RPCNA Deacons

Okay, so the deacons were, sorry, the elders were trying to talk and and realize we have a lot of people who are coming from, a lot of new members and people visiting and going through membership class who may have been raised in a different denomination than ours.

Amongst Christianity, there's a broad view of what the word deacon means. So even there's like different pastors groups I'm a part of on Facebook and such, and when somebody says, well what do you think, can a deacon do X, Y, or Z? And the first thing that somebody will answer in the comments is, what do you mean by deacon? Right, because some churches treat deacons, essentially, their structure is you have the pastor, And he runs the church, and then you have deacons, and the deacons are essentially what we would call elders. And then you have a board of trustees at some churches. So what are deacons? What do deacons do? Because there is a real sense in which the word diakonos just means servant. And so as you saw in some of the examples today, Paul calls himself a servant. Timothy's a servant. Epaphras is a servant. Phoebe's called a servant.

What is this deacon and what's the difference between the general way that's used and how did it become a church office? Specifically, 1 Timothy 3, verses 8 through 13, you have the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 13. through seven and then in first timothy 3 8 through 13 you have qualifications likewise deacons and their qualifications how did that happen what what is this office of deacons so that's what i'm going to kind of go over today and what you have in front of you if i've given you a handout this is literally copy and pasted from our RP testimony and the directory of church government.

So if you have a blue book at your house, if you've gone through membership class, you should have a blue book. If you don't have a blue book and you want a blue book, let me know. I think Kim, I drive him nuts because I hand him receipts almost every couple of weeks for buying more blue books, handing out to people. So I will give you a blue book and I think it's a helpful tool for you to know this is how the church runs.

This is what we believe. Here's why what we do. Okay, so there's a lot of ground to cover. So I'm gonna move fast. So, what is our theology of deacons? So first let's look at our Reformed Presbyterian Testimony, chapter 25.6-7. I've put this in a chart because I think it's helpful for us to understand. On this left-hand column we have the church.

What is the church? The Lord Jesus Christ has clothed his church with power and authority. This authority is vested in the whole membership of the church. We believe the congregation has a certain amount of authority. Which was the right to choose its officers from among those of its own membership who possess the scriptural qualifications. We believe we look at places like Acts chapter 6 and it says, choose from amongst yourself who will serve. And so from the congregation, the members, all the different members of the church have a right to elect their officers. So that's one of the things we believe about the church.

Point number seven in the testimony says, Christ has appointed in his word a particular form of government for the visible church. It is government by elders, presbyters. and is therefore called Presbyterian. Each congregation should be ruled by a session of ordained elders elected by the membership of the congregation. You're able to see all the different proof texts for that. And then it has more in the directory and the testimony.

So the point is the congregation is primarily ruled, overseen by the elders. which is different than many churches. If you go to some non-denominational churches, it's ruled by the pastor and the trustee board. Or certain Baptist churches, it's ruled by the pastor or the minister and the deacons.

We say, no, no, no, no, no, hold on. It's the elders who are the leaders in the church. This is what we believe that we see even in 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7. So, who are these officers of the church? We are a two-office church. This is point eight here. The permanent officers to be set apart by ordination are elders and deacons. The office of elder is restricted in scripture to men. And this is a point that I'm going to say this next line is something that has a lot of controversy. Not everybody agrees with it. Not everybody accepts it. That's okay.

But there is biblical and historical reasoning for that. If you're interested, this afternoon I'm going to be going over why the Synod came to that decision. So I think this would have been very helpful for me 14 years ago when I came into the RP Church to know why Synod made that decision. And like what our Synod normally does, they actually write out their reasons for things. We'll go over that this afternoon if you're interested. Women as well as men may hold the office of deacon.

What is ordination? Ordination is a solemn setting apart to a specific office by the laying on of hands of a court of the church and is not to be repeated. What is installation? Installation is the official constitution of a relationship between one who is ordained and the congregation.

So who are the elders? What's this first office? Well, the elders, the responsibility of the elders is teaching and ruling. Although all elders are able to teach, the scripture recognizes a distinction in these functions. All elders are equal in the government of the church. This office is referred to in the scriptures by two terms used synonymously. So, elder, presbytos, and bishop, episkopos, bishop or overseer. So, the elders are those who are, right, where one elder And all the elders have equal say and equal authority.

