And so we're turning in the Word of God to 1 Timothy and the chapter number 3. 1 Timothy and the chapter 3. We're going to read the chapter together. 1 Timothy and the chapter 3. Let's read this chapter together in God's Word. 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach, not given to wine or striker, nor greedy of filthy liquor, but patient, not a brother, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise, must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy liquor, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, and let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things write I on to thee, hoping to come on to thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayst know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, for the pillar and the ground of the truth. And without controversy, greed is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached on to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the end verse of this particular chapter. Let's stand, please, for a word of prayer before we come to bring God's word. O God, our Father, we now commit the preaching of thy word into thy care, We pray for the help and the enabling of God, the Holy Spirit. Come, Lord, and fill this preacher with power. Grant, dear God, the divine anointing required for the preaching of the word. Bless our willing souls. May we be receptive to thy word. Take these faltering lips, I pray. Touch them with a live coal from off the altar. Give power and clarity of speech and thought, we pray. May thy hand now be upon us as we sit under the preaching of the word, for we offer prayer in and through our Savior's holy and glorious name. Amen and amen. Today we come to consider the biblical qualifications for a man who desires to fill the office of a deacon within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The God does not leave us in the dark as to the character of such a man, because here in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the verses 8 through to 13, Paul sets forth the biblical qualifications of such a man. I'm sure that maybe in your mind you have an idea of what a deacon ought to be, but I wonder is it in line to what the Bible teaches a committeeman or a deacon ought to be. You see, this is the only passage with the exclusion of one that mentions the word deacon. I think it is Philippians chapter 1, the verse 1, is the only other time that you'll find this word deacon presented within the Word of God. And so this passage is, I would say, the exclusive passage that we have with regard to the qualifications of a man who desires to become a deacon within the church of Jesus Christ. Now, as you're aware, Timothy had become the pastor of the church in Ephesus. He was a young man, and I'm sure as a young man he found himself struggling at times with regard to all that lay to his hand being a minister, a pastor within a local congregation. And Paul was aware that there were certain things that had not been set in order within the church of Jesus Christ. He realized that, yes, most likely the offices of deacon and eldership had been filled, And most likely that instruction had been given with regard to the duties of elders and deacons within the church of Christ. But all things, at least in Paul's mind, had not yet been set in order within this fledgling work. And so Paul writes now to Timothy in order that Timothy would set in order things regarding the governmental structure of the church of which Timothy was now the pastor. Now the initial part of this chapter focuses in upon the office of an elder. We have the word bishop, but as I've shown you before, really that word is overseer, or it can refer to the office of an elder. And so he speaks initially here in the verses 1 through to 7 about the office of the elder. But now in the verses 8 through to 13, he now speaks about the qualities that a deacon ought to possess. And so from these verses today, I want to preach a message that I've entitled, The Character of an Ideal Deacon. The character of an ideal deacon. Now as we think about the character of an ideal deacon, I want us to think firstly about his personal life and his personal character. This really brings it down to the man himself. And so we find here that Paul lists certain qualities, characteristics that ought to be present at some degree in the life of the person who desires to be a deacon within the church of Jesus Christ. We note then the first word, and we'll simply look at them as they're found. We note the first word in the verse number eight when Paul writes, likewise, must the deacons be grave. That's the first quality, they must be grave. Now this word grave appears some four times in scripture. And three of the times it is translated by this word grave. But on one other occasion it is translated another way. That occasion is found there in Philippians chapter 4 in the verse 8. and there it is translated honest finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just now admittedly this word grief is not a word that we would use commonly today. When we think of the word grave, we think about death and the place where people are buried after they die, where their bodies are placed. That's how we would term or think about this word grave. But this word grave can also mean other things. W.E. Vine said the word grave first denotes reverend, venerable, Serious. James Strong simply defines the word grave to mean venerable or honorable or honest. Thayer's Greek definitions has a similar definition. To be venerated for character. To be honorable. This word grave carries the thought of someone who is of a serious disposition. They are a person of a serious disposition, a man who