Called and Qualified Men - The Deacon - Part 2

Well, amen. Enjoy that worship as always. If you would, go ahead and take your Bible and turn back to where we were earlier, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 8 to 13. I did say that we will cover most of these verses. We'll finish up next week. I'll tell you why we'll finish up next week a little later on in the message. But I want to call your attention to a particular date. Today is a very, very important date because it was three years ago that we worshiped for the very last time in our old previous facility, Nola Baptist Church. Some of you were there. Three years ago today was our last service.

So next Sunday will be our three-year anniversary for being in town. I see some smiles back there. Remember, we moved and we began to worship here and then COVID hit and we all hit the panic button, isn't that right? So I thought that date would bless you. We're going to have a few more comments about that next week and I look forward to that. Maybe a testimony or two. That's something I've been thinking about even this morning. Well, let's take our Bible. Let's turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Like I said, we'll be in verses 8 to 13. We're not going to cover all of those verses.

But for several weeks now, we've been in a series that I'm calling Messages from the Pastoral's Heart. Now, I started this series by sharing how I came to faith in Christ and when I came to faith in Christ. And then I turned right around and I shared how and when God called me into the ministry. Now, I think you understand what that would be. That would be my personal testimony. It's kind of a two-sided coin, both sides, when I came to faith in Christ and when God called me in the ministry. And those messages led us to a few messages pertaining to leadership in the local church, specifically elder leadership and deacon leadership.

We study the call and the qualifications of the elder or the pastor from verses 1 to 7. And then on February the 12th we started on what I call the call and the qualifications of the deacon. Now, I have repeatedly made a statement. I have repeatedly said that we are in a critical time in the life of our church. And I say that for two reasons. If we do not have a biblical approach to elders, an elder ministry, and who we select as elders, well, the results will be a disaster. And that is because the church rises and it falls on its leadership. If you write things down, please write that down. I mean, remember that.

The church rises and it falls on its leadership. And we see that fact taught in Acts chapter 20 when Paul challenged the elders there at the church at Ephesus because he knew that their situations, their circumstances, their trials were on the back of those particular elders. And also we have the need for organized deacon ministry and service. For the 12 years or so that I have been pastor, we have never had organized deacon ministry and service, but the need for deacons and organized deacon ministry is upon us. And of course, we're going to put those things into place in God's timeframe.

So as we look to organizing deacon ministry in the near future, it is critical that we start deacon ministry according to God's word and according to what God's word says it should be. And we need God's wisdom. So as to organize this ministry as it should be according to the needs of our church. And we must remember if we start off wrong in organizing deacon ministry, instead of helping the church, we'll hinder the church. Instead of fostering growth and health in the life of the church, we will hinder the health and the work of the church.

Now, before we get into the actual qualifications of the deacon again, I want us to see that we looked back at some information before and we need this more than you know. Now, I'm not going to review all of this background information, all of this teaching, but I want to highlight a few of these things because these things must, I repeat, they must be in our minds and understanding. We learned that the meaning of the word deacon and the various forms of the word deacon that are found in the New Testament have to do with service.

In the original language when we see the word deacon and the various forms of the word used, it has to do with service. It's always about serving and even serving in menial tasks. Now, the English translators translate that in a whole host of ways. And we learned that the only times we see the office of the deacon mentioned in the New Testament is Philippians 1.1 and 1 Timothy 3 verse 8. Now, there is a big lesson here. I didn't mention this last week. If the Scriptures only mentioned the office two times but mentioned service and serving, remember that term? I called it deaconizing.

If the Scriptures only mentioned the office two times but mentioned service and serving quite a lot, shouldn't we focus more on serving than the position in the office? Now, we should focus on the position in the office, it's biblical. Now, here's the lesson. Beware of the man who always focuses on the office. There are people that come into the life of the church. It's always about the office and the position, the position in the office. And if you'll pay attention to those, many times they overlook the service. I'm far more impressed with the man who will serve rather than talk about an office or even a title.

And then we went on in Romans 12 verses 5 to 8. We saw that this word deacon is used for a particular spiritual gift. Yes, there is a spiritual gift of service. Some of you didn't know that. That means there are Christians who are especially gifted and equipped for service in the church. Now, this Christian, whether it be a man or a woman, truly has the ability to serve and they have a heart, they have a drive to serve. And this is usually a notch or two above what we see in other believers.

