Biblical Basis for Office/Functions of Diaconate: OT

Introduction and Foundational Principle for Old Testament Study

0:02 Well, as we begin this session, let us seek the face of God and ask for the help of His Holy Spirit in our handling and understanding of His own holy word. Let us pray together. Our Father, we would own a fresh reality of our own native darkness and blindness, our proneness to error, and our present dependence upon the person and ministry of Your Holy Spirit, if we are rightly to speak and to receive Your holy word. We thank You for the word of encouragement given to us by our Lord Jesus.

0:46 That if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will You, our Heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask You. We are therefore asking for Your Holy Spirit to be given to us in present and copious measures as the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of illumination, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of grace. That we may have every thought brought captive to the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this end, with one heart, we cry to You, the living God, and ask You to hear and to answer our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Now, in this session, and the one to follow after the coffee break, Pastor Barker and I will be making an effort. To set forth the broad biblical basis for the office and function of the diaconate.

1:59 And I did check my most recent dictionary, and that is the most accepted pronunciation of the word diaconate. In making this effort, we're going to draw upon two major pools of biblical revelation. I shall be considering with you some aspects of the character. Acts and words of God in the Old Testament, which would lead us to expect that when this God sets in order the particulars of the new covenant community, which we call the church, that there would be an office with an official function related to the poor, to the vulnerable, and to the care of the designated leaders. The leaders of that new covenant community. Then, Pastor Barker will seek to set forth those aspects of the life and ministry of the incarnate God, our Lord Jesus, which would likewise lead us to expect that the same distinct and recognizable framework would be given to the new covenant community,

3:16 which is to reflect the likeness of Christ. To the world, and to carry on the work of the risen Lord in the midst of the world. Now, in following these two lines of thought, both Pastor Barker and I are greatly indebted to Pastor Alan Dunn, and to a series of sermons which he did on the subject of the diaconate in 1987, the notes of which have been made available to us, and we have, without embarrassment, used them greatly in preparing our materials, at least I have, and Pastor Barker can speak for himself. Now, as we're about to take a plunge into my part of this study, I feel it's necessary to state a fundamental principle, which I believe is demanded by the Scriptures, and which has regulated my use of the passages that I will lay before you. And the principle is this, It is the revelation of the will of God for the life of God's covenant nation, as embodied in the Law of Moses, which determined the devotional life of the people of God as expressed in the Psalms,

4:39 the practical perspectives as embodied in the wisdom literature, particularly the book of Proverbs, and the pastoral concerns expressed, in the message of the prophets.

4:55 Now, let me repeat that principle, because it's crucial. You won't understand why I'm using the Old Testament materials the way I'm using them, unless you understand that behind that use stands this principle regulating how I'm using the biblical materials. It is the revelation of the will of God for the life of the covenant nation, as embodied in the Law of Moses, as embodied in the Law of Moses, that book of the Law in particular, as it is designated, that which the king was to write out and lay up beside him, and to meditate upon it day and night, it is the revelation of the will of God for the life of God's covenant nation, as embodied in the Law of Moses, which determined the devotional life of the people of God as expressed, in the Psalms, and the practical perspectives as embodied in the Proverbs, and the pastoral concerns as expressed in the ministry of the prophets. Therefore, as surely as all of the Old Testament is continually pointing to Christ, Luke 24, 27, remember on the road to Emmaus, the Lord Jesus gave a concentrated,

6:22 complete Bible study to those two dejected disciples, showing them in every major section of the Old Testament the things concerning himself. He did the same with his own apostolate in verses 44 to 47 of Luke 24. He could say in John 5, 39, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. These are they which testify of me.

6:51 As surely as all of the Old Testament is continually pointing to Christ, so the same Old Testament scriptures present unified perspectives concerning the character of God himself.

God's Special Identification with the Poor and Vulnerable in the Law

7:11 Now with these introductory concerns behind us, I want you to consider with me in the time allotted to me three categories of Old Testament data. Number one, God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people. God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people. Now it's critical that you underscore the words among his people.

7:51 These passages, these passages, these passages, that we're going to consider focus upon God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people. And we have time only to examine several specimen passages. This study is only suggestive, far from exhaustive. And the first is Exodus chapter 22.

