El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-06
BAPTIST Church.
'.The True Office OF Deacon.


"The True Office Of Deacon"
At the Baptist church Sunday morn
ing the pastor, Rev. w. o. Mill1can,
spoke as follows:
Text Therefore, brethren, look We
out among you seven men OF honest re-
port, full of the Holy Ghost and wis
dom, whom we may appoint over tnl5
business" Acts. VI:3.
In Ephe 4:11-12 we read, "And he
gave some, apostles; and some, proph-
cts and some evaugelists; and some,
stors and teachers: for the perfect
ing of the saints, for the work OF the
ministry, for the edifying of the body
OF Christ, etc., Add to this Phil IL,
$50 all the saints in Christ Jesus which
are at Phillip, with the bishops ana
deacons," and you have as church
officers: apostles. prophets, pastors
or bishops. These have been termed
extraordinary and ordinary officers.
l. e., those we find occasionally and
those found regularly with the church.
OF these we fibd only three regularly,
and two of these may be com bined in
one person and office, viz! Pastors
and teachers and 'deacons. 1t is
our study today.
The DEACON.
The primary meaning of the Greek
word, diakonos, sometimes translated
deacon in the New Testament is SER
want, and it is often times so translat-
ed. In John go it gives US the idea OF
an ordinary service. Jesus was at the
marriage, and "his mother saith unto
the servants, whatsoever he saith unto
YOU, do it,, In John 1926, we get the
idea, from the some word, of religious
servant, "If any man serve me let
him follow me: and where l am, there
shall also my servant be- In Inn
3:6 the word is translated deacon, which
is almost q transliterstion, likewise
must the diakonoi, deacons, ETC." In
1 Cor. $50, it is applied to ministers,
diaconoi, by whom We believed" But
the fact of special mention of each
both in Phil IL and l Tim 3: also
separate mention of the qualification
of the "bishop" and the deacon" goes
to show that there Is q difference In
the service or office OF q minister OF the
gospel and that of a deacon. Our text
refers us as nearly as we can deter
mine to the origin and object OF the
deacon.
On the day of Pentecost three thou
sand Jews were converted. Soon after
these, two thousand more. Many OF
these had come from the Grecian prov
inces and spoke the Greek language,
the others we're Palestine Jews and
spoke the Hebraistic languages. For
some good reason many of these staid
about Jerusalem without means of sup
port So for a time the whole company
threw their property together and
:'had all things common Among
them evidently we're many poor widows
with their families. These had to be
looked after especially. And natural
ly enough the foreign Jews, Heb
rews," were getting the larger appro-
haps, for their widows. Now this had
to be looked into; and it would take a
deal OF time and patience, both to
investigate and to appropriate funds.
Up to this time, 1t seems that the
apostles had been handling the money.
When one of the new converts sold
his land he drought the money. and
laid it at the disciples feet" Following
this in Acts Ananias and wife
brought 'a certain part, and laid IL at
the apostles feet. So it seems the
apostles up to this time had been COM
PEELED to give some of their time to
''serve tables" i.e., to look after the
money matters of congregation. But
now with the vast proportions the body
was assuming, over 5000, and many to
be looked after out of common treas
ury, aud with "a murmuriug" as to the
management of these money tables,
the apostles, preachers and pastors,
being only twelve in number, saw that
it was mot reason" for them to have
so much to do, aud that it would cripple
them in their work of prayer and
preaching, on account of the time 1t
took. ''Wherefore' they said, "breth-
rem, look We out among you seven men
of honest report, full of the Holy.
Ghostand wisdom, whom we may ap-
point over this business.
Clearly then the Office OF the deacon
is to ':serve Tables not the widows"
table though that is certainly included,
nor the sacrament table, which is not so
much as limited at in speaking of dea-
cons duties, bat which would naturally
be included in the service. but the
money tables of the church. The
"money changers"in temple had tables
which Jesus overthrow. So here, ITO
serve tables refers to the
financial business" OF the church.
Without a doubt this is
And If a brother has not the wisdom, or
refuses to do his best to assist in hand
ling the money agairs of the church,
he is unfit for deacon, and should no,
be elected; or if he be already in
should either get right or
get out. 1 wish also to emphasize
another point; pastor should have
such an efficient service on the part Of
his board OF descons as never to be
bothered about the finances, of the
church save to "oversee'' ana Suggest
plans, etc. But this does not NEAR
that he may not in special emergencie:
take hold of this work as the apostles
| did before the deacons were chosen
and as Paul did afterwards.
| AS to whether there are any further