Since the Scriptures do not provide any other concrete revelation about the general task of the deacons, we conclude that the Word of God teaches that the mandate for the diaconate contains these ingredients as normative:
- The office of deacon is a particularized and specialized expression of the office of all believers.
- In their task and calling the deacons demonstrate, model, and teach the Saviour’s love for His own.
- The primary objective of the particular duties and tasks of the deacons is to facilitate, promote and develop the communion of the saints.
- The application of the diaconal mandate varies, depending on circumstances and need.
While the work of the deacon is one of service to the poor and the widows; while the work of the deacon is one of serving tables and making distributions to those in need (thus, handling the monies of the church), we must never lose sight of the fact before us in Acts 6:3—the deacon is to be “full of the Holy Spirit.” It is not enough that a man be respected by or successful in the world, he must exhibit a deep spirituality if he is to be considered for the office of deacon.
As such, it is perpetual. A man may not take up the work and lay it down of his own volition. God has ordained his life to one of service to the church and only God can dismiss.
So long as elders are consumed with temporal matters, the congregation will be temporally minded. When the diaconate fundions as the temporal agents of the church freeing the elders for their spiritual calling and business, the church will grow in grace and the spiritual aptitude and piety of the congregation will rise to new heights.
God’s gift of the office of deacon and the blessings associated with it may not always be fully appreciated, especially in congregations that are financially prosperous and do not have many materially poor in their midst. However, as this book hopes to demonstrate, the importance of the diaconate goes far beyond simply providing for material needs. In order to get a proper understanding of the significance of this office, we must consider it within the context of the entire Bible.
Our blessed Lord does not, like some of his professed followers, make light of temporal wants.
He feels, that amid all his own difficulties and discouragements, he is not standing alone—that other are alive to his circumstances, and sympathise with him, and are forward to aid him—and that he can have their advice and cooperation in many matters, which are otherwise fitted to distract and to burden.
“Animated by the spirit of his office, and acting out the character which the counsels of the Word imply, [a deacon] will not be haughty, or harsh, or suspicions, he will not be cold, and formal, and repulsive, discharging his work as if it were a burden; he will be frank and easy in his intercourse with the poor and take an interest in their avocations, their health, and welfare; kind, and tender, and sympathising, especially when in sickness; but withal firm, and not easily persuaded to what his judgment does not approve. He will also have a deep conviction of the insufficiency of all his efforts to benefit the poor of his charge without the blessing of God, and hence he will not fail to seek the blessing in the exercise of diligent and persevering prayer for the Holy Spirit.”
A deacon, to be relieved from the annoyances sometimes connected with the discharge of his duties, is tempted to put the poor off with insincere words—to say one thing to one man, and an opposite to another. He is in danger also, perhaps, of promising to the pastor, and not fulfilling. This is justly fatal to character and to usefulness. It prevents confidence and creates contempt. The deacon, then, must be sincere.
Our charity towards the membership should be such that it makes the world outside her walls jealous for the faith, hope, and charity within. Thus, our deeds toward one another should and will promote our missionary enterprise among the lod and dying of the world.
Do not be come discouraged with little or slow results. Continue your labor. Be faithful in small things. Remember that you are not accountable for the timing of the harvest, but for the labor. When tempted to stop short, when uncertain how you can keep your heart and hand open to the needy, hear these words from R. A. Webb: “But when 1 see that the Lord Jesus identifies himself with them, then as long as I have any intered in Him, and any love for Him, they have claims upon my affections for His sake” (Webb, 113).
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Header photo of Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina.