1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,920 1 Timothy chapter 3 tonight. We finished out chapter 2 last week and tonight we are in 2 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:23,680 1 Timothy chapter 3. Both this passage and the passage last week there is much that can 3 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:32,320 be said. There is a lot of disagreement even among Christians here on these two passages 4 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,560 that we've looked at in their interpretation. There is certainly some difficulty that comes 5 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:43,280 with these passages and we talked about some of those difficulties last week at the end 6 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:51,080 of 1 Timothy chapter 2. And tonight we will look at another passage that I suppose on 7 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:57,480 the surface doesn't appear too difficult, but yet if you spend much time looking into 8 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:04,720 this passage and reading different interpretations of it, you'll find that there are lots of 9 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:10,400 different things perhaps that people consider about this passage that maybe we don't consider 10 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,840 sometimes. So we'll do our best to make it through this tonight and try to understand 11 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:20,440 it and draw closer to the Lord. So let's pray and we'll get started. Father God, we come 12 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,040 to you tonight and your word is good. And there are parts of your word, dear Lord, that 13 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,800 maybe we don't always understand as good as we would like to. Dear Lord, your word, however, 14 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:35,240 is not confusing. I pray, dear Lord, that I would not make it confusing tonight, but 15 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,640 that we would do our best to understand it, dear Lord. Even as brothers and sisters in 16 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:46,640 Christ, God, there are sometimes disagreements in what your word says. But we want to understand 17 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,840 it as best we can. Let your Holy Spirit lead and guide us that we would be those who seek 18 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,060 your will and who seek to live by your word. And I pray, God, that you would just hide 19 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:59,100 me behind the cross tonight, that I would preach and teach in a way that brings glory 20 00:01:59,100 --> 00:02:04,660 to you, that we would read this passage like any other with a hope to understand it and 21 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:11,200 grow in it so that we grow in you. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now, 22 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:17,200 Paul has been giving Timothy some instruction. And Timothy really started receiving that 23 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,040 instruction in chapter 2. Paul says, look, here are some things that are going on. Here 24 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,240 are some things that you need to be aware of as you're going to encounter these people 25 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,600 in Ephesus. Here are some things that you are going to need to address, some things 26 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:36,320 that you may come up against. And here tonight in 1 Timothy chapter 3, what we're going to 27 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:43,000 see is that Paul is going to give Timothy the qualifications for being an overseer. 28 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,520 Now among the translations that are probably in here tonight, our translations are going 29 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,680 to either say bishop or overseer. That's going to be the two words that we're probably going 30 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:59,320 to see in most of our translations. It's possible you have a translation that says elder, but 31 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:06,160 it is unlikely. Now, we need to talk about a little bit about kind of the structure of 32 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:13,960 this idea of overseer in scripture or elder in scripture or bishop in scripture or pastor, 33 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:20,200 because all of those words really describe kind of the same office. Now, it may surprise 34 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:25,920 you to know if you haven't ever researched this, we don't see pastor mentioned, but one 35 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:30,760 time in the whole New Testament, it's only mentioned in one occasion. That's Ephesians 36 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:37,080 chapter 4 verse 11. Now we do see this term overseers or elders a lot, and it appears 37 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:42,040 to be plural. That is that in these bodies of Christ that are gathered together, there 38 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:48,040 are multiple elders over the church or there are multiple overseers or multiple bishops. 39 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:54,080 Now that looks a little different in some of our churches today and maybe not in a good 40 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:59,160 way. Now, typically the structures that we see in our churches today are this idea of 41 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:06,000 a lead pastor. Some churches will have elders and then deacons will be below them. Sometimes 42 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:11,800 what we see in our churches is that the pastor is given a lot of authority and some pastors 43 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:18,560 really like that authority and they like that idea of being in charge of everything. But 44 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,720 what we see, I think, with what elders are called to do or pastors are called to do is 45 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:29,600 this idea of shepherding the flock and serving the flock. Really what I believe we see in 46 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:40,520 