SPIRITUAL GIFTING REQUIRED OF AN EPHESIAN ELDER – HOSPITALITY
(I Tim. 3:2)
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.
3:2 Spiritual Gifting Required of an Ephesian Elder – Teaching
3:2 Spiritual Gifting Required of an Ephesian Elder — Hospitality
3:2-7 Ethical Demands of the NT and the Ethics Tests for Elders
3:2-7 Ethical Qualities Required of an Ephesian Elder
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.
PAST LESSONS ON I TIM 3:1-7
1. Verse 1: If a person has the gifting and a passion for servant-leadership it is good for him to aspire to the office of an elder. A Christian must use his gifts and desire to serve.
2. Verses 2-7: The multiple lists of moral and ethical qualities found in the Bible remind us that living an ethically high quality life is not an option for the Christian. It is required!!! Paul charges Timothy: “… train yourself to be godly” (I Tim. 4:7).
3. Verses 2-7: The spiritual qualities required for eldership should be the ideal and goal of each Christian. The only way our post-Christian, neo-pagan culture will be reformed in by Christians living “Christianly.”
4. Verses 2-5: The elder must teach and teaching is vital for Christian growth because the subject matter is the Bible. We must make every effort to expose our self to good Christian teaching since every time we do we expose ourselves to a spiritual growth situation.
INTRODUCTION:
1. We think of an elder as a “leader/manager” but not necessarily as a “teacher” nor do we demand that he is “hospitable” and in fact tend to think of “hospitality” as a feminine skill. Yet the NT requires that the elder be skilled at hospitality.
2. Greek definition of hospitality.
QUESTION: Are you xenophobic or philoxenic?
Xenophobic: Fear and hatred of strangers and foreigners or of anything strange or foreign.
Philoxenic: Love of strangers.
A. GOD’S CONCERN FOR THE DISPOSSESSED
Exodus 22
21 “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.
Exodus 23
9 “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.
Leviticus 19
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Psalm 146
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
QUESTION: Why is God so concerned for the dispossessed?
B. NEED FOR HOSPITALITY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
1. There were no motels / hotels etc. in the ancient world … in fact in the USA there wasn’t much in the say of such lodgings before the 1940s.
2. There were inns but they were not highly praised.
“In the ancient world, inns were notoriously bad. In one of Aristophane’s plays Heracles asks his companion where they will lodge of the night; and the answer is: “Where the fleas are the fewest.” Plato speaks of the inn-keeper being like a pirate who holds his guests to ransom. Inns tended to be dirty and expensive and, above all, immoral (Barclay, 82)
“Persecution, poverty, orphans, widows, and traveling Christians made hospitality essential in New Testament times. They had no hotels or motels, and the inns were notoriously evil. Often the inns were brothels or places where travelers were robbed and beaten.” (MacArthur, pg. 107).
3. There was also the problem of muggings and robbery, e.g. the Good Samaritan took care of a person who was robbed. The Greeks actually had a god, “Zeus Xenios.” The Protector of Strangers.
4. Guest Friendships in the Ancient World
The ancient world had a system of what were called “Guest Friendships.” Over generations families had arrangements to give each other accommodation and hospitality. Often the members of the families came in the end to be unknown to each other by sight and identified themselves by means of what were called “tallies.” The stranger seeking accommo-dation would produce one half of some object; the host would possess the other half of the tally; and when the two halves fitted each other the host knew that he had found his guest, and the guest knew that the host was indeed the ancestral friend of his household. (Barclay, 82).
C. HOSPITALITY ENGENDERED IN THE NT
Romans 12
13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
1 Timothy 3
2Now the overseer must be … hospitable, …
1 Timothy 5
10[Now a widow may be put on the list of widows if she] is well known for her good deeds, such as … showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble …
Titus 1
8Rather he [the elder] must be hospitable, …
1 Peter 4
9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Hebrews 13
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 John 1
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.
Romans 16
23Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings…
D. WHAT DOES CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY LOOK LIKE?
1. It probably focuses us on entertaining Christians.
Galatians 6
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Matthew 25
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. …for I was a stranger and you invited me in, … 37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, …38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, … 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
2. It will entail lodging strangers
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up
children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the
saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she have
diligently followed every good work (I Tim. 5:10).
15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us (Acts 16:15).
3. It should focus on the needy.
12Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12-13).
4. It should be provided with a positive attitude.
1 Peter 4
9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
(Cheerfully share your home, without complaint or murmuring; practice ungrudging hospitality).
Titus 1
8Rather he [the elder] must be hospitable, …
Other translations: He must enjoy having guests in his home, given to hospitality, lover of strangers, lover of hospitality, hospitable.
E. THE IMPORTANTANCE OF HOSPITALITY
QUESTION: WHY IS HOSPITALITY SO IMPORTANT?
1. It helps Christians in general.
Galatians 6
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
In the Shepherd of Hermas, one of the early Christian writings, it is laid down: “The elder must be hospitable, a man who gladly and at all time welcomes into his house the servants of God.” (Barclay, 81)
2. Hospitality is other centered
ILLUSTRATION: Dealing with a problem with our staff. One person tends to think everything is “All about him / All about me.”
ILUSTRATION: My wife and I were talking about the matter of sin. At High School the dean gave a message re the “I” in sIn, prIde, LucIfer. The dean’s name was ClIne.
3. It demands more than just giving resources. You also must give time, emotional energy and labor to show hospitality.
4. Hospitality involves risk …. Sometimes you really don’t know what you are getting into …. Guest in Indonesia who ended up trying to steal some of our things.
5. When we show hospitality, we are ministering to Christ.
Ephesians 1
22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Acts 9
4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Matthew 25
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. …for I was a stranger and you invited me in, … 37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, …38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, … 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
SO WHAT?
1. Although our situation is not like that of the NT period, there are many Christian people who need to experience Christian hospitality: Senior Citizens, Singles, Overseas Visitors.
Right now ISI is looking for people who will welcome and befriend an international student. What a perfect way to practice NT hospitality.
2. If we are really love God and love Jesus and are concerned about ministering to Jesus, then we can do so by reaching out to the “dispossessed” among us and showing them hospitality.
3. We must be very careful never to be xenophobic and instead should make sure we are philoxenic.