09a) A Leader's Heart - Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we started to look at Paul’s instruction to Timothy in regards to who is to be leaders in God’s church. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and we will read his instruction again.
1 This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” 2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. 4 He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.
We looked at verse one. The second of the trustworthy sayings that Paul quotes. There will be people who aspire and desire the be overseers of the church. To aspire is to put effort towards and to work toward being a church overseer. But along with the effort there will be those who desire to be a church leader. This no difference in an athlete that chooses to put in the effort and to train and train their whole life but never really wanted to play a game. Wouldn’t we say that is foolish. On the other hand a person who has a great desire to be a pro athlete but is unwilling to put in any effort to accomplish the task.
There will be those that do the work to gain knowledge but do not have the desire to oversee and there are those that have the desire but will not do the work. But there will be those that do both, they will put in the work and have the desire to be a church overseer but that does not mean they are supposed to be leaders.
The Ephesians church has had great leadership over the years with Paul, Timothy, Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila, but they have come to find that the wolves that were warned about years earlier have arrived and now there are likely people who have become overseers that were never qualified or they have been overseers but have fallen away from the message of the apostles, the gospel of Jesus.
So we took a slight, but necessary, detour to look at the overseer part of this verse. We looked at the three main words used in the new testament that apply to the church leader. Overseer, Elder, Pastor/Shepherd.
As we explored the scriptures it became evident that the leaders of the church were called elders and had been called elders all the way back to Genesis. These elders were recognized and appointed in Isreal and in the church. They were wise men and we saw that along with their wisdom they were charged with overseeing and shepherding the flock of God. We see all of this in the 1 Peter.
1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: 2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
The task has been set forth for the leaders of the church. This noble task is as great as it comes with the authority to lead and and the responsibility to shepherd.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
The elders of God’s community of people are always held to a high standard. Not the highest standard because the highest standard is Christ himself. In his humility, holiness, righteousness, wisdom, and every other aspect of his character and actions.
As he is the Great Shepherd and Overseer.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
The church leaders are to be examples of redeemed men that even though they are still sinners, live in a way that demonstrates that life that the bible calls redeemed sinners to live. They are to have high moral character. A life that is guided and changed by the working of the holy spirit. A sinner that lives as an example of the greatest commandments.
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
Timothy who is put in charge of these corrections is himself spoken of as an example.
12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
As the leaders have been given great responsibility to lead, watch over, and to set the moral example, Paul gives Timothy instructions on what to look for to remove current elders and to appoint new ones. He lists 14 characteristics to look in leaders. Today we will start with the moral characteristics.
2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy.
Because the task is a noble one from the previews verse, therefore, these characteristics are to be seen in those that are to be appointed as elders and to remain in that position.
One of the interesting things about looking to this list is that many of the specific Greek words used to describe these leaders are unique to the Pastoral letters. Different words from the same root Greek word are used but the specific words here are uniquely used in the letters to Titus and Timothy. Paul had not found the need to express these characteristics earlier in his writing to the church as it wasn’t necessary to do so and likely after they were written there was no need to further define them.
He starts with the characteristics that are to be seen in the leader.
He Must Be
He Must Be
Above Reproach
Above Reproach
He starts with what is believed to be the umbrella characteristic for most of the rest of the list. The elder is beyond or above reproach in regards to his moral example.
The word used here means “not able to be held”. The idea is that if an accusation is made of immorality, if a charge is made against the elder, a charge that would bring shame or disgrace to the church or the name of God, that charge would not be able to be held to him. That he would be able to stand before God and the church elders and be found not guilty of the charges brought against him.
We see that this was the major issue with the pharisees plans against Jesus. They tried over and over again to find a charge that would hold. But they just could not do it. He was beyond reproach because the charges were always to be found to be false and did not stick.
Some common synonyms of reproach are admonish, chide, rebuke, reprimand, and reprove. "to criticize adversely”. It is not that a leader is beyond accusation because no matter how Jesus like a leader is they will still find that the accusations of sinners abound. It is a matter of whether those accusations can be determined to be held against the leader.
He will use the same word as a command to Timothy as well later on in the letter.
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
We see a parallel teaching to Titus for the church elder.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town. 6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. 7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it. 10 For there are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party. 11 It is necessary to silence them; they are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.
Paul uses a different word here that is more directly translated as meaning “unreprovable” or above reproach. This has the same meaning.
We can see this in the salvation of a sinner. As a sinner, each and every person is charged as guilty of iniquity, sin, transgression before the holy God. Each and every accusation sticks. Each and everyone is found to hold to the man and woman. There are no exceptions. A person who dies in their iniquity will have accusation brought forward before the true judge and the verdict will be guilty. and then the next charge, guilty, then the next , guilty, guilty, guilty. They all stick.
But the one who has the hope of salvation that has put their trust in Christ as their Lord and savior, who has seen the reality of their sin before the truth of God's word and come to the place of knowing that they need to be saved from the condemnation of guilt that they have incurred. by faith they trust that the work of the cross, they death burial and resurrection of Jesus saves those who believe. They are put to death with him and raised anew in life. They are a new creation.
