Leadership - A Noble Task

Introduction

Today is Palm Sunday, the Day when the Church traditionally celebrates the Triumphal Entry when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey to the praises of “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. We remember that event in history, even as we look forward to the day when Jesus will come again to usher in the full Kingdom of God and reign as our conquering King.

This is how it happened:

Matthew 21:6–9 (ESV)

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Luke 19:37–40 (ESV)

37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Palm Sunday Parade: Hosanna (Praise is Rising) kids come in on the chorus

Hey Kids, before you make your way to your seats I want to invite you all up here to get a gift. We want you to remember that this is a special week for Christians all around the world so we have these special Easter Story books for you. It tells the story of the entire week of Easter starting with Palm Sunday, which is what we are celebrating today and then the Last Supper which we remember on Thursday night, then Jesus death on “Good Friday” and finally the big finish Celebration on Easter Sunday which we will celebrate next Sunday. We are giving it to you today so that you or your parents can read along with it all week up to Easter on Next Sunday.

I expect we have several of these books left, so if any of the rest of you would like one for someone who isn’t here today or for your grandchildren or something please feel free to come get one of these after the service as we would love for them to be used and enjoyed.

Tension

Do you know what the word “hosanna” means? Many people liken it to the word “hallelujah” so they think it must be a declaration of praise, and I suppose it could be seen that way in a sense, but more accurately it is a cry or a plea for salvation. It is made up of two Hebrew words

1. “yasha” יָשַׁע yâshaʿ, yaw-shah´ which means “deliver, save (3467 ) and

2. “anna” נָא nâʾ, naw; which is a participle meaning (4994)“beg, beseech or entreat”

So “yasha” - “na” “ Save us, we cry” or “deliver us, please!”. Obviously there is a measure of praise or recognition in this declaration this because you are saying that you believe this person to be someone who could save you, so you are crying out to them so that they will.

And the reason that so many Churches like ours have the children parade around with the palm branches is because…well first of all, sometimes adults are often too uptight and stuffy to have any fun at Church, but more so because later that same day after Jesus rode into town on a donkey, he was in the Temple, and children who were a part of the crowd earlier followed him in there and kept the party going.

So in the Temple, the House of the Lord, the children were continuing to shout “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:15)

Matthew 21:15 (ESV)

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant,

“Uptight and stuffy” Needless to say, they were very displeased over all the racket, especially from a group of children and they said to Jesus:

Matthew 21:16 (ESV)

“‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise” (Matthew 21:16).

Now this is interesting in many ways, not least of all because Jesus is accepting the praise of the Lord in the Templt in front of the Chief Priest. He is declaring himself to be God here…and that that is a big deal.

But also because in crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” the people were crying out for a King. Now of course Jesus came to be more than just the next King of Isreal, he came to conquer sin and death as the King of Kings, but it is interesting to consider the text that Jesus is quoting from here to the Chief Priests. It was a Psalm of King David, Psalm chapter 8 where it says...

Psalm 8 (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Did you hear all the King language? The language of authority. This is a psalm about the created order, reflecting Genesis 1 and 2 where it talks about how God has given humanity the right and responsibility to have “dominion over the works of His hands”.

How does that word sit with you? The word “dominion”?

It is a word that means authority, supreme authority. The Psalm invites us to consider how God has crowned human kind with this “supreme authority” over this world to steward it under His greater majestic authority, but... do we typically think authority is a good thing or a bad thing? We don’t really like words like dominion, authority or any kind of King.

Our country in fact, was formed largely in opposition to a Tyrant King... and as we have been studying on Wednesday Nights we intentionally set up our government to avoid that kind of authority…so how does a country, culture or people who have come together over rejecting a particular authority grow to see authority as anything but a bad thing.

We all know that bad earthly authorities bring confusion, chaos, and destruction. We have been shaped by our bad experiences with bad earthly authorities, but I wonder how deeply that formation goes? Could it have gone so deep that we can’t even see the posiblity of a good earth authority? One that would bring freedom and flourishing instead of confusion and chaos?

The people who cried out “Hosanna to the David” believed it. They had experienced evil authority for hundreds of years and yet they were still holding out hope that a good Godly earthly king would bring them freedom and flourishing, and that day, most of them thought this was all Jesus might be.