There's a difference in function, right? My technical term is a teaching elder. John, Jim, Ben, Simon's technical term is a ruling elder. The only difference is that I have the responsibility of doing the primary amount of teaching. However, if we get to a session meeting, I can promise you these guys know how to outvote me. And they know how to tell me, sit down boy, let's get this straight.

And so elders all have equal authority, and so we believe in what's called the plurality of elders. You need to have more than just one elder. And we also believe in the parity of elders. So all the elders are equal. So that's what we believe about elders.

Point 10 of the testimony says, the elders are organized in courts, the session, the presbytery, and the synod, to which is committed the power of governing the church and of ordaining officers. This power is moral and spiritual and subject to the law of God. There's something bigger than just the local elders.

Acts chapter 15, there's a problem in the church, questions in the church. What do we do when these non-Jewish people have come into the church? Well, the church in Antioch sins. They send Paul, and they send Barnabas to Jerusalem, and you see all the elders get together in Jerusalem, and they're hashing it out. And they come to a decision, Acts chapter 15.

So there's a higher body of elders who's able to say authoritatively, hold on, here's what God's Word said, they can't say whatever they want, it's gotta be based on God's Word, but then they're able to say, now send this to the churches, and this is the rule for the churches. So that's what we do. Presbytery is our regional area. The Midwest Presbytery is what we're part of. The higher body above that is our Synod, and that's of all the elders in the denomination. That's what elders are.

So what about these deacons hiding in the vents there? The deacon is a spiritual office subordinate to the session and is not a teaching or ruling office. This is a big difference between us and many other denominations. Many other denominations see deacons as an authoritative ruling and teaching office. And we say, no, we don't believe it is. So the deacons are subordinate, that means they listen to the session. They're not a teaching or ruling office.

The deacons have responsibility for, what are they responsible for? Ministry of mercy, the finances and property of the congregation, and such other tasks are assigned to them by the session. Others officers mentioned in the New Testament were commissioned uniquely during the Apostolic Age for the establishment of the church. So there they're talking about like prophets and evangelists, things like that. So the point being is that the deacons have a limited office. It's under the session, it's under the direction of the session, and it is primarily for those categories, Ministry of Mercy, finances and property of the congregation, and other such tasks that the session might give to them. So, that's what our RP testimony says. What about the directory for church government? It gives us more on what we think deacons are and what they do. So, to start with that, we need to start with, again, the congregation. So paragraph one of chapter two says this, a fully organized congregation is made up of a group of members with a session of elders for the oversight of the congregation and a board of deacons.

Notice what are the deacons? Responsible chiefly for the ministry of mercy and stewardship. Deacons are for the ministry of mercy and stewardship. Remember, that word for ministry is directly derived from the word deacon, service, for the service of mercy and stewardship.

And then here it's saying that there's supposed to be exercise of due care and they're supposed to be chosen by the congregation, ordained and installed, etc. So paragraph 5 of that same chapter says, the session shall have general oversight and review of all organizations within the congregation. So again, this is a difference. I'm trying to make this distinction very clear in your mind.

At the end of the day, who's in charge of youth group, Sabbath school, trail life, any ministry of the church? Who eventually has to make the authoritative decisions? Is it the deacons or the elders? What do you think? the elders. It's a session, it's the body of elders who's making those decisions.

So this is a big distinction between us and specifically our Baptist friends. The next paragraph in the Directory of Church Government for the congregation is again, this is the right of the congregation to elect its own elders and deacons. So the elders and deacons are elected by the congregation. By the way, I'm flying through this fast. I've printed the papers for you. You can go through and read more yourself later. But we've only got about 20 minutes left. Next paragraph. As there are allowed to be, the congregation has a certain amount of authority, right?

We need to transact business, we need to make a budget, things like that. The deacons are able to let the session know, hey, we would like to have a congregational meeting. And so they can make a written request of the board of deacons to petition the congregation to meet. And so the deacons can ask the elders, hey, we want to have a congregational meeting, can we do this? We don't necessarily always do it this formal. If the deacons just told us, hey, we want to have a congregational meeting, we would probably just say, all right, what do you want to talk about? Let's do it. I'm not sure John would require them as clerk, well, you need to write me a letter about it first. But the deacons are able to ask for these types of things. All right, paragraph eight of that same chapter continues on. And notice down here.

