The Character Required for Oversight
INTRODUCTION:
Interest:
Our society has a lot of ideas of what it expects of leaders. It has a lot of ideas of how it expects leaders to behave; how they should operate. When I was in the business world, I had several classes designed to develop leadership skills. There are countless books that sell millions of copies that claim they will help individuals become successful leaders in our contemporary culture. They offer insight to unlock people’s hidden potential.
Involvement:
Well, the Bible also tells us some things to expect in leaders…and unsurprisingly, much of what it says runs against the grain of what our culture promotes. The Bible is always counter-cultural.
Context:
It is good to come back to our series through 1 Timothy this evening. It has been a month since we were last here, finishing up chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to young Timothy. You may recall that Paul left Timothy in the city of Ephesus to deal with some issue facing the church, issues causing the church to lose the focus of its ministry.
At the core of the problem are some false teachers peddling false teachings. We don’t know exactly what they were teaching, but we know that it was undermining the gospel itself. Timothy has been encouraged to stand up to these men, refuting their teaching by proclaiming the truth, correcting error with truth.
In chapter 2, Paul addressed the specific area of worship. For the church to have the proper focus, their prayers needed to be focused on the gospel. Both the men and the women of the church needed to behave properly when they gathered for prayer and for other aspects of worship. We were reminded in chapter 2 that what is said and done in worship is very important to God.
Preview:
As we turn to chapter 3 this evening, it makes sense that, since Paul was concerned about the demeanor of the people engaged in worship, that he will now turn his attention to those who are to lead in the public worship of the church. Timothy is not going to be left in Ephesus forever. Timothy’s role is to represent Paul, make the necessary corrections, and then hand the responsibility to keep it that way back to the church. In order to do that, he needed to ensure that the right people were in place to receive that handoff.
Our verses this evening are pretty well-known; they provide the most complete list of qualifications for the office that we know as pastor that we find anywhere in Scripture. For that reason, whenever a church is in the position of looking for a pastor these verses are read. I know that they are also read in our Sunday School class on the church. Still, I believe it is beneficial for the church to review them again in the context of working through this letter. For one thing, you never know when you might be in the position of looking for a pastor…No, I am not planning on going anywhere…this is not a hint toward that at all. Still, neither of us know how long the Lord will have me in this office. I would suspect that some of you will be around whenever the time arrives to find the next pastor because you are significantly younger than I am. Furthermore, none of us know which of us the Lord might suddenly move from here to a different church through things like job transfers and when He does you might find yourself in a church looking for a pastor. So, one reason to look at these verses is that this is content that you need to know. I have mentioned several times that it is clear that the ultimate responsibility for maintaining the focus of the church lies with you collectively—the church members. You need to know what to expect of your pastors…even though, I must admit I am not necessarily anxious to put myself under your microscopes because I know I do not measure up as far as I would like.
So, the first reason to look at these verses is because you need to know the information as a good church member. But there is another reason as well; a reason that is more directly pertinent, but I am going to make you wait a while to discover it.
Transition from introduction to body:
Let’s begin working our way through our verses this evening. In verse 1 we find that…
BODY:
I. A leader must display a desire before serving
Let’s read the first verse of 1 Timothy 3 together…<read 1 Tim 3:1>
We’ve seen that opening idiom before, “It is a trustworthy statement.” Paul used it back in chapter 1, verse 15, as a way of emphasizing the truth of what he is saying. In this case, the truth that he is conveying is that it is a good thing when a person wants to hold the office of the overseer in the church.
Now, I said I person here, but in a few minutes we will see that the position is limited by God to men. I also used the NASB language, “office of overseer,” but there is really only one word in the original language, the word for overseer, or bishop as the KJV translates it. The focus actually is on the function more than the office that the person holds, it is the function of providing oversight to the church. Of course, we have come to refer to this person as the pastor. As I explained when we looked at a parallel list in our series through Titus a couple of years ago, we can use elder, overseer or bishop, and pastor interchangeably. They all refer to the person or persons leading a local church.
