Video Transcript: Serving Well: Excellent Standing and Assurance

Session 5 — Serving Well: Excellent Standing and Assurance

Opening Reflections

Bruce:
All right, we are back on session five of this Deacon course. We have journeyed through looking a little bit at what does it look like—the character, a little bit of what the deacon is going to do.

And now we’re going to dive a little deeper on this kind of passage that we came across: those who serve well gain an excellent standing. So let’s explore that.

Abigail:
Yeah.

Good News for Deacons

Bruce:
There is good news for the deacons. Good news—those who have served well gain an excellent, excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

That phrase—gain an excellent standing. When you think of people that you know—you grew up in a ministry household—who stands out to you as somebody who says, “That was…”

Examples of Faithful Service

Abigail:
I think it’s that path. It really exempts it so well. The people that really stand out—in just, you know, my dad’s ministry and all the church planting that I kind of observed—are the ones that really served so faithfully.

They were tested, they dealt with many difficult situations, and they continually kept that attitude and character of the servant heart. Someone who, again, is strong and assured in their faith.

And I just love that. Those are the people that stand out.

I think of this one woman who—she was the absolute example of this. She would fill every need. Whether it was the child, whether it was somebody dealing with grief, whether it was this or that.

And she would just get on the floor playing with a baby. You saw that she lived that out.

She’s one of those people where I’ll always think back: what an example. What an example of just, again, someone who’s so in love with Jesus it just comes out in every area of their life.

Influence and Standing

Bruce:
Yeah. So if you do this—you do this deacon thing well—this is again Paul referring to deacons as he writes to his son Timothy: you gain an excellent standing.

Now basically what that means is you gain influence. People are going to look at you, and they’re going to listen to you.

So I began thinking about some of those people in my life. And one of them is now with the Lord. Here’s his gravestone—I did find that. It was in my church in California. His name is Hubert.

He had an interesting nickname, which was an offensive nickname, and yet he bore it so well people never noticed it. His nickname was Honky.

Abigail:
Nicknames. I called my kid, like, “Wait a minute!”

Bruce:
Yeah. He carried that through life. But talk about a man of influence.

This guy served—you know, we had a rule that you could serve three years and then you had to be out at least two before you could become part of the church council again. And so he would do that.

Finally, he got to be in his seventies, and someone came to him and asked if he’d be willing to serve again, have his name put in the pot. And he said, “No. I’m too busy right now.”

A Life of Service

Bruce:
Well, what he was busy with—you know, and I wish I could find a picture of him, I wish I could—he rode around (this is in Chino, California, town of about 100,000 people, pretty closely impacted, a lot of new developments, but a lot of old parts of the city).

And he would ride around on this old beat-up bike. Here’s somebody who had some means. He didn’t have to do that. But he had this old beat-up bike. He had a big old cowboy hat on.

And he’d ride that bike throughout the city. And anytime he saw anybody who needed anything, he would stop.

And he was known throughout the entire area as Honky—which is quite a surprise. But anyway, this man had such influence in the church.

I was the third pastor of that church, and I heard the stories. Then I got to know him. In fact, he was the chairman of the church council when I came there as pastor. And I knew that anything new that was going to be proposed—I would call Honky and say, “Can I buy you lunch?”

And we’d sit and have lunch, and I would run it by him. Because I knew if he wasn’t for it, it wasn’t going to happen. He had that standing.

Thankfully, there were times he’d say, “Yeah.” Or a couple times, “No. I don’t see that in this world, in this society right now, that we’re going to spend money on that.”

But that’s it—those who have served well gain an excellent standing. People will listen to them.

Influence Without Power-Seeking

Abigail:
Somebody like Honky is such a good example. He had gained that standing, but it wasn’t because he was trying to have power. It wasn’t about that at all.

Bruce:
Right. Exactly. And so anyway, that’s the good news. It’s really good news. You can gain an excellent standing. You are representing the heart of Jesus for his church and the world.

You can be someone who holds the church to its desires and views. Personally, I think churches today in the United States—many of them—are focusing on the wrong things. You could be somebody who influences: What do we need to be? What do we need to do as a church?

So yes—Honky was one of those. Precious person. I got to do his funeral.

Assurance and Boldness

Bruce:
So that’s the first thing. That’s good news. Good news—you gain an excellent standing. It’s worth serving for that.

And a second part of the good news is: you receive great assurance in your faith in Jesus Christ.

Now I think this means that there’s somebody who has a confidence and a boldness about their life. Because if you’re trying to meet needs in the name of Jesus, you’re going to see God meet those needs.

Abigail:
What a testimony. Like, I feel like getting to be here at CLI—I agree. The activator now, and it’s just excavator after excavator. You just see how God is showing up. And it’s like—you’re just so overwhelmed that, yeah, doubts are completely like, “No, you can’t have them.”