Meetings for the election of a teaching elder, ruling elders, or deacons shall be under the supervision of the session in constituted court and provided over by its moderator. So the deacons don't get to just elect their own next deacon. The deacon board doesn't ordain their own deacons. One elder doesn't just choose a deacon and say, hey, you're going to be the next deacon. everybody has to follow along. No, you as a congregation have a right to elect your own deacons.

But now it's up to the session that has to make sure that that person is duly qualified for the office, examines them for it, and then has to ordain and install that person to that role in the congregation. So let's go ahead and keep on going here. Here's what the Directory of Church Government now specifically says. Now we're out of the idea of the congregation, and now we're into the idea of, okay, what about deacons specifically?

So what are their qualifications? Well, the Directory of Church Government under deacons says that those eligible to be called as deacons must be, number one, communicant members in good standing of the RP Church. So if you're going to be a deacon, you have to be a member in good standing. In good standing means you're not under church discipline. So you're a member of the church, you're not under church discipline, thus you fit the first qualification.

Second qualification, evidence the standards of character and conduct consistent with those set forth in Acts 6.3, 1 Timothy 3, 8-13, and 1 Corinthians 12.28.

Acts chapter 6 verse 3, can somebody grab that? I'm going to ask one person to grab each one of these verses. Acts chapter 6 verse 3, who can read that? Acts chapter 6 verse 3. Okay, Josh, good. 1 Timothy 3, 8-13. 1 Timothy 3, 8-13. Who can read that? Okay, Dick. And who can read 1 Corinthians 12, 28? 1 Corinthians 12, 28. Okay. Hudson, is that right? Yeah, Hudson. Alright. Alright, so let's go ahead and start with Acts 6, verse 3.

Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, both in the Holy Spirit and in wisdom, whom you may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to the prayer Okay, so the apostles, right? There's a dispute between the widows and the distribution of bread. And they say, choose from amongst yourself seven men who will serve this role.

And notice they give three qualifications, right? Not just anybody you like, but what are the three qualifications there that he lists, Josh? Well, the Holy Spirit, good reputation, Okay, so Holy Spirit, wisdom, good reputation. Right? So these people who are going to serve need to have those three things. Alright, then we get to 1st Timothy chapter 3 verses 8 through 13. And what do we have there, Dick?

Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not bellicose, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them also be tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children in their own household well. For those who serve well as deacons, gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Okay, so we're gonna talk more next time we get together. There's a whole bunch of qualifications there. Which ones might stand out to you? Just pick out a couple. Which ones would stand out to you there? All right, so dignified, not a lover of money. Those are a couple that stand out to me. What are a couple more? Maybe Dick, you're the one that read it. Maybe which one do you read that sticks out to you? Husband of one wife. All right, husband of one wife, right? So not a womanizer, not somebody who's going after other women, right? But devoted to their bride, right? So, good.

And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 28, Hudson, you got that? And God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, health, administration, Alright, so specifically what we're thinking about there is those administrations of mercies, helps, and healings. So there are those appointed in the church that we think still have those types of giftings, that they're able to help others, that they're able to provide in very practical ways for others. So the third qualification that the Church of Government talks about, the Book of Church Government talks about, is being knowledgeable in and committed to the subordinate doctrinal standards of the denomination as being consistent with the Scriptures. Having read the Constitution, they're like, okay, yeah, I believe that. These are the things that I think are in line with God's Word. I hold to those things. So those are the qualifications primarily we're looking for.

The Directorate of Church Government, Chapter 3, goes on with officers of the Church, and there's this... distinction between the two officers of elders and deacons. The scriptures indicate no separation of offices as regards the ruling and teaching that is to be carried on in Christ's Church according to their qualifications and circumstances. Elders will exhibit gifts that enable them to discern and meet the needs of the flock through oversight or ruling and exhortation. Among them will be those more qualified to engage in the study and public proclamation of the scriptures. This distinction of function warrants a continued of the popular titles of ruling elder and teaching elder when understood as stated above.

