The Deacon: A Steward in the Household of God

Introduction and Context: The Deacon as a Steward

0:01 This is the fourth and final session of the Deacons Conference held at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. The preacher is Pastor Albert N. Martin, and the sermon is entitled, The Deacon as a Steward in the Household of God.

0:28 Some of you would have left your churches and the place of your normal dwelling before your pastors or someone in your church received an email that we were delighted to send out from the church office yesterday, apprising the people of God literally all around the world who have borne in this trial that we have had in the past year and a half with my wife's bout with cancer, the wonderful news that in our consult with the surgeon yesterday, I took away in my hands, and I've practically memorized it, the report from the pathologist, and in the three major groupings of tissue that were removed, when she had her kidney and ureter removed in the area where the malignancy originally was, to see the end of each column of the report on those specimens, no tumor, no tumor, no tumor, and the summarizing statement at the end, there is no indication of malignancy. So rejoice with us in the Lord's goodness and mercy to us, and please convey to your brethren our deep gratitude for their fellowship of love, and prayer over these many months. Now some of you know that for the past two plus years, I've been preaching through the book of 1 Peter in our Lord's Day morning services.

1:52 When Mr. Davies was choosing the subject matter for the four plenary preaching and teaching sessions of this conference, he asked if I would take up the subject that is announced in your announcement of the theme and the various subjects to be had. And he handled the deacon as a steward in the household of God. Now I didn't ask him, but I'm quite sure that this subject was suggested to his mind because we had recently considered the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4 and verse 10.

2:27 So I would encourage you to turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 4 and follow as I read verses 7 through 11. 1 Peter 4 verses 7. But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be of sound mind and be sober unto prayer.

2:51 Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring, according as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good students, stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks, speaking as it were oracles of God. If any man ministers or serves, ministering as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now when I originally took up the material, I thought, I would just be able to adjust the exposition of this passage as originally given and suited for this situation. But the more I attempted to do that, the more frustrated I became. And after much wrestling and seeking God's help, I took a different tack in handling this concept of the deacon as a steward.

4:04 And you will forgive me if I'm more glued to my notes than I normally would be. This stuff is still, the ink is barely dry. As I played hooky from the morning sessions to finish the work in seeking to lay out what I trust will be helpful as we take up this subject, the deacon, as a steward in the household of God. Our attention will be focused primarily as a starting point with the concept of stewardship in the exercise of gifts as found in verse 10.

4:37 And perhaps taking just a moment to sketch in the larger and the more important, immediate context of these words will be helpful. One of the more modern commentators in what is a little bit simplistic but very helpful way states that the fundamental content of 1 Peter can be understood in terms of the three categories of the people of God. First of all, in chapter 1, verses 3, verse 3 through chapter 2 and verse 10, we have the people of God as a privileged people. And then in chapter 2, verse 11, to chapter 3, in verse 12, the people of God as a pilgrim people.

5:18 And then 3.13 to 5.11, the people of God as a persecuted and a suffering people. Now as the apostle seeks to instruct, encourage, and exhort the saints of God in the various churches there in Asia Minor, relative to their present and future sufferings for the sake of Christ, it is clear that Peter does not envision, that this persecution and this suffering will in any way negate their commitments to live and labor together in the fellowship and ministry of the specific local churches among whom this letter would have circulated.

6:00 The evidence of this is found in the fact that in his most concentrated section on the subject of suffering, beginning in chapter 3 and verse 13 and continuing to chapter 5, there are two paragraphs in which he focuses upon aspects of church life in a very unmistakable manner. Here in the paragraph read in your hearing, we have a section containing basic directives for the relationship of church members one toward another. They are commanded against the backdrop of a sober mind and a commitment to prayer with the reality of the Lord, the Lord's return, conditioning those dispositions of heart. They are exhorted to have fervent love among themselves, a love that will be manifested in the covering of sin, in giving themselves to hospitality, and in the mutual ministry one to another with their God-given endowment, the gift that God has given to each one. And then in chapter 5, verses 1 through 5a, we are given basic directives to the elders within the various assemblies and a fundamental directive to the members of the churches in relationship to their elders, verse 5a.

7:25 Now as we look more closely at this paragraph in chapter 4, we've already noted that the two major concerns of the paragraph are mutual love, verses 7 to 9, and mutual service in verses 10 through 11. Now at the heart of his directives concerning mutual service, we find the words of verse 10, According as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And the heart of this verse is this comparison between the Christians serving his fellow Christians in the exorcism of the Lord, and the worship of the Lord. And the heart of this verse is this comparison between the Christians serving his fellow Christians in the exorcism of the Lord, and the worship of the Lord, and the exercise of his God-given gift or gifts in the identity and function of a steward. If we strip away the modifiers and the qualifying clauses, the heart of the text is as follows. According as each has received a gift, ministering it as stewards.

Question 1: What is a Steward?

8:36 Ministering it as stewards. And I want to take the bulk of our time tonight to roll up our mental sleeves and to seek to come to grips with the biblical concept of a steward. What precisely did Peter have in mind? When these words would have been read for the first time in the various assemblies there in the outer reaches of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, that area that we now know as Turkey, what would have registered in the mind of the average believer sitting in the assemblies in these provinces?

9:15 Careful students of the New Testament and of the data of Peter, comparing it with the book of Acts and particularly with Revelation 2 and 3, suggest that there were probably at least ten central churches among whom this letter would have circulated as a general epistle. Now as it circulated, and one of the elders, or one appointed to read the letter to the congregations, would have come to these words, According as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as stewards, what would have registered in the mind of the average first century believer sitting in one of those assemblies? What concept would the word steward convey to the average believer? Well, in order to answer that question, I want us to ask five very simple questions as a framework of seeking to unpack the biblical concept of the och oikonomos, the steward. First question is, what is a steward? And in the simplest terms, I answer by saying a steward is one officially entrusted with the management of the property or possessions of another.

10:35 That's what a steward is. One. One officially entrusted with the management of the property or the possessions of another. And a key passage in understanding this concept is Luke chapter 16.

10:50 In Luke chapter 16, we have three uses of the noun steward, and three times the noun stewardship is used as well. So there are six references to the concept of a steward. It is the richest, distillation of biblical materials in response to the question, what is a steward? I read the passage in your hearing.

11:17 And he, Jesus, said unto the disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods. A rich man who is a possessor of much goods has a steward, and the steward, obviously, has been entrusted with his master's goods. He couldn't waste what was not in his hands to waste. The rich man put his riches, or some of them, in the hand of this one called a steward.

11:51 And he called him and said unto him, what is this that I hear of you? Render the account of your stewardship. So the steward was not only officially put in charge of his master's goods, but he was put in charge of his master's goods, but he was put in charge of his master's goods, but he was put in charge of his master's goods, but he was put in charge of his master's goods, with a view to being strictly accountable to his master in terms of what he did with his master's goods. He didn't deed his goods over to the steward.

12:22 They were entrusted to him. He was a trustee of the stewardship and was accountable for the way in which he administered that stewardship. Now, obviously, this man was not faithful in that stewardship, Now, obviously, this man was not faithful in that stewardship, Now, obviously, this man was not faithful in that stewardship, and the master says, I'm going to relieve you of that privilege and responsibility. And then you know the rest of the story.

12:44 The steward said within himself, what shall I do, seeing my lord takes away the stewardship from me? I have no strength to dig, to beg. I am ashamed. I resolve what I shall do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

13:00 So with no emails and no overnight delivery for the boss man to send a notification, to all of those with whom he had accounts, this scoundrel has been relieved of his responsibility, anticipating that it hasn't yet reached out to all of those with whom he had accounts. He goes ahead and he alters those accounts and chops down what is owed. And then the master later on commends the unrighteous steward, verse eight, because he had done wisely. Now, without raising the questions, this passage inevitably raises, when we read it and try to understand it, raises more questions if we try to preach it.

13:43 Nonetheless, it does help us to get a handle on the concept of what a steward was. He was one officially entrusted with his master's goods. He was entrusted with those goods with the responsibility to administer that stewardship in a way that pleased the master according to the standards and ethics of the master. And he was to do so understanding that he had to give an account to his master for that stewardship.