And then we finally did see this word deacon in the forms of the word deacon that are used in the New Testament to refer to the officially recognized office of the deacon and the officially recognized responsibilities of the deacon. And we learned that the only times we see the office of the deacon mention, again, Philippians 1, 1 and right here in 1 Timothy 3, 8. And these men who are in this office of the deacon, they are serving alongside and under the elders to carry out the practical and the physical needs of the church.

They carry out in many ways the teaching ministry of the church and serving in those practical and physical needs all in the life of the church. Now, I love how John MacArthur touches on the three uses of the word. And I'm going to make a little application here on his back. He says, and I'm quoting, "Everyone," this would be every believer, every church member, everyone is a deacon in a general sense. Remember, we're all to be deaconizing, all to be serving. And he goes on to say, "Some are specifically gifted by the Holy Spirit for our service. Those are the ones who have the gift of service.

And if you have the gift of service, you should be using that gift. That means you should be maybe a notch or two above." And then he goes on to say, still quoting, "But still others hold the office of the deacon. They model spiritual service for everyone where we're waiting on God to set those men aside." And he's doing it now, even this morning in the life of the church.

And MacArthur goes on to say, "Those, that would be those who have the office of the deacon, they work alongside the elders implementing their teaching and preaching and oversight in the practical life of the church." Now, before we pick back up with the qualifications of the deacon, I want to revisit something else that I said before. And this is critical. This is critical in our understanding of the office of the deacon and how the deacon relates to the elder and the elder relates to the deacon. Again, mark this down. Remember this, the deacon is not the man who just can't measure up to being an elder.

The deacon is not the man who is examined for elder and he just couldn't make the cut so he is sent down to the minor leagues to serve as the deacon. If that is in your mind, I want you to expel that thought. That's not of God in the Scriptures. And we must understand that the biblical standards for the deacon are almost identical to the biblical standards for the elder. Elders who serve in their office and deacons who serve in their office serve in much different ways. But the spiritual standards and qualifications are almost identical. I repeat what John MacArthur says here. I quoted him the last time we were in this verses.

He says there is no drop-off between the two. That's got to be in our minds. There's no drop-off between the two. Simply the spiritual quality, the spiritual maturity, and qualifications of the men are the same for the deacon and the elder, but the only difference in their qualification is that the elder must be able to teach, whereas the text never says that the deacon must be qualified with the ability to teach. Now the deacon can teach. The deacon may have the ability to teach, but the text does not say the deacon must be able to teach. Now, from me as your pastor, I'll take a deacon who can preach and teach anytime. I'd love to have that.

But those are God's affairs and He gives us the men that He so chooses. Now when we began to look at the qualifications for the deacon, I helped us by categorizing those qualifications much like I did when we looked at the elders. As a matter of fact, this week I was looking back through some old information that I had filed away. I think I picked up these categories from John MacArthur years ago. But in verses 8 to 13 we see five groups of qualifications. Many qualifications, but they're grouped together, five groupings. First we see the qualifications that relate to personal character, verse 8.

Second, we see the qualifications which relate to doctrine and faith, verse 9. Third, we see the qualifications which relate to service in the life of the church. That's at the beginning of verse 10. And then fourth, we see qualifications that relate to moral purity. That's tucked in there at the end of verse 10 and at the beginning of verse 12. And then fifth and last we see qualifications that relate to the home, home life, the marriage, and the witness of the home. That's in verses 11 and 12. But again, write this down. Please remember this.

We must remember one key word that ensures that we as individuals in a church that we see these qualifications as we should. Paul says the deacon must meet these qualifications. If you're writing your Bible, if you're highlighting your Bible, please underline or circle that word must in verse 8. Paul says deacons likewise must be. These are not suggestions, folks. These things are not optional. And it's sad. It's sad how many churches do not make these qualifications a must. Now think with me here. What are the results? We're going to deal with that a little bit later.

When a church does not make these qualifications a must, well the results are sin and sinfulness and warliness. It just hampers and hinders the health of the church. And we must remember our approach to these things. If Paul says they're a must, and he does, and if God through Paul says they're a must, and he does, well for us these things must be a must for us. Now let's get into these qualifications. Now last time we were together in these verses we did cover that first category. And we're going to quickly zoom through those. But our first category, the deacon must have qualifying personal character. We see that in verse 8.

Let's read the verse. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-toned, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. Now here we have four specific qualifications in the verse that relate to the man's personal character. Again, we cover these so we'll be quick here. First off we see that the deacon must be a man of dignity. The English Standard reads dignity. The new international version, I love that. It reads men worthy of respect. That's very accurate. Simply this means that these men must be men of dignity. They must be men of respect.

