Qualities of a Deacon: Character and Integrity
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "We should be striving to be a man or woman of godly character, and we should see these traits in us. So I want us just to consider that. I also want you to know he's dealing, Timothy's dealing in present tense. What am I doing now? What am I looking for in a man now? Not what they did 20, 30 years ago. Not what they did before they were a believer. None of that. But now. And proven, right? So what am I seeing? How do I discern this? How do I distinguish this?" [09:16](
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2. "The word of God can never say what it never said to the original audience. And you can't make the word of God say something it doesn't say. If it's not there, you can't make it say it. So if you don't like the word that was chosen and you think, well, I'm going to interpret it this way. You can't do that. You can't do that. You can't do that. And then if you're going to apply. To one characteristic for the whole life of someone, you must do it for all of them. We must be consistent." [09:57](
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3. "We must be consistent in our interpretation and application. We must be holistic. What's the whole? What's the whole Bible say on this topic matter, right? And then third, are we properly interpreting and then applying it in context? And then go back to that thing. It can never say what it never said, and you can't make it say what it doesn't say. Really important when we go through our homiletics, we go through our hermeneutics, we go through our exegesis, that we do those things." [10:36](
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4. "We live in a realm of we are fallen sinners. We are sinners. And we fall in a realm of people, people that are not perfected. They're in this process of sanctification. So do I see the evidence of this man growing in Christ? Does he stand out? Is he worthy of respect? He's living it, man. He's talking it and walking it. That's what I want to see in a deacon. That's what you should want to see in a deacon." [17:23](
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5. "There are people that may not be deacons that are more spiritual than me, that are closer to the Lord than me, that pray more than me, that know the Bible more than me. Those things can happen. But you look for somebody, whether a pastor or a deacon, that's worthy of respect because God's hands on their life. And you can see the evidence of it." [17:57](
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### Quotes for Members
1. "So the first thing, as we look at the character of a deacon, as I think it's important for us to do, one, just like they said in Acts 6, do they have a good reputation? Are they filled with God's wisdom? Are they filled with God's Spirit? Is there evidence of the Spirit there? If those things are there, then we're saying they're worthy of respect. A man who has those things is worthy of respect. And we want them to be worthy of respect, right? I mean, any man that we have serving us should be worthy of respect. If they're not worthy of respect, we've got a problem." [13:25](
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2. "Over time, over time, and this is why I think that middle of that text, you must be tested and proven. I think over time, the character of a deacon, the character of a man comes out. Even on Sundays, you can only put on your Sunday best for so long. Eventually, I'm going to see, do you get angry? Eventually, I'm going to see, are you dishonest? Eventually, I'm going to see, they're inconsistent, they're not faithful. Eventually, I'm going to see, he doesn't treat his wife right. Eventually, I'm going to see, man, the children, man, they are, I mean, beyond just, little things, they are crazy that he's not managing this household. There's no discipline at home. And on and on, things will come out." [14:47](
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3. "We want it to be objective, so we want to go check, check, check, check, check, check. But worthy of respect really is, even of good reputation, right? That really is subjective. And so I think we have to live in this realm of, one, spiritual discernment on the part of the congregation to choose those men from among us. And two, we need to have spiritual discernment within the pastorate and the body of the deacons that when we evaluate the tested, proven attributes of this deacon, that we're guided with, in all sincerity, not just objective legalistic task list, but this subjective fluid list where we look at the life of a man and say, yeah, you know, yeah, there may be some problems, but overall, they're of great quality, worthy of respect." [15:37](
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4. "Hypocrisy is a huge word that you hear thrown at somebody. You know, you're a hypocrite. You know, when a Christian doesn't do something like somebody thinks you're a hypocrite, or, you know, one time I was mowing the grass on a Sunday and somebody asked me a question, are you allowed to do that? You're a pastor. And I thought, you know what, I enjoy mowing my yard. And I get out there, I put my earphones on, I just sit there on that tractor and I'm just going around in circles and I'm just kind of brain dead and zoned out. I'm praying some in and out, just zoning in and out. And you know what, it's enjoyable, man. So it's not work to me. It's not drudgery to me. And I find that actually therapeutic. Can you believe that? I find it therapeutic to sit on a tractor because I get along with just me and God in my head and just, boom, I'm there." [18:07](
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5. "None of us have. But as we come to understand faith, right, and as a deacon especially, that I hold the mystery of faith, of Christ, in utmost. And I have a clear conscience in my faith. I know that I'm saved, right, and I'm living for the Lord. And I'm trying not to be hypocritical in my way. I want to be consistent in my ways. I want to follow Jesus. I want to love like Jesus. I want to be like Jesus. That is the type of man we're looking for. Because that man, everything falls back to this, that man's worthy of respect." [19:24](