14:14 Now, sometimes the steward was a slave in the Roman setting. Luke chapter 12 and verse 35 and following makes this clear. Luke chapter 12 and verse 35. The Lord Jesus says, Let your loins be girded about in your lamps burning, and be yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast, that when he comes and knocks they may straightway open unto him.

14:43 Blessed are those servants, those bondservants, those slaves whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meet, and shall come and serve them. Now then, notice verse 41. Then Peter said, Lord, are you speaking this parable unto us or even unto all?

15:07 And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall set over his household to give them their portion in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. Here you find the terms slave and steward used interchangeably. Why?

15:29 Because the steward was a slave. And that was not an uncommon reality under Roman rule, rule in which slavery was part and parcel of the fabric of the existing society. Obviously there, in Asia Minor, there were house slaves. Peter addresses them specifically in chapter 2, and tells them what to do as they relate to their unrighteous and unjust masters.

15:57 So the steward was not necessarily a slave, but he could have been a slave. And therefore, in several other passages in the New Testament, the stewardship concept does not have the word steward. It has the identity of the steward as a slave, but it's clearly the stewardship framework. For example, Matthew 25, verse 14 and following.

16:22 Now I hope you don't mind this Bible study. This is basically what we're going to do. We want the Bible to expound to us the concept of a steward. We're not going to import it from secular writers in the first century.

16:35 We want to let our Bibles, interpret the Bible to us. Matthew 25, verse 14. For it is as when a man going into another country called his own slaves, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his several ability.

16:59 Now here's another nuance that comes into the concept of the steward. He was given a trust, commensurate with his ability. The master was wise enough not to give to someone of more limited ability, a greater deposit of stewardship, but a lesser. Unto one he gave five, to another two, to another one, not according to his own subjective preferences, but according to his several ability.

17:31 And he went on his journey. Straightway he that received the five talents, went in, and traded with them, and made other five. In like manner he that received the two, gained another two. He that received the one, went away, digged in the earth, and hid his Lord's money.

17:45 Now, after a long time, the Lord of those slaves comes, and makes a reckoning with them. You see the concept of the accountability. The steward knew, sooner or later, the master is returning. And when he returns, he's going to have dealings with me in terms of that, which he entrusted to me.

18:08 Five talents, two talents, one talent. The master will return. And we must give an account of our stewardship. And then you know the commendation that is given to the first two, and the condemnation to the third.

18:24 You find a similar structure in Luke 19, verses 11 through 13. Luke 19, verses 11 through 13. And as they heard, these things he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear. He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

18:53 And he called ten servants of his, and gave them ten pounds, and said unto them, trade herewith till I come. And then we know that the citizens hated him, representing another group of people, and then we read verse 15. And it came to pass, when he was come back again, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, these bond servants, these slaves, unto whom he had given the money, call them to him that he might know what they had gained by trading. And then again, you know the rest of the story.

19:32 So the concept of a steward, as we turn to the scriptures, is clear in its core elements. The steward was given goods or given responsibilities to administer the affairs of this master according to the revealed will of the master. The steward must never forget his strict accountability to the master. Now when we put all of those things together, what do we have as the biblical concept of a steward?

20:05 A concept that would assume that he は that would have registered in the minds of those who heard this letter read to them in the first century. A steward is one officially entrusted with the management of the property or possessions of another, is under solemn obligation to manage the owner's goods according to the owner's revealed will and in the consciousness of his accountability to the owner. Lenski underscores these various elements in his comments on the stewardship passage in 1 Corinthians 4, verses 1 and 2, where Paul speaks of himself and his fellow laborers as both servants and stewards. And Lenski writes, A steward is often a slave to whom his master and owner entrust property which he is to administer. In both terms, attendants, servants, and stewards, the prominent idea is that of complete subordination to a master, and in the latter, that is, stewards, that of special accountability. A helper merely takes his orders and at once carries them out without question.

21:20 A steward also takes his orders and carries them out in due process and then returns and renders his account to the master. He works, as it were, by himself. In the absence of his Lord, who trusts him to this extent. But he's always and fully accountable.

