We turn to 1 Timothy 3, and we read there verses 8 through 13. One of a number of places which in the New Testament refers to the office of deacon, one of these is Acts chapter 6. Another one is Philippians 1, verse 1 and following, where Paul indicates that the church at Philippi had elders and deacons. And here, Paul writing to Timothy about the good order of Christ's church. He writes of elders in the first section of chapter 3, and then begins on the same theme in verse 8, where we read, Deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." And then, to Psalm 23, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd. Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely, Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The grass withers, the flower fades. The Word of our God endures forever. Let us pray. Lord our God, we come to You. We come to You, the One who has given us, Father, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who laid down His life for the sheep, the Savior of sinners. but also the merciful High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. A Savior who is interested in caring for us. The One who has come to us and in whom we see your glory, O Father. The glory of the Triune God on whom we cast our cares, even as you care for us. We pray that you would teach us that care through your holy word preached this evening. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Tonight we have a happy and more unusual occasion for worship, though the Lord willing in the coming months and years this too will be more common. In the prayer just a moment ago with the elders before the service, Mr. Stair prayed that God would be pleased to do this again and again among us, that He would raise up more officers for Christ's Church. Tonight we hope, in a moment, to formally recognize something that we believe God has done. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the ordination and installation of men to service is, in a very real sense, as we are led by Christ, by His Word and Spirit, are seeking to ascertain gifts and graces in men that the Lord has already given men who have interest in serving Christ in His church. And I would say even at the outset of this sermon, for all of you who are men who think and pray about how to serve Christ, I am hoping and praying, and surely many others are, your elders too, that your hearts would be stirred even tonight that you might think about an answer to this question, how can I serve my Savior? And one of the good and even great ways to serve Him is to be active in Christ's church, and especially as an officer in Christ's church, a particular privilege. An ordination installation service can often be new or confusing if you haven't seen one before. Tonight, we hope to set apart a man to office as deacon, for him to be ordained, to be officially invested with office in Christ's church, a special role as determined by Christ. This happens in a number of ways. In a moment, I'll give you a little preamble as to what the office of deacon is. Then we will ask Joseph to stand up and answer some oaths, some questions before the Lord and the church. And then there will be what's called the laying on of the presbytery, the elders in an act of laying on of hands following the New Testament pattern, which we see again and again, also in the book of Acts for deacons, Acts 6, with prayer. A man will be formally called to and invested with an office in Christ Church, the office of deacon. In Acts chapter 6 we read, the apostles prayed and laid hands on the first deacons. Again, all of this surrounded by and accompanied with prayer to God for the blessing especially of his Holy Spirit. The office of deacon is distinct from that of elder. The elders are invested with or have been given the charge of the spiritual care of the flock and are especially to be given to prayer for the flock. The deacons are as well, but prayer for the spiritual life and good of the flock. The ministers, especially for the ministry of preaching of the word and the ministering, the sacraments, the ruling elders who rule alongside the ministers, but also give attention to the ministry of the word and oversee it. The office of a deacon is distinct from this office. It's different. It is a companion to the shepherding care of the elder. It is, and here I read from our book of church order, it is to show the compassion of Christ in the ministry of mercy towards saints and strangers on behalf of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It involves a special stewardship and care of the gifts given to the church for that mercy ministry. And it is distinct from ruling, yet as we see in Acts chapter 6, it requires also men full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. And it is a companion office, as it were, to the office of elder. Now the elders have the office of rule, but Christ has ordained these two offices. I said a moment ago, from Paul's letter to the Philippians, that we read that just as in Acts, elders were ordained in every church, we read, Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons, or with the elders and deacons. And that there's a New Testament pattern that runs again from Acts chapter 6 through the letter to the church at Philippi on through the pastoral epistle of Paul to 1 Timothy, this office of deacon. The word deacon means minister or servant. And here we have a special servant of Christ to show forth the mercy of Christ, and that especially in the temporal needs of God's people. The need of food and clothing and shelter, to visit the sick, to pray with the sad and the sorrowing, to be a ministry of mercy that reflects the mercy of Christ. It's also a ministry highly honored by our God. We just read in 1 Timothy 3 these words. Those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 13. This is a remarkable language. There is a reward, a great reward, promise to deacons, a confidence, a greater joy and assurance in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the smile of