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 were not able to attend the summit or those who simply missed 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. All the videos can be found on opccdm.org. And now I hope you enjoy this episode.

SPEAKER_08 1:34

There's three things I'd like to tell you about, Craig. Craig is a theologian. He's currently professor of practical theology at Westminster, California. He is a graduate of Gordon Conwell Seminary. He received his PhD at Westminster. He's been formative in the work of the MTI, the Ministerial Training Institute. And so he comes to us as a very qualified theologian. Craig is also a pastor. He's pastored several churches from Alaska to the East Coast to the Midwest. He's most recently my pastor at Bethel OPC here in Wheaton. Prior to that, he was pastor of Calvary OPC and Glenside PA, which was my brother Steve's church and still is. And so I've known him a little bit from afar, and uh the twelve years he was here, he truly served as a pastor to me and the rest of our church. Craig is a friend and he's a mentor. One of his qualities that has always had such an impact on me as a friend, but also as a mentor, is his transparency. I would describe it as transparency that is magnetic. There is nothing he's holding back from who he is or what he's thinking or or how he can help. Two quick stories about Craig, and then I'll ask him to come. We have a summer camp for children. It's a VBS, we call it Nature Camp. And one spring morning uh it was my job to come over and put the banners up in front of the church, and you've got to put steel stakes on and bungee them up and you know advertise the uh summer nature camp for kids. And I get over there and the stake was too tall, so I had to come into the church and it's trying to get a ladder. It was like a seven-foot stake. So I come into the church and uh Troxy's over at his office at the way, milling away at the grind there as he usually is, and discovers I'm there. He's like, Well, Sudzy, what are you doing here? I said, Well, I'm I'm here, you know, the nature camp, the banners, I'm putting up the banners. He goes, Oh, oh, oh, oh. Well, what do you need? I said, I'm just coming to get a ladder. I said, I don't want to interrupt you. He goes, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. So next thing I know, we're outside the the church on the lawn. Troxel's up on the stepladder, I'm holding a seven-foot stake, and with a full-size sledgehammer, he's doing roundhouses. And I'm holding the stake, and after the first couple, he's winding up, he goes, Do you trust me? Wham. And I said, I'd rather trust you in the pulpit. Second quick story, and I'm out. Adult Sunday school, we do kind of a quarterly schedule for adults. We usually do two adult classes on this particular occasion. It was one week before the next quarter of classes. I was leading a uh class on Deuteronomy. And uh the week before, uh, right after church, we're milling around the adult Sunday school area, and somebody comes up to me and says, Chris, Chris, come on up front. I need you to do a promo for your class that starts next week. I said, okay, well, yeah, I guess. So here I am standing. I have no idea what I'm gonna say, and I basically just blurted out something like, Well, you know, Deuteronomy is an amazing book, and uh it's quoted more times in the New Testament. I think it's 87. Uh it's amazing, and and uh, and it's gonna be great. And uh, you know, it it's if it seems dry and dusty to you, uh, you know, give it a whirl. And without anything else thoughtful to say, I simply said if it was up to me, I'd just go to Craig's class. Brother, you know we love you. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_06 5:22