The reason that I bring all that up, besides the fact that it is Palm Sunday, is that we are going to take a look at the authority structure that God designed for His Church. For His Eklessia: the unstoppable movement of God. God designed things so that the leaders of the Church would be good Godly earthly authorities, so that His people could be free to flourish under His loving rule there.

We find these instructions in 1 Timothy chapter 3, page 992 in the Bibles in the Chairs. So if would turn there with me, I’ll pray and then we will dive into this idea of leadership and authority in the Church together.

Truth

Last week we began in 1 Timothy looking at what Paul said was of first importance, that the Eklessia would be a place where ministry through prayer was so expected that it was like the air that you breathe. That prayers for all people, even people way out there on our - we don’t really want to pray for them list - should be prayed for because Jesus is the only hope for our world and if He would change them, then it would change our circumstances.

That was of first importance, and now Paul moves into describing what authority in the local Church should look like. It was very different from what they were used to. Paul begins by saying:

1 Timothy 3:1 (ESV)

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Our first theme for the week is...

To seek leadership in the Eklessia is to desire and aspire to a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1)

You might wonder why I would stop here with just one verse to make a point over something that seems to be so obviously stated in the verse, but it is not as obvious as you might think.

Many of you know how I came here to Friendship Church in order to pursue ministry at an Overseer led Church. In studying this passages with the leadership team at the Church that I was previously on staff with, I became convinced that this Overseer leadership model was something that was worth pursuing in trying to be faithful to God’s design for his Church.

I was especially drawn to doing something different because I had seen too many pastors tap out in exhaustion, corruption or moral failure because they were trying to do and to be what one man could never do or be on his own.

And one of the things that I noticed having experienced this model of ministry from two Churches is that the men in both Churches seemed to find this first sentence to be one of the hardest things for them to accept.

Describing Church leadership as a “noble task” was just hard to swallow. Necessary? Yes, but Noble…mmmm I don’t know. We have had to circle back to this “trustworthy saying” many times at Overseer meetings to remind ourselves of this because the ethos of our culture does not often see leadership as “noble”.

We are more likely to complain, criticize and/or take for granted a leader than we are to ever wanting to become one. “Oh no, that’s just not me. I am no leader.”

Reminds me of a comedian I heard once who was talking about the struggles of family life. When speaking of his authority role he said: “I am not the boss in my house. I am not sure when I lost it. I am not sure I ever had it. but I have seen the bosses job and I don’t want it.”

And that is the attitude that many of us take when it comes to leadership. We know that someone needs to be the leader …we are just glad to find out that someone doesn’t have to be us. But that is not what Paul says here about leadership in the Church.

It is a “noble” task. The Greek word for “noble” here is καλός kalos # 2570 and it means “good, advantageous, fitting beautiful”. So basically something that we all could and should want…but we don’t.

I can’t help to think that it must have something to do with the next word. We all want something that is good and noble but then Paul says that is it a “task”. If it was just a noble title we would be fine, but it is a noble task.

Maybe that is where we find our aversion to leadership. We know that being a leader is hard work, still...it is a good, advantageous, fitting, beautiful important task. A noble one.

To seek leadership in the Eklessia is to desire a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1)

Secondly...

To seek leadership in the Eklessia is to be a person of Godly character. (1 Tim 3:2-12)

I have to prepare you because this section of text is the bulk of our text for today. It includes the two lists of qualifications for the two offices of the Christian Church. I invite you to take a look at the list with me right now, but more than that I hope that you will take note of where they are and then use this list as a reference point any time you want to know what is expected of the leadership of the Church.

First we have the “Office of Overseer” who are the Servant Leaders of the Church (Overseers)

1 Timothy 3:2–7 (ESV)

2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,

5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Next he covers the “Role of Deacons who are the Leading Servants of the Church

1 Timothy 3:8–12 (ESV)

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

We could spend a great deal of time unpacking these many different qualifications, and we have done so in the past and our Overseers do so on a regular basis to make sure that we are following through with the noble task that we have been called to... but with the time that we have for today we are just going to look at them as a grouping.

First of all we should realize that this was different from most every other leadership position in their world. In most every other setting, leadership was not earned by your character but given by your class, status or lineage. You could only be a priest or King if your father and his father was a priest or King, but the Eklessia would be different. If you demonstrated Godly character, no matter your other status’ in life you could be considered for these “noble tasks”.

