this problem came to the Twelve. 
This is where so many pastors go wrong. Every day things like this arise in churches and the pastor says, “This is my responsibility. It’s pastoral work. It’s part of my job description, and it absolutely has to be done,” and so he just does it. But that means his study time takes a hit. And he has to cut his prayer time a little shorter. The temptation to do that exists every day. There is not one single day that goes by that I don’t have to wrestle with the temptation to neglect the ministry of the Word or prayer to deal with some urgent matter.
This is such a problem with so many pastors, because once you neglect the ministry of the Word for a while, it is next to impossible to start back up again. A thousand other things rush into that time slot, and now you cannot even imagine how you could possibly find enough time to study 20 or 30 hours a week. It is more like a slippery cliff than a slippery slope. It is very hard to recover from.
But the Apostles avoided that cliff. They said, “No, we will not make that mistake. No way are we going to let anything cause us to neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer.”
So what did they do? Did they just say, “Sorry folks – you need to figure this out on your own. We don’t have time”? No. That would not have been right because it was their responsibility. So what did they do?
The Seven
3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
They ask the people to pick out the candidates. Why? If the point is to save themselves some time, and these men are going to be there for the purpose of helping the Twelve, why not just recruit them directly? Why add in this whole other ordeal of having the congregation select candidates? These seven leaders are going to be making some decisions that will affect everybody. They will be making decisions about large sums of money. They are going to be charged with solving a very difficult problem that is threatening the health of the church. They are going to have to make some hard decisions. And so think of the wisdom in having the people themselves select them. If the Apostles selected them, as soon as the Seven made some decision that some group didn’t like, you would hear all the complaints, “This group is stacked. No one is representing our interests,” etc. But if the people themselves chose them, they would have much less basis to complain because they would pick men they really respected. Does that mean the congregation always has to select leaders? You never see the congregation selecting elders. So I don’t think it is a hard and fast rule. But in a situation like this, there was a lot of wisdom in doing it this way.
5 This proposal pleased the whole group
So the leaders come up with the idea, and they give the parameters. They say how many they want – seven. And they give qualifications. Not seven popular men. Not one representing each faction. Not seven elderly men or young men or business men. They give two qualifications.
1)	Full of the Spirit
2)	Full of wisdom
You want someone spiritual – exemplary character. But you also want someone with good, practical wisdom – the type who knows how to problem solve. Far too often we focus on one or the other. We get really spiritual men who have great character but no experience or practical knowledge about how to do things. Or we get men with lots of experience, lots of expertise, lots of knowledge – but with some major character flaws. The Twelve did not go into a lot of detail that we know of, but they were clear that these men had to have both – spirituality and wisdom.
And then the Twelve approved the ones who were selected, and laid hands on them. The laying on of hands in the Old Testament is usually a picture of conferring something from one party to another. In this case it is the authority and responsibility for this work.
The Result
So what was the result? In verse 5 we get a list of the seven names. Two of them became famous; the rest we never hear their names again. So why is it important to include their names in the Bible? One thing that is interesting about this list – out of the seven, guess how many of those names are Greek names? Seven. Isn’t that great? The Greeks (who were in the minority) feel like they are being treated unfairly, so the whole congregation selects seven men to deal with this problem and decide how the money will be distributed, and they are all pleased to choose not two or three or four of the men from the Greeks, but all seven.
“You Greeks feel you are being treated unfairly? Tell you what – how about we make this entire committee up of nothing but Greeks?”
And that pleased the entire congregation. And Satan said, “Rats! I just can’t bring this movement down!”
6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
The Deaconate 
So, what is the significance of all that for us? I believe that the responsibilities of the Twelve were passed down to the pastors. The oversight of the church, teaching, shepherding – when the Twelve died out, those responsibilities were inherited by pastors. What about the ministry of the Seven? I believe that was passed down to the deacons.
