Faithful Leadership Pt 1

All right, good morning. Good to see you guys. I'm glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started. Father, we thank you for the day, Lord, and just thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here, Lord, to be in your presence and to spend some time in your word, Lord, and to worship you. Lord, we just ask that you would help us to put all our focus

upon you this morning and just to pour out our praise upon you. Father, we just ask your blessing upon this time in Jesus' name. Amen.

You called me out of the grave. You called me into the light. You called my name and then my heart came alive. Your love is greater. Your love is stronger. Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me. Your love is greater. Your love is stronger than me. Darkness shaking. All the dead are coming back to life. Back to life. Hear the song, oh, because you're alive. You called me into the light. You called

my name and then my heart came. We shouted, love is great. We just give you praise and we give you thanks for who you are. God, we thank you for how much you love us and for what you've done for us. Amen. You guys can go and have a seat if you like. I count on one thing. The same God that never fails will not fail. Amen. You guys will never fail now. You won't fail me now, independent. The same God who's never late

is working all things out. Working all things out. Oh, yes, I will lift you high in the lowestfully. Yes, I will bless your neck. It's I will lift you high going woman. sing for joy when my heart is heavy all my days oh yes i will my days oh yes i will i count on one thing the same god that never fails will not fail me now you won't fail me it's never late is working all things out you're working all things out lift you high for joy yes i will

i choose to stand against i choose to pray lift you high bless your name

the splendor of the king oh then majesty let all the earth rejoice all the earth rejoice you snaps himself in light and darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice trembles at his voice how great is our god and sing with me how great is our god and all will see how great our god he stands and time beginning and the end beginning and the end three the light sing with we'll see our god our god sing with me our god we'll see one more time is our sing with is our we'll see how yes lord jesus one day every everyone will see how truly great and awesome you are lord and god one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you our lord amen christ alone hope is found he is my light my strength my song this cornerstone

this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights up of love what depths of peace when fears are still when striving seas my comforter my all in love of christ i stand christ alone who took on flesh fullness of god and helpless babe helpless babe this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to say be alone then victory bought with the precious blood this is the power of christ first cry jesus commends my dead your scheme lord jesus it is in you and in you alone Lord that we put our hope we know that you are coming again soon so Lord until then Lord help us to live expectantly of you of your imminent return Lord we thank you for what you're doing in our lives we thank you for what you're going to do

Lord God we just thank you for all that you've done for us Lord for willingly going to the cross for us for taking our place on that cross but Lord you took it a step further Lord you were buried and then you rose again three days later Lord proving that you have dominion over sin and death and Lord because you are alive Lord we get to share in that Lord and we just thank you we express our gratitude to you this morning God we praise you all my words fall short I've got nothing new how could I express gratitude I could sing these songs as I often do but every song must end and you never do so I throw up my hands and praise you again and again cause all that I have is a except for a

I've got your arms stretched wide I worship you all that I except for a don't you get that lift up your song cause you've got a lion don't you get shy on me lift up your song cause you've got a lion inside oh come on my soul don't you get shy on me lift up your song cause you've got a lion cause all that except for a Lord God again we just thank you and we express our gratitude to you this morning Lord for what you've done for us Lord Lord we praise you Lord for what you've done for us Lord for the new life that we have in you. For the opportunity, Lord, to be here and to praise you, God. Lord God, we know without you, Lord, we aren't here. So Lord, this morning, we just express our gratitude and our thanks to you this morning.

And as Pastor Ryan comes, I just pray that you would overflow him, Lord, with your Holy Spirit and bring forth your word mightily and powerfully through him. Lord, give him the words to speak. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it and a spirit to do your will. Father, we love you and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

If you could be in the process of finding your seat, grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, what's going on on the left-hand side throughout the week, take note of that. Middle section of your bulletin, a couple of things to pay attention to. Just a reminder that Nick and Erica Rizzio are gonna be starting a home fellowship

the first Thursday in June. And it will take place every Thursday. And all of the information is right there in your bulletin. And if you are interested in a little bit more information, there's a sign-up sheet out in the lobby for that. And then this Wednesday, we will be having Mark Austin come and share with us. He's one of the missionaries that we support.

We support him through crew. But what he does is he helps produce what's called the Jesus film. And they translate that into lots of different languages and take that Jesus film to countries where a lot of people don't own a Bible. And they take it to especially Muslim countries. And so he's gonna be sharing about what the Jesus film has been doing and the places where he goes.

So it's always fun to have him come and share with us. So come join us Wednesday night at 7. He gives us a little bit of an update on the things that he's doing right now. And then last but not least is it is time to sign up for camp. If you have kiddos that wanna go to hybrid camp and then there's also a junior high camp. If you have questions on that, you can scan that QR code

and that will take you to Prairie View's website. So go there, check that out. If you got some kiddos, get them signed up for camp. All right, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning, we are gonna be in Psalm 138. Psalm 138.

