1 Timothy 3:1-13

Greeting

Good morning, church. Thank you all for being here this morning.

In just a moment we’ll be continuing our series in 1 Timothy. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, we’ll be picking up in Chapter 3 starting in V. 1 and going through V. 13. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are plenty in the pew backs in front of you.

While you’re turning there, let me wish all the dads here a very happy Father’s Day!

And on that note, I want to take a quick moment to recognize the fathers in our church.

I saw a funny video this week where this pastor is sitting in his office and one of the assistants comes in and they’re talking about how everyone forgot to plan something for Father’s Day. The pastor goes on to talk about how they made this big to-do for Mother’s Day and they had gifts for the mothers and the message was really encouraging, and then in contrast, he points out that everyone just forgot to plan for Father’s Day altogether, and that every year the sermon just ends up being a message about how men need to step up, or do better, or be more manly.

And it was obviously a humorous look at something that we’ve all seen. But you all know me by now. And you know that I’m nothing if not an overthinker. So as I sat with it and overthought it, I thought about how it’s funny because it’s relatable.

The sermon bit, not forgetting dads. I’m not trying to play the victim here.

But it’s relatable because it’s so prevalent in churches today.

Now, let me first say that I do not disagree with the idea that men need to be bold leaders in our families, in our churches, and in our communities. I think thats an obvious message that we find throughout scripture, and we’ll see that in our text this morning.

However, far too often, as an overreaction to the world around us, pastors overemphasize the exhortation to be a better man, and fail to encourage in equal measure.

Men that are leading well, men that take seriously their roles and responsibilities given by God, carry a heavy weight. And as important as it is that we exhort men to live holy lives, its imperative that we recognize And encourage men who are.

One of the things I love so much about our little church is that I have the great honor of knowing each of you personally. And so with great confidence I can say that we’ve been tremendously blessed here at Northeast Fellowship with an abundance of men who honor God in their lives and in their homes, and it’s a privilege to live and walk alongside all of you.

It was actually just right before Father’s Day 14 years ago, that I found out I was going to be a father. And anytime anyone asks me what it’s like having kids, or more commonly, what it’s like having SO MANY kids, I never lie to them. If you commit yourself to it - if you care about the outcome - it is and will be one of the hardest things you will ever do in your life. Now, I wont pretend to have it all figured out. I know I’m no expert, and I know I’ve got a lot of road ahead of me. In fact, I’m sure a few of you more seasoned fathers would attest that you’re never really done. I’m sure you all still have your fair share of hopes, fears, doubts, and worries about your adult children. But I’m sure you would also echo the sentiment that I always share when asked about fatherhood. It is hands down the most rewarding endeavor you will ever embark on.

I was reminded that, even more critically than all of that, that so many unbelievers struggle to find faith as a result of a poor relationship or no relationship with their earthly father. They struggle to find any appeal in serving a Heavenly Father when the image of father they know is painful or non-existent.

And so let this be an encouragement to you this morning, fathers, that I see you, I appreciate you, and you’re doing a great work for the kingdom.

Now, all of that was for free. And by now you should have had plenty of time to find our text, so, lets get into it.

Scripture

1 Timothy 3:1–13 CSB

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. 8 Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons. 11 Wives, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything. 12 Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently. 13 For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Let’s pray

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and for the power of it. I pray this morning that you would speak to your church through your word, by your spirit, and for your glory. And I pray all this in Christs name. Amen

Intro

If you haven’t been with us the last few weeks, we just recently started our series through the book of 1 Timothy. If you’re not familiar with the book, just a super quick recap and to set the stage for us this morning; 1 Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles. And this is written by Paul to Timothy following Paul’s departure from Ephesus, where he left Timothy to organize and lead the church. We see this in the first chapter of 1 Timothy as Paul is greeting Timothy.

Paul was likely somewhere in his 50s or 60s when he wrote this letter, and Timothy was likely somewhere in his 20s or 30s.

And with exception to the first 20 verses, the entire book is one dealing with matters of the church. Paul, a more veteran, battle-hardened believer and church leader, is passing on wisdom to Timothy about the leadership of the church.

Now, as Stephen has been careful to mention, it is important that we consider both the historic and modern context together. This text was written by a specific person, to a specific person, addressing a specific group, at a specific time.