21:40 He dare not deviate in the slightest from his orders, nor try to improve upon those orders with wisdom of his own in order to please others. So in answer to the question, what is a steward? I trust the basic ideas are there in your minds. I trust you're persuaded from the scriptures with reference.

Question 2: What is the Commodity We Manage?

22:03 To those ideas. Second question, what is the commodity or property that we are to manage? Well, if we look at our text in 1 Peter 4, the answer is clear. What is the commodity or the property we are entrusted with or with which we are entrusted that we are to manage?

22:24 The text says, according as each has received a gift.

22:32 According as each has received a gift. A gift. Administering it as stewards. So the commodity, the property, is our God-given gift or gifts.

22:45 Our own individual and specific charisma. And that word is precisely the same word used with reference to gifts in the church in Romans 12 and verse 6. And again in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 4. And most of the commentators and the lexicographers, are careful to underscore that because the Spirit of God has chosen this word to designate our spiritual gifts, it underscores the gracious nature of those gifts.

23:19 They are conferred upon the unworthy. They are conferred sovereignly at the will and purpose of the gracious giver. And the question is always raised, does this refer just to those things? That we would call more special, spectacular, supernatural gifts, such as those described in 1 Corinthians 12?

23:44 Or is it to be considered as gifts in the more broad and generic way? And I can't take you down all the roads that persuaded me that it is the latter. And that conviction is not shared by myself in independence from responsible commentators. Listen to Clowney's definition of the gift.

24:04 Every gift, given to us in creation, which has been touched by the Spirit of God in our re-creation, that's our gift. That's our gift. Every gift given to us in creation, which has been touched by the Spirit of God in our re-creation. Hebert, whose commentary on 1 Peter is tremendously helpful.

24:28 Hebert writes, in this context, a gift is any capacity or endowment that can be used for the benefit of God, for the benefit of the church. Any capacity or endowment that can be used for the benefit of the church. Lilly writes, whatever in fact one possesses of a faculty for doing good and edifying the church may be properly called his gift. So the exercise of our specific and individual gift or gifts among ourselves is that with which we are to trade.

25:04 We are to trade. We are to trade. We are to be stewards of the gift that has been given unto us. And that gift must always be perceived as a donation of grace.

25:18 Grace that not only confers all of the blessings Peter has described in the previous part of the Epistle, starting in chapter 1 in verse 3. God's grace begetting us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us. And on through particularly the first two chapters, some of the most dense and rich deposits of our redemptive graces and blessings. Peter says, you in the churches there must recognize that every endowment that you now possess that can be an instrument of service within the body, you must recognize that as God's gift. You must recognize that as God's gift. You must recognize that as God's gift. You must recognize that as God's gift.

26:05 Or God's gifts in the plural. What then is the commodity or property with which we are to manage as stewards? It is our particular and specific graciously conferred gift or gifts. All of which are to be manifested and functioning in the household of God as expressions of what Peter calls the manifold.

26:34 The many-colored, the many-faceted grace of God. God's grace as it were comes through the prism of any given assembly and it breaks into the full spectrum of the colors of the richness of grace. And it is God's grace that confers the gift. The gift is an expression of the manifold grace of God.

Question 3: What Constitutes a Good Steward?

27:00 I'm deliberately holding back on application to you deacons. I think you can already see where the application will be going. But now we come to question number three. What will constitute us good stewards?

27:14 Our text says, according as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Well then we've got to know what will earn us the title, the description, good stewards. Well there are two key steward passages which answer the question and they give us precisely the same answer. First Corinthians chapter four, Paul speaking of himself and his companions writes, let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ and stewards, here's our word, stewards of what? Stewards of the mysteries of God. Here moreover, it is required in stewards, better rendered perhaps in this matter, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. That's it.

28:20 That a man be found faithful. That a man be found trustworthy. The NIV renders it now, it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. Faithful to whom or to what?

28:38 If you read on in the first Corinthians four passage, the answer to that question is clear. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the Lord.

28:58 Here's the sense of accountability for the stewardship. Wherefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, make manifest the counsels of the hearts, then shall each man have his praise from God. Each man who has proven himself to be a faithful steward, one who has administered the stewardship of his God-given gift, whatever it may be, if he has ministered it faithfully, he shall receive the reward from his Lord. Now if we turn to the Luke 12 passage with the question, what will constitute us good stewards?

