Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome and Announcements

Free Movie Night on January 27th, 2023, at 7pm.

We’ll be showing Amazing Grace (2006), which is a historical retelling of the life of William Wilberforce, who sought to end the British slave trade in the late 1700s.

Admittance, popcorn, snacks, and drinks will be provided free of charge.

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Preaching of God’s Word (1 Tim 3:1-7)

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

As you turn there, let me refresh your memory as to where we are in the letter to Timothy from Paul.

What we have seen thus far in this letter is concern from Paul about some issues in the church of Ephesus—and he’s writing to Timothy to not just confront these issues, but also give Timothy some encouragement.

The primary issue that we’ve seen at hand in 1 Timothy is the issue of false teaching—it takes Paul literally three verses before confronting the issue of false teaching, thus, the implication is that there’s a severe issue that needs handled immediately.

At this moment in 1 Timothy, we don’t have much of an idea of what exactly that false teaching is, but it does seem to point at some who have made assertions concerning the law of Moses—meaning, they’re asserting that Christians must keep the law in addition to following Jesus.

Timothy is reminded of the Gospel and he’s called to pray for all people, particularly that all people might come to know Jesus before Paul continues in a line of thinking concerning proper worship in the church setting.

That’s actually where we’re still at—this idea of how the church should function together during church services and in the thirteen verses that we’re studying this evening and next Wednesday, he focuses on the qualifications needed for two particular offices within the church—deacons and elders.

Despite us dividing the text into two weeks, I do want us to read 1 Timothy 3:1-13 as a whole.

Let’s read 1 Timothy 3:1-13 together.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts (and I think those parts are relatively easy to see): (1) Qualifications for Elders (1-7) and (2) Qualifications for Deacons (8-13).

This week, we’re only focusing on the first section, vv.

1-7, qualifications for elders and next week, we’ll focus on qualifications for deacons.

In our local church, we believe that there are two biblical offices that lead or serve the church—we do technically have two additional officers (the clerk and treasurer), but note that those officers aren’t necessary according to Scripture.

Since elders and deacons are required by the Bible, then any qualification that the Bible lists for those offices must be taken seriously.

Thus, as Paul reminds Timothy to select elders and deacons, he gives Timothy some qualifications to look for in the people of Ephesus.

This evening, we’ll take an in-depth look at these qualifications for elders, in particular, and I’ll explain the need for us to take them seriously.

And for those thinking, “I’m never going to be an elder or deacon,” let me assure you, this will be highly applicable to you as well.

Prayer for Illumination

Qualifications for Elders (1-7)

Our text starts by affirming the trustworthiness of what Paul is about to say, before saying that “if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.”

Now, if you’ve been paying close attention, you’ve noticed that I keep saying the term elder and you might be curious as to why, when the term used here is overseer, so let’s discuss this before we dig into this passage.

Typically, in most non-denominational or Baptistic churches today, the understanding is that there are three different terms utilized in the Bible to refer to the same office within the church.

In 1 Timothy 3:1, Acts 20:28, and Titus 1:7 it is the term επισκοπος, which is translated as overseer.

In Acts 20:17 and Titus 1:5 it is the term πρεσβυτερος, which is translated as elder.

You can see just in the references, that the two terms are interchangeable, but to show you more clearly, let me read Acts 20:17-28 and Titus 1:5-7.

Titus 1:5-7 “5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders [πρεσβυτερος] in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, who are not accused of dissipation, or rebellious.

7 For the overseer [επισκοπος] must be beyond reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of dishonest gain,”

See how the terms are utilized interchangeably?

Acts 20:17-28 “17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders [πρεσβυτερος] of the church.

18 And when they had come to him, he [spoke to them] . . .

‘behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face . . .

[so] Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [επισκοπος], to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

Again, see how the terms are used interchangeably?

So, I’ve give you two of the terms, and you might think, “where is the third?”

The third term is the Greek word ποιμην, which we see utilized throughout the New Testament.

It’s often translated as shepherd.

So, consider Acts 20:28 “28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd [ποιμην] the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

Or Ephesians 4:11 “11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds [ποιμην] and teachers,”

And you might think, “how did that become pastor instead of ποιμην or shepherd?”

— it became the term most readily recognized because of the influence of the Latin Vulgate, which translates the word ποιμηνι as pastor.

The terminology utilized and translated as overseer, elder, and pastor though not identical, are very similar.

And in its original use was restricted to those who exercise oversight in the local church (see Donald Guthrie in Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990) 94).

That’s why Acts, Ephesians, and Titus all utilize the terms in a way that refer to the same office or the same role within the local church.