They put their hope in the gospel of Jesus that a sinner like me can be reconciled to God and be found not guilty by the life of Christ.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Church leaders are to be examples of the work of the holy spirit, of the work of the gospel, the work of Christ on their lives. We see this over and over.
17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.
9 It is not that we don’t have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us.
7 Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.
1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: 2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
To be beyond reproach is to live a life that is free from accusations of immorality that can be held to the leaders. Obviously this is not what is going on at this church. Paul is accusing them of false teaching, leading people astray and many other charges through this letter. In order to help Timothy, Paul then gives some specific characteristics that he can use in evaluating their lives. These could be charges that are sticking to the current leaders of the church. So lets take a look at at the first one.
The Husband of one Wife
The Husband of one Wife
The first is a husband of one wife.
1 Timothy 3:2 (CSB)
2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, ...
This is literally translated as a one women man. This verse bring much debate in the church today. Can you already feel the tension? Can you hear the arguments? Do we really have to go here? Absolutely. Why? Because we want to know what God’s word says. Is God’s word good? Is it true? Then we seek to know. We do not run from the truth of the word. We already hear the arguments:
Does this really mean that a woman cannot be an overseer?
Does this mean that single men cannot be overseers?
Does this mean that a divorced man cannot be an overseer? What is the divorce was before they were saved?
Does this refer to polygamy?
The debate has been going on for a long time. One of the issues is that, many times this list is seen as a series of just check boxes that one must pass. The focus is taken away from moral character and turned to the nuances of marital status.
Therefore what people seek is justification to who they want to be their teachers not who God says is qualified to be overseers.
1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.
The text is read but what if I don’t like the rule? Well I question not the intent of God through Paul but the translators English used.
I find it interesting that in regards to this instruction by Paul, almost all of the translations that are common to me, say the same thing. The husband of one wife. I found two that said “faithful to his wife”.
But overall the statement is translated the same.
But what if there is talented speaker, who is trained in the scriptures, who is wise but happens to be a woman. What if a church wants her to be their overseer?
What does the text say?
“the husband of one wife”
The overseer must be a husband. Why are the churches overseers not women? Because they can never be the husband in the marriage that was instituted by God in the garden.
23 And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. 24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
There was man, then woman and he bonds to his wife. I cannot find any ambiguity in this verse. The church leader is a one woman man. A woman who wants to be an overseer desires to be in a role that is contrary to scriptures. The scriptures cannot really mean this is what is asked? Here is what the BFM says about the scriptures.
“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.”
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
1 Timothy 3:2 and 2 Tim 3:16 have to be untrue for a woman to be an overseer of the church.
But what if a church still wants her to be an overseer, then next argument is usually: Paul was being generic. He is not speaking of husbands and wives but of generic men and women.
He used the opposite phase for widows.
9 No widow is to be enrolled on the list for support unless she is at least sixty years old, has been the wife of one husband, 10 and is well known for good works—that is, if she has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to every good work.
Exact same three Greek words in reverse order. Paul used the phrase both way so he was not being generic.
Ok I give on the overseer so how about we make her a pastor instead so that she can still lead the church? He is talking about overseers not talking about Pastors.
As we talked last week and mentioned earlier there is only one church leader. This is a consequence of making one into three. Titus speaks of elder qualifications and all of that scripture goes here. 1 Timothy is speaking of overseer qualifications. so all of this scripture goes here. But over here we have a single verse that may or may not be translated as Pastor in your translation
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
These were given to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor/shepherds, teachers. These were used to equip and mature the church.
See with this verse I can have a female church leader because this verse says pastors and he doesn’t say anything about gender.
This is how certain churches are justifying women pastors that are overseen by the elders of the church. They do this because by using the word pastor here, there are no qualification for this type of church leader.
But the bible says that all scripture is God breathed, written by God. It also says that the elders in Ephesus were appointed by the Holy Spirit. Here it says that a church leader is a one women man. One of these statement has to be false to justify a female church leader.
I would like to be clear that I am not saying that women cannot teach in the church. We already looked at that Paul said earlier “Let them be learners”. Women are to be taught the scriptures for the benefit of their families and the women of the church. There are women like Susan Heck and Kay Arthur that are great teachers. I am reviewing another right now. The church is to have mature women of the faith serving with the church leaders as we see in the testimonies of Paul about his fellow workers who are women. But here the text is very specific the church leader, the overseer/elder/pastor is to be a one woman man.
There are more arguments but we see that the issue is that the word of God has to be manipulated to come to these conclusions.
What about single men? Is is acceptable to have a single church leader? Paul and Timothy both were single as far as we can tell so it is unlikely that he is precluding them.
8 I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am.
However Paul told people to imitate him as he imitated Jesus. And Timothy was to be an example of purity to the believers. A single man is to be faithful to the wife he, may have in the future or if he is capable of not falling into sexual sin and is blessed with the constitution to be celibate for his life, for the glory of God, he would not be disqualified. But if we finish Paul’s thought in Corinthians.