29:40 The answer of the first Corinthians four passage is faithfulness to our trust or to our stewardship. Luke chapter 12 in verse 42. And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward? A more wooden rendering.

29:58 Who then is the faithful steward? The wise one. Who then is the faithful steward? The one who has acted according to sound biblical wisdom.

30:14 Who then is the faithful, the trustworthy steward? The wise one whom his Lord shall set over his household. So that the concept of stewardship, to be good stewardship, brings within its scope the word faithful or trustworthy. And when we turn to the passages where the Lord describes the commendation of the master towards the slave who is a steward, we notice how faithfulness is central in that commendation.

30:51 We turn to Luke 19 verses 12 and 13 and we see this underscored. As they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable. Verse 12, a certain nobleman went into a far country. He called ten servants.

31:07 He deposits the stewardship with them. Now note verses 16 and 17. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your pound is made ten pounds more. And he said unto him, Well done, you good servant, because you were found faithful in a very little.

31:29 Here the good servant is the faithful servant, i.e., he is the trustworthy. He is the steward of his master's goods.

31:41 And you find the same emphasis in the Matthew 25 passage. Verses 14 and 15 describes the deposit. Verses 20 and 23, the commendation, good because faithful. So in answer to the third question, what will constitute us good stewards?

32:00 The answer of scripture, again, is unmistakably clear. It is faithfulness to the master. In terms of his gift to us and the ability and strength with which we have been endowed in the ministry of that stewardship. John Brown makes this very perceptive statement.

32:20 He who neglects the gift that is in him is an unprofitable steward. He who converts it into a means of gaining selfish objects, the gratification of his own private taste, or the purposes of self-interest or ambition, instead of devoting it to the edification of his brethren, such a one is an unfaithful steward. He who, instead of cultivating and exercising his own gift, attempts to exercise a gift he has not received, and in this way occupy a field for which he is not fitted, and others are fitted, is an unwise steward. So the faithful steward is the opposite of the unprofitable, the unfaithful, or the unwise steward. So that brings us then to the next critical question. Where will we get the ability to be good stewards? If to be a good steward is to be faithful in the discharge of that stewardship, if the stewardship is the entrustment from God of a capacity to serve within his church, where will we get the ability to be good stewards?

Question 4: Where Do We Get the Ability to Be Good Stewards?

33:35 Well, we come back to our 1 Peter 4 passage. Peter has anticipated our question. According as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, and then he focuses upon two broad categories of gifts, speaking gifts and serving gifts. If any man speaks, speaking as it were oracles of God, if any man serves, literally if any man deacons, it's the verbal form of deacon, diakonos, diakoneo.

34:08 And here you have a use of diakoneo. If any man deacons, if any man serves, now notice, as of, literally as out of the strength, the might, the power which God supplies. So the source of our ability to be faithful stewards is not in ourselves. It is viewed as coming out of the strength, the power, the might.

34:38 The same word used in Ephesians 1.19 to refer to that display of energy in conjunction with the resurrection of Christ. In Ephesians 6.10, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

34:55 It's that, is chus. It is the might. It is the power of God himself. And while the gift is an endowment of grace, it is not meant to operate on its own, under its own steam and under its own ability and under its own strength.

35:14 But we are to recognize in the exercise of whatever gift God has conferred upon us, the great truth of John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, so neither can you, except you abide in the vine. Abide in me, without me you can do nothing. And here, brethren, I must pause to make a very specific application.

35:44 Most of us recognize this more instinctively with respect to speaking gifts. The man is a fool who attempts to handle the word of God without conscious dependence upon the Spirit of God. But are we not tempted, in the more practical, mundane affairs of the diaconate, to say, well, if God's given me capacity to do well with figures and numbers and interacting with people, to take care of our application for our building with town committees, etc., what need is there for a felt sense of the strength, the might of God for that service?