scripture is we see the office of overseer, bishop, pastor, elder. We see that role, that's 47 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:45,320 one office. Then we see the office of deacon. These are the two that Paul is addressing 48 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:53,240 here in chapter 3. He says, look, there are some who are going to be overseers in different 49 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:58,120 churches and there are certain qualifications that need to be met. Now, this passage in 50 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:03,120 particular is good for somebody who feels that they are called to the ministry. Now, 51 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:08,280 maybe there are some in here that are feeling called or may feel called one day into the 52 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:14,320 ministry. This is a good passage for us to read for myself as an overseer. This is a 53 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:19,240 good passage for me to read to make sure that I'm doing good and see if there's areas where 54 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:25,840 I'm not doing good. This passage is good for those who seek the office of overseer or currently 55 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:31,100 in the office. It's good for the rest of the church to know, hey, these are the standards. 56 00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:34,760 These are the standards that we need to look for. These are the standards that you should 57 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:40,020 look for in me to see if I'm living up to these standards. If I'm not, then that needs 58 00:05:40,020 --> 00:05:45,400 to be addressed. These are the standards that the next pastor that comes in here need to 59 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:50,240 be able to live up to these standards. This is true for any church, for any body of believers 60 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:55,800 or brothers and sisters in Christ. The office of overseer or elders, whether it's one that 61 00:05:55,800 --> 00:06:00,660 we see in our churches today, which may or may not be a good thing, or whether it's multiple 62 00:06:00,660 --> 00:06:06,880 overseers or elders in a church that have this ability to lead and to teach and to preach 63 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:12,360 in this way. Regardless of what the structure is, there is a high bar that has been set 64 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:18,120 by God. This is not just for anybody to do. Quite frankly, there are very few who are 65 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,760 qualified. Maybe there are many in our world today who are serving who don't meet these 66 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:28,640 qualifications. Paul gives these to Timothy and says, hey, look, there are some who are 67 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:35,560 going to aspire to be an overseer. If they are going to be an overseer, these are the 68 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,600 things that they need to meet. These are the qualifications that they need to meet. 69 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:47,000 In 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, he says, this saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to 70 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:56,400 be an overseer, he desires a noble work. An overseer therefore must be above reproach. 71 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:02,040 Now, this covers a lot of ground right here. Now, Paul is just to go through and he's going 72 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:08,100 to list some major areas here. But if there's anything that Paul doesn't cover here, this 73 00:07:08,100 --> 00:07:15,080 idea of being above reproach is important. Now, if I ask you all to think of somebody 74 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,980 right now and I were to say, think of somebody that you don't think would be qualified to 75 00:07:19,980 --> 00:07:24,600 be an overseer, a pastor of a church, an elder, you probably could think of somebody. You 76 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,660 could think of five or six reasons why they don't qualify. Well, a person like that is 77 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:32,700 not above reproach. If you can instantly think about somebody, well, I don't know about that 78 00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:36,600 person because they act this way and they act that way and they do this thing and they 79 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:41,780 do that thing. If there's those questions in the life of someone who aspires to be an 80 00:07:41,780 --> 00:07:47,520 overseer, then they're not qualified to be an overseer. They're not qualified to lead 81 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:53,520 God's church. And so that's an important thing that we need to recognize is those who seek 82 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:57,960 to be an overseer, are they above reproach? Are there obvious things that we know about 83 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:02,280 their life that are not good, that are not right, that are problems, that are issues, 84 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:08,000 that are sin that people are living in? Now, Paul doesn't give an exhaustive list here. 85 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:14,680 However, the list he gives is pretty good. It covers most situations, but even the situations 86 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:20,680 perhaps that it doesn't cover, I believe that this above reproach covers a lot of ground 87 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:25,680 right here. So if there are obvious sins that we see in somebody's life and yet they say, 88 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:32,200 I want to be a pastor of a church, then that qualification is not there. And so he says, 89 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:38,880 number one, number one, above reproach. Now, typically when we make lists, we sometimes, 90 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,160 maybe most of the time, put things that are most important at the top. Number one, you 91 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,360 make your Christmas list. What's the present you want most? You're probably going to put 92 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:51,280 