1 TIMOTHY 3:1-72007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Timothy 3:1-7

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007.

1 Timothy chapter 3, we have an interesting portion of scripture, a very important portion of scripture, where Paul gives to Timothy really the qualifications of those who are leaders within the church, the qualifications of those who are the bishops or overseers that Timothy is to take care of and make sure that they fit these qualifications.

Now, it's interesting to me to think about this. I mean, the qualifications that Paul lists perhaps are different than what you might list if you were to make the qualifications of what you would like to see in the overseer or the pastor or the leader that you relate to or that you're in fellowship with.

If we were to write down or in general, people were to write down their qualifications for someone who's called to lead and someone who's called to be a leader within the church. What types of things would we write? What types of things would people in general write down for those qualifications?

You know, if you look, I was doing some just random searching online since I knew I was teaching on this, just for those who are seeking a pastor for a church that's already existing and looking at the qualifications that they list and the things that they must have. And some of it was right in line here with what the Apostle Paul said. And some of it really was not. And not that that's necessarily wrong and what they're looking for. But that's

The point is that you and I, we think differently than God majority of the time. In fact, ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of the time because God says his ways are not our ways. In fact, they're so different as high as the heavens are above the earth are his ways higher than our ways.

And so we would look at different things or different qualities or characteristics for those that we would have lead us than perhaps God requires of those who he has called to lead the church.

There's a one of those, you know, chain email things that are floating around that I would like to read to you. I came across it. It's entitled The Perfect Pastor, and it's all about Jerry Simmons. No, I'm just kidding. Of course, it's not about me. It says this. The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect minister preaches exactly 15 minutes.

That's not me for sure. He condemns sins, but never upsets anyone. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight and is also the janitor. He makes $50 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car and gives about $50 a week to the poor. He is 28 years old and has preached for 35 years.

He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all of his times with senior citizens. The perfect minister smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls daily on congregation families in the hospitalized and is always in the office when needed.

If your minister does not measure up, simply send this letter to six other churches that are tired of their minister too. Then bundle up your minister, send him to the church on the top of the list. In one week, you will receive 1,643 ministers and one of them will be perfect. Have faith in this procedure.

And it goes on with the warnings that all those chain letters have. One church broke the chain and got its old minister back in less than three weeks. So don't break the chain. Of course, very humorous as...

They look at what is the perfect minister. And if you ask people and do the survey, well, there's going to be quite a varying opinion about what is important in leaders and in a pastor of a church. There's another funny article that I didn't print out to bring to you, but it is.

It was just talking about, you know, the society that we live in, the American idol mentality and and how the churches are exploring the virtual pastor type of thing where, you know, the audience gets to vote and they vote on the type of clothes that the pastor wears and and the type of messages that he teaches and the type of experiences that he shares and so on and so forth. And

There's all these different things that we could look at in qualifications or what we desire in leaders. But here we have what God said. God says, this is what's important for those who are leaders within the body of Christ. This is the qualifications that God looks for and that we will be examining today. Paul is talking about the position of a bishop.

I'm not going to go in much detail here, but basically as you study through the New Testament, the position of the bishop is synonymous with the position of the elder. The word bishop just means overseer, and the word elder and overseer are used basically interchangeably throughout the New Testament.

It's referring to or talking about probably the role that we would refer to as a pastor today. We see them used interchangeably in Acts chapter 20. Remember when Paul was calling to the Ephesus church, he was on his way to Jerusalem and did not think he would survive as he was going to Rome. And so he called the Ephesian elders to say goodbye in Acts chapter 20, verse 17.

And so it says there specifically he called the elders. And then as he's speaking to them, he calls them overseers in verse 28 of Acts chapter 20. And so we see these words used interchangeably, even as Paul is giving the same qualifications to Titus. We'll study that in a few more books.

But he gives the same qualifications to Titus that we're looking at today. And he calls them elders in Titus chapter one, verse five. And then again, overseers in Titus chapter one, verse seven. And so we see these roles of leadership within the church. And they're used interchangeably used to speak about the pastors of a fellowship or the leadership within a church.

