Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. We were here two Sundays ago,
and we looked at the actual office of a bishop. Verse one says,
this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop,
he desireth the good work. And we looked at the actual office
of a bishop, meaning the actual responsibility of a pastor. And that responsibility was and
is to preach the gospel. And I want to really emphasize
that right now for the rest of this Bible study. I want to emphasize
the responsibility of a pastor is to preach the gospel. Period. Preach the gospel. And to understand
that responsibility, we spent our time looking at what is the
gospel? That's what we looked at two
weeks ago. What is the gospel? What is it to preach the gospel? Today, I want us to look at the
office of a bishop, meaning the title. In this chapter here, first Timothy
three, the title of Bishop is mentioned and the title of Deacon
is mentioned. And I want us to look at those
titles and I want us to look at the other titles that are
mentioned in the scripture so we can have some understanding
of what they are and why they are mentioned. I've titled this
Bible study. Church offices. All right, and
this is what I want to very strongly emphasize. We're about to have
a Sunday school. If we have ever had a Sunday
school here, this is it. The Lord willing, we're going
to have a message in the moment. I'm going to bring our morning
message. This is our Sunday school lesson,
and we're going to get our minds around something, okay? Verse
1, it says, 1 Timothy 3 verse 1, it says, this is a true saying,
if a man desired the office of a bishop, he desireth a good
work. All right. If a man desires the
office, not a man or a woman, if a man. desires the office. Now, I'm not trying to be male
chauvinist. Those of you who know me, you know that I put
women on a higher pedestal than men. I respect women more than
men. I think they're more capable
of men in almost every way, shape, and form. But according to the commandment
of God, the office of spiritual responsibility in worship is
an office for men. And that has everything to do
with the fact that the spiritual office is a representation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason why. That's
the reason why. We're going to see that in just
a minute. Verse one says, this is a true saying, if a man desire
the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must
be blameless. That word blameless does not
mean sinless. There has only been one man who
ever walked this earth sinless, and that was Jesus Christ. Outside
of him, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The word literally translates,
not arrested. That's what it translates, meaning
not in the middle of a scandalous situation that would bring distraction
to the issue and the message of preaching Christ. All right. So verse two says a bishop then
must be blameless, the husband of one wife, meaning not two,
not a polygamist and not none. The man needs to be married or
he needs to have been married. In the case of my father, my
father is the pastor of a church in West Virginia. My mother died of cancer and
there was a period of time where he was a pastor who did not have
a wife. There was a few years there where
he was not the husband of one wife. but he still knew the experience
of it. You cannot teach what you don't
know the experience of. It's very hard for a man to teach
what he doesn't know the experience of. A man can't really convey
the love of Christ for his bride if he has never known anything
of love for a bride. Does that make sense? So the
man needs to be married or he needs to have known love for
a wife. Verse two, a bishop then must
be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, that means
temperate, able to control the temper. Verse two goes on to
say sober, that means of sound mind, sane. It says, of good
behavior, that means modest, well-arranged, orderly. Verse 2 says, given to hospitality,
that means generous toward guests, fond of, a lover of guests. Verse 2 says, apt to teach, that
means skillful in teaching, naturally instructive. Verse three says,
not given to wine. He definitely should not be addicted
to wine. And I don't have time to go into
the fact that, you know, for some reason, I don't have time
to tell you this, but I started it. Everybody in religion thinks,
don't touch alcohol. Alcohol's never touched my lips.
Well, the Lord made it. The Lord drank it. The Lord said,
I'm going to drink it with you in glory. The next chapter here,
Paul tells Timothy, don't drink water all the time. Use a little
wine for your stomach's sake, such on and so forth. But a man
definitely should not be addicted to wine. He shouldn't be a drunk.
And with all that being said, that's not what that means. That's
not what that's talking about. The true meaning is he shouldn't
be a brawler, a man who's just constantly short-fused, ready
to fight, as people are when they've had too much wine. Wine
or no wine, the margin of my Bible, I have a center margin
here, and it says, not ready to quarrel and offer wrong as
one in wine. So that's what that means. Verse
3 says, no striker with the fist or the tongue, not a striker.
Verse 3 says, not greedy, a filthy lucre, not in it for the money,
not constantly trying to extort money from those who are under
him, which I feel like religion has anymore just become begging
for money. That's just all it is anymore.
