Instructions to Deacons

1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8 is where we will start.

1 Timothy 3:8

We've had a couple of tough passages the last couple of weeks, tough in that they're not

agreed upon among Christians.

There's certainly some different interpretation on the last couple of passages that we have

looked at.

But in these passages, Paul is giving Timothy instruction, instruction for the people of

Ephesus where Timothy is serving, instructions for God's people, how things ought to be organized,

how things ought to be managed, how things ought to take place.

We saw in chapter 2 instructions for prayer.

Then we saw some instructions for men and for women.

And then last week we looked at instructions for elders or overseers or pastor, all those

kind of the same thing in scripture.

And then tonight, kind of continuing on, very similar to last week, we're going to look

at instructions for deacons and the qualifications for those who are deacons.

So let's pray and then we'll get started.

Father God, we come to you, we thank you for your good word and I pray, dear Lord, that

we would see what your word says and that we would understand it as best we can, dear

Lord.

And that we would be the ones who are obedient to it in our life and as a church body, that

we would live by your word and do what your word says.

And so God, I pray that you just bless the reading of your word tonight, that you would

just let your Holy Spirit be among us, that you would hide me behind the cross as I preach

and teach, dear Lord, and it would all be for your glory.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

All right.

1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8, deacons likewise should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical,

1 Timothy 3:8

not drinking a lot of wine and not greedy for money.

Now a lot of these things that we're going to see here for deacons are very similar to

what we have just saw for elders, not quite the same, but very similar.

And so we talked about last week that kind of our structure in churches today that we

see, at least in Southern Baptist churches, is sometimes you'll see a pastor and then

maybe you'll see elders and then you'll maybe see deacons under that.

But really what we see, I think, in scripture is this idea of elders plural.

So a fellowship would have elders.

That would be multiple people who would meet these qualifications that we saw last week,

people who would be able to serve, that would be above reproach and have the ability to

preach and to teach in some way.

And so that's really what we would call pastors is best to think of what we saw last week

as an overseer or an elder.

That's kind of the same idea that we see in scripture.

And then we see tonight the qualifications for deacons.

Now obviously our world and our culture plays some part sometimes in the way that things

at church are done.

And that's not a good thing.

A lot of times we kind of try to formulate our churches to look like businesses.

And so in a lot of churches, the structure may be something like, okay, the pastor is

the CEO and the elder is the board of directors or the deacons is the board of directors.

And sometimes we try to make our church look as though it's a business and run as though

it's a business.

And even we may be tempted to say, okay, those who are going to serve in these positions

as elders are in deacons or those who are business minded and those who are successful

as businessmen, those sometimes are the ones who are chosen.

Now that's not to say that somebody who's good in business is disqualified from serving,

but perhaps if our mindset is to run the church like a business, then we're not doing a good

job because it's not about being a business.

It's not about a CEO.

It's not about a board of directors.

It's not about one man having a bunch of power.

It's about God's people selecting men who can be elders and overseers or women and men

who can be deacons and who will serve God, who have the ability to preach and to teach

and who have a heart to serve.

That's how our churches should be built up as far as those who are in leadership positions

in the church.

It's not a position of power like, oh, I'm a pastor, or oh, I'm an overseer, or oh,

I'm a deacon.

I'm holier than now.

I'm in a higher place.

Instead, I think... Now, this is my opinion.

I think that those who are overseers or elders or deacons should have a heart of service.

It's not an idea of, look how great I am, but rather an idea of how can I serve you?

How can I be there for you?

How can I help you?

How can I shepherd the flock?

I think these are the type of qualities that we need to think about when we look at the

Bible and we look at those in scripture that are described as overseers or elders.

I think that these are the types of qualities that we need to focus on, the very qualities

that Jesus himself had.

We see these qualifications here for a deacon, very similar to what we saw for an elder or

overseer or a pastor.

These are obvious things.

What does it say here in verse eight?

Should be worthy of respect.

Okay, you don't want somebody who's not respected.

They're disqualified from being a deacon.

If they're not respected, if they're unrespectable, then that disqualifies someone from serving

in that way.

Not hypocritical.

That is not saying one thing and doing another.

It's easy to say, oh, do this and oh, do that and this is good and this is right.

We can all say what is good and what is right, but what are we doing?