The Twelve  Pastors
The Seven  Deacons
It is true that the Seven are never called deacons, but the verb form of that word is used all through that Acts 6 passage. They deaconed. The Twelve said, “It would not be good for us to neglect the ministry of the Word to deacon tables. We will deacon the ministry of the Word, and the Seven can deacon the food distribution.” So now, deacons are to the pastors what the Seven were to the Twelve. They are there to help the pastors do their work without neglecting the ministry of the Word and prayer. That would explain why no specific duties are mentioned in Scripture for deacons. The job description is just to serve in whatever area the pastors need help in their job. 
And that would also explain why the list of qualifications for a deacon is so similar to that of the pastor/elder/overseer. In some churches the deacons are tasked with anything that is menial, and the elders take the big, spiritual things. So they have the elders mowing the grass and serving communion and taking out the trash. That reflects a fundamental confusion not only about the purpose of deacons, but about the way the body functions.  The work of the ministry is to be carried out by the body – the congregation. But there are certain leadership functions that are the pastors’ responsibility. And the deacon’s role is to help with those – things that can’t just be delegated to anyone. They require someone with tested, exemplary character who is full of the Spirit and wisdom. You do not need exemplary character and maturity to mow the grass. An unbeliever could mow the grass. Like I always tell the Agape 101 class – as long as you have solid enough character that you don’t steal our mower, you can mow. If you think deacons are to only stick with menial tasks, read Acts again and look at how God uses Stephen and Phillip, who were among the Seven.
God intentionally gave the elders a task that the elders can’t do. Just like that widow situation was the responsibility of the Twelve, but there was no way they could get it done without neglecting the ministry of the Word. Why would God do that? Why give us a task we can’t do? Why not just give us a manageable task, and give deacons the rest of it to begin with? Maybe it is to test the elders – to see how committed we will be to the ministry of the Word and prayer.
Our Crisis
Right now, the elders at Agape are facing that test. At our last elder meeting one of the elders told us he is thinking he may need to step down. He went on to describe how he feels like he is failing in pretty much every aspect of his ministry. He said, “I’m unprepared for meetings, I’m not doing a good job contacting people in my prayer group when they haven’t shown up lately, I’m not getting to emails, the counseling cases are piling up way faster than I can deal with them, my prayer life is in the tank, I’m not in the Word much, and I’m just tired.”
Two other elders expressed almost exactly the same thing to me in private that last few weeks. And two elders have talked to me about how their elder responsibilities are really putting a major strain on their marriage. I have been working about 80 to 90 hours a week and lately I have just been getting farther and farther behind. And I tell you all that not to complain (all five of us feel exceedingly honored and privileged to be able to do this work), but simply to let you know that we have reached Acts 6 in our ministry. We have hit that test. God wants to know – are we going to neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer? Or are we going to find a way to turn some of these responsibilities over to some deacons who are full of the Spirit and full of wisdom?
We have tried to do that in the past, but without much success – I think mainly because of two reasons. First, the process of becoming a deacon has been too lengthy and cumbersome. And second, because the role of a deacon was too vague. Deacons have not had a defined role.
So to address those problems we have shortened the training and evaluation process considerably. And we have worked hard at defining the tasks. So from now on each deacon will have a very specific task. We asked ourselves, “What are the things we believe are our responsibility as elders, but that we can’t do adequately?” And we made a list of those tasks in that pamphlet that was handed out. So the idea now is not that you become a deacon for life and then do various jobs as they come up. Instead, we are asking that you look through this list, and that you as a congregation identify individuals who are full of the Spirit and wisdom who would be well-suited for each one of these tasks. So you read through the list, and you see one of these jobs and think, “Hey, I know someone who could do that” – go to that person and say, “Hey, I really think you should pray about doing this one.”
South Campus
Our most desperate need for deacons (and elders) is at the south campus. Until we have elders at the south campus, we have a situation that is not healthy at all, because all the elders are so disconnected with that portion of the congregation. And so we are really in desperate need of some of you men and women down south to step up and help with the leadership of the south campus. South campus – we don’t have a folder like this made up for you at this point because we aren’t sure exactly what the needs are at this point for you. So probably the first task of the south deacons will be to come together and help us generate a list like this for the south campus. So south campus, the elders are asking you, give us seven. Give us five to seven deacons in 2014.
And north campus, we are asking you, give us 10 to 20. If we could ordain five down south and 10 up here in 2014, I think the spiritual fruit that would come would be beyond anything we have dreamed of. If we pray about this, and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, do you think the Spirit would lead us to the right people? And some of you, you will read through these and realize, “Wait a second – I could do this.” You don’t have to wait for someone to come and tap you on the shoulder. Just step up and offer to help. And we are not asking for an indefinite commitment. Most of these tasks call for a two-year commitment. Some are just one year – then you could pass the baton to someone else.
Is there a process you have to go through? Yes. The “Steps to Deacon” paper is out on the shelf by the entry way. Grab one of those and you can get an idea what the process is. And the process will look a little different for each task. But one part that will be the same for everyone is the character builder where we meet together for about 13 weeks and go through each of the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 for a deacon. We are beginning one of those the first Friday of March. If you want to be in on that, please contact Bob so he can plan for how many will be there.
Reward
Let me close by drawing your attention to the motivation that the Lord gives us in 1 Timothy 3:13. Up to verse 13 this whole chapter lists all these daunting qualifications for deacons. And by the time you get through that list, you can be discouraged. 
“It’s such an ordeal to become qualified, and I have to subject myself to that level of scrutiny – it’s not worth it.”
Many people get excited about leadership because God has placed that calling in their heart, but when they see what is required to get there, they balk. And Paul knows that is the natural reaction, so look at the motivation he provides after giving all those qualifications.
1 Timothy 3:13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great boldness in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Will stepping up and serving as a deacon be hard? Yes. I won’t lie to you – this is not something that is easy and painless. Spiritual leadership is time consuming, difficult, lonely, and heart breaking. But, if you do it, and you do it well, look at the rewards.
Standing
First, excellent standing.
That word literally means “step” – like being up on a pedestal. It was often used of rank in military settings. So the idea is if you serve well as a deacon, you will be looked up to and respected and honored.
“I thought we were not to seek glory and honor for ourselves. I thought we were supposed to humble ourselves before others.”
We are – but why? What reason does the Bible give us for humbling ourselves before men?
James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 
Matthew 23:12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
The reason Scripture gives us for why we should humble ourselves is so that God will exalt us. Yes, it is sinful and foolish to try to exalt yourself before men. But it is wise and righteous and good to seek to be exalted by God. And that is the promise here. If you humble yourself and serve as a deacon, God will lift you up in the eyes of the saints.
And if you have a heart for ministry, that will mean the world to you, because it unlocks the door to exponentially greater ability to help people. When you serve as a deacon for a while and you do it well, and the people see your humility, the body develops a great respect for you. And when that happens, they open their hearts to you. They trust you, and they become receptive and responsive to your influence. The natural skepticism goes away, and now you have ten times the ability to minister to them. And if you really have a heart to serve people, that kind of receptiveness is a priceless treasure. People will not look up to you and open up to your influence just because you have the title “deacon.” But if you carry out that task well, that is when it comes.
Boldness
The second benefit is great boldness in faith. Your Bible might say assurance. But it is not talking about assurance of your salvation; but rather boldness in ministry. You gain a high level of confidence in the work God has called you to. One of the greatest hindrances in leadership is lack of confidence. God gives you all kinds of potential – but it comes in the form of potential. You do not start out really effective. You start out clumsy and unskilled and you have to work to fan your gift into flame. And very often in those early stages people see their lack of skill and compare themselves to others and say, “I’m no good at this” and quit. Other times they are serving in ministry and they are doing fine until someone comes along and criticizes them. You find out someone wrote a long letter to the elders about how lousy you are in your ministry. And you get so discouraged, you just want to quit. Or maybe you keep going, but you become timid and reserved in your ministry. You start worrying about pleasing people instead of God and your ministry becomes handcuffed by everyone’s conflicting expectations. Some of you are equipped by God to be mighty warriors in the kingdom of God but you are limping along barely doing anything just because you lack the confidence to step out there and risk taking a few arrows.
