One woman man (1 Tim, titus

Intro:

Review from last week:

The goal for today is 3 fold: Take a high view to get the over-all picture, come down and inspect the grass, then stand up and walk

All of us have sound bites and tik tok theology that is comprised of passages, principles, and preference. You can always find somone else that will believe something similar to you and very different than you.

If you are visiting us today we are taking the time to walk through a specific passage of Scripture about church leadership

Outline:

Clarifying Context: “Flying High” (vs.)

Clarifying the Text: “Inspecting the Grass” (vs.)

Celebrating the Template: “Presently Qualified” (vs.)

Summary:

Illustration: Blue styraphom airplane, grass plant,

Prayer:

Clarifying Context: “Flying High” (vs. )

God’s Delight: Relationship with Man (vs.)

Gen 1-2 God creates everything (Nehemiah 9:6 ““You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” ) and says that it is “good” and man and woman which are “very good”

Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

but in 2:18 before Eve is created God says that it is “not good that the man should be alone”- thus a helper is made for him

Gen 3 ends God’s ideal or perfect plan. In the following chapter we see a steep decline in the image of God as Cain’s anger leads him to harden his heart against his brother and God leading to murder. 6 Generations from Adam we find ourselves at Lamech who takes 2 wives (4:19).

Man’s Disaster: Hid from God (vs.)

Noah-

Noah found faour in the eyes of the LORD

Righteous man, blameless in his generation

Noah walked with God

God made a covenant with Noah

Noah gets drunk

Abram/Abraham

God made a covenant with Abram

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing

Promise of an offspring

He lies about Sarah

He has Ishmael with Hagar- attempting to help God fulfill His promise

Jacob/Israel

Joseph

Moses

David

was the king when he committed adultery with Bethsheba, he remained king after the baby died.

Solomon

Hosea

Jozabad-

Ezra 9 the people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands- married foreign women. They are told to “put them away”.

Ezra 10:23“Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.”

Nehemiah 11:16 “and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who were over the outside work of the house of God;”

He was called to repent but was not disqualified from his “position” if you will.

God’s Delight (vs.)

Psalm 1, 14, 15, 112,

Isaiah 66:1–2 “Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

We are all sinners

We all have moments we trust our own understanding rather than God’s

We all have moments that we act on the desires of our hearts

We all hide from God

We all are in need of repentance and forgiveness.

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

I don’t thing that anyone sitting here would disagree with what was just said. We would all agree that Jesus came to seek and save the lost, we agree with Paul, that Jesus came to save sinners and we are the cheif of sinners

Where we might be having a hard time is saying that of someone after one is made new, comes to Jesus, or is born again. We might think yeah, you position in heaven is secure but your service on earth is not.

In our discussion today, we might be asking, what sin disqualifies a man for leadership. we have to be careful that we are not adding something to God’s word or taking away from it.

Transitional phrase:

Clarifying the Text: “Inspecting the Grass” (vs. )

Paul to Timothy

Background

Paul’s intent for Timothy is to remain in Ephesus and charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewarship from God that is by faith

In short, it is about “What” to give your life to and what not to as a Pastor. Sound/healthy doctrine leads to sound/healthy living

1 Timothy 3:2 “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,”

The List- Overseer (episkopos), Pastor, must be (presently) above reproach/blameless

the husband of one wife

sober-minded

self-controlled

respectable

hospitable

able to teach

Character vs. Check list

It seems to me that what Paul is getting at is that after being tested, there is no question as to whether or not you love Jesus and are found in Him. No one is guessing whether or not you are a believer.

The Words (PPT SLIDE)

mias gunaikos andra

one woman man

The Meaning

a man that has the desire (we cannot make men overseer or pastors that don’t want to be), and is above reproach, should presently be a one woman man and show a consistent pattern of godly character in this direction.

Well, what about his past? Well what about it?

