Character Qualities For Deacons

Transcript

GR1765
5/4/2014
Character Qualities of Deacons
I Timothy 3:8-13; Acts 6:1-8
Gil Rugh

We are going to turn in our Bibles first to I Timothy chapter 3, I Timothy chapter 3. Paul is writing to Timothy about proper conduct in the church and God has specific instructions for how He wants His family to conduct themselves and that is the instruction in I Timothy. We are about 30 years after the church began in Acts chapter 2. Things have developed. The Apostle Paul has traveled out carrying the Gospel to Gentile parts of the world and now Timothy has been left in Ephesus, one of those Gentiles cities where Paul established a church to help put things in order. Paul spent three years in Ephesus, remember, but things have deteriorated there. False teachers have infiltrated in among the believers so there is false doctrine being promoted. There has deterioration, evidently, taken place within the leadership. The standards have lowered. That seems to become evident because we saw in Acts chapter 20 Paul had met with the elders that he appointed in the church that he had established but now he finds it necessary to work through some of the details of one of the character qualifications in particular of those who would hold this position. When we move away from what God says then we get a variety of problems in the church and one is the leadership no longer godly and then the doctrine deteriorates and so on. So that’s the context of I Timothy chapter 3.

He has talked about elders who have the responsibility for the doctrine and the oversight of the church and now he is going to talk about deacons and verse 8 picks that up, “Deacons likewise must be.” Now we want to talk about this other group of men who have particular responsibility in the church.

The word “deacon” and the related words that this comes from in Greek and we just basically carry this over from Greek, the word “deacon” meant a servant and they serve in a variety of ways. This word and the related words are used around 100 times in the New Testament so it is a common word and as we saw with elders, the elder by name is someone of some age, maturity and dignity. In verse 1 he is an overseer. Well you just have the word that describes what his responsibility is. He is to oversee the church. We saw it also called a pastor to shepherd the church.

So here you have a deacon. It just takes the word servant and uses it of this group of men who have a particular identity although there is no development outside of what Paul has here in I Timothy 3. In the letter to the Philippians, a Greek church, a church established in Greece, Paul addresses it in Philippians 1:1. I will just read it to you. You don’t need to turn there, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Phillip, including the overseers and deacons.” Now it seems there that there were two clearly defined groups who had recognition and responsibility in the church, the two groups that we are talking about in I Timothy 3 but those are the only two specific references to deacons in the New Testament.

There is a reference back in Acts and you can come back to Acts chapter 6 and while we can’t say for sure, this seems to be perhaps the beginning of what we would refer to as the office of deacon in Acts chapter 6. The specific title “deacon” is not given but the related words for deacon are used here. Chapter 6 of Acts opens up: “Now this time while the disciples were increasing in number a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews.” So the focus is still on the church in its Jewish nature and basically focused in Jerusalem but there is a conflict, there is a problem. Growth brings its own challenges and here the problem is particularly not doctrinal but other areas of the churches responsibility and ministry and so there is a complaint that arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebrews and you have the word “native” there.

The Hellenistic Jews were the Jews that had moved outside of Palestine and lived outside of Palestine perhaps been raised outside of Palestine but then had come back in to live there but they had been influenced by Greek ways and we know how these kinds of divisions exist in the world and so there was some tension between the local Jews who had professed faith in Christ and these Hellenistic Jews. There would have been tension there because there would have been disagreement over some things and some practices that the Hellenistic Jews would have picked up that the Hebrews who had remained in Palestine would not of and so we are told the Hellenistic Jews believed their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving, the taking care of widows which was a responsibility that the church had and it wants to carry out and fulfill.

So the twelve, referring to the apostles and what you have this stage of the church, the apostles have the oversight and as long as the apostles are living they are authorities for the church. Remember, with the passing off the scene of the apostles that kind of delegated authority would have passed to the elders, not that the elders are apostles but the responsibility for the doctrine that had been conveyed by the apostles now would be the responsibility and the oversight of God’s people in local congregations. There is no set up for a unified oversight of the churches after the apostles pass off the scene. The local churches are responsible for their condition. We see that in the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation, the seven churches of Asia even though they are in the same area. As Jesus addresses each one He gives no indication of responsibility between the churches. Each church is addressed and accountable to Him as an individual congregation but here the apostles have to deal with the problem. How are we going to take care of this issue?