Not Self-Confidence
What you need is confidence – but please mark this – not self-confidence. The solution is not self-esteem and self-confidence. You try to prop yourself up against criticism by thinking, “I’m smart, and I’m strong, and I’m capable” – that will get you nowhere because none of those things are true. The reality is, when people say, “Darrell is just a buffoon – he lacks this skill and that skill and he can’t do anything” – those people are actually right on. Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. On my own, I really am a buffoon. And if I become self-confident, all I am doing is living in a fantasy world that does not correspond to reality.
So self-confidence is not what Paul is talking about. Look what he says:
1 Timothy 3:13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great boldness in faith in Christ Jesus
It is boldness and confidence not in myself, but boldness and confidence in Christ. You have power in ministry when you really, really trust Jesus Christ to work through His Word and you bank your life on His promises. That is where real power and effectiveness come. And how do you get that? Here is one way. God will give it to you when you serve well as a deacon. That is the reward! What an amazing incentive! If you step up and serve as a deacon, and you do it well, God will reward you with great boldness and confidence in faith and great ability to trust the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. As you serve in leadership you see, over and over, God fulfill His promises and use His Word in powerful ways, and the more times you see that happen the more it strengthens your faith like steel, and the more that unlocks the doors to unlimited effectiveness in ministry by tapping in to the omnipotent power of God that is unleased only through faith. So if someone taps you on the shoulder and says, “Hey, I think you could do this one,” (or if the Holy Spirit does it directly in your heart), don’t take that lightly. God has done great things in our midst, and now it is our responsibility to be good stewards of what He has given.
Prayer
Our Lord, whom we are following with all our hearts, and into whose image we are being conformed, You came into this world not to be served, but to serve and to give your life for many. As Your followers, our goal is to become like You. These past two sermons we have studied about serving You. Now, Lord, activate Your Word in our lives. Make us servants. How often, if someone looked at our lives, would they conclude, “Here’s a person who is in this world not to serve, but to be served”? How many times could someone look at me in my marriage and say, “There is a man who came into his marriage not to serve, but to be served.” How many people come into this church and other churches not to serve, but to be served? They come and within a matter of weeks they are complaining about how poor a job we are doing in serving them. And serving others is the farthest thing from their mind. Lord, that is the bent of our natural, fallen, sinful hearts. Correct that bent with Your example, Lord Jesus. Enable us to really believe what You said that there is far more joy and satisfaction to be found in serving and giving than there is in being served and receiving. 
For those who are just now realizing that they are called to serve, Lord, grant them fruitful, satisfying ministry. And for those You are calling into leadership, Lord, grant them passion and perseverance for the task.

Benediction: Hebrews 10:32a, 35-39  Remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering…35 do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Application Questions (James 1:25)
1)	Do you believe God may be calling you to step forward and explore the possibility of fulfilling one of the deacon roles in 2014. Why or why not?
2)	Can you think of two or three names at Agape who you think should explore one of the deacon positions? Why not contact them and urge them to consider it?
3)	What kinds of movements of the Spirit do you feel we should be responding to at this time at Agape?
4)	Describe your level of confidence in the faith.  

1)	

1.	Deacons, likewise
2.	husband of but one wife 
3.	manage his children and his household well.

4.	not indulging in much wine
5.	not pursuing dishonest gain.
6.	Temperate (women)
7.	
8.	
9.	
10.	
11.	
12.	
13.	
14.	
15.	
16.	Worthy of respect (men and women)
17.	
18.	
19.	
20.	must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
21.	Sincere
22.	They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
23.	not malicious talkers but   
24.	trustworthy in everything.
25.	Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

1.	Blameless
2.	the husband of but one wife
3.	a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient
4.	not given to drunkenness 
5.	not pursuing dishonest gain.
6.	
7.	Self-controlled
8.	Hospitable
9.	
10.	
11.	Not violent
12.	Not overbearing,
13.	not quick tempered
14.	
15.	Lover of the good
16.	Upright and holy
17.	disciplined
18.	He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. 

1.	above reproach
2.	the husband of but one wife
3.	He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.  
4.	not given to drunkenness 
5.	not a lover of money
6.	temperate
7.	self-controlled
8.	hospitable
9.	Respectable 
10.	Able to teach
11.	Not violent but gentle
12.	
13.	Not quarrelsome
14. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
15. a good reputation with outsiders