Character of a leader

One of the sad realities of the church today, is that there seems to be a never ending stream of news articles, or rumours (whether confirmed or otherwise) of church leaders behaving badly. The recent Royal Commission into child abuse is a case in point.

If you’re anything like me, there are probably a few natural inclinations to hearing these stories of abuse.

Firstly there is shock and horror, although sadly, this is sometimes replaced with a feeling of - “oh, not another one!”

But then comes the rationalising of it. That abuser doesn’t represent Christianity. Or, they are a minority amongst the godly men and women who do lead our churches. Or the more comforting part - thankfully that’s not happening in our church.

I actually believe those statements to be true, and I might even use those arguments in the right setting, but somehow they can all to easily be a way of minimising the great failing of leadership that has happened.

We can throw our hands in the air and say - but what can I do? I’m not abusing anyone, nor am I even enabling any sort of abuse. My sincere hope is that you can say that, and praise God for it - but I want to suggest today that while ‘not abusing someone’ is certainly important, we can actually do a lot to promote positive behaviour by the way we live.

This morning we are going to talk about leadership and the qualities that go with it, but I want to urge you to not to think in terms of ‘well, his applies to those people, but I’m not a leader so it doesn’t apply to me’. Certainly I will argue that leaders need to be held to a greater level of accountability, yet these qualities are things that we should all aspire to.

In fact, this is how I read verse 1 of the chapter. It starts with the second of the “trustworthy sayings” (you might remember the first of which was found in chapter 1), and then says “whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task”.

Now I’m going to explore what this word “overseer” means shortly, but for now let’s just say it’s some form of leadership. Well, it could be read in terms of encouraging everyone to seek out leadership, but I don’t think this is the case for everyone. After all, in , we’re told “not many of you should become teachers...”

Rather, I think there is an element to which the trustworthy saying in 1 Timothy is actually suggesting that it is a noble thing to be like an overseer - which we’re just about to find out what that means.

You see, as we go through this passage, there are going to a few applications for us. Firstly there is the more obvious one, namely, to help us identify what it should be that we look for in a Christian leader. This will be useful in both holding existing leaders to account, and also for screening potential new leaders.

But the secondary application is what I was just alluding to before. These attributes are actually what we all should be aspiring to. While you might not be held to the same level of accountability as someone in leadership, you should still be aiming towards this same level as each of us are called to live like Christ.

I actually think that as we all strive towards this Christ like living, the church will be in a much better position to call out the bad leaders before they cause the havoc we so often see.

I belie

Context

So, first, as I always like to do, let’s stand back and look at the context of where this fits in the letter.

Remember, this is a letter written by Paul, to Timothy who has some sort of oversight of the church in Ephesus. From the first chapter we get the context that there has been certain individuals who have spread false doctrines and Paul is keen to stamp this out as he knows the destruction that it can cause.

Last week we then got into the second chapter. It’s a chapter that is usually memorable because of his instruction directed at women, which unfortunately can distract from the main idea of the chapter, which is that the church should be at peace, living holy and godly lives.

Well, as we move into the third chapter, we can see that Paul is getting into some specifics of how the church will be able to achieve this goal.

In particular, he talks about some of the specific roles that at needed in a church, but rather than focusing on the scope of what those roles entails, his sole focus is on the qualities in which people should have when in those roles.

I think this is an important clarification because so often our focus can be on function. We think, what do each of the roles do, and then who is someone that can do that. Now there is a place for thinking about functions. Certainly that comes up when we talk about our giftings and so we can see where our gifting fits in the roles. We will see that this actually comes up in one place when we talk about the overseers because it talks about being able to teach, however, leaving that exception aside for the moment, his concern is the qualities that the leader has.

Overseers

Well, as we start to dig in our first task is to try and figure out what this word is which in the NIV is translated as overseer. In the King James Version, along with some others, the word is translated at Bishop.

If we go to the original Greek, it is the word episkope. That word might sound familiar, particularly if you are familiar with what the Anglican Church is known as in America - that is, the Episcopalian Church.

That name actually refers to their system of governance, namely having that hierarchical structure of Bishops and archbishops.

However, I think it’s fair to conclude that when Paul talks about the episkope in this context, his not talking about this formal structure, as there is no evidence that such a formal structure existed at the time.

The word itself refers to someone with oversight. Therefore it would seem it is more than just someone who is volunteering, but someone with some leadership roles over someone else.