So their response in verse 2: “It’s not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God and to serve tables.” They recognize that it is not God’s will for them to do everything. They are to focus their attention on the ministry of the Word, both in evangelism and in teaching. “Therefore brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom whom we may put in charge of this task.” And we are going to see some of these character qualifications set out in I Timothy 3 but here you see at the very beginning. We say, well this won’t be as important. We don’t need people that are particularly of maturity or godly character. You know this is something anyone can do. No it’s not. Everything done for the Lord has to be done properly. That doesn’t mean there won’t be different levels of maturity, newer believers and so on but the responsibility here for the oversight of this particular ministry is serious enough that these have to be men of high, godly character and maturity: “Seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” They demonstrate the work of the Spirit in their lives and they are living under His control. They demonstrate wisdom. Men able to make good and proper decisions can be trusted to make the right decisions and they will be put in charge of this task. The deacons are those who have responsibility and oversight. The ultimate oversight as the church develops will be passed from the apostles to the elders but with the elders, the deacons will share in various ministries of oversight and responsibility. Here the task, taking care of this area of ministry.

“The apostles will continue to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. This statement found approval with the whole congregation.” And it is interesting; they give the name of the men chosen, “Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.” Interesting, all these men have Greek names and since it was the Hellenistic Jews, the Jews with Greek backgrounds that are complaining here the apostles appoint evidently from this background and they will trust them to see that the proper balance is maintained. Not, well they may then neglect the native Hebrew widows. No, these are godly men. They can be trusted. And we want to remove any problems or misunderstandings so these are men that can be trusted. Only two of them are mentioned again in Acts, Stephen and Phillip, godly men that are used in the ministry of the Word and the evangelizing of the lost and so on. These are not men that don’t have abilities to carry on other ministries but they will focus their ministry here in Jerusalem on seeing that this problem is corrected and things are handled in a way that will honor the Lord.

You see here important that the church take seriously all areas of its ministry and that they be done Biblically and of high standards Biblically and we be careful that those who have responsibility in the church are men of godly character and when you lower that it will have serious repercussions.

You are familiar with Stephen. He will be the first martyr in the church giving his life for the testimony of Christ. Philipp is called “Philipp the evangelist” later in Acts so these two men are singled out. It doesn’t mean the other men didn’t have significant ministries, it’s just as Luke writes the history, these two men will reappear.

The result of this in verse 7: “The Word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” And then you have something of Stephen’s ministry; “full of grace and power” carrying on a ministry.

So that’s probably the best we can tell of the background for how you have the office of deacon. If that’s not how it began we wouldn’t have any other idea and in the words here in like verse 1, the end of the verse: “in the daily serving,” that would be a variation of the word “deacon,” a Greek word we have translated “deacon.” “To serve tables,” at the end of verse 2 so you have the related words from that same family if we would give you the verb form and the other noun form and so on you would recognize by sound that we have a form of the word “deacon.” So that would fit. These men were chosen to serve. They will be called deacons so as the church develops in this ministry you have a plan for order in the church and you come back to I Timothy 3 that God plans for the proper functioning of His body. The oversight of the church and the ongoing ministry of the Word is committed to the elders. Now as long as the apostles are alive they maintain an ultimate authority as God’s representatives as Paul was demonstrating here in having Timothy in Ephesus. Paul has been there. There were elders appointed there as we saw in Acts chapter 20 but it becomes necessary for him to have Timothy come back as his representative and with his authority to deal with issues there, with the passing off the scene with the responsibility in this church we will be left with the elders. That’s why these things are so important and under the direction of the Spirit the apostle Paul sets out the details because there will come a time when the apostle Paul is no longer present and the other apostles will pass off the scene by the time we get to the 1st century why the apostle, the last one being John will have passed off the scene. So important that we have this word and follow it so that the church will continue on as God’s family as He intended.

So all of that and now we come to deacons. So we pick up with verse 8. We are told the “Deacons likewise must be men of dignity;” likewise, following through on the elders. Like the elders the qualifications of deacon are very similar and overlapping because as we noted they are basically qualifications of godly character and as we saw in Acts chapter 6 when they were selecting men to serve in an area of the churches ministry they had to be men of godly character. So “deacons likewise must be men of dignity.” This word carries the idea of a dignified behavior, a certain seriousness, not solemn but men worthy of respect, worthy of trust. They have a dignity about them. They are not flighty. They are not you know, indecisive. They are not men that you know may be trustworthy one day and not the next. These are men of dignity, respectable, honorable, some of the words that are used for this word.

