1 Timothy 3:1-16 | Kingdom Leadership

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

If you would have asked me when I was 8 years old what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have told you that I wanted to be the CEO of Disney.

I remember researching Michael Eisner’s salary with bonuses included to envision what I could look forward to as compensation for my new position.

But it wasn’t just the money I was after. What I believed leadership gave you the opportunity to do was to do things your way.

To make decisions about which rides get built, where new parks are developed, which movies get made, what stories get told.

This makes sense because at the age of 8 that is what all the forms of leadership around me seemed to showcase, it looked like my parents led our family by getting their way, on the news it looked like the governor and president each ran our state and nation their way.

Leadership: having the influence and power to do things your way

Leadership Qualification: having the ability to accumulate power under you

So I grew up with a strong desire to become a leader, so that I can do things my way.

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

Was 8 year old me far off?

For those of you who work at Disney, isn’t that part of the appeal of moving into a leadership role.

To effect change and do things your way.

Isn’t this the message that politicians and business leaders project.

Influential people who get their way.

And you like or support these kinds of people if and when their way mostly lines up with your way.

And you dislike or work against these kinds of people if and when you realize their way does not line up with your way.

This idea of the powerful getting their way is so intrinsic into human nature that our nation was literally founded on the idea of separation of powers..

The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government each hold unique powers to effect one another so that no branch of government has exclusive power to do things their way.

And that is about as good of an effort as our human wisdom can muster.

Isn’t that exhausting?

The rat race to accumulate power to get your way in friend groups, families, in the workplace, in the community, and in the world around us….

The world’s vision of leadership is a race to the top.

Is there a better way?

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

We have been journeying through the letter known as 1 Timothy over the last few months and we have covered so much ground already.

As we have continued to talk about during this series, the Scriptures are beautiful and for those of us who follow Jesus our source and understanding of truth. These are realities that can seem difficult to discover when passages seem strange, unclear, or frustrating to our world’s understanding.

This is why it is important that we strive to interpret and apply the Scriptures faithfully.

To do this it is important that before we ask what does this passage mean to me, we ask the question what did this passage mean to the original audience.

So we have the opportunity to go on the journey of discovering these realities with the Spirit inside us, the historic church who has gone before us, and the community of God who walks alongside us.

Which is important whether you are spending time in the Scriptures at your coffee table, talking with a co-worker in a break room, or teaching from a stage.

So before we get into the passage let’s recap what we have discovered so far.

Paul is an early church planter who had ten years before planted a church in an ancient city called Ephesus. He has since moved on his journey but his love for them has not. So while he is under imprisonment in Rome he sends his best pupil Timothy to their church to shepherd and lead them in the midst of difficulties inside their community.

The biggest issue is a group of leaders within their community who are leading and teaching false beliefs out of arrogant ignorance.

They are targeting those who are wealthy and uneducated with teachings that are going to attract them into supporting them both in power and financially.

In other words, they fit in with our modern cultural understanding of leadership… those who have the power to do things their way.

So they schemed and deceived to build up their leadership platform.

There was NOTHING weird about this in their cultural context.

This is the Roman understanding of leadership as well.

Rulers were those who could take the power and control either by controlling the military or by gaining the support of those who led the military. Conquering. Scheming. Deceiving. Doing whatever it takes to get the power required to do things their way.

So these false teachers were fitting right in with their cultural context.

But the church is meant to be an embassy.

An embassy is an outpost of one culture fit into the geographic borders of another.

The church is meant to not fit in with any culture of this world, but is meant to be an outpost of a different culture, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Embodying its values, its mission, its hopes, its wisdom, and its understanding of everything including leadership.

This is why Paul took these false teachers so seriously. They were representing the Kingdom of Heaven with the same broken tactics of the Kingdom of this world.

This is why Paul sent Timothy. This is why Paul wrote this letter.

Read 1 Timothy 3:14-15

1 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

These characters are behaving as if they represent a different Kingdom, as if they are a part of a different family then the family of God.

Instead Paul wants this entire church to follow not the example of the leadership of this world and its culture, but of the true King.

So Paul then writes down the lyrics to a familiar hymn in the early church…

Read 1 Timothy 3:16

1 Timothy 3:16 ESV

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Do you want to know who is truly great? Do you want to know who truly embodies the way in which we are called to live? Do you want to witness what leadership looks like in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Look to Jesus!

He is the mystery of godliness in the flesh.

Godliness.

There is a bible word that we can read, assume we know what it means, and just move on.

What is godliness?

Godliness reminds me of moon shine. Not the illegal beverages that started the sport of nascar. But the light that comes to us each night from the face of the moon.