is grave as one who conducts himself, and in his conduct he secures the respect and the honor and the praise of others. Paul reminds Timothy here that deacons within Christ's church then are to be men of a serious behavior. They were not to share in the follies. They were not to share in the pleasures of those citizens of Ephesus. You'll remember that the city of Ephesus was a city given over to sin, given over to licentiousness, given over to immorality. And Paul is writing here to Timothy to say that those who hold the office of a deacon within the church in Ephesus and within the church of Jesus Christ, they are not to be like those who find themselves in the city of Ephesus. These were lighthearted individuals, given over to sin, given over to the world's pleasures. Paul says, such a man is no place within the offices of the church of Jesus Christ. Dr. Gill remarked that the deacons of the church are to be grave in their speech, gesture, and dress. honest and of good report among men, and chaste in their words and actions, all which may be signified by the word here used, this word grave. And so gravity, not levity. Gravity, not levity, ought to mark the life of not only every Christian, but especially the lives of those who hold office within the church of Jesus Christ. To be frivolous, to be light-hearted, are certainly not the marks of a person who ought to serve as a deacon. You see, the business that deacons are involved in calls for seriousness. It calls for this seriousness. You see, it is God's work that they are involved in. It's God's work. Yes, and it's God's money. It is God's work and it's God's money that has been entrusted into their care. And someday a deacon will be brought account before God of their stewardship of such things. If that truth does not bring gravity into the mind of an individual, who desires to serve as a deacon, then nothing else will. To think that there's coming a day when I will give an account of my stewardship within the church of Jesus Christ, the work that I did, the seriousness to which I gave myself, and the effort that I put into the work of God. If this thought does not grip your soul, brother, then you have no place within the office of the church as a deacon. Gravity. Not levity ought to be the mark of a man who desires to be in the office of a deacon. If you are a flippant person, if you are a frivolous person, if you are a person that makes light of serious matters, then serving God as a deacon is not for you. God is looking for grave men to be deacons, men of honor. Men of dignity. Men of integrity. Men who understand the seriousness of the work to which they have been called. Gravity. Gravity. After stating what a deacon should be, Paul then sets forth what a deacon should not be. They should not be, note the word, they should not be double-tongued. Double-tongued. The word double-tongued means two words or twice words. It denotes the saying of a thing twice. The thought here is that of a person saying one thing, but meaning something completely different. The saying of one thing, but meaning something completely different. A deacon is not to be like that. They're not to say one thing in a church committee meeting and then go out and say the complete opposite. They are to be those that are marked by integrity of speech. They are to be those that know what it is to have speech that is free from hypocrisy and free from deceit. To put it another way, a simpler way, what they say is what they mean. What they say is what they mean. They are not to be men who say one thing to one person and then another thing to another person. Why? Because that will lead to misunderstanding. That will also lead to conflict within the denacinate, within the committee of the church of Jesus Christ. They say one thing and then say another thing the next day. They're not to be double-tongued. One commentator said they should be men who can be relied on for the exact truth of what they say and for the exact fulfillment of their promises. You know, as a man, when you come in to the church committee, there will be maybe promises, tasks that will be placed to your charge. They will be entrusted to you to carry forth and to carry forward. It will be your words given to that committee that you will carry that task and you will fulfill that which has been given to you. I say that a failure not to do that, a failure not to follow through on the particular task that has been given to you is then for you to be a man who is double-tongued. For promises have been made, you have made commitments to carry it through and you have failed in your commitment. Such a man has no place within the denacinate, within a committee. There is work to be done, and you will have to give yourself to the work. A man whose word cannot be trusted, whose promises cannot be relied upon, is a man who disqualifies himself from serving as a deacon, not double tongued. Note a third quality of a deacon mentioned in the verse 8, not given to much wine. Not given to much wine. Now, wine, as we've said before, was a common drink in Paul's day, and yet that wine had only gone through the process of what is called natural fermentation. This wine had not went through industrial fermentation. That's what happens today. Wine is brought into brewery into a wine processing business and it goes through what is known as industrial fermentation and as it goes through that the alcohol contact content rises dramatically within that particular wine. But yet this wine that is spoken of in the Bible was a wine that had a very low alcoholic content. Not only that, but that wine would then have been diluted by water. So much so that it was almost ten parts water to one part