1st Timothy chapter 3 let's begin
with verse 1 again 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 the husband of one wife vigilant sober of
good behavior Given to hospitality apt to teach
and not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but
patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own
house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God? Not a novice, lest being lifted
up with pride, He fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good
report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and
the snare of the devil. In looking at these characteristics
that God instills in his preachers, these are not characteristics
God looks for so that he can choose the right people to be
a preacher. He gives these things. We see
in this, though, how all of us ought to be. These traits, such
as vigilant, sober, of good behavior, which one of these would not
apply to you? Every one of them do. They are a closeup look at
what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.14. Again, scripture shedding
light on scripture. Listen to what Paul said in 2
Corinthians 5.14. The love of Christ constraineth
us. It motivates us. It causes us
to do what we do, to live how we live. Because we thus judge
that if one died for all, If Christ died for us, then we were
all dead. He had to come and die in our
place because we're all dead under God's law. And that he
died for all that they which live, spiritually live, should
not henceforth live unto themselves. That's what we do by nature.
We live unto ourselves. We spend all of our time on us.
all of our efforts on us. But that shouldn't be anymore
now, is what Paul is saying. But we should live unto him which
died for us and rose again for us. Now, the law can only condemn
us. It is love that constrains us.
The law will not motivate a sinner to obey God. That would sound
very strange to the religious of this world, but the law is
not gonna motivate a sinner to obey God. It motivates sinners
to be hypocrites, not because there's a problem with the law,
because there's a problem with us. We presume to be able to
keep it, which we can't in any aspect of it. But the love of
Christ is what constrains us to live for Him, to live unto
Him, to live for His glory. And these characteristics of
a bishop are a detailed list of what it means to live for
God's glory. It's an expansion, a closer look
at what Paul said in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter five. To live for His glory and not
self. Part of that is verse three,
where we left off. We saw the first two verses last time, but
look at verse three now, not given to wine. They called our
Lord Jesus Christ a winebibber, but they were lying. He was not. That was a lie. And may it not
be true of us either. This has to do with self-indulgence
with anything Wine is just an example of that. Alcohol is something
that people commonly overindulge in. But that's just an example
of many things that are just indulgences to the flesh that
should not happen when we're living for Christ. They should
not happen. self-indulgence in anything that
would keep us from being sober, vigilant, watchful of good behavior,
and of a sound mind. It's not only a bad idea, practically
speaking, to overindulge in that which brings out our evil, but
it shows a lack of constraint a lack of self-control, which
is what God gives his people. God gives us that. Aren't you
glad? Our flesh is gonna show itself.
But the Lord restrains us. He restrains us. Self-control,
it reveals a flaw of character that you do not want in your
pastor. If God allows a man to be that way, he should not be
a pastor. I think the scriptures are pretty clear about that.
No striker is the next one. Not contentious or quarrelsome. It sounds like don't go around
hitting people, but that's not what it means. It means contentious
or quarrelsome. No drama. I'll tell you this, and I don't
know, by nature, the flesh, the evil of man is like the troubled
sea, isn't it? Always casting up mire. We know
what we are by nature. By God's grace, I honestly, before
you and before God, I can't stand drama. I don't want any of it.
I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to talk about it.
I don't want to know about it. That's the grace of God. But
that's all of us, that's all of us, if God is gracious to
us. And always remember, when I'm
talking about this, I'm not standing up here saying, here's how you
need to be. This is what you need to do for God. This is what
God does for us. I want to be real clear about
that. Our Savior is the perfect example in every one of these
things. They called him a winebibber, they were lying, it wasn't true. And may they be lying when they
say it about us, if they ever do. He wasn't contentious, even
though people were hounding him for his very life. He yet was
not contentious or quarrelsome or dramatic about things, overly
emotional or Indulgent, this is a different
kind of indulgence, isn't it? It's the same thing as being
drunk. It's just being drunk on yourself to the extent that
you won't shut up. You won't leave people alone.