This is not just true of elders and deacons.

This is true of any of us.

None of us want to fall into this trap of hypocrisy, of acting one way at church or

acting one way when we see people that go to church with us.

Then when we are on our own away from other folks, we act another way.

That's hypocritical.

Essentially, what we're doing when we come to church, if we do that, is we're putting

on a mask.

It's like we're putting on a costume.

We're pretending like we're godly people, but really we're not.

Those who would do that are not qualified.

If there are people who would live in that type of way and live in hypocrisy, that's

a disqualification to be a deacon, not drinking a lot of wine.

Again, it doesn't say not to drink any wine, drinking some wine.

Of course, we see that throughout scripture, but the point here is not getting drunk.

That's the sin in scripture is not getting drunk.

You don't want someone who's out of control, who doesn't control what they drink, who does

drink too much wine and does get drunk.

You don't make good decisions when you get drunk.

You make a fool of yourself when you get drunk.

Because a body of Christ, you don't want somebody who's going to be in a position of respect

for those in the community to see this person out drunk and acting a fool.

Wait a minute.

One, that gives a bad name to God.

Two, that gives a bad name to the body of Christ.

It hinders people from wanting to come to God.

It hinders people from wanting to become part of a fellowship that proclaims God, but yet

if those who are in leadership positions are getting drunk, it's not a good look.

Really obvious disqualification here that Paul is pointing out for Timothy.

Not greedy for money.

Again, you don't want anybody that's going to be consumed with wanting money and worldly

wealth.

Now, you may remember if you've never read in Acts chapter six, you can.

This is your homework.

You can read in Acts chapter six, and this is where we really kind of see what it appears

to be the office of deacon formed.

There was a problem that was taking place there between the Hellenistic Jews and the

Hebraic Jews.

The problem was is that they didn't feel like they were being treated equally.

They were kind of at odds with each other.

They were both Jewish people by blood.

One was a Greek speaking group, and some of your translations in the King James, for instance,

it might call them the Grecians and the Hebrews.

Same group.

They were both Jewish Jews, Hebraic Jews, Grecians, Hebrews, same group of people there.

They were at odds with each other.

The Hebraic Jews, they kind of stayed around Jerusalem.

They thought they were a little better because they had stayed in that area.

Well, there are other Jews that were outside of Jerusalem, and they spoke Greek, and they

were not speaking the original Hebrew language like those in Jerusalem.

They were kind of at odds with each other.

Then these groups were together.

When it came time to pass out food and to deal with some of these type of things, they

were at odds with each other, complaining, well, this group's getting more than that

group.

So in Acts chapter six, what we see is the office of deacon is established, that there

are going to be those who are going to serve.

That's the word you're going to see when you read in Acts chapter six, verse two.

You're going to see the word servant.

That's where our word deacon comes from.

Deacon means servant.

If you say, well, what is the job of a deacon?

What should a deacon do?

A deacon should be a servant to the people of God.

So here we see that the apostles appointed these seven men as deacons in Acts chapter

six, and what was their job?

It was to serve the people.

It was to take care of those type of tasks.

That's the job of the deacon today.

Now, I would say also that that would be the job of the pastor, overseer, or elder as well,

but certainly that job would fall to the deacons.

Are there needs of the people in your congregation, of your body, in your group around you?

Is there financial need maybe you become aware of, or maybe there's just some help that somebody

needs in some way?

Maybe it's cutting grass or whatever it may be.

There's a variety of things that we may see among our community, among our church, among

our widows, whatever it may be.

It's the job of the deacon to be on the lookout for those types of things, and to be there

to be a servant to the people in whatever way that they can.

We see that office really started for us in Acts chapter six.

When you see the word deacon, you need to think of the word servant.

When you see the word servant in your Bible, chances are it may mean deacon, or the word

that we would use as deacon.

So anyway, there's a little background on the office of deacons earlier on in the scripture.

Verse nine, holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscious.

Now, this is an interesting passage here, holding the mystery of the faith with a clear

conscious.

Well, what does he mean there by the mystery of the faith?

Does he mean that there are some things that are a mystery to us when we read the scripture?

Well, possibly.

That's certainly true.

There are some things that we read and we believe that they're true.

We don't doubt them, but we may not necessarily understand exactly how some things are going

to unfold or exactly what scriptures mean.