Love you.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

As soon as he said stories, I thought, uh oh. What stories? Well, it's good to be with you. Good to be with this many OPC people. I was uh at a dinner recently with the president of our school, Westminster Seminary, Joel Kim, sitting at a table, and he says, All right, Craig, you're sitting at a table, one OPC minister, three PCA ministers. What do you have to say to that? I said, I like my odds very much. So anyway, I'm looking forward to our spending some time in A Confession of Faith, Chapter 26. And this may be a chapter that you've passed over. Uh many have, when we think of the question, where do we get our doctrine for the church? Everybody says chapter 25. But they forget about chapter 26. In one sense, this is overstating it, but chapter 25 is the trellis, and chapter 26 is the vine. This tells us very much about the organic life of the church as she is within herself. But there are some nuggets here I've wanted to think about for some time, and I was so glad to have this opportunity to think out loud with you about one of these insights that I think is important for you as deacons and for all of us as servants. So you have an outline there in front of you this morning. There are three questions we're gonna be asking this morning. The first one is gonna be slow going, it's a little sluggish. We're even gonna get into some grammar, so I've warned you ahead of time. Hope you had your coffee, you'll need it. And then we'll build upon that question for the second question. And those two questions or answers are aggregate. They're essential for us to really understand the third question, where we're gonna spend about half our time, so it's a little bit disproportionate, but I really want to push it forward in the direction of what's useful for you. And so that for our time would truly be useful. Let's let's go to the Lord in prayer again. Our gracious God and Father, again, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the living head of the church, and from which the body sustain is sustained and gains all of her life, all of her vitality and strength and encouragement and comfort and help. And so again, we find ourselves turning to the one who in our place died self-sacrificially and was raised for our justification, and in his great triumph over the grave ascended to the right hand of God from which he has poured out the spirit upon all of his church. Well, Father, we are looking to that great promise this morning that all that we have in Christ, Christ, who, as he comes to us clothed with his gospel, comes with his spirit, to grant to his church every gift and grace that we need that we'd be built up in strength. And just as we look to Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for our full acceptance in your sight, so also we look to his spirit for life. And so, Father, we pray that our labor would not be in vain this morning, and we ask for your blessings. We look for heaven to smile upon us as your people and as your servants. Grant us that wisdom that comes from above, not from men. Bless us to that, and we pray, O Father, all this to the encouragement and help of the people that we pray we will serve even better because of our time together, but most of all, all this to the glory of Christ, whose name we pray. Amen. And so many Sundays, uh, you and I say, Credo, uh sanctorum communionum. That is, if your church practices Latin services, I don't think it does. Um, but you say, I believe in the saints, I believe in the communion of saints. It's that phrase, communion of saints, uh, that we're going to be thinking about this morning. How does that compare with uh the very trendy idea of community or building community? And communities are important to us, and building community is a pervasive idea. We see it throughout our lives. In schools, we attend sports events, band concerts, and of course the dreaded parent-teacher conference. Uh in our neighborhoods, we have we have play dates, we have block parties, we look out for uh our neighbors. And we think of the workplace, fitness clubs, uh, hobby groups, book clubs, scout troops, these are all important communities. They're places where we are literally building community. But that is a phrase, building community has uh become almost a necessary slogan in the business world, and you can find its offshoots and ideas in the business literature. And it's been eagerly welcomed by the church. In fact, it's become almost a necessary ingredient in church mission statements and a requirement for ministry strategy. I like to say that it's the newest inductee into the halls of church relevancy alongside being missional and having incarnational ministries. Now, this raises the question, though, is this a healthy trend? Or to put it another way, which I think is more helpful for us, is community or building community the same thing as communion? Or as we like to say, the communion of the saints? To me, it's an interesting question. I think it's a more important question than maybe some people realize. And that's really the first question. Is a church, is it a mere community, or is it a communion of saints? So we need to do a little bit of historical background here. So this is a non-interesting part if you're not into church history. And we're going to talk a little bit about the meaning of these phrases, then we'll move to the confession, and then we'll move to scripture, is exactly the opposite way you should do theology. Right? So, in terms of the historical understanding of community, many of us think of it as a very just on a very superficial way. Uh, it's just stressing the importance of investing yourself in relationships and in communities around you. But there's actually a deeper and more historic and ancient idea called communitarianism. And I don't want to get into the history of this, but it's a it's a rather uh manifold movement. But it's the basic insight of this is that your identity and your sense of meaning is actually shaped by your community, the community in which you live. This began as in political philosophy, it soon branched off in other disciplines, other traditions, even competing traditions and schools of thought and voices. But at the heart of it, and perhaps the cornerstone piece of lineature was written by Ferdinand Tunis. I'm sure all of you have the original German copy, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, published in 1887, Community and Society. And what he did is he simply said is that man is a social being and he unfolds his essence only by living in communities of kinship. Now, I don't know how much you read, but some of postmodern theology leans very heavily upon Tunis, explicitly citing him. I'm thinking of Stanley Grenz and John Frankie, who go to Tunis to make this very point for all their insights with regard to community. In fact, it's Grenz and Frankie who say community is the integrative motif and operates as an organizing concept of all theological construction. They're simply saying it's this idea of community, it's the very heart of all theology, we're going to build everything upon it. Well, that's interesting because postmodern theology and postmodern philosophy says the same thing that all knowledge is a social construct. Our knowledge is situated in a specific community, and so we no longer believe in truth, there's no longer any meta-message, it's just about learning the language and the vocabulary in your particular community. And so that's kind of the philosophical side that aligns with theology, but there's actually an older theological pedigree for community. And is found in the father of all modern theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher. And he says this quote, the church is above all else a fellowship. And the whole idea of the church must derive from this assumption, and is using the same word, Gemeinschaft, uh, that Tunis uses. Other schools of thought have done the same thing, Emil Brunner in Neo-Orthodoxy, the ecumenical movement, process theology, like uh Pierre Diochardin, uh, liberation theology, Gutierrez, the social gospel, and many evangelical scholars as well, like Roger Olson. He says we should get rid of the language of church altogether and simply use the word community. And I don't know if you remember the emerging churches, it's kind of petered out now, but that movement, one of their slogans, maybe the most well-known slogan, is communities that practice the way of Jesus. So this is all simply to say this. So the historical part is behind us in terms of community, so we're we're good. But it's simply saying that this is at the heart of how we should consider the church. But again, it raises the question then, as we take this historical idea of community or communitarianism, how does that stack up against the communion of the saints? So we turn to the communion of the saints. Now we need to get a historical understanding of this. Well, this is even more ancient. It comes from the old Roman Creed, or also called the shorter Roman symbol symbol. And this is the undisputed progenitor of the Apostles' Creed. This is where the Apostles' Creed comes from. And that Roman Creed was a baptismal formula that we can date from the second century. We see it in different statements of faith. And that that symbol, that Roman Creed, is spread to the four different areas of the Roman Empire, to northern Italy, to Spain, North Africa, but then also the Gaul region. It's a Gaul region. That's where we get our particular Texus Receptus, as it were, of the Apostles' Creed. And it's this particular form of the creed that Luther used in Calvin and Zwingli. This is the form of the creed that they recognize as an accepted doctrinal norm for the church. But this phrase, communicates communium sanctorum or sanctorum communionum, that's a late addition to the creed. It doesn't come in until after the fifth century. It's very, very late. And in fact, when you look at the documents of Ignatius, the disciplines of Irenaeus, or the rules of faith by Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, all these names that you've heard, they don't have this phrase. You don't see it in the creeds of Caesarea or Nicaea, Ambrose and Augustine. They told their congregations to memorize the Apostles' Creed, but did not have this phrase. But Calvin says we love this phrase very much. It captures very well what we understand about the church. But what is that understanding? And you see, that's been an historic controversy, to put it very baldly, between Protestants and Catholics. And it comes down to a piece of grammar. But we could we could say the two scholar two schools of thought are like this. There's a the school of thought that says this phrase, community of the saints, refers to fellowship. It's about a community of holy persons. But you see, there's another interpretation too, that it's actually what we call the sacramental view, it's a participation, participation in holy things. So it's about people or things. And you say, well, how can you come up with that kind of interpretation? Well, it's because of this word sanctorum. Sanctorum is a genitive plural in the Latin, which means it can have two different roots, it can have a masculine root or it can have a neuter written. I'm about ready to lose half of you. But just hang with me. It'll take five minutes. Alright, so masculine, if it was masculine, it would be sancti. If it was neuter, it'd be sancta. And both are grammatically possible. But it's interesting how people have interpreted it. So if it's sancti, masculine, it means holy people. It means a fellowship of all ages, of Christians of all ages in their union with Christ and in their fellowship with one another through Christ. That's been the prevailing view from the 5th to 8th century, 16th to the 18th century. But sancta, holy things, that means to participate or to share in holy things, like sacraments. That's why we call it the sacramental view. That arose later in the medieval theology and it's become more and more popular since the 19th century. You see it in Eastern Orthodox creeds. A sancta sanctus, holy things for God's holy people, or the Anglican phrase, the gifts of God for the people of God. And so you can see they're kind of having it both ways. And of course, Rome wants everything, wants all of the above. And underneath is this one phrase, Community of the Saints, it says, well, this is referring to the veneration of saints, a prayer to the saints. This includes the idea of purgatory, and that you need to have fellowship with the Roman See. And of course, from this phrase, we understand we need transubstantiated elements, that the bread and the cup actually turn into the body and the blood of Christ. It takes in everything. It's kind of like doing theology as a countant. What do you want it to say? Right? And this that's exactly how this phrase has been taken. So, what is the reformed understanding? The reformed understanding has spoken with one voice. All the reformed creeds say this is about people. All the reformed creeds with one voice deny this has anything to do with veneration of saints, prayers of saints. It certainly does not require that we have to be in full fellowship with Rome. It affirms, the Reformed symbols affirm the church is a fellowship of God's holy people. It is a communion of saints. You see this in Augsburg Confession, Belgic Confession, chapter 17 of the Second Helvetic Confession, Luther, Calvin, James Bannerman. And Heidelberg Catechism Question 55 puts it in this nice pithy way. What does thou understand by the communion of saints? First, believers, all and everyone, as members of Christ, have part in him and in all his treasures and gifts. Secondly, that each one must feel himself bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the advantage and welfare of other members. So the reform position is that this is about people, this is about persons, not things. But that leads us to a second question. Where does a church gain its life? And the reason I ask it that way is because what persons are we talking about? It might seem obvious to you, but it gets us back to the question about community versus the communion of the saints. When we think about our communion with God, it's very interesting when we turn to the confession. And Chad Van Dixorn has said that the order of the paragraphs in each chapter of the confession of faith are extremely important. But we wouldn't extend that idea, and I'm not sure if Chad said it, but we're just going to pretend that he did. That the order within the paragraph is important. Now I think this is obvious, and I think it's true, and I think it's especially true for this. When you look at the confession of faith, and this is why these two paragraphs, there are three paragraphs, we're not going to look at the third. These two paragraphs are in your material because I want us to look at them. If you look at chapter 26, it reflects a clear priority. There's an agenda built within these paragraphs, especially the first one we're going to look at now. And it gives us a kind of a strategy in how we approach the meaning of the communion of the saints. So look at paragraph one. It goes like this All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, their head by his spirit and by faith, have fellowship with him. With him. In his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. Being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces. So you see what it's doing. It's saying first, it addresses our union and communion that we have with Christ. That's the vertical union and communion. And then it proceeds to talk about the communion we have with one another through Christ. That's the horizontal communion. So we're united to Christ by His Spirit and by faith. We're united to one another in love. We have fellowship with Christ in His graces, in His suffering, and death and resurrection and in His glory. And so also we have communion in each other's gifts and graces. You see, it's using parallel language, it's building a construction here. And this order reflects a precedence. It starts with the primary and it goes on to the secondary. It starts with what is fundamental, our communion with God, which is vertical. Is the bedrock upon which this whole chapter rests, and then that consequent communion of the saints. Communion with Christ, then consequently, communion of the saints. And so what the confession is doing, it's establishing a Christ-centered understanding of the communion of the saints. It's giving us an appropriate starting point. And that makes a world of difference. That starting point as we approach the meaning of the communion of the saints. That what believers share together in their mutual communion stems from that more fundamental communion they have with Christ. Now, a great example of this is the Lord's Supper. What is the Lord's Supper all about? What is the Lord's Supper showing us? What is it teaching us? Well, the Lord's Supper functions first as a bond and a pledge of our union and communion with Christ as individual believers. And then it is consequently that bond and pledge of our union and communion with one another as members of Christ's body together. Both are true, but the one precedes the other. And that helps us to get at this question then. This is an important question. So, from where does the church, the communion of saints, gain its life? Is it from some man-made community or a God-centered communion of saints? Is it horizontal or is it vertical? Now I'll tell you why I think this is so important in terms of our day and age, in terms of theology and historically. It's because modern theology and what it means by community, it does not mean the same thing you and I mean. Community in modern theology is devoid of biblical supernaturalism. They talk about community, but in substance and in practice, is what we would call a demythologized community. That's the language of Rudolf Boltmann, the greatest distraction in the history of New Testament interpretation. Does not believe in supernaturalism. And modern theology has a horizontal view of the church. That's it. Without much or any emphasis upon the vertical, the spiritual. Our confession is telling us, and we're going to see in scripture, that the vertical is all important. And by vertical, of course, we do mean that that supernatural activity of God in the church's life and ministry, without which it has no power, it has no fruition. Any view or practice of the church that ignores supernaturalism invariably is going to warp and deform the meaning of the communion of the saints, not to mention every core doctrine in Scripture. Bibi Worfell was asked this question. Is supernaturalism necessary for the Christian faith? You had to imagine, he had to laugh when he heard this question. And he said, there are three great themes in the Bible. The first great theme is redemption. But redemption assumes a second theme, which is revelation. But revelation assumes a third theme, which is supernaturalism. No supernaturalism, no revelation. No revelation, no redemption. Do you think it's important? I think it's important. Now he didn't say that second part. I just kind of inserted that. But any practice of community is not built upon supernaturalism as a foundation. It's constructing what? A man-made community. It's a distortion of the real thing. In such a community, it lacks soul. It's deformed. Kind of like Frankenstein's monster, only not as good looking. So the communion of the saints begins here. It's sustained here in our communion with the living Christ. Let's look at just one passage to kind of get us going here. John 15, 5. John 15, 5. Our Savior says, I am the vine, you are the branches. All right, simple metaphor describing the union that we have with Christ. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for, this is the all important reason, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And that gets at the heart of this, the communion of the saints is above all else the outworking of that deeper union and communion in which we partake of the powers of the world above, through our communion with Christ by faith and by the power of the Spirit. Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw this in Life Together. You should really read this book. It's not very long. It's a very important book. But he says this: this is so interesting. He says, Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this and none that is less than this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. That's exactly right. Or let's take our guy, James Bannerman, Scottish Presbyterian. He says, Christ is personally present, governs, and administers ordinances and blessings through the church. The church has no store of life apart from Christ being in it. The ordinances of the church have no deposit of grace apart from Christ present with them. The office bearers of the church have no gift of power or authority or action apart from Christ ruling and acting by them. You see, he gets it. And by the way, Bannerman said when we say that Christ is the head of the church, we do not simply mean that Christ is the establishing head. We mean he's the presiding head. That there's some things he does not subcontract out to others. This is the living Christ who says, I am building my church. And he is. Let's take another example of what we're trying to talk about here, and it's seen in worship. Now, what is worship? Now, you and I both know that the ultimate purpose of worship is to bring glory to God. But what's the purpose of worship? And we could say the purpose is to have communion with God. It's communion with God. And let me read to you one of the most beautiful statements in our directory of public worship. It says this an assembly of public worship is not merely a gathering of God's children with each other, but is before all else a meeting of the triune God with his covenant people. You see what it's saying? It's saying the same thing. Before anything else, what is a worship service? It's the vertical, it's the connection we have with God. It's not merely our meeting together. It's more than just a community, it's the communion of saints with the living God. Christ gathers in the presence of his people, and God's people gather in his presence. God's people draw near to him by faith. Christ draws near to his people by the Spirit. And all the efficacy, all the benefit of worship builds upon this assumption that the church is the dwelling place of God. The lifeblood of worship. It's found right here in this vertical connection, not in its horizontal dimension. We have to ask ourselves, is worship a living dialogue or not? Does Christ speak to his people or not? Is the Holy Spirit ministering his grace and his truth to us or not? That's why by faith we wait and we listen expectantly in a worship service what neither humanity nor the world can supply. Because worship is so much more than a mere gathering of people, it's so much more than a community. Worship, the communion of the saints, is a holy people who are being set apart for sacred privileges and equipped for consecrated purposes as the true and the living God gathers with them in power and by the Spirit. And our worship and our hearts are being lifted up to heaven as a fragrant offering before God, acceptable through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what our communion is. That's where it starts. And it's in light of that that we can talk about our communion with one another, this horizontal. Now let's turn to Scripture again. 1 John 1 3 says, That which we have seen and we have heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Alright, so in part of this fellowship, God has given to his church gifts, the gifts of the Spirit. These are given to us to encourage one another. There is this horizontal outpouring of love and encouragement to one another through the gifts of the Spirit. That's why they're given. But a simple question. How are these gifts given? How are these gifts sustained? Where do they get their their energy from? In 2 Timothy 1, 6 and 7, when Paul wants to encourage Timothy, he says, you need to fan in the flame the gift of God, which is given to you through the laying on of hands. But he doesn't stop there and he says, the reason you can do this is because God has given to us a spirit. A spirit, not of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and self-discipline. His ability to fan in the flame this gift is because it's energized by the Holy Spirit. In fact, all the gifts are spirit-endowed and spirit-empowered. 1 Corinthians 12, 4 and following. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Verse 11. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. So Scripture is being very clear. Where is the sustenance of all of this, the spiritual activity? All of it is lodged where the church's spiritual life began, in the sovereign spirit of Christ. Those spirits given gifts are empowered and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 4, 10, 11, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace by the strength that God supplies. In other words, these gifts that are given to us, they're only strengthened with what comes from God. And in fact, every single command that Christ gives to the church for practicing the communion of the saints, what does it require? It requires a sustaining grace. It requires a power that is beyond ourselves, that Christ alone can supply. And when you think of all the one another commands were given in Scripture to love each other, to serve, forbear, forgive, accept, comfort, greet, welcome, encourage, exhort, admonish, teach, instruct, build up, confess our sin to, speak the truth to, live in peace with, be kind to, do good to, pray for each other, show hospitality in one another, have fellowship with one another. None of these things can be done in the flesh. They cannot be self-manufactured. They're not supposed to be just natural or naturally produced. All of these are in constant need of the strengthening power of God. Why? So that they would bear spiritual fruit. Especially think of some of the major league commands that Christ gives to us. When he says, not just to show mercy, but show mercy to one another as I have shown you mercy. Forgive one another as I have forgiven you in Christ, and then the big one, love one another as I have loved you. Who's sufficient for those things? What kind of mere community is capable of that level of devotion and spiritual things? Not the Elks Club, not Kowanas. Only those empowered by the Holy Spirit and God's grace can embody this level of virtue that Christ requires of his church. Christian service calls for spiritual power and wisdom that our brothers are beyond our natural abilities. And this service demands the work of the Spirit so that the good deeds will be pursued with the right motives and for the right ends to truly encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ and do this all for the glory of God. And if we are not requesting the blessing of God's Spirit on our ministry, then where do we think this help is going to come from? From ourselves? So the ideals of the community of the saints are not within the reach of mere community building. What is taking place in a church body can only be built and sustained by its living head, who indwells it by his Holy Spirit? Now here's the question I have to get to the last question. Why in the world would we think that this truth, these principles that we've been reflecting upon, apply any less to a deacon than an elder or a minister? If everything I'm saying is true, why would they imply any less apply any less to a deacon or to mercy ministry? And you see, that gets to the last question here about how does the church express its communion? And we read this chapter and it's heavily tilted in one direction, and we get to sense what it's talking about this inward growth of the church, and it certainly is. That Christ promises to build his church and to build it from within. And the Spirit of Christ distributes these gifts to every member of the church, and he invigorates those gifts for the common good. And so that those gifts are used, these graces are used to building up the church for her spiritual maturity, for her spiritual growth, to bring this about more and more and more. The strength and the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ, that's absolutely true. It's absolutely necessary. In fact, that growth is necessary. Why? Because these bonds of communion are constantly being tested, constantly being tested in seasons of suffering or in strife or outward oppression. Did COVID teach us nothing? I mean, the COVID exposed us in many ways, leadership, but it also tested the communion of the saints. In many of our churches, we thought we were doing better than we were. We thought we loved each other more than this. It was hard to see, wasn't it? But it shows we really need this to be taking place. But if we faithfully sow in mutual service, we will reap spiritual benefits of mutual love for the growing of the church. And so we tend to read this chapter this way, that it's talking about this inward expression and this inward growth and help. But that's not all it says. It's talking about how the church expresses communion outwardly. And I don't mean in the community, that's coming later. But in terms of outward physical needs. Did you notice that as you read this carefully and studied it, meditated upon it before you walked into this room? In paragraph one, look at paragraph one, about halfway. It says, Being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces and are obliged to the performance of such duties. Now listen to this, public and private, as to conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man. It's both these things. Both in the inward and outward man. Look at the next paragraph. Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion and the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to the mutual edification, as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to its several abilities and necessities. In other words, the communion of the saints extends just as much to the outer man and outward things as it does to the inward man and inner spiritual needs. And what our standards are telling us is that we cannot just spiritualize away meeting each other's needs. We think of those widows in Acts 6. One way of saying is that they needed to be loved. They were not being treated with love, they were being passed over. They needed to be loved. And that's why they needed to be fed and clothed and sheltered and remembered. But here's where we can misstep. We were tempted to think, well, since a deacon is ministering to the outer man and to outer things, then he does not need the spirit to sustain his gifts or empower his ministry. And what's the answer to that? In the words of Bill Shishko, baloney. I'm from New York. I'm not from New York. I don't use that rough language. I'm a snowflake from Southern California. But it's totally wrong. Now think of what we've gathered up and what we're bringing to this point. Scripture and the confession is saying all the gifts that are poured out by the Spirit, endowed by the Spirit, are empowered by the Spirit. Let's look at three scripture passages that make this case, just in case you're in doubt. 1 Corinthians 12, 4 and following. 1 Corinthians 12, 4 and following. There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. So all comes from the same source. Verse 6, it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. There's no exclusions from this. This is every gift that's given to the church of Christ. Verse 7, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And verse 11, all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Again, think of secondly, 1 Peter 4. What does it say that each one should use their gift as good stewards by the strength that God supplies? Here's another passage, Romans 12, verses 4 through 8. There, Paul is saying the same thing. He's talking about there's one body, but it has many members. And he says in verse 6 there that these gifts differ according to the grace that's given. Each of them, verse 3 and 7, should be used according to the measure of faith that God assigns to us. But look at the sorts of things he talks about. It's not just some of what we call the spiritual gifts or word gifts. He talks about in verse 7, if it's in service, then you should be serving. Or in verse 8, he talks about if it's in contributing to the needs of the saints, you should do so in generosity. And then he says this if in acts of mercy, acts there it is, it's so explicit, do so with cheerfulness. And that's in a context where he's saying all of these things require God's grace. All these things are to be exercised by faith. These are spiritual ministries. And it brings us back to the insight of Dick Caffin. Now there's a real theologian for you. Dick Gaffin, his book on Prospectus on Pentecost, and he says, there is no distinction in the New Testament between charismatic and non-charismatic gifts. There's no such distinction. They're all charismatic gifts. All the gifts that are given to deacons are charismatic gifts, apportioned by the Spirit and strengthened by the Spirit. Deacons are called to serve and to comfort and to welcome and to encourage and to build up and to be kind to others and do good. But none of those things, none of those can be contrived naturally or done automatically. And there are seasons when you know that very well. If they're going to have the right spiritual effect, if they're going to bring about the spiritual fruit and the thanksgiving that we want from God's people, they need to be empowered by God. They need to be driven by prayer and that deep wisdom that we need. All these are in constant need of the spiritual power of God. All these are in need of that all-sufficient grace that we have in the head of the church. Think of the first deacons, and I agree with Bill about this, Acts 6, about these deacons. Why in the world would you look for deacons who could just do these outward things and not ask, we need men who are filled with the spirit and wisdom? If it were not true what I'm saying? Why would they lay hands upon them and pray over them if these things are not true? Deacons need wisdom, they need the spirit, and they need these things for the demands of their work. All ministry, whether it's meaning the inner man or the outer man, has to be shaped by these principles that we're talking about. I have said being a pastor is like being a farmer. I was raised in western Nebraska among farmers. That's the work I did growing up. But every farmer has a saying, a farmer's work is never done. You look out across those fields, you look at your stock that needs tending, you need you see the fence that needs to be fixed, you look at your buildings, all these things, and you see all the work that needs to be done, and it's more than these two hands can do. But a deacon feels no less. Those same things. As you look out upon your work, those visits, those visits that you need to make and they're overdue. The constant weight of your thinking of those in your church body who are wounded, and those those who are weak, and those who are high maintenance for good reasons. That reluctant member who's quietly eluding you because they're embarrassed about your last conversation when you were trying to ask them if they needed help. That one conversation that went bad, you need to make it right. That one case that's constantly weighing upon you, that last one that you got wrong, and that current case it has you totally mystified. Are deacons in any less need of spiritual encouragement and refreshment? Are they in any less need of prayer? What is prayer? Prayer is admitting to God that you have come to the end of your strength and your wisdom. You actually came to it earlier than now, you just didn't realize it. And you are desperate. You are desperately in need. Of his prayer, just as desperate as a pastor or an elder or a missionary or a teacher. And we pray when we realize that the results that we're labing for cannot come from our own doing, despite all of our talent, despite all of our hard work. And we pray when it sinks in that we are completely outmatched by the world and by our adversary, the devil, and our work. That's why Ollie Halsby in his book on prayer says this. He says, prayer is the most important work in the kingdom of God. He says this is true because it is a prerequisite to all the rest of the work we have to do in the kingdom of God. Whether it's preaching, pastoral work, meetings, administrative work, organizational work, and we could add diagonal work. Charles Bridges says this in his book on the Christian ministry. He says, prayer is only half our ministry. That's what gives power to the other half of our ministry. And this is true. Those horizontal needs. They're a multitude. They're considerable. And they're discouraging. But a deacon's hope is set on the vertical provision. Which is more than you could ever ask for imagine. Brothers, when we we think upon these things, and I keep talking about the spiritual fruit that comes from meeting any need. This really becomes like the last test of what we're talking about. What should be the result of what you meet the needs of the outer man or these outer things? Is the only result that that case number gets removed from an Excel file? It's like, okay, that case is done. Is that the way we look at it? Or is it supposed to produce something more than that? And the uniform testimony of the New Testament is that when we are meeting the needs of God's people, whether it's inner or outer, it has the same spiritual fruit. It brings forth the same things. So think of what Paul says in Philippians 4 to that Philippians church. Every other church had abandoned him. The optics were bad. Our guy's in prison. Alright, we're not going to fund him anymore. But one church stood with him. He says, You Philippians know yourselves that when I was left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you. You only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift. Listen to what he says here. But I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I am well supplied. Having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, listen to this, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Second Corinthians 9, Paul writes to the church there about the ministry for the saints. That's the word. But it means the offering that's being collected. And he says, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. Verse 11, it will produce thanksgiving to God. Verse 12. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for others. It's having in a spiritual effect. And then the previous chapter, 2 Corinthians 8, when he talks about this gift for the Macedonian churches, or from the Macedonian churches, he says, their abundance of joy, despite their poverty, overflowed in a wealth of generosity in their part. For they gave according to their means and beyond their means, begging us earnestly to take part in the relief of the saints. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you also excel in this act of what? Grace. Also, he puts it right in there among the rest of them. There is this spiritual activity that is taking place, even when you are meeting physical needs, it is bearing spiritual fruit. Brothers, we just simply think of how our Lord commended in all four gospels. We have this account of the woman went to his feet, perfumed his feet, and Christ said, This is a beautiful thing that she's done for my body. And wherever the gospel is preached, this will be said of her. Even when we're meeting the outer needs of the saints, we are doing great spiritual good that's encouraging the saints. And perhaps when we think of the most important spiritual fruit, what is it that sets us apart from any ordinary community? What sets us apart that proves we're truly a communion of saints? More than anything else, the New Testament's very clear. What is it? And it's love. It's love. John 13, 35. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And the New Testament's clear about this. In 1 John, we read of this obligation to love. 1 John 4, 7, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Verse 20 If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God, must also love his brother. You know this, right? But love is not just for meeting inward needs. It must also extend to outward needs. You know this more than anyone else. But in the previous chapter, John puts it this way in 1 John 3, 16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us, that we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. And you see, I think we can even say that the community of saints often find this most beautiful expression in tangible physical, physical needs when they're being met. And many of us in this room can testify to that point in time when that financial gift came unexpectedly in the nick of time. And many of you deacons have witnessed this when you came and you helped pay a bill or you provided that service, you were fixing a car or painting a room or a house, mowing a lawn, shoveling snow, delivering food, or doing a short-term mission trip for somebody. You were there when that outpouring of tears came. Because you brought relief. And in so doing, what did you do? You brought the love of Christ. And when we show that, when we show this genuine nature of our spiritual gifts and love, what are we doing? We are unveiling the true source of our life. It's the horizontal that begins to testify to the vertical. And the communion between brothers and sisters in Christ is revealing what? It's revealing that we have this living communion with God. And such grace and such kindness and gentleness and unselfishness and humility. This is not common in the world. This is not seen. And when the world sees this, when it watches the communion of the saints flourish with this kind of beauty, it beholds something that transcends their own experience and efforts. They sense something higher, something greater, something deeper. There's a fragrance of this world above. There's something holy about this, and the appeal is undeniable. Because it's so much more than a community. It's the community of the saints. And the ministry of mercy is at the heart of it. Is at the heart of it. But especially to these men, these deacons, who serve our church and serve us so well. We pray that because of this time together they will serve it better. That other office bearers to look at them with the respect that they deserve. And to pray for them and their ministry as they pray for their own ministry. We pray, Father, that we would all of us see ourselves as those who are in desperate need of your grace. And only by your spirit can we do the work that you've called us to do. And oh Father, help us to get beyond ourselves, beyond our sense of our own talents and gifts, and to see how greatly our people need Christ. They do not need us or what we have to offer. They need what Christ has to offer by the power of his spirit. So help us to turn again and again to you for all these things. And we pray this especially, Father, because we are concerned for the encouragement of the saints. We are concerned that they will give glory to the one who deserves the glory. And we desire that they would be much helped in their walk with Christ in this ugly world. We pray, Father, for our church in this regard that we'd be faithful. But faithful not only in the ministry of the word, not only in the faithful ministry of shepherding, but faithful in the ministry of mercy. Help us in these things. We thank you, Father, for the grace that Christ supplies for us to do these things. And we rejoice even now that the good fruit that will come to your church, especially as this world looks upon us longingly, desires to be part of a group of people that love each other like this. And as they come in our midst to hear and to see and to believe in the one who sacrificed himself for us, and to embrace him by faith, and to love him and to serve him and obey him to the end of days. We pray this, Father. We pray this fruit to come from all that we do. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_08 54:52

Brothers, if you have questions, uh Craig is willing to entertain them. If you do, if you might wouldn't mind just stand and also speak loudly. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Okay, like I'll just said brief your mind real-life scenario.

unknown 55:09

Regarding the question 26, that the states that's grouped in to their mutual education is also leaving each other an outward thing according to their general ability. Let me give you a scenario. You've got a whole list of widows, more widows coming every year. Some of them living in homes that they've lived in for years, two, three, four bedrooms.

SPEAKER_03 55:32

You've got other younger widows or single women struggling to, maybe 60, 70% of their income is going for apartment rent, which is going up.

unknown 55:44

Next time they signed releases, it's maybe going to cost more to stay in an apartment. Gas prices are going up.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

So the younger single women, they're like, well, maybe I should find an apartment someplace else, but it's so far away to find a cheap apartment that it's like the price of gas is like you come into our church. So you got this scenario like, how would you communicate to the older widows? We tried to communicate this and it never got to be on their requesting board, really. It kind of just like, well, it's too messy. So pop in the phones a little bit, besides your table. But you know, hearing you talk again today, it's like, how could you communicate to the older widows, you know what, you might need a new room. Why don't you rent a room to one of the younger widows? Then that could bring the roof, partly. But yet, you can't tell them what to do. That's where we ended up. You can't tell people what to do. Like if you see all the needs, it's like, you know, if you ladies will help each other. Can you communicate details like that, or should we just you know, give little hints in the prayer letter, or things like how do you teach a Sunday school class on it, or do you just like keep praying? This is what we're doing. We're just making the brain about it.

SPEAKER_01 57:11

Yeah, well, I'm glad we're starting with an easy one. It sounds like such a deacon question. Uh, ministers aren't competent to answer those kind of questions. But I I would turn to 1 Timothy 5. I mean, the principles are there about who should be enrolled. And it he Paul does lay out parameters in terms of how we assess need there. And he talks about real widows, not just widows, but real widows. And so he's saying there's a differentiation in terms of need. So I would I always would want to start there in terms of if I could put it this way, this is kind of crass, but not all widows are created equally, he's saying that there are some that can be a little bit more dependent upon family, others that are just that they literally, uh their life hangs and falls by the church. And so we have to assess those needs and and make those priorities. But I think, brother, yeah, I think to be candid, I I think unless you're encouraging sending threatening letters anonymously, threatening some sort of violence, which I don't think we encourage that in the church. I I think we have to be careful how far we can push somebody. And and a deacon understands this. When we're talking about uh somebody moving from the place that has been home for decades, where they raise children, it is it is so incredibly personal. And I I think the only thing I would tell you would be patients. No, I know what you're saying.

unknown 58:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

No, I yeah, no, I'm not saying I would. And what I was getting at was this is that you're this is a sacred place. Yeah, and so maybe even you're encouraging your open this sacred place to somebody else, maybe you don't know so well, maybe you don't trust, is asking that's a big ask. It does, it seems like a very practical, pragmatic thing, right? Good, you got three bedrooms, just rent one of those bedrooms.

SPEAKER_03 59:08

So that's that's where I'm struggling, is like we talk about the convenience of the saints, but then when you actually get into the practicality, say, but whoa, whoa, whoa, that's too messy. It's funny to actually practice the comedians of the saints.

SPEAKER_01 59:19

Yeah, no, it's tough it's tough. I mean, she might try and say, Well, you have an extra room, why don't you rent a room? And then you begin to feel what we're what we're talking about. And so I'm saying I would definitely include an elder in this, and and I would be praying over it and saying, are we are we going beyond our our bounds? And we do this all the time as officers. We overstep and we make bad mistakes, and and and there's this carnage. And so we have to be really careful about that. So that's why not even knowing the situation, I would be I would be hesitant to give you any advice in that.

SPEAKER_03 59:54

Well, where we're at right now if we just keep breaking on it.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

Yeah, and but I would but I would start to fill things out with some of these parties, and and if if you're just getting nothing but a stone wall, then I would say patience would be important there. I but I I understand what you're saying in terms of the costs and all that. That makes total sense. But it makes total sense to you. It doesn't make sense to her, but it's it's more than I think it's deeper. There's always a presenting issue, right? Then there's the deeper thing. So I think it's a great question. Ask somebody who knows what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_14 1:00:27

I uh offer a possible solution based on your comments, Dr. Crock. You connected the vertical to mercy, needs of mercy. You might have a conversation with these folks and state something clearly. How might you help to the elder widow? How might you help this younger widow worship better? How might you help her connect to the world?

unknown 1:01:00

How might we help her? She's in distress, she can't pay her bills. She's not at peace at the moment because of that, and her worship is being impacted.

SPEAKER_14 1:01:13

Would you be willing to help this younger widow become more at peace seeing the love of another study extend to her to help her connect to the world and love God better and work? If you emphasize what you did, I believe, emphasize the vertical first. Do the word God. I think that if you appeal to the sharing of gifts and grace to the Bible.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:52

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_13 1:01:54

So as you said you mentioned things like uh the emphasis and say the church on community, the common theme seed, uh you have to decide uh a community that's gonna be a bond, deep love, and people of knowing each other, meeting practical needs, and also being a witness to walk around you to see the love that we have, starting work on. I can't help think about something like community groups, especially coming out of COVID. Um people were not meeting it, even really friends too much, right now that we're fit. Community groups, at least for my current little murder conversation, good murmur, uh, what about community groups? Um, is this something that you think is fit with that vision of the community of things? If so, um, what are you perhaps saying here today are so uh things to pursue in these community groups and things to avoid? Here any practical uh principle of wisdom that you have to help move a church in the direction of community groups.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:13

Yeah, I should I should say one thing I meant to say in my talk too um your church may have a vision statement or mission statement, and it has the phrase in it building community. I'd say one thing that's not necessarily bad. Number two, your deacons, that was the elders that put that in there, it's not your fault. Um is a good day to be a deacon. Um elders aren't here, we can trash it, we can take them, guys. Ministers and deacons together. But um be very clear, that's not a bad phrase, and it's not you should go home and take it out. That's not what I'm saying. It's like as long as we understand what community means to us, and that outside of Christ we have no community. So that's not your question, but I just thought it was an important qualifier. Um, we're interested in the substance, right? So I have not pastored a church where we had community groups or small groups. A couple pieces of advice would be though, definitely you want to talk to others about mistakes that they've made and successes that they've enjoyed. You want to speak to those who who kind of have been bumped and bruised through this and have perhaps come to some conclusions that would really help you in your church. So there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors. This can be done very well. It can also be done in a way that and will be detrimental to your church, especially to her inner unity. So nothing in a small group should run uh at cross purposes with the allegiance to the larger church body. It can never undercut that larger fellowship. It should never ever undercut the ministry of the word, for instance. So we believe all the gifts of the Spirit are endowed by the Spirit, but we do believe there's a difference between sacraments and means of grace, and that not all means of grace are sacraments, all the sacraments are means of grace, but not all means of grace are on the same level. The ministry of the word is is a very, it's a particular status. And that can be certainly exercised in a general way, I mean ministering the word in a small group, but it can't be across purposes with the ministry of the word in the Lord's day. And and I I happen to agree with Bill on this, um, that I think that communion of the saints and the in the and the fellowship, that is a means of grace. Very clearly, it's a distribution of the Spirit, even 1 Corinthians 12 says to each. But it doesn't mean they're all on the same level in terms of as means of grace. And so we want to make that distinction. It seems to me that's an important one. So there's a lot of good that can take place there, but it can never supplant, it can never take the place of what happens with regard to the charge God has given, Christ has given to his larger church. Like if you go to a small group and they're saying, hey, we're having the Lord's Supper today, it's like, Okay, we need to rethink the small group. I mean, I love the deacon we have, but I don't think he's supposed to be doing this. And so there's all kinds of things that can happen. Um and you just need to make sure they're uh being resourced well in terms of leadership and accountability. I don't think it means you have to have an elder in every group, but it means you have to have somebody that's trustworthy. Paul talks about that in trusting the gospel to reliable men. I don't think that means just ordain people. Or something else is going to say. I think you just have to take those precautions and make sure that you have a good assessment plan, like how are we doing? How are we really doing and how are we using our time? And I think part of the social fabric of that, the fellowship, we learned the last two years how important it was for us simply to be together just fellowshipping. Before we even talk about means of grace, I just want to look you in the face. I mean, the first time some people came back to church and we sang together the first time, they are crying tears. Like we did not realize how thirsty we were for this. So that is an important component. We've learned that. Okay, we're not gonna make that mistake again. And so I think that's an important part of that fabric. But it's gotta be, you know, word-centered for sure. There's got to be something with the word happening there. So I I would say that's good. I mean, we're talking about this in our in our session too. Our pastor Eric Watkins, we get confused all the time for each other. People come up to me and say, Are you Eric Watkins? Because we look so much so similar. Um but he's had experience in this, and he's here, and you should definitely talk to him about it. And other ministers too. Find them and other deacons or elders who've had experience in this. And again, tell me what worked, what did not work. To me, that's so important. That's school of hard knocks. That's how we that's why I'm a good PT professor. Here are seven things you should never do in a wedding. And I and I've done them all. Right. All right.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:49

Bruce McHowell, Hubert, Georgia. Question for you in the school for fostering communist things. Do you have any recommendations about how deacons should be interfacing with session elders?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:06

Well, I'm I'm gonna say this for the third time. I agree with Bill Shishko. You know, I was last night he said three times. I'm sure Craig's gonna talk about this. I thought I should get two hours for all the stuff I'm gonna address. Yeah, see, our book talks about this. It doesn't require how often, but deacons and elders should be meeting together. I mean, you've got to be doing that. And you're doing it all the time informally anyway. But I think it would be to sit down and talk and say, how can we do this? Where can we help you in this ministry? And I think um we we need to just pay attention to space. Like when we even set up a room. How is the room situated? Is it really situated for conversation? Is it situated in such a way that there's a feeling that we're together? I think those are just important practical questions. Uh, most of you don't know what I'm talking about. Ask your wife, she knows exactly what I'm talking about. But I mean, there's there's paying attention to those details and asking the elders where they need help with that, that's the sort of conversation I would have.

SPEAKER_12 1:09:02

I so I don't have something more specific, but this church in Columbus, Ohio. Uh Greg, I I uh think it's important that deacons teach to train members how to be gospel focused, spirit-built in terms of the work that they do. What are some practical ways that we as deacons train, teach, encourage, and support our members in gospel-filled diaphragm ministry in our churches?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:36

Boy, I I wish I had just a backlog of wisdom and experience on this. I think this is one of the areas where I I was probably weakest in my ministry. I've talked to a lot of ministers who who feel that one of the areas where we feel really um shorthanded is um training our deacons. Because an officer training, in my opinion, and uh what I've done is is it's mostly individual, but the heavy emphasis early in my ministry was on the doctrinal standards. So that's a given. We need to have all of our officers trained well in the doctrinal standards. But as I moved along the ministry, it tended more towards like what's the actual function of the office. So for elder we're spending a lot of time in shepherding. And in our session meetings, we would spend 10, 15 minutes beginning reviewing a three-year cycle, and one of those cycles was shepherding. What are we when you go to the hospital? What are you doing? What should be your goal? We need something similar for deacons. And I think that's where a minister's got to come alongside a deacon and say, You really need to help me out. And that's an area where I felt like I felt short of my two pastorates. Just did not do that well enough, didn't have the vision for it, didn't have the experience for it, and look back upon it with some regret. But I definitely could say, you could, there's no reason why you can't have a workshop. We have all kinds of workshops. We have teacher workshops. We get all our Sunday school teachers together, we bring somebody who knows what they're talking about, and have a Saturday workshop, throw in a lunch. And those are really helpful for our teachers, but why couldn't you do that for people in your church? Not just candidates for deacons, but anybody who you really think has a gift for serving you, they just they just are doing stuff. You grab them and bring them and have them bring somebody else that they think has some ability and and use some of the materials you you can get from our denominational committee. I mean, they they're probably more helpful to you than I am, which means I just wasted your time. But those are some ideas. A Sunday school series? Why couldn't you do a Sunday school class? When we do the doctrine of the church, we always do chapter 25. Why not include some goodies? Like, well, here's what deacons are doing, and here's what you can here's what you can do to help the deacons. Why not do that?

SPEAKER_11 1:11:45

So I've noticed over the years and uh a couple times that I've served as a deacon, that we need to look at our congregation for the gifts and talents that they have, right? Male or female. And especially as a deacon, when we have these situations with females, that we need to be aware of our female congregation and have them on the shoulder for their years of experience or their trials and tribulations that they've been through. And the next deacons equip those women and give them the resources or the monies they need and the labor they need to help these women out. It just goes miles. And it goes with the same thing with us males, right? We don't like to put our heart on our sleeves, and we have the tennis need bottle that up. But then when you get uh an older gentleman of the church that's been there done that, that you have them on the shoulder and you have them go meet with Jimmy or Steve and equip them as well. You know, as a deacon, you need to use your resources, and a lot of those resources that you can use are right there in your own congregation.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:58

Um you read from uh question one, uh, it's all saints are united to Jesus Christ, and therefore being united to one another as well, you have communion on each other's gifts great. Uh, I noticed I think if you uh paraphrase or substitute communion with God is vertical communion with one another. Um, is question one referring to being united to Christ to the doctrine of union with God, the union believer to God? And if so it's very, which doesn't describe a lot of horse. Is there a similar doctrine to union of Christian uh to one another in law? And if so, can you make the same sorts of uh states that you did about communion of believers? Because it's the question is the communion of saints not the union of saints and one another, but I use the term united for both the horizontal key words.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:53

Yeah, I we we certainly have the idea of our being united to one another. I'd have to think about that more. That's interesting. I don't think, offhand, I don't think there's a parallel construction there. The parallel is that because we're united to Christ in all of his work, as you know, like Calvin had to say this, Christ closed with this gospel means that that all that he has purchased for us, and that includes the Spirit, it's derivative of that that we have this union with one another and and communion. Our standards do distinguish between union and communion. There's a catechism that talks about that, and our union with Christ cannot be jeopardized. It's a it's a bond that cannot be undone to the praise of Christ and his completed work. The same is not true with our communion, that is often jeopardized. There's many seasons when we can have doubt and all sorts of things like that. In that sense, maybe you could draw a parallel that the church is one, but there are seasons when we don't feel that communion with each other, maybe. But in terms of a strict theological construction, I don't think it would probably work. But I could I had to think about it more. It's an interesting question.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:58

Do you have the advice for churches like ours in Florida, which seems to have a large uh portion of the congregation, which is elderly and retired, uh, and then a number of younger families? The two don't always necessarily mix easily and have that fellowship. You know, do you have any advice on ways to pull everyone together to methods of fellowship that would foster this community in the saints?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:29

Yeah, it it doesn't take much. I think you just have to plant a few seeds. That was true. It when I first came to Calvary, there was one child in the nursery that was my son Philip. It was an older congregation. And just talking to a few younger families and saying, Would you consider sitting with this widow on Sundays? Just kind of adopt her. Now you you kind of have to scope this out and get a sense of I think this is something they would be interested in doing. And just ask them, you know, more generally how they think they could uh meet their needs. But I think something like that would be very helpful. Do something nobody ever does at a church mill, give a signed seating, you know? Or give a signed seating to one table and that table goes first. Um you know, I I think there's ways you could gently contrive that cross-pollination, but I think it's singling out a few people that you sense already have a strong gift of hospitality on the younger side, but then also maybe encouraging uh some older saints. I remember there's one uh saint who has gone to be with Christ and when I came to Calvary, who said to me once, these seminary students they don't pay for their seats and they're gone before you know it. And it was her way of saying, I'm not gonna pay them any attention. And I remember talking to her and just simply saying, you know, there's another way of looking at this. And I won't give you the long conversation. The next thing I know is she adopted this seminary family that would have them over, and that bond between them, by the time that that seminary uh family graduated, she was distraught in the in the most beautiful sense of the word. It was like her sending off her own children. And and that man I'm talking about, he and I conducted her funeral together, and he was her first choice. I was I was his his wingman, and as it should have been, and it was beautiful, and that it just that's just how it started, and just a couple things like that, and before you know it, you have these people talking to each other, and especially a teenager, a teenage uh young lady who has some questions, steer her towards an older saint and and just just let it happen. And I mean it's really amazing when you see that, when you see a 75-year-old widow and a teenager talking to her and they're both lighting up. It's it's really beautiful. So I think just a gentle nudge. But again, as our brother said, you know, having an eye out for gifts. Every pastor at a church gathering is doing that. His his radar is up, he's looking who's naturally serving, who's leading, who are people gathered around? You know, who's the person who's showing kindness? Who's the person who's such a good listener? You know, you're tapping into those, those are going into the data bank because you're you're thinking, those are future leaders, these are future servants.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:26

We have time for one more.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:30

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:30

Uh Lou Fawkett Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. Um I appreciate what you said regarding what you mentioned a few times the pandemic and how COVID really exposed a lot of our inabilities to have that community and that community of the saints. I agree with so wonderful to get back into worship and we realized you know just what we missed and how much we created. As a deacon, I'm particularly concerned is uh I recognized a lot of the uh particular demographics that I'm I'm I have for elderly, uh, those with special needs. There were extra challenges in providing that type of community of things. My question for you is uh unfortunately I'm not sure many in our congregations and even within our leadership recognize that same challenge. And in many cases, weren't very antagonistic towards that. And I don't know, I wanted to hear your thoughts on how do we expose that, how do we address that, and you know what could be said, you know, post-pandemic, or even if that were to come again, how could you bring to light some of those extra challenges that are for such a critical uh community of saints out for those for that particular demographic?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:51

Well, I mean I mean on one on one level we're talking about a deeper spiritual problem, and that it has to be addressed. The question is how? Do you address it right from the pulpit? That's our sometimes that's our knee-jerk. It's like, well, I'm gonna preach a sermon on this, and I'm not sure that's always the right approach. Sometimes it is, to be very straightforward. But I think there's lots of training that can take place in Sunday school or informally, maybe one-on-one, grabbing two or three people that you think could be really helpful. But there's a but hospitality is not just an outward expression, it's it's there's an attitude, it's a love of strangers, it's this outgoing, moving beyond my comfort zone. And and some of our saints have a hard time with it, but that's a command for all scripture. Elders, ministers are supposed to be experts in this, it's a requirement of their office, and so they set the example that way. But all of us are meant to express this and have this looking out uh towards others, especially those in need. So I think it has to be addressed uh directly, but whether it's you know, asking the pastor to consider whether it should be talked about from the pulpit, uh picking an appropriate passage, and there are many of them that talk about the compassion we should have towards this group in our church, um, or just pulling different individuals out of the church that we that we talk to one-on-one. There's so much that needs to be done one-on-one. We've we've lost our edge on discipleship and the significance and the power of doing things one-on-one. Discipleship ministry, there's so much there. I mean, look at the ministry of our Lord. So I I want only with the 12 guys for this one. I want you three. I mean, so much of his ministry, he's comfortable talking to thousands, but but so much of it is this concentrated form of ministry. I think that means something. I'm just guessing. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Um so we shouldn't feel like we're wasting our time. We're so impacted by the idea of platform and influence. And that's overrated. You know, look to the master in this. And so I think being content with a few people and saying, this is a problem, we we need help. The other thing is deacons should always feel free to delegate, and and you're you always should be recruiting help. You should have no problem asking people for help in these situations. And if you feel like you're not you're running into roadblocks there, then you talk to the elders and the minister and saying, we think we're running into kind of a little bit of a spiritual problem here. And that's again, that's that cross-section of inner uh communication. So that's off the cuff. That's a it's a good question.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:28

Hello, this is Tim Hopper, a deacon from Shiloh Presbyterian Church and a member of the Committee on Diaconal Ministries. I hope you found some good takeaways from this episode with Reverend Troxel on the Deacon and his congregation, as well as the other episodes from the National Diaconal Summit 4 that occurred in the summer of 2022, all previously released on the Reformed Deacon. This is the final episode of the National Diaconal Summit series, but if you missed any of these invaluable episodes, make sure to go back and listen or watch the video versions on opccdm.org. The last thing I wanted to mention is to our Presbytery Diaconal Committee members. The Committee on Diaconal Ministry of the OPC and the Committee on Ministerial Care are happy to announce that the next Presbytery Diaconal Summit is being planned for Thursday, November 2nd until Saturday, November 4th, 2023, in Chicago, Illinois. The summit is exclusively for OPC Presbytery Diaconal Committee members. You can find out much more, including the possibility to have your travel covered by the CDM and CMC. Just go to opccdm.org and find out more.

David Nakhla 1:23:36

Thanks for joining us. Go to our website, thereformdeacon.org. There you will find all our episodes, program notes, and other helpful resources. And please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of the Reform Deacon Podcast.