He has been divorced! And God hates divorce! You are right, God is not infavour, it is not the ideal. listen to Malachi 2:16 ““For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.””

divorce is not the biggest problem, the lack of love, faithlessness, and not guarding your spirit is the problem. Moses and Jesus simply call this “hardness of heart”.

We could have a man who is not “divorced” but has committed adultery or is committing adultery. He is not divorced, but he is no longer a one woman man.

1 Timothy 3:12 “Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.”

The List- Deacons, likewise mus 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

let them also be tested first

The wives

the husband of one wife

managing their children

and their households well

It seems to me that what Paul is getting at is that after being tested, there is no question as to whether or not you love Jesus and are found in Him. No one is guessing whether or not you are a believer. It is more than just being a moral individual.

The Words- PPT SLIDES

“The husband of one wife”

mias gunaikos andres

one woman man

divorce- “apoluw (72x mainly in the gospels and Acts), apostasion (certificate of divorce)” to set free, release; let go, is not in this text

1 Cor. 7:

“Separate”- choristh-eh-nai

“divorce”- afi-eh-me (Epistles) 10, 12, 13

Divorce is not one of the words

The Meaning-

1 Timothy 5:9 “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,”

if she is younger, Paul encourages her to get re-married. Will that not disqualify her husband?

Paul to Titus

Background: Paul’s intent for Titus is to put what remined into order, and appoint elders in every town. His main thrust is to adorn the doctrine of God. Good doctrine looks like something: good works and self-control are two of the main evidences. Just like the grace of God “appearing” brought us salvation, the grace of God should “appear” in the believers life as they wait the appearing of Jesus.

Titus 1:6 “if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.”

The List- Overseer (episkopos), as God’s steward, above reproach

the husband of one wife

and his children are believers and not open to the charge of

debauchery or

insubordination

He must not be be arrogant

or quick-tempered

or a drunkard

or violent

or greedy for gain

but hospitable

a lover of good

self-controlledd

upright

holy

and disciplined

He must hold firm to the trustworthy wors as taught

to give instruction in sound doctrine

to rebuke those who contradict it

The Words

mias gunaikos an-eh-r

The Meaning

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

Once again, we are not seeking to add anything or take anything away from this passage. So we have to acknowledge, “divorce” is not in the text. Being a “one woman man” is, so what does that mean?

Transitional phrase:

Celebrationg the Template: “Presently Qualified” (vs. )

A (vs.)

let him be tested first- before when a man’s name was challeneged it could happen with a simple word and then move on. Now we send out a short study on these passages, a pastor meets with the men to go over their responses and dialogue about where they are in their life with Jesus. If leadership is concered about a man’s life we encourage one another to go to that man prior to the meeting

What we are doing now is way more involved than what we used to do. We are not lowerin the bar in any way, in reality, we have raised it.

B (vs.)

Here is a danger if we believe this text is still saying that a divorced man cannot be a deacon you could have a man who is not “divorced” but has committed adultery or is committing adultery. He is not divorced, but he is no longer a one woman man. As long as you don’t get a divource you can still serve God.

C (vs.)

c

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

This is similar to what we talked about around the issue of acohol. The bible does not say that you cannot drink, it does say that you shouldn’t get drunk

The bible does not say that a divorced man is disqualified from leadership, but it does say that a man that is presently not a one woman man (as well as the other characteristics) is disqualified at this time.

Maybe we ought to take some tiem to talk about marriage and divorce.

also, remember, you are free to vote your own conscience on the matter, what we are saying is that as a leadership team, just because someone is divorced does not automatically mean they will be disqualified nor does it mean that they automatically will be included in the names of men that are letting their names stand for deacon.

Summary:

Discussion Starters:

What do the Scriptures as a whole teach about repentance and forgiveness?

In what ways am I challenged by “inspecting the grass” (what does the text say)?

c

Song: It is Well with my Soul

Next Week’s Sermon: Pastor Lars will preaching from Ps. 22

Benediction/Looking ahead: INVITE PEOPLE TO THE CAFE