But, even though at the time he’s writing, Paul is giving Timothy specific guidance on the church leadership in Ephesus, and even though it can be easy for most believers to quickly skim over a passage on church leadership thinking its not applicable to themselves, let me remind you of Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Living and active. God is speaking to His people by His word today as he was 2000 years ago. So this text is as important to you as it is to me as it was to a 1st century believer.

Now this morning is going to be a bit more of an academic pursuit, just by nature of the text we’re looking at, so I apologize in advance, but I won’t have any quippy, memorable, alliterative points for you. But firstly this morning, we’re going to talk about the qualification of elders.

Qualifications of Overseers

We get these qualifications from the first 7 verses. Allow me to re-read.

1 Timothy 3:1–7 CSB

This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.

Before we talk about qualifications, let’s first establish terms.

In our text we see “overseer.” Elsewhere you may read “elders.” The KJV reads “bishop.” But in case its unclear, what we’re talking about here is what we have all come to know more commonly as “pastor.”

That being said, “pastor” has, especially in recent years, become a more colloquial term than is appropriate for the office it describes.

I will try my best to not go on a tangent here.

It’s not uncommon to see titles like “facilities pastor” or “media pastor” or “technical arts pastor” or a billion other cute titles co-opting the title of pastor for something operational and more akin to a corporate structure than a church body.

I will concede that I have known some men in similarly titled positions and in some edge cases, they really do function as true pastors, and the title merely describes additional responsibilities they fulfill within the church. But most often, I would say this is not the case.

And that matters a great deal, because although there can be some slight differences across denominations, in the terms bishop, elder, overseer, shepherd, or pastor, they are interchangeable in terms of both calling and qualification.

And as we see in our text, scripture places a heavy burden of both qualification and calling on the men in this office.

This is not something to be taken lightly.

This is not something to play around with.

The Lord will not look favorably upon those who would endeavor to lead His church - His bride - in an unworthy manner.

So, then, lets talk about what that worthy manner looks like.

Paul first begins this passage with a “trustworthy saying”, that if anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.

Although Paul does often quote other scripture, what we see here is not a reference to some other text, but rather, Paul sort of doubly affirming what he is saying.

It would be like me saying “No, seriously, it’s perfectly reasonable to listen to Christmas music in July.”

And on the surface, I think this is pretty obvious, right? You don’t want someone stepping into the pulpit, or teaching a class, or giving counsel to the body if they’re disconnected or disinterested or careless about it, right? Not that you’re here to be entertained, but how well do you think a flock is fed if the shepherd doesn’t pay attention to where, or even if, he’s placed the hay?

But taken within the full context of scripture, this serves as much as a warning to the pastor as it does a qualification to the church.

Hebrews 13:17a says

Hebrews 13:17 CSB

Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account

And more directly, James 3:1

James 3:1 CSB

Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.

So there’s a significant weight - a substantial burden of accountability for the flock, placed upon Elders. That verse from James was written slightly earlier in the 1st century, and was written to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, and then Hebrews was written, most likely a couple decades later by Paul, around the same time he authored 1 Timothy, and he gives a similar warning. So I think its perfectly reasonable to assume that Paul was probably familiar with this passage from James when he wrote Timothy, and therefore perfectly reasonable to assume that as he wrote about the importance of aspiration, he had this thought in mind.

And I think the weightiness of this reality is why Paul speaks of this first.

Aspiration is not, in itself, an immediate qualification to the office, but it is a crucial, necessary prerequisite.

Which is why Paul then follows with a “therefore.”

You must first aspire to the office then theres these other things.

If you don’t aspire to the office, theres no need talking about the rest. But if you do aspire, then there are some other things.

And of the remainder of these qualifications, if you pay attention to whats listed, only one of these items speaks to a special giftedness or ability. And that is the ability to teach.

Thats not to say this is a minor thing, let me be clear.

I spent many years arguing pretty vocally that a pastor’s primary role was to intimately know the congregation, to spend abundant time with them, to know everything thats happening in their lives and then as an outpouring of that, he would simply know what to preach each week as he knew what his congregation was facing.

But the reality is that, again, God’s word is living and active, and it is the means by which he has chosen to communicate with His people. And by His spirit, He gives guidance to pastors as we exposit His word, and by His spirit He grants understanding to the hearer of His word. But in order for the truth of His word to be exposited, the pastor must know the word. And in order to know the word, the pastor must invest significant, prayer-filled, meditative time in the word.

But not only that. I would argue further, that in order to meet this particular qualification, practically, a pastor must also possess a reasonable ability to stand before his congregation, and deliver a message which people want to listen to.

