Let's turn in our Bibles again
this evening to 1 Timothy. This evening we've come to chapter
three. Looking at verses one through
seven tonight. This is a true saying. Some people
believe that this should be the last part of verse 15 of chapter
2, and this would be another one of those faithful sayings.
As the Apostle Paul said in chapter 1, this is a faithful saying,
verse 15, and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And then there's
three more of these faithful sayings, but some believe this
also should have been one of those faithful sayings that through
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who trust in him, have
faith in him, continue in faith and love and holiness with sobriety
that they shall be saved. This is a faithful or true saying. If a man desire the office of
a bishop, he desires 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, 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. I've mentioned several times
to us that in the letter of Titus, where the apostle Paul left Titus
at Crete, he said to set in order the things that are warning.
So I believe that Timothy was encouraged to stay at Ephesus. And if you notice in chapter
three, on down in verse 15, Paul told Timothy, but if I tarry
long 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. In the first two chapters
that we've looked at so far, he has dealt with public worship.
the message, the gospel, the gospel, the glorious gospel of
the blessed God. And then he dealt with prayer
and with the deportment both of men and women as we come together
to worship the Lord. I wish that everyone, every believer
would recognize how important public worship is. How important
it is that we come together and worship the Lord. Any child of
God, any believer who neglects public worship only harms himself. Their spiritual growth will certainly
not be what it should be if they forsake, as the apostle said
in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25, let us consider one
another. Let's consider one another. We're
all in this together. as believers, as God's children.
Let's consider one another. What a discouragement it is to
others when we're not faithful. We ought to consider one another.
That's what Paul said, isn't it? Let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. Am I my brother's keeper? Absolutely. Absolutely. We have a responsibility in the
family of God to one another. And I just wish that everyone,
every believer, would recognize how important public worship
is for themselves and for others. Not forsaking the assembly of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one
another, and so much the more. You know, we exhort one another
just by being here. We exhort one another, our presence. as you see the day approaching. Well, Paul now turns from public
worship to the offices in the local church, which are two.
He turns now from public worship that we've looked at, the message,
prayer, our deportment when we come together, both men and women,
and now the offices, which are two, in the local church. If
you keep your place here in 1st Timothy, but just turn back a
page or two to Philippians, Chapter 1 and verse 1, we see
here that there are two offices in a local church. Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at
Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. There are two offices
in every local church. There should be. The office of
bishop. I want you to turn to another
place. Look in 1 Peter, just a moment. The office of a bishop. 1 Peter, chapter 5, and verses 1 and 2. 1 Peter, chapter 5, verses 1 and
2. The elders which are among you
I exhort, who am also an elder. and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre,
but of a ready mind. There are three terms in the
New Testament that are used for this same office. That is, the
office of a pastor. And all three of these terms
are found here in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. First term
is elder. The elders which are among you.
The elders. That's one term that's used in
the New Testament for a pastor. And then this word feed the flock. That word actually means shepherd.
shepherd the flock. That's a second word that is
used for a pastor. He's an elder, he's a shepherd,
and then by taking the oversight, he is a bishop. That's what the
word bishop means. He's an overseer. Now some have
said that the term elder refers to the man bishop to his office,
and pastor to his work. I believe that's right. Elder
refers to the man, bishop to his office, and pastor to his
work. Now in the verses we're looking at tonight, the man who
is set apart as a bishop, as a pastor, as an elder, he must
have a good testimony. If you've turned back here to
1st Timothy chapter 3, The man who is set apart in a church
to be the bishop, to be the pastor or elder, he must have a good
testimony from two groups. And in this passage, as one writer
said, he must have a good testimony with the insiders and with the
outsiders. The insiders, of course, means
the members of the congregation. He must have a good testimony
with the insiders But also the outsiders, if you look down in
verse seven, moreover, he must have a good report of them which
are without. In other words, those who are
not members of the congregation. Now it stands to reason he must
have a good testimony with those within that most of what Paul
is writing here has to do with those within who will examine
the man who should be their pastor, who should be recognized to be
their pastor. Now first, to those in the church,
a bishop must be blameless. Notice that's the first thing
he says in verse two. A bishop then must be blameless. Now this doesn't mean, of course,
that he must be sinless. If that were the case, then no
one would meet that criteria. He is to be blameless. That is,
he's to have a good testimony in these things that he's going
to mention now that follow. And as I look through this list
again, I see there's positives and there's negatives, and that's
the way we will look at what Paul writes to Timothy. There's
eight positives. And there's five negatives. The first positive is marriage
relationship. Notice he said, a bishop then
must be blameless, the husband of one wife. This is not saying that a man
must be married. It is assumed that most men would
be married as is natural. In the next chapter, Paul warns
about doctrines of devils. And one of those doctrines of
devils is to forbid men to marry. That's a doctrine that comes
from hell, never came from God. God saw it was not good that
man should be alone. He made him a helpmate. And most
men, there are some exceptions, Paul maybe was one, but most
men need a wife. And that's what he is saying
here. He must be the husband of one
wife. He's not saying he has to be married. He's just taking
for granted that most men who would be put into this office
are married. Now some, After the age of the
apostles, it wasn't long before people began to teach that there's
something holy about being unmarried, being celibate. There's something
spiritual about that. And so they twisted Paul's words
here. And, uh, they said what, what
he means here that when a bishop's wife dies, he should never marry
again. He should only have one wife,
be married one time. But we know that's not what Paul
was saying at all. A bishop must not have two wives. He must not be a polygamist.