wine, and thus to become intoxicated with that wine would have been an absolute impossibility. For it just to go through natural fermentation and then the dilution of that wine, ten parts to one wine, it would have been absolutely impossible for a man to become drunk, to become intoxicated. The word given in the verse means to hold near and if used in a metaphorical sense it means to turn one's mind to or to occupy oneself with. The person is not to be occupied with wine, with alcohol. In other words, that person is one who does not allow drink to influence their life. Why? Because alcohol, as you know, clouds a man's judgment and his ability to make proper decisions. To be honest, the stigma and the social evils that accompany drinking today They did not attach themselves to the modern use of wine in Paul's day. But I firmly believe that if Paul was writing today, knowing the sin that spawns from alcohol consumption, and knowing the type of wine that is available today on the shelves of our supermarket, and the alcoholic content of those wines, I believe that Paul would have written, no wine at all. No wine at all. Albert Barnes, he made this comment, not given to much wine, he says, it is not affirmed that it would be proper for a deacon any more than the bishop or elder to indulge in the use of wine in small quantities, but it is affirmed that a man who is much given to the use of wine ought not on any consideration to be a deacon. Brethren and sisters, in our day, those who drink alcohol are perceived as worldly. worldly. Other scriptures remind us of the great danger that there is in alcohol consumption. We are reminded that we're not to give drink unto our neighbor, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor wine. We're to remove ourselves from even looking upon wine according to the book of Proverbs. We're not even to look at it in the glass. Not even when it's in the glass. Never mind partaking of it. And so if you're a man, and I don't know your heart, and I don't know what you have in your cupboards, but if there's alcohol in your cupboards, I tell you it's time for your name to be removed off the list. of this communicant committee election that we're going to have. We are commanded to abstain from all appearance of evil, and thus a man who partakes of alcohol is not qualified to be a deacon. Not qualified to be a deacon. Within our Presbytery guidelines, a man who does not abstain from wine is not permitted to be or alcohol is not permitted to be an elder and I believe it carries forth even to deacons. Abstinence. Complete abstinence. A fourth personal quality mentioned here at the end of the verse 8 is a man not given or not greedy of filthy liquor. The word liquor again is a word that we do not use today. It really means money gained. And whenever that adjective, filthy money, or filthy looker, not talking about whether it's clean or not physically, rather this phrase, filthy, it brings to our mind then this thought, money gained in a dishonest way, sordid money or shameful gain. A man who is involved in dealings under the counter, is a man who has no place within a church's committee or denacinate. A man who is involved in dodgy dealings and gains his money by illegitimate ways, whether that is by tax avoidance, whether that is by doing deals under the table, that man has no place within the church of Jesus Christ. This is the teaching of Scripture. The teaching of Scripture. Now, there is a particular reason why such a quality was deemed necessary in the life of a deacon. Don't forget that the deacons are entrusted with the finances of the church. And therefore, that individual might be tempted to appropriate those finances for his own use instead of the charitable purposes for which they have been designed. Don't forget that whenever Christ had his apostles and his disciples, that he had a man within that particular grouping of individuals, a man by the name of Judas Iscariot, who was a thief. He carried the bag. And so I believe that the church, having learned from that experience, The church having learned from the experience of Judas Iscariot, Paul now puts in here, with regard to the deacons, the one who will be in charge of the finances of the church, that that man is a man that is not to be greedy of filthy lucre. In other words, he must never line his own pockets with the money that is given in to the house of God. We're very thankful for the treasures that have been within our church down through the years. And there have been many, and we're very thankful to the Lord for that. But I'm sure you know of other places where question marks have been raised with regard to the finances of the church. What a great dishonor that has brought again upon the testimony of that church, but also of the testimony of Jesus Christ. There is this need to be beyond reproach a man who has not given his heart over to the love of money. Greedy, a greedy man is not to be a deacon. Why we need men, as I've said, who are beyond reproach when it comes to the handling of the finances of the church. Covetousness should have no place within the heart of a deacon, lest that hidden covetousness lead them to embezzle money that is not rightfully theirs. It's a very practical quality, no doubt about that. The love of money is a very dangerous thing in the life of any believer, and a person who is possessed by such a love, who is obsessed by gaining money, must not place himself before a congregation as a candidate for a denacinate, or for a committee. You're not to be greedy, a filthy looker. There's one final personal quality found at the end of the verse number 10 this time. It says there that that individual, a deacon, must be blameless. They