I don’t necessarily mean that you need to be entertained, or you need to have your ears tickled, but just like with aspiration, its unhelpful to have someone stand in the pulpit and deliver a message in the same manner as Ferris Bueller's teacher would.

Anyone under 30, find someone around you with gray hair and they can explain that reference.

Jokes aside, a pastor must be excited, and awed, and moved by the word of God, and be able to communicate that in his teaching.

So a pastor must aspire to the office, he must be able to teach, but crucially, and heavily emphasized in this text, he must exhibit Godly character.

The passage tells us that he must; be above reproach, be the husband of one wife, be self-controlled, be sensible, be respectable, be hospitable, not be an excessive drinker, not be a bully, be gentle, not be quarrelsome, not be greedy, manage his household well, not be a new convert, and must be well regarded by outsiders.

Some of these are obvious, but there are a couple that I want to take just a quick look at for the sake of clarification;

Husband of one wife does not mean that a man must be married in order to be a pastor. There are some people that read it this way, but aside from that being a rather silly reading of this text, the surrounding context points us to whats really being sought here. Likewise, you may be tempted to read this as a prohibition on polygamy, but at this time in Roman culture, polygamy wasn’t really common. Still others will read it as disqualifying for anyone who has remarried after divorce or widowhood. However, again, the surrounding context betrays these interpretations.

The original Greek text can be literally translated to “One woman man.”

Or in other words, a man who is faithful to his wife. Who does not give in to lustful temptation, but exercises self-control and holds in high regard the institution which is itself given to us as an image of Christ and His church. And understanding it this way places the same expectation on unmarried men alike. Although they are not yet married, they may be one day, and as such, they are to practice the same self-control, and give the same honor to their future bride.

It would have been kind of odd for Paul for depart from the overall character qualities he’s teaching here in order to address specific issues like divorce or polygamy. So reading it with the understanding that Paul is talking about marital faithfulness remains faithful to the surrounding context of the rest of the passage.

Now I want to look at one more of these qualifications before we move on to deacons. Verses 4 and 5.

1 Timothy 3:4–5 CSB

He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?)

Let me tell you. As a father of six, at face value this one is scary. “Manage competently”? “Children under control”? “all dignity”?!

You guys have seen how we show up to church sometimes. Many Sundays we come skidding in sideways, two of the kids don’t have any shoes on because they swore to us they were in the car as we were walking out the door, one of them didn’t wear a jacket and its 14 degrees outside. And one of them is wearing two jackets but neither one is the right size.

But Paul isn’t specifically speaking here about how buttoned up and presentable your family is. He isn’t talking about whether or not the books on your bookshelf are properly alphabetized. He isn’t concerned with how well your child can play Chopin or Tchaikovsky.

What we see here is a man who cherishes his family. Who sacrifices for his family. Who provides for his family. And who does so without intimidation, or anger or tyranny of any kind. And as such, raises up children who know a father’s love and who respect his authority as he has displayed, with dignity, the love and authority of Christ to them.

And the importance of this as a pastoral qualification is reinforced in the parenthetical - how can he care for the church if he can’t care for his own household?

If I can’t shepherd and make disciples out of my own children, how then am I to carry out that responsibility with 30 or 50 or 100 people?

We see here again, that so many of the qualities overlap each other. In order to properly shepherd my family, I need to have patience, and a kind heart, and be gentle and self-controlled, and so on. And if I can’t take all of these qualities and exercise them in my most intimate setting, I can’t be expected to adequately do it here.

Now let’s turn our attention now to the next half of this passage.

Qualifications of Deacons

We find these in verses 8-13.

1 Timothy 3:8–13 CSB

8 Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons. 11 Wives, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything. 12 Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently. 13 For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Everything we see here, though some things are stated a little differently, are things we saw above. Again, pastors are uniquely given the qualifications of aspiration and teaching ability, but otherwise, you could reasonably say that in order to be qualified to be a pastor, you do have to be qualified to be a deacon. Because thats how aligned these expectations are.

Now, just as we discussed with pastors, I don’t believe you can read this passage to mean that a deacon must be a married man in order to serve in this office. But that if he is married he is to behave in this manner. But interestingly, there are qualifications given here for the wife, as well. Although, not surprisingly, the wife’s qualifications are the same. She must be honorable in her conduct.

One interesting thing that we do see here, and that I believe is an important theological matter for us to handle, however, is that the word used here can be translated as either “wives” or “women.”