And so in that sense, maybe they're a mystery.

That could be what he means, or he simply could mean it in the sense that, yes, the

gospel of Jesus Christ was a mystery, but it is no longer.

The mystery has been revealed to us.

Now we see that in Colossians, Colossians chapter one, verses 24 through 26.

It says, now I rejoice in my sufferings for you and I am completing in my flesh what

is lacking in Christ afflictions for his body.

That is the church.

I have become its servant according to God's administration that was given to me for you

to make God's message fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generation, but now revealed

to his saints.

Okay, so the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul is serving under here saying, look, I'm serving

these churches.

I'm spreading the message.

I'm sharing the gospel.

This was a mystery in generations past, but it's not a mystery anymore.

And so before Jesus Christ came and was crucified and was resurrected, those in the Old Testament

that knew the Old Testament prophecies and knew about the Messiah that was going to come,

well, it was kind of a mystery to them.

I mean, they believed that a Messiah was coming, but they didn't really know how all those

things were going to fall into place.

But for us and for the audience here that we're seeing in first Timothy, for Timothy

and other Christians of that day, that mystery had been revealed.

It had been seen, ah, here it is.

Here's what the Old Testament was speaking about.

And so when it speaks of a mystery here in first Timothy chapter three, it may not be

speaking of a mystery in the sense of, well, there's something that's still not understood.

He may be saying, look, hey, the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know it.

That is, it is no longer a mystery and you have put your faith on it.

And that's what we see is one of the qualifications here for a deacon in verse nine, holding to

the mystery of the faith with a clear conscious.

We talked about that a few weeks ago.

We talked about that idea of having a clear conscious.

If there's something that you don't feel like you should do, then you probably shouldn't

do it.

And so we want to be able to say, hey, I've got a clear conscious.

Those things that I feel convicted of that I don't think are right.

I don't do them.

And you sleep a whole lot better at night when you have a clear conscious, when you

lay down at night and you think, man, I did this thing and I didn't feel like it was right

and I did it and I know I shouldn't have done it.

Well, that's not a clear conscious.

And so that weighs on us, but a clear conscious is a beautiful thing.

And when we have a clear conscious, we have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide

because we've done all we can to live by what we feel is right.

And so a qualification here is to hold on to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscious.

Verse 10, and they must also be tested first.

If they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.

Okay.

So here's this idea of they must be tested.

Well, what does this testing look like?

Well, I can only speak from limited experience.

What kind of what I've seen in deacons who are ordained is what is often referred to

as a testing period where usually it'll be other ordained deacons or pastors that may

be there for a service and they'll take a deacon in the back and they'll ask some real

basic questions.

Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God?

Do you believe he was crucified and resurrected?

And it may not be but three or four questions.

And if you answer right, then you've passed the test.

But I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that necessarily.

However, I don't think that's the kind of testing that Paul is speaking of here.

We can't really test anybody through any great links and something like that.

Somebody that doesn't know somebody can't really test somebody.

I think the real test for those who are going to be a deacon is how they live their life.

It's seen around by the community, by the church members over years really, not just

a few weeks, not just a few months, but over years it's been viewed and it's been established,

hey, this man meets these qualifications, these qualifications that we have seen set

out for us by Paul.

This person does these things.

This person has a servant's heart.

This person is one who has passed the test.

The test I don't think is not, can you answer a few questions?

The test is what does your life look like?

Do you pass the test with the way you live?

Now we need to remember these things because as a church, there are times that we are going

to appoint deacons, that we are going to choose those among us.

It's important that we choose those who meet the qualifications.

We don't choose somebody because they are popular in the community.

To be a deacon or an elder is not a popularity contest.

It's not about choosing those who are successful businessman.

It may be somebody that's quiet and humble, that's a janitor that cleans toilets in town,

but that's the kind of heart that we're looking for.

We're not putting people who are popular into these positions just because they are popular.

Sadly, I think it's to our own hurt sometimes that maybe as churches, we become guilty of

that.

We need to look for those who are serving.

Those are the ones who need to be deacons.

Those are the ones I believe that meet these qualifications, at least the heart of what

Paul is talking about here.

When we see this idea of a deacon being tested, I think the test is their life.

You look at their life.

Does their life match up with these things that are being said?