it at the top. This is what I want. And so Paul lists this first and we see that first 93 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:56,560 in this list. And I believe above reproach is also first in his list he gives in Titus, 94 00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:02,180 which is very similar to this. Okay. So number one, the person who seeks to be an overseer 95 00:09:02,180 --> 00:09:08,040 needs to be one who is above reproach. The next part there in verse two, the husband 96 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:15,560 of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, and an able teacher. Okay. So 97 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:21,120 what are we to make of some of these qualifications? Well, here's where we get our first hiccup, 98 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:27,240 our first disagreement among some Christians on this verse. The fact that it says the husband 99 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:31,520 of one wife. Well, what exactly does that mean? Well, some have said, well, that means 100 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,240 they cannot be divorced. There are many who would hold to that view that Paul says a person 101 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:42,080 who seeks to be an overseer, they, if they're divorced, they are disqualified. However, 102 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:47,000 that's not what he says there. At least that's not what he uses. That's not the word he uses. 103 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,400 He could have used the word divorce there. However, he did not use the word divorce. 104 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,980 Now it's possible that that's what he meant. It's possible that that is what Paul meant. 105 00:09:55,980 --> 00:10:00,480 And that's why there's much discussion and much, much debate here. It's also possible 106 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,480 when he says husband of one wife, that is you don't have multiple wives. You're not 107 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,320 married to two or three women. You don't have two or three wives. That's another possibility 108 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:14,920 there. And so this is, this is hotly debated. There are, there are plenty of churches who 109 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:20,280 would say if someone has been divorced, they are disqualified based on this particular 110 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:25,920 passage. Now I'll let you guys pray about this and decide on this for yourself. What 111 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:31,960 you believe that God's word says there, it says the husband of one wife. It doesn't say 112 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:37,680 divorced. Does he mean divorced? Possibly so. But at the very least, he needs to be 113 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:43,160 the husband of one wife, which brings up another question. Does someone who is an overseer have 114 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,420 to be married? Well, that's another topic of debate. Some would, would look at this 115 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:53,080 list in a very rigid way and say they have to be married. And as we're going to see the 116 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:58,120 mention of children, they have to have children. If someone is not married and have children, 117 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,960 then they cannot be the pastor of a church. Now there are certainly Christians and, and, 118 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:09,320 and denominations that would hold to these things very, very strictly that they must 119 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,920 be married. Others would say, well, no, it's not saying that they have to be married so 120 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,320 much as that if they are married, they can only be married to one person. And if they 121 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,920 are married, they need to be a respectable husband. If they are married and have children, 122 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:29,000 then their children need to be well behaved as we see here, as we continue on. And so 123 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:35,760 this particular part of this passage is very much debated. And you may have encountered 124 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:40,080 people who want to, who want to argue about this, but we're not going to argue about it 125 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:45,280 because look, we want to try to understand God's word as best we can. And we pray about 126 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:49,420 it and whatever we feel the Holy spirit convicts us of, then, then we have to live by those 127 00:11:49,420 --> 00:11:54,160 convictions and there are times we encounter other brothers and sisters in Christ, it would 128 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:59,400 have a different interpretation in those things. And there are certainly people who have, who 129 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,960 have left churches over, over things like this because a pastor has been divorced and 130 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:09,000 some would say they're not qualified are in the passage we talked about last week about 131 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,120 women, women's involvement in the church. Some would say women can't have any say in 132 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:17,440 if they do, I'm going to leave. Some would say, well, women can pray, but they can't 133 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,440 preach and if they preach, I'm going to leave. Others would say, if women can do anything, 134 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,520 they can pray, they can preach, they can talk, they can do whatever. These, these types of 135 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:30,720 things are, are very, they're prominent even in our culture today. We see that in our culture 136 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:36,280 today. We talked about last week that Saddleback Church was voted out of the Southern Baptist 137 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,880 Convention because they held to the view that women should be