The gospel is not to be argued about or debated. There's not
to always be turmoil. There are those who are quarrelsome
in the things of God. That's not according to God's
word. We are to avoid vain questions. We are to avoid contention and
strife. The scriptures, the Lord called
them vain contentions. If you don't like what's preached
here, I wish it wasn't that way, but go somewhere where you can
hear what you like. Don't cause a stink here. I've
said that many times over the years. It's not gonna be tolerated.
Under God, it cannot be tolerated. I'm not to quarrel or contend
with you. About twice in my lifetime have I encountered the occasion
where someone needed to be rebuked for something. It needed to be
shut down. And I don't think either time
was by me. I just happened to know about it and witness it.
About twice in my 57 years. So this is not a common thing.
It's not a common thing. And that type of thing is to
be dealt with swiftly and ended effectively. We must endeavor to keep the
unity of the spirit here. We know what we're up against.
We're up against us. It's not that you're up against
somebody else and I'm up against, you know, this person. We're
up against me. And we've got no hope in that
battle. So we look to him for his glory,
for his glory. Lord, keep us, keep the door
of my lips. Keep my heart that I might not
cause disgrace to your name or be the cause of division in your
church. Paul said in Ephesians 4.1, I
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, I beseech you that you walk worthy
of the calling wherewith you are called. And he's not saying
that you need to be worthy of God's grace. That's not what
he's saying. He's reminding us of God's grace
and saying, how can we be so selfish? How can we be such idiots
when God has had such mercy on us and calling us out of darkness
into his marvelous light? Don't, don't be. The cause of a problem in God's
church Wholesome and contentious is our word here and he said
he went on to say this walk worthy with all lowliness and meekness
with long-suffering forbearing one another in love Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace as I sound
familiar We just read that there's one body One spirit even as you
are called in one hope of your calling Lord one faith one baptism
one God and father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all And we are all responsible before him Remember
we're not to judge one another let a man stand or fall to his
own master, and that ain't you It ain't me either we have one
master and then not greedy of filthy lucre and Greed is a cancer
to the ministry. It's an absolute cancer. A man
who stands and presumes to speak for God and does it for what's
in it for him will never preach the truth. He will never preach
the truth. He might say what people want
him to say. He might be very popular. And that's fleshly exaltation. But sometimes also it's sound
doctrine. I know men that will preach some
pretty sound doctrine if they feel like the crowd that they're
in front of want to hear that. They're in it for themselves.
And I can't judge a man's heart. But the Lord said, by your fruits,
you'll know them and by all evidence, they're in it for themselves. Preaching for the approval of
men. They're preaching what men want them to say, whether that's
the truth or a lie. And they'll do both at any given
time in order to be the one that people look to. Why do they do
that? Because they're not preaching
for the glory of Christ and the good of sinners. They're preaching for the approval
of men and the reward of men. Our next word is patient. Patient,
now we talked about this in this same passage of scripture. It
goes with apt to teach. A man who's apt to teach has
got to be patient. Our Lord, how patient was he
when he's teaching us, when he was teaching his disciples. So
long-suffering and kind unto them. and we're to be the same way.