And that was common in that day among the Jews and among the
Gentiles, to have more than one wife. And Paul is just saying
a man who set apart to be the bishop, to be the pastor, the
elder of a local church, He must be the husband of one wife, not
two or more. The second thing he says, his
concern must be obvious, that is, he's vigilant. He must be
watchful. One of those terms, a shepherd.
A shepherd had to be a watchful individual. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want, and the reason David was able to say, I shall
not want, is because the shepherd takes the responsibility of watching
for the sheep. Vigilant. Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. The rod had its use, didn't it? It had its use to defend the
sheep and to correct the sheep. But a bishop, a pastor, he must
be vigilant. He must watch over the flock. He must be temperate. and not
one given to extremes. He must be watchful. He must
watch over himself, watch over his words, using moderation,
both in eating and drinking. And he should be modest. He should
be of a humble disposition. And third, he must be sober,
that is prudent. This, I believe, respects a man's
judgment. He must be sober. He is to be
discreet, not rushing to conclusions, not a man that's of sudden impulses. He's to be sober, prudent. And fourth is good behavior. His good behavior will be manifested
by his orderly conduct. John Gill, his comment on that
particular point was this, neat, decent in his apparel, modest
in his whole deportment and conduct, affable, that means friendly,
doesn't it? Affable, and courteous to all. Number five, he must be hospitable. In the days in which Paul wrote,
They were tumultuous times, and many times ministers had to go
into exile. They had to flee from where they
were because of persecution. And then men were just being
sent out everywhere, spreading the gospel. And a man who was
a pastor, he must be ready to show hospitality to those men
who have had to leave one place and go to another. Look over
in 3 John with me. We have an example of this. In
3 John. 3 John, verse 5. Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. which
have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth taking
nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive
such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. He must
be hospitable. And then the sixth positive thing
is he must be to teach, or able to teach. Now, no one is able to teach
unless he has been taught first. That's just easy to say, isn't
it? No one is apt to teach who has
not himself been taught. And if you look in 2 Timothy,
Paul deals with this again, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, In verses one and two, he writes
Timothy saying, thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Paul taught Timothy. Timothy then was to teach faithful
men who in turn, then they were to teach others. And then the seventh positive,
he must rule well his own house. Verse four says, one that ruleth
well his own house. As a pastor, he will be the overseer
over the flock, over the church. And Paul says, if a man cannot
rule his own house, then how would he be able to take care
of the church of God? He's not going to be able to
fulfill that. So he must be one that ruleth
well his own house. And then the last positive, you
see in verse three, it's kind of mixed in with some negatives
here, but he must be patient. About the middle of verse three,
but patient. He must be patient, genuine.
must patiently bear the reproaches and the injuries he is given
as a pastor. He must suffer wrongs rather
than contend and quarrel with others. So there's eight positives
that should be true about a pastor. Now, let's look at the five negatives. He must not be given to wine. In chapter 5 and verse 23, Paul
admonishes Timothy himself to drink no longer water, but use
a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. A little wine. But here it is
literally, if this was translated literally, it would be one, not
one who lingers beside his wine. The immoderate use of wine, it's
a disqualifier for a man who would be a bishop. And remember back in the first
verse, he said if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desired
the good work. If a man presents himself to
the congregation, desires of being a bishop, then these qualifications
he should meet before they name him as their pastor. He must
not tarry long at the wine. Number two, he must not be a
striker. A striker. I remember hearing
a man preach from this years ago and he thought that word
striker meant like these people out on strike. Shouldn't go out
on strike like they were having at that particular time out at
Shell Refinery. and Deer Park, and he said this
pastor shouldn't be a striker, but that's not what this means
at all. It doesn't mean a striker in
that sense. He must not be a man who's quick
and ready to use his fist. A man that just flies off the
handle quickly and is ready to go to Fisk City with people. He shouldn't be like that. You
know, in reading some other writers, I ran across this expression. I've heard it all my life, but
I don't know if I ever knew exactly where it came from. You've got
a chip on your shoulder. We've all heard that and we know
basically what it means, but this writer said the frontiersman
the back woodsmen here in our country at one time, they would
actually have a chip on their shoulder. And that was just an
invitation to fight. If you want to fight, here I
am. Knock it off. Knock the chip
off of my shoulder. Well, a pastor, he's not to be
a striker. He's not to be a man ready to
go to fight with someone. And I might say this also, not
only is he not to be a man who would fight with his fist, so
with his words, his words. And third, here's another negative,
he is not to be a brawler. He's not to be contentious. He
may not be a man eager to use his fist, But he might be a man
who is given to argument, just loves to argue and dispute. No matter what you say, he's
going to say something different. He's got a different opinion.