He is going to proceed with some other matters here: “Not double-tongued.” You know, we would say he doesn’t speak out of both sides of his mouth. He is not one thing with this group and another thing with this group. He doesn’t say one thing to this person because he knows that’s what that person will want to hear and that’s what that person thinks and then over here he is a different person than he is with this person. These are men whose word ought to be trusted. They don’t cover their tracks by saying things that you know could mean one thing in one situation and another thing in another situation. These are men whose word is trustworthy. He’s honest. His speech has integrity. You don’t have to wonder, “Did he really mean that?” “I wonder if he will follow through on that.” These are not double-tongued men.

We must be careful. This is important. Do you want somebody you can’t trust? Nothing worse than having men in positions of leadership or responsibility and yet you are not sure you can trust them. You are not sure that what they told you is really the way it is or really reflects where they are. So they must not be double-tongued.

“Not addicted to much wine.” This was a qualification of the elders back in verse 3, the character of the day, people did drink wine regularly. Some people drank too much. You can’t have a person in this kind of position of Biblical responsibility in the church, one who sometimes drinks more than he should. It doesn’t say that he can never have a glass of wine but it cannot be too much a part of his life. He can’t be a drunk.

“Not fond of sordid gain,” the next qualification. It is the same idea as we had back in verse 3, “free from the love of money.” It is a different word but the same idea. He’s not in it for the money. He’s not a person not just at the church being paid for his ministry there but in his life as we talked about when we talked about this similar qualification for elders back in verse 3, in his business dealings. You know, he just always seems on the edge of driven by money. You know, there are people like this, even believers. It just seems their life revolves around money.

This is a problem in the church at Ephesus. Paul will talk more about it. The false teachers are characterized by a desire for money. Then they can’t be trusted in the church. The love of money as Paul will later say is a root of all kinds of evil.

We will get in our study of Hebrews in chapter 13, verse 5: “Make sure your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’”

Now God does bless some believers with wealth. That’s not sin. That’s not wrong. That doesn’t disqualify them. They may be people the Lord can trust with more than someone else but there can’t be any question about it. Is money the driving force in their life? Are they money lovers? Do they seem to delight, this is what they want to do and have? Be careful about this. Sometimes believers become critical of other believers. Well, I don’t think they should drive that car, live in that house, or take those vacations. That’s not the issue here. Someone that the Lord has given multiplied millions doesn’t have to live the way I live. They are not wrong if they live better. It’s not like here’s the standard and I can understand if they have a little better house than me but they don’t need a much better house than me, kind of thing. That is not the point here. The point is sometimes we can have little but we are driven with a desire to have more and that’s just as much being fond of sordid gain or loving money. That becomes that kind of influence in our life.

These are things that have to be observable. He is telling them what these character qualifications of deacons are so we are looking at things that you know, we observe a life and see if it is a life of godly character in all areas.

Verse 9, they are to be “holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” Now we don’t say the deacons are responsible to teach, able to teach as the elders were but they have to have a good grasp on the truth of the Gospel and be living in light of it. So it says, “Holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” So they must be doctrinally sound and they must be living it. Biblical truth is not just something to store up as facts. It is something to be lived and that is what a clear conscience is. It is living in accord with the truth that you know. A guilty conscience, a defiled conscience would be a conscience of what? Because you are not living as you should in light of the Word of God.

That word “mystery;” “The mystery of the faith.” He’s going to come and unfold that in verse 16 when we get there in a future study. “By common confession great is the mystery of godliness.” It unfolds the truth concerning Christ because that is at the heart of everything. It is the heart of us being God’s family. Hold this truth the mystery in Scripture, something that cannot be known apart from revelation from God. This is the mystery, the truth that God has revealed. He has to have a good grasp on truth and Stephen, one of the first deacons if we are going to take that in Acts 6 is a man of spiritual power in the ministry of the Word. He will give his life because of his clear testimony of truth and his firm hold on it and living with a good conscience, so the hold on truth. It is not just the elders but these men are to have a good hold on truth because they will be involved in key areas of the ministry and important that they have a good understanding of the truth and be living the truth, having a good conscience, a clear conscience.