8:20 If we ask the question, what are the, biblical tap roots of the New Testament office and function of the deacon, we must go all the way back to the Old Testament and come to grips with these indications of God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people. After the account of the giving of the Ten Commandments, as recorded in chapter 20, verses 1 to 21 in Exodus, and then a very terse directive concerning the building of altars, the remainder of chapter 20, then we read in chapter 21 in verse 1, now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. And in the unfolding of these specific ordinances regulating the life of God's covenant, we read in chapter 22 verses 21 to 27 these very interesting words. Chapter 22 verses 21 to 27. And a sojourner you shall not wrong, neither shall you oppress him.

9:44 For you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child, if you afflict them at all and they cry at all unto me. I will surely hear their cry and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of my people with you that is poor, you shall not be able to make a profit.

10:23 to him as a creditor, neither shall you lay upon him interest. If you at all take your neighbor's garment to pledge, you shall restore it unto him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering. It is his garment for his skin. Wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass, when he cries unto me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. Now here among the very first matters that God includes in what are called the ordinances to be set before the covenant nation, brought under the regulation of the moral law articulated in chapter 20, is the law of the covenant nation. It is this expression of God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable

11:23 among his people. The first of those vulnerable is what he calls the sojourner, the person who happens to come within the compass of the influence of an Israelite, whether he should be a sojourner from a foreign nation. A sojourner from a foreign nation. A sojourner from a foreign nation.

11:44 A sojourner from another tribe is not designated, but he's the person who could be vulnerable because he has no network of an immediate family, no network of natural friendships and associations that could both provide for and protect him. The sojourner is peculiarly vulnerable, and God says you shall not take advantage of him in that vulnerable situation. A sojourner, you shall not wrong nor oppress him. And then he focuses upon the widow and the fatherless, and in very, very vivid language, God says if you do not obey my ordinance and you do afflict them, and they cry unto me for they have no one else to whom they can turn, that network that should have supported them. A sojourner, you shall not wrong nor oppress him. And then he focuses upon the widow and the fatherless, and in very vivid language, God says you shall not wrong nor oppress him. God says I assure you, I will hear the cry of the poor, the unusually vulnerable, that is, the widow and the orphan, the fatherless, and my wrath shall wax hot. God says my anger

13:08 will not simply be triggered and my anger will come its own way unless God will help me so. It will be triggered to a boiling point, and as an expression of my stirred up and hot and holy anger, I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be put in the posture of the unusually vulnerable. They shall be widows, and your children fatherless. You see, God is showing at the very outset, as He takes this nation into peculiar covenantal relationship to Himself, that within that nation, the poor and the unusually vulnerable have a special place in His heart, in His concern, and in the administration of His own righteous rule among His people.

14:13 Then in that interesting section, dealing with the man who is so poor, that he must borrow money, and God does not condemn taking something for security. He does condemn taking advantage of the man's poverty to increase your own wealth. Therefore God says, among His people, you shall not be to Him as a creditor, neither shall you lay upon Him interest. Don't take advantage of His...

14:43 Poverty, in order to promote your own wealth. Now that is not saying that a Christian should never lend money to another Christian at interest. That's the false leap that's been made with this passage. He's talking about a poor man.

15:01 He's not talking about a brother who's about to enter a responsible business venture, and needs some capital, and a brother in the church is willing to loan him some capital at a going rate. He's talking about a brother who's about to enter a responsible business venture, and needs some capital at a going rate. That's really in a totally different realm. And when you have people who come to you and say, well, a Christian should never loan money to another Christian at interest, because this is what God said.

15:25 Wait a minute, don't compare apples and cucumbers. This is a poor man, so poor, that when you say to him, here, I'm loaning you fifty bucks, what can you give me for collateral? He says, here's my coat, and my blanket. Well, you take it.

15:44 But then, before nightfall, God says, you go to his door, and knock on his door, and say, friend, I know you'll be cold without your blanket tonight. Here it is. Put it around you when you sleep. But tomorrow morning, I want you back at my door, knocking, returning the cloak.

16:01 I still want my collateral. Now, God doesn't condemn the taking of the collateral. But what he does condemn is a heartless expression of taking that collateral, and taking that cloak in security. And, if you're indifferent to that, and you say, oh, why bother to make the trip across town or across the village to return his coat?

