David Nakhla 0:00

This is David Knockler with the OPC Committee on Diaconal Ministries. We're bringing this to you as part of a series of special episodes of the Reformed Deacon. These episodes consist of the audio of the many plenaries and workshops presented at the fourth OPC National Diaconal Summit held in Wheaton, Illinois in June 2022. It's our desire that deacons who are not able to attend the summit or those who simply miss one of the many wonderful workshops offered will benefit from this practical content. If you find this episode especially invigorating, please consider sharing it with your fellow deacons. If it's an episode that's particularly suited to the work of your diaconate, consider watching the video version of this presentation together with your fellow deacons and discussing it. The videos can be found on opccdm.org. And now I hope you enjoy this episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Gentlemen, your cup's already overflowing, I have no doubt, in light of those who've stood here and they're in the workshops. But I'm going to put a little bit more in of a devotional nature. I have the privilege of giving you some final thoughts to take home with you, and I'd like to speak a word of encouragement to you, particularly to those who are engaged in a kind of service that is often thankless. That's the theme of my final devotional. It's thankless service. I want to think together with you the next few minutes about why service, in the church even, can be thankless and what we should think about that. I don't know about you, but gratitude in my own servant's heart is like jet fuel for me and continuing in my service. So one of the conspicuous features of my service in the church is preaching, of course, each Sunday. And more times than I would care to admit, I will have poured out my heart in that, and I will have a very low view of the effect of all of that, and I'll be contemplating thoughts like that might just be my last sermon ever. That's Monday morning. The gentlemen, those notes that will sometimes come into my phone or my inbox, Pastor, this is where I was. This is what I heard you say. This was such a blessing. Thank you. I'm back. I'm good. Back in business. Gonna preach again, at least one more time. Or when I have been in a counseling situation, I have over some period of time been wrestling with how to wisely guide. Often it's a husband and wife in a troubled marriage, and I am not sure that I'm in the right line of work. And that word of thanks will come. We're not where we once were, Pastor, thank you for all that you've been doing for us. And it's like fuel for the soul of a servant, isn't it? I know I'm not alone in this. I think everyone is motivated when what they do for someone is received gratefully. My wife tells me, it means so much to me when you thank me for making the bed. Because that is her job in our house. I make the coffee, she makes the bed, it's a deal. You guys may have your own deals, but I try to remember, because it's a daily thing. Thanks for making our bed. She just says it makes me want to keep doing it. And I it works the same way when I hear her thank me for making coffee. That's a wonderful part of our ministry, is to see our ministry bearing fruit in other people's hearts of gratitude towards us. And it's like jet fuel. And by the way, this isn't the point of this particular devotional, but I'll interrupt myself to say let's, in light of that, in light of our own experience of that, let's resolve to be thankers in chief in our churches. We know how much it means to receive gratitude. Let's ourselves, as deacons, as elders, as ministers, let's be profoundly mindful of the service of other people and be grateful because that's just pouring lighter fluid on the fire of their service. Let's be grateful for the service of others, brothers, even as we serve. But uh the main purpose of this devotional is to acknowledge and account for the fact that not infrequently we find ourselves serving God's people without that jet fuel, without that affirmation and encouragement and excitement to do more in service. We, deacons, include the ministers in this room and the elders in this room, not infrequently find ourselves motivated by God's grace, out of love to God's people, and yet without the reward, at least immediately, of their gratitude. From your own experience, perhaps what's current. You may be thinking of the weekly routines that deacons settle into and can carry on in local churches, unlocking church buildings, or at least making some sure somebody else did. Or counting money after services, or repairing or maintaining things. You might be thinking of those routine elements that have been trusted to you. You may be thinking of those occasions when you too are the counselors, like I was talking about just a moment ago. You're counseling someone who's in a mess of their own making and in along with the diagonal assistance that's of a monetary kind, you're providing wisdom and counsel and yes, accountability. And not only is there no thank you, but someone gets upset with you. It's the opposite of gratitude for all your labors. I don't know. Maybe someone has come to this summit this weekend with a very great sense of discouragement. You are doing a lot, you know, for the congregation that you serve, but with not a lot of thanks to show for it. Again, I want to think with you about why this is and what we should think about it. Three things. Number one, your ministry as deacons involves thankless service because, well, first off, brothers, we're serving sinners like ourselves, who are not by nature thankful. That's first. You're ministering always and invariably to sinners, and sinners, you may have noticed, have a remarkable capacity to receive grace apart from gratitude. It's amazing. The whole world is this way. Paul makes this point in Romans chapter 1. Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. The world is populated by ingrates towards God. You recall that this was the besetting sin, well, one of them, of the Old Testament church. How many times do we read of our fathers in the wilderness grumbling? Polar opposite of gratitude, of course. And this is certainly the case in our 21st century society, of all the entitlements that we feel we have as Americans in the 21st century, one of those chief entitlements is the right to complain. We have a right to that. And of course, before we get ourselves too deeply into our own pity party that we have to minister to people like that. This is true of ourselves as well. Brothers as deacons, you need to be dialed into the sin of your own hearts in this particular area, because it will make it less astonishing and outrageous to you when you serve and people aren't grateful. Because that's our own natural heart bent apart from the grace of God. So this first point is, well, you might call it a reality check for two kinds of deacons, veterans and rookies both. And if you're in between, oh we'll include you, you pick your own category. Rookie deacons, those of you who are deacons in training or brand new deacons, I trust you do have some idealism about what this service will entail for you in the Church of Jesus Christ. But here's what you can expect. You can and should expect a certain amount of thankless service. Should be part of your expectations. It's baked in to the kind of work that all officers in the Church of Jesus Christ do. If you're a veteran deacon, maybe it's not idealism that you have, it's perhaps a little bit of little bit of cynicism from having experienced this over time, having the hand that you're seeking, uh sorry, uh, the hand that you're feeding, uh you're using to feed someone being bitten, and you've gotten cynical about it. Uh brothers, uh, this is par for the course. The deacon is not greater than his master. Everyone seems to want to agree with Bill Shishko in these lectures and all. So I got I gotta disagree with Bill Shishko. Well, not really. I'll just sound like it. Brothers, you are just a servant. Ministers, my fellow ministers, you're just a servant. Elders, you're just a servant. Deacons, you're just a servant. Servants aren't always thanked. You see? Pastor Zhishko wants you to never say, I'm just a deacon. I agree. Because I hope if anything has been obvious this weekend, is that uh the Community and Jacob Ministries, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as a whole, has a very high view of the office of deacon. The church doesn't look like Jesus without the Ministry of Mercy and without the office of the diaconate. Don't ever say, I'm just a deacon. Have a higher view of your own office than that. But feel free to say, along with your elders and ministers, we're just servants. Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The deacon is not greater than his master. Remember how much thankless service our Lord's earthly ministry entailed. It's famous there in the Ten Lepers. No thanks, right? But I have some suspicion that's just emblematic of much of his ministry. So much mercy ministry, so little thanks. And these reflections thus far are not intended to be depressing to you. It's just the opposite of fact, especially as I talk about Jesus and his thankless service in his earthly ministry, rightly considered, all of this can be positively inspiring to us because we're called to the same kind of service as the Lord Jesus. You're never quite so Christ-like as when you persevere in thankless service. Because those that you are serving are by nature, even among the redeemed, not a grateful people. So that's the first, that's the reality check. Your ministry as deacons involves thankless service because, well, we're serving sinners that are like ourselves, not by nature grateful. Number two, your ministry as deacons involves thankless service because, brothers, you are humbly willing to carry out that service in secret. So very largely, at least. Much of what deacons do, by the very nature of it, is just outside of the public eye. Because of that, those who are benefiting from your service are not entirely to be blamed for not being aware of it. They simply aren't seeing your service. It's not always because they're ungrateful. Don't think that. Sometimes it's just because they're oblivious. And not everybody in the church is as aware as others what you do. People don't generally say thank you if they don't know what was done for them. Now, there is a sinful remedy for people's unawareness of your service. It's the remedy of the Pharisees. Matthew 6 speaks of this. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. That's the sinful solution to this problem that not everybody knows what we do for them. Some servants in the church seem determined not to let any good deed of theirs go unnoticed. You might have encountered one or two of those. It's almost as if they think, well, there's no reason to serve if people aren't gonna know I'm doing it and be impressed by it. And of course, that's what's encouraged in all of us in our virtue signaling society, relentlessly, what I've called serving for the selfie. Here's me volunteering at a Cambodian orphanage, had to give up two weeks of vacation for that. Uh, here's me down at the local rescue mission. I don't normally get up at four o'clock, lol. That's that's our society's service. Like, like, like, like, like. Everybody knows that I'm a servant. But I'm not talking to that kind of person today. I am quite confident that you're daily, weekly, doing countless things for the saints, brothers, you don't expect them to notice because you're not a Pharisee. And that's one of the reasons why your service is thankless. It's invisible. It's like your kids at the younger age who just think that things in the house that break heal themselves. And that the cupboard in the back just grows food. Okay, it's not exactly like that, but I preached a funeral uh not too long ago for our church treasurer. Uh, she was there when I came. I came 26 years ago. Cancer claimed her in her 50s, not too much older than me. Trish was a CPA. She'd served as treasurer all those years, and at her funeral, I spoke of her this way. Trish was yet another faithful servant of Christ who was not only faithful in her service, but she was also quietly content for most of that service to be utterly unknown. She just had to answer a thousand emails from Pastor Tris asking about this, that, and the other, and no one knew the kinds of headaches that Pastor Trice was. And a few deacons with me. I said about this dear sister, she was in the secret service in our church for all those years. And brothers, I'm reminding you that some of our best service as officers in Christ Church is secret service. Jesus actually seems to encourage us to find and pursue especially secret service as he continues that passage I quoted. Why would he want secrecy? Well, your father will, who sees in secret, will reward you, he adds that. But I think he has in mind, especially the Pharisees, brothers, our motives are more easily kept pure in those things that we do secretly for God's people because we do them because we love them. We love Christ. So, my friends, remember this when your service goes unrecognized and gratitude is not gushing in your direction as deacons. There's often a very good, godly, gracious reason for that. It's something that God has made true of you. Something that qualifies you to be a deacon in your church. It is your readiness and willingness to serve, apart from applause, apart even from gratitude from men. Paul's words to uh first century slaves actually applies to all of us in office in Christ Church, who are servants. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You're serving the Lord Christ. Great deal of our thanklessness in ministry is an indication of our Christwardness in our service. And it's a good thing. So that for your encouragement, secondly. You're serving sinners, brothers. That's why service as deacons is often thankless. You're serving secretly in much of what you do. That's why it's thankless. But there's a third. Your ministry as deacons involves thankless service because we haven't yet entered into glory yet. And that place of glory will be a whole world of gratitude. I'm riffing on a theme by Jonathan Edwards. He has a sermon, Heaven, a world of love. And I'm adding to that, heaven, a world of gratitude. Now, what might come to your mind is the commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ for those of us who serve him faithfully. And of course, I do have that in mind. He will say to all servants and to deacons, well done, good and faithful deacons. And Jesus already said, the one who sees in secret will reward you openly. And Paul says to deacons specifically, those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. I regret, brothers, that as Protestants we have too much hang-up on this doctrine of reward for faithful service. I don't have time to unpack all that, but our tradition is quite clear in it. This confession is quite clear in it. The scriptures are quite clear that though we deserve nothing of reward, God graciously will give to us rewards in keeping with our service. It's a wonderfully motivating thing, and Lord Jesus obviously intended that. I don't know if anybody else saw this, but I am, you know, my heart. You know I love you. I'm seeking to serve you. Remember, remember. But that's not actually the first and chief thing I have in mind with this third point. We don't actually call the commendation of Christ by Christ to his servants as gratitude. That's not the word for that. I have in mind the reality that in the new heavens and new earth, when all is known or becoming known, and when all sin and ingratitude has been banished, this will be a time for God's people to unveil. And to be endeared to one another for the service done in this life. We will not only be in this world of gratitude, in undying and only mounting ways, grateful to our Redeemer for all of his goodness, but we'll be grateful to one another. We'll be able to recognize in one another the service that was provided. And it'll be heaven in part because of that endearing one another that comes from this gratitude. Luke 16 tells what I think is the strangest of all Jesus' parables. I don't have time to unpack the whole parable. It's variously called the parable of the unjust steward or the parable of the dishonest manager. It's so strange because a crook seems to be held up as an example. You know what I'm speaking of, right? I think it's got a special word for deacons, not that you're crooks. Because of what Jesus says, it's the censure to the story. I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings. I think Jesus is pointing out that the way we give and serve in this life will endear us to those we bless in the life to come. They will be grateful there, as we will be. Perhaps you've had this experience that long after your service was completed to a certain individual, long after, and you don't actually have a very good taste in your mouth about the way it was received. But you have a clear conscience. You sought to love them. Have you had the experience of long after that conversation or that note finding its way back to you and saying, Deacon, brother so-and-so, I know you were seeking to help me. I just want to say thank you. You know what that is? That's a little taste of heaven. There's gonna be a lot more in heaven. And what I'm seeking to say here is be encouraged by that. Be patient. Know for certain heaven will be a world of gratitude. Your service is for a time thankless. In part, but just for a little bit longer, my dear brothers. So, all this for your encouragement. I don't want you to be discouraged by thankless service. It's par for the course, you're serving sinners. It's some of the best service we do, secret service, and you will not be unthanked forever. It is laying up treasure for you in heaven. Here's how I want to end this devotional. And here's what I most want to leave with you, the end of this time of thinking of service. Doesn't all of this, everything that's preceded this moment and everything we've just been thinking about, doesn't all this reflection, particularly now on thankless service, make our Savior's service so much dearer to us? He set out on a thankless task. As you've heard more than once this weekend, not to be served, but to serve. He came to his own. His own received him not. Thankless service, but aren't you thankful that he was willing to do this? He was content, was he not, to serve those who most desperately were in need of his ministry in ways they were utterly, at least for a time, oblivious to. Why are you doing what you're doing, Jesus? Why are you dying on the cross? Such confusion, such obliviousness. And he went to the cross despite the obliviousness of those who uh he was serving. And he was, I'll just add, content to wait for the gratitude that was due him to come in time. By the work of his sovereign spirit in the hearts of sinners one by one and in a culminating way on the last day, he's been content to wait for that gratitude. Let your service as deacons be a spiritual sacrifice of devotion to this greatest of all deacons. Brothers, be refreshed. That's what we want more than anything else from the National Summit. Be refreshed in your service. Be refreshed by a deeper and more grateful awareness of our Savior's service to us. Amen.

unknown 27:46

Amen.

David Nakhla 27:47

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