Now, some of you might be reading this and understanding, OK, that's nice, but I'm not really a pastor. I'm not called to be a pastor or a leader in that sense. I'm not called to be an overseer or an elder. So why do I need to know this? Well, we need to share it this morning because it's where we are in the word. But there's three applications that I would like you to consider. First of all, for those who are called to be pastors and leaders.

You know, there's some of you here that are called to be in the ministry. There's some of you that are called to be overseeing ministries and involved in pastoral leadership. And God wants you to know the qualifications that he has for you in that the areas that he wants you to allow him to work.

We also need to know this, the second application of this passage this morning, you and I need to know this so that we know what to expect of pastors and leaders, that we would know what to expect of those who we allow to really have authority in our lives.

If you remember the context of Timothy, as we've been studying through in chapter one, Paul was telling Timothy, hey, I need you there. I told you to stay there because you need to refute the false doctrine. And he's talking about these false teachers that are there in Ephesus where Timothy is and how he needs to correct them. Even saying in chapter one that some have strayed concerning the faith. Now, that's dealing with in the church of Ephesus.

There were those who were leading, who were teaching, who were fulfilling this role, this authority within the church, but they were leading people astray and they were teaching false doctrine.

And so Paul gives Timothy these qualifications so that he can look and know, OK, these are the false teachers. These are the characteristics that they don't fit into, that they don't qualify for. They disqualify themselves from serving in this role so that he might do what needed to be done in establishing the proper authority within the church.

We need to know what should be expected of pastors and leaders because false doctrine will always produce wrong living. False doctrine will always produce a violation of some of these or all of these qualifications that Paul will list here. False doctrine always leads to living in rebellion to the things that God has already spoken.

So first, for those who are called to be in leadership, those who are called to be pastors and leaders. Second, that we might know what to expect of pastors and leaders. But thirdly, I would even challenge you more importantly is this. As we look at these things, I hope that you would agree. These are things that God requires or God desires of every believer, right?

It's not that, OK, if you want to, you know, be in the ministry, you want to become a pastor. Well, then just get these things down. And as soon as you got these, then boom, you're in the ministry. Well, first of all, these are things that everybody, all of us will be growing in from here until eternity. None of us will be perfect in all or any of these areas, but there will be areas that that we are growing in.

But these are characteristics I would challenge you to consider that God desires for you to have, because these are the characteristics of mature believers, of true followers of Jesus Christ.

And Paul is saying here, Timothy, here's what you need to know. Here's what you need to understand. Those who are called to lead in the church need to be mature believers and true followers of Jesus Christ. And if they're mature believers, if they're mature in their faith and walking with God, these are the characteristics that they will demonstrate. This is how you will know who it is that is walking with God and who it is that is right with God.

Because they will have these characteristics in their life. I would encourage you. You know, we see through the scriptures that we're called to be Christ-like. And these are characteristics of Christ that we see here. See, it's the qualifications for those who God has called to leadership. But these qualifications exist because these are the things that demonstrate maturity in the faith. And God desires you to be mature in the faith.

In Hebrews chapter 5, the author of Hebrews tells his listeners, some of you by this time you ought to be teachers and you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You have come to need milk and not solid food. There's the danger of us as Christians being

Becoming complacent in our walks, in our life, that we don't continue to grow. And instead of feasting on solid food, that is preparing food.

For ourselves, meals from the word of God, learning on our own to have relationship with God, to spend time with God, to know him and hear his voice. Instead, you need milk, he tells the Hebrews. That is, you need someone to feed you. You need someone to to deliver the nutrition to you so that you don't have to work and cut your own meat and dig in on your own.

The author of Hebrews there says, for some of you, by this time, you ought to have been teachers. You've been around the faith long enough. You should have these qualifications. You should have this level of maturity. You should be growing in your relationship with God. And he goes on in Hebrews 6.1 to say, therefore, leaving the discussion of elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection or maturity.