16:26 And the poor man lies down at night, and he's cold, and he cries out to God. God says, I will hear. For unlike you, I am a gracious God. You have shown yourself unlike me.

16:41 And you remember again and again, in many sections, of the Mosaic legislation, God gives us the motivation for the given directives. Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. You shall do this, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And God is saying in this, you do not accurately reflect me.

God's Character and Heart Religion in Deuteronomy 10

17:04 You claim to be my people, to show forth my praise, to reflect my character. Well, if you are indifferent to the cause of this poor man, in his peculiar vulnerability, so that you carelessly or willfully keep in your hands that garment, which is his only protection from the cool night air, I will hear his cry, for I am a gracious God. Now, a second specimen passage that shows God's peculiar identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people, Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 12 through 18.

18:00 Here we have in these opening words a distillation of the heart religion which God required of his old covenant people. This notion that God expected nothing more from his old covenant people than some kind of a wooden external attachment to himself and some kind of a wooden external legalistic obedience to his law does not speak. It does not speak. It does not speak.

18:24 It does not speak. It does not speak. It does not speak. It does not stand up to the data of the Old Testament itself.

18:29 Now, Israel, what doth the Lord require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command you this day? Behold unto the Lord your God. God belongs heaven and earth and the heavens, the earth with all that is therein. Only the Lord had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you of all peoples as at this day.

19:13 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. For the Lord your God, he is God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty and the terrible, who regards not persons nor takes reward. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the sojourner in giving him food and raiment. You therefore love the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

19:53 You shall fear. Hear the Lord your God. Him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave, and by his name shall you swear. You see in a passage where God is calling his people to what we would say heart religion, a circumcising of the foreskin of the heart, a cleaving to God in gratitude, in faith, in love, for the redemption that he had shown to them in taking them out of Egypt for his sovereign electing love, which is highlighted in verse 15.

20:30 He chose them because he had a delight in them. Among all the facets of his character and his attributes that God could highlight in such a setting where he's saying in calling you to love me, to serve me, to fear me, to have heart religion in relationship to me. Think of all of his glorious attributes that God could highlight. It's interesting that in the midst of highlighting his own majesty, verse 17, God of gods, Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, the terrible, God is careful to underscore that he is the God who has a peculiar and special and intensified identification for the poor and the especially vulnerable. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the sojourner in giving him food and raiment. Therefore he is saying, be like me. Love ye therefore the sojourner and remember what you once were before my redemption brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Reflection in the Psalms: Devotional Life and Justice for the Poor

21:50 So here in this particular, particular passage, which is just one of many, we see again God's peculiar identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people, the sojourner, the widow, and the fatherless. Therefore, it should not surprise us that when we come into the devotional literature of the Psalms, that we should find those who were true Israelites who had heart religion, when they expressed that religion in life and in their prayers, that this special concern of God for the poor and the vulnerable should be part and parcel of their devotional interaction with God. Now let's look at several specimen passages, Psalm 41.

22:45 Since the contours of their religious life were determined by the revelation of the Lord God, their devotional responses reflect this. Blessed is he that considers the poor or the weak. The Lord will deliver him in the day of evil. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and deliver not him to the will of his enemies.

23:19 The Lord will support him upon the couch of languishing. You make all of his bed. You make all of his bed in sickness. Blessed is he that considers the poor.

23:33 Blessed is he who has one of those indispensable evidences of true heart religion. In his time of need, God will look upon him with pity and with favor. And then we find in verse 4 that the psalmist is actually praying for God's intervention in his own prayer. Personal need.

23:59 So that you see the thought pattern of a devout Israelite as reflected in this Psalm of David is that he would be one who showed a sensitivity to those ordinances of the Mosaic legislation which indicate God's special identification with the poor and the unusually vulnerable. Psalm 68 has another statement. Specimen passage, Psalm 68, verses 4 through 6. Sing unto God.

24:34 Sing praises to his name. Cast up a highway for him that rides through the deserts. His name is Jehovah and exalt ye before him. Here is this ringing call to abandonment and enthusiastic praise of the God who has revealed himself to his people.