And that is because they are serious men who are serious about spiritual matters and service in the church. So they are men of respect and they are men who are worthy of this high and respected office. The Bible scholar Richard Trench says, and I'm quoting, "A deacon must not be silly, must not be a flippant person, one who makes light of serious matters. Although they are not cold, joyless persons, a deacon understands the seriousness," and he goes on to say, "of life," and I would add to that, he is serious about serious matters. And then next, we see the deacon must not be double-tongued.

The King James, the New American Standard, the English Standard all say double-tongued. Now simply this means that the deacon must not be a gossip but more. They must be men of truthful, honest, and consistent speech and more. Their speech must be dependable. It must be trustworthy. All people in the church and outside of the church must be able to depend on what they say. John MacArthur says it like this, "A deacon's speech must not be hypocritical, but it must be characterized by integrity, consistency, and honesty." Also, we see that the deacon must not be addicted to wine.

Here the King James says, "Not given to much wine." Now remember, there is a key word here, this word "addicted." This means to turn one's mind to. It means to occupy one's self with. It means a habitual or continual practice. Now I do not have time to go back over all that we studied, but we all need to go back and make sure we get these things in our minds for three reasons. First, this is one area of life that pertains to what is called the Christian conscience. And then second, this is one area of life that pertains to the Christian witness.

And then third, this is an area of life where so many can compromise their Christian walk and they can destroy their Christian witness. Many have ruined their Christian walk and Christian witness because of the abuse of alcohol and the abuse of alcohol. I've even known of well-known Christian leaders who have destroyed their homes and their witness and their ministries. Here's where an understanding of the teaching of Romans 14 is vital. Romans 14, study it folks, learn it, understand the teaching there, that helps us understand how we deal with the Christian conscience and the Christian witness.

But simply, deacons must be men who are not addicted to wine or the drink. They must not be occupied with alcohol. It must not be their habit. Now, I have said this before, but I'll repeat it. I'll share with you my stance. For me, it's not worth it. I have no desire. I value my witness too much. It grieves my conscience. It's too dangerous. It's just not worth it for me. And the leaders, Brother Keith and I as elders, we have a handshake here. It's not a blood oath. We understand as leaders we're held to a higher standard, and we value our witness. And so we just don't go there.

And I as the pastor, in leading the church and being wise here, I would ask leaders in the life of the church to abstain. Why? Because of the danger, because of the danger in the home and because of the witness. And again, sometimes these things cause us to ask questions. That's good. And if you have questions, I can sit down with you and explain to you how I deal with these things as they relate to Romans 14. And then last, we see the deacon must not be fond of dishonest gain. Now, the English Standard uses this word dishonest. The New American uses this odd word, sordid. The King James uses the term greedy.

We know that word for filthy luker, which is an odd phrase. But simply this means a deacon. And the prospective deacon must not be greedy for money and possessions. He must not be greedy even for dishonest gain. Now think about the circumstance of the deacon in the life of the church. A deacon is responsible for physical matters in the church. And that could put him in close contact with the monies and the properties of the church. So if one is greedy and even greedy for dishonest gain, there would be this great temptation here. I love what the Bible commentator William McDonald says here.

He says, "Judas was not the last church treasurer to betray his Lord for mere money." But you know, I'll think about it like this. If you're a man or a woman in the life of the church and you are greedy for dishonest gain, that's a church discipline issue. That's a grievous sin for a regular Christian, much less a leader like a deacon. So in summary, look what we have covered here. These things pertain to qualifying or disqualifying personal character. We see that a deacon and a prospective deacon must, they must be qualified in their personal character. Now a question here that we cannot answer, but I think we can take a good stab at it.

Think with me here. Why would Paul start with personal character? Why not start with the other qualifications? See, if we were writing this or if I was writing this, I probably would start with abilities and talents. So why not start with abilities and talents? Why does Paul start with personal character? It's because Paul understood that character dictates conduct. Folks, it's the truth. We can see it fleshed out. Character always dictates conduct. It always dictates conduct. So we must keep it in the proper order. If someone is not qualified in their personal character, it does not matter how they relate to the other qualifications.

Now let's pick up with these other qualifications in the verses. Our second category, the deacon must have qualifying doctrine and faith. We see this in verse 9. The deacon must have qualifying doctrine and faith. Let's read the verse. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear or a pure conscience. Now the New American Standard reads like the English Standard, but the King James, it reads a little different, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And to understand what Paul is saying here, we need to examine two things right out of the verse. First, this mystery of the faith.

