Deacon Ordination and Installation

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 150:1-6
• Hymn — Doxology
• Prayer of Invocation
• Scripture Reading — Luke 13:10-17
• Sermon
• Hymn — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Ordination Vows
• Laying on of Hands and Prayer
• Declaration of Ordination
• Exhortation to the Deacons — 1 Timothy 3:8-13
• Charge to the Congregation — Ephesians 4:11-16
• Hymn — The Church's One Foundation
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Service That Brings Sabbath Rest

Scripture: Luke 13:10-17

I. Physical Service That Brings Sabbath Rest

A. The Sabbath principle connects rest with provision and wholeness

1. God's rest on the seventh day coincides with satisfaction in completed, whole creation
2. The fourth commandment requires care for sons, daughters, servants, livestock, and sojourners — all must be provided for so all may rest
3. Sabbath rest is not opposed to service; the two go hand in hand

B. Jesus heals the bent woman to bring her into full Sabbath enjoyment

1. The ruler of the synagogue ironically upholds the Sabbath principle by watering his animals, yet withholds it from an image-bearer of God
2. After her healing, the woman immediately glorifies God in the synagogue — physical welfare enables full worship

C. The Sabbath year and Year of Jubilee extend the principle to financial and material welfare — Leviticus 25:6

1. Every seventh year the land rests and its yield provides for all in covenant — people, servants, sojourners, and animals
2. The fiftieth year cancels debts and frees slaves, linking mercy and provision to Sabbath rest

D. The diaconal office embodies this principle in the church

1. The PCA Book of Church Order: the office of deacon is one of sympathy and service after the example of Jesus Christ
2. Acts 2:45 — believers sold possessions and distributed to any who had need
3. The qualifications for deacon in 1 Timothy 3 are ordinary Christian virtues — the whole congregation shares responsibility, not deacons alone
4. No member should come to Lord's Day worship with unmet physical needs; corporate worship is scarred when any member lacks daily provision

II. Spiritual Service That Brings Sabbath Rest

A. The woman's affliction is fundamentally spiritual, not merely physical

1. Luke 13:11 — she has a "disabling spirit," not simply a broken body
2. Luke 13:16 — Jesus declares Satan had bound her for eighteen years; Christ looses the bond on the Sabbath

B. Jesus' healing enacts the reversal of the curse and the dawning of true Jubilee

1. God's own Sabbath rest was rest in the goodness and completeness of creation before the Fall
2. Christ's healing of the woman turns back the curse, restoring the Sabbath joy God himself enjoys
3. The Year of Jubilee was inaugurated on the Day of Atonement — Leviticus 25 — linking physical release with atoning grace

C. Jesus announces the fulfillment of Jubilee in Luke 4

1. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to proclaim liberty to the captives… to set at liberty those who are oppressed… to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor"
2. The physical and material release of Jubilee is an outward sign of the spiritual freedom won through substitutionary atonement at the cross
3. At Calvary the trumpet of Jubilee sounds — the serpent's head is crushed and souls purchased by Christ's blood are freed from bondage to sin and death

D. Diaconal ministry manifests this spiritual freedom before the watching world

1. Galatians 5:1 — "For freedom Christ has set us free"
2. The Lord's Prayer uses Jubilee language: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"
3. The PCA Book of Church Order: the office of deacon is spiritual in nature; deacons are not glorified janitors but hold an office as spiritual as the eldership
4. As deacons give and provide in the name of Christ they also pray in the name of Christ, caring for both body and soul
5. The whole congregation likewise is called to let lips "drip with grace, mercy, and love" as physical mercy ministry becomes a display of the gospel
6. What Jesus often says before healing — "Your sins are forgiven" — binds bodily and spiritual wholeness together; deacons emulate this by serving both body and soul so the congregation may together rest in the Lord and glorify him