The point that Paul makes in this first verse is that desiring to have this role, this position, is a good thing. It is not only intrinsically good in and of itself. It is also attractive to others; others should see this desire as a good thing.
Illustration
I know that I have been praying as long as I have been the pastor in our church that God would raise up this desire in many young men within our church. I want to see this good thing in the lives of many men as it is a sign that God is working in lives.
Application
Of course, from a church standpoint, we should recognize that this also implies that we should never place someone into the role of pastor who does not desire to be in that role. We should look for and see that desire before we ever consider a man to serve as a pastor in our church.
One important component, though, is that this desire must be recognized and confirmed by the church. I attended an ordination council one time…an ordination council, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is a council of other ordained men—usually pastors—called by a church to test the theological training of a man the church is considering for ordination. I remember a council in which the man was asked about this desire and he assured the council that he had it. He was then asked, “Well, what will you do if this council determines that you are not prepared to be ordained.” The man thought for a moment, and then he said, “I guess that I will just go and preach anyway because I feel the call of God on my life.” The council took that as a positive answer, but I will submit to you that it was really a bad answer. A person is to certainly have the desire to be a pastor before the church should ever dare to place a man into the position. But the desire is to be recognized and affirmed by the church, not independently as if that alone is enough. After all, these instructions that we are looking at are given for the purpose of setting up a properly functioning church rather than to guide individual believes in their Christian walk.
Transition:
A leader must display a desire before serving. That comes first, but Paul quickly moves on to a second point for the church to consider.
II. A leader must display qualifications before serving
Qualifications. We see these in verses 2–6. Let’s read these verses…<read 1 Tim 3:2–6>.
This is quite a formidable list. We will spend some time looking through these qualifications this evening, but before we do I want to make one general observation. Remember when I said that there was a second reason why these verses are important for us to look at this evening, one that is directly pertinent to us? Well, this list gives that reason. These are the qualifications that a pastor must display before serving. However, except for a couple of these items, these are also the qualifications that every Christian should possess…or at least be striving for. These are marks of spiritual maturity. We are all to be striving toward spiritual maturity. That means that we are all to be striving for these things. As we work through this list, it is proper for you to consider whether or not I and Pastor Aaron and Carl, the men serving as overseers in this church, have them. But I am also going to be asking you to consider how you are doing with most of these items. You see, the big idea that we gain from this entire passage…the idea that I held off giving you until you had this list in front of you is that Christian leadership requires mature Christian character. We are all to be striving to be Christian leaders. Our scope of leadership may vary. As fathers, we are Christian leaders in our homes. As mothers, we are Christian leaders of our children. As children we should be Christian leaders with our friends and with younger children. We are all to be Christian leaders in our society. In other words, we all need to be working toward these characteristics. Christian leadership requires mature Christian character.
A. Above Reproach
Leading the lists is the requirement to be “above reproach”. This would seem to function as an umbrella requirement that the man must not have any area within his life in which he could be accused of consistent wrongdoing. This emphasizes the importance of integrity in the man and suggests that there will observation from within and without. The implication is that the pastor will represent Christ by virtue of his office and thus must not be one who will bring disgrace to the name of Christ.
Application
This must be the summation of my life if I am to continue to hold this office. But I am not the only person being observed within and without. I am not the only person representing Christ with my life. So are you…you bear the name Christian after all. Are you above reproach? We might even say that the all the other characteristics that we are going to look at simply define what this means.
B. Husband of One Wife
This is the second item listed. Not this does not mean that a pastor must be married, but it does mean that a pastor must not have anything to do with a woman who is not his wife. This is one of the items in the list, despite what our current culture attempts to argue, which clearly indicates that the pastor of the church must be a man.
Application
Now, certainly being the husband of one wife does not apply to over half of you tonight. Roughly half of you are women and some men are unmarried. But what we all should recognize is that marital fidelity is a mark of spiritual maturity. Integrity and commitment to our spouse reflects our commitment to Christ. If you are married, are you reflecting this in your life?