24:57 And then, as the actions and the disposition of this God are described, notice what is brought to the fore in this Psalm. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families. He brings out the prisoners into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

25:26 You see, the psalmist, caught up in this great and intense expression of praise and adoration, he cannot think of God in a category that is foreign to the revelation God has given in the Mosaic legislation concerning his peculiar disposition of concern for the poor and for the vulnerable. Then in Psalm 82, Psalm 82, another indication of this, a psalm in which judges who are called gods who were to implement the ordinances of God in Israel are being condemned.

26:11 Notice the sentiments. God stands in the congregation of God. That is, God stands in the midst of those that are put in the position of being little gods, judges. He judges among the gods.

26:28 How long? How long will you judge unjustly and respect the persons of the wicked? Rather than do what you're not supposed to do, notice what is central in the call to performing their task as God has determined it should be performed. Judge the poor or the weak and fatherless.

26:53 Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the sin of sin. Deliver them from the sin of sin.

26:59 Deliver them from the sin of sin. Deliver them from the sin of sin. Deliver them from the sin of sin. Deliver them from the sin of sin.

27:00 Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. You see, within Israel, the elders and those appointed leaders, as we shall see, at least in a passing reference later on in the message, they were responsible to implement the law of God in Israel. And they were not doing it. And God particularly highlights their failure to judge the poor, the fatherless, the afflicted, and the destitute.

27:28 Because He has, He has a special regard for them. One other passage in the Psalms that indicates that the devotional life of the true Israelite was shaped by these perspectives. Psalm 112, verse 1.

27:47 Praise ye Jehovah. Blessed is the man that fears Jehovah, that delights greatly in his commandments.

27:58 The man who truly fears the Lord is the one who believes and who delights greatly in his commandments. Certain blessings are promised to him in verses 2 through 4. But then, how his life of fearing the Lord and delighting in his commandments works out is highlighted in verse 5. Well, it is with the man that deals graciously and lends.

28:27 He shall maintain his cause in judgment, for he shall never be moved. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Here, the God-fearing man is described as one who was sensitive to that Old Testament legislation that when a brother was in need and I had the ability to lend to him, not to take advantage of his poverty to increase my own wealth, but to respond responsibly to his need, this was an indication of heart-relievingness and his religious vision manifesting itself in the framework of Old Covenant legislation. Verse 9.

29:11 He has dispersed, he has given to the needy. You see, he not only loans on some occasions, but in others he disperses, he gives freely, he gives to the needy expecting nothing in return. His righteousness endures forever. His horn shall be exalted with honor.

Reflection in the Wisdom Literature: Practical Perspectives on Benevolence

29:30 Now, my question is this. Where did the psalmist get the notion that these would be the manifestations of the life of the man who fears the Lord and delights in his commands? Again, the contours are taken from the revelation God had already made in the law of Moses of his peculiar identification with the poor and unusually vulnerable amongst his people. So then when we turn to the wisdom literature, as we find it in the book of Proverbs, it should not surprise us that here the same emphasis is set before us.

30:09 And again, I only give you several specimen passages. Proverbs 3 and verse 27.

30:17 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, go. And come again, and tomorrow, excuse me, I will give, when you have it by you. Don't rationalize and say, well, I'm really a generous man, but it's just not a convenient time to respond to your need. No.

30:42 He says, do not withhold good from them to whom it is due. Now there's one of the limiting things, and when we come to the workshop and discuss the vexing question, how do we determine true benevolence? Here's one of the texts that helps to guide us. We must seek to ascertain, is benevolence really due?

31:02 If any man will not work, let him not eat, certainly not eat at the expense of the benevolence of the church. That's an abuse of benevolence, to encourage willful laziness. So there is a limitation, withhold not good from them to whom it is due, but in the case where it is due, and it's in the power of your hand to do it, don't delay responding. To that need.

31:30 Again, Proverbs 14 and verse 31. Because the perspectives of what it meant to live a life of righteousness, many of those perspectives distilled into these sententious little statements that we call Proverbs, we should expect that something of God's special concern would be reflected. Verse 31 of chapter 14 in Proverbs. He that oppresses the poor, reproaches his maker.

32:03 The person who takes advantage of the poor in his vulnerability is reproaching the maker of that poor man. God does not take lightly reproaching the poor among his people. Then in Proverbs 21 and verse 13. Proverbs 21 and verse 13.

32:26 Who so stops his ears? At the cry of the poor. He also shall cry, but shall not be heard. God says you hear a poor man cry, and you shut up in the language of the New Testament, the bowels of your compassion, you stop your ears.