Let us go on to completion. Let's grow in our relationship with God. And so I want to challenge you this morning. God wants growth and maturity in you. As you look at these things, as we examine these things in this passage, we'll look at them in a variety of ways. But I would encourage you. This is what God desires of you as a mature believer in Jesus Christ. We see here also one last thing before we continue on in our study.

These qualifications were necessary for this role to be filled, which tells us that the way that we live and who we are, the characteristics that we possess, determine the ability that we have to effectively serve the Lord. It determines by the way that we live and the relationship that we have with God, that determines how well we can be used by God.

There's the phrase that we often use, the saying that God is not looking for your ability, but your availability. And it's true. He's not looking for all of your special, you know, radical talents. He's looking for you to make yourself available to God. But one of the ways that you make yourself available to God, one of the most important ways is right here.

In these qualifications. In saying, God, I want you to work in my heart in these areas. I want to be mature in my relationship with you. And as you have and possess these qualifications, you make yourself available to God to be used by him

For whatever he desires and whatever he has for you. God wants growth and maturity in you. So don't think, hey, this is just for Pastor Jerry and Pule and Cisco and the leaders of the church and the ministry leaders and it's for those guys or those who are called to be pastors. But this is for you and I. As believers, looking at and understanding the maturity and the growth that God desires in us.

We begin this morning again looking at verse 1. It says,

Paul says, this is a faithful saying. And so, first of all, I want to encourage you to learn how to prepare your own meal. In the pastoral epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and the book of Titus, Paul uses this phrase five times. This is a faithful saying. And so,

If you would desire, if you would allow me to encourage you in this, find those five things this week. Spend some time, find the five faithful sayings and consider what is that faithful saying and why does Paul feel it important to highlight it in that way and have that much confidence in it and do I possess that same confidence in the things that Paul says?

This is the second time we've seen it in Timothy. So there's a clue there. You know that there's one already before, but there's three more in the rest of first Timothy, second Timothy and Titus. And I would encourage you to find those things. Now, Paul says this is a faithful saying and and it's interesting.

interesting to consider. Why is this included in the faithful sayings, which are usually very doctrinal, very basic elements of the Christian faith? Why did Paul include this in the faithful sayings? Well, I don't necessarily know what Paul was intending when he wrote this, but I can share from my own experience. This verse brought me much comfort and assurance in my own life. If a man desires to

the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. And for a moment, I just want to share with those of you that God has called to be involved in leadership and to be involved in pastoral work.

You know, for a long time, I ran from the call. I ran from... I knew God had placed this desire on my heart. And yet, I was fearful of it. I was discouraged about it. I wasn't sure if that's really what God was saying or my own imagination or my vain ambitions. And it was a struggle that I went through. And so...

I tried different things. I tried to just, you know, not listen to it, hide it, you know, involve myself in other things. I tried running from the call and, you know, still serve the Lord, but not, you know, do anything related to his call in my life. I tried disqualifying myself by running away from the Lord. And that didn't work either. I mean, hey, when you're called to the ministry, God's going to keep you there. He's going to keep calling you. And

You're going to be called to the ministry if he's put this desire upon your heart. And finally, one day the Lord highlighted this verse in my heart. And I realized, OK, God, I accept it. OK, Lord, you've put this desire on my heart.

And you said it's a good work. If you have this desire, hey, you desire a good work. He doesn't rebuke us for having that desire. If you have that desire, if you have a burden to teach the word of God, to share his word, if you have a desire, that's from the Lord. And it's a good work.

And so be encouraged. It's a faithful saying. You can trust in that. And it brought me much comfort and assurance that I wasn't trying to just look out for myself and fulfill my own ambitions, but that God was calling me to do this work. Now, it's something to remember that it is work. It's good work.

It's blessed. It's very incredible to be involved in the things of God. But it is work. It's not, you know, you just work on Sunday mornings and for a couple hours you just, you know, teach and share and say funny things and make everybody laugh. And then, you know, hey, great, you got the rest of the week off. You'll play golf or something. No, that's not the way that the ministry works.

It's not the way that God calls us to ministry. And so if God is calling you, if you have that desire, hey, it's a good work. Be encouraged. That's from the Lord.