This all kind of boils down to may we be like him. We want to
be like him for his glory. Patient. And do you want to know where
this thing of patience and impatience, a lack of patience, You know where it manifests itself
in my experience the most? It's when there's a problem of
any kind at all, and I'm tempted to jump right in the middle of
it. I'm tempted to insert my flesh into the matter when that's
not, that's the last thing that needs to happen. I'll lay awake at night thinking
of the harsh rebukes I'm going to dish out because somebody's
not acting right. I convince myself that somebody
needs to be scolded, corrected, and put in their place. But by
God's grace, sometimes, usually by his grace, he enables me to
wait, to give it time, to see what he's going to do. That's
what we're waiting for. We're all waiting to see what
God's going to do. And I believe if he intends to
use me, he'll show me that. Often, we just presume it. And so we jump in and make everything
worse. Just do what God has called you
to do. Do what he set before you every
day. And that for me is to preach Christ. And may God just enable me to
shut up and stay out of anything else. And the Lord, he always graciously makes problems
go away without me. And that's a beautiful thing. And sometimes he makes me realize
what damage I would have done if I'd been allowed by God to
let my flesh get involved. God helped me to be patient with
others like he's been patient with me
and like y'all by his grace have been patient with me and long-suffering Not a brawler is the next phrase
not a brawler that is a fighter Now this is akin of course to
no striker Sometimes we need to be fighters in a sense don't
we we need to be fighters our Lord platted a whip in the In
the temple and drove the money changers from his house. He said
this is my house And it's not what you're trying to make it
But that's not the usual thing in the ministry our Lord taught
sinners in an agreeable and approachable manner He wasn't a fighter He wasn't somebody that, you
know, you were afraid to come around because you knew it was
going to be contentious and disagreeable. So we kind of looked at that
in no brawler or no striker. But look at the next phrase,
not covetous. And again, some of these are akin to one another,
not greedy of filthy lucre and not covetous, but this is a little
bit different. It's akin to that, to not greedy
of filthy lucre, but this literally means, that word covetous means
a lover of money. A lover of money. Our Lord said
the love of money is what? Not money. The Lord gives money,
he uses money, he provides money. Money is not good or evil. It
just is. It's a means that the Lord uses
in this world. He gives it, he takes it away,
he withholds it, or he bestows it. But this thing
of the love of money is the root of all evil, and so what place
does that have in the ministry of Christ? The love of God is in Christ. God gives us money to use in
the ministry. Not just in life, but in the
ministry. He gives us money to use. But it's evident, is it
not evident when that's what it's all about, is the money?
We've all witnessed this constantly. From some angle or another, it's
all about the money with false preachers and the religion of
this world. God's not just gonna give people in a false church
the desire and the commitment to support that ministry, because
God's not there. But He does do that in His ministry.
When I say He's not there, He's not there in the sense of His
favor and support and blessing of that false church. He's just not. So they come up
with all sorts of ways to raise money, don't they? God's not
just going to put it in the hearts of false religionists to give. People are not givers by nature,
they're takers. God is the giver. And sinners are consumers, they're
takers. That's why we're compared to
maggots in the scripture. A maggot, until it's not a maggot
anymore, all it does is eat. And it's nasty while it's doing
it. So they come up with all these
different ways, including threatening hell, threatening everybody with
hell if they don't, you know, act right, and promising eternal
bliss to those who do act right, as well as, of course, raffles
and Coke machines and garage sales and all kinds of nonsense.
God's church is not a business. It is not a business. It's a
place where God's people are privileged to gather together
to hear of Christ and to glorify God in worshiping. Men will go so far as even to
tell really stupid lies. Your loved ones are in some bad
place and only money will buy them out. Who would ever believe
that? Who would ever listen to a profane
man with regard to something that idiotic? Us, if not for
God's grace. Covetousness in the ministry
causes men to avoid the offense of the cross. to abandon the
gospel, which is the offense of the cross, in order to make
the message more palatable to the flesh. People don't like
to hear that they don't have a free will, but they don't. You know, the more I think about
that, the more I see that in this world and not see it in
the scriptures, the more repulsive that is. Can you imagine God
Almighty has thundered from a mountain. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. You will honor me, you will honor
my son. And he clearly teaches us that
the only way that's gonna happen is if he's gracious to us. And
what do we do? We strut around saying, well,
I've got a free will though. Usually we refute the idea of
free will by saying that sinners are born captive by Satan at
his will. And that's true. But how can
you presume to have a free will when God Almighty, God imposes
His will upon you? Will you not bow to it? We are
to submit to God's will. Think about that in terms of
free will. We are to submit to His will.