must be blameless. Now, a deacon cannot be sinlessly perfect. There is only one sinlessly perfect man. Whoever graced this world, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ, And so I would say, don't be looking for a perfectly sinless man, for you're not going to find him either as a minister, as an elder, or as a deacon. And yet it says here that the man must be blameless. Well, what does that mean? The word is unaccused, irreproachable. Those are the words. that come and spawn from this word blameless. He is to be a man who is beyond accusation. He is to be a man that is free from scandal. He is to be a man who is unreprovable in the sight of God and in the sight of man. A deacon must be of such standing within and without the church that nothing can be alleged against his character, either with regard to his spiritual life or his natural family, community life. In short, a deacon should be a man of irreproachable character. A man who walks uprightly before God and before men. You see, whenever, brethren and sisters, such men serve in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the testimony of that church is preserved. Elect a man into the office of a deacon who is not blameless, a man who has question marks over his character and over his conduct. I tell you, the testimony of that church is tarnished. It's damaged. Such a man in its leadership. Did you hear so-and-so has become a committee man within that church? Aye, and we know all about him. Oh, brethren and sisters, what a responsibility lies to your hand. I trust you feel the weight of it, the seriousness of it. I hope you'll not abdicate or remove yourself from your obligation as a member or I'll just not turn up that night and then it'll not be left to me and I'll not be to blame. Is that what your attitude's going to be? I trust not. Blameless. It is of a necessity that blameless men, men that are above and beyond reproach are elected to serve the Lord in the days ahead. Are you such a man? Have you, like Paul, a conscience void of offense towards God and towards man? And so there's his personal life. Let's go quickly to a thought about the character as we continue to think about this character of this ideal deacon. I want you to think about his spiritual life, his spiritual character. And really, I believe there are two main statements here in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that draw our attention to the spiritual life, the spiritual character of the deacon. The first phrase that we want to think about is found there in the verse number 9. This deacon, is to be one who is holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. I believe that this statement speaks about a man being a saved man. He's a Christian. He's not an unbeliever, but he's a Christian. And he's one who holds the mystery of the faith. Now, the mystery of the faith is not speaking about some kind of obscure or mystic realm within Christianity. No, the word mystery in the New Testament, remember what it means? Once hidden, now revealed. That's what mystery means within scripture. It was once hidden, but it's now being revealed. And you'll see later on in this very chapter that Paul speaks about the mystery of godliness. Look there to verse 16, and without controversy, it is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified of the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. This was once concealed, now it has been revealed. The mystery of the faith. And so when it speaks of the mystery of faith, I believe that it's speaking about the doctrines of faith. The doctrines of faith. And it says that a man who desires to be a deacon must hold to these doctrines, the doctrines of faith. He must hold them and he must live them out in his life. Now you might be saying in your mind, well I thought that that would be more for an elder. Should an elder not know the doctrines of faith? They are the teaching elders. These are the ones you're going to instruct and to give spiritual lead within the assembly of God. Surely this ought to be with regard to the elders. But no, this was also to be a mark of those who held the office of a deacon. And you might be asking, well, why did such a man need to be personally acquainted with the doctrines of the faith? Well, let me give you a twofold answer to that question of yours. Firstly, All Christian practice must be guided by Christian theology. All Christian practice must be guided by Christian theology. What we do in our lives should be guided by what we believe in our lives. And so a deacon must believe the right things if he is going to do the right things within the church of Jesus Christ. If not, he's going to come into a committee with ideas that have no biblical warrant or foundation to them whatsoever. And so he must believe, he must hold to these doctrines of faith, the mystery of the faith. But secondly, think about the duties of a deacon. They required that man to become acquainted with and convinced of the doctrines of grace or the doctrines of the faith. You think about those early deacons there in Acts chapter 6. Their responsibility was to bring in the food and then they were to distribute the food to the various widows that found themselves within the Jerusalem church. Now those men would have went to the homes of those ladies and they would have spoke to them. These ladies would have been in great need, dire straits. I'm sure many of them found themselves at wit's end. And whenever the deacon came in, he didn't just set down the parcel of food and say, God bless. But that would have gave that man the opportunity to read the scriptures with them, to pray with them. to encourage them, to comfort them, as they found