If it does, then they've passed the test.

If it doesn't, then no amount of lip surface or answering a few questions is suitable to

serve as a deacon and a body of Christ.

Now we have another little wrinkle.

This goes along with those wrinkles we've seen over the last couple of weeks when we've

talked about women's roles in the church and can women be pastors.

Here we see our next wrinkle in verse 11.

In my translation, it says, wives too must be worthy of respect, not slander or self-controlled,

faithful in everything.

Some of your translations, if you have King James, it's going to say their wives.

But you'll also notice if you have a King James that the word there is italicized.

You may not know why some words are italicized in your King James Bible, but the reason is

it's because those words are in the actual manuscripts that they were translated from.

What the translator is doing there is they're saying, we think that this is the right way

to interpret this text.

We're going to add this word to help give some understanding around this text, but this

is a word that we have added.

It's not in the original scriptures that we're looking at.

You'll see those words italicized.

Your King James, it'll say their wives, implying that is the wives of deacons.

A deacon needs to live a certain way and their wives need to live a certain way.

That certainly is true.

I think those who are going to be deacons or those who are going to be elders, they

certainly, their wives should live in a certain way.

Their families should be respectable.

We saw that last week in the passage that we looked at.

The question is, is this passage speaking of wives of men who are going to be deacons

or is it simply speaking of women in general, or wives in general?

In the actual language, for a translation to say, wives too must be this way or wives

should be this way, is probably the most accurate way to read it.

What that means is heavily debated.

Some translations may say women.

Some would say wives, some would say women.

That's because that's the same Greek word.

When you look at that Greek word in the Old Testament, a lot of times it's used for women

or women.

A lot of times it's used for wife or wives.

That doesn't really help us in this context either.

Is there a shift here?

Is it saying, okay, here's how deacons need to act and hey, women too, if they're going

to be deacons, this is how they need to act.

You're going to find some difference of opinion on this.

There will be some Christians that say it is suitable for a woman to serve as a deacon

and you will probably find others that would say, no, this is a position for a man.

However, I do believe that women can serve as deacons because we see that in the scripture.

In Romans chapter 16 verse one, we see Phoebe mentioned and it says Phoebe is a servant.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

The same word that we see in Acts chapter two, six, verse two, the same word, deaconess

or deaconess, whatever the Greek word is, I'm not sure.

But it's the word that we call deacon.

It's the same word that's applied to Phoebe.

It's saying that Phoebe, a female, is a deacon.

We certainly have scriptural support to say, hey, there are women deacon in the scripture.

I believe that as far as deacons go, then deacons could certainly be men or women based

on what the scripture says.

However, there would be many Christians who would probably disagree with me on that.

Now, I stated a couple of weeks ago that I don't think that... I do believe that the

scripture says that it should be men who are in positions of authority, but let's not forget

a deacon is not a position of authority.

Now, we may have made it that in our churches today.

We may have elevated our deacons to a position of authority.

By the biblical definition, a deacon is one who is a servant, not one who is an authority.

And so both men and women can serve in that way.

At least I believe that's what the scripture says, and I believe we see evidence of that

in Phoebe in Romans chapter 16 verse 1, because again, the same word is used for her as those

Romans 16:1

seven men who are appointed in Acts chapter 6 verse 2.

Acts 6:2

But there may be disagreement even in this room among us, and that is okay, because as

I've stated the last two weeks, some of these things are hotly debated passages among Christians.

There's not a general consensus here.

And so I'll leave you to pray about that one, and we will believe these passages as we see

the Holy Spirit leads us to in these tough type things.

Verse 11, wives too must be worthy of respect, not slander, self-controlled, faithful in

everything.

So similar to the types of qualifications that we've seen in the verses before.

Verse 12, deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own

households competently.

Again, this is the same type of qualification that we saw for an elder.

There's not much difference.

You make it even say that those who are qualified to be deacons, if there are some who really

excel and who are really faithful to God as deacons, then maybe those are the ones who

are best suited to be elders.

If they've proven their self enough to be a deacon, and they've lived their life as

a deacon well enough that maybe it's those who need to be placed in those positions of

eldership in a church, of overseers of a church.

And so the qualification is simple.

Look, a deacon needs to have his family in order.

He needs to be a good husband to his wife, and he needs to be a good father to his children.

