1 Timothy 3

chapter 3 timothy is in ephesus as paul had come to ephesus he found that things were sort of in disarray as far as the church was concerned the things that paul expressed as his fears when he talked to the ephesian elders and the 20th chapter of acts have become a reality uh there have been false doctrines and all that have sprung up and factious types of groups and so as paul left ephesus to go over to macedonia he left timothy there to more or less set in order the things of the church and in verse 15 paul sort of expresses the background to this particular chapter he is wanting to come back but he said if i tarry long that you may know how that you ought to behave yourself in the house of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and the ground of truth so church order is what paul is dealing with here in the third chapter and especially in the establishing of men spiritual men to oversee the things of the church now the church in ephesus did have elders earlier when paul was on his way to jerusalem years earlier he had called for the elders from the church of ephesus to meet him there at malitus and there he instructed them and gave them the charge of overseeing the body of believers there in ephesus but things have not gone well so paul is instructing timothy in how they are to appoint and the kinds of men that there appoint to a point for the duties of serving in the church as overseers and then also as deacons and so we'll get this here in chapter 3. the early church of course was just very unstructured to begin with uh the church began on the day of pentecost and the book of acts we have the history of the beginning of the church it began without formal seminaries it began without cathedrals or structures they just met wherever it was convenient they would meet in the homes for prayer meetings and for bible studies and it was a very kind of a loose-structured uh relationship just people who loved the lord met together and sought to serve the lord gradually the church began to grow and homes no longer were capable of of handling the numbers of people and so they would get some kind of a building for the church to meet in and as the church continued to grow they began then to appoint men who would oversee the things of the church there were those men that god had chosen and gifted as apostles and as evangelists and as prophets and pastors and teachers in the church and these were the men that god used to minister the word of god to the people the building up of the body of christ and uh the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry but there are other things within the church that need to be taken care of and for this there were men elders who were appointed over these kinds of things to oversee the spiritual aspects of the church and to oversee some of the physical aspects of the church in the early church in the book of acts when they had developed a welfare program for the widows and a problem came up with this welfare program because the the jews who were following the grecian culture felt that the widows who were following grecian culture were being short changed in the distribution of the church's welfare program they thought that a preference was being given to the widows who were following hebrew culture and so they came to the apostles with their complaint and so the apostles said let's appoint seven men who are of good reputation who are filled with the holy spirit men of wisdom that they might take care of the duty of distributing the church's welfare they were then the first deacons in the church overseeing the physical aspects of the church while the apostles continued to give themselves to the word of god and to prayer so gradually the the church structure began to form now there is really no tight guidelines as far as church government goes we do know that there were elders in the church the men who were the overseers there were also the pastor teachers within the church the men that god used and through which god brought his word to the people but as far as how to set up the church order was not really laid out in the scripture so basically you have two greek words episcopal which is used here in 1st timothy chapter 3 and translated bishop and then in titus as paul gives titus sort of guidelines for the choosing of the presbyteros which is translated elders the presbyteros so you have from this developed two forms of church government the episcopalians and the presbyterians the episcopalians with their bishops governing the church and the presbyterians with the elder board governing the church however it would appear that the presbyteros and the episcopals was just two different names describing the same office or describing the same men and the one was the men themselves and the other was the duty of the men but they were the overseers of the church and when in acts for instance when paul calls for the presbyteros to meet him the elders he then refers to them as the episcopas or uh the the ones who were uh again overseeing the church and uh the episcopal is actually an overseer there today are divided views on church government how a church should establish its government and because we have no clear scriptural new testament guidelines as to church government our church has sort of chosen to follow the form of government that god established with the nation of israel and in the nation of israel god had established that the moses as the spokesman for god and moses ministered the word of god the laws of god to the people but when the things became too heavy for moses to try and do everything they appointed 70 elders who were then filled with the spirit and they were under moses helping moses they were dealing with the issues that would come before them the judgments and so forth until an issue would come that would be too big for them to handle they would go to moses moses would go to god and and get god's judgment and god's decision on the issues there were also the priest aaron and the priesthood who oversaw the spiritual needs of the people and so here at calvary i god has ordained and called me as the pastor but we have other men ministering under our leadership as assistant pastors in the church and they help you with your spiritual needs uh listening and praying uh for the situations that arise in your life uh we tell the fellows don't counsel just pray for people we'll listen to your problem we'll be glad to listen to your problem and we'll be glad to pray for you that god will guide you in the