The office of deacon was given by the Holy Spirit to the New Testament to the New Testament church to assist the church with the fulfillment of its ministry. So notice, it's the elders who are doing the ruling and exhorting, the oversight, and so that's what the elders are.

The deacons though, the deaconate is a spiritual office responsible for the mercy, the ministry of mercy. Again, ministry there, the root word for that is service or deaconing. So the service of ministry and stewardship of the congregation. It is neither a ruling nor a teaching office. Its exercise, like the whole life of the church, is under the oversight of the session, and its function is administrative.

Again, this is one of those areas where we are very different than even some reform denominations, where we do not see deacons as having an inherent authority in and of themselves, or they have broad authority, but that the deacons are a ministry of service and stewardship, that this is a gift of administration that they are using for the sake of the body of Christ.

That's very different than what we say about elders. And so we have a very, In some denominations, actually this has happened in certain RP churches before and we don't, I think some of this has other influences. You don't have to be a deacon first to be an elder. There are many people that even come with this preconceived notion, I think from other denominations and even Reformed churches, that what happens is you go from a normal congregant to a deacon, and then you get promoted from deacon to elder eventually.

And that's not the way it has to work. Now, sometimes it does work that way, but it's not like a stepping stone up. It can work where somebody is a deacon and they have proven themselves faithful and over time the congregation says, you know what, we really want that person to have spiritual oversight over us too and to exercise that type of authority. But the deacons is not a training ground necessarily for ruling or teaching elders next. There's a role and a function that they have and so we try to keep those offices as, let me put it this way.

Have you ever, maybe this is an illustration, but maybe it would be helpful, maybe not. I have been in jobs before where I don't actually know what my responsibilities are. Right, like you're just kind of thrown into the mix of it and you're like, well, should I do that or not do that? And I've been in one of those jobs before where I did something that I shouldn't have done and come to find out I didn't have the authority to tell the customer something I told them. And then I got in trouble by my boss. I'm like, well, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to do that.

This is making the rules very clear, hold on. The elders have certain roles, and to be honest with you, the elders are really, really thankful, especially here for our deacons who serve so faithfully. We have a good, I hope a good team working relationship with the deacons where we trust them. You're doing your job, you're doing your job great.

We're going to keep our nose out of your work because we don't want to micromanage you. But at the end of the day, the deacons know they don't have to figure out what Sabbath school curriculum to buy. They don't need to worry about when are we going to do the next membership class. They don't need to reprimand the pastor for his poor preaching.

Well, they might still because they're members, but the point being, they know their job. The job distinction is clear. It's an administrative service of mercy and stewardship. So, the difference between elders and deacons. So what are the duties of elders and deacons? I've already talked about some of this on the left. The directory of church government gives these on the right. You might want to hold your paper up for this. This is really small writing. I couldn't get it as large as I wanted.

But deacons are supposed to regularly attend and participate in the meetings of the deacon board. They're there to meet jointly with the session periodically for prayer and evaluation and growth in their respective ministries. there to maintain an active ministry of mercy. What does that mean? That means leading the congregation discerning and ministering to needs such as the local needs of individuals and institutions, as well as national and international needs. There are times in which the session will say, hey, we are thinking about supporting such and such ministry. Is that in the budget? Is that a good idea? Do you see this as a need?

Or we think we might want to help this person in this way. I know I do that often. I'll come to a deacon and I'll say, hey, this person or this family is struggling in this way. Can we help them in the way I think we should? And often it's, well, let me get on the phone and find out what they really need. And they're able to get more nitty gritty and actually able to help them better than I could. Because they're gifted in that way that I'm not. And so that's looking at both individual and local and international needs.

They're to gather and distribute the funds. So if you'll notice at the back at the end of worship, it's the deacons who go back there and count the money. You do not want me to be the accountant of the church. Thank the Lord that he's given us deacons who know how to do math. And I skip over bad things with math all the time. Praise God for people who are gifted that way.