Pass the plate, pass it again, pass it again. Verse 3 says,
but patient, that means fair, mild, gentle, not a brawler,
that translates a peacemaker, a man who'll do whatever he can
to make peace. Verse 3 says, not covetous, not greedy in general
with money or whatever it may be. Verse 4 says, one that rules
well his own house, having his children in subjection with all
gravity. That means the man ought to have
children. It's hard to teach what you haven't
experienced. I understand this now. It'd be
hard for a man to teach the love of the heavenly father for his
children if he has never known love for children. It'd be very
hard. So he ought to have children
and they ought to be well behaved, respectful children. A man who
is not willing to give the physical discipline of his own word to
his own children, Will not be willing to give the spiritual
discipline of God's word to God's own children. That man will hold
back the chastening of the word thinking, well, that'll be better
for the child. You know, that's better if we just don't. Don't
go there. All that men do in that case
is, um, bring harm to the children and bring chastening to themselves.
So if a man is not willing to rule his own house well, he should
not be put in the seat of responsibility over God's house. And that's
what verse five says. It says, for if a man know not
how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church
of God? Verse six says, not a novice, meaning not one who is newly
come to the faith. You don't get a man in the church
and then give him a responsibility, which is, you know, that's how
religion keeps people. As soon as they get in here,
we'll give them a responsibility and then they'll have to stay.
The word says, don't do that. Don't do that. Just give him
some time. Just wait and see. Verse six goes on to say. Lest
being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of
the devil. It's for his own good. It's for
all who hear him too, but for his own good, it just shouldn't
lay hands on any man. Suddenly. Verse seven says, moreover,
he must have a good report of them which are without. That
means he must be well liked and respected by the community of
unbelievers. People in town shouldn't have
anything against him personally. Now if they have something against
the message he preaches, well that's different. But sometimes
men get it in their minds that they're not do in God justice
if they're not hated for their brashness and their, you know
what I'm talking about? They just feel like they have
to just tell it like it is and just hurt people for the sake
of hurting people. I'm going to cram it down your
throat whether you like it or not. Well, the opposite of thinking you're
doing God an injustice is so. James 1 verse 20 says, the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God. If we make people hate
us because of us, it sounds like we've gotten a little too full
of ourselves. And the end of verse seven calls that falling
into the reproach and the snare of the devil. May God keep us
from that. Now moving on to deacons, and I know I'm moving quick.
I know that, but I have a lot to say this morning. I'm going
to try to get it in here. I hadn't even started yet. So just hang in here with me.
Moving on to deacons, verse eight says, likewise, must the deacons
be grave. That means serious about worship,
not just piddling with it. You know, verse eight says not
double tongued. That means telling you one thing,
because that's what you want to hear. And then telling you
something else, because that's what you want to hear. Verse eight says, not given too
much wine, not greedy, a filthy lucre. That means, well, we both,
we covered that with bishops. Verse nine, holding the mystery
of the faith in a pure conscience. That means believing God's word
in honesty for exactly what it is. Believing God's word sincerely. Just like the bishop, the deacon
needs to be a believer. Verse 10, it says, and let these
also first be proved, meaning not a novice, then let them use
the office of a deacon being found blameless. We already covered
the word blameless. Even so must their wives be grave,
serious about worship. Not slanderers. That means false
accusers, gossipers, slandering. What it means is slandering whether
you know if it's true or not. That's what it means. Sober, we covered that. Faithful in all things, that
means reliable, trustworthy. Verse 12 says, let the deacons
be the husbands of one wife ruling their children and their own
houses. Well, we already covered that. Verse 13 says for they
have used they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased
to themselves a good degree. Good degree means the honorable
next step. And here's the key to that. OK,
this is so important. The step is not up. It's down. He's saying when we take this
position of service, you're taking a good step in the right direction.
A step down. That's the honorable step. The
way up is always down. Our Lord said he that a basis
lifts up himself is going to be brought down and he that brings
himself down is going to be lifted up. Step down. Verse 13, they
that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves
a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Jesus
Christ. Boldness means confidence, great
confidence. Verse 14, these things write
I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry
long, he's saying, I'm telling you all of this. that thou mayest
know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of
the truth. Now, as I just said, I have a
lot I want to say to you, and I really want to get it into
this one Bible study. I am moving quickly. I'm going
to keep moving quickly, but I pray that the Lord will let us enter
into this. When it comes to church offices,
this is something that I get maybe more questions about than
anything. When it comes to church offices,
all of them fall into one of two categories, spiritual responsibilities
and physical responsibilities. Here are many of the offices
or the titles or the words used in the scripture to describe
these two responsibilities. Apostle, priest, high priest,
ambassador, bishop, deacon, pastor, teacher, evangelist, minister,
prophet, servant, steward, elder, and angel. At the beginning of
the book of Revelation, John was told to write to the angels
of the churches. And the word means the messengers.
It physically translates the pastors of the churches. John was told to write to the
pastors and the Lord used the word angel or messenger to describe
them. That's what the word apostle
means. A messenger, one cent. That's what an ambassador is.