Looking at the New American Standard for the responsive reading so that hopefully we sound the same. If you need one, should be one around you. As you're turning to Psalm 138, if you would, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 138, a Psalm of David. I will give you thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to you before the gods.

On the day I called, you answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth will give thanks to you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth. And they will sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is exalted, yet he regards the lowly. But the haughty he knows from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand will save me. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting. Do not forsake the works of your hands. Father, I praise you so much for that promise in verse 8, Lord, that you will accomplish what concerns us.

And Lord, we can rest in that. And so, Father, be with us now as we spend time in your word. Lord, may our hearts be open to what you have to share with us this morning. Lord, may our hearts be open to correction in areas where we need to be corrected. May our hearts be open to comfort, where we need to know the comfort of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, may our hearts be open to the instruction

that only your word can bring into our lives. And so, Father, fashion in us the hearts of the men and women of God that you want for us to be. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 3. 1 Timothy, chapter 3.

This morning, we come to part 2 of our discussion on faithful leadership. We said that throughout the pastoral epistles, which is what 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are, that the theme would be faithfulness. And in chapter 1, we saw faithfulness to the word. In chapter 2, we saw faithfulness to prayer. And here in chapter 3, we've been looking at faithful leadership.

And so, last week, we looked at the qualifications for an elder, or in our translation, it calls it an overseer or a bishop, those that are in charge of the spiritual needs of the church. And today, we come to the qualifications for a deacon, those that are in charge of the physical needs of the church. And so, let's look at verse 8 of chapter 3. It says this, Deacons, likewise, must be men of dignity, not double-tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain.

But holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, these men must also first be tested, and then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife and good managers of their children, and their households. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

I'm writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of truth. By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, was seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

And so as we look at this this morning, there's three things that we're going to look at. First of all, we're just going to take a moment to talk about the role of a deacon in a church. Second of all, we're going to look at the qualifications. And then third, we're going to kind of look at the purpose of everything that he has been and will be writing to us.

So first of all, let's talk about the role of the deacon. Last week, we talked about the role of the elder. And we took us back to that portion of Scripture in Exodus where Moses appointed elders to help him oversee or rule the body of believers. And that's kind of where we get that idea from. But today, we talk about a little bit of a different role. The first thing that we need to point out is that it is different from an elder.

Not in importance, just in responsibility to different areas of life. And we really get our first biblical example of a deacon in Acts, chapter six, verses one through six. Matter of fact, in the margin of your Bible, you might just write Acts six, one through six, because that gives us that biblical idea of what a deacon was. Let me tell you the story of what had taken place.

The early church had really just begun, and they were beginning to flourish. It was growing, and it was growing not only among the Orthodox Jews, but even the Hellenistic Jews, which were a little bit more liberal in their thinking. And a dispute arose among the Hellenistic, or among the church, the Hellenistic Jews were saying that they were being ignored in the daily distribution. The widows were having food distributed to them every day, and they were saying that they were being left out because they were a little more liberal in their thinking than their more Orthodox counterparts.

And so there was this idea, there's being favoritism shown by the disciples, they're favoring certain ones over others. And so the disciples prayed about it, and they decided that the best way to handle things is that they would appoint men who were full of the Holy Spirit, full of knowledge, full of good works, and of good reputation. They would appoint these men to oversee the daily distribution, or if you will, to oversee the physical needs of the body, so that as it says in Acts chapter six, that the disciples, or the elders if you will, could continue to devote themselves to prayer and to the word. And so they appointed these deacons in order to carry out the physical work of the ministry, so that the elders could continue to carry out

the spiritual work of the ministry. It's interesting because in verse eight, the word deacon literally just means servant. And if you were to do a little search for that Greek word throughout scripture, one prominent place that you would find it is in Mark chapter 10, verse 45. You might, again, write that in the margin of your Bible, because if you know Mark very well, you know that the theme of Mark is the servant, and the theme verse of the book of Mark is Mark chapter 10, verse 45, where Jesus says, "'Even the Son of Man, "'did not come to be served, to be deaconed, "'but to serve, to be a deacon, "'and to give his life as a ransom for many.'" Same Greek word that's used there.

So that's the idea of what a deacon does. And so, as Paul does, he gives us the list, and he gives us the list of the qualifications. Again, there's 13 of them here, a little bit smaller list than last week. I'll get you on a couple minutes earlier, maybe. And it's a very similar list to last week, so I don't need to go into quite as much detail. But let's take a look at these things.

Let's take a look at these things. Let's take a look at these things. Let's take a look at these things. Let's take a look at these things. Let's take a look at these 13 things. The list is, first of all, they must be dignified. They must be dignified. The idea behind the word dignified is reverent or worthy of respect. David Guzik, in his commentary, said it means

proper respect towards both God and man. And my favorite was out of the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It says, a deacon must not be a clown. That is a direct quote from Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's like, well, I just disqualified half of my boys. It's like, well, I just disqualified half of my boys. It's like, well, I just disqualified half of my boys. I'm just kidding, myself included.