themselves going through the trials and the difficulties that the widowhood had brought then into their lives. And so, therefore, these men had to be acquainted with the doctrines of grace. I'm not saying that they had to be John Owen or John Calvin, but they had to know the truth. And how do we know the truth? We know the truth when it lays hold of our hearts ourselves. They had experienced the new birth themselves and so they could draw alongside. It may not have been eloquent, it maybe wouldn't have been a three-pointed sermon, but at least they could have drawn alongside and encouraged them in the Lord. That was part of their duties and therefore they had to know the doctrines. But let me say something else. Another duty of the deacon is to do something. It is to relieve the elders and the minister, so they can focus on the teaching, the instruction, and the spiritual needs of a congregation. It is to lift the load, to lift the load. Now unless a deacon is persuaded of the importance of the role of a minister, unless you're convinced of that, that a minister has been assigned to a congregation and called to a congregation and set over a congregation by God to teach and to communicate the truth of God's Word to that congregation, unless you as a brother, unless you are convinced of the importance of the role of a minister, then you're not going to be concerned about relieving him. No, you're going to leave it for him to do. that which you should be doing. Instead of him involving himself in the study of God's Word, he's running here, there, and everywhere, following up on matters that he should not be following up on. It is the job of a deacon to free up the minister that he is not found doing things around the church that rob him of his time in the study, but also with his family. With his family. And unless you're convinced of that, brother, the importance of a minister, the teaching of Scripture, then, brother, you're not going to relieve the minister. you're going to quite happily leave him with all the burden. That doesn't happen within our committee. But I just want to set it forth of what is expected of a deacon. Your responsibility and what you are called to. You need to be convinced of it. The teaching of Scripture. What did Paul, What was it said there in Acts chapter number six? With regard to the deacons, it said, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. That's what we have been called to. But here is for you to serve tables, to do the practical work that is required. The second statement that really deals, I believe, with the spiritual life of the deacon is that phrase in verse 10, and let these also first be proved. The word proved means to examine, to test, to be tried. I believe that this quality infers that a deacon must not be a recent convert. They mustn't be recently saved. A new Christian has not had the time to prove their profession of faith before others. He has not had the time to have his faith tested so as to be sure that it is an authentic faith. Too often people are placed within positions of leadership within their church and within a particular church or fellowship before their profession of faith can be thoroughly tested and tried. And that's tested and tried. with regard to how we conduct ourselves within the congregation. Is their faith authentic? Is it genuine? Albert Barnes again, it is not said here that there should be a formal trial as if they were candidates for this office, but the meaning is that they should have an opportunity of making their character known and should have gained such respect for their piety and their other qualifications that there would be reason to believe that they would perform the functions of the office well. I wonder if you've got a credible profession of faith. Has your faith been tested and tried and proven to be genuine? Within the fellowship here in Portland alone, would people be able to say, yes, there's a man. He believes in prayer. He believes in the gospel. He believes in the faithful attendance at the means of grace. There's a man who's faithful in his giving to God's work. There's a man who lives out the gospel in his life. There's a man who walks uprightly and is possessed with the fruit of the Spirit. Are you a proven Christian, not a novice? Let these also first be proved. There are some final qualifications that relate to the ideal deacon and they are in relation to his home life or his home character. Verse 11, the Holy Spirit turns the spotlight on to the deacon's wife if the deacon is married and sets forth four qualities that a deacon wife should possess. They must be grave. This is the exact word that is used once again of the deacon in verse 8. The exact same Greek word is used. And so what is true of the deacon ought to be true of the wife. If he's married, she is to be admired for her character. She is to be admired as a woman of honor, a woman of serious disposition. She ought to be grieve in her speech, grieve in her behavior, grieve in her appearance, grieve in her dress. She ought to be honest and of good report among the saints of God, which will reflect honour and credit to her husband, who serves as a deacon. She must be grave. She must not be a slanderer. A slanderer is someone who accuses someone falsely. Now the men are rebuked for having a double tongue, verse 8, but the women are rebuked for having a slanderous tongue. A deacon's wife must not be a gossiper. She mustn't be a gossiper. She mustn't be a tale bearer. She mustn't be a story carrier. She mustn't be a slanderer. She must be sober. The word can refer to one who abstains from wine. It also carries the thought of one who is circumspect, one who is temperate, self-controlled in