His will is free. His will is right. His will is
good. May He give us grace to bow to
His will. But people don't like to hear
about that. They don't like to hear that Christ saved everybody
he came to save. How simple that is. If he came
to save you, he saved you. That is so repulsive to men because
they sit there and think, well, wait a minute, where is my will
in that? Where's my choice in that? Where's
my goodness in that? I'll tell you, I'll save you
some time. Quit thinking about it and just hear this. It's excluded. It's excluded. It's not the solution,
it's the problem. Your will, your way, your thoughts,
your works are not the solution. They are the problem. Those are
the things God is saving you from, if he does. So it'll cause men to lie to
sinners about that which is eternal life and death. It's one thing
to lie to somebody and tell them, oh, you need all this work done
on your car when really it doesn't, you know. That's infuriating,
isn't it? But to lie to sinners about that
which concerns eternal life and eternal death. What a horrible thing. To blaspheme
God. It's truth that is vital, that's
withheld and perverted. There's nothing more despicable,
I believe I say this on the authority of God's word, there is nothing
more despicable on God's earth or to me be more carefully avoided
on this earth than a false preacher. Whether he's in a pulpit or in
a family or on a job site. Someone who lies on God, you
think about that. You tell me what's worse than
that. And that's me without his grace. You see why Paul prayed
the way he did? Insisted, my sufficiency is of
God. Who is sufficient for these things? He said, pray that the Lord would
give me boldness to speak as I ought to speak and not tickle
the ears of those who don't know God. And listen now, when I'm talking
about false, A false ministry, a ministry that lies on God is
a satanic ministry. It's satanic. That's what Satan
does. He perverts the truth. He twists
it around and makes it a lie that sounds like the truth. And 90% of all false preachers
are in the ministry of Satan because of covetousness. And when I say the ministry of
Satan, I'm not talking about what this world would call devil
worshipers. I'm talking about what this world
would call reverend and father. I'm talking about free will Baptists
and Methodists and Presbyterians and whatever else they call themselves
that don't preach Christ. Verse four in our text. One that
ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with
all gravity. Again now, this is a great way
to spot a man that God has set aside for his ministry. What
he does that's this is his? Purpose his will and his doing
and so this all of this is to his glory But in what way is
that also not applicable to every man? That's applicable to every
man And I say that because we live
in a world now with very few men in it Very, very few real
men. A real man is not identified
the way the world tends to think of manliness. This world speaks
of manliness as macho, recklessness, self-indulgence, impetuousness,
and brash disregard for consequences. I'm a man. I'll just do as I,
you know, I'll do as I please. Those things do not make a real
man. You know what makes a real man? Just the opposite of that,
self-control. It is impossible to control self. God's got to make a man out of
you, doesn't he? If you're going to control yourself
and not be a reckless idiot. Wise consideration. before action,
before words, that's a man. That's very difficult. The easiest
thing in the world is just to pop off. That's not man, that's
not strength. The easiest thing in the world
is just fly off the handle. We do that in our sleep. It takes
a man now to have some restraint. careful application of the Word
of God. Careful and faithful, consistent,
truthful application of the Word of God in behavior and not word
only. You can have a scripture for
everything all you want to, but it's about behavior, isn't it?
It's about living the gospel. So as I said, flying off the
handle and popping off about everything and getting involved
in everything, that's not strength, that's weakness. That's weakness. If you want to see strength,
look at a man who's patient and kind, even when somewhere inside
he probably wants to kill somebody. And that's kind of funny, but
I'm not joking. Let's be honest with ourselves.
A lot of time, that's what we want to do. That's strength though. In the
face of all of that, to have the grace of God in your heart
to the point where you can just let it go. That's one thing that my pastor
in Texas taught me real well. I didn't learn it real well,
but he taught it real well. He used to say all the time,
let it go, let it go. And he had to do a lot of letting
go. That takes strength, that takes grace. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. But also, neither is the absence
of accountability a sign of strength. The absence
of accountability in a home is not a sign of strength either,
but weakness. You can show too much restraint
in a certain type of situation. Sometime, you're the head of
the house. Notice the word rule. Being the head, the leader, the
one looked up to, I always say to you, it's not all it's cracked
up to be. But it is something to be taken very seriously and
to be faithful in, to be consistent in. A man who's too lazy or too mild
to discipline his children, he's excluded from the ministry. And
again, it's not just about that. It's about who are all of us
before God now. All of these things, you think
about this, think about the flip side for a minute, being unruly
and unwise and flying off the handle and not being a ruler
in your, not ruling your own house well. All of that is a
reproach on our Savior. It's shameful. And that's the motivation. I
don't want to reproach my Savior. We don't want to be these things.