I would suggest that in the way we do church, this is the equivalent of a pastor and also an elder. Interestingly, even though deacons have their own section which starts in verse 8 (and I’ll get to that shortly), because of the oversight role that they play in our church structure, I think you could make a good argument that this list applies to them as well. But hopefully this will become clearer shortly when we start looking at the differences between the two lists.

Basically, my conclusion about who is the episkope, is actually to not be too strict about the definition, which is why I actually like the NIV’s translation of overseer - which doesn’t link it to a specific role that we have today.

Qualifications of an overseer

Now when we look at the qualifications of an overseer, you’ll see a list of about 14 characteristics. If I go over each one in detail we may be here for a while, so I’m going to jump through them fairly quickly.

Above reproach

It starts with a fairly overarching idea, and that is that they should be above reproach. You could paraphrase this by saying that the overseer should allow not even a hint of room for any sort of accusation.

What I love about this is that it moves beyond just doing the right thing.

A good example of this is with our efforts to stop child abuse. Now the aim is that we want our kids to be safe, therefore we should not abuse kids.

Now the advice we’re given, which I believe is in line with this idea of being above reproach, moves beyond just not abusing a child, but says, don’t even be alone with a child, because even if you’re not abusing a child, you can find yourself open to accusations if someone misunderstood the situation.

The same principle applies in many areas of life. Not only should you do the right thing, but don’t put yourself in a situation that could be misinterpreted by someone - because at the end of the day, while you can make the argument that they shouldn’t be judging you anyone, while you are making such an argument, the enemy has already slipped in and chaos is reigning.

Self-discipline and maturity

Now as we look at the rest of the list, I know I’m at risk of oversimplifying this, but I think we can group them into two broad ideas, which are actually interspersed with each other.

Firstly, we see a theme of self-discipline and maturity, of which I’ll include family matters in there as well.

And secondly there is a theme of being able to relate to others.

So first, let’s look at them theme of self-discipline.

Family matters

As I mentioned, I’m going to include family matters here. You see, Paul realises that what your family life is like, is a good barometer of what you’ll be like in the church. If you can’t manage your family life well, then church leadership is not for you.

There are two main places he makes this point. Firstly, and most briefly, in the middle of verse 2 he lists the attribute of being faithful to his wife.

It is verse 4 and 5 however where he really spells it out, including the requirement that his children obey him.

Now I think it’s important not to take that too far out of context. For example, you have a child, you tell them to turn the TV off and come to the dinner table. They don’t, and eventually you have to turn it off for them - they’ve jut disobeyed you, but I don’t think that disqualifies you as being an overseer - at least I hope it doesn’t or I may have to step down, along with every other pastor who has small children.

Rather, as Paul points out at the end of verse 4, it is the manner in which he goes about it, in particularly that he is doing so in a manner worthy of full respect. Children are going to be children, the father however needs to show love and care and guide them in an appropriate manner.

I think this can answer to dilemma of what to do with a potential leader whose children are just really obstinate. I don’t believe this automatically disqualifies someone, although it might be cause to explore further how the father has dealt with the child.

Maturity

As we look at other parts of the list, we also see that there are other areas in which we should require our leaders to have self-mastery.

In verse 2, it says he should be temperate and self-controlled.

And in verse 3, he should not be given to drunkenness nor be a lover of money.

Now no one is perfect, and no leader can say that they are perfectly self-controlled. Even if alcohol and money are not their vice, there would be other areas in which they struggle. The point is not perfection, but if they want to be a leader, then there needs to be real evidence that great steps have been made in this direction. If they have not shown real signs of leaving the old way behind and embracing the Christ-like nature shown to us, then they should not be a Christian leader.

Relating to others

The other main theme that I highlighted was the overseer being able to relate to others well.

In verse 2, it says that they should be respectable and hospitable.

In verse 3, it says they should not be violent but gentle and not quarrelsome.

Verse 2 also said being able to teach, but I’ll look at that separately shortly.

Now while I’ve separated these from that of self-discipline, the reality is that one you’ve mastered that self-discipline, you will naturally be better at relating to others. You see, if you master the pride and anger inside yourself, then you naturally won’t be violent or quarrelsome.

Now, just a quick aside before I continue. Though I say mastering it yourself, that is not to deny the Holy Spirit that is the one in our lives allowing these changes to happen and so in that regard I probably should be framing this as evidence of the Spirit working in us, rather than the work we’ve done ourselves.