decisions that you need to make we cannot really tell you what to do but we can surely help you by praying for you and helping you to find the will of god in the situations that you are facing we also have in the church a board of elders and we meet once a month and we look at the aspects of the church the business aspects of the church and the spiritual aspects of the church we are praying together we are determining what expenditures need to be made and things of this nature it is a group of spiritual men and these are the men that we're talking about here in the third chapter the or the overseers of the church from that kind of a standpoint and paul told timothy to appoint elders in the church and so these men have been appointed to this task of overseeing uh the the various aspects of the church then as far as the deacons are concerned these are the men who deal with the practical issues of keeping the facilities up keeping them clean keeping broken windows fixed and things of that nature the men who serve as ushers these men are more or less those who are serving here in the church and though we don't have an official board of deacons per se we do have many men who contribute much in the way of practical help in dealing with issues within the church so tonight we look at qualifications for men who would be overseers and men who would be deacons in the church this is a true saying if a man desires the office of a bishop he desires a good work that word desire in the greek means an intense desire he feels a heart towards this he longs to be one of the overseers of the church he desires a good work it is a it is a good ministry how i thank god for those men who serve here in the church as elders what a glorious time we have when we meet and pray together and seek god's guidance for the church and for the various aspects of of outreach when uh we determine just uh the the different outreaches uh that we want to uh help the various ministries that we want to help and it is wonderful to be with men who are of one heart who love god and uh who serve in this and it is indeed a good work and the bishop or the overseer and and i don't like the word bishop because we think of some guy with a tall hat and a big robe and a scepter or something and uh in reality these guys don't wear tall hats and uh miters or whatever but we're just ordinary people and uh we uh and the word itself just really means an overseer uh they must be blameless now the word actually is with no proven charges against them you know a lot of accusations can be made about people but no proven charges against them actually we're not to receive a charge against an elder except it be by two or three witnesses and so these are men with no proven charges and that is of gross misconduct misconduct spiritually and all they must be blameless and the husband of one wife now in those days polygamy was a common practice it was also common in the greek and roman cultures to have a mistress or two and so not that was not to be the case of the bishop they were to be the husband of one wife and they were to be vigilant and that word of course explains itself i mean we all know what watchful vigilant they must be sober and of good behavior and men who are given to hospitality and apt to teach so there are several requirements here and each of them are more or less self-explanatory they must be hospitable men they must be apt to teach good behavior and not given to wine if a man is serving as an overseer within the church he's not to be given to wine in the book of proverbs chapter 23 he asked the question in verse 29 who has woe who has sorrow who has contentions who has babbling who has wounds without cause who has redness of eyes they that tarry long at the wine they that go to seek mixed wine look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth its color in the cup and when it moves itself a right at the last it will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder your eyes will behold strange women your heart shall utter perverse things yes you shall be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea he lies in the midst of the sea or as he that lies upon the top of a mast they have stricken me you will say and i was not sick they have beaten me and i felt it not when shall i awake i will seek it yet again not to be given to wine now in those days because of the water supplies not always being good they usually mixed three parts of water to two parts of wine and and the purpose was to sort of kill the amoeba the bugs or whatever that might be in the water and and thus uh water was usually drunk with some wine in it a three parts water two parts wine mixture as a purifying process uh wine was used also for medicinal value and of course they're saying today that there is some medicinal value with wine as far as heart attacks and so forth but when it's saying given to wine it's it means to be drinking wine as a beverage or you know like people today drink beer as a beverage and that was what literally was being prohibited paul wrote to timothy and said take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your oft infirmities in other words using it for the medicinal value that it had because of the polluted water supply but the bible does speak out in the new testament much against drunkenness and and that is drinking for the purpose of of sort of escaping from your problems and uh drinking as a beverage and that was not to be done so not given to wine no striker now that means you're not to be hitting people and there are some who abuse authority and because they have authority they they strike people and uh if they didn't have that authority they wouldn't be striking people uh and so you're not to use or abuse the authority that you have as an elder in uh in striking people uh not greedy of filthy lucr that is of money called filthy lucr here you're not to be greedy for money uh you're not to be well you're to be patient not a brawler not covetous and one that rules well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man knows not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god and so these are the basic requirements of the men who are to be the overseers within the church not a novice it is sad that many times people are lifted up too rapidly to positions within the church because they are sort of famous or maybe they are noted clever businessmen and when they are converted immediately they are elevated to a position of authority spiritual authority but they really aren't