Why does the moon provide light but not heat?

Because it reflects or radiates the light beams of the sun off of its face because of its location to the sun.

It has no power in and of itself. It is its proximity that gives it the ability to provide light.

In other words, even when we don’t see the sun, we have the moon throughout the night of each month to provide some of the sun's light to us.

See where I am going with this?

This is the mystery of godliness displayed to the world.

Godliness is embodying the character of God.

Jesus is the living embodiment of godliness manifested in the flesh. Because He is God. So if you want to see the character of God, look to Jesus. If you want to see what God’s leadership, care, compassion, sense of justice is like. Look at the example of Jesus.

The Spirit points people to Him.

The angels recognize who He is.

The news of His arrival has been and is actively proclaimed to the nations!

He is believed on in the world!

He has been taken up in glory!

What is God like?

Look at Jesus!

How does the watching world who are living in darkness experience the life giving light of Jesus?

They look to the ones who are reflecting his light.

Godliness doesn’t come from us simply trying harder to be like Jesus. But abiding in Him, and by being in his proximity we reflect his light and embody his character.

The church of the living God, is a pillar and buttress of the truth Is meant to abide with Jesus and reflect his light To those living in a dark world.

When the world looks at the church they should not witness more of the same ways of the world’s kingdoms. They should witness something distinct, something transcendent.

The Kingdom of Heaven expanding on Earth.

The church is meant to be the reflection of the mystery of Godliness on earth.

This way, the way of Jesus, should be true of the entire community.

But it should specifically be exemplified to the community by those who have been called to lead and serve the community.

Which is why right before this Paul mentions two leadership roles within the local church. Overseers and deacons.

We will get into each role in a second, but first and foremost we need to understand how leadership is viewed in the Kingdom of Heaven if we are to see how these individuals are called to lead in the local church.

These two phrases were common in the Roman World.

Overseers were self explanatory. Those who oversaw things. They were the ones with power. Prestige. Wealth. And the ability to enact the changes they wanted to in whatever they oversaw.

The term deacon or servant was not a highly prized title to seek. The Roman cultural context was a desire to be served, not to serve. To have servants, bondservants, and slaves was to have status… to become a servant was to be humiliated. The cultural qualification of a servant was to be without power, if you lacked power you were subjugated to service.

The Roman cultural understanding of humility was that it was NOT a virtue, pride and confidence were seen as virtues, humility was enmeshed with being humiliated.

We know this about both of these roles because of the way Jesus talks about both of them…

Read Mark 10:42-45

Mark 10:42–45 ESV

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus acknowledged the Roman cultural understanding of oversight and servanthood…. Overseers wielding power to get your way, servants get pummeled by the way of another.

He explained to his disciples that this was not to be the organizational structure of the church, because the church is an embassy of a Kingdom, instead it would be a race to the bottom of the social org chart, which in his cultural context was that of servants and slaves.

While the world around him and the world around us is defined by a race to the top, where you can wield influence to have your way done. The Kingdom vision of leadership is a race to the bottom where you can lay down your influence to love, serve, and do the will of the Father!

He used the most a discarded role to describe Himself and those who would follow Him.

He later would instruct his disciples again that they should demonstrate loving leadership through sacrificial service and used the example of washing feet to demonstrate what their approach to leadership should be, which was a task reserved for slaves, servants, and bondservants.

So this is Jesus’ vision of a Kingdom leader, servants as he is a servant.

Before we continue any further in this passage we need to remind ourselves of why the Scriptures matter, within them we hear God’s voice and discover his character and his way that he calls us to live.

Just like last week’s passage, this is a passage that has been used to devalue women, silence women, and oppress women.

That is NOT the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is not domineering. It is not self-serving. It is not boastful. It is not proud. It is sacrificial, biblical, love. Misusing this passage completely misses the complimenting paradigm in which men and women are meant to display the image of God in partnership.

So I want to on behalf of our elders apologize for the difficulties that you might have experienced in your past.

I don’t just apologize on behalf of other churches and claim we have been perfect. As elders our eyes have been opened to the ways that our ignorance into inviting the voices of non-elders into important decision, specifically women, has been a detriment to our church’s health and not just to our women but to each of us who call this community home.

So I want to apologize and repent of that behavior. As elders we do not believe that we are called to just lead by example in our righteousness but also be the first to repent when we miss the mark. To be the chief repenters of the church.

Our desire as elders of Mosaic Church is to grow to continue to learn more and more how to lead in the way of Jesus. Our desire is to deeply express the value, voice, and gifting brought to the table by the women of our community.