But leaving that distinction aside, the point is that if someone wants to be a leader, they need to have strong evidence that they have strong self-discipline, and that it means that now they can relate well to others.

Able to teach

But let me just quickly address the requirement that they should be able to teach. Now not everyone is going to have the gift of teaching. However, I think Paul makes a great point. If you want to have a place of leadership in the church then you need to be able to convey ideas - otherwise, you’re not leading, your just doing.

And so this is why a an overseer should have the ability to teach.

Other requirements

Finally, Paul lists two other qualifications which I’m going to go over really quickly in the interest of time.

First, they shouldn’t be a recent convert - beside the reason given by Paul, I think this is self-evident, because they wouldn’t have had the time to show the maturity needed from the other points.

But secondly, they should have a good reputation with outsiders. I think this actually rounds out quite nicely the idea that they should be above reproach from verse 2. If the idea is that Paul wants the church to be peaceable, then as much as possible we should have good relationships with those outside the church.

Deacons

Well, after this relatively long list, Paul then moves to Deacons, which don’t worry, I won’t spend as long on, mostly because you’ll find that the list is fairly similar - but before I look at the list, just like we did with overseers, it’s worth figuring out what a deacon is.

The word deacon, actually comes directly from the Greek word, which is diakonos. The word itself literally means servant, but came to have a particular meaning within the church.

But while I acknowledge that Paul is talking about a specific role, and we actually also use the specific title, I think it is perhaps more useful to think of this in terms of those who do service in the church.

Qualifications

What we find when we look at the qualifications of the deacon is that there are some similarities.

Whereas the overseer is told to be above reproach, the deacon’s list starts with being worthy of respect.

The list for the deacons also includes some similar qualities for the overseer in regards to self-discipline, including refraining from excessive wine and not pursuing dishonest gain.

Verse 9 is also an interesting one… that “they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience”. You see, what we believe really matters.

The interesting thing about this list is we don’t see the same level of scrutiny over their ability to relate to others. This doesn’t mean that they don’t need to relate to others. If they are being respectful and sincere, then naturally they will be able to relate to others well, but this isn’t the main criteria for them.

But in verse 12, we do see a similar requirement to the overseer when it comes to managing his household well.

Women

Now verse 11 is interesting and has been interpreted in a few different ways. One interpretation suggests that it is saying that the wives of the male deacons should also have a level of responsibility to hold up to.

Another interpretation, which I personally think has more going for it, is that Paul is specifically saying that women can also be deacons, but they too also should hold to the same level of scrutiny as the men.

This of course raises an interesting question. If women can be deacons, can they be overseers? And where do we draw the line for an overseer? Perhaps they can be an elder, but not a pastor? Or maybe a pastor, but not the senior pastor?

After raising such a curly question, I’m actually not going to answer that now as I want to keep to point, but you can question me about my opinions on that afterwards.

Level of accountability

You might remember that my reading of that passage is that it didn’t give a strict prohibition of women preaching, but how far can you take that?

Instead what I want to do is actually look at the progression from deacon to overseer.

I’m actually going to leave that one for you to dwell on yourself as I don’t

You see, the argument I made earlier was that all of us should be aiming to live godly and holy lives.

The qualities that we’ve looked at, with possibly the exception of being able to teach, are qualities that each of us should be striving towards.

For example, we should not conclude that because your not a leader you don’t need to worry about drunkenness or being quarrelsome.

But what I think these lists strongly indicate, is that as someone takes on more responsibility, there needs to be a strongly level of accountability.

The basic premise is, the more influence someone has, the great the need for accountability.

The difficulty with this is, that so often, the higher someone is up the chain, for many, it can be hard to hold them to account. Sadly, I think this is the reason we’ve seen many great atrocities pass by.

So how do we hold someone in authority to account?

Well, I’m going to briefly jump ahead to , where in verse 19 it says, “do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses”.

In other words, this is not about just wildly bringing accusations. That would actually defeat the purpose of having a quiet and peaceful church.

So when an accusation against a leader needs to be made, do so in an orderly way. We don’t have time to go into detail now, but has some good advice on this one.

Conclusion

Leadership is a wonderful thing. God raises people up in such a way that he allows his church to flourish. But as Paul so helpful shows us, this leadership needs to happen in a way that is fitting with the gospel.

As leaders exemplify the way we should all be living, then the God ordained church will start to look like the way it should have all along.