Christ, as it were, rests upon His servants as they exercise that ministry of mercy in His name. And so what's happening here tonight, if we pull this all together, what you're about to witness is an act of the resurrected, ascended Christ, through His church, by His Word and Spirit, to set apart a man with an office that requires the Holy Spirit and wisdom to represent His mercy to Christ's Church. It's an act of the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the King and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. If you sometimes wonder, what is Christ doing at the right hand of God the Father Almighty? How is He exercising His ministry? Tonight you will see one of the answers. through the ministry of the deacons and the raising up men to serve in the same. To understand that better, we'll turn to Psalm 23, a familiar psalm, one that I have preached before from the ordination of elders or the installation of elders. But here tonight, we consider the same psalm in relation to the ministry of the deacon. There's two bedrock truths in Psalm 23. We're going to look at those first. Second thing we're going to look at is, given those truths, what does it look like to be a sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ? What should we expect that life to look like? And the third question we're going to ask is, what does this have to do with the office of deacon? Two bedrock truths. What does this look like in the Christian life? And then how does the office of deacon relate to this ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd? And the two bedrock truths are the following in the form of an equation. The Lord. The word is, children, you could read as like an equal sign in an equation. My shepherd. Two grand things, two bedrock truths. And these truths are first the spiritual reality in the form of an equation. And then the second is the conclusion we draw from the equation. So first this spiritual equation, the Lord is my shepherd. Who is the Lord? Yahweh, I am who I am. That name encompasses his self-existence, his eternity. It is the name which is his principal name of self-disclosure. It is the personal name of God. It is the name that distinguishes him from all other gods. I am who I am. the eternal, self-existent, glorious, covenant-making, promise-keeping, saving God of the Bible. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Your God and my God, the Lord. We sometimes miss this, but when you read in your Bible here, the way it's indicated in our English translations is you see the word Lord in uppercase letters. That has behind it that name, I am who I am, Yahweh. The God who made the universe this afternoon, talking with a friend about this truth that He made everything. He upholds everything by the Word of His power to the edges and bounds of the universe. And then this is the Lord, I am who I am, who sent His Son to save. The God of unbounded glory and mercy and power and omnipotence and omniscience who is immeasurable, beyond His greatness, unsearchable, beyond our finding out. This is the God who is transcendent in His eternity. This is the God who is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the same from eternity to eternity. This is the God who is entirely self-sufficient, all-powerful, having perfect fellowship and communion within Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who does not need us for His existence or glory. And then there's that equation sign, is our shepherd. And you have to understand, if we grow up with the language of the scriptures, we get used to things. Do you remember what the Egyptians thought of the Israelites? Do you remember what the Egyptians thought of the Israelites? Shepherds, which the only thing lower than a shepherd in the ancient world was a sheep. Shepherds didn't have to own the sheep. Probably didn't. They lived a simple nomadic life in the wilderness like David did long ago, taking care of his father's sheep, unknown by the world or the masses. These were the same people who were keeping their sheep by night when Jesus Christ was born, ironically. In the ancient world, they are the nobodies of the world. But to a sheep, They are protection, safety, and blessing. And what David does in his boldness is he takes the highest and most transcendent glory of God contained in his name, and he joins that with this humble office or calling of shepherd. And he just says without missing a beat, the Lord is my shepherd. We're not going to get the warrant for this. Because God, in His own language to Israel, called Himself Israel's Shepherd. And we run to the pages of the New Testament when Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd, and I lay down my life for the sheep. This is the language of the Son of God, eternal Son of God, in transcendent glory that belongs to Him, in imminent nearness, drawing close to the needy, and freely giving to Himself the title of the lowly. It's similar to Philippians chapter 1, taking the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness, Paul to the Romans, of sinful flesh, the lowest of the low. And John chapter 10, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. He's our condescending savior and caregiver. And that's the whole psalm in a phrase. The second great truth is the implication. The conclusion, if A, then B. The Lord is my shepherd, what's the B? I shall not want. If I'm one of his sheep, there is no possible way that I could lack any good thing. This is the same as Romans chapter eight. If God is for us, who can be against us? If the transcendent Lord of glory, the creator of the ends of the earth, the maker of covenants, the keeper of promises, the savior of sinners, if he's my shepherd, then it is impossible for me to lack any good thing. If the omnipotent divine power is combined with condescending mercy and compassion, I am supplied with everything that I need. This theme runs through the Scriptures again and again. I referenced Romans 8. I'll just give some examples from the Psalms themselves. Psalm 34, the young lions lack and suffer hunger. But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. This is the principle that is true when the Lord is your shepherd. And we trust him. Now what is life like as a sheep of the good shepherd? First notice there's movement in the psalm. And the big thing to notice in the whole is the movement from present to future. We begin in the green pastures and the still waters, the fields and valleys and streams of this life, including the valley of the shadow of death, its hardships, and we end at verse 6, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It ends in heavenly glory. That's movement number one. Second movement is that the psalmist addresses us in confession But he makes a shift in the psalm to address God as his shepherd. Notice. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down. He leads me. He restores. For His name's sake, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table. You anoint my head with oil. He moves from the principle to the reality in the life of the believer. And so the psalm answers the question, what is that reality in the life of the believer? What does it mean to have God as your shepherd? Some promises, five promises that answer that question. Verse two, he gives you rest and food and water, actually, food and water and rest. You know, you can't live without sleeping, children. If you didn't sleep, I know that you children probably think you could live without sleep, because when your parents tell you to go to sleep, sometimes you don't want to sleep. But you know you need sleep to live. And then sometimes your mother tells you to eat your food. And you have a plate full of food, and your parents know if you don't eat, you don't live. And we're strange like that, aren't we? The things that we need, we often push away. But God knows what we need, and here He promises to give them. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, that's the language of a good shepherd. The sheep graze in the pasture. The second thing is he leads me beside the still waters. And he gives me rest. It's the language of an oasis in the middle of a broken world. And simply what the psalm teaches, number one, shepherd, the shepherd sustains the life of the sheep. With his shepherd, life and safety. Without him, death and destruction. And we're going to jump right ahead to Christ our Good Shepherd. He's the provider and everything in the New Testament about Jesus Christ pulses with this reality. God has always provided for his people when Israel's in the wilderness He brought him to the spring spring of Elam when they were hungry. He gave the manna when they were thirsty He gave them water from the rock and when the crowd of 5,000 like sheep without a shepherd Matthew chapter 6 was hungry Jesus fed them and when the crowd of 4,000 was hungry the text tells us that Jesus had compassion on them For they had followed him for three days, and they were hungry. And he fed them. All of natural life is under his care. Physical life. Why are you alive? This is important to our understanding of what Christ is doing in the ordination tonight. He gives food to all flesh. For His mercy endures forever, Psalm 136. Psalm 104 says the same thing. The reason your heart is beating, and you had meals today, because God in His kindness, with open-handed generosity, sustained your life, your beating heart. Sometimes we jump from Psalm 23 immediately to the spiritual realities that are contained therein. And this is not wrong, except We could miss something about salvation. You need Christ first to be your heavenly bread. You need Him to be the Savior of your soul. You need Him to wash away your sins. You need Him to give you His Spirit for life. But you need Him for everything. For all of life. And the psalmist tells us that all of life The entirety of your being is held by Him, not just spiritual life, but all that you are. The deepest need in verse 3 is clearly spiritual. By nature, He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His own name's sake. This is the language of conversion, of soul renewal. And you can go to Luke chapter 15. The Good Shepherd, when He sees one sheep wandering away, He leaves the ninety and ninety, brings it back rejoicing. This is salvation, leading sinners to repentance and new life through the blood of His cross and the power of His resurrection. This is the primary mission of the Good Shepherd. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. There's many paths in this world. Psalm 1, Psalm 125. When He leads you, He leads you in the way of righteousness and holiness. There's a moral transformation. There's a new spiritual tone and quality to life when Jesus is your shepherd. And everywhere you go, He is interested in that righteousness. And He is shaping you. to be more like Christ. And every hard path is His leadership, but it's a path of righteousness for His namesake. It's liberating. You ever wonder what God is doing in your life? Psalm 23 tells you very simply, He's leading you on the path of righteousness, providing for you along the way, so that you may one day, verse 6, dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's what He's doing. Promise number three. Invisible divine protection either I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me How do you end up in the valley of the shadow of death? Psalm 23 verse 3 rather verse 3 Because he's leading you in the paths of righteousness. That's how you end up in the valley of the shadow of death In the mystery of providence, he leads you wherever you go. It's not a mistake. Part of his leadership. And while you're there, let's ask a question. What is it? Let's go to Job chapter 10. Job, pleading with God, are not my days few? Cease, leave me alone that I may take a little comfort. Before I go to the place from which I shall not return to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, A land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death without any order, where even the light is like