It may seem like Paul is talking about some big secret. It may seem like he's talking about a big secret that's associated with the faith. But Paul is talking about the Christian faith as seen in the New Testament. Now you could turn around and say something like this, "Pastor, it's not a mystery or a secret. It's right here in the Bible." Well, that is true. We do have the Christian faith clearly explained in the New Testament. But the mystery or the secret Paul was referring to is this. The clear truths explained in the New Testament were hidden from those who lived in Old Testament times.

The reason Paul calls the faith a mystery is that the faith is seen in the New Testament was alluded to or hinted at in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is full of types and shadows. The Old Testament is full of veiled pictures and veiled promises. But in the New Testament, those types, those shadows, those pictures, those veiled promises are made clear. And what Paul is saying here is this. The deacon, or one who is examined for the office of the deacon, they must hold on to. They must possess the Christian faith that was once hidden, but yet it is made known clearly in the Scriptures.

And notice the simplicity here of what Paul is saying. For a man to hold on to the faith or to possess the faith, well, he knows it. He knows it. And then second, this clear are pure conscience. This phrase may seem strange as well, but this speaks to the practical side of the Christian life. You see, God has given every man, every woman a conscience which is that self-governing, self-judging, self-correcting faculty within the man. The conscience is that inner human instrument given by God that either affirms or condemns the man. But a very important question here. What standard, what measuring rod does the conscience use? Think about that.

If the conscience is placed within a man by God to govern and to either affirm or condemn, well, then what standard, what rod is used? That's easy as well. The Christian faith that the man knows and holds. Now first, and on a very fundamental level, the conscience uses the law of God which is written on the heart of men. All men everywhere have the law of God written on their heart, Romans 2, 14 to 15. And then second, on top of the law of God written on their heart, the conscience uses the Christian faith that is known and is held onto. So a deacon, a prospective deacon, must have qualifying doctrine in faith.

He must hold onto and possess the Christian faith and he must do so with a clear conscience which means he lives these things out in life and in his service in the church. Now church, get this. If a man holds to the faith and doctrine, he knows it all. But he does not live it out with a clear conscience as he serves in his office as a deacon, then he will be the one who serves in the flesh and he will use worldly methods and worldly means. It happens every time. If the Word of God, if sound doctrine and faith are not his standard, he will operate as a deacon apart from the Word and he will always revert to worldly and sinful methods.

Now I am not going to call any names but I have seen bucket loads of men in the life of the church who know doctrine, who know the Scriptures. They could not quote the Scriptures but there is this huge disconnect when they operate in the life of the church. It is like they leave their Bibles at home. Well they do not do it with a clear conscience. But an application a little further. When we select and appoint deacons to serve in that office, first they must be men who know the faith, they hold onto it. Now let me show you how this starts. They faithfully attend. They faithfully attend Sunday mornings in small groups on Sunday nights.

They faithfully attend Wednesday nights. They know I know sometimes work and can hinder Wednesday night attendance. But they faithfully attend. Now you might say, "Pastor what does that have to do with holding onto the faith?" If you have a faith that you hold onto and it gets you to be faithful in the life of the church, something is tremendously wrong. I have known people who knew the Bible and they just could not come to the church. More specific, they must know and understand our statement of faith. Our statement of faith is not authoritative like the Scripture but we understand what it means. It is a tool.

It explains what we teach and what we strive to believe. Some of these things are difficult to understand. We would never have a man serve as a deacon and he contradicts our statement of faith. That would be problematic. And another thing, when one holds onto the faith and they live it out practically in their life and in the church, let me show you something else. They are us. What I mean is this, they are Grace Life Church. They are not trying to make the church be something else. We are an established church. God has established us. We are who we are and we are healthy biblically.

And a lot of times men will come into the life of the church. And they say they hold onto the faith but they can't practically live it out. And let me show you what they do. They always look to some other organization that is supposedly doing it better. They always compare the pastor to the famous pastor who is always preaching at the conference. They always run it after the newest movement. And what I am showing you is this. It is far more simplistic than you know. When they hold onto the faith with a clear conscience, they live it out right there on the pew on Wednesday night during revival meetings in a small group.