And that's probably evidence in his wife's life and in his children's life.

If he's not raising them right and not doing right at home, then that, you're probably

going to see difficulties of that.

It's kind of hard to hide those things.

You can see how someone's children turn out.

And as the saying says, apples don't fall far from trees.

Well, that's probably a good indication.

If someone has a kind of rough family, then they're probably disqualified.

There's probably some stuff that perhaps we don't see that goes on behind closed doors

that is a flag for us.

So this is why Paul gives us this.

Say, hey, pay attention to the family of this man.

Does he have a good wife?

Does he have good kids?

Then if so, this is a good indicator that he would be one who's suitable to serve God's

people.

Verse 13, for those who have served well as deacons, acquire a good standing for themselves

and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Okay.

So again, we see this idea of serving.

What does it say?

For those who have served well as deacons, they acquire a good standing for themselves.

And so we should never want to be deacon just for a title.

I suspect that throughout history, there have been some in our world that have wanted to

be a deacon just so they could say, oh, I'm a deacon and probably tell people every chance

they get, I'm a deacon.

But that's not really what to be a deacon means.

It should be just what it says here.

Those who serve will know, is somebody serving well?

Are they just going around waving their deacon flag?

Or do you see those who are deacons actually serving the people?

And those who serve well, they'll have a good reputation.

They'll be known in their community.

Not that we do anything to get a pat on the back, ever as Christians, but when you do

what God tells you to and when you serve, then those things will be seen, whether you

want them to be seen or not.

Sometimes those things will be seen and your reputation precedes you as the saying goes.

And those who are deacons should have a reputation of those who serve other people.

Verse 14, I write these things to you hoping to come to you soon.

But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to

act in God's household, which is the church of the living God and the pillar and foundation

of the truth.

Okay.

So Paul says, look, these instructions have a purpose.

They are so you can help these people understand how God's household needs to be established,

how things needs to be run.

There's an order to things.

Things are not done in chaos.

There needs to be kind of a structure in the way things are done.

There need to be godly men who are going to lead the church.

There need to be godly men and women who are going to serve in the church.

And when you establish and you put godly men overseeing the church, then you're probably

going to have a pretty good church.

When you have good godly men and women who are going to serve in the church, you're probably

going to have a pretty good church.

You're going to have a good community.

There's going to be love there.

And so that's why Paul gives these instructions.

He doesn't want the church to be a place of chaos.

Now, sadly, sometimes we see that in churches and we want to pray and we want to be on guard

that we don't fall into that trap.

No church is immune.

There could be chaos in any church.

When a church stops listening to God's word and people stop loving one another and those

who are in those positions of leadership stop serving God and stop serving one another,

then quickly chaos can be formed.

But Paul says, look, follow some basic simple instruction so that there is not chaos among

you so that there's order in the church, that there's order in the household of God.

That's what he says here.

I have written to you so that you will know how people ought to act in God's household.

Now, perhaps that speaks to a church community or church body like we see here.

It certainly could apply, but when we speak of the household of God, that's a far more

reaching thing than just the body of Christ here at Enterprise.

That's all of God's people.

We are, those who are in Jesus Christ all around the world, are the household of God.

And so how do we know how to act as the household of God?

We read the instructions of God, the word of God, not just in 1 Timothy chapter 3, but

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

all of scripture.

Now, we may see this passage tonight in these last couple that we've looked at and said,

boy, for most of you in here, you'd say, well, I'm glad I'm not a deacon or an overseer.

Those passages don't apply to me.

Well, maybe they don't in that sense, but there are certainly plenty of passages that

apply to us.

And many of the qualifications here that we see for an overseer, elder, or a deacon are

things that all of us as brothers and sisters in Christ are called to.

And so on some level, we all need to be those who are above reproach, and we need to be

those who are trustworthy, and we need to be those who are not drunkards, and we need

to be those who are not greedy.

These are things that are commanded for all of God's people.

And certainly there are few that are qualified to be in those positions of a deacon or an

elder.

Maybe a few more are qualified than we would realize.

Perhaps there are very few in our world that would be qualified to serve in these areas.

But our churches would be better suited if we really look at these words and we say,

okay, there's some people that are really good people, and I really like them.

But there's a couple of these areas where they're not qualified.