spiritual men they're novices and quite often when that happens they are lifted up with pride uh there there is a sad thing that happens quite often and and that is when a famous person say a person in hollywood makes a profession of faith immediately they want to get those people out on the circuit giving their testimony because they're famous and and and so they pushed them out to give their testimony and that has been tragic uh many of those who have received christ were pushed out too soon and they weren't really well grounded in the faith and uh soon they were saying weird things and and soon departing they uh from uh the the faith that they once espoused or they they become broad and they uh sort of say well yes and i believe in buddha and muhammad and the whole bit you know and and so uh it's uh it's sad that people get pushed uh ahead not a novice lest being lifted up with pride they fall into the condemnation of the devil that so be careful in advancing people too rapidly to positions of authority within the church moreover he must have a good report of those that are without he needs to be a man of of a good reputation in the community he's known for his integrity for his honesty in his business practices in the community the importance of of the good reputation because so often times people say look he's an elder in the church but man he ripped me off something terrible you know he came out and he gave me a bid on the job and and then he didn't do the work right he you know he didn't keep the contract and you yeah and so the church gets uh slandered uh because of that so the men have to have a good reputation in the community and of course in the early church even in choosing the deacons back in the book of acts they had to have good reputation and uh then uh lest they fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil so we see here the condemnation of the devil and the snare of the devil we realize that the devil is opposed to the church and the moment you take a position within the church of overseeing the devil is going to attack you so you need to have spiritual maturity you need to know how to handle the attacks of the devil and you need to be aware of his wiles and not fall in his snare now turning to the deacons these are men who are dealing as i said with more or less the practical physical aspects of the church they must be grave that is sober not tongued uh and and then that would encompass uh hypocrisy or uh saying different things to different people just trying to accommodate and facilitate all of them not double tongued not given too much wine or moderation and surely that is the key is moderation and uh the bible says that your moderation be known to all men we're not to go overboard on anything and so the moderation and not greedy of filthy lucr same as the elders holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience the mystery of the faith the mystery that god came in a body of flesh and that he now dwells within the believer this glorious mystery of which paul wrote much in the gospels that the gentiles would be fellow heirs with the jews of the grace of god and of the promises of god the mysteries they are to hold these truths of god uh and uh with a pure conscience let them also first be proved uh give them an opportunity to to sort of prove themselves uh here at calvary chapel when we take someone on the uh staff uh as as one who is going to be working around the facility and upkeep and so forth we usually just give them a three-month kind of a hire you for three months it gives us a chance to look at them to see if they are diligent in their work habits and things of that nature and then after three months if they prove to be good workers then we sort of put them on permanently or as long as they are staying around now the interesting thing is that we have fellows who have done great jobs here in in the janitorial work and have been excellent diligent i'm thinking of rick chaffin and and this young man was just so diligent faithful and god opened the door for him to pastor a church now up in the sacramental area and he's been up there now for about four years i suppose and doing a splendid job now as the pastor and and thus deacons are often promoted they're faithful in that ministry and god opens doors for them to become bishops or overseers and so now he is one of the overseers of the church up there in in central california and and god is blessing him the same diligence as a pastor that he had as a as a janitor here in the church and so this often happens look in the book of acts uh philip was one of those who was appointed as a deacon to oversee the uh distribution of the church's welfare he was one of the seven of good report filled with the holy spirit and good reputation and honesty and all he was one of those seven that was appointed to the task of of just daily handing out the the welfare to the poor widows but we find that he went up to samaria and began to preach christ to the samaritans and later the bible calls him philip the evangelist and while he was there in samaria god used him mightily there were many miracles that were wrought by philip there in samaria and scores of people came to jesus christ when they saw the miracles that god was working through his life and so then with stephen another one of the seven that were chosen and god began to work miracles through the life of stephen and so the thing is be faithful where god has placed you do your best there and god will raise you up in his time and give you greater responsibilities and a perhaps different position i was i wouldn't say better you know the best place for you is where god has placed you and the worst thing to do the worst thing possible is trying to do something god hasn't called you to do or god hasn't ordained you to do so many people get into trouble by sort of promoting themselves into positions where god hasn't called them and the most difficult thing in the world is trying to do a work of the spirit with the ability and the energy of the flesh it'll kill you and and so be faithful where god places you and if god's soul wills he may give you another job but i i've always sort of disliked the statement that people would often make well he has been called to the highest calling there is no particular highest calling of god the highest calling of god is whatever god has called you to be some people say to me oh god has called you the highest calling well for me being a pastor is the highest calling of god for me but it isn't the call