allowed to preach. We see 138 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,280 a problem in the Methodist church for the last couple of years that there are many in 139 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:49,680 the Methodist church that believe it's okay for a homosexual to be a pastor. And there 140 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:56,480 are several Methodist churches who have ordained and placed homosexual men and women as pastors 141 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:01,160 in the church. And so there's a big controversy right now in the Methodist church and many 142 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:07,360 Methodist churches have split off and broken away from, from that group that supports that. 143 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:14,120 So certainly there is some disagreement, but for those who would fall into the sin of homosexuality 144 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:19,240 or any other sin that's not listed on this, on this list that Paul gives us would fall 145 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,800 into that category, I believe, of not being above reproach. So therefore they would be 146 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:29,360 disqualified on that grounds. And so when we look at passages like these, we need to 147 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,440 be aware of what they say and we need to be familiar with them and we need to pray about 148 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:39,500 it and we need to come to grips and an understanding of what we believe that God's word says because 149 00:13:39,500 --> 00:13:44,160 we want to be able to stand by God's word. So when we have people that come up to us 150 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:49,160 and say, you know, I don't think God's word says it's wrong for a homosexual to be a pastor. 151 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,520 Well then that should throw a red flag for us. That should be an instant red flag and 152 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:59,120 we should say, no, that's a sin in scripture. And there are lots of sins listed in scripture 153 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:04,760 and anyone who's living in unrepentant sin is not qualified to be an overseer of the 154 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:10,520 church. They are not above reproach. So pick your sin, whatever sin you choose. If there's 155 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:15,640 someone living in unrepentant sin in that way, then they're disqualified. And we need 156 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:21,120 to have high standards for those who are going to be elders and overseers in the church. 157 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:27,100 We need to hold these men to high standards and too many times perhaps churches don't 158 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:31,360 hold to that standard. We look at God's word and we pick and choose and we pick it apart 159 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,480 and we make it kind of be, well, I don't think it means this and that's old times and these 160 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:41,000 are new times and maybe it means something different. No, we need to understand the severity 161 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,200 of these, these, these instructions here and these qualifications. This is serious. This 162 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:53,560 is serious things that we need to be aware of as brothers, sisters in Christ. The next 163 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:58,160 one on the list that they are to be self-control. Okay. You don't want somebody that's going 164 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,120 to be a leader that cannot control their self, that cannot control their attitude, that cannot 165 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:06,480 control their actions, that cannot control their tongue. That's not a good quality. You 166 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:12,920 can't have someone leading a church if, if, if they have that tendency and they often 167 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:20,000 do that. That's not a good, a good thing. Somebody who is sensible. Again, this is, 168 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,680 this is very practical. You don't want somebody that's not sensible, somebody that's unreasonable 169 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:29,960 to be the leader of God's people. It needs to be somebody who is self-controlled and 170 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:36,680 who is strong and can, who can, who can make a rational decision when leading God's people 171 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:42,880 and teaching God's people. Respectable. This is an easy one to see. If you say, okay, we're 172 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,280 looking for somebody that's going to be an overseer of this church or somebody that we 173 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,400 want to ordain, maybe somebody within the church or maybe somebody that's, that's coming 174 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:55,720 in that we're searching for, are they a respectable person? That's pretty easy to see. You know 175 00:15:55,720 --> 00:16:00,800 which people are respected and which people are, are not respected. That's an easy qualification 176 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:06,160 for us to look at. Hospitable. Are they hospitable? Some people are not hospitable. Some people 177 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:11,640 are rude and some people don't care, but other people are very hospitable and they're kind 178 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:16,020 and they're giving. This is the kind of thing that we should see in those who seek to be 179 00:16:16,020 --> 00:16:21,160 overseers of the church. Enable teacher. Can they teach the word of God? Can they preach 180 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:25,920 the word of God? Now that's not to say that they, that everybody who is overseer is going 181 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:32,900 to be just a fantastic speaker or a fantastic preacher or teacher. There are plenty of overseers 182 00:16:32,900 --> 00:16:37,080 that have been wonderful, godly men, but perhaps they haven't been the best teachers in the 183 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:41,280 world or the best preachers in the world, but did they have some ability to teach? Do 184 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:46,560 they have some ability to understand the word of God and teach it to those that are in the 185 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,200 congregation? Well, there has to be some ability there to teach and to preach and that's a 186 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,600 good quality that we need to look for. Certainly there are some teachers who are better than 187 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:02,360 others and preachers who are better than others, but the overseer needs some ability to teach. 