They can't be a clown. They gotta be somebody that's worthy of respect. And I'm gonna put my own twist on this because I felt like if we put all of this together, it gives us two words. They must be respectful and they must be respectable. They must be, first of all, someone who has respect for other people because you can't demand respect of yourself if you're not first willing to show respect to other people.

They must be respectful towards the people that are around them. And honestly, respectful towards God in their relationship with God. But second of all, they must be respectable people. You must be an individual that someone can look at and say, I respect who they are, I respect what they do, and I respect the heart of the servant that's in them. So they must be dignified individuals,

respectful, respectable, not a clown, right? So, number two, they must not be double-tongued. They must not be double-tongued. The idea of double-tongued is to not be double-tongued means someone who speaks the truth. There is no intent to deceive. Someone who speaks the truth, there is no intent to deceive. And I believe that that means in every aspect of your life.

You must be a sincere individual in every aspect of your life, not someone who is constantly trying to get their way. And I find that in the world today, we have people, we have people who, when it comes to godly things, they will be 100% honest, but when it comes to getting a deal at the store, they're willing to bend the truth in order to get their way. Or you show up to the movie theater, we had this incident the other night. There's some sort of a rule that if you go to the movies here in this area at the Cali Cinema, whatever it's called now, if it's after maybe like seven or eight o'clock in the evening, you have to be over 16 if you don't have an adult with you.

You have to have an adult, you have to be over 16. Doesn't matter what movie you're going to. My girls were going to a rated G or rated PG movie, and they are not over 16. My youngest one's not. And so they were not allowed to go to the movie. And inside of you, you go, but could you just tell them you're 16? Could you just say that you are? I don't know if they're gonna check your ID or not,

but you go, but that's being double-tongued. That's being deceitful. And how many of us are, we're willing to tell the truth on everything else, unless it means we might not get a deal. Unless it means that somehow it's going to affect us. And then we're willing to bend the truth just a little bit. You can't be that kind of a person to me in church leadership.

You can't be that kind of a person and lead other people because you have to be honest in everything that you do. You have to be upright in everything that you do. And if you're someone who is double-tongued, then people can't trust you. If they can't trust what you say about normal things in life, how can they trust what you say about the gospel? So not double-tongued.

Number three, not addicted to much wine. Not addicted to much wine. Again, I gave all of my thoughts on alcohol last week, so I'm not gonna go back and give all that again. You pretty well know where I'm coming from with this now. But I think it's interesting that the standard that's there for an elder is also there for the one who serves the tables. That there needs to be,

you need to be above reproach in that area. Number four, not fond of sordid gain. Not fond of sordid gain. Number five, not greedy for gain. And not greedy for gain that you've gotten dishonestly. Again, brothers and sisters, we have to make a living in life. We have to support ourselves in life. But we live in a society that is built upon greed. Can we all agree with that?

We live in an economy that's built upon greed. And if a little bit's good, then a lot of it's better. And I don't care what kind of economy you live in, when you've got people, you've got greed. And we have to be above reproach. Above the board when it comes to that sort of thing. I've known men in the past that they are 100% faithful in every aspect of their life except one.

And that's that finances have a tendency to bring them down because they're willing to bend the rules on finances in order to get ahead. And when they do that, it disqualifies them from ministry. I will never forget, long, long, long time ago, 99% of you don't even remember this. I remember someone having to step down from ministry because of a lack of financial integrity.

And I remember thinking, wow, that's pretty intense. I was a really little guy when that happened. And he got up here in front of everybody and said he had to step down because of a lack of financial integrity in his life. And it's just something that we have to have as leaders within the church. When I sat around a table with a group of pastors back in March, we talked about the fact that if anybody,

if we expect anybody in the church to have financial integrity, it has to start with the leadership. And if it doesn't take place there, then we can't expect that of the church. And Jesus is pretty serious about that sort of thing. So not fond of sordid game. Number five, they must uphold and understand true doctrine. I adapted this a little bit from what it says in here.

In the scripture, it says that, let's see, clear. Upholding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, but I sort of shortened it a little bit for this. Uphold and understand true doctrine. Now, I think that both of those are really, really interesting because we're talking about men or women who could potentially serve at tables, right? They're doing the physical needs of the church.

And yet, Paul says, if you're going to do the physical needs of the church, if you're gonna handle the physical needs of the body, you need to also understand and handle the truths properly. In other words, you must be someone who is skilled in the word. That means that if you're the hands and feet of Jesus, it does not disqualify you from having to study God's word. You know why?