This is a problem. Come back to I Timothy chapter 1, verse 5: “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” I mean the intention in the communication of the Word of God is that people who hear this Word submit to it and live in light of it. And we all know what it is like as a believer when we sin. We say we don’t have a good conscience. We don’t have a clear conscience. My conscience bothers me. With these men, well we say “I can’t see their conscience.” But to the best we can observe these are men who are living out the truth that they claim to believe. This is the disaster of some but the church at Ephesus.

Come down to verse 19. Timothy is to be “keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” When they begin to function contrary to the truth of the Word disaster comes. The picture is of a shipwreck. And he gives two examples: Hymenaeus and Alexander. They are no longer functioning consistently with the Word and they are blaspheming. They have to be disciplined.

So a good conscience, a hold on the truth. So on our Deacon Questionnaire there is a doctrinal portion of it. They have to know the truth of the Word and we want men who are living in light of the truth. We ask them to evaluate themselves and of course for any of these positions, either elder or deacon that is why we follow the procedure. We don’t have congregational vote. We try to sort through the process before it is brought to the congregation. Again to review when possible names come up, one of the ways we have done this with elder and deacon is we have the men on the board, the existing elders to come up with names of men that they think might be qualified for such a position and then when we meet together we ask them whose name do you have? Anybody else have their name? And we see how many elders. If that name is on all the elder’s lists we would say, “Well all the elders, at least, are in agreement” and we proceed. If there are any, there may be some of the elders that say, “Well, I would have a reservation about that person at this time.” Then we put that on hold. We sort through that. Then if there is agreement this would be no problem with the deacons and we talk about the deacons as being similar for elders then we would say that someone is assigned to contact this person to see if they would be desirous and willing to serve in that position. If yes then they are given the Deacon Questionnaire to fill out; then copies of that are distributed to the elders and they review it. We talk further about it. If we are still all in agreement then they are invited in to be interviewed by the board. If that goes well then they are presented to you as a congregation and they give their testimony and we ask you if you have any response to their candidacy for that position to speak to some of the elders. That way, even though you don’t vote you do have input because you may work with them. You may know something of their life outside of the congregation that we don’t know that you would say, “I have had business dealings with them and their reputation among those who deal with them is not good.” Well that would be a disqualifying matter. Then we would meet with them and say, “You know, there has been question raised and those things would have to be satisfactorily resolved. We think it would be better if we delay your candidacy and perhaps consider it at a later time.” That is the process we go through, not to make it difficult but for everyone. This is God’s church. And so you have input. They say, “Well they don’t vote there.” No, but you have a say because anybody who brings up something negative about someone presented to you that will be considered at the board for anything proceeds to see if there is substance to it, an issue that has to be resolved.

So we talk here about the deacons and these matters how we try to evaluate as a church if our dealing with men who meet the qualifications because these are supposed to be observable things and people may function well when we are all together as a church but you know, how are they outside as best we can find out?

“These men must first also be tested,” verse 10. They must have demonstrated their character. Again being a deacon is not a training ground. There are places for new believers, young believers to function in serving the church. We all have a part, a place we can function if our desire is to be godly and grow. But being a deacon as well as being an elder is not a training ground, not that we don’t learn there but these are to be men who have already been tested. The word here is like put to the test and proven. They’ve demonstrated their character so we have been in these positions. There are men who have served, who have demonstrated. Some can be younger in age but they have demonstrated maturity in the Lord, faithfulness to the Lord, are growing in the Lord and thus they can first be tested and that means there will be an evaluation going on and that is. These are men, we don’t say, “Well I don’t know them.” No, obviously we all know different people differently. As we meet as a board I may not be as familiar with someone serving in an area as other board members are and that goes round so we have a discussion on it. But they are to be tested. Oh, I know them, yes and we try to ask questions of one another. Do you see any weakness there? Hence things come up, so the process.

“Then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.” Not perfect. You know as we talked about with elders, you can go to the other side and we make these requirements seem so stringent that no men feel like they are qualified to serve. These are not perfect men but they are men who are mature and continuing to grow in godliness, so being beyond reproach. There is nothing like I said with business dealings that could be brought up that said well anybody who does business with them doesn’t speak well of them. Well that would be not beyond reproach. Well, they have lost their temper in situations. We had a president of an evangelical seminary. He finally had to be removed from his position because he kept losing his temper at the board meetings at the seminary and finally was not qualified, so these kind of things, beyond reproach in that sense. I don’t ask a man, “Have you been without sin for the last six months?” Well obviously nobody would make it except me as long as Marilyn didn’t get to come in and speak to the issue. No, we all do but that doesn’t become an excuse for it, so beyond reproach in that sense even as the elders.

