is good news from a far country'.  Thus the faithful messenger and the good

news he brings, refresh the heart of God and man.  To be a messenger of the

Lord, therefore, is no small privilege.

Hebrews 1:14 has already shown us that messengers can be ministers.

Let us look at this aspect of service.  The words that are most frequently

translated 'minister' and 'to minister' in the New Testament are diakonos and

diakoneo.  Some derive the word from the Greek, 'through the dust',

indicating a runner in the hot dusty lands of the Bible.  Whether or not this

is true we cannot say, but the first thought associated with this form of

service is lowliness.  It is the kind of service that waits on others.  In

the narrowest sense it is a 'waiting at table'.  The essence of this aspect

of ministry is seen in Christ Himself:

'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister ... Even

as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and

to give His life a ransom for many' (Matt. 20:26,28).

The Lord's own example in John 13 fills out the words just quoted:

'If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought

to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that ye

should do as I have done to you' (John 13:14,15).

The reader will hardly need reminding that the word 'deacon' is the

Anglicized form of the Greek word diakonos (see e.g. Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8).

Another aspect of ministry is found in the word used by Paul of himself

in Romans 15:16: 'That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ'.

Here the word is leitourgos, and its verbal form leitourgeo.  Its

meaning is 'public service', derived from leitos, 'public' (which comes from

laos, 'people') and ergon, 'a work'.  At Athens, the leitourgoi were people

of substance, who were obliged to assume certain responsibilities at their

own expense.  The word is used in the LXX (Psa. 102:21; 103:21 in the A.V.)

of the ministry of the priests, and this aspect is evidently in view in the

New Testament usage.  It is so used in Luke 1:23 of the priest Zachariah, and

in Hebrews 10:11.  A reference to 'public ministry' in the Athenian sense of

the term is found in Romans 13:4,6, where the 'powers that be' are in view.

The word also occurs in Romans 15:27, in reference to the contribution made

by the Gentiles for the poor saints at Jerusalem.  'It is their duty', says

the apostle, with an evident allusion to the obligation resting upon the men

of substance at Athens.

One other word must be considered before we conclude our study, and

that is huperetes, literally 'an under -rower'.  It indicates a subordinate

position, and may refer either to the relationship between the Lord's servant

and the Lord Himself, or the relationship between one servant of the Lord and

another.  Paul was an 'under -rower', and gladly accepted the office:

'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister

and a witness' (Acts 26:16).

The lowest office is mentioned first.  He could only be a witness, and

an apostle, as he, the under -rower, recognized the Lordship of Christ.  John

Mark was given to Saul and Barnabas as their 'under -rower'.  But he failed,