WHY ASPIRING TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP CAN BE A GOOD THING
(I Tim. 3:1)
OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1-20 to 3:7
1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for God and the blessings He
bestows on His people.
1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesus and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.
1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow Christians, the non-
Christian world)
1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)
1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)
1:11 – Our Relationship with “The Blessed God.” (Causing God pain or joy)
1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.
1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.
1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.
1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.
1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.
2:1-3 The Christian is to pray for all men.
2:4,6 Comparison of Calvinism & Armenianism.
2:5-6 The man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator.
2:1-7 The vision, the message, the means.
2:8-15 Treatment of women in the ancient world, the early church and the Bible.
2:8-15 Three key hermeneutic principles to follow when studying the Bible.
2:8 Praying Men with Peaceful Hearts
2:9-10 A First-Century Christian Woman’s Dress and Deeds
2:11-12 Does Submission Demand Silence?
2:13-15 Paul’s Logic for Requiring Women to Be Silent in The Ephesian House Churches.
3:1 Why Aspiring to Church Leadership Can Be a Good Thing.
1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Background of I Timothy up to 3:1: Paul spent 3 yrs in Ephesus. Later at Miletus gives speech to elders (Acts 20) telling them that some of them will become false teachers. Several years later sends Timothy to Ephesus to “…command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies” (I Tim. 1:3). Then he gives his testimony, refers to he excommunication of some false teachers, explains about worship (pray for all men for God wants all to be saved) which includes keeping the women from being involved in spreading false teaching.
2. Five “Faithful Sayings” in the Pastoral Epistles
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst (I Tim. 1:15).
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task (I Tim. 3:1).
This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come (I Tim. 4:8-9).
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself (II Tim. 2:11-13).
This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone (Titus 3:8).
3. Bishops and Elders, any difference?
a. On the first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas appointed elders (Acts 14:23).
b. “Modern scholarship is practically unanimous in holding that
in the early Church the presbuteros (presbyter) and the episkopos (bishop) were one and the same” (Barclay, pg. 71).
c. Acts 17:1, “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders (presbyters) of the church” …. And in Acts 20:28 towards the end of his discourse says, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has mad you overseers (bishops).” Peter deals with this in the same way in I Peter 5:1-2, using interchangeably the words for bishop and elder.
d. “In sum, ‘the title episkopos (bishop/overseer) denotes the function, presbyteros (presbyter/elder) the dignity, the former was borrowed from Greek institutions, the latter from Jewish’” (Stott, pg. 90).
4. So, should we have elders, bishops or presbyters?
a. The Episcopal system places authority in ministers, the chief ministers being bishops.
b. The Presbyterian system places authority not only in ministers, but in laypersons as well.
c. The Congregational system places authority in the church.
d. “The development of the ‘monarchical episcopate’ (a single bishop preside over a college of presbyters) cannot be dated earlier than Ignatius of Syrian Antioch, c. AD 110.” (Stott, pg. 90)
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task (I Tim. 3:1).
1. GOOD CHURCH LEADERSHIP PROTECTS CHURCH AGAINST FALSE TEACHING.
QUESTION: Why does Paul focus on eldership in this letter?
2. CHRISTIANS TEND TO DISDAIN A PERSON WHO CRAVES LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH.
QUESTION: What strikes a modern day reader odd about vs 1?
a. We tend to disdain people who are eager to lead.
b. ‘sets his heart’ is the same Greek word used for ‘covet’ in I Tim 6:10, “Some people eager for (coveting) money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
3. PROPER REASONS FOR DESIRING TO BE A LEADER IN THE CHURCH.
a. A desire to exercise a person’s spiritual gifts.
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given forthe common good” (I Cor. 12:1).
“ … eagerly desire spiritual gifts” (I Cor. 14:1).
“Do not neglect your gift which was given you” (I Tim.4:14).
“…fan into flame the gift of God which is in you” (II Tim. 1:6).
* From a human perspective, fanning the flame is a Self-Actualization event – We may define it as an episode, or a spurt in which the powers of the person come together in a particularly efficient and intensely enjoyable way, and in which he is more integrated … more perfectly … spontaneous, or fully functioning, more creative … He becomes in these episodes more truly himself, more perfectly actualizing his potentialities, closer to the core of his Being, more fully human. (Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
* From a divine perspective, fanning the flame is good stewardship. Story of the 1, 2 and 5 talents. “The master was furious. “That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? (Mt. 25:26, The Message).
b. Skills needed in I Tim. 3:1-7 & gifting of Spirit in Romans 12:6:8.
6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully (Rom. 12:6-8).
1) Skills an elder needs according to I Tim. 3:2-7
QUESTION: What skills does an elder need according to I Tim. 3:2-7?
2) Gifts of an elder in Romans 12:6-8
QUESTION: What gifts of the Spirit in Romans 12:6-8 match these skills?
ANSWER: Teaching; Managing; Hospitality (mercy, giving).
c. A desire to “serve the church”
QUESTION: What is the Biblical / Christian definition of leadership? Who is our model?
“…Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers …eager to serve; not lording over those entrusted to you …” (I Pt. 5:2-3).
Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest. But Jesus intervened: “Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It’s not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant. Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves (Luke 22:24-27, The Message).
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (John 13:13-17).
But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Phil. 2:7).
SO WHAT?
1. Good leadership in the church is essential to protecting the church from false teaching.
2. It is good to be eager to serve in a leadership position as long as you have a servant’s heart and the gifting to lead.
3. If we are not fanning into flame the gift that God has given us we are living in sin and are criminal in our behavior.