8 I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am. 9 But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
Or what about a divorced man? This one has many facets to the different arguments. But first we must recognise that covenant of marriage between a man and a woman what God desires.
16 “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.
There are times when a divorce was permitted in the teachings of Jesus. In the case of adultery or of a believer who’s spouse has left them for no fault of their own. A man in both of these scenarios would not have commited a sin in the divorce and are encouraged to remarry.
31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. 32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
9 I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”
So even if it is permitted for divorce, does that exclude a man? And what about timing in relation to his salvation. If any divorce is a disqualification then wouldn't all men that have had premarital sex also be disqualified from being an elder of the church.
It would seem inconsistent that a man who knew only two women in his life, his first wife before salvation that ended in divorce and then he is saved a now knows his new wife in that way.
If that man is not qualified to be an elder then wouldn’t it be consistent that a promiscuous man before he was saved and then is faithful in marriage after salvation would also be unqualified. Many pastors would be disqualified if this is true. Is that what God is saying? That any man who has been with more than one women in his life could never lead a church. Then if you add Jesus’ words:
28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Is anyone qualified? Remember this culture is not much different than ours with sexual immorality. The gentiles and the Greeks were in the culture where in polygamy happened but was not popular. Most men had only one wife but it was very common to have extramarital relations and it was culturally acceptable for them to do so.
I tend to think that Paul was addressing the elders that were being charged as unfaithful to their wives. They were poor examples of a Godly husband. they were multiple women men. Most men were multiple women men and most if not all would have committed some sexual sin before salvation. So who may be qualified?
We must remember the greatness of the regeneration of the gospel.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
Amen? So then does this mean that anyone can be an elder? No, I think not.
As you can see the details bog down more and more into a series of legalistic if then statements of marital status. But the elders are to be examples of redeemed and reconciled men of high moral character.
Elders have a responsibility to be wise and discerning as to whether a man has shown himself to be a one women man and if his life before salvation disqualifies him or not. An elder is to be appointed by other moral leaders and to be affirmed by the testimony of the church.
22 Don’t be too quick to appoint anyone as an elder, and don’t share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
There must be a time to see a life of a man and to discern if he is faithful to his wife. Is he a one women man? Is his life a moral example to the flock in his devotion to his wife. To the woman of his youth. What is hiring a pastor, anything but the hasty appointment of a leader? Why do we see time after time pastors falling into sexual sin of all kinds? Could this be part of it? Are men known well enough to be moral examples of one women men? Are we allowing men into leadership who have proven to not be one women men? Do we even ask the question? Or is that to intrusive?
Once an elder is ordained, laid on hands, if they are found to commit adultery then I see that as a disqualification from church leadership. This is the charge that if it sticks to a man then they are to be removed. This will take discipline as Paul put it.
27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Because the words of the Proverbs rings true.
32 The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself. 33 He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.
The act of church leaders who are found unfaithful to their wives will bring a dishonor that will never be removed. He may be forgiven but he is not longer qualified as a church leader as he has been accused and found guilty and cannot set a moral example anymore. It brings reproach on the church, that church has an adulterer as their leader, what kind of God is holy that has that man leading his people.
This charge is the first one that Paul lists for a reason and it is one that has great consequences for the leader, his family and the church.
These men are to be examples of faithfulness to the bride that God has given him. He is to be an example of the head of his marriage. His wife should be living under that headship and experiencing the blessing that a man who loves his wife the way Christ loves the church produces.
Conclusion
Conclusion
If we were to go through the church today and remove any pastor that was found to not meet this requirement, what would be the impact.
Depending on the statistics, it is estimated that there are over half a million clergy or pastors in america. With somewhere around 20% being female and surveys have shown that 40% of pastors admit to having an affair after starting in the ministry. That would mean that just on these two facts alone. 60% of today's pastors would be removed by Timothy as charged by Paul. And this is just the first one of 13 more charges.
The results or showing themselves, 50% of marriages of pastors end in divorce. Between 60% and 80% will not be a pastor after 10 years.
The numbers and the results show us that there is something grossly wrong in the group of people we call church leaders, what we call pastors. What needs to change? We do? Where do elders come from? They come from our children? Children who have parents seek to be more like Jesus? Pastors or Elders that are examples of moral character and of the word. Our future leaders are here. They are among us or will be among us in the future. We pray for God to bring for his leaders.
May we refrain from seeking the people that will tell us their words, instead appoint men who will speak his words to us. Men who can honestly say imitate me as I imitate christ? Who can stand before you and God with a clean conscience like Paul that says I have taught you all of God’s council. Now follow him.
If you are not saved, see the hope that you do not have to live bound in your sin anymore and can be saved by Jesus’ sacrifice for you. And if you are a believer follow him. Be sanctified, grow in spiritual maturity, walk in the light, flee from the darkness. Commit you life to being in this world but living for the next.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Communion
Warning
Children, Lost, Sin
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Prayer
Song
Closing
Blessing/Benediction
5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.