We don't want to be like Him so we'll go to heaven when we
die. I want to be in Him so I'll go to heaven when I die. And
that's not really the primary reason. I want to be in Him because
He's altogether lovely and He's worthy of our devotion and faith
and our commitment and service to Him. He's worthy of it. But this is not about Christ
is our righteousness. And that's the only way to say
that. Christ doesn't give us righteousness, not in the truest
sense of the word. Christ's righteousness is not
like our righteousness. Our righteousness is not like
Christ's. Christ is our righteousness. The reason that we stand holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God is a person. So a man whose children and wife
respect him, obey him in the right way, not that he's to be
a tyrant, I prefer the word idiot. And all of us fathers have been
idiots at times. But wife and children respect
the one that God has given authority in the home and love him and
want to be with him. You can respect somebody and
not want to be anywhere around them. You can love somebody and not
respect them. Respect and trust are earned. And that's a grace that God gives
to a man in this case, as he rules his house. But a man whose children and
wife respect and love him and want to be with him, This man
that God has fitted for the ministry God doesn't find men like that. He makes men like that Notwithstanding all of their
evil and idiocy Verse 5 For if a man know not
how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of? These
words now are so significant, aren't they? Take care. You're
to take care of your house. The care of your house, the well-being
of those who are in your household, that's on you, man. That's on
you. The very word bishop, and I think
I've got this in my notes somewhere. Yeah, it's coming up pretty quick
here, so let me just read it now. The word bishop means this,
an overseer, presiding over. And this is word for word from
Strong's Concordance. Listen to this, word for word.
It is a man given the charge of seeing that things to be done
by others is done right. I am charged by God to see to
it that you worship in spirit and in truth right before God. I'm charged by God to see to
it that you don't make such a fool out of yourselves that other
people can't worship in the same room with you. I'm to see to
it, not by jumping in with my flesh, but to pray, to preach. This is the rebuke from God right
here. Not me just getting ugly and
loud. The word of God is profitable
for reproof. What I'm doing right now, by
God's grace. So I jumped ahead a little bit,
but listen, ruling your house well is not some rare quality. You know, it is, it shouldn't
be though. It is in this world, but it's taken for granted in
the scripture. It just says, for if a man know
not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the
church of God? If a man needs grace to rule
his household, he needs a double portion to rule in God's church. So if he can't rule his house,
God certainly has not given him the grace necessary to be a bishop. and that's where I had it in
my notes, an overseer, presiding over, a man given the charge
of seeing that things to be done by others are done right. You
see that in the home. You're to see to it that your
children do right. You're to see to it that they
learn accountability. You're to see to it that they
don't be a harm to themselves. They don't make good decisions.
You have to make some decisions for them sometimes, don't you?
And that's not exactly the way it is in a church. But when the
gospel is preached, that's what happens. We get our priorities
all mixed up, and then God sets us straight. That's why it's so important
to be constantly reminded. You remember my advice to everybody,
everywhere, about everything. You need to hear from God. But think about that in the home
for a second. If you mess up, that's on you, isn't it? If your
children mess up, that's on you too. If they don't respect you like
they ought to, if they don't behave in front of others, that
reflects on you. in your role as the ruler of
your house, that's on you. Think about that in the church.