32:46 Then in your extremity when you cry, I so identify with the poor, that I'll stop my ears at your cry. He shall cry, but shall not be heard. Then Proverbs, Proverbs 22, 22 and 23 is one final specimen passage. Do not rob the poor because he is poor.

33:08 Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and despoil of life those that despoil them. Here is someone in his poverty, is more vulnerable to being oppressed and taken advantage of, and God says look, I'm committed to plead their cause. They don't have the wherewithal to secure by means of money, help and aid and protection and litigation. But I myself will come to their cause.

33:48 The Lord will please their cause and despoil of life those that despoil them. What we have seen by these specimen passages in the book of the law, that God has this unique identification with the poor and the especially vulnerable. We've seen that perspective reflected in the wisdom literature. We've seen it reflected in the Psalms and likewise in the prophets.

34:20 And here let me just give you the references because in the interest of time, Isaiah 58, 6-9, passage familiar to many of us, the people are complaining that God is not hearing them though they are fasting and praying and God tells them, look, this is the fast that I have chosen and it focuses upon their responding to the needs of the poor and the destitute. Ezekiel 18, 5-9, another passage in which through the prophets God speaks to His people concerning this very issue as He's describing a righteous man He describes him not only in terms of his refusal to indulge in idolatry, his refusal to indulge in sexual impurity, but verse 7, and he hath not wronged any but has restored to the debtor his pledge. He has done exactly what I told him to do. Every night, take the pledge back to the debtor. It's a direct reference to that passage.

35:33 The passage we saw earlier has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment, has not given forth upon interest, neither has taken any increase that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, has walked in my statutes and my ordinances, in God's description through the prophet of the righteous man. See how central is this issue of the righteous man reflecting the disposition, character, and actions of God to the poor and to the unusually vulnerable. And then in one of the scathing indictments of the people through Amos, Amos chapter 2 and verse 8, there you find Amos describing those who disregarded God, this matter of returning the pledge, and they were sleeping on the very coats that they had taken in pledge, while others had nothing to sleep upon or to be covered with in their sleep. Now in summary, brethren, what do we say in the light of these passages? Well, surely we can say that just this sampling has underscored how pervasive in the old covenant revelation of the character of God

God's Specific Directions for Conduct Toward the Poor

37:01 is this matter of his special identification with the poor and the vulnerable among his people. Nothing is said in these passages about running amongst the nations of Canaan and manifesting benevolence to them. Whatever doctrine there may be of general benevolence to men, irrespective of their relationship to the covenant community, all of these passages have to do with the fact that the covenant community has to do with God's peculiar concern to his own people. Now then, in the second place, and much more quickly now, having sought to demonstrate that God identifies in a special way with the poor and the vulnerable amongst his people,

37:54 then notice with me God's specific directions for the conduct of his people toward the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people. Now, not only does God have a concern and we have seen some of his directions, but we focused more upon the fact that in these passages God shows his concern. What specific directions does he give for the conduct of his people towards the poor and the unusually vulnerable among his people? Well, a watershed passage is Deuteronomy 15, verses 1 through 11.

38:34 Deuteronomy chapter 15, verses 1 through 11. The end of every seven years you shall make a release. This is the manner of the release. Every creditor shall release that which he has loaned unto his neighbor.

38:50 He shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatsoever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. You see, God is underscoring very clearly. You deal with those of the covenant community in a different way than you deal with those outside of that community.

39:21 Howbeit there shall be no poor with you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land into which he takes you if only you hearken to his voice. Verse 7, if there be with you a poor man within the gates of your land which the Lord has given you, the Lord God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, you shall not shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand, lend him sufficient for his need in that which he lacks. Beware that there be not a base thought in your heart saying the seventh year, the year of release is at hand. You see what he's saying?

39:58 Don't count up the years and say, uh-oh, if I lend him now, it's one year from release time, I'm not likely to get paid back. And therefore, you rationalize and shut up your heart to him. God says, don't do that. Whether it's the first, the second, or one year from the seventh year of release, you are to show generosity, you are to open your hand.

40:21 Verse 10, you shall surely give him and your heart shall not be grieved when you give unto him because that for this thing the Lord God will bless you in all of your work and in all that you put your hand unto. For the poor will never, never cease out of the land. Probably this very text that was in the mind of our Lord when he said, the poor you have with you always. Therefore, I command you saying, you shall surely open your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.