This passage does not specifically unpack some of the common questions that are relevant to church leadership. So after we are done unpacking this passage, I will circle around to the distinctive Beliefs and practices that Mosaic holds around church leadership. As well I will update you on what we are doing as elders to ensure that we grow to lead more and more in the way of Jesus today and into the future.

So with this in mind, hopefully you are as blown away by the Gospel beauty of this passage as I have been.

Paul first begins with talking about elder..

Read 1 Timothy 3:1

1 Timothy 3:1 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

What is this role of overseer?

The Scriptures use the words overseer and elder interchangeably. Overseer was primarily used when writing to a Roman audience because of its familiarity. Elder was primarily used when writing to a Jewish audience because of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures were typically led in terms of families, like how in the OT the Jewish people were made of 12 family tribes that were each led by elders of each family tribe. Even for the nation of Israel infighting, suspicion, and deceit became the norm between the tribes and their understanding of leadership.

As a church, we use the world elder. So you might hear me jump between these two phrases but don’t be confused.

So an overseer/elder desires a noble task. This wasn’t viewed by those under oversight as a noble task. It was a self-serving one. It was a dominating one. It was a power hungry task. Noble is something worth being in awe over. How is it possible that a title associated with deceit and power struggles could possibly be attached to something noble?

Paul answers this by going into a list of qualifications for the role of overseer.

Read 1 Timothy 3:2-7

1 Timothy 3:2–7 ESV

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

That is quite a list. But notice what is not on it?

Competency. Strategic thinking. Ability to manipulate outcomes. Charismatic leadership.

Not all those things are bad. Many of them can be helpful in leadership.

But Paul’s focus in writing this is displaying all the things that these false teachers are lacking. Character.

Godliness.

Paul’s is writing that those who are called to oversee the church are meant to be defined by lives that radiate proximity with Jesus.

Above reproach - not living a life of on the fence living

The husband of one wife - Not necessarily requiring marriage (both Paul and Timothy were unmarried) but that if they were married they demonstrated faithfulness and godliness in fulfilling the covenant of marriage.

Sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not a drunkard, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

This list is intense! We could do a message on each of these items. But again notice what they are each demonstrating… the way of Jesus. A life of godliness. A life that radiates proximity with Jesus.

The ability to lead their home and family well might seem odd in our world. How many jobs have you ever applied for where they ask how are you doing in your family relationships and your answer reveals a major job qualification.

Why is it there? Because Paul is writing about a holistic life of servant leadership. A complete life marked by godliness. That you love those closest to you with biblical love. So if that is the case then there is literally no aspect of life that is not relevant to the conversation.

When I read over this list each time I feel so convicted for how imperfect I am, I do not consistently live out every item on this and I also realize this isn’t meant to be exhaustive. But it is so humbling to my heart and mind, and when I am at my best it drives me only to surrender and dependence on him.

If you would have asked me early on in my faith journey, I would have probably told you I was one of the most qualified.

They shouldn’t be a recent convert. Why? Recent converts are newer on the journey. They are learning and discovering much, still discovering ancient truths and learning how they apply to life.

Hopefully each of us never stops being a lifelong learner, but when you are newer to the faith you are likely learning much all at one time and it isn’t solidified yet.

For those of us who are called to the role of elder, we are responsible for as Brady talked about last week, overseeing the doctrine of the church, and helping to teach it.

More than that though, hopefully as each of us journey with Jesus your proximity to Him only leads you to deeper and deeper intimacy and helps you to radiate his life through yours.

Paul then moves onto a different role within the local church, the role of a deacon or servant.

Deacons were also a countercultural concept. Who voluntarily signed up to be labeled a servant in the Roman world?

It was unthinkable. Servants hoped that one day they would escape their bondage and throw off that label.

Who is trying to add that title to their papyrus resume? (The writing material not the vile font).

In the early church, beginning with Stephen and the rest of the seven appointed deacons (Acts 10) and continuing on to include individuals like Phoebe (Romans 16), individuals who willingly and joyfully took on the role of leading servants. All Jesus followers are called to serve one another within the Body, but deacons lead the way in service.

They fulfilled a multitude of needs, so there is no exhaustive list to the ways in which deacons can serve, but instead it is contextual based on the needs of a particular Biblical Community at a particular time.

So the early church has taken a role despised in the world’s culture and has elevated it to be an official example of godliness to follow the example of.

Hence why Paul gives character qualifications.

Read 1 Timothy 3:8-13

1 Timothy 3:8–13 ESV

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Once again, what a list. Isn’t it interesting for a role that nobody in their culture would aspire to he raises the character bar so high?