And it's hard to say, well, I don't know, I'm not going to support that person.

I don't think that person should be in that position.

Those things are hard to say.

It's not that we're saying we don't love somebody or we think they're the devil, but we need

to hold those who are going to serve as deacons and elders at a very high standard.

And the result of that will be, I believe, better church bodies, better fellowships of

believers.

And so Paul's goal here is that God's household, not just the church here, but Christians in

general, will know how to act.

So we want to know how to act.

That's part of why we come to church.

We come because we love God.

We come to praise God.

We come for fellowship, but we also come to hear God's word.

And sometimes we hear it and it's gracious and it's encouraging and it's good and we

lift up our voice and praise.

But sometimes it's instruction to us as, okay, here's what you need to do or don't need to

do.

Here's how you need to act.

And sometimes we need to be reminded about how to act, how we need to act.

That's just the way it goes.

That's why we continually read God's word.

Verse 16, and most certainly the mystery of godliness is great.

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among

the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Here we see this idea, the mystery of godliness.

Now I'm not sure again exactly what he means there.

We see Paul use mystery several times in the New Testament.

Now we talked a while ago about part of that mystery has been revealed to us, the mystery

of the Messiah who is to come.

But as we also said, there are still some things to us that are a mystery.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where he's talking about, hey, one day we're going

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

to leave this world.

We're going to be transformed into something new that flesh and blood cannot inherit the

kingdom.

And what does he say in that passage?

He says, I'm telling you a mystery.

Well, why?

Because we don't understand.

Like what happens to us when we die?

Well, I don't know.

I don't know.

Like what's that transformation for us going to be like into a new man, into a new creation?

I don't know what that's going to look like.

What's it going to feel like?

Is it going to taste?

Is it going to smell?

Is it going to take a long time?

Is it going to be instantaneous?

Like, what's the process going to be like?

And then once we go through the process and once we're in the presence of the Lord, what

will that be like for all of eternity?

Well, there's certainly, these things are a mystery to us.

We don't know how all of these things take place.

The very idea of the Trinity, that God became man, that Jesus is God and Jesus was human.

Well, we certainly believe those things.

We don't doubt those things, but in some way it's kind of a mystery.

Like how are those things possible?

Like how did God do that?

Like how in the Old Testament did God take a form of an angel that appears sometimes

or a man sometimes?

And then he came as a man in Jesus Christ and Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is God.

These are things that we certainly believe are true, that we see in scripture, that we

don't doubt, but yet they're a mystery to us.

We still may not have a complete understanding or really be able to completely wrap our mind

around these things.

So certainly there are some mysteries left for us in this world.

But what does he say?

And most certainly the mystery of godliness is great.

And so even though we may not understand all of God's word or all that God has established

and all that God will do and all the ways that God will do it, we know that these mysteries

are great.

We know that God is great.

And so we want to be those who follow the instructions that Paul has given to Timothy,

that Timothy in turn has given to the church, that in turn we have received tonight.

That we would be those who are obedient to the word of God, to the will of God, that

we seek to live up to the commands of God and that we trust in God.

Even the things that we don't understand, that we believe in the mystery that's been

revealed through Jesus Christ.

And we believe and we trust in the mysteries that maybe we still don't understand, but

we know that God is good and we want to be those who follow his good word.

Let's pray.

Father God, we come to you.

We thank you for your good word.

And I pray dear Lord that we would rejoice in what we know.

And what we know is Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.

And the rest of it, dear Lord, will just help it to fall into place as it needs to fall

into place.

Help us to understand what you want us to understand.

Dear Lord, maybe there are some things that we've, we kind of wrestled with our whole

life and we still don't quite understand them, but so be it, dear Lord.

Let us not, let us not get caught up too much in those things so long as we know who Jesus

Christ is.

Let us rejoice in that today.

I pray that as brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would seek to live by your commands.

That as a church, as we establish deacons or elders, whatever it may be, dear Lord,

that we follow your words, that we follow your commands, that we try to understand them

as best that we can, dear Lord, that we would be a church that has been instructed and follows

your instruction, that we would, we'd be about your work and about your business.

We thank you for being good to us and blessing us.

And I pray that you would help us never to fall into any kind of trap of chaos or disarray,

dear Lord, but that you would keep us strong, keep us focused on you.

And I ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.