40:54 So here God is giving an explicit directive with respect to how the Israelites were to respond to their awareness of poverty amongst their brethren. And they were not, to calculate what returns they might or might not get in terms of the particular circumstances, but in the language of the New Testament they were to recognize that God loved a cheerful giver. Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses 14 and 15. Another passage where God gives explicit directives to his people.

41:32 Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses 14 and 15. You shall not oppress, a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brethren or of the sojourners that are in your land within your gates. Here is a sojourner that has come into the company and community of the covenant nation. In his day you shall give him his hire.

41:59 Neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor and sets his heart upon it, lest he cry unto you unto the Lord, and it be sin unto you. Here is a man literally living from hand to mouth. He is on a subsistence existence. Today's wages buy tomorrow's food.

42:18 Don't withhold his wages until the going down or beyond the going down of the sun. At the end of each day be sure to give the man his wages. Now here again you see God does not say because he is poor give him so much that he doesn't need to come back to work the next day. Great principle.

42:39 You see many of the principles are embedded. And when the old Westminster Confession speaks of the just equity of some of the Mosaic legislation it's principles like these that they had in mind that help guide us in wrestling with new covenant benevolence. Here is a clear indication where God did not indicate that they were to take the poor man and by giving him beyond what he has earned and take him out. Out of his state of poverty.

43:09 No, the indication is he comes back the next day does his day's work but you pay him his wages that he may have his daily bread as the fruit of his labors. A similar passage in verses 19 and following with this whole matter of not taking every last bit from your trees and from your fields leaving the gleanings and for whom was God concerned? God was concerned verse 20 it shall be for the sojourner for the fatherless and for the widows. So even in the manner in which they harvested their crops God says you are to remember that a widow may come by an orphan may come by a sojourner may come by leave sufficient gleanings that they may have their hunger satisfied because you have not gone back and picked up your food and picked up your food and picked up your food and picked up your food and picked up your food and picked up your food and cleaned every last olive from every olive tree and every stalk of grain from your standing fields. Well, once again brethren this is only a sampling and we see that in this sampling God was determined to make it plain that he had a peculiar concern for an identification with the poor and the vulnerable and that his people were to be his instruments the conduit the handbook the handbook the handbook the handbook the handbook the handbook

Continuity into the New Covenant: Benevolence and the Early Church

44:38 and through which the benevolent heart of God would be expressed so that when God says I provide for the sojourner and for the poor the manner of his provision was his people obeying the legislation that pertained to how they related to the poor and to the needy. In summary then it should not surprise us that in the establishment of the new covenant community this community that is brought together on the basis of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus that this God who does not change would direct his people to have a disposition that reflects his peculiar concern for the poor and the peculiarly vulnerable. And that's exactly what we find in the New Testament. James 1.27 Pure religion and the Lord's Prayer and undefiled before our God and Father is what?

45:42 To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. And in Galatians 2.9 and 10 where Paul gives the account of his going to Jerusalem and interacting with the leaders among the apostles whose ministry was more peculiarly involved with the Jews he says in chapter 2 9 and 10 and when they perceived the grace given to me James and Cetus and John who were reputed to be pillars gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision only they would that we should remember the poor. Which very thing I was also zealous to do of all of the things that the apostles in Jerusalem could have said to Paul and Barnabas that would be critical as they went out with their full approbation and hearty support to be servants of Christ among the Gentiles this is the one thing that is highlighted. They should remember the poor and Paul says we were zealous to do so. I think it's very significant and I never saw this until I was preparing this material.

47:06 We're often vexed by that account in Acts chapter 2 43 and following in Acts 4 32 to 35 of that voluntary community of goods that existed in the church at Jerusalem until God sent persecution and scattered them remembering that that community was made up of people whose tap roots were in the old covenant.

47:31 I believe it was just the natural outflow of the inrush of the spirit of God and the gracious work of God in their hearts and with their knowledge of those precepts and principles and the revelation of the character of God there shall be no poor among you. When you see your brother in need you're to respond withhold not good from them to whom it is due. When all of those realities are suddenly surrounded not just with a redemption out of Egyptian bondage and an election to great privilege and opportunity as was the case of the old covenant community but now this new covenant community steeped in the knowledge of all of that old covenant materials now see this glorious redemption by the blood and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the spirit with all of the enlarged and more spiritual nature of new covenant privilege why when those dynamics flooded their souls and they had this rich old testament perspective no wonder it is said no man said that anything he possessed was his own but held it in trust for his brethren and as there was need they kept on imperfect verbs are used in one of those passages they kept on selling off personal property

49:00 to respond to need why was there this voluntary community of goods I'm personally convinced now it was the pressure of all of this old testament data now suffused with the grace and power of new covenant redemption and new covenant motivation well at least that's a viable I think thesis and then it shouldn't surprise us the two whole chapters two whole chapters 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9 are given over to an account of how that new covenant community dispersed among the nations no longer with nationalism and national boundaries was still able to respond to those in their community miles away there in Judea when the famine came and there was the poor saints in Judea the apostles the people chosen by the church commit themselves to a very very arduous lengthy process of gathering this benevolence offering which is eventually according to Acts 11 in verse 30 brought to Judea and laid at the feet of the apostles well in closing let me seek to open up one third line very very briefly we've looked at God's special identification with the poor

Provision for Levites as a Paradigm for New Covenant Ministry Support

50:29 and the vulnerable among his people his specific directions for the conduct of his people toward the poor and the unusually vulnerable but then I think we need also as we're trying to think through a biblical framework of the function of the diaconate God's special directives concerning the provision to be made for the Levites God's special directives concerning the provision to be made for the Levites who were the Levites? numbers 3, 5 to 10 answers the question they were the chosen tribe to administer the concerns of the place of God's special presence and of his stated worship what was different about them in terms of material things the answer is Deuteronomy 10, 9 and 10 they had no earthly inheritance as did the other tribes they did not have the ordinary means of providing for their temporal needs question 3 how were they to be provided for? two passages clearly indicate the answer numbers 18, 12 and 13 numbers 18, 12 and 13 21 to 24 and Deuteronomy 14, 28 and 29 very clearly state that they were to be provided for out of the tithes of the people of God that were brought to the place

51:58 of God's special presence where his instituted worship was carried on and those who were selected and charged with the administration of that worship and the sacrifices etc. they were to live of those gifts that were brought out of the tithes of God's people.

52:20 And if anyone asks, well, what does that have to do with New Covenant church life and worship, it's very interesting that in 1 Corinthians 9, when Paul is not merely arguing from natural revelation that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel, that New Covenant Levites should be supported by the gifts of God's people, he uses the human illustrations, verse 7, of a soldier, of a vine dresser, and of a dairy farmer. But then he says, verse 8, do I speak these things after the manner of men, or saith not the law also the same? Then he takes a precept out of the civil law that illustrates this principle and says, when God gave that precept, he was concerned for something more than the ox. Verse 10, did he say it for the ox? No, he said it assuredly for our sake. And for our sake it was written, because he that ploweth ought to plow in hope, and he that thresheth to thresh in hope of partaking.

53:31 But then look at verse 13, know ye not that they that minister about sacred things, the Levites, eat of the things of the temple? No. And they that wait upon the altar, the Levites, have their portion with the altar, even so. In like manner did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel.

54:04 So in seeing in the provision for the Levites a paradigm of God's method of providing for New Covenant Levites, that is for those who are set apart to labor in the word and in doctrine, it is right that we should expect principles to be found in that Old Testament legislation that will help guide us in the vexing question of how should we care for the servants of God. And it's most interesting, God did not say, you keep them poor and I'll keep them humble. When you read the passages where God delineates how they were, to care for the Levites, their care was not to be tight-fisted and a mere subsistence existence. They were not just to get the leftovers. I challenge you to read the passages. Well, I've thrown out a lot of material at you, brethren, but I hope if nothing else it has tweaked our minds and hearts to realize afresh that the word of God is indeed sufficient for everything.

55:15 And that in these Old Testament scriptures, the character, the concern, the directives of God for the poor and the vulnerable are clearly set before us and form, as it were, one of the major taproots of the New Testament office and function of the diaconate. God willing, in the next hour we'll see how, in the coming of the incarnate God, that picture is even enlarged. It's greatly enhanced by the presence and ministry of the Lord Jesus.