The most controversial statement here is verse 11. “Women likewise must be dignified” and the question comes here, are these women referring to the wives of deacons or are they referring to deaconesses, that feminine form of deacon? Deaconesses doesn’t come into existence in Greek until I believe the 4th century so it’s not a word but this word woman that’s the translation. You probably have it in your margin either deacon’s wives or deaconesses because it just says women here and likewise. And some say well likewise would mean like we have likewise for the deacons in verse 8 so now we have the woman likewise like the male deacons, the female deacons, likewise. That’s a possibility but I don’t think it is the best translation. Number 1, I think you are talking about wives and in the context you will note the next verse. Verse 12: “Deacons must be the husband of one wife.” That word translated wife is the same word we have translated woman in verse 11. They must be a one woman men. Well obviously in verse 12 that word for woman is being used of a wife and the context would support that. Also, verse 12 proceeds to talk about men. “Deacons must be one woman men, a one woman man.” Well he is back to talking about men. The idea he would jump to women who are deaconesses just doesn’t seem to fit. You know an example, frustrating, but scholarly commentators, scholars have a way and I divide evangelicals among liberal evangelicals and conservative evangelicals. The liberal evangelicals are those I think that are loose with Scripture. This is the man, I told you, has 50 pages explaining away the end of chapter 2 on the role of women and when it says, “I don’t allow a woman to teach or be in authority over a man,” he twists himself for 50 pages and finally comes up and says, “well I just use Galatians 3:28, “In Christ there is neither male or female.” That has to be the determining passage. But here what he wants to do he regrets that modern translations, I won’t go into which translations because it just gets confusing. He says it’s regrettable that this translation reflects the ambiguous, literal Greek by translating it “woman.” He thinks you ought to just put in the text of Scripture itself, “women who are deacons” and exclude any other possibility. Well I mean, there are solid men, he even mentions a couple in his footnote who would hold the opposing view but he says that it is predictable; just a disdain for them even though they are men of scholarship. One of them has written a Greek grammar but he just thinks we rewrite the Scripture and put it in there the way I would like it to be but the word here is wives, woman. I think he is talking about deacon’s wives. We say, “Well why did he mention deacon’s wives? He didn’t mention elder’s wives?” But he is talking here in the context of family relations because verse 12 talks about being a one woman man, managers of their children of their households as he talked about with elders back in verse 4 and 5. So to mention here the character of the wives of the deacons wouldn’t be out of line. I take it this would also be true of the wives of elders. If they are managing their own household well he used the example of the children. He will use the example of the children here as well but of course his wife is an important part of his life and ministry. So I take it we are talking wives here. He must also be dignified and these requirements are basically the same as what he has talked about in the preceding verses in verses 8 and 9. The wives of deacons must also be dignified as we had that word up in verse 8; you know, respectable, honorable you know, that would be true wouldn’t you think in leadership? What do you think? Use it of an elder, the pastor here. You say, yes, I think Marilyn was drunk down at such and such a bar the other night. Yes, that’s probably so, she does that a lot. We would say that does reflect on you managing your home. So we just have family qualifications here. I don’t think it is unusual at all. So their wives must be dignified, worthy of respect, honorable, not malicious gossips, not double-tongued. In fact this is the word when it is used in the singular form it is always used of the devil, diabolos, the slanderer. So they must not be slanderers, gossips, similar to the deacons. They shouldn’t be men of double-tongue. And I say that the wives of those in positions of responsibility would be true of elders but here he is talking about deacons, but true of the wives. I mean if they are spreading rumors that causes great damage and their relationship to their husband who is in a position of such responsibility can cause great trouble in the church.

So not malicious gossips; they have to be temperate, sober, clear-headed, self-controlled, faithful in all things, interesting, faithful in all things. In other words, generally speaking they have to be those who demonstrate a commitment to Christ, faithfulness to Him and His Word, carrying out their duties as a godly woman should, again, not a perfect woman, not a perfect wife but a faithful wife in all things. I mean the responsibility she has – she is faithful. She lives in accord with the Word and desires to have her home according to the Word and so on.

So it’s part of that I take it, the family qualifications and he goes on to in verse 12 when he says the deacons must be husbands of one wife or one woman men, faithful to that one wife. We saw that with elders. There can’t be any questions about his relationship with women. You have to be very careful.