Because our theology, our theology informs our activity. Our theology informs our activity. And if our theology is wrong, then our activity will be wrong. Because we will always do things with the wrong heart, the wrong motives, the wrong ideas. Whereas if we have the proper theology, it will inform everything that we do in our lives. And so, first of all, you must understand the truth.

If someone wants to be in a position of ministry, whether it's an elder or a deacon, you must be someone who understands the truth, meaning that you must be someone who is constantly soaking yourself in the truth. Because I've never met anyone that can understand the truth without being in the truth. And so, you have to be able to understand it yourself, but then you also need to be able to uphold it with a clear conscience. Uphold it with a clear conscience.

I wanna read a couple of quotes to you here. One idea is to adhere to proper doctrine out of sincere conviction. Adhere to proper doctrine out of sincere conviction. In other words, if you're gonna know it, you've gotta live it. If you're gonna know it, you gotta live it. Because again, our theology informs our activity. You have to be someone who lives out

what they claim to know. But not only that, I love this, understanding and behavior that is consistent with spiritual maturity. The idea is having an understanding and a behavior that is consistent with spiritual maturity. There's that word again. We talked about it last week, right? Maturity is so important in the life of a believer. And maturity is so important in the life

of someone that God would use in ministry. And there has to be an aspect in the life of one who God is going to use that their understanding continues to mature and their behavior matches that maturity. It's not enough just to have gotten saved. It's not enough just to have been baptized. It's enough in God's eyes, you're always 100% with him. But that's not what we wanna make.

We don't just wanna make converts. We wanna make disciples. And if we're going to make disciples, then you must first be a disciple. I'm seeing lots of things going on and lots of people getting baptized and lots of things happening and I'm very excited about that. I've mentioned that a lot of times. But there is a concern in the back of my mind. And the concern in the back of my mind is this,

that we will create a whole lot of converts with a little bit of knowledge, but we will never really make disciples. We will never really make people who know how to understand and uphold true doctrine. We will never make truly mature believers. And I've been telling all of the young people that I'm working with that I'm seeing come to faith, like listen, this is just the beginning for you.

This is just, you coming to faith is just the beginning. That's not the goal you're shooting for. That's the start of the journey. The goal that you're shooting for is to become mature in Christ. That means you have to dig in in every part of your walk. You have to dig in in every aspect of your life and grow and allow God to produce fruit in you as you spend time in his word, as you spend time with him,

as you spend time allowing him to pour truth into you and then living that out in every aspect of your life. I think that discipleship piece is missing. And unfortunately, what we see in church culture today is that the biggest place where the discipleship piece is missing is in the leadership, which is why we're not making disciples in the church. And so as leaders, we have to first be disciples.

We have to first be those who understand and uphold the truth if we ever want to lead anyone else into the truth. So they must uphold and understand true doctrine. Number six, they must be tested. They must be tested. The word tested means closely examined. I believe it was the Amplified Bible that said, to put to the test for the purpose of being approved.

To be closely examined and to put to the test. To test for the purpose of being approved. You ever hung something up in your house, a shelf or a bar or something like that? And what's the first thing we as men do when we hang something up, right? And we know it's supposed to support a lot of weight. We hang on it and we say, that's not going anywhere, right?

Or when you strap something down in the back of your truck, you crank that thing down and you're like, two more clicks, click, click. And you yank on it and you go, that's not going anywhere. Why? Because you've just tested it, right? You have just put it to the test for the purpose of approving. Because you know that you want that thing to support stuff. You know you want that thing to do something.

And that's what leaders are supposed to be. They are supposed to be tested. They are supposed to be closely examined before they are put into a position of leadership. David Guzik in his commentary put it fascinatingly. He said, wait, let me get back to my spot there. Leaders are not supposed to be tested. Leaders are not appointed, they are recognized. Leaders are not appointed, they are recognized.

And can I say, that's how we operate here at Calvary Chapel as well. We don't just look and go, you'll be really good. Let's put you in there. Let's make you a leader and hope that you're gonna be that. No, we watch people. We watch people to see how they serve. We watch people to see how they act. We watch people to see how they react. We watch people to see how they interact

with the people that are around them. How they're handling the word of God. How they're handling their families. How they're handling their business and how they're handling their life. And when you see by examining them and the things that they do on the daily when they don't even realize they're being examined, you start going, that person might be pretty good.

They might be a pretty good leader. And even then, there's still a testing. Even then, there's still questions that need to be asked. How do you, what do you think about this? How would you handle this? Tell me about how long you've been walking with Jesus. Tell me your thoughts on eschatology. Tell me your thoughts on these things. Why? Because you need to be tested.

Because you will either be tested before you're put into ministry or you'll be tested, you'll either pass the test before you're put into ministry or you'll fail the test after you've been put into ministry. That's just all that there is to it. And so they have to be tested. And then once they are tested, they can serve as leaders. Number seven, they are to be beyond reproach.