Most modern translations do translate this as “wives” but I think most also include some sort of footnote indicating the flexible nature of this word.

This does however present an interpretive challenge that we must handle.

Can women serve in the office of deacon?

At this point, many will point to the example of Phoebe as mentioned in Romans 16:1

Romans 16:1 CSB

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae.

It is important to note that the word Paul uses here for “servant” is the same word used to describe deacons - diakonos

Thats not the smoking gun, nail in the coffin that some would like to claim, because its still unclear here if Paul is referring to her as someone who is just a really profound supporter, or “servant” of the church, or if this is referring to the actual office of deacon.

Ultimately, this is one of those areas where scripture doesn’t give us a plain, black and white answer, and so we have to consider the text, under the full counsel of scripture, and follow the leading of the Spirit.

This is why, as a church, in our most faithful understanding of this text, we affirm both husbands and wives as a deacon couple.

Now I know I’m kind of jumping all around here, and I apologize, but bear with me. Let’s look quickly at the remainder of this section.

Remember how I said I was an overthinker?

I spent a non-trivial amount of time trying to decide if I was going to reverse the order of this message or not based on one word - “likewise”

I know it’s such a nerdy thing to get hung up on, but I love the placement of this word here.

It just does a lot of heavy lifting, distinguishing two distinct offices within the church, but carrying the weight of qualification over from the previous verses to these verses.

It makes it abundantly clear that deacon isn’t a second-place office. It’s not the minor leagues for up and coming pastors. It is itself a distinguished and distinct office of church leadership.

But

It is also not merely the group of guys who care the most about the plumbing in the building, the height of the grass out front, and the temperature of the coffee in the foyer.

Let’s look briefly at Acts 6:1-4

Acts 6:1–4 CSB

In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

This passage doesn’t specifically use the word deacon, but traditionally this is considered the establishment of the office of deacon. And the brief qualifications given in this passage bear a striking resemblance to those that we see in First Timothy.

But again, notice that the focus is on character.

Why would this matter? They’re literally being selected to wait tables.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, if Olive Garden used this criteria when hiring servers, the world would be a better place.

But this is where the distinction of the office of deacon is important.

Pastors are servant leaders, but deacons are leading servants. In both cases, the content of ones character matters tremendously because they are serving the bride of Christ very publicly. It is essential, then, that those in both the role of pastor and in the role of deacon, live lives that glorify God as an example to those whom they are serving.

And thats leaves us with a very key takeaway here.

Again, I know this was a much more academic text that we typically encounter, but there is still a lot of really valuable truth that we can all glean from this.

The main thing I want everyone to remember from this text is that Godly leadership is an outpouring of Godly living.

The church does not simply bestow a title upon a man and make him Godly. The church affirms men who exhibit the characteristics and the calling we see in this passage.

But these characteristics, these qualities, are not just for me, they’re not just for Stephen, or Darrell, or Richard, or Morgan.

But rather, with the exception of the particular pastoral abilities, these character qualities are characteristics of a Godly life which Christ desires for all of us.

So as we often do, I’m going to leave you this morning with both an attitude and an action.

Firstly, as you leave here this morning, as you go about your week, and life carries on, remember that in these qualifications, pastors and deacons are not intended to be unique, but rather are intended to be an example. Reflect often on these qualifications and boldly pursue a life of godliness.

And finally, your action - Pray for the leaders of your church, and hold us accountable. Nothing about the office of pastor or deacon makes any one of us less human. Each of us is still a sinner saved by the great grace of God. But the Bride of Christ deserves nothing but the best we can offer.

In just a moment, as we do each week, we will have a time of reflection and response. During this time, we invite you to pray together, pray with your spouse or with a neighbor, and pray out loud if you’re comfortable. As you conclude, we will have the Lords Supper elements available here on my right, your left. Please come up and grab those and take them back to your seat, and Stephen will come up and lead us in the Lords Supper together. If you are visiting with us this morning, we do not require that you be a member of our church to partake in this Lords Supper, we simply ask that you are a member of a church, a believer in Jesus Christ, and baptized in Jesus Christ.

Please pray with me;

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. God we know from Your Word that you are not a God of confusion, and so I thank you this morning that you have given us your word. That you have spoken so clearly to us about how we are to live in a way that glorifies you. Lord I thank you for the calling you’ve placed on my life, and on each person within your Church. I thank you for our time this morning, and its in Christ’s name we pray, amen.