Training the congregation in the use of members' gifts in mercy ministry. Helping the congregation evaluate requests for funds by organizations outside the denomination. Their duty is to maintain an active ministry of stewardship, overseeing the work of the treasurer, appointing a finance committee if it's needed, keeping the congregation informed of our financial needs, securing an annual audit of the congregation's accounts, preparing a budget, Offering family budgeting counsel. Teaching principles of giving.

Overseeing maintenance of property. Developing these ministries by personal visitation. So deacons meeting with you, calling with you. If they find out you have a need, they'll get a hold of you. Performing other duties assigned to them by the session, congregation or presbytery. So the duties are clearly laid out there. So my question is to you, do you see in those duties that we have lined out for deacons an area where it says they have rule over other people? Authority to tell somebody how they must do something.

No, because it's an office of service, administration, stewardship. So this is one of the big reasons why, as we see this, and this is what it's going to get into in the afternoon, one of the reasons why, as we see deacons, we don't see an issue with women serving in this office. Because it's not an office where they're ruling or exercising authority over others, but they're serving people in the congregation.

And so, again, that's just a preview into this afternoon. If you're not going to be able to stay this afternoon, I did print out some copies of what Synod actually wrote in 1888 for their biblical reasons for having women deacon. So if you can't stay, that's going to be there. If you don't get a piece of paper, it's going to be on Gentle Reformation on Wednesday as I'm putting it on there as my post for this week. So you'll be able to find it online as well.

So what are the privileges of a deacon? According to the Directory of Church Government, the Board of Deacons has no legislative or judicial powers. Its work is wholly administrative, subject to the direction of the session and sensitive to the counsel of the congregation. The regular privileges of a deacon are, they include these things. serving as permanent members of the board of deacons to which they are elected, and serving as consultative members in higher courts of the church when appointed.

So this idea is kind of loaded, consultative members, that means, so if one of you shows up for a presbytery meeting, or if one of you decides that you want to go to synod, you have every right to do that as a member, you can go to the courts of the church, But you don't have a right to just start speaking in the middle of the meeting or offering what you think should be done.

But the elders may say, you know, we are interested. We're dealing with this money issue. Let's have the deacons talk to us as consultants and give us their insight and wisdom on what they think is happening here. And so they're consultative members. They do not have, as it says here, legislative or judicial powers. So the board, yes.

On that last one, I think people really ought to understand that they could be consultative members of the board. Yeah, we might ask one of you if you come to a session meeting because you're concerned about something. This has happened a number of times in the last year where one of you has come and we're very thankful when you do that because you have a question for the session and you'd like to give us maybe some insight on maybe this happened this way. We might mark it down in the notes that we had you there as a consultative member. So we wanted to hear your voice on what was going on. didn't give you any power or authority in the meeting to then start voting or legislating or judging. Those are all very specific words, legislation and judgment.

The board of deacons, what do they do? Well, the work of the board of deacons is a spiritual service and is administrative. The board does not have legislative or judicial powers. In the absence of deacons, their ministries of mercy and stewardship are included in the responsibility of the...

I'm so thankful that I came to a congregation that has good deacons. I've seen sessions get bogged down by this. Elders get bogged down as they're trying to do both the job of ruling and teaching as well as deaconing for the congregation and it really is a tough place. So having a congregation that has deacons is a huge blessing to the elders and I think a huge blessing to the people.

It's the deacons don't have legislative or judicial powers. And this is, once again, one of those points where if in the past year when we have had, sadly, some church discipline things, it wasn't the deacons standing up here with the elders saying, we make this judgment also. It's the elders making those judgments. And they're hard judgments to make. Secondly, the board of deacons shall organize as a board, choosing a chairman and a secretary from their own members.

This is just good kind of normal business meeting stuff. They've got a chairman. So the chairman right now is Bill. The secretary is Joe. Is that right? And so they have minutes from their meetings. And they're able to meet with us from time to time, give us updates. We like to meet with the deacons. They tell us all sorts of interesting things that we didn't know. And so when deemed prudent, the deacon board may ask session to appoint a communicant member of the congregation to serve as a treasurer, which Kim Robb is our treasurer, so he does that very faithfully. The deacons shall meet at stated intervals and shall open and close their meetings of prayer. Adequate records of these meetings should be recorded. So that was one of the things that the visitation committee did, was just meet with the deacons and see how things were going. Can we save some of your minutes? What is the type of stuff you're considering lately?

Duties of the Board of Deacons include maintaining an active ministry of mercy. There should be a mercy fund of relief for needy persons, both within the congregation and those outside of it, whether Christian or non-Christian. There are many times in which the church gets, actually one of the first things that the deacons told me when I came is, hey, many people in the community, they'll just get a hold of you, and we have this pool of money set aside that if you find out there's a need, here's kind of discretionary mercy ministry that you can immediately show and we'll reimburse you for it. And so whether those people are Christians or non-Christians, right? But sometimes it's me finding out about things and saying, hey, deacons, such and such person needs help.

And I let them handle it because they're better at handling it. The Mercy Fund may be supplied by voluntary gifts above the regular offering and may be kept in a separate account. Sessions may assign other tasks that relate to the Ministry of Mercy. Elders may specifically ask the deacons, hey, we need you to focus specifically on this area. And so that's one of the things. Again, I'm very thankful for the relationship that the elders have with our deacons, because often this is more consulting with each other, working with each other as a team rather than the session lording authority over the deacons. We want to work together as a team for the good of the church and the community. Overseeing the finances, this is part of what the Deacon Board does.

They receive the offerings and income and keep an accurate record of the contributions. It has a responsibility of ensuring that financial obligations of the congregation are met and that periodic financial reports are made to the session and the congregation. So they do this annually to you guys at the congregational meeting. They'll provide what was spent for the year and what the income was. And about twice a year or so, we meet with the deacons, and they tell us what's been going on with the finances. Are we going in the red? Are we still black? How are we doing financially?

Financial policies and the development of stewardship should be the responsibility of the session. So notice, again, the session, the elders have the responsibility for financial policies and the development of stewardship. As the elders, those who rule are going to be judged more severely because we have these responsibilities behind it. So if the deacons are mismanaging funds, at the end of the day, whose fault is it for not overseeing the deacons' work? The elders. The elders. Second paragraph there.

Under the direction of the session, the deacon should oversee a proposed budget for congregational approval, providing for the needs and responsibilities of the congregation, including an adequate salary of the pastor and other employees. The deacon should make the congregation aware of and encourage giving to the works of the church as reflected missions and ministries of the Presbyterian Synod. Once the congregation has had the opportunity to give input into the budget and to indicate congregational approval, It is the responsibility of the session to adopt the budget. This is what I was saying in the sermon. What a great job, right? You get to prepare a budget, and then you get to bring it to the congregation, and then the congregation gets to nitpick your budget. And then after that, the session has to decide whether or not we agree with the budget, and that's the way we should be going.

Now thankfully, again, I'm really thankful for the culture of teamwork we have even, and congregational meetings, working with each other, not letting this become a fight over money all the time. But the deacons are a service. They're helping. They're providing this to the congregation.

By the end of the day, the congregation has to approve it, and the elders, have to adopt the budget. The deacons should oversee the maintenance and repair of the property of the congregation. If you've noticed the spray paint going through the grass and into the gravel, it's because it wasn't me calling the plumbers and checking out the tiling and figuring out how do we get toilets working downstairs. Because the deacons are well equipped to handle that themselves and do very faithful work caring for the building and caring for the property.

So we're very thankful for their work. Large financial outlays not included in the annual budget should be submitted to the congregation for approval. If the deacons decided, oh, you know what, we're gonna spend $160,000 on something, they need to ask the congregation first. But again, this is so we don't sow seeds of division against each other, but that everybody's in the know. So, a deacon's vows, they're a little bit different than your membership vows. Vow 1 is the same as your first vow. Vow 2 is the same as your second membership vow. Vow 3 is where they start to change.

Do you believe that it's the duty of Christians to profess publicly the content of faith as it applies to the particular needs of each age and situation? And that such public profession, otherwise called covenanting, should be made formally by the churches and other institutions as well as informally by each believer according to his ability, do you believe that we should still be covenanting? That's what that vow is getting at. Vow number three for a deacon is do you believe in and accept the system of doctrine and the manner of worship set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the larger and shorter catechisms, and the testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church as being agreeable to and founded upon the scriptures? Are you really convinced that this is the type of church that God ordained? That's really what vow four is getting at. It's different than your vow four, because vow four for you as members just says, are you willing to submit to it?