A messenger, one cent. That's what an evangelist is.
A messenger, one cent. That's what a teacher is. That's
what a minister is. You know, people talk about being
in the ministry. Well, the people will say, well,
I'm a minister. Prophet, elder, bishop. The word bishop translates overseer. The word pastor translates shepherd. Psalm 23 says, Jehovah is my
shepherd. Jehovah is my pastor. The Lord
is my shepherd, my pastor. The word priest means the officiating
one. They all perform the task though
of messengers sent. All of these titles point us
to Christ. Every single title points to
Christ. Just listen to these scriptures.
These are all concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Hebrews 3 verse 1 says, consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. He's the apostle. He's the high
priest. Christ is God's messenger. Christ
is our high priest. We have not an high priest who
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. On the cross
of Calvary, our Lord took his own blood And as our high priest,
he offered it to God for the sins of all of his people. So he is our apostle. He's our
high priest. First Peter 2 25 says you were
as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd,
the pastor. and bishop of your souls. That's Christ. Christ is the
pastor. Christ is the bishop. How many
times did men come to the Lord and call him teacher? That's
what they referred to him as teacher. That's what he was.
He was a teacher. He told his disciples, I came to minister. I didn't come to be ministered
to. I came to minister. I came to be a minister. They
asked John the Baptist, are you that prophet? He said, no, I'm
not that prophet, but he's coming. The scripture talks about the
angel of the Lord. It talks about our elder brother. Every office mentioned points
us to Christ. They all speak of Christ. None
of them are given for our glorification or our recognition. I am a pastor, I acknowledge
that. Just like the Apostle Paul used
to call himself Paul, comma, an apostle. He didn't go around
saying, I'm the Apostle Paul. And I don't go around telling
everybody I'm a pastor, you know. I sure don't go around telling
everybody, hello, my name is Reverend Gabe. That name is given
to no man, but one. Jesus Christ alone, only he is
holy and reverent, holy and reverent is his name alone. All of this is for the glorification
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all to point us to Christ. So seeing that it's all about
him, it's all for his glory and to his credit, we don't take
any of these titles to ourselves for our own credit. We don't
do anything with these titles that would steal the focus or
the glory away from Christ. No office or title is meant to
puff a man up. All of them are meant for and
given for the glorifying of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, a lot of people don't
have bishops. I know that there are denominations
that have all that, but within this canopy of Christianity,
you don't hear a lot of these names. People don't go by ambassador
so-and-so or, you know. But this title of deacon, you
have, you know, pastor and deacon and Many people see this as a
way of becoming lifted up, given a position, given authority,
given respect. They'll refer to him like he's
a deacon in the church. What people in general don't
realize is the definition of the word deacon. The definition
of a deacon is a servant. That's what it means. A servant. In Acts chapter 6, the apostles
appointed, and that's a very key word, they appointed seven
men to serve tables. literally to serve tables and
to do whatever needed to be done so that the apostles could give
themselves to studying and preaching. They did not appoint those men
to be decision makers. They literally served the Lord's
table. If you look up John Gill and
these different historians on this, they literally served the
Lord's table, handled the finances, things of that nature. Deacons
are not decision makers. I know that that's what tradition
thinks. I understand that. But they are
not decision makers, and you won't find that in God's word.
You can search through the scriptures and you will not find that deacons
were decision makers. Now let me blow your mind here. Elders are not decision makers. You will not find that in God's
word. Elders are preachers of the gospel. They've been given one task.
To preach the gospel, they are preachers of the gospel, you
say, well, then, you know who makes the decisions? God does. God does. You say, well, what if the situation
is not covered in God's word? then we don't need to make a
decision on it. If we don't have the authority
of God's word on any given subject, we don't have any authority on
the subject. None. None whatsoever. So deacons are domestic servers. I wrote down and I'm so out of
time, but I wrote down so many places and examples where like
when Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15, they went to Jerusalem to
talk to the apostles to have this question answered. Do brethren
have to be circumcised to be saved? And this is how the apostles
answered it. What say at the scripture? That's
what they said. Moses wrote. That's what they
said. That's how they handled it. There
was an issue going on with the Corinthians and Paul reprimanded
them over it and said, can't you take this to one of the least
members of the congregation? Not the deacons. Go to the least member of the
congregation. Why? That's the man that doesn't have
anything in him but God's word. He'll take you to God's word.
What does God have to say about it? So deacons are domestic servers. The Bible dictionary says it's
the same thing as those who wait on tables and offer food and
drinks to guests. And that sounds common and familiar,
doesn't it? Servers. It is one who attends to any
service of another's interests. Does that hit home to us? That
means deacons don't tell people what to do. They do what they
are very kindly, lovingly asked to do. They're servants who delight
to do another's will. Listen to this. God the Father
said in Isaiah 42, behold, my servant. You want to see a deacon? Do you want to see a deacon?