C. Temperate
I’m going to pick up the pace now, moving through the rest of the list. Temperate means being free form excess, being balanced in one’s life. The word originally meant to abstain from alcohol, which is why the KJV used “sober” for the translation, but the word took on a figurative meaning of being spiritually sober as well as physically sober—temperate.
D. Prudent
In Titus this word is translated as “sensible.” A pastor…or a mature Christian for that matter…should be serious and earnest. He should have the ability to have fun, but only in the proper place and at the proper time. He knows what is fitting for the situation.
E. Respectable
This carries the idea of being orderly. It can apply to all areas of life: physical, mental, and moral. The mature Christian has his (or her) life ordered so that he does not present the picture of chaos. Are you ordered? Are you respectable?
F. Hospitable
The word literally means to be “loving of strangers.” The pastor should have a love for people who he does not know personally. He should be willing to meet their needs and care for them in any way he can. And so should you. It is a sign of your Christian maturity that you love strangers simply because they bear the image of God and you know that your Savior died for them as well as for you.
G. Able to Teach
This is one of the few items in the list that does not apply to all Christians. Not all Christians must be able to teach, but the pastor most certainly must have that ability. Remember, the issue in Ephesus especially was that false teaching had made its way into the church. The overseer, the pastor must have the ability to counter that teaching with the truth; not just through confrontation of the teachers, but also through preparing the congregation with a foundation of truth.
Application
Now, I will mention that I see a framework for formal education here, things like seminary degrees. A man is not able to teach what he does not know. He needs an aptitude for learning the truth and he needs the opportunity to learn that truth. Not every person in the congregation needs to understand the basics of Biblical Greek and Hebrew, but it sure does strengthen the church when the pastor has that and is able to use that foundation to teach the truth to the church.
H. Not Addicted to Wine
I won’t go into the topic of whether or not the Bible allows alcohol today at this point…we don’t have enough time for that discussion. In Paul and Timothy’s day, alcohol was unavoidable. But it was also dangerous because it could become a vice and impair a person’s ability to display many of these other characteristics. Thus, it was necessary for the pastor to be a man who was sufficiently disciplined so that he avoided such problems.
Application
The principle for all of us is that a mature Christian is one who will exercise disciplined wisdom to avoid anything that might lead to a common vice. Today, alcohol, along with things like marijuana and even indiscriminate use of prescription drugs, can lead to such vice. A mature believer will refrain from falling under such influences, taking the necessary steps to ensure that he or she remains free of such entanglements.
I. Not Pugnacious
This means to that the man is not quick-tempered. The word literally means to not strike with the fist. In other words, a mature Christian is not given to violent outbursts…even if that outburst is directed only at a wall.
J. Gentle
The overseer of the church should be a man who avoids a lot of potential contention by being patient and forbearing. He will yield rather than fight unless truth is at stake.
K. Peaceable
This reflects a spirit on harmony; a peacemaker rather than a warmaker. The pastor should not be overly aggressive. He is not to be seen as a contentious person.
Application
Now, I’ve been ripping through these, but let me pause for a spot-check. Are you performing a self-examination as we go through this list? Would your family describe you as not pugnacious? As gentle and peaceable? As temperate? As prudent? We should all be striving for all of these characteristics. It is not sufficient to pride ourselves on not being addicted to wine if we are not peaceable. It is insufficient to be gentle if we are not also working on being hospitable. Of course, we know from other texts that we are not working on these things through our own power alone; God’s Spirit is at work within us to create these characteristics. But we also know that the Spirit works in harmony with our spirit. We must strive to become these things as He works in us.
Moving on…
L. Free from the Love of Money
A pastor must not be a man who is fixated upon financial rewards. As one commentator expressed it, he “must wage an unceasing battle to keep material things in their proper perspective.” The ministry is not the place for a money-seeker. Frankly, the Christian life is not the place for a money-seeker. The Lord may bless you with financial means, but a mature Christian does not center his or her life around money.
M. Manage His Own Household
In that day, the household typically included more than what we would call the nuclear family. It could include parents and grandparents. It could include slaves. It could even include extended visitors. By observing how a man does with managing his own household, the church can get some insight into how he will do with the business of the church.