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Ask a question about this sermon
1. "We should be striving to be a man or woman of godly character, and we should see these traits in us. So I want us just to consider that. I also want you to know he's dealing, Timothy's dealing in present tense. What am I doing now? What am I looking for in a man now? Not what they did 20, 30 years ago. Not what they did before they were a believer. None of that. But now. And proven, right? So what am I seeing? How do I discern this? How do I distinguish this?" [09:16](
| | )2. "The word of God can never say what it never said to the original audience. And you can't make the word of God say something it doesn't say. If it's not there, you can't make it say it. So if you don't like the word that was chosen and you think, well, I'm going to interpret it this way. You can't do that. You can't do that. You can't do that. And then if you're going to apply. To one characteristic for the whole life of someone, you must do it for all of them. We must be consistent." [09:57](
| | )3. "We must be consistent in our interpretation and application. We must be holistic. What's the whole? What's the whole Bible say on this topic matter, right? And then third, are we properly interpreting and then applying it in context? And then go back to that thing. It can never say what it never said, and you can't make it say what it doesn't say. Really important when we go through our homiletics, we go through our hermeneutics, we go through our exegesis, that we do those things." [10:36](
| | )4. "We live in a realm of we are fallen sinners. We are sinners. And we fall in a realm of people, people that are not perfected. They're in this process of sanctification. So do I see the evidence of this man growing in Christ? Does he stand out? Is he worthy of respect? He's living it, man. He's talking it and walking it. That's what I want to see in a deacon. That's what you should want to see in a deacon." [17:23](
| | )5. "There are people that may not be deacons that are more spiritual than me, that are closer to the Lord than me, that pray more than me, that know the Bible more than me. Those things can happen. But you look for somebody, whether a pastor or a deacon, that's worthy of respect because God's hands on their life. And you can see the evidence of it." [17:57](
| | )### Quotes for Members
1. "So the first thing, as we look at the character of a deacon, as I think it's important for us to do, one, just like they said in Acts 6, do they have a good reputation? Are they filled with God's wisdom? Are they filled with God's Spirit? Is there evidence of the Spirit there? If those things are there, then we're saying they're worthy of respect. A man who has those things is worthy of respect. And we want them to be worthy of respect, right? I mean, any man that we have serving us should be worthy of respect. If they're not worthy of respect, we've got a problem." [13:25](
| | )2. "Over time, over time, and this is why I think that middle of that text, you must be tested and proven. I think over time, the character of a deacon, the character of a man comes out. Even on Sundays, you can only put on your Sunday best for so long. Eventually, I'm going to see, do you get angry? Eventually, I'm going to see, are you dishonest? Eventually, I'm going to see, they're inconsistent, they're not faithful. Eventually, I'm going to see, he doesn't treat his wife right. Eventually, I'm going to see, man, the children, man, they are, I mean, beyond just, little things, they are crazy that he's not managing this household. There's no discipline at home. And on and on, things will come out." [14:47](
| | )3. "We want it to be objective, so we want to go check, check, check, check, check, check. But worthy of respect really is, even of good reputation, right? That really is subjective. And so I think we have to live in this realm of, one, spiritual discernment on the part of the congregation to choose those men from among us. And two, we need to have spiritual discernment within the pastorate and the body of the deacons that when we evaluate the tested, proven attributes of this deacon, that we're guided with, in all sincerity, not just objective legalistic task list, but this subjective fluid list where we look at the life of a man and say, yeah, you know, yeah, there may be some problems, but overall, they're of great quality, worthy of respect." [15:37](
| | )4. "Hypocrisy is a huge word that you hear thrown at somebody. You know, you're a hypocrite. You know, when a Christian doesn't do something like somebody thinks you're a hypocrite, or, you know, one time I was mowing the grass on a Sunday and somebody asked me a question, are you allowed to do that? You're a pastor. And I thought, you know what, I enjoy mowing my yard. And I get out there, I put my earphones on, I just sit there on that tractor and I'm just going around in circles and I'm just kind of brain dead and zoned out. I'm praying some in and out, just zoning in and out. And you know what, it's enjoyable, man. So it's not work to me. It's not drudgery to me. And I find that actually therapeutic. Can you believe that? I find it therapeutic to sit on a tractor because I get along with just me and God in my head and just, boom, I'm there." [18:07](
| | )5. "None of us have. But as we come to understand faith, right, and as a deacon especially, that I hold the mystery of faith, of Christ, in utmost. And I have a clear conscience in my faith. I know that I'm saved, right, and I'm living for the Lord. And I'm trying not to be hypocritical in my way. I want to be consistent in my ways. I want to follow Jesus. I want to love like Jesus. I want to be like Jesus. That is the type of man we're looking for. Because that man, everything falls back to this, that man's worthy of respect." [19:24](
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