You may have a whole bunch of things that you don't like, and you disagree with all over the place, but you're willing to live underneath that structure, and you know what we teach, and the session is able to say, we think you're going to be not sowing division, but you're going to be a good member here, that's fine. For a deacon and for elders, we both take this vow. By the way, a whole bunch of these vows are the exact same for elders. It's a little bit higher of a standard.

So is this really your type of church? Vow five, do you believe it to be the teaching of scripture that the church and state are distinct and separate institutions, that both are under the mediatorial rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the permanent form of church government is Presbyterian? So, this is specifically a vow that's against what's called Erastianism. And so, in other countries, the state rules the church. And we're saying, no, no, no, no, no. God rules the church. Jesus is over both state and church. And in the church, we run by Presbyterians. We run by elder-led.

So that's what Vow 5 is getting at. Vow 6, do you believe that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord of men and nations and that in loyalty and obedience to Him, it is our duty to follow the noble example of the faithful confessors and martyrs of Jesus in their witness for divine truth and in their sacrifices and labors to establish the Kingdom of God on earth? Are you serious about this business of being a Christian? Serious in evangelism, serious in trying to see the church promoted so that the kingdom of glory might go forward. That's what this vow is getting at. Vow number seven. As far as you know, this is a helpful one, as far as you know, can you in your own heart Is it the calling of Christ, the glory of God, and the welfare of the church, and not any selfish object that moves you to undertake this sacred office?

Are you in this for the pride? Are you in this for the prestige? Are you in this for the money? Are you in this for the clout? Are you in this because you think somehow you're gonna earn your way to heaven? Or is it because you truly love the Lord and you wanna serve Him? What's your motivation behind this?

Vow number eight, this is particular to deacons. So this is different than the elders vow. That you may perform faithfully all the duties of the office to which you have been called. Do you engage to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Do you promise in his strength to live a holy and exemplary life, to study and promote the purity, peace and unity and progress of the church? To lead the congregation in the ministry of mercy, to practice the grace of spiritual stewardship, to cultivate it in the congregation, and to endeavor to handle the Lord's money in a manner which is efficient and above reproach. Notice how very specific that vow is to their duties and obligations and privileges as deacons. Vow number nine, do you promise subjection of the Lord to the courts of this church and engage to follow no divisive course from the doctrine and order which the church has solemnly recognized and adopted? And do you promise to submit to all the brotherly counsel which your brethren may tender you in the Lord?

Are you going to be a good teammate with the rest of the church or are you going to be the type of person that gets a little bit of authority and you want to really fight everybody and get everything your way? Are we working together towards a common goal?

That's what this vow is getting at. And then the last vow, vow 10, my thing broke or died. No? No, maybe my computer doesn't want to work. The very last vow and very last slide is this one. Do you make these promises in the presence of God in humble reliance upon his grace as you desire to give your account with joy at the last great day? That's the same as your last vow of church membership. So we make these vows trusting in the Lord. So, oh man, that's literally everything the directory of church government says regarding deacons in 40 minutes.

Here's where I want you to walk away from this with. It is a blessing to serve as a deacon, to serve the congregation in mercy, stewardship, and administration. It is not a legal or judicial office. It is a service to the congregation. It is a hard service. that most of us don't see, and they do an amazing job in this congregation. And I'm so thankful.

Whichever one of you the Lord has marked to be the next deacon, or it's an election up to two deacons, maybe two of you will get elected, you are going to get to serve under some amazing deacons who will help mentor you in a way that the deacons here run like a well-oiled machine, and it's amazing to just watch them work. And so if you see a deacon, thank them. right? Because they really do exercise their office well in serving us in administration, mercy, and stewardship.

So, all right. I'm going to give like two or three minutes for questions and then we got to go downstairs to eat. I'm hungry. Yes? Okay, so you're asking for a list of eligible people who could serve as deacons in the congregation. Okay, yeah, I can make a list available for that. Write it down or it won't happen. By the way, I won't be here next week. Keith Duels is preaching for me. I'm preaching up at Washington.