188 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:09,880 Verse three, not addicted to wine, not a bully, but gentle, not coralsome, not greedy. Okay, 189 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,800 self-explanatory. You don't want a drunkard leading the church. Now it doesn't say here 190 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,480 that you can't have any wine. It says not to be addicted to wine. If somebody's a drunk, 191 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,640 then guess what? Well, they're probably, they're not going to make a good leader. They're not 192 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,360 going to make a good boss at your office place and they certainly are not going to make a 193 00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:32,920 good leader in God's church. So you don't look for somebody that drinks a lot, somebody 194 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,700 that has a problem with drinking, not a bully. Okay. You don't want somebody who's going 195 00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:41,240 to be a bully, somebody who's going to have a bad attitude, somebody who's going to be 196 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:48,120 forceful. That's not a good quality. That's not the quality that Jesus had. Jesus had 197 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:53,320 the other quality that we see and that is to be gentle. Okay. So you need somebody that's 198 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,200 going to be gentle, somebody that's going to be compassionate, not a bull in a china 199 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:03,080 shop. That's not a good quality. And Paul says, look, somebody that's a bully like that, 200 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:10,760 somebody who has that type of attitude, they don't qualify to be an overseer, not quarrelsome. 201 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,800 Okay. You don't want somebody that's always quarreling with other people. Not a good quality, 202 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,840 not greedy. Okay. That's, that's important. You certainly don't want someone who's greedy 203 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:26,240 because what's, what's the motivation? Is it to watch after the people of the church 204 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:31,520 or is it to make money? If the motivation of the one who's the overseer is to make money, 205 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,600 then then everything they do is going to revolve around how much money they can get or whatever 206 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:40,400 they can get for themselves. That, that type of greed is not a good quality. That's not 207 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:47,640 a quality that an overseer should have. So Paul says, Hey, avoid such people. Verse four, 208 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:53,680 one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all 209 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:59,520 dignity. If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of 210 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:06,200 God's church? Okay. This is a good qualification and that this is something that, that probably 211 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,440 can be seen by those outside of the church. Now it's certainly possible for an overseer 212 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,080 to be abusive to their children and to their wife and for their household to be a complete 213 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:20,600 wreck and to keep that a secret. But most of the time you probably can be able to tell 214 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:25,240 those things. You can see if an overseer and their wife have a good relationship. You can 215 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:30,520 see if the overseers children are good children. That's not to say they're going to be perfect. 216 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:35,080 Kids are still going to be kids, but, but, but there's a certain point where you can 217 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:39,560 say, well, boy, these kids are just out of control. Well, that's not a good thing. Paul 218 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:44,680 says, Paul says that, look, those who are going to be overseers, they need to be good 219 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:50,520 leaders both in their home and in the church. And if they're not good leaders in their home, 220 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,440 then they're probably not going to be good leaders when they lead God's people. So Paul 221 00:19:54,440 --> 00:20:00,360 says, look, this is an important qualification. Now, again, some would say, Hey, this is evidence 222 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:05,680 that that if someone is going to be an overseer, that they have to have children. I don't see 223 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:11,480 that passage this way, but some would see it that way. Then the question arises is, 224 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,640 well, at what age are they not accountable for their children anymore? Say they raise 225 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:19,400 their children and their children are good, respecting citizens and their children are 226 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:24,600 16, 17 years old. And then all of a sudden the child goes off the deep end. Does the 227 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:29,880 child have to be 18? What is the age in our culture? We say 18 is adulthood, but that's 228 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:34,080 just kind of an American thing. But, but is there a point in which the, the parent is 229 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,760 no longer responsible? Is it the point that the child is out of the household? Is it as 230 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,120 long as a child is in your house, you can raise them, you can teach them and, and they 231 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:48,360 may be good, but once your child gets out of the household, as scary as it is, you're 232 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:53,440 not in control of them anymore. They have to make their own decisions or those who are 233 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:58,720 in overseer pastor positions, are they responsible for what their children's do as an adult? 