Each item on this list is once again pointing us not just to a checklist but to a life that radiates proximity with Jesus.

Using their words well by using their words to build up others instead of tearing them down.

Not imprisoned by addiction to substances like wine.

They have gone through some sort of process to test them to ensure that their faith, life, mind, and heart are fully surrendered to Jesus.

Again we get the image of individuals who have demonstrated love and godliness in the way they care for their families as well.

How can you lead the way in serving your community if you aren’t first leading the way in serving your family?

Also countercultural at the time, Paul explains deacons are deserving of “good standing”, in other words deacons should be HONORED for their faithful service.

How countercultural is that reality?

In their culture, servants were NOT honored, they were used up and spit out of a system that needed unwillful human sacrifice.

Paul though takes a role that nobody wants and then gives it a list of character qualifications that requires strength and ability that cannot be generated from within but by proximity with Jesus.

To the world, this makes no sense. In the Kingdom it makes all the sense in the world. It is a race to the bottom.

We covered a lot… so let me quickly recap.

Paul takes the despised phrase of overseer and embues it with Gospel beauty saying it is a noble task because they are those who use whatever authority they have been given to serve their community. Not getting their way, but discerning both what the needs are for the community and how the Holy Spirit is leading them to engage in those spaces.

Then he takes the disregarded phrase of servant and embues it with Gospel beauty saying they are worthy of honor because they are those who the community looks to as a life of godliness serving the church as Jesus served the church.

Neither is elevated over the other but both complimenting the efforts of one another so that the church can be built up and that the Kingdom of Heaven can expand!

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

Which brings us back to some of the questions that are related to leadership in the local church that passages like this bring to the table.

There is not enough time in this space to unpack the Scriptural reasoning for these positions, but I would love to grab coffee if you would like to dive deeper than simply a quick summary answer.

At a certain point as an adult you are going to have to figure out what you believe on a number of issues we might call distinctive beliefs, they are not core beliefs essential to salvation or to reject them would put you on an unwise or sinful path. Distinctive beliefs are beliefs that are relevant and matter but various denominations that are all trying to discern the Scriptures faithfully still end up in different positions.

So when it comes to the realities of are the roles of elders and deacons spaces reserved exclusively for character qualified men (as a plain reading of this passage tonight would suggest) or for both character qualified men and women this is one that the Church has historically considered a distinctive belief.

At Mosaic, we believe and practice that the role of elder is the lowest role of servanthood reserved for biblically qualified and affirmed men. Leading in sacrificial service of the church. Not just CEO type shot callers. They do not exist to get their way. They exist to faithfully serve the community, listen well, and help discern with the Spirit what it looks like to shepherd the church.

To do this our role of elders requires us to not just be sorry when in the past we have not invited the voices of women into decisions made by the elders. But to make structural changes to facilitate this reality and live within that. This is why we have begun to include a diversity of voices into every space of elder decision making, including non-elder women and men to get their experience, expertise, and unique perspectives. Including the shaping and forming of doctrine and belief statements that we work on.

As well we do not disregard churches who hold to a different distinctive belief and practice on this topic.

But instead we desire to humbly submit ourselves, as hopefully every local church does, to the most faithful understanding of the Scriptures we can uncover. Attempting not to allow our theological positions to define our interpretation but to allow faithful interpretation to provide us with our positions.

As a church, the best we can faithfully discern from the fullness of Scriptures is that leadership is not meant to be occupied by men alone. Instead women and men are called to compliment one another in leadership together in a diversity of ways from the family to the workplace to the local church.

Regarding deacons at Mosaic we believe and practice the reality that the role of deacon are meant to be both men and women who lead the community in faithful service in a diversity of ways and opportunities to build up the entire body. At the WDW Campus we currently have 15 deacons serving our community and they are instrumental in serving our community by leading our ministry enviromoments and stepping up wherever there is a need. They are incredible and worthy of much much honor. These men and women demonstrate a life of godliness, a life radiating with proximity to Jesus.

This is the Kingdom ideal of leadership. A race to the bottom.

Not one of fighting over controls, manipulating ways for our voices to be heard, getting our way, struggling for power, and infighting.

God gives each of us influence in varying degrees in a diversity of spaces. Whether you ever serve in leadership at a local church, serve as a coordinator or leader in your workplace or community, or it is more information in your friend groups, family, and relationships.

Each of us has influence. And we are all called to live according to Jesus’ call that we would use whatever influence we have to become the servant of all.

The question is will we each use whatever influence we have been given to love and serve one another the way Jesus loved and continues to serve us?

5 | What would the world see if the church embraced this resolution?

Imagine what the world would witness within us if that became our consistent reality?