When there is a good crowd, when there is not a good crowd, when there are difficulties in the church, they live it out. It is not necessarily glamorous either. And then second, they must hold onto the faith with a clear conscience. It just means that they live it out practically, look, in their life, in their home and then in the church with a pure conscience. And then third, the third category, the deacon must have qualifying service in the life of the church. This is at the beginning of verse 10. The deacon must have qualifying service in the life of the church. Look at the beginning of verse 10.

"And let them also be tested first and then let them serve as deacons." Now here the New American Standard reads almost the same as the English Standard, but the King James is a little different. The King James says, "And let these also first be proved and then let them use the office of the deacon." Now to understand what Paul is saying here, there is really one key word that we need to understand. The word tested, the word proved, this is simple. It means to examine, it means to scrutinize. It has the idea of proving if something is worthy or not. This word was used in their day when metal workers would prove or test metals.

They would heat up that metal and they would separate the impurities from the metal, thus proving it and testing it for what it truly was. And here in testing or proving the deacon or the potential deacon, Paul is saying that they are to be watched, they are to be proven, they are to be scrutinized, yes. They are to be examined, they are to be proven for who they are and what they are. They are to be proven if they are qualified or not. Sometimes a man might be unqualified when he is examined. But a question, what area of their lives should be watched? What area of life should be tested and proven? Well the list is here.

Their personal character, their doctrine and faith, their service in the church, their moral purity, their home life and look, in all of these things in the different areas of their life, do they live these things out at work? Do they live these things out when they are at the deer camp or fishing with their friends or playing golf? Do they live these things out when they are on vacation? Do they live these things out in every area of their life? And get this, this isn't just a one time thing either. This is in the present tense which tells us that they are to be tested and tested continuously. That's a scary and intimidating thought.

And this should not seem strange to us if we know our Bibles. Let me show you. There were many Old Testament characters that were first tested and then when they were proven to be worthy they were allowed to serve as God wanted them. I took this list from Warren Wiersby and I changed it a little. He names a few. Think about Joseph. Joseph was tested. Joseph was a slave in Egypt for 13 years before he rose to become the second ruler in the nation just behind Pharaoh. Oh that's a test. How would you like that test? Sold into slavery? Joshua. Remember Joshua? He was an assistant to Moses before he took Moses' place in leading the people.

And what about King David? Before he was King David he was a shepherd boy. And he was a shepherd tending his father's sheep long before he was anointed king over Israel. And think about this. He killed a lot of lions and bears in secrecy when no one was watching long before he went toe to toe with Goliath. I like how Warren Wiersby comments here and he seems to be describing just what we have seen in so many churches and I'm quoting. It always weakens the testimony of a local church when a member who has not been proven is made an officer in the church. And he goes on to give a hypothetical.

Maybe Jim will attend church more if we make him a deacon. That is a statement that shows ignorance both of Jim and the Word of God. Now let me add to that. That is a statement that shows ignorance of God's Word by Jim and by the church and by the leaders of the church and the pastor of the church. But how many times have we seen that? You know if we'll ask them to serve maybe they'll be more faithful. And Wiersby goes on to say, "An untested Christian is an unprepared Christian. He will probably do more harm than good if you give him an office in the church." Why? Because he is unprepared. He is unequipped. He is untested. He is unable.

So a deacon or a prospective deacon must have qualifying service in the life of the church. He must be tested and proven worthy of the office and service. He must be watched and examined in every area of life because if he is not qualified he is unqualified. Now when we examine and test a man we look to see if the men are already serving. We look to see if they are already worthy. Now think about that. We do not look around and say this man has the potential. We do not look around and say well if he is chosen I think he will do a pretty good job.

No, when we examine a man and test a man we first look to see who is already serving and already qualified. And then fourth, our fourth category, the deacon must have qualifying moral purity. The deacon must have qualifying moral purity. Now to see this qualification we need to look in two places. There to end to verse 10 and the beginning of verse 12. We might not see this in verse 10. Let's go back and read it. "And let them also be tested first, and then let them serve as deacons, if they prove themselves blameless," that word blameless.

Verse 12, "let deacons each be the husband of one wife." Now if we have a good memory we will remember that we saw these very same things in the qualifications of the elder. As a matter of fact when you look to see what scholars and commentators say about these verses here, many will refer right back to what they said about the elder. Simply they are the same. But first the deacon must be above reproach. That's in verse 10. Now here the English standard says that he must be blameless, the newer American, I love it. It says beyond reproach. And we see this very same thing with the elder.