234 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,040 I would not think so. However, some would, some would say, nope, those children have 235 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:08,040 to continue to live a good life. But, but I believe that once a child becomes an adult, 236 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,880 that they have their own household, that they become their own wife or husband, or they 237 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,560 become their own mother or father. And so therefore they're not under your household, 238 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:22,960 but their own. But again, this is a qualification that this is an easy thing to see for, for 239 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,800 those around. Does this person manage his family well? Does he have a good family, good 240 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:35,160 wife, good kids? That's a, a, a qualification that Paul is listing here. Verse six, he must 241 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:41,960 not be a new convert or he might become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 242 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:47,360 Okay. This is pretty self-explanatory. Somebody hears the gospel of Jesus Christ. They say, 243 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:51,560 I'm going to, I'm coming to Jesus Christ. I'm putting my faith in him. Praise God. That's 244 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:56,560 great. We want to celebrate that. We want to love that person. We want to, we want to 245 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:02,520 disciple them and teach them God's word and, and give them good examples. But we don't 246 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,080 want to say, Hey, do you want to be a preacher? Do you, do you want to, do you want to be 247 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:10,560 the overseer of the church? You don't want to immature Christian who's just come to the 248 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:16,040 Lord who hadn't had time to really grasp God's word and understand God's word and to mature 249 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:20,960 in God's word. You don't want to throw them into a leadership position. So Paul says, 250 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:27,680 look, this person must not be a new convert. Okay. And what does he give his reason for 251 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:34,880 this? He says, uh, he must not be a new convert or he might become conceited. That is he might 252 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:40,600 become proud and fall into the condemnation of the devil. So they might begin to think 253 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,720 too highly of themselves. They get saved. They become proud. They in this position of 254 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:50,800 being an overseer, they're not prepared. And next thing you know, everything falls apart. 255 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:56,760 Now how long must someone be a, be a believer before they can get into a position to oversee? 256 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:01,000 Well, I don't know. I don't know what the answer to that question is. I suppose you 257 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:07,000 just would have to examine the person's life. Uh, I suspect it would probably take years 258 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,120 that you'd be able to look at the person. You'd be able to see the person. You'd be 259 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:15,960 able to see that growth in them. And if you can see that, then you probably, you probably 260 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:20,860 will begin to see the qualities that make up a good overseer. And maybe you know some 261 00:23:20,860 --> 00:23:25,800 people in your life, some, some, some young men who've walked with the Lord for years 262 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,360 and maybe you know them and you see them and you say, man, that, that, that guy's a, he's 263 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:35,920 a godly man. He's a good man. And maybe you, you see these very qualities in somebody. 264 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,760 And uh, perhaps it's good for us to point that out. If we see godly young men, if we 265 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:46,120 see these qualities in them and we see God working and we see him mature, perhaps it's 266 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:52,120 good for us to encourage them in that way. Maybe God wants to use them in some way. And 267 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:56,520 when we see these qualities, maybe, maybe they don't see him. Maybe they don't realize 268 00:23:56,520 --> 00:24:02,840 they've got them. Maybe, maybe God can use us to encourage others if we see them, uh, 269 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:07,120 in this way with these qualities that Paul lists here. But new convert doesn't need to 270 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:11,480 be an overseer. It needs to be someone who's walked with the Lord and grown in the Lord 271 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:20,360 for some period of time. Verse seven, furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders 272 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:25,560 so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil's trap. Okay. So he needs to have 273 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:32,400 a good reputation of Christians, but he also needs to have a good reputation among outsiders. 