No matter what your opinion is, he's going to tell you his opinion. Disputatious. Both of these,
argumentative and disputatious, would disqualify him from the
office of a pastor. And then fourth, he's not to
be covetous. He's not to have his heart set
on accumulating the wealth of this world. You know, when we
think of covetousness, rightly so, we think of money, we think
of wealth. But a man may be covetous of
other things as well. He may be covetous of fame. He
may be covetous of the praise and the good words of other persons. Preacher, he must not be covetous. He must not be a man covetous
and preach so as to hear good things about his preaching. You
know, try to not pacify, but satisfy, know as to take the
word of God and proclaim the gospel. You're familiar with
Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. He had an attendant by the name
of Baruch. And you find many times Jeremiah,
God would inspire him with the word of God and Baruch would
write it down. And several times he would send
Baruch on a mission. He'd go to the temple and read
what God had given Jeremiah. But there's one place there where
Jeremiah, and I think about this quite often, Jeremiah asked him,
seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. talking to Baruch. Baruch was
being used as a messenger, so to speak, taking the message
that God gave to Jeremiah. And he'd go and he would speak
that message. But Jeremiah rebuked him by asking
that question. Seekest thou great things for
thyself? Seek them not. And a pastor may
not be covetous of money, but he may be covetous of other things. And the last negative, he's not
to be a novice. Now, the word novice means recently
planted. This is not about a man's age.
A man might be a novice in this sense at 70 years of age. What
the word means, recently planted. In other words, he's just recently. He's just recently come into
the faith, to the knowledge of the truth. A man might be 20 years, 25 years
of age and not be a novice. Another man might be 70 years,
as I said, and be a novice. Not to set apart a man like that
to be the pastor. And the sin that he so easily
would fall into is the sin of pride. This is what Paul warns. Not a novice. Lest being lifted up with pride,
he fall into the condemnation of the devil. It was the sin
of pride that brought the devil down. You read those two passages
in Isaiah and one in Ezekiel where it obviously is Satan speaking
and it's always, I will, I will be lifted up. I will be like
the most high God. Pride, pride, pride. And the
scripture says, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a fall. Now, second, to those outside
the church, he must have a good report. The wicked men of the
world will hate his message, hate the principles that govern
him, but they should not be able to speak evil, truthfully speak
evil of his conduct. I've heard this ever since I've
been a pastor that some men, they didn't pay their bills.
Now, I personally have never known a pastor like that, but
I know that's one thing that some pastors have been accused
of and accused of by the world. That's what he's talking about
here. He must have a good report, even among those who are without. Well, I want to close with Matthew
Henry's words. After he made comments on these
first seven verses of this chapter, then this was his last comment,
and I quote, upon the whole, having briefly gone through the
qualifications of a gospel bishop, we may infer, number one, what
great reason we have to cry out, as Paul does, who is sufficient
for these things. This is a work indeed. What piety,
what prudence, what zeal, what courage, what faithfulness, what
watchfulness over ourselves, our lust, appetites, and passions,
and over those under our charge. I say, what holy watchfulness
is necessary in this work. Number two. have not the best
qualified and the most faithful and conscientious ministers just
reason to complain against themselves. That so much is requisite by
way of qualification and so much work is necessary to be done.
And alas, how far short do the best come of what they should
be and what they should do. Number three, Yet let those bless
God and be thankful whom the Lord has enabled and counted
faithful, putting them into the ministry. If God is pleased to
make any in some degree able and faithful, let him, that is
God, have the praise and glory of it. And number four. For the
encouragement of all faithful ministers, we have Christ's gracious
word of promise. Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. And if he be with us, he will
fit us for our work in some measure, will carry us through the difficulties
of it with comfort, graciously pardon our imperfections, and
reward our faithfulness with a crown of glory. that fadeth
not away. I put that in the bulletin this
coming Sunday so you can read that, but I thought that was
so good. Now, if you will, let's sing
a hymn before we're dismissed.