of god for every man the highest calling is whatever god has called you to be and to be faithful where god has placed you is the most important thing for all of us and many of you who have been called in the service of god in areas where people do not notice you but yet you are faithful in that area of calling when we stand before the lord your faithfulness is the thing that will be commended and will commend you to god and your rewards will be equally great for your faithfulness at what men might look at as a menial task oh you were the gardener at calvary chapel my you know uh listen if you're faithful your reward will be equal to the reward that we receive and even greater if i'm not faithful to what god has called me to be and to do you can't be more than what god has made you you can't do more than what god has called you to do and thus the highest calling is whatever god has called you to be or to do and the important thing is that you be faithful in that and don't try and push yourself beyond what god has called you to be so let the deacons also be first proved and and as i said we do that with a three-month kind of a thing then let them use the office of a deacon being found without provable blame even so and now their wives are brought into the picture even so their wives must be grave or sober not slanders the interesting thing there the word in greek for slanderers is the word for devil not devils but what it is a reference to is the characteristic of the devil who is a slanderer woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth because satan has been cast out the accuser of the brethren who accuses them before god day night slanderous and so they're not to be slanderers sober and faithful in all things and let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ruling their children and their own houses well for they that have used the office of the deacon well purchased themselves a good degree and a great boldness in the faith which is in christ jesus they they faithful in that they purchase to themselves a good position a good degree so these things he said i write unto you because i'm hoping to come unto you shortly but if i get tied up and i can't get there if i tarry along i want you to know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and the ground of truth and that's what the church should be the pillar and the ground of truth and without controversy or without argument it goes without saying great is the mystery of godliness the great mystery of godliness how that a man can become like god in his character in his deportment in his life he can take on god-like characteristics now we are one thing by nature our fleshly nature but the glorious message of the gospel is that god can transform us and can change us into his image and into his likeness great is this mystery of godliness which is a contraction of god-likeness it's contracted to godliness but it actually means god-likeness it means that you become in character like god holy righteous pure loving kind compassionate these godly characteristics become manifested in our lives a great mystery how that a man can be so radically changed in just a moment the moment he submits his life to jesus christ he comes with all of the baggage all of the junk and he is freed delivered that person who has had a heroin addiction for years or a cocaine addiction and has done everything been to the clinics and everything else to be freed but finds that he goes back to it and is bound by it the great mystery of godliness as he receives jesus christ he is delivered and set free never to touch it again that person who is filled with bitterness and with anger has almost destroyed himself and his family through his bitterness and anger coming to jesus christ is changed transformed and he becomes loving compassionate sensitive that person who was so hard he becomes softened by the gospel the alcoholic leaves the bottle and never touches it again the power of transformation the great mystery how that a person who has struggled maybe all of his life to be freed from certain things or to try to change himself coming to jesus christ experiences a dynamic and a power by which he is transformed this great mystery of god-likeness when one receives jesus christ and so for this and to make us in the image of god god was manifested in the flesh that is jesus came to this earth in a body of flesh he was god manifested in the flesh in the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god the same was in the beginning with god all things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made and the word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father but why did he come in the flesh in order that he might deliver us from the power of the flesh in order that he might set us free enabling us to live in the spirit god is a spirit and through jesus christ we are have and can experience a spiritual birth and having experienced that spiritual birth that's where the transformation takes place jesus said if you want to enter the kingdom of god you've got to have a another birth you've got to be born again and nicodemus the ruler of the jews said how can that be how could i return to my mother's womb to have a second birth and jesus said you don't understand that which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that i said you've got to be born again you've got to have the spiritual birth and that's why jesus came so you could have a spiritual birth because when nicodemus said how can a man be born again jesus said for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him that's the answer to the question by believing in jesus you will not perish in the life of the flesh but you'll have this age-abiding life of the spirit born of the spirit now living in the spirit and walking in the spirit this great mystery of godliness how a man who has been bound in the flesh being destroyed by his flesh can be delivered from that bondage by a new birth being born of the spirit and now living in the spirit in fellowship with god walking in the spirit and if any man is in christ jesus he's a new creation and the old things are passed away and everything becomes new what a glorious gospel that we have [Applause] and so to this end in order that you might be like god jesus came and he took our sin he died in our place he became what we were in order that we might become what he is and god made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god through him and though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might