And so now, if you have that call, if you have that desire, here's the qualifications that Paul would say you need to possess. We start in verse 2 with the qualifications. In verse 2 it says, Paul will begin now this list of qualifications.

Some number it different ways, but I come up with 17 things that Paul says, this is the evidence of maturity. This is what you need to have in your life in order to be a leader within the church. We'll look at them briefly, some of them more in depth. But first, Paul says, a bishop then, the overseer, which is what that word bishop means, needs to be, must be blameless. Blameless. Now,

Important to note, this does not say flawless. If that were the case, then nobody would be qualified for ministry.

Blameless. The word means literally to have nothing which an adversary could seize on which to base a charge. It means to have nothing that our adversary, the devil, could accuse you of or or to have a basis for a charge in your life. Now, again, we all sin. It's not talking about flawless sin.

But it's talking about being in the place where when sin is known, when sin becomes known, that there's confession and repentance. Really, blameless speaks of being right with God, not living in sin, not persisting in activity that God prohibits.

We do fall short. And 1 John 1 says that if we have no sin, or let me start over. 1 John 1 verse 8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So we can't say I'm blameless in the sense of I don't sin or I have not sinned or I do not sin. We can't say that. If we say that, we deceive ourselves. We're only kidding ourselves. Everybody else knows the truth. The truth is not in us.

But it goes on to say in verse nine that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so the role of a mature believer, the place of blamelessness and a mature believer is that when sin becomes known, when we recognize, when the Lord reveals to us, hey, you're you're being disobedient here. You're not following my word here.

Then, as mature believers, we're to get right with God, we're to confess, to be forgiven, to be cleansed, we're to repent, to turn from that sin and not continue in it any longer. That's a mark of maturity, blamelessness in the life of a Christian. The second characteristic Paul gives us is the husband of one wife.

Now, this has been the cause of much discussion and debate for many years within the church. Does it mean that an overseer, a bishop, has to be married? Does it mean that a pastor has to be married in order to be ordained and qualified for the ministry? Does it mean that he can't have been divorced in the past? What does it mean to be the husband of one wife?

Literally, the phrase there, it's actually one word and it means a one woman man, a one woman man. Now, in the Greek culture where Timothy was there in Ephesus, there was a saying that went something like this. Every man should have three women in his life.

A mistress for conversation, a concubine for pleasure, and a wife to bear his children. This was the Greek mentality of the day. Men, you should have three women in your life. Well, that's not what God says. It's contrary to God's word. And Paul is refuting that by telling Timothy, no, they should not have three women in their life, Timothy. They should be a one-woman man.

Not necessarily meaning that they have to be married, but that they have to live in a moral way and not an immorality involved in sexual relationships outside of marriage, involved in relationships with other women besides their wife, but there to be faithful to their wife.

And not to have this immoral type of lifestyle. I saw this article a while back. It caught my attention, made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's taking place in China. And the article headline says, Stand-in mistress sought to take wife's abuse.

The basic gist of the article is this. In China, it's very common for men to have mistresses and they keep separate homes for their mistresses. And, you know, then they have their real homes for their wives. And this one man, his wife found out about this.

him having a mistress. And so she got really upset and freaked out. And so she decided, she told her husband, I want to go, I want to beat her up. I want to beat her bad. I'm going to kick her butt. And so she

The guy posts an ad online for a job opening, and that is for someone to come in and fill the shoes of his mistress. He doesn't want his mistress getting beat up. So he placed an ad for someone to pretend like she's his mistress so that she can get beat up by the wife. And the job pays $400 for every 10 minutes. And so if you'd like to apply, move to China. But

You know, it's the same mentality like Paul is dealing with here in the Greek culture. Hey, you can have, you know, these other relationships and these side things. And Paul say, no, the leader in the fellowship, the leader in the church of God is to be a one woman man. Now, this does also indicate again, like we talked about last week, that the pastoral position, the position of overseer within the church is to be a man, is to be

One who is a one woman, man and women are not to have this role within the church. It's the order that God has created. This also speaks one other side note, something else to this generation. And that is that it must not be. It cannot be a man who is living in a homosexual relationship. There was an article just released yesterday saying,

That the Lutheran denomination has okayed yesterday, they just made the vote and made it official, that it's okay for their ministers to be involved in homosexual relationships and they will not be removed from office or punished in any way for being involved in a homosexual relationship while they're involved in the ministry.