all things, not given to excess. That's the word here, this word sober. Yes, and she must be faithful in all things, one who can be absolutely trusted, someone in whom others can confide in. And they know that their business will not be spread in the congregation. One who faithfully discharges her duties as a Christian within the home and without the home. Faithful in all things. Vincent in his word study says, a deacon whose wife is wanting in the qualities required in her is not to be chosen. She would by frivolity, slander, or intemperance bring him and his office into disrepute. Ladies, I say these are the qualities of every Christian lady, not just a deacon's wife. Whether you're the wife of a deacon or not, these should be your qualities. A lady who is grave, not a slanderer, sober, faithful in all things. These are an ideal to strive for and to strive after. In verse 12, we read that the deacon must be the husband of one wife, not the wife of a husband, not the wife of one husband. As in some churches, Not in this denomination. It's very clear here, the husband, male, of one wife, female. And so we have here evidence that the deacon must be a man and only filled by a man. That does not mean that ladies cannot fill a role within the church of Jesus Christ. That is simply not the case. Not the teaching of scripture. But with regard to the offices of minister, elder, and deacon, it is reserved for males. Those who are biologically born male. If I need to put that now into the teaching of scripture, or into the teaching of this pulpit. The verse does not teach, however, that a single man cannot serve as a deacon. Neither does it imply that if a man is married, Rather, sorry, it implies that if a man is married, that he must be a one-woman man. The church of Jesus Christ cannot have men serving as deacons who do not serve their wives, first of all. The deacon is to be the head of the home. You know, you hear people saying tongue in cheek, you know who wears the trousers in that home? That should never be said of a deacon's home. Husbands, you are to be the head of your home. You are to fulfill the role that God gave you and God assigned after the fall. Do you remember what happened after the fall? After the fall, there in Genesis 3, 16, I will greatly, speaking to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. That is scriptural. The wife in subjection to her husband. That is biblical. That is God's order. As the head of the home, we read here in the verse 12 that they are to rule their children and their own houses well. They are to do it. They are to do it. Not mom. Not mom. The man is to rule the home. He is to rule the children, and he is to rule his own house well. He is to rule his children with loving discipline. Yes, and by godly example. A deacon must therefore be in control of his home. His wife and children should respect him. Because if he cannot gain the respect of his own family, he's never going to gain the respect of those within God's family. The deacon is to rule his house well. He's to provide for all those who are under his care. thereby those within the church fellowship will have confidence that he will then provide for their needs. Simply put, a deacon is to manage and rule the people in their home, I and the possessions of their home. Do you lead in your home? Or does your wife or children, do they rule the rest? Have you the respect of your wife and children, not because you're some kind of tyrant in the home, No, because you faithfully live for God and you're Christ-like in your behavior. If a deacon cannot see to the affairs of his own home, then he will never be able to see to the affairs that pertain to the house of God. In summary, brethren and sisters, this is the passage that you ought to pray over as we make our way towards the election. I want you to notice that Paul, he focuses very much on the character of the man. Because without character, it doesn't really matter how many practical skills a man may have. If he doesn't have Christian character, he's disqualified from the role. He's disqualified from the role. And this must be borne out as the election comes around. It is my prayer then that what I have preached and what others have preached and will preach about, that God then will direct you as a communicant member, as you prayerfully elect those to serve in the church committee. God's work needs workers. I trust you'll give yourself to the work, brother. Nothing else will come between you and God's work. Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all other things will be added on to you. May God guide us. May God guide you. even in the days that lie before us. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's bow, please, in a brief word of prayer. Time has swiftly moved on, so let's seek the Lord together. Loving Father, we just want to still our hearts. We don't want to rush right now into a communion service or to make our way home. We want to still our hearts. We are before Thee. We are before Thy word. O God, we look to Thee to help every man to come before Thee and to lay this matter before Thy face. We cry to Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt be pleased to furnish this congregation with men of Thy choosing. Help us, Lord, in all areas. We confess many a shortfall, many a failing. O God, many a failing. We repent of our sin, having been found under Thy Word. Purge us, cleanse us, make us clean. Sanctify our hearts. And help us, dear Father, in days that lie before us, to see the work of God advance and progress, even to the glory of God. Bless now our time around Thy Word and around this table. We pray this in our Savior's precious name. Amen. 344, the hymn 344.