darkness. It's the grave. It's physical death, which is part of the judgment of God against sinners. The psalmist says that There are times in my life, David surely understands this, when I was brought to the very edge of eternity itself. The very edge that taught me the reality of the frailty and brevity of my life. I think about what's happening right now. I think of our dear brother Chris who's going through chemo treatment with cancer. Surely it reminds him and all of us together. as we in sickness often are brought to the edge and we stare across into eternity. Sometimes God in His mercy, and we pray for this, brings us back from that in this life. Sometimes He takes us across. It's appointed for man once to die and then the judgment. But the psalmist says, here there are times when I'm brought to the edge. Sometimes you get there when somebody close to you dies. And you're at the funeral and you're standing by the grave and you're weeping. And sometimes it's just the tears and trouble of this life that reminds you of the death that sin has brought into the world. David says, where He leads me, He will help me. For you are with me, your rod and your staff. Protection and comfort, they comfort me. The same divine presence. that leads us in the green pastures and by the still waters brings us down the paths of righteousness to the valley of the shadow of death. Promise number four, there your life will be sustained. Even there, look at verse five, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. He sustains our spiritual life, especially. Death and enemies surround, yet a banqueting table of the Lord. Lavish provision, every good thing that is needed, which no one is able to take away. Together with verse 6, you know William Perkins says, as he reviews this psalm, he says, it was by means of the mercy that God bestowed on David, because he's the author of this psalm, came to be persuaded of the unshakable continuance of the favor of God towards him. He came to believe that if he's my shepherd, it doesn't matter where, when, or what the circumstances are. Here's the feasting table, and surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and whatever happens, glory. because I've been bought with a price, and the Savior who died and rose again will bring me home to glory. What does this have to do with the office of deacon? What we tend to do with Psalm 23, I said it a moment ago, is make all application spiritual application. Would it be wrong? In a sense, no. I hope I can explain this a little bit. Without Christ as your Shepherd, and without being united to Him by faith, you have no Savior of sins, you have no heavenly bread, you have no source of spiritual life, you have no true life at all. And if you have not placed your trust in Him, do it now. That's what the text calls you to do. Christ the Shepherd, the Savior. The shepherd king, he calls and he says, I alone can bring you to the house of God forever. And that's what we trust him for. But I want you to think where Psalm 23 has been so precious in the life of the church and believers. Where do we often read it? Where have you read it? When, when has your mind and heart run to it? I'll tell you what mine has when a year ago I was at the graveside of my nephew who died at 10 years of age. Or last year in the fall when we prayed and wept alongside Paul and Hannah. Or when Laura Lee and I went through the sadness of a miscarriage years ago. That's when we turn here, so often, when you're in the hospital and someone's dying. Psalm 23, what's happening in every one of those cases? Our physical bodies. are coming to the end of their natural strength, and the frailty and brevity of this passing life is pressed upon us. And we recognize that not only for our souls, but for our bodies, we need a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Physical suffering, war and hunger and violence and sickness, bring us to the edge of eternity. We reach for Psalm 23, And we long for this to be real and true, that I would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Carry me through, Lord Jesus. Carry me through, body and soul. All of me. You are the only Savior. The ministry of Jesus Christ contains the primary goal of spiritual life. You must be born again. If you place your faith in Jesus Christ, as I just said, you'll have everlasting life. John 3.16. Mark 2. When the paralyzed man was let down in front of Jesus, there's these amazing words. Son, your sins are forgiven you. That's what you need with this. is the promise of mercy in all suffering, ultimately leading to glory. Physical suffering. So if we were to go to the Gospel of Mark, a couple things. The same Savior who came to wash away our sins as He began His ministry, Simon Peter's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once. So he came and took her by the hand. And he lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she served them. Then right after that, at evening when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were demon-possessed. The whole city was gathered at the door, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases, cast out many demons. Then when a leper came to him, imploring him, if you are willing, you can make me clean, I am willing be cleansed. And I could just turn the pages in the Gospel of Mark. The paralytic is healed. Jesus heals the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day. Jesus heals the demon-possessed man. Jesus raises Jairus' daughter. He heals the woman with the issue of blood. He raises the son of the widow of Nain. And when people are hungry in the wilderness, I already said, He has compassion and He feeds us. And He cares for you. This isn't simply an internal spiritual exercise of salvation, but a Savior who has come for His people in their totality. So when you weep, and when you're sick, how many of us have been sick in the past weeks? And you pray to God. You have a Savior who's the great physician. He's interested in your relief. When you're hungry, He's interested in