Again, this would prohibit that Paul saying, no, a one woman man. It's a man who is moral, who is faithful to his wife or his wife to be that God has called him to be a one woman man. Number three, Paul says he is to be temperate, temperate. It means to not be extreme or excessive, to be modest in indulgence.

Or in the indulgence of the appetite or desire. It's a word that's often used associated with drinking of alcohol, but Paul mentions that specifically in the next verse. And so the point Paul's making is that leaders are not to be overindulgent in life, not to be controlled by their appetites and desires, not to be addicted to alcohol.

things aside from alcohol, perhaps like drugs or pornography or other things that can consume our lives by the overindulgence of those things. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. And that's the point here, that the leader in God's church, the mature believer, is not to be under the power of anything other than the Holy Spirit.

Not to be under the control of other things besides God. That we would be completely available to him and submitted to him. Number four, Paul says he's to be sober minded. Sober minded, it kind of goes along with temperate. It's a person who limits his own freedom with proper thinking. That is demonstrating self-control by placing restraints on the passions and desires that you have.

Now, again, this is the principle that Paul is teaching in 1 Corinthians 6, 12.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. And so it's the limiting, but the making the decision, I'm not going to involve myself in this. It doesn't help me in my relationship with God. It doesn't build me up in the faith. I'm going to be sober minded. I'm going to make a choice and use the will that God has given me to choose not to involve myself in things that don't help me grow in my relationship with God.

Number five, Paul says he's to be a person of good behavior.

This is the word, same word that we talked about last week, that Paul said that the women are to be modest in their apparel. The word modest or good behavior here, it means well-arranged. And just like a woman's clothing should be well-arranged, an overseer's life must be well-arranged. Everything needs to be in order. It needs to be proper and what is right.

Then he goes on, number six, to say that he needs also to be hospitable, hospitable, that is generous to guests, open to sharing your life or your family, your home, your vehicle, whatever it may be, able to share with those who

who are in need, those who come into town. In those days, it was especially important because hotels were not readily available. And when they were, they were very immoral places.

And so it was important as a Christian was traveling that he have a place to stay. And so throughout the scripture, we see the entire body of Christ is exhorted to be hospitable and to be opening their house to those who are passing through, to those who are coming by. So it's important for us to be hospitable as mature believers. Number seven, he is to be able to teach, able to teach. Now,

Again, Timothy is dealing here with...

some false teachers who are teaching false doctrine. And the idea here, the understanding is that, Timothy, they need to be able to teach the truth. They need to be able to teach sound doctrine. What is right and what God actually says in his word. Now, it doesn't say that they have to be the best teacher. It doesn't say that they have to, you know, be real funny. You know, there's lots of different styles within the ministry here.

Some pastors are incredibly funny and I love to listen to those. They make me crack up. And some are monotone and, you know, kind of put you to sleep. But God uses them. Some can't complete their sentences. Some, you know, there's just all kinds of styles. And that's not so important. But what God says is, here's what they need. They need to be able to teach. So I would encourage you, develop the gift that God has given to you for those who are called and given the gift of teaching.

Verse 3 continues the list. He says, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. The number 8 on the list, Paul says, is that the mature believer is not to be given to wine. Now, Paul will tell Timothy in just a few verses that deacons are not to be given to much wine. 1 Timothy 3.8 says,

But he also tells Timothy at the end of the book, 1 Timothy 5.23, that he should drink a little wine for his stomach's sake.

He seemed to be having some problems with his stomach, and so Paul encouraged him to drink a little bit of wine to help resolve that or help solve that. Water was not very pure. They didn't have Aquafina or Arrowhead or any of those in those days, and so it was very easy to have polluted and spoiled water that was not good. And so wine was a good substitute of being pure and healthy for the body.