Notice, that one thing the church is to be looking for is that he manages his children with “all dignity.” Of course, a potential pastor may not have children, but if he does the church can observe how he handles them. It isn’t that the children are to be dignified…children will be children and as such will make childish mistakes. But the man is to respond to those issues in a dignified manner.
Fathers, are you dignified in dealing with the childish issues of your children. It is not dignified for you to yell at them in anger. It is not dignified for you to attempt to placate them with distractions. It is not dignified for you to ignore them. Are you managing your own household?
N. Not a New Convert
This is the final personal qualification listed. Obviously, not every believer can meet this criteria; there is a point in every Christian’s life in which he or she is a new convert. But the church should not be looking to place a man into the position of pastor who is a new convert. There is too much inherent risk for pride that comes when the church is looking regularly looking to the man for guidance.
There are two interesting observations that I will make in passing. First, all of these characteristics, but especially this last one, suggest that the church was expected to choose a man from within, someone that they knew well as their overseer.
Second, this requirement for the man to not be a new convert is absent from the list that Paul gave Titus in chapter 1 of that letter. Titus was organizing the church in Crete, a new church at that time. Timothy, by contrast, was working with the church in Ephesus which at this point had been in existence for at least 12 years. The implication is that their may be times when a church is so new that it must look at recent converts, but that only applies at the beginning of a church planting movement in a new region. The ideal model to look for a man with a proven track record.
Transition:
It was a long list—19 items—that we just looked at. Remember our main idea, though? Christian leadership requires mature Christian character. A leader must display qualifications before serving.
In the final verse this evening, we see one further requirement:…
III. A leader must display a reputation before serving
Let’s read this final verse…<read 1 Tim 3:7>
It is unavoidable that the overseer of the church will have a visible position. Much of what the community thinks about the church will be affected by what the community thinks about the pastor. For that reason it is imperative that the church choose a man who had a good reputation. Others are watching, the church needs to have a man who will not bring disgrace upon the name of Christ through his actions.
Application
Again, the implication is that the church is choosing a man from within, someone who has a reputation in the community. Now, I am not saying that the church cannot choose someone who moves into the community for the job, but that was not the way it worked in the Paul’s time. If the church is choosing someone who will be new to the community it is very important that the church consider the reputation the person has in the community he came from.
But let me bring this home to all of you It is not too much of a stretch to again suggest that a mature Christian will be a person who maintains a good reputation in the community. A mature Christian is one who does not bring disgrace on the name of Christ through his or her public actions.
Illustration
I have to admit that there are times when I cringe greatly as I see some of our church family express opinions on various topics on social media. It is not that I am concerned that your opinions do not align with my own. Frankly, most of the times when I cringe the opinion expressed does align with my opinion. The reason that I cringe is because of the way the opinion is expressed. It is expressed in a way that a Christion should not speak…through harsh and unedifying language. There is name calling. There is coarse language. There is insensitivity to contrary opinions. These are things that do not give a good reputation to those outside the church. They are things that actually bring reproach on the name of Christ because all too often these cringe-worthy posts are followed by an invite to join our live-stream service or a Bible verse of the day.
Friends, we all have the duty to display a good reputation before the world. It is part of being a mature Christian. A leader must display a good reputation before he is placed into a leadership position of serving.
Transition from body to conclusion:
A leader must display a reputation before serving. Christian leadership requires mature Christian character.
CONCLUSION
Christian leadership requires mature Christian character. You won’t find this listed in the top leadership books on the market. I didn’t find this taught in the leadership classes I took in the corporate world. But it is the main message that we find in scripture; it is the message of our text this evening.
Application
While our verses this evening have specifically instructed us as to the requirements that the church is to look for in their pastors, it also gives a list of most of the things that each of you should be seeking to develop in your own life. Christian maturity is the goal for all of us who bear the name of Christ.
A leader must display a desire before serving. A leader must display qualifications before serving. A leader must display a reputation before serving. Christian leadership requires mature Christian character.