At Your Service
October 5, 2008
8Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; 9they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons.
I Timothy 3:8-10
My feeling is that many of us in here lump deacons into the same category with a lot of other things around the church. Deacons are deacons. Deacons do what deacons do. Enough said. We’ve never really wondered how they came about; they just are. Most of us in here grew up having deacons around and so we’ve just never really given them much thought one way or the other.
But this morning, since we are having a deacon ordination as a part of our worship service, I thought it might be a good idea for me to talk just a little bit about what a deacon really is. For one thing, I don’t assume that everybody knows. Some of us in here didn’t grow up learning about deacons. And so, I think it’s very important for us to explain why we use these kind of terms in church. Deacon is a good example of a word we say all the time at Park View, but if you’re not from a church background, and specifically a Baptist church background, you probably have no idea what we’re talking about. So, I think it’s a good thing for us to explain these kind of terms so that other people will understand what we’re doing here.
But even for those of us who did grow up in a church with deacons, I’m not so sure we’re always crystal clear about what they do. My guess is that if I took a survey this morning and asked all of you what a deacon is, I would get quite a variety of responses, including a large number of blank stares. Y’all are doing a pretty good job with that response right now.
So, let’s start at the beginning. This text from 1st Timothy is one of the only times that the Bible mentions deacons. And it seems pretty clear that the word deacon applies to some kind of officer within the church. The three verses I read a minute ago are a part of a larger section within 1st Timothy that also gives instructions on bishops. So, the word deacon is a title. It describes a person who does a certain kind of job.
Unfortunately for us, this text never really goes into much detail about what kind of job that is. It gives us a lot of instructions about the kind of person who should be a deacon, but it never actually lists a job description. So, that leaves us without much to go on.
We know from the list of qualifications that deacons should be serious, and not gossip, and not be drunks. But let’s face it--that list is pretty broad. This kind of stuff could apply to most of the jobs that you and I already have. I mean, there’s not too many companies out there who are going to hire you if they know you’re a wino. And incidentally, it tells us something about the quality of the deacon candidates in the 1st century if Paul had to put this kind of stuff down in writing. These aren’t exactly the highest standards.
So, the text gives us a long list of things not to do if you’re deacon. But when it comes down to actually explaining the job, there’s nothing. The only thing we really have to go on is the word deacon itself. And this is where it gets kind of interesting. You know, some jobs have titles and you have no idea what the person actually does. Y’all know what I’m talking about? Molly’s old job in Richmond was like that. People would ask her what she did and Molly would say, “I’m an Information Specialist. And then they would say, “What the heck is an Information Specialist?” It was the official title of her job, but it didn’t really tell you what she did.
The title of deacon is different. Turns out that just like the title garbage collector, the title deacon describes what a deacon actually does. Because that Greek word diakonos from which we get the name deacon is usually translated in English as servant. So, a deacon is a servant. A deacon is somebody who serves. More specifically, when I was reading my commentaries this week, they said that it wasn’t just any old kind of service, but that the word implied waiting on tables. So, a diakonos is basically a waiter or a waitress.
Now, I didn’t tell that to Pat, because she already waits on so many tables that I didn’t think she’d agree to go through with the ordination if she knew what the name really meant. But that’s what it really means…the word deacon means to serve, specifically at a table. Which leaves us with a question--What does it mean to wait on a table in church?
Well, obviously, one thing it might mean is the Lord’s Supper. Because of course, when a deacon serves communion, they are quite literally waiting on a table. They are serving us food and drink, even if that food and drink happens to be symbolic.
But I think there’s more going on here with this notion of waiting tables. I think it may refer at some level to communion, but I also think it suggests a willingness to share God’s gifts with others. All of us have heard the stories in the Bible that Jesus tells about the great wedding feast and how much food and celebration there is in the kingdom of God.
I like to think that’s what a deacon really does. A deacon comes to God’s table, looks around, and says, “There’s so much good food here; we gotta share some of this with others.” And so, they begin to serve. They begin to serve the food of comfort to a grieving widow. They begin to serve the food of hospitality to an unwelcome stranger. They begin to serve the food of companionship to a lonely shut-in. A deacon isn’t content to sit at the banquet and hoard all the goodies. A deacon shares that abundance with others. A deacon feeds those who need feeding.
Molly and I went out to eat a couple days ago and when the waitress came up to us, she said, “Hi. My name is Tina and I will have the pleasure of serving you today.” And I thought to myself, “Uh, Tina, you’ve never had me as a customer before so you might want to hold out judgment and whether or not it’s a pleasure to serve me until after we’re through.” But y’all know how sweet I am, so I just smiled and I didn’t say anything.
But the whole encounter raised an interesting idea that I thought was appropriate for today. A deacon is not just somebody who serves; a deacon is somebody who finds serving to be a pleasure. And I believe that’s a special calling. There’s a lot of folks in the church who serve because we know we’re supposed to. And there’s lots of folks in the church who serve because they want to help support their congregation. But there’s not too many folks I’ve found who really, really enjoy serving just for serving’s sake alone. It might make us feel good after we’ve served because we know we helped somebody, but we don’t really get any pleasure from the service itself.
A deacon is different. A deacon is somebody who serves not because of what they get of it and not even because of what it does for the church, but simply because they find serving to be a pleasure. Any server will tell you that waiting on tables isn’t an easy task. Sometimes, the customers are demanding and rude and unappreciative. In fact, Pat probably has more experience with that kind of thing than most of us. But I believe that’s what will make Pat a good deacon. Pat knows what to means to serve others, and she does it with pleasure. And this morning, I’m very glad that Pat is willing to answer God’s call to wait tables with us here at Park View Baptist Church. AMEN