Above Reproach

So if you were with us last week we talked a lot about how if you consider yourself a Christ follower then your aim should be what? Love right?

meaning how our faith is lived out is not through fear, or hate, or making sure we are comfortable, but its through … Love (and really a Christlike love)

And what I love about this is that Paul actually laid out the foundation for everything he talks about and really its the foundation that our faith is built on.

Because the foundation needs to be sturdy if the structure is going to stand.

Think about these blocks if the structure is well built I can stack these blocks pretty high.

But if the structure is poorly built then what happens? It will fall down right?

And so Paul says build this firm foundation and now Paul begins to shift from the foundation to what we should build on top of it.

And so we actually have a lot to get to so we are going to jump right in and I am going to read the full passage this morning, and we will be breaking it down together. It says this:

1 Timothy 3:1–7 NIV

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

So in verse 1 it starts out and Paul actually says that what He is laying out here is for those who are overseerers or a better translation might be leaders or in the church.

And so some of us are thinking well Brendan can I just go ahead and relax today because thats not me, and to be honest I do not feel like God’s calling me t do that.

But what I want you to get is that even though this is addressed to the early leaders in the church most of these things are things that all of us should be actively working towards

I mean its almost like if you were looking at different cars, because they are all built differently right?

I mean a mini van has a ton of room

a Mustang can move

a truck has power

a smart car has great gas mialage

But while these cars are very different you want a lot of these charectoristics and every car.

You do not want to get a Minivan if it can’t break 55 miles per hour

You do not want a mustang if you can even squeez in the car

And Paul he gives a few Charectoristics that are specific to a leader, but a lot of these are actually charecteristics that we should all aspire for.

Paul is just saying that Leaders definitly need them, because if not they have the potential to cause a lot of damage.

And so Paul gives us a lot here, but I want to break it down into a few sections because He talks about

How we should aspire to live

The Things that we love

Our family life

and then he talks about some giftings that leaders should have (which we will talk about briefly).

And so we are going to look at them by catagories (so hopefully it will not get to confusing.

But we will start with the biggest catagory which is how we should live:

And one of the earlier sections of this Paul says we should be soberminded, meaning we are very reasonable.

We are people that are not just jumping in and giving a hot take on a situation, but we are doing our best to be wise and think through out responses

And this even flows a little into a couple other catafories, because Paul says we should have self control.

And this is one that I think we struggle with a lot,

Because even in smaller things it is hard to have self control.

I mean has anyone here ever been on a diet?

It is really hard because you go out to eat with friends and they are getting some amazing things and your mouth is just watering and then the waiter comes out with your small salad with light dressing and you go this is terrible.

But with all seriousness self control is a a big challenge because it is doing what often seems opisite of what we want to do,

But if your on a diet there is a reason isn’t there?

In most cases Its for your health and its because you know how you were eating was probably causing issues right?

And we need to have self control in our lives because if we do not then there is damage that can often happen.

Whether its from us yelling something out, or from us having a temper

And even if you look at the next area (in verse 3) it flows out of this because the passage says “not giving into drunkeness.

I guess ill just say this, because if there is somthing that you know is destructive in your life whether its from alcohol or from something else that you wrestle with it

What do you do? probably one of the best things you can do is stay away from it right?

I mean if find out someone is wanting to rob your house you lock the door right?

You make it so that person cannot come in

And with the things we are wrestleing with we need to lock the door.

Keep it out, because whether it is alchohal, pornography, drugs or even just the inclination to be prideful,

We probably know the thing that triggers us. we need to cut the things that trigger us out,

And you might be thinking that seems a little extreme Brendan, but can I just say I have seen so many lives just brought to really tough places and I am saying lovingly as your Pastor that if there is an issue that you know about put things in your life to keep yourself from falling into those things,

because they can really cause some pain.

And even in the next few things because it goes on to say not violent, but gentle and peaceable.

You know I don’t know about you but when I read about how Jesus lived, he was not described as this guy that took by force or that was known for screaming at people, but we see him being very gentle

Because His aim was love.

I mean its hard to be violent when the aim is love right?

Okay so lets shift a little because now Paul moves away from how we live to what we love.

And there is actually only one for this catagory and it says we should not love money.

Who here likes money?

I like money

If I gave you a dollar you would say awsome right? (now I have your attention).

But Paul is saying the love of money is whats bad.

because when we love money, we tend to love it more than other things.

If we love money more than God its a problem

If we love money more then our neighbor its probably a problem

I f we love money more than Gods creation that can even be a problem.

We can like money, but we really want to avoid loving.

And then look at this next catagory and stick with me because I know this is a lot, But Paul moves to our family lives in verse 4

And he mentions a little bit about the family dynamic

And he points out how a person who is a leader should have a family that is, in Pauls words “Well Managed”

And let me explain this because this could cause some damage if interpreted incorrectly,

Because our primary responsability after God is our family.

And before anything we want to make sure our family is being put first.

And you might think well I have a kid that is really far from God or that is doing this “Am I doing a bad job?”

And there is a two fold anwser because firstly we have to understand that as a parent you caan be the perfect parent but it does not mean your kid will be

In fact I heard this at a confrence that Adam and Eve in the Bible had the perfect parent and enviroment, but what happened?

They still messed up didn’t they.

But we also need to understand how we are not perfect right?

I mean I am not a perfect parent.

In fact my kid is 4 and I already realized that there are times I have messed up.

And I always want to seek God and say okay God how do you want me to lead my family..

And lets go to the last section because there are a few things that are charecteristics and really gifting that God has given people who are leaders in the church.

And they are that they are respectable (thats not necessarily just a leader quality), hospitable, able to teach and above reproach.

And I am not going to dive into all of these but if you are going wow God has definitly gifted me with this or a couple of these things and you are not leading or teaching maybe its worth asking is that something God is calling me to do.

Because so often (not always, but often) God calls us to do things that we are gifted with.

And what would it look like to use our giftings to glorify God whether its as someone who serves or leads.

So I know thats a lot and I hope everyone doesn’t just have a headache now.

But let me some it up with this because whenever there are passages like this that just lay out how to live its easy to look at it and just go “wow, I am a failure.”

I mean if this was a test I probably failed.

And that is not what I want you to walk away with,

I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but an illustration that is used throughout the Bible is God being a potter and us being the clay.

Has anyone here ever taken a pottery class?

You start with just a lump of clay right?

But what happens because as you begin to work on it you shape it and smooth out its imperfections, eventually you fire and paint it, until it looks like this.

And as we close I guess my prayer is that we do not view ourselves in the light of failure, but the light of God is molding and shaping us to be the people he has created us to be.

And in ceramics the artist never looks at the clay and goes this clay is worthless or beyond repair, but He sees its potential.

This morning we might have some rough edges, but God is ready to shape and smooth those out, but we have to be ready to say yes.

Because while God loves us regardless, He is calling us to live into somthing so much better.

What would it look like to allow God to shape us this morning?

Will you pray with me?