36:26 Well, it's interesting that the reference to the might of God is not in conjunction with speaking gifts. If any man speaks, speaking as it were oracles of God, but it's if any man serves, if any man deacons, as of the strength, as of the might which God supplies. God loves to throw curves at us. I wouldn't have put it that way, would you?

36:53 I would have had as of, out of the strength which God supplies when speaking of those exercising speaking gifts. But God doesn't do that. He puts it in conjunction with serving. He puts it in conjunction with deaconing.

Question 5: What is the Ultimate Goal of Being Good Stewards?

37:11 He puts it in conjunction not with the trumpet sounding the word of God, but with the towel in the basin serving the people of God. But then question five. What's the ultimate goal promoted by our being good stewards? I hope you see the natural progression of the questions.

37:32 What is the ultimate goal? What is the ultimate goal promoted by our being good stewards? Well, Peter answers it for us. If any man speaks, verse 11, speaking as it were oracles of God, if any man ministers, as of the strength which God supplies, in order that, a clear clause of purpose, in order that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and dominion forever and ever.

38:04 Amen. You see, Peter has not just been opening up one of these rich veins of the application of God's saving mercy in Jesus Christ. You'd expect words like that at the end of the first few verses of chapter 1 or the last verses of chapter 1 where he speaks of having been begotten again and the purifying of our souls. But he says it in the context of this injunction to mutual ministry within the assemblies of God's people.

38:36 And he says when those people who recognize their gifts and their identity and function as stewards of those gifts of God's grace and they do so out of the strength which God supplies, the great end secured is the glory of God through Jesus Christ. And he cannot say those words without his heart. Jumping in between his head and his pen, to whom be the dominion and the glory, or the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

39:12 He cannot think of those churches scattered throughout Asia Minor believing that this epistle is coming to those whom he describes in his opening words who are elect sojourners, elect according to God's gracious choice and love before time, in or unto obedience, and sprinkling the blood. He describes them as children of obedience. He believes and expects they will obey the word that comes from Christ through him as his appointed apostle. And as he envisions in these churches in the midst of the pressure and the fiery pressure of persecution and tribulation pressing upon them, he sees the churches continuing to function in the midst of those troubles, in those marvelous times. And as he thinks of what it will mean for believers to lay to heart this fresh reminder that each has received a gift, grace that brought them out of darkness into marvelous light, grace that called them and gave them their identity in Christ which he has described in the earlier part of the epistle, that when they come to that fresh recognition that every endowment is an endowment of grace in which I can serve the people of God.

40:35 And I'm determined to do it and be faithful in the discharge of that stewardship. And I'm determined that I will do it in the strength which God supplies. Peter says, Look, what will be the end of all of this? God will be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever.

40:54 Amen. This is Peter's echoing of Paul's words in Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. That wonderful text that speaks of God's purposes in the church in the present day to the intent that now, verse 10, unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God.

41:24 God is showing off in His church. He's showing off to principalities and powers He is getting glory to Himself through Jesus Christ as the church by His grace functions according to His word made up of people who amidst all of the blessings conferred upon them in God's grace have a sense that they are stewards. And each one recognizing according to Romans 12 with sober assessment His particular gift or gifts and content with what God has given not sitting around grousing and grumbling and kicking against the goads because we don't have this gift or that gift but according as each hath received a gift ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Brethren, this is what God desires from us as His people. Generally. The exposition up till now apart from that one focused application to deacons this is general teaching to all of God's people.

Specific Applications for Deacons

42:41 God never puts anyone into His body to be a paralyzed, lifeless, useless member in the body. Every member is placed in the body that it may have a function within the body for the good of the body and ultimately as we've seen in 1 Peter 4 to the glory of God through Jesus Christ. And to you who are deacons let me make these specific applications in closing tonight. And the first is this glory in the right sense glory and revel in the privilege of being gifted to be a deacon.

43:22 You heard this morning from Pastor Dunn the theological framework of the diaconate. In the diaconate in a very special way. God reveals the heart of His dear Son which is moved with compassion for the needy. In and through the diaconate God reveals something of the very disposition of His Son.

43:47 I am among you as He that what? As He that deacons. I'm among you as He that serves. I then your Lord and Master washed your feet.