So I'll have this, and Rosalie, I'll have it up with the bulletin inserts for next week that I already have prepared for that. So, all right, any other questions? I think you have a lot of assurance at this point. I think you have yourself ahead of time to pray over it, think about it, and then also whatever else Yeah, so the elders wrestled with that second part. We have no problem sending out the list. So the second part of that list is something we've wrestled with. I did something just by Brian doing something, and often that's a bad problem.

In previous times, I've asked people, do you want to serve in this office or not want to serve in this office? The elders really wrestled with that. And let's just say a few of them said, if I had been able to say beforehand, I don't want to serve, I wouldn't have been elected. But where these elders were specifically thinking is when the congregation, you might think, I don't want to serve in this way. But when the congregation chooses your name from amongst themselves, it gives a certain weight of, hold on, is this the Holy Spirit telling me I should serve in this office or not? And so, you know, I don't want to call any specific elders out, but they're like, I probably would have put my name on that list. And I mean, we didn't talk to the deacons about this, but it's a similar thing for elders, right? And so the elders have decided not to do that.

So if somebody's elected as a deacon, they have the, and how this process goes, just because I didn't put it in the slides, is we have the election, and that person has up to two weeks. They can ask for longer if they need it. We customarily ask, just think about this for about two weeks and let us know whether or not you want to serve in this office. And so they don't have to immediately say yes. but get some time to wrestle over this, chew through it, should you serve or not?

And then let the elders know, and then we set up a system for examination. Sometimes it's working through some discipleship stuff with, okay, do you have questions about the testimony or about the office or how things work? And so sometimes that takes a number of months, and that's okay. And then once the examination by the elders is done, then we move towards ordination and installation.

Closing Prayer

So even if you are elected, you have the opportunity to decline to serve. So we will get that list together for the people who are eligible, but the elders have asked me not to get together a list of people who are declining ahead of time. Any other questions or comments, piece of advice? Okay, we are 15 minutes late. Let's pray. I'm just going to pray for food downstairs and we're going to get into stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So next week, I didn't want to overload your bulletin with a whole bunch of inserts.

So even though I'm not here next week, I already have inserts ready for you with about 20 different questions to ask yourself of people in the congregation to try to help you identify somebody who might serve in this office, as well as 10 questions to go and actually ask that person or persons that you are interested in possibly voting for.

So very specific questions that you can go talk with them about. So the session would highly encourage you, Choose from amongst yourselves who will serve. Which also means choose from amongst yourself who has the spirit of wisdom and reverence and a heart to serve. Who do you see? The first vetting happens by you all. Do the homework and pray about it. Take it seriously. It's a blessing. The church is served in a great way by those first seven guys who were elected as deacons. Gave a great deal of stability to the church when that happened.

Closing Prayer

Okay, let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll go to lunch. Lord, we thank you so much. It has been a long Sunday school, but it is a great blessing that you have given your church by your word a order in which we try to function. Lord, we pray that you would please help us, give us wisdom as we desire to elect new deacons. Lord, and it's at this point we've said a lot of times that the deacons aren't thanked for their hard work, and so Father, we thank you. We thank you for the deacons who are currently serving, the four right now who are currently serving, But Lord, we know that there are even others in the congregation who aren't currently serving as deacons, but who served for years and years and years before that.

And Father, we thank you for their service to your people and your kingdom. God, we pray that you would please care for us as we eat lunch, and that we enjoy time with each other, and that you would be glorified in our conversations. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay. It's on 13, please. Yeah, let me get a copy of that. I didn't know what it was. I guess, but I know some of my friends who are really involved, well, teachers there. I had a local teacher, a newly enrolled teacher, and they were subject to a higher-up court decision. I don't recall who it was, but there it was. Oh, yeah. So when I got out of there, this was a big deal. I mean, it's still a huge deal. Yeah, I know. I'm really grateful for that. Yeah. It was, it was a natural error. My mother's father was a Baptist. My grandmother was a nun. Now, I had found out a few years back when I was a little girl that she had adopted a neighbor, or an older brother in his life. I don't know.