feeding you. When you're worn and tired, He's interested in strengthening you. He actually knows all of these conditions from His own ministry. He bore them for us in order that He might help us in them. And what's interesting is, even in all of Jesus' miracles and feeding, the 5,000 got hungry again, the 4,000 got hungry again, those who were raised to newness of life, I often hear sometimes, I think about Pentecostal theology, I think I've said this from the pulpit before, people are raised to newness of life, raised from the dead like Lazarus, but he died again, so why did Jesus do it? He's not around now, you can't go talk to Lazarus here, can you? pointing to his resurrection and pointing to glory. I will take your broken, sin sick bodies out of the hungry, painful, suffering world and one day bring them to glory through the final resurrection. I am the good shepherd of the sheep and I will save you body and soul forever. Here's the broadness of the saving interest of Jesus Christ. Primary ministry of the salvation of our souls and attendant secondary ministry of mercy. This is why David says these words, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, forget not all His benefits. What are the first two things that he says? Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, and then who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with love and kindness and tender mercy. This idea of salvation of the whole person is the mission of Jesus Christ. Body and soul. What does he entrust to deacons? Acts chapter 4, widows were hungry? Jesus said, through the apostles by the Holy Spirit, I have a ministry to the hungry widow. Feed them, Church of Jesus Christ. Care for their bodies as you care for their souls. And listen, you deacons who represent Jesus Christ, You are to represent the compassionate ministry of Jesus to his people as we are whole, body and soul. And this ministry of mercy is to reflect the care of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In a moment, you're gonna hear a charge. What is true religion? To care for widows and orphans in their distress. That's the ministry of our Savior. to give food to the hungry, clothing to the needy. No one in the body of Christ is to be without. By the way, this is not social justice. You know what social justice would be? What would if we received justice from Jesus Christ? It would be destruction and judgment. This is the ministry of mercy. This is undeserved kindness lavished on a people who don't deserve it. Deacons represent the mercy of Jesus Christ. This is why they are to be men, spiritual men of wisdom. A magnanimous ministry of mercy, particularly visited on the church with an overflow even to the world, which in turn testifies to the power of the gospel. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. So what will happen here in a few moments? Jesus Christ will magnify his own ministry of mercy through the ordaining of a deacon. And you are, as it were, the men in his service, the ordaining by laying hands of the Presbyterian prayer, in a sense, is to fade away. And what you are to see principally is Christ himself working through that to magnify his own mercy in history. You're seeing an action of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deacons, watch again. Make it your aim anew to magnify the mercy of Jesus. By stewardship, by stirring up liberality and generosity in Christ's Church, Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, watch and respond with mercy. In our social media age, we think it's enough to send somebody a message on Facebook. Sometimes you have to hit a button and then that little thing appears. Thumbs up, like. Not how the world works. You know when that meal sign up email comes out and somebody's just had a little baby and a mother's worn and sad? You sign up. because the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is to those of his body and soul. And you want to participate in that. When someone's in a nursing home, you go and visit. When someone's in the hospital, you go there and bring the word to them. Because when one member of the body is hungry or thirsty or in prison, we in Jesus' name bring a cup of cold water, Matthew 25, and we do it to one of our brothers, the least of these, Jesus says, and we do it for him and to him for his glory. This impulse needs to run through the church and it needs to be counter-cultural. It'll fuel our witness. The cause and explosion of faith in Jesus Christ have done well if we read Acts chapter 6. After this, many of the priests became obedient to the faith. It'll demonstrate and declare that faith without works is dead. But faith that sees the glory and mercy of Jesus Christ responds with mercy to those around us. Again, if you're here tonight and you don't know Christ, in this sin sick world, why would you ever want to be without this kind of shepherd? Here he is. He says, I'll take you. Make you lie down in green pastures beside the still waters, restore your soul, bring you to the valley of the shadow of death, protect you with rod and staff and comfort you. Prepare a table in the presence of your enemies and then lead you with goodness and mercy all the days of your life, all the way to heavenly glory. That's the offer of the gospel freely through Jesus Christ. And I will save you, body and soul forever. Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, hear David's confession. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Let's pray. Lord our God, we cast all our cares upon you, knowing that you care for us. We pray that you would magnify your ministry of mercy even this evening as we witness, Lord Jesus, your work of setting apart another servant a minister, a deacon, to represent your tender, compassionate care for your church in all our needs. Lord, we pray that you'd be pleased to do this for your glory and for our good, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Receive the blessing of the Triune God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. Amen.