know the riches of god this great mystery of godliness the mystery of being able to be transformed into the image of god and we with open faces as we behold the glory of the lord are being changed from glory to glory into the same image by the power of the spirit paul in writing to the ephesians concerning the church and those men that god has placed in the church the pastor teachers he said that they are there for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry the building up of the body of christ until we all come into the unity of the faith the knowledge of the son of god into that fully mature person unto the measure of the stature of the image of christ beloved now are we the sons of god it doesn't yet appear what we're going to be but we know that when he appears we're going to be like him for we shall see him as he is great is the mystery of godliness god was manifested in the flesh but then he was justified in the spirit declared to be righteous in the spirit he was seen of angels he was preached unto the gentiles he was believed on in the world and he was received up into glory jesus told us that when the holy spirit would come he would not testify of himself but he would testify of jesus and he said that he would testify of sin of righteousness and of judgment to come but then as jesus amplified that it becomes sort of interesting when he said he will testify of sin the holy spirit he didn't say of adultery and fornication and you know down the line jesus said of sin because they believe not on me do you realize that there is only one sin that will really condemn you when you stand before god if you stand as a sinner there's not going to be brought out a long indictment and they're not going to go down the line and name every lie you ever told and every wrong thought you ever had and every you know sin you ever committed the only charge will be your failure to take god's only provision for your sin and that is his son jesus christ who was manifested in the flesh to die for your sins of sin jesus said because they don't believe in me you see in the third chapter of john again when he was talking to nicodemus he went on to and said to nicodemus for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world he sent his son that we through him might have everlasting life he didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved and he that believeth is not condemned that is his sins are all forgiven but he that believeth not is condemned already jesus didn't have to come to condemn the world the world was already condemned and this is the condemnation that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and they won't come to the light that's the sin because of your love for evil you won't come to the light because the light exposes and so of sin jesus said because they didn't believe in me the only thing that will condemn a man before god the failure to come to jesus christ he will testify of righteousness and then jesus added because i ascend into heaven now here he was received up into glory we are told what does jesus ascension have to do with the testimony of righteousness by the holy spirit the ascension of jesus into heaven is god's declaration to the world that this is the righteousness that will gain an entrance into heaven this is the standard of righteousness that will gain you entrance into the kingdom of heaven and unless you are as righteous as jesus there is no entrance into the kingdom of heaven for you you say well i might as well quit then i might as well give up no the glorious mystery of godliness is that god accounts to you the righteousness of jesus christ because you believe in him and trust in him this is god's glorious provision by my believing and trusting in jesus christ god imputes to me to my account there it is stamped on my account righteous the righteousness of christ imputed or accounted to me because of my trust and faith in jesus christ far from perfect but god accounts me righteous because i hang on and i'm trusting in jesus christ and his cleansing power in my life and thus god accounts that for righteousness and of judgment he said judgment to come because the prince of this world is judged now you'd think judgment to come the holy spirit is going to testify but that means the great white throne and everybody stands before god and this great judgment that's coming and they'll be cast into the lake burning the fire no no of judgment to come because the prince of this world was judged that is you don't have to be controlled by the powers of darkness anymore jesus on the cross defeated satan and provided victory for you over the temptations and over the power that satan once held over your life satan has been judged his power has been broken through jesus christ and the victory of jesus christ over the powers of darkness is the victory that you enter into when you enter into jesus christ by faith this great mystery of godliness he was manifested in the flesh he was justified in the spirit he was seen of angels he was preached to the gentiles he was believed on in the world and he was received up into glory and we are in christ that day you will know he said that i am in the father and you are in me and i am in you and thus all of these things that he is has been given to me and i am in him righteous accepted as paul said accepted in the beloved accepted by god as i am in christ jesus so this glorious mystery of godliness the power of god's spirit working in me through jesus christ transforming me and making me like god what a blessing father we thank you that we have become partakers of this glorious inheritance of the saints in light and that jesus christ dwells in us and his holy spirit empowers us today lord do your work in our lives help us to keep our eyes upon you help us lord to behold you in your glory and keep gazing steadfastly to you and may you make your changes in us as you change us from glory to glory as you bring us into the same image in jesus name we pray amen so we sin make me like you lord o make me like you you are a servant make me one too lord i am willing do what you must do to make me like you lord make me like you make me like you lord o make me like you you are a servant make me one too lord i am willing do what you must do to make me like you lord make me like you amen god bless you [Applause]

Channel: Chuck Smith TWFT

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Length: 59min 54sec (3594 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021