44:00 You ought also to wash one another's feet. When we're girded with the towel and we hold the basin of diaconal service we are privileged to reflect a very precious element of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to you as deacons is given that peculiar privilege in a heightened way. In another sense the entire work of the eldership is a diaconal service.

44:29 You look up the word diakonos and you find that it's used primarily in reference to the ministry. Even the apostolic ministry. Particularly in 2 Corinthians. Again and again Paul makes reference to this service.

44:44 This ministry. And that's the standard word used. But in your particular responsibilities as deacons you have this privilege of mirroring, reflecting something of the disposition of Christ and the character of your blessed Lord. Yours is a wonderful stewardship.

45:05 A stewardship that not only reflects in a special way the character of Christ. Something of the heart of Christ. But reflects an ongoing commitment to maintain the priorities described by Christ for the ongoing work of his kingdom. And if God's grand means to tear down and dismantle the kingdom of darkness and establish the kingdom of his son is the proclamation of his word.

45:33 And when you remember that this office came to birth when the devil was seeking to challenge through a very noble ministry the ministry to needy widows was seeking to challenge that priority of preaching and prayer. Your position in that office is a constant reminder that God is determined that that priority will not be eroded even by something so sacred as ministering to widows tables. And you ought continually and periodically to remind yourself of this. And then go back over that wonderful promise.

46:11 I don't understand all that it means. I've studied it. I've attempted to preach on it. But every time I come back to it I say I'm still not sure all that it means.

46:21 But it means something wonderful. At the end of 1 Peter 3 the requirement for would-be overseers no special promise is given. He moves right in to the requirements for deacons. But at the end of his treatment of the requirements for one who would be a deacon there is this wonderful promise in 1 Timothy 3.13 For they that have served well as deacons could we not importing Peter's language say a parallel concept is those that have been good stewards as deacons. Serving well is to be a good steward. Gain to themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Now I know that in most churches because they have the higher profile of public ministry the elders, the pastors get most of the press.

47:18 But remember it's not the press men get here that really matters. But a day is coming when your master will be a deacon your master will call you to account call me to account not in terms of any endowment of grace given to the one to my right or to my left but the deposit of grace given to me to me bound up in the concept of stewardship is my personal accountability to my master. And brethren what more could we want than for him to say well done good and faithful servant. Would you want anything more?

48:02 Would you be satisfied with anything less? To hear the master say well done good and faithful servant. Servant who labored in the stewardship of the diaconal office and by the grace of God has earned through grace and the strength which God supplies the description a good steward. May God help us all.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

48:33 With renewed commitment to Christ and to the privilege that is ours to serve in the exercise of those gifts requisite for and operative within the diaconate. May we find ourselves afresh thrilled with the tremendous privilege that is ours and keeping the last day in mind constantly pray for grace to be good stewards. Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for your word that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway.

49:14 And we do thank you for giving us in your word this picture of what we are to be and do in the exercise of whatever gifts have been given to us. And we pray that every deacon here in this place tonight will return to his sphere of responsibility with a new sense of the dignity of that office which he occupies of the privilege that is his serving the Lord Christ in that capacity. And we ask oh Lord that each of us would be stirred up afresh to give ourselves without reserve to the exercise of those gifts and to do so in the strength and out of the strength which you yourself supply. We plead with you our Father that you would give to all of us more and more of the servant's heart that we may delight to serve to minister to deacon one another within the life and ministry of our respective churches. We plead with you to continue to bless us in our remaining sessions together as we wrestle with many practical concerns as we seek by your grace to be more fully furnished through the scriptures unto every good work. We ask now that you would dismiss us with your blessing

50:43 we ask our Father that you would give to each of the men a good night of rest awake us all refreshed and eager to seek your face to look to you for the strength and grace needed for the responsibilities and privileges of tomorrow. And we plead with you our Father that out of your perfect knowledge of our hearts and our areas of need that you will minister to us not only in the public ministries and in the workshop sessions but in our interaction one with another O God we pray that our speech will indeed be seasoned with grace and may be instrumental to bring encouragement and challenge and where necessary rebuke O Lord make us instruments of grace one to another even in our remaining hours in our time together hear us and answer us we plead through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.