He humbled himself. Behold the humble service of
the Lamb of God. Do you want to see a deacon? He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The great and humble deacon of
God Almighty. You think about this. That was
God Almighty. And people constantly came to
him wanting him to make decisions on the matter. Two were arguing
over inheritance. You know, how's it? And he constantly
said to them. What sayeth the scripture? What
did Moses write? He said to those two who were
arguing, he said, who made me a judge and a ruler over you?
There's the word. There's the word of God. That's
the deacon. That's the deacon. Now, turn
with me to Ephesians 4, very quickly. I'll wrap this up, but
Ephesians 4. Out of all the offices mentioned
in scripture, these are the offices that have been given to the New
Testament church. Ephesians 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. This is what we have
here. This is what God gave. Apostles
were preachers. Prophets were preachers, evangelists
are preachers, pastors are preachers, and teachers are preachers. God has given preaching for the
perfecting of the saints. God has not given deacons for
the perfecting of the saints. Deacons are for the perfecting
of the building, the perfecting of the bookkeeping, the perfecting
of the whatever needs to be done. It's the spiritual office of
preaching that has been given for the perfecting of the saints.
In those offices right there that are mentioned, apostles
are no more. Prophets are no more. John the
Baptist was a prophet. The apostles. Prophets are those
who foretell something that hasn't happened yet. The apostles said
he's coming back and this is how he's coming. They were the
last of the prophets. We still have evangelists. They are traveling preachers
and any more that is pretty much done by pastors. Timothy was a pastor and Paul
told Timothy do the work of an evangelist. Pastors. Obviously, we still have them.
Teachers are those who teach with pastors and pastors themselves
are teachers. Paul, the apostle Paul said,
I am an apostle and a teacher. So. The pastor is the hub position
of. Of all of that, the scripture
tells us to ordain elders. So that's what we do. In the
scripture, it said to ordain elders in every church. So that's what we do. I was ordained
the elder of Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church. Buck Mountain ordained
an elder. Crossville, Tennessee ordained
an elder. College Grove ordained an elder.
Elders have been ordained in every church. Men are ordained of God and recognized
by other men for that spiritual office. The physical office of
a deacon is not an office that you will find the word ordained
attached to it. I know that tradition believes
otherwise. Believe me, this thing has been
going for generations and generations and generations. But I would
encourage you, if you'd like to see it for yourself, get a
concordance. That is a book that has all of
the words in the Bible listed. It'll tell you what verses they
are in. It's very helpful. And look up the words ordain,
ordained, ordaineth. Deacon, deacons, you will not
find them together in any verse. The scripture does not say to
ordain deacons. That's something that man has
come up with on his own. Okay, I'm done. The question is then, what is
1 Timothy 3 talking about? What about our text when it gives
instruction on using the office of a deacon? Here's what it's
about, okay? If anyone involved in this ministry
needs help, if I need help or anybody needs help. We don't need to call on a man
who is not serious about worship. And piddles with worship. And
is drunk all the time. And is not reliable. That's not
the man to call on. That is not the man for that
office. If you can't rely on him and he doesn't have a good
reputation, that's not the man to call on. Thankfully, we don't
have a problem here of who to call on for deacons. I tell people this all the time.
I'm asked all the time, who are your deacons? Here they are. I have a whole room full of deacons.
We proved it in the process of everything we've done for this
building and everything that happens for this meeting. I mean, for
this ministry. You know, there are some who
have taken different positions and offices, you know. Brandon
handles this streaming, he handles this TV broadcast. That's a deacon.
He doesn't hold a title, he's not sitting on a board of decision
makers. We needed a storage building
rented here recently, so we got a deacon to do it right back
here. And we need this done or we need that done. And we all,
I pray God will give all of us the heart and the desire to be
an active participant in this ministry. I pray that he will. And this is what I want to say
to all of you. To every person who has taken an interest in
the ministry here and wanted to be a part of it, thank you.
That's what I'm saying. Thank you. Thank you for everything
that you do. I recognize the fact that you
men and women do so much so that I can give myself to studying
and preaching. And it's just so critical. And
I pray that God will cause us to have a heart for these offices
and to take care of these things. And with that, I pray he'll give
us a healthy understanding of what it is and not let any of
us get lifted up in pride over it and create hard feelings over
it and all of these things that happen when the flesh of man
gets involved. has to be Christ alone. If it's
Christ alone, that's all that matters. All right, you're dismissed. I kept you way too long. We have
to have a quick turnaround. I'm really sorry.