Now this literally means that there should be no accusation upon their life or there should be no case against them of sin or wrongdoing. This could and should be understood as having a very good strong Christian reputation. Now this does not speak of some kind of perfection. But this does speak of a solid life which is clean from past sins and it is closely watched so as to stay clean and pure and blameless in the eyes of God and in the eyes of those inside the church and outside the church. Again this speaks of a strong Christian reputation. So a deacon must be qualified in his personal character. They must be above reproach.

And then second the deacon must be the husband of one wife. Here the English standard, the new American, the King James basically say the same thing. Again we covered this with the elders. And we know this immediately brings up a debate that has been in the church for centuries and this debate is whether or not a deacon can be divorced and still serve in that office. Now when it comes to respected biblical opinions about these verses and what Paul is and was saying here there are basically two positions. Some say this is a prohibition against a deacon having more than one wife. That would be polygamy.

Now polygamy is really not an issue in our culture but it is an issue in other cultures in our day and it was an issue in certain parts of the world in their day. So if we look at this verse and the sin of polygamy we can obviously see that this is a prohibition against polygamy that would be having more than one wife. But some say this is a prohibition against a deacon being divorced. This view is popular among many respected scholars and this position can carry a lot of biblical weight. Those who hold to this position say that a divorce is a violation of verse 12 which speaks to the qualifications relating to the home and the home life.

And they say this is a violation of living a life above reproach as seen in verse 10. But with this position it's not a question about forgiveness no. It's about a standard that relates to the office. But just like when we dealt with this same qualification in the elder if we stay with those arguments and positions we might miss the point. This literally reads in the original language a one woman man which means the deacon must be a one woman man. And this helps us see that Paul was not speaking to marital status as much as he was speaking to moral and sexual purity.

A one woman man would be one who was and is completely committed to his wife. A one woman man would be one who was and is completely committed to a love and a devotion for his wife and that would include sexual purity. So if we stay with the meaning of the verse it really helps us to handle properly the problem of polygamy and divorce as in the case of the deacon. He is to be qualified based on moral and sexual purity. He is to be a one woman man one who is above reproach. So a deacon must be qualified in that personal character the husband of one wife and above reproach.

Now what's my position here as pastor just like with the elder it's about a standard Paul gives. God gives through Paul this high standard because this is a high office and a high service both the deacon and the elder. And I do not believe we should have men who serve as an elder or a deacon who have been divorced. I believe that's the standard but we're not going to divide here if we happen to see this a little different. There are respected churches and pastors and scholars who might see this a little different. Now we finally get to the fifth category the last category and that is deacons must have a qualifying home in home life.

But I want to save that for next week for two reasons. First of all because of time we just don't have the time to cover those verses this morning. But second there are some questions and positions that come from verse 12 that I want to cover. I want to cover it all. Now as I close I want to reiterate something that I said when I closed the last time we were in these verses. First remember this only God can make a deacon. It takes the Holy Spirit of God working in the man to make that deacon. In Romans 12, 6, 7 and 8 we see that some have the spiritual gift of service, ministry, a spiritual gift.

But in studying the office and the qualifications of the deacon we see that God calls and equips some men above and beyond even those who do have the gift of service. They are models of service to the church and in the church. But we must see that it is God that makes the deacon. Far too many churches, far too many church members, far too many pastors think that they can make a deacon. They look out and they see a man who is good in business and they will say, "Well he will make a good deacon." They look out and they see that a man comes from a respected family.

They will say, "Well he will make a good deacon." They will look around and they will say, "Well we need men like that in leadership. They will make a good deacon." Pastors will even say things like this, "Well I know they have got my back. They will make a good deacon. But we don't make deacons." As a pastor I can help equip a deacon. I can foster the call in their life. I can make them a better deacon. But this is a spiritual work in their heart in life. God makes the deacon. And if God is doing this work in you, first of all in the life of the church it will be evident.

But you must pray and you must seek to know for certain that God is indeed calling you. And you need to seek counsel from your pastor and you need to continue to seek God's will. You need to sift every area of your life through the grid and the standard of these qualifications. And as Grace Life Church and especially the men of Grace Life Church, you have a great responsibility here. You are to attest. You are to examine any man that God would bring to the forefront for de-conservice. You as Grace Life Church and especially men. You will have a hand in, a responsibility in selecting and appointing these men in the time.

So as we close we are still dealing with called and qualified men. We started with the elder, we are with the deacon, and we will wrap up the deacon next week. So let's pray. Let's commit these things to the Lord.