We could read this verse as, “The saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to the office of [overseer, elder, or pastor], he desires a noble task.”

Now, the questions are, what does it mean to aspire to the office?

And why is it a noble task?

To aspire means “to desire.”

Or in other words, the one who is to serve as an elder or pastor or overseer must actually want to do the work.

There is no such thing as a qualified pastor who doesn’t want to be a pastor because the moment that he doesn’t desire to be a pastor is the moment that he disqualifies himself.

The idea, here, is that the person who serves and leads in this capacity genuinely wants to do the work.

This is reflected by Peter in 1 Pet 5:2 “2 shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion,” don’t be forced into doing it “but willingly, according to God; and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness.”

Now, of course, there will be times when the individual serving and leading in this capacity will struggle with wanting to continue in this work—and the reason why is simple, it’s a lot harder than what most people think it is.

This simply means that at the end of the day, the individual still wants to shepherd the church of God.

There needs to be a decisive sense of calling.

Now, the reason the task is so noble or good has nothing to do with the individual serving as a pastor or elder.

The pastor, elder, or overseer doesn’t make the role good—the role is already good; or put differently, the work is good regardless of who the pastor is.

Why is the work good?

Because it involves the care of souls—pastors carry the burden of helping people follow Jesus—and that is a good thing.

Clearly then, the role of an overseer, elder, or pastor is very important for a local church.

Because it is such an important role, there are multiple qualifications that an individual desiring to serve in this capacity must meet.

Or in other words, these qualifications aren’t optional—they aren’t qualifications that we can pick and choose.

This is what Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, which emphasizes how important it is to have leaders in the church that are characterized as such.

Now, I don’t just want to read through the list, I want us to really understand what each characteristic means—so, I’m going to take each qualification list it and then expound on it.

This is where the bulk of this evening’s sermon will focus.

Paul gives a list of 14 qualifications to be an elder in the local church, let’s look at each one:

Above Reproach—let me start by saying that above reproach does not mean perfect nor does it mean that a person with a questionable past couldn’t serve in the office of an elder.

To assume that it means that the individual is perfect, neglects the simple truth that Scripture says none of us on this side of eternity can be perfect.

To make the arguments that pastors need to be perfect places them in a position that they simply cannot win or achieve.

To apply this standard to a person’s past neglects the truth that Scripture expects us to learn, to grow, and to mature.

Who we were a year ago should be different than who we are now; and who we are now, ought to be different than who we were ten years ago.

Who we were before we became believers in Jesus Christ is different than who we are now—and if that’s not the case, you ought to ask yourself if you truly believe.

What above reproach is referring to, is a characteristic in which other people can’t brings up a charge of being unfit for the job.

Or in other words, being above reproach doesn’t speak of perfection, but rather, the person’s character is upstanding enough that when being accused of sinful behavior that disqualifies them, everyone has a difficult time believing it.

You shouldn’t be able to hear someone accuse a pastor of egregious sin and think, “hmm, yeah, that certain sounds like him.”

It really ought to be a, “you know, I’m not too sure about that, let me go talk with him.”

The Husband of One Wife—this qualification has been subject to much confusion—to the extent that you’ll find churches throughout the world that practices this concept differently.

In the past, the argument was made that because of this qualification, men who have been divorced or even widowed and remarried cannot be in the ministry.

The problem with this is two-fold, first, it doesn’t take into the biblical reasons for divorce and it punishes those who have been widowed when Scripture doesn’t condemn a widow from getting remarried.

The NIV translation implies that this is referring to the practice of polygamy amongst the elders, but honestly, for Christians in the first century, the practice of polygamy was so repugnant that it would seem unusual for Paul to have to condemn it amongst the elders.

Probably the best way to look at this is to actually consider how the wording is in Greek.

In Greek, the wording is that an elder is to be “a one woman man,” which gives the impression that this isn’t really speaking of just marriage and it’s not really speaking of polygamy or divorce or being widowed.

Rather, the impression given by this statement is that whether the man is married or not—he is not to be a womanizer or a philanderer.

The idea at hand is that regardless of his marital status, he should be the type of person that is faithful to one woman; which then can be applied to his marriage—if he’s married, he should be completely faithful to his one wife.

If he happens to be divorced or widowed and remarried, he should be completely faithful to his current wife.

Again, the idea is that he ought to be faithful to his spouse or be the type of person that isn’t a womanizer or a philanderer.

The next three characteristics are actually closely related, so why don’t we take them at the same time?

Sober-Minded—is rather an easy concept to explain because we can simply look at it in its converse.

What is the opposite of being sober?

To not be sober-minded means to not think clearly; to not be level-headed.