When a Deacon Deacs Well

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (1Tim 3:13).

Success in America is all about up and to the right. Profits need to grow. Careers need to advance. Stockholders demand more each quarter. The arrows on every chart and spreadsheet must be heading higher. It’s about more. It’s about climbing the ladder. 

Funny thing in God’s kingdom. In many ways, less is more. The way down is the way up. Throughout the Bible, God doesn’t discourage greatness. But over and over, He lets us know it’s in the opposite direction from what most business consultants charge big bucks for companies to hear.

In his letter to Pastor Timothy, Paul says leaders earn a great reputation in the local church by stepping down into sacrificial service. “For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (v13). In other words, a servant earns his rep by descending into greatness. That’s when you know a deacon deacs well. 

(Let me make sure you know I didn't coin the phrase "descending into greatness." Bill Hybels of Willow Creek gets ALL the credit for that!)

Jesus is using Paul and Timothy as a tag team to get the Ephesian church back on track. The apostle planted the church a few years back on one of his Mediterranean tours (Acts 19), but a team of false teachers derailed believers by distracting them from the Gospel. Paul personally gave the boot to Hymenaeus and Alexander, two of the leading spiritual con artists in Ephesus (1Tim 1:20). Now on divine assignment up the road in Macedonia, the man from Tarsus appoints his spiritual son Tim as pastor with specific instructions to continue cleaning up the mess they’ve made (1Tim 1:3-7). 

A big part of Pastor Tim’s assignment is assembling a godly leadership team of overseers (1Tim 3:1-7) and deacons (1Tim 3:8-12). Clearly the previous administration was all about serving themselves by climbing over the followers of Jesus at the church. They were all about up and to the right. All about what they could gain. All about how they could be served. 

Paul wraps up his description of what a sacrificial service looks like. A deacon builds his rep by stepping down. They’re not cocky about what they bring to the table. You see, servants grow in their trust in Christ by watching what He does in and through them. That’s what happens when a deacon deacs well.

The apostle tells Tim, “For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves” (v13). It’s interesting to note that this can be literally translated from Greek as simply “For those who serve well” (v13). The translators of the ESV (as well as the NASB, NRS, NKJV, and others) double up on the idea of servants who are serving. 

Follow me. This might be a bit confusing. Throughout this passage, the Greek word diakonos is translated “deacon” (1Tim 3:8, 10, 12). It literally means “servant.”  But “deacon” actually isn’t found anywhere in verse 13. Instead we see just the verb diakoneo, which means “to serve.” The ESV translators drop in “as deacons” to help us understand what Paul’s talking about. It makes sense. A servant serves. It’s what they do when Jesus gets ahold of them. So if a deacon is a servant and a deacon serves then deacon deacs. Make sense?  

So deacons deac well when they “gain a good standing for themselves” (v13). Just about every Bible version you read cooks up a different wording for this phrase. Here’s why. “Gain” is the verb peripoieomai, which means to obtain, acquire, procure, or purchase. It paints the picture of getting your hands on something through a whole lotta effort. It comes with a heavy cost. It didn’t come easy. 

The only other place you find this word in the New Testament is over in the Book of Acts. Coincidentally, Paul is talking to the elders from the Ephesian church during a layover on his way back to Jerusalem. He tells them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which He obtained (Gr. peripoieomai) with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Jesus paid an unthinkable cost for His church. With His own blood. It certainly didn’t come easy. 

In many ways, the word “standing” is the real key to unlocking Paul’s words here. It’s the Greek noun bathmos. You can translate it as status, position, rank, or degree. But it literally describes a step or stairs leading up or down. It comes from a similar word (Gr. bathos) which can mean depth. Think sinking to the ocean floor. So it’s not a stretch to see that a deacon’s standing or status is purchased by descending into service. It comes with a heavy price tag. It doesn’t come easy. 

You might read this verse and think the apostle is encouraging a deacon to look for a promotion to elder or pastor. Why not? A supervisor is looking to move up to department head. A department head wants to be a VP. That may be the way it works in the business world but not so much in God’s kingdom. Nope. You see, a church’s view of a servant goes up as he steps down. It comes with a cost. Promotion by demotion. It’s not about what he gets but what he gives. 

A deacon also gains “great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (v13). But this isn’t just a quiet conviction in the Lord.  The word translated as “confidence” is parrhesia, which describes an openness, frankness, boldness, and courage to say what needs to be said. Jewish leaders were freaked out “when they saw the boldness (Gr. parrhesia)” Pete and John had when they told the folks about the resurrected Jesus (Acts 4:13). The writer of Hebrews uses it when encouraging us to go to God’s throne of grace “with confidence (Gr. parrhesia)” when we boldly ask for His help (Heb 4:16). This is speaking openly, publicly, plainly, and freely despite intimidating circumstances. 

Don’t think that bold faith in Jesus is just for super Christians like deacons. God encourages each one of us to speak openly and publicly about who our Savior is and what He’s done. Just to be clear, this is NOT about what we do to be saved. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t do enough good works, can’t follow enough rules, can’t earn enough supernatural brownie points to get God to let us into His kingdom. 

That’s where Jesus comes in. We can’t live a perfect life. But He did. We didn’t die a death on a cross for our sin. But He did. We didn’t rise to a new life. But He did. We trust in what He did on our behalf. Without trust in Jesus, my life is an epic fail. With trust in Him, eternal victory. It’s not about me. It’s all about Him. 

So everyone who serves does so as an act of worship to the One who has served us. Jesus is the ultimate Servant. He said Himself that He “came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). About 800 years before Joe and Mary turned a barn into birthing room for Baby Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote about the suffering Servant who bore the brunt of God’s wrath for our sin (Is 52:13-53:12). 

If anyone ever deserved a life of up and to the right it was the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. But His career path to the throne of heaven came by descending in service. After Christ headed back home to heaven, one of the early hit praise songs was all about how He took “the form of a servant” (Phil 2:6). If you want to know what a servant looks like, take a long look at the Lord. If a deacon is a servant, there’s no greater deacon than Jesus.

It’s easy for us to get caught up in the tsunami of achievement and advancement. For Pete’s sake, it’s everywhere you turn. But deacons have the heart of a servant. They’re not looking to climb the ladder. They’re headed in the other direction. A deacon descends into greatness. That’s how you know when a deacon deacs well.