Deacon

 

 

There are two offices in the church that are commissioned by God the office of Pastor and that of Deacon.  The Pastor is to lead the flock and feed the flock.  The Deacon is to relieve the Pastor from the busy work, so that he can focus on prayer and ministry of the Word. 

 

 The office of Deacon.  A deacon is more than a regular Christian.  Vine’s states, “those who bring in the guests (vv. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10) are douloi; those who carry out the king's sentence (v. 13) are diakonoi.”[1] 

 

The role of the deacon is to be a servant.  “"deacon", primarily denotes a "servant," whether as doing servile work, or as an attendant rendering free service, without particular reference to its character.”[2]  Strong states that the word translated Deacon means, “The one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master, servant, attendant…a) the servant of a king b) a deacon, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use c) a waiter, who serves food and drink.”[3]  To deacon, Diakonos comes from the root word Diako, which means “to run on errands.”  The deacon is the one who should do the errands so that the pastor is freed up to focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word.  In modern America, may people expect the Pastor to do the visitation, the home visits, hospital visits, counseling, etc., but Biblically that is not the Pastor’s job.  The Pastor can do some of that if he chooses, but the Deacon is given the duty of the servant jobs in a church.  The Deacon should do the majority of the visiting the sick and helping the poor and not the Pastor.  In most churches there are generally more deacons than pastors, so as long as all deacons work, no one will get burned out.  The deacon needs to do the work so as to take the burden off of the pastor, so that the pastor will not get burned out either.  The pastor needs to be able to do the job God has called him to, so the deacons needs to the job they have been called to.  Interesting note, in the Bible the deacons did not meet and establish policy.  The role of deacon in the Bible is not a position of power, but of service.

 

Acts 6:1-5  The first deacons were called to do task of ministry so that the Pastors could dedicate themselves to the preaching of the Word and the prayer.  The job of a Pastor is not to “serve tables”, his job is to preach the Word of God and lead the church in prayer.  Our job as deacons is to take the burden off of the Pastor so that he can do his job well.  We are to act as a buffer for the Pastor.  The role of the Pastor is to lead and feed the flock of God. The Pastor is the servant of God who is entrusted with the awesome responsibility of accurately handling the Word of God.   The better prepared the Pastor is the better sermons we hear.  The better we do our job enables the Pastor to be better at his job.  God gave the office of Deacon to alleviate the Pastor from having to do busy work in the church and be able to commit to the study of the Word and prayer. 

 

 

The qualifications of deacon are given in I Timothy 3:8-13.  The interesting word is the connecting one “likewise” All that was said of the pastor’s character should be true of the deacon’s character.  Just as a pastor needs to be the husband of one wife, so does a deacon.  Both are to be persons of character who are honorable in their deeds.  The word translated “grave” in the King James can also be translated reverent, respected, person of integrity, worthy of respect, sincere, or men of dignity.  Deacons are not to be “double tongued” or not double in speech which means saying something to one person and something different to another with the intent to deceive.  Deacons need to be honest when they speak with people and tell the truth.  Next, ‘not given to much wine” as compared to the pastor who is not to given to any wine.  This indicates that a deacon can drink on an occasion, but obviously is not to get drunk.  A pastor can’t drink ever.  My personal opinion, due to alcoholism, it would be wise if a deacon refrained completely from drinking, though the Bible isn’t that restrictive.  Also, a deacon needs to be careful to not cause others to sins such as a newly saved alcoholic sees a deacon drink and the deacon may cause that person to stumble.  The next qualification is to not be greedy of money.  Rich and poor alike can be greedy of money, so it is not of one’s station in life, but of one’s heart.  Since, the deacons give the church’s benevolence money to the poor, this qualification is needed to avoid deacons from being tempted to turn the office of deacon into one of gain.  A deacon also must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.  A similar phrase is found in I Timothy 1:5 where love is to be from a pure heart.  I Timothy 3:16 explains what the mystery of the faith is.  God becoming a man, dying on the cross, rising again, and ascending into heaven so that the free gift of salvation may be offered to all who believe is the mystery of the faith.  The sharing of the Gospel needs to be from pure motives.  I Timothy 3:10 tells us a deacon needs to be proved.  So a good idea would be to have someone who has been saved for a while and member of the church long enough to make sure they have the characteristics necessary to be a deacon.  Deacons also need to rule their homes well.  A deacon must raise his kids in a manner pleasing to the Lord and treat his wife they way God would have him to.  Ephesians tells how a husband should love his wife enough to give his life for her. 

 

The deacon’s wives also have some qualifications to be considered.  First, if a deacon has a wife, then obviously he is a man.  Verse 12 deacons are to be the husbands of one wife, so they like a pastor cannot be divorced & remarried.  Their wives must be grave (which was explained earlier) which can also be translated reverent, respected, person of integrity, worthy of respect, or sincere.  The wives also must be sober, so they can’t be abusers of alcohol or drugs.  Wives must be “faithful in all things.”  The wife of a deacon needs to be in a right relationship with God and faithful in everything.

 

 


 

[1] Vine, W. E. "Deacon," Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Blue Letter Bible. 1940. 1 Apr 2007. 18 Dec 2008.
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?
type=GetTopic&Topic=Deacon&DictList=9#Vine's>

[2] Vine, W. E. "Deacon," Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Blue Letter Bible. 1940. 1 Apr 2007. 18 Dec 2008.
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?
type=GetTopic&Topic=Deacon&DictList=9#Vine's>

[3] Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for diakonos (Strong's 1249)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2008. 18 Dec 2008. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G1249 >

 

 

 

 

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