That's why I say some of the things that I say to you and
do some of the things I do. I don't want to be in your business,
trust me. And I won't be, by God's grace. But when I tell
you something, hear it. Hear it well. Consider it. Don't be quick to dismiss it
because I you know, Chris just doesn't know the situation You'd be surprised I know what
a sinner is because I am one Well verse 6 not a novice Not a novice Less being lifted
up with pride he fall into the condemnation of of the devil. Think about that. You know what
that literally means? Not a new believer. Someone who has just been converted. Kind of goes back to our Sunday
school lesson, doesn't it? Got to know Christ in the heart,
and then the heart teaches the lips. But that can take a little
bit of time. But you know what's interesting?
about this verse. The verse assumes that if you're
a new believer, you've still got a lot of pride in you. Now, everybody, an old believer
has a lot of pride in him, but not like a new one does. You
know why that is? Because God over time, by his
grace, knocks all the stuffing out of you. He doesn't do that
overnight. As we live in the knowledge of
our Savior and grow in his grace, he knocks the stuffing out of
us. You see that in this verse? It is assumed here that if a
man has not known the Lord for very long, He's very susceptible
to pride, to willfulness in the flesh. You may have watched over
17 years, God knocked the stuffing out of me. I still got a lot
of stuffing left, sadly. But think about that, a sinner
that speaks for God being proud. You know what a proud sinner
is? That's an oxymoron, but you know what a proud sinner is?
A fool. An absolute fool. God will put
a man through some things. God will show a man that he's
an idiot. You've got to know that in order to preach the gospel.
You've got to know you're an idiot. You've got to know God
didn't call you because you're smart. He doesn't typically call
smart people. And he's real good at teaching
that. In fact, he'll give us a glimpse
of our utter worthlessness and evil before him. I believe he
especially does that for his preachers. Show them how evil
and worse than worthless, but worthless. How that we depend
completely on Christ for all of our strength all of our wisdom
all of our worthiness all of our effectiveness We're not going
to accomplish anything Without his grace. It's him accomplishing
it Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 2 16 who is sufficient for these
things talking about preaching the gospel and that being the
savor of death and life and Who is sufficient for these things?
And then in 2 Corinthians 3, 5, he answered his own question. He said, our sufficiency is of
God. Verse seven, moreover, he must
have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into
the reproach and snare of the devil. Remember, when David,
when he sinned against God, And he was shown that he was
evil. He even condemned himself, didn't
he? When he thought he was somebody else in the story, the prophet
told him. When he thought he was somebody else, he condemned
himself. And then the prophet said, David,
it's you. It's you. But you remember what the Lord
said to him? You've given occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. That's verse seven. Have a good report of them which
are without. This world hates our God and
hates our Savior. Don't give them reason to. They
have enough reason in their own heart. Don't be the cause for them to say, see there, there's
nothing to that. Their God is not real. Those who don't know the Lord,
even they will respect a man whom God has blessed. We're to have a good report of
them which are without. You might think, well, who cares
what the world thinks? And that's an appropriate sentiment
in most things. But with regard to the bishop,
who, as we've read, must be blameless, that is, not unchargeable by this world, it's important
that that blamelessness is not just a show he puts on when he's
in the church building. That's got to be while he's in
this world, too. That's verse seven And notice that these last two
verses that we've looked at are ways that the devil looks to
take down someone who speaks for God He's looking to take
you down Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
head of this church and He's the bishop and shepherd of our
souls. And we're all to seek to be like
him in our actions and our words, especially me, because I'm in
a position of leadership and authority by God's design. And I'm in a position that's
naturally scrutinized. And I'm looked to for leadership,
like it or not. But may God make it so that when
you look to me for leadership, what you see is me pointing to
him in everything. You need comfort? Him. You need rebuke? Him. You need advice? Him. You need forgiveness of sin.
Christ. Titus 1.7, for a bishop must
be blameless as the steward of God. Not self-willed, not soon
angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy
lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just,
holy, temperate. Those are all It's almost word
for word in First Timothy, Titus. Same exhortation, right? Listen
to the next part. Here's how you do that. Here's
what all of that is about. Here's why it's necessary. Holding
fast the faithful word. As he hath been taught. that he may be able by sound
doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. I can't preach the gospel without
these things and so God gives them. And we're all to desire
this, pray for it, ask God for it, examine yourselves. And may God give us grace to
desire his glory. In everything we do. Everything
you do, no matter where you do it, has something to do with
this right here. May God give us grace. Amen.