274 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,480 What do people outside of the church think about the overseer? Is the person outside 275 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,720 of the church, can they relate to an unbeliever? Can they, can they hold a conversation with 276 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,520 the unbeliever? Do they have a good relationship even with those who are outside of the church 277 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,080 that don't want anything to do with church that don't believe in God and don't believe 278 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:56,200 in the Bible? What kind of, what kind of relationship does the overseer have? Now a good overseer 279 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,520 would probably get the respect even of those outside of the church. And I think that's 280 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:05,840 what Paul is saying here. Furthermore, he must not, he must have a good reputation among 281 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:10,880 outsiders. Now, why is that? What, who are we trying to reach in the church? Those who 282 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:17,440 are outside of the church, if the overseer of the church is not one who is approachable 283 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:22,880 and not one who is respected by the community, then how are they going to be able to effectively 284 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:27,880 go out and try to reach people for the Lord? They're going to have a bad reputation. And 285 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,440 what's that going to mean? That people are going to say, Oh, here comes that preacher 286 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,440 and that golly wants to do all the time is shake his finger and condemn me all the time 287 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:39,840 and tell me this and tell me that. And I've seen the way he's lived his life. I'm not 288 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,840 going to listen to him. Well, all of a sudden you got a bad overseer. He's not above reproach 289 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:49,400 because even the outsiders can see a sin and they don't want to listen to him because they 290 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:56,720 don't respect him. And so these qualifications are important qualifications. And that's why 291 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:01,940 Paul gives them to Timothy. He says, look, there needs to be good leaders. There needs 292 00:26:01,940 --> 00:26:08,240 to be good men who are going to lead God's people. And there are likely very few people 293 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:14,800 who meet these qualifications. There are likely lots of, lots of men who are serving as overseers 294 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:21,880 that probably do not meet these qualifications, but it's important a for me as an overseer 295 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:27,680 to try to live by these qualifications and B for you as a church to hold whoever your 296 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:33,760 overseer is or whoever your elders are to hold them to this standard. This is the highest 297 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,440 of standards. And this is important for God's people to recognize these standards. They're 298 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:44,400 not compromised. We need men who are going to be strong leaders and compromised leaders 299 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,480 make compromised churches and weak leaders make weak churches. And that's not effective 300 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:54,720 for the kingdom of God. We want strong leaders and we want strong churches and that's going 301 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,840 to be strength in the world. That's going to be a strength that builds the kingdom of 302 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:04,240 God. So a man who's not above reproach, a man who doesn't meet these qualifications 303 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:09,640 is not going to be able to, to build up the kingdom of God. But Paul says, look, look 304 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:14,760 for these men, look for these who, who hold these qualifications. And these are the ones 305 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:19,400 that need to be placed in a position of leadership. So that's what we want to live by. We want 306 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,160 to live by this high standard. We want to live by the standard that God has put into 307 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:28,400 place so that we can be the strongest church we can be for the kingdom of God. Let's pray. 308 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:33,760 Dear Lord, we thank you for these words and God, I know that passages like these, it's, 309 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:38,440 it's a lot of different interpretations and views, but dear Lord, I pray that you just 310 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:44,800 help us to seek to be a church who looks for strong leaders, dear Lord, that we would be 311 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,280 a church that, that tries to live by your word, that you would help me, dear Lord, to 312 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:54,400 be the best overseer I can be, that you would help me to see areas where if I fail in some 313 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,440 of these ways, dear Lord, that you would convict me, that you would help us as a church to, 314 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:03,380 to live to this standard, to not compromise, dear Lord, to, to not, not be those who are 315 00:28:03,380 --> 00:28:08,800 weakened by not listening to your word, but to be those who stand strong on your word, 316 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:13,000 dear Lord. So I pray God that we would take these words seriously and I pray God that 317 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,440 you would help us to, to follow these words as best we can. And I ask these things in 318 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:33,920 Jesus' name. Amen.