What I’ve seen God do—it’s incredible. And it’s such a testimony. And I love being out with students, like, taking these courses and just being engaged to gain so much more assurance.

Example: Bold Faith in Missions

Bruce:
Right. Yeah. Again—this person is now dead—but Bill Zondervan, part of the Zondervan publishing house family, was a member of my church.

And he was part of our missions team that I mentioned earlier. We had this crazy year. Every year we would do a service where we challenged people to give beyond what they give regularly to the church general fund—to give a special amount for missions, locally, regionally, nationally, internationally.

One year, pledges came in at triple what they had been the year before.

I was sitting in that meeting, a man of not-great faith at the time, saying, “I’m not so sure we can budget that much money. I think it was a flash-in-the-pan kind of thing.”

And Bill just said, “Wait a minute. This is where faith comes in. These people have said they’ll give. And if we step out boldly and make the commitment to support these missions and missionaries, God will supply.”

And he won the day.

I remember that meeting incredibly, because it was boldness.

Lessons in Boldness

Bruce:
Now I’ve gotten a lot bolder as I’ve gotten older—because I’ve seen God showing up.

In California, when the first recommendation of relocating the church came up, I thought, “Oh no.” We projected it would take three years. It took six and a half. We projected a certain number of millions. It took double that.

And I remember saying, “I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if this can really happen.”

And another guy, chairman of our building committee, took me out for lunch. He said, “At that time, 60% of our community is unchurched. It’s going to take bold steps to reach them. God is bringing us the people. We’ve got to take the steps.”

And he won the day.

That building in Southern California was built as a result. In fact, they’re adding on to it. They’ve developed three congregations there: a Chinese congregation, a Korean congregation, and an English-speaking congregation.

So boldness matters. If you serve well, you gain assurance and boldness.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

Bruce:
But—you will. God’s going to do something. And you know what to believe in. But there’s bad news too.

I am a lover of history. This is a picture of a sniper in the U.S. Civil War. A new tactic was developed—snipers. The sharpest shooters, not aiming at general soldiers, but at the officers.

In fact, back then, officers would sometimes dress down, because they knew the enemy was gunning for them.

What I’ve realized in ministry is this: who is the enemy shooting at now? Generally speaking, the enemy is at work everywhere. But he has a real, pointed interest in bringing down leaders—people of boldness, people of excellent standing.

I entered ministry in 1979. Yeah, I’m that old.

And here’s the thing: in seminary, I learned nothing about spiritual warfare. Not one course. Nothing.

Learning About the Enemy

Bruce:
What I learned was from C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, and from reading Ephesians 6:10–18—the armor of God.

But here’s the reality: if you are going to be a leader in the church, you are going to be dealing with spiritual warfare at an increased level.

CLI has a whole course on spiritual warfare. I encourage you to take it. But you’ve got to know: if you’re equipping people for ministry, if you’re a leader, you will be more attacked than someone just barely surviving as a Christian with little influence.

Illustration: General Patton

Bruce:
One thing that’s helped me is the movie Patton. There’s a scene where General Patton is facing Erwin Rommel, the most effective German general of World War II.

Patton’s tanks are winning. And he says—don’t know if he actually said it, but the movie has him say it—“Rommel, you blankety-blank, I read your book!”

In other words, I know your tactics. I know what you’re going to do. And I’ve prepared the counterattack.

That’s how I think of spiritual warfare. We’ve got to know the enemy’s tactics.

Who the Enemy Is

Bruce:
Ezekiel 28 describes him: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God… until wickedness was found in you.”

Isaiah 14: “You were anointed as a guardian cherub. You were on the holy mount of God… until pride filled your heart. So I threw you to the earth.”

Revelation 12: “War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon… but he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him. He leads the whole world astray.”

He’s called: prince of this world, prince of the power of the air, god of this age, murderer, liar, the tempter, roaring lion, father of lies.

Abigail:
I always am so struck by that name—the father of lies. Because when you think about it, lies are the foundation of so much that goes astray. You lie about money, you live double-tongued, you weave dishonesty—it starts with a lie.

The Armor of God

Bruce:
Exactly. That’s why Ephesians 6 is so important. The armor of God:

• Belt of truth.
• Shoes of the gospel of peace.
• Helmet of salvation.
• Shield of faith.
• Breastplate of righteousness.

We need all of it, because if you’re a deacon trying to make a difference, you’re going to be attacked.

At one point in my spiritual walk, during very challenging times, I would consciously pray each day: “Lord, I put on the helmet of salvation. I put on the belt of truth. I put on the breastplate of righteousness. I equip my feet with the gospel of peace.”

Because you need the armor.

Closing

Bruce:
So, here’s the reality. If you serve well, you gain excellent standing. You gain assurance and boldness. That’s the good news.

But the other side is—you will face spiritual attack. Because the enemy loves to target leaders.

Abigail:
Right. But we’re not in the ministry of fear.

Bruce:
Amen. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

So, see you next time.