My years, especially when I was young, nobody cares, but I felt the necessity to be very careful about rumors that could come because once a rumor gets going it has a life of its own whether there is any truth to it or not. We were in a church of 500 and there was no secretary because I was here in the building alone. People are going to drive by and see a secretary’s car and the pastor’s car and say, “I wonder what they do in there all day?” And rumors can start and so don’t put yourself in that position. So being a one woman man you don’t want anything rattling around that would raise doubts about his faithfulness to his wife.

They have to be good managers of their children and households. That is the same of the elders because they have responsibility of oversight. In Acts 6 they were given oversight of the ministry to the widows. So they serve in key responsibilities. The elders have the responsibility for the ultimate oversight but that doesn’t minimize the role that deacons play and the importance of that role.

Verse 13: “Those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing; great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” It is an honor to serve the Lord in these capacities. It is work as it was for elders so for deacons. We saw with elders that it started out “if a man desires the office of elder it is a fine work.” He will later talk about those who labor, elders who labor. So deacons, what does the word mean? Servants, they are serving. I take it that it was an added burden of responsibility for those men in Acts 6 for example to take on that responsibility and to be sure it is handled in a way that resolves any misunderstanding of potential conflicts. It takes time. As Duane mentioned, those who serve with him in the area of the High School ministry, it takes time and you serve. This body has so many people serving in so many ways and the deacons have a responsibility. We have deacons over various areas of ministry; so, but it is an honor and it does gain them respect and appreciation of the congregation. It builds confidence and boldness in their faith. It is a privilege to stand firm in an area of responsibility and be used of the Lord and you do grow and mature in that.

When I came here many years ago there was a pastor and an elder but I had been privileged to grow in that ministry and that’s true for deacons and elders alike and we all do that in all areas of ministry. No matter what area you serve in you can look back and you can say, “I have grown in this area. I have grown in my walk with the Lord as I have served in this way.” That is why it is important to serve. We have all been given gifts. So deacons they are given a special responsibility and that will help give them confidence and that will grow and they need that. Along with the elders they will oversee the ministry and help others to be involved in the exercising of their gifts.

So together, elders and deacons they are the two offices as we refer to them designated in Scripture for the responsibility of the oversight of the people. Elders with their responsibility of the overall oversight of a congregation and responsibility of the teaching of the Word and to be sure what is being taught, they are not the only ones who can teach, is correct doctrine. The deacons join with them in the oversight of the ministry and free them up to focus on their particular areas of responsibility because they take responsibility for other areas of the ministry and then we all serve in a variety of ways.

I think our idea of democratic church government and so on is hindered because we talk about with elders it just paralyzes our ability to function as we should and deal with serious matters. And one of the strengths of Indian Hills and blessings of serving here is the way the congregation responds. We have developed through this as we search through the Scripture to determine when I came I asked one thing of the board as it exists – we will go wherever the Word takes us and that will be our commitment. As we learn more about the Word we will make adjustment in our practice to bring it more into conformity with the Word. There was a time when we had congregational vote. There was a time when the congregation voted for the last time to give up their voting rights, if you will, to the board of elders. We had a number of people leave but you have to determine what is Biblical. It doesn’t mean we are a perfect church but we have to be a church that is committed to the best of our ability to be Biblical in all areas. That means the congregation commits to support of the deacons and the elders to serve with them in the carrying out of the ministry. Together we bring honor to the Lord.

Let’s join together in prayer. Thank You Lord for bringing us together as a local congregation, for privileging us to grow together. And Lord we continue to grow in the riches of Your Word as they take root and hold in our hearts, in our minds, that our thinking is reshaped we come to better understanding of what is required and expected. Lord we want to be Biblical in all areas of our lives, in our lives personally and individually and in our life as a church for our testimony as Your family in this place. You have blessed us greatly. Thank You for the elders that You have provided, the deacons You have provided, for the ministries they carry out, the way Your Spirit directs and guides. Thank You Lord for each member of this body that You have brought to bring a unique contribution that You have gifted them to have that all parts of the body as we function as You would have us function we grow to maturity, we grow into greater conformity to the character of Christ, Lord we are able to bring greater honor to You which is our desire. Bless us as we serve You in a variety of ways in the week before us as we are lights in the midst of darkness as we go to various places of employment, activity. May we be bold in presenting the love of Christ and salvation found in Him we pray in His name, amen.