Beyond reproach. That phrase, beyond reproach, we talked about last week. It means to be without blame. Nothing can stick to you. Nothing can stick to you. It doesn't mean that you're perfect. It means that you have short accounts with man and you have short accounts with God. If we're looking for perfect people, it's just gonna have to be Jesus, right? Because none of the rest of us are gonna qualify.

But you can be someone who accusations don't stick to because you're living a life that is beyond reproach. Now, when we come to this next one, we come to verse 11, and I want to point you to verse 11. Now, when we come to this next one, we come to verse 11, and I want to point you to verse 11. I want to point something out to you. It says, women must like wives.

Now, if you're reading the old King James, maybe the new King James, it doesn't say women, it says wives. So, there's a real debate that takes place here. And it's kind of interesting. And I read two extreme positions on both ends of this. And then I read what I consider balanced positions, which is where I usually land with most of these things. Well, who is he talking to now?

Is he talking to the wives? Because he's gonna give four more qualifications that fit under this category of women. Is he talking to the wives of deacons? Or is he talking to women who will serve as deaconesses? On one end, everybody says it's gotta just be the women, because remember women served as deaconesses throughout the New Testament. There's at least three of them that are mentioned.

And so, so it's kind of interesting to pay attention to that, and so, so it's kind of interesting to pay attention to that, because as I have told you, you before i believe that there are lots of places that women can be used in ministry within the church and i do believe that as a deacon this is one of those places as a matter of fact the uh some of the wording in here if it's not this one it's in second timothy when he brings it up again some of the wording indicates a a gender neutral aspect meaning it could either be men or women but then on the other side you've got no no all of the context indicates that this is the wives that he's talking to because because the wives play an important role in the life of a husband

and you know what i think you know i think about those two opinions yes isn't it interesting that that in any and i heard somebody give this quote a couple of weeks ago in any great doctrine there's always tension because there's always somebody on both sides of it and if there's tension in it then it tells me that there must be balance for it so i believe that this not only addresses women who would who god would use in this role as a deaconess but it also addresses the wives because while these are really important for women to pay attention to we need to understand and listen closely to this wives can disqualify husbands because you cannot put a man into ministry whose wife doesn't also fit the bill

i'm just being honest about that because sometimes you go that guy would be really great in ministry his wife can't keep her mouth shut you can shoot darts at me later or now i'm pretty quick not as quick as i used to be but i still i can still dodge but it's just all that there is to it and so he gives these instructions for women i think it's both i think these are women who would want to hold some sort of a position like this but also wives of deacons and i want you to notice what he says women first of all must be dignified same word respectable and respectful why does he say that because whether you're a woman or a man you can't be a clown right you have to be someone who

is respectful in the way that you handle authority someone who is respectful in the way that you handle other people someone who is respectful in the way that you treat other people and ladies i'm just going to be real honest with you right now i work around a lot of ladies right like i've grown up around all girls i live with all girls and i got a bunch of girls that come to bible studies that i do and you know what you guys tend to not be with each other very respectful and that's just that's just honesty 101. like sometimes i'm like how why would you say that about another human being and it's a woman talking about another woman and like why would you do that you have to be respectful and you also have to be respectable someone who is worthy of

the respect of the people that are around you so number one women are to be dignified number two women are not to be slanderers not slanderers i actually really liked the way that the new american standard translated this let me get back to my spot here malicious gossips oh man is there does anything send chills down your spine more than the phrase malicious gossip you're being a malicious gossip right that sounds awful but it's slandering other people again i hear this happen all the time right okay i follow sports a lot i don't follow women's sports as much as i do men's sports but i can't help it it's kind of thrust in my in in my uh path of view here lately uh caitlyn clark and angel reese i don't know if you all follow the

wnba at all right now but the battle between those two is intense and and i don't know who's right and who's wrong i don't care who's right and who's wrong i don't really care that much but but it's it but it's on my news feed all the time and i'm like oh see what what they say about each other sometimes is is what we would call malicious gossip or slander you know you know why the women are told not to do that because it's a problem and again whether you're the why whether you are the wife of someone who thinks that they want to be a deacon listen when you're in leadership people tell you things people tell you things that are going on in their life and they need to be able to trust that they can tell you that and know that it's

not going anywhere and know that that's not being put out to anybody else especially if that person is your enemy especially if that person is someone that you really don't like that much you have to be able to trust and so you can't be a malicious gossip you can't be a slander do you know that word can also be translated a devil isn't that fascinating that word can also be translated a devil in other words the the things that you say can sometimes be devilish and that can't come out of our mouths and and men i don't want to exclude us on this because i've worked around enough men to know that we're just a bunch of cheerleaders too sometimes right she can't be malicious gossip

