Requirements of a Deacon

“Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;” (I Timothy 3:8)

The deacon is a servant/minister/table server of the local church and relatively under the theological authority of the overseer.

He must be:

1. Grave. A grave man has a walk that demands veneration from others who see his noble works. The Apostle Paul is an example of a grave man. Even the most devout Christians honor his manifested devotion to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) and people's attention were drawn to his spiritual life, suffering without material things for the sake of ministry, living life for God—far different from pleasure seekers, who are actually spiritually dead while they live (I Timothy 5.6). The grave man does not have to have a million or ten million dollar mansion; he can sleep without shelter if he has to. Nevertheless, deacons are family men, not single as the Apostle Paul, and they should provide for the needs of their family, especially as to protecting their chastity and soul. They should not be careless or negligent of God's leading, wisdom and direction. They must also provide needed food, clothing and shelter for the family, and not be infidelic.

2. Not doubletongued. He must be sincere and mean what he says, not say something carelessly or deceitfully. Many erring teachers in the apostasy promote fornication for marriage—this is deceitful, and should not be tolerated. He must speak correctly in align with the Bible and live according to that correctness, not in hypocrisy.

3 Not given to much wine: if he drinks alcohol, it must be with temperance and moderation, he can't be a drunk.

4. Not greedy of filthy lucre: he should seek righteouness. Material things and money should not be his first goal. He should not be a gambler. He should not be afraid to get his hands dirty through working. He should not be greedy. He should not be concerned about money more so than virtue and integrity.

Links:

Pure Conscience: I Timothy 3:9

Proved and blameless: I Timothy 3:10

Character of wives of deacons: I Timothy 3:11

One wife: I Timothy 3:12

Ruling the home: I Timothy 3:12

Christian Community and Models

BEGINNING A LOCAL CHURCH
We must start churches that meet the requirements of God. We need faithful, clean couples, not men with defiled wives, to be able to serve as officers in the church. Since we are in the apostasy, it is even hard to find a church that can meet the requirements.

We must get out of the polluted congregations that will not repent of sexual uncleanness and begin our own congregations.

Overseers needed:

Deacons needed: See above.

The best way that I can think of to establish clean churches is to establish communities in order to raise the children to be sexually clean, so they honorably marry and have the sexual cleanliness attribute so as to meet the requirement to serve as ministers.

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