There is some indication that some of the leaders in the early church were slaves or bondservants at the time. So they were slaves in one house, but servant leaders in the household of God. Their were also poor farmers and smelly fishermen, Jews or Gentiles, Married or Single, learned or working class who were all leaders in some way in the early Church.

No one was kept from this “noble task” because of the status they were born into and no one was given this “noble task” just because of the status they were born into. Leadership in the Eklessia was merit based, it was open only to those whose character reflected the character of Christ.

That is the next thing we should notice...none of these things were just arbitrary hoops for someone to have to jump through, in fact looking at the rest of the New Testament all but two of these character traits are commanded to every Christian. They are:

Not be a new convert - at some point we all were a “new convert” and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just wrong to stay there.

Those in the Overseer role spefically must be “able to teach” and that is not required of every Christian, or even Deacons.

More than not just required, James said in James 3:1 that not many of us should even attempt being teachers

James 3:1 (ESV)

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

But those are the only two, and this means that these commands apply to most everyone in this room. As I look around, I know that most all of you are not “new converts” and you may never become and Overseer who is able to teach but you should either already be able to lead in some capacity here at the church or you should be working toward it because these commands apply to all of us. They are just required of the leaders because leaders can’t lead us somewhere they haven’t been. So they need to show evidence of these things being formed in their lives.

The expectation is not PERFECTION in these behaviors, but a recognizable PATTERN of each of these behaviors. These same characteristics should be recognizable in a growing way in each of our lives.

This brings us to our third theme

To seek leadership in the Eklessia is to grow in your faith (1 Tim 3:13)

This theme, like the first one, is based on just one verse and in a way it circles us back to that same idea but for deacons. We began with

1 Timothy 3:1 (ESV)

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

and now here at the end Paul is speaking specifically about “deacons” when he says:

1 Timothy 3:13 (ESV)

13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The word for “good” in “good standing” is the same word that is translated as “noble” in verse one. It is the word Kalos - so the deacon role comes with a “good, advantageous, fitting beautiful” thing as well. It comes with a good standing.

And that word “standing” is the Greek word βαθμός bathmos it can be translated “standing, step rank or degree” So being a deacon is also not about a “title” but it is about working your way into the next step, gaining even greater confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

I can’t help to wonder if stepping out in a leadership role here at Friendship Church is what is next for many of you. When I have challenge some of you to consider a next step toward leadership I often get the same response. After answering the busy excuse, it usually comes down to this. You say “I really want to grow my faith more first and then maybe I will be able to help with this or that ministry”.

Somehow I fail to get you to see that I am talking to you about this leadership opportunity because it will do just that! For so many leadership positions in the Church there is room for on the job training, like Paul discipling Timothy, but you have to be willing to take that first step to commit your time (we are all busy) and your energy to it. Paul says that this is how to gain that “good standing” and also how to gain the “great confidence in the faith ” that you say you are wanting.

You know the Greek Word for “deacon” is “diakanos” διάκονος and it is used 31 times in the New Testament and only four of the 31 are talking about the “Office of Deacon”. The rest are talking about how each of us can be leading, serving and ministering to one another in a multitude of “noble” ways.

This is an essential part of being the Church that Jesus is building. The Church that Jesus is building is not a show on Sunday mornings that we show up for and go about our week until the next scheduled showtime. The Eklessia is about gathering together in service to one another and others all or the glory of God.

And we cannot continue to be that Church without leaders who qualify in these ways so each of us should be growing in that direction. We can all be servants in one way or another here in the Eklessia and so gain a great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

To seek leadership in the Eklessia is to desire a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1)

and to do that noble task, leaders must

... be a person of Godly character. (1 Tim 3:2-12)

but we have all been called to grow to be a person of Godly character, but many of us need

To seek leadership in the Eklessia [as the next step]to grow in our faith (1 Tim 3:13)

Gospel Application

You know the great theologian Vince Lombardi once said, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

and while I am sure he was reflecting on game of football it seems that the Apostle Paul would agree with him. The only difference would be that Paul would put more confidence in the reliance on the Holy Spirit to form us into the image of Christ, but our willingness and effort is still a part of the equation in the “noble task” of becoming a leader.

Landing

And the question is, are you willing to work toward these things in response to all that God has given you in Christ Jesus. The King of Kings who answers our cry for “Hosanna, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Invite the Worship team up as I pray.