she can't be a slanderer the next thing that he tells them and this is number 10 overall is that you must be temperate and the idea behind that word is calm and circumspect in other words somebody who doesn't fly off the handle all the time and somebody who handles themselves in a calm sort of a fashion you can you can take things in stride you're not given to extremes of the emotions and then the last one that he gives for the women and overall number 11 is to be faithful and i love the way he words this faithful in all things faithful in all things that word can also be translated trustworthy in other words someone that you can just trust either trust to get the job done trust with the information that you need to share

or trust with the fact that you have bared your heart to them and it's not going anywhere faithful in all things well now is how i know we slip back to the husbands again because he says deacons must be the husband of only one wife interestingly enough while he brought this up once he brings it up again that they are to be the husband of one wife you know what that tells me that tells me fellas that we may sometimes have a struggle in our lives that that we need to be told more than once you just get the one that's the one you got to focus on that's the one you got to pay attention to that's the one you got to pour into that's the one you got to give your affection to that's the one you

got to give your attention to because that's your wife a husband of only one wife and then last but certainly not least it says they must be good managers of kids and household they must be good managers of their kids and their household again remember we're talking about table servers right now we're we're talking about the guys on the maintenance team right now we're talking about the house of god and yet they still need to be good managers of their kids and their household and it takes us back to what he told the elders because if you don't know how to manage your household you can't manage the house of god if you don't know how to manage things in your household you'll never be able to manage things in the house of god so he gives these these 13

qualifications for a deacon within the church the blessing notice what it says in verse 13. for those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in christ jesus can i just tell you to step into a role where god uses you is stepping into a role of sacrifice it's it's stepping into a role where you decide to take second place to a whole lot of other things where where you decide that that sometimes putting aside what you want is more important or is is more important because you need to focus on what's needed and it means certain things go by the wayside sometimes your hobbies you don't get to take part in as much anymore sometimes the

funds not had as much anymore and sometimes there's a lot of sacrifice with ministry we always we always talk about a lot of sacrifice with ministry but i want to tell you one thing there is a huge blessing in ministry there's huge blessings in ministry and that's what he says right here he goes i know these qualifications are stringent i know this stuff is hard i know they're sacrificed i know you're being held to a higher accountability but i want you to notice something those who served well as deacons obtained for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith does that mean that they're better than everybody else nope it means you're more confident it means that god blesses you in ways

that you didn't even know were possible i remember listening to jay vernon mcgee teach on this one and he said do you know why i keep teaching the bible i keep teaching the bible because i'm selfish and i remember thinking that's the strangest thing i've ever heard so i kind of leaned in a little closer as i was listening he said i teach the bible because i'm selfish he goes i want to keep learning the depth of everything that god has to teach me and i have found the only way that i can do that is to teach it to somebody else because then god pours extra into me you see i preach god's word because i'm selfish and it's all about how i respond to people'swords so you see it's your gut feeling

and then you're like апνη me tell me the difference between someone who does what they want and someone else who does what they want

so all matter what area of Damocles we're in is where people are at a really deep level and that's where we come into a tôle Iya professores. life simply because I answered his calling in my life and so if he has that calling on you as I've told you before if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ you're in the ministry you may not have the position but you are in the ministry so take full advantage of it because there's a huge blessing that goes along with it so he's given us the qualifications for the elders he's given us the qualifications for the deacons and now at the end of this chapter he kind of goes into the purpose which you notice what he says verse 14 I'm writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long but in

case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the Church of the Living God the pillar and the support of truth he starts off by giving us his reason for reason for his purpose he starts off by giving us his reason for reason for writing as Paul often does in so many of his letters he says I'm writing to you because I hope to come to you I hope to come to you I got to be honest it's it's hard when you minister to people and then those people are gone not for bad reasons but just because God's called them other places God moves them to other places and and you miss those people because they're like your own family when when you serve with people and then either God

moves you or God moves them you missed them like close friends because that's exactly what they are you missed them like they're your own family we have some folks that we did ministry with up in Kansas City and when we left there to come down here it was so hard we knew we were supposed to come here and it was joy and coming here but it was so hard to leave them I'm still in a text group with two of the guys and we're talking I've lived down here for 15 years now right 15 years next month and and I'm still in a text group with two of those guys that I did ministry with and we we usually Sindi other things that would probably disqualify us from ministry because it would make us a clown

but but we send each other funny things all the time and and we encourage each other we pray with each other we go on vacation with them every other year because because they're they're such close friends and and that's the way you feel in ministry and so so the longer i go in ministry and the more people i have to say goodbye to because they've moved on for some reason or or god's called them somewhere else the more i understand why paul every time he wrote a letter said i sure hope i get to come see you sometime because i know what that's like and i know how that feels he says i i really want to come see you i'm really really hoping to come see you sometime but if i can't make it i'm giving you all of these instructions so that you will know

how to conduct yourself in the house of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and the support of truth he says i want you to know how to conduct yourself in the house of god i love that that's what he calls this right like this is the household of god the the The church in general is the household of God, but the local assembly is the household of God. And again, David Guzik gave this beautiful list in his commentary about why this is the household of God. He gave a handful of things. It's God's house because God is the architect.

The church is God's house because God is the architect of it. He designed it. And if we really want to know what God's house is supposed to look like, we should look at his word because he is the designer of the house of God. But second of all, it's God's house because he built it. He built it. And quite frankly, he's in the process of building it. And I love to see how God builds his house.

I love to see how God builds his house globally. I love to see how God builds his house locally. And I love to see how God builds his house individually. You have the global church, which spans the entire world. You have the local church, which sort of is the city that you live in and the church that you live in. But then you have your own little personal church, our own little assembly.

And it's beautiful to see how God builds it. It's truly God's household because he is the one who builds it. And listen, if God builds the house, then we don't have to worry about whether or not it's going to fall down because it's built on a really solid foundation. It's his house because he built it. It's his house because he lives there. It's his house because he lives there.

One of my favorite things to hear from people is when they are new or newer to come into the church. They're new or newer to come into the church. They're new or newer to come into the church. They're new or newer to come into the church. And they'll walk in and they'll say, I can't explain it, but I feel the presence of God here. I feel the presence of God here.

And that blesses my heart more than anything in the world because, listen, what makes this a church is not the fact that people are here. What makes this a church is not the fact that we study the Bible here. What makes this a church is not the fact that we have children's church and worship and a pastor and all those kinds of things. What makes this a church is that God's here, is that his presence.

His presence is at work in this place because that makes it God's house, right? Because his presence is there. It's God's house because he is honored there. And quite frankly, if we ever stop honoring God, we just have to stop being a church. And it's God's house because he rules there. He says, I want you to understand something. I may not be able to make it to you,

but I want you to know how you should conduct yourself in God's house because it's truly God's house. And we need to conduct ourselves in a proper manner. We need to conduct ourselves as we should be because God's house is, and I'm going to quote this again, the pillar and the support of the truth. The pillar and the support of the truth. I love that phrase that he uses there

because I think it's so important because it tells us two things. Number one, it tells us that God's house is always to be built on the truth. It's always to be built on the truth of God's word. And if we ever get away from the truth of God's word, then we've missed the foundation of the house. This is what everything is to be built upon. The truth of God's word

because all other truth that we know in life has its roots in this. And so it's the foundation that the church is built upon. I listened to a pastor speak here recently and he was talking about, it was a Calvary Chapel pastors conference, and he was talking about the need to stick with the foundation that Calvary Chapel was built upon. And then I read Chuck on this just a little bit too.

He said, Chuck Smith always told the story about when he first started in the ministry, that all he knew was altar calls every single week. He said, so I would prepare the greatest evangelical, evangelistic message I could possibly give and I would try to get everybody saved every week. He said, and nobody ever came forward. He said, I got to thinking about something.

Everybody's the same people that have been coming to my church. I think they got saved the first time I gave the message. I don't need to keep giving the evangelical message, the evangelistic message. I'm going to give it to them every single week. He said, and that's when God told me, just teach them. Just teach them. And quite frankly, if you just teach God's word,

you know what I have found? People love it. People flock to it. You know how I know? Because this is first service. And quite frankly, I'm about to tell some of the second service people, hey don't forget, there's a first service. That's how I know. It's because anywhere where God's word comes from, I'm telling you what I know. word is being taught and it's not just here it's anywhere god's word is being taught people are

showing up because they want to hear god's word they want a foundation of truth in their life we don't need all new experiences we don't need to have some holy spirit rock show every single week you just got to give out the word of god and that's what it's built on but not only is it the foundation for truth not only is it built on truth but it upholds the truth and in a world where the truth comes at a premium the church is supposed to be where the truth is found because in the world that we live in today truth comes at a premium right it's it's hard to identify what is and is not true it's hard to identify what is and is not real but we always start with the foundation of the word of god and we test everything against the word

of god because that's not only being built on the foundation of the truth it's upholding the truth because they're the pillars that are holding up everything that we do he says i write these things to you so that you will know how to conduct yourself in the household of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and the support of truth and then he reminds them to keep their eyes on jesus he says by common confession great is the mystery of godliness he who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit was seen by angels proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world taken up in glory by common confession great is the mystery of godliness most believe that this was probably a hymn that was sung in the early church at this

point in time and and paul just puts it down in words again but this hymn is so beautiful first thing i love is that paul says great is the mystery of god godliness because it reminds us of something about god and our relationship with him and that's that it is sort of mysterious it's not necessarily a solving the crime sort of a mystery it's more of something that is concealed that is progressively being revealed to us great is the mystery of godliness what is the mystery of godliness it's none other than jesus himself and we are in the process of jesus being revealed to us it started the day that you became born again it started the day that you became born again it started the day that you became born again

you you had jesus revealed to you for the very first time i had a conversation with somebody here recently that just came to faith in in jesus christ and and within the last about three months and i said if you don't mind could you tell me a little bit of your story just tell me you don't have to go into detail i don't want you to be embarrassed or anything but could you just tell me a little bit of your story and so this person started going into some detail about some hard things that they went through and some wrong ways that they were dealing with it and they said i just prayed that god would take you to a place where the would show me some kind of a sign so I showed up to church and you talked about

everything that I'd been praying about and I knew that the answer was truly found in Jesus and in that moment this person had their very first revealing of Jesus in their life because because Jesus showed up that day because remember this is where the presence of God is Jesus showed up that day and what I reminded this person of is that that was only the beginning you've now started a process of Jesus being revealed to you for the rest of your life until that day when we stand before him in glory when we will no longer see through a glass darkly or dimly but we will see face to face because that's the mystery that's continually being revealed to us until we go home to be with him he says great is the mystery of godliness and he lists off a few things

he says he was speaking of Jesus revealed in the flesh that speaks of his humanity he was vindicated in the spirit that speaks of his deity because remember he was proved to be the Son of God with power when God raised him from the dead and that's that vindication in the spirit he was seen by angels not only on this earth but in his resurrection proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world up in glory. What a beautiful hymn. I wish someone would put music to this. Listen, if you're a music writer, someone should put music to that because I think it'd be a fantastic song.

But as we wrap this up, as we wrap up chapter three, I want to read to you a couple of quotes from David Guzik because I thought that they were fantastic. He says, Paul's description of Jesus after this passage speaking of Christian character reminds us of the key to our own character transformation. It is simply beholding Jesus. It is just as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The key to us becoming like Jesus once again. Jesus to be is always found in one place and one place only, in the place of beholding Jesus. Matter of fact, if you're somebody that likes to write down verses, you might write down, I think I had to put this up there, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 because I think that's one of those scriptures you kind of meditate on because it reminds you that if I want to become who God wants me to be, it's not about trying harder, although there's effort involved. It's not about striving harder, although there's sacrifice involved. But what really brings about the

change in our life is when we behold Jesus. Just like that person I was telling you about, what started the process in their life is that they saw Jesus for the first time. Obviously not physically, but they saw Jesus for the very first time. And now it will take the rest of their life, just like it will take the rest of my life, to behold Jesus in my devotional time, in my prayer time, in my time in his word, in my time of confession to him, in my time of really seeking him through prayer, in my time of personal worship. As I behold Jesus, it begins to change

the fabric of who I am. I would love to just modify everybody's behavior, right? My own included. I would love to just make a list of rules for myself. Don't do this, don't do this, do this. And if I can follow just those five simple steps, become who God wants me to be. But you see, that's called religion. Let me read the other quote.

We trust that we will transform, we trust that Jesus will transform our life according to the same character as we put our focus on him. We sometimes want religion to build that character in us, but truly relationship with Jesus is what really does it. Relationship with Jesus is what really does it, which is why the greatest thing Jesus wants to do in our lives is not to capture our habits. The greatest thing he wants to do is to capture our hearts.

Because if he captures our habits, he'll just get some of our habits. If he captures our hearts, he'll get our hearts and our habits. Because that's what he's truly looking for in our lives, is to make all of those changes in us in the depth of our relationship with him. And if that relationship with him isn't taking place, then I promise you no other relationship in your life will be right. I promise you no aspect of your life will be right, and you will

always find yourself in a place where you feel like you're failing. So brothers and sisters, whether you want to move into some position of church leadership, or whether you just want godly character developed in your life, it always begins with your time with Jesus as you behold him and as he changes the fabric of who you are. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I just want to praise you for who you are. Lord, I praise you for the standards that you set. We can't have grace without accountability. But Lord, I also praise you that we know and understand who truly develops godly character in our lives. And it is through our time spent with our Savior. I'm reminded of that verse in Acts that says, they took note that they were

uneducated and untrained men, but they knew that they had spent time with Jesus. And so Lord, may we be a body who, is less interested in how educated we are, and more interested in our relationship with Jesus Christ, that will truly change the fabric of who we are. And we just thank you and praise you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

Every heart that is broken. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. You are, you Lord, to the darkness. You give hope, you restore. Every heart that will shout your praise. Our hearts will sing grace. Our hearts will sing grace. We'll shout your hearts will cry. These bones will sing grace. We'll shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing grace.

And for how great you are. Lord God, you are the greatest. Lord Jesus, Lord, you bring so much peace and hope to our lives, Lord. And we just thank you so much. Thank you for your word this morning, Lord. It is sharp and powerful. And I just pray that it will continue to minister to us as we leave here. And Father, we love you and we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.