But what Paul is issuing here is not an absolute prohibition against drinking wine. Now, some get worried and concerned about that. Others get excited. But a couple words of caution. First of all, drunkenness is always prohibited in the scriptures from beginning to end. That is against God's word. Second thing to consider.

Wine today is not the same as it was then. The alcohol content was much lower. In fact, sources say that the wine that they used would be two parts wine to three parts water. So it would be very much diluted and not like the alcohol content like we see today, which really for the purpose of getting drunk, most of the alcoholic beverages are for it.

The third thing I would encourage you to consider, a word of caution, is that you need to consider others. As believers, there are some things, as Paul says, all things are lawful for you. But not all things are helpful. Not all things are beneficial. And you need to consider others and the impact that it would have upon them. I would encourage you, if that's something you consider or struggle with, Romans chapter 14.

And first Corinthians chapters eight through 10 Romans 14 and first Corinthians eight through 10. And as you read through those, consider what God would have you do in regards to alcohol and your life. Number nine, he says that he is not to be violent. The word literally means a bruiser or ready for a blow.

He's not to be someone who's always looking for a fight. And if you don't like that, we can step outside right now. And I'm just kidding. He's not to be someone who's quick to fight, quick to battle. Not someone who's violent, not greedy for money. Number 10. Now, apparently agreed was an issue in Ephesus because it was a motivation of the false teachers. Paul tells Timothy in First or First Timothy, chapter six. He'll deal with it in a few more chapters.

It's the motivation of the false teachers. And Paul tells Timothy there in verse 10 of chapter six that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And so Paul tells Timothy, you're not to be greedy for money, whether within the ministry or outside of it. You're not to be greedy for gain. Flee from greediness. Number 11, he says he's to be gentle.

It means to be fair, to be mild, to be gentle. It's the contrast from greediness. And so not chasing after, not aggressive in the chasing of gain or the seeking of money, but instead mild and gentle, just content really with what God has given and the place he has given you in life.

Number 12 is to be not quarrelsome. Again, that's much like not violent, only it's more with the words, the arguments, not to be contentious and causing arguments and disputes, not stirring up trouble amongst friends or family or the fellowship.

Number 13, he says that he is not to be covetous, kind of going along with greed, not to be desiring the things of others and craving what others have. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, it warns us against covetousness.

And in contrast, it says, be content with such things as you have. And so we get the picture here, not greedy, not covetous, but gentle, but content, really, with what God has given you. Mature believers are called to be content and not chasing after things that God has not given to them. Verses 4 and 5, we find the next two things. It says, "...one who rules his own house well."

Having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Paul gives this requirement. Some count it as one. I've counted it as two. Not like that really matters a whole lot. But number 14, I say rules his own house well.

The godly leader, the mature believer, is to be one who rules his own house well. And Paul will go on to say, hey, if he doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? The idea here is, look, you need to have things in order. You need to have your bills paid. Paul is warning against, hey, this means that your truck shouldn't be impounded right across the street from the church in front of everybody. Right?

If you're not laughing, it's because you don't know that happened to me. He needs to rule his own house well. Things need to be in order because, hey, if you can't take care of your own house, Paul says, how can you take care of the church of God? But the church of God is not just administration and paying bills and making sure things are in order. The church of God is also discipleship and ministering to people and training people up spiritually in the ways of God.

And so he also looks at the children of the godly leader. And so number 15 is that children are to be in submission. Not only is the things of the house to be in order, but the children are to be in order. They're to be in submission and having reverence in the things of God. Because again, hey, if you can't disciple your children, if you can't share with them and teach them and be an example to them, how can you take care of the church of God?

Now, it does not mean that you cannot have rebellious children, but it means that you do not allow rebellion to continue in your house. And so you make whatever necessary means of disciplining yourself

and taking care of the rebellion that is going on. Joshua 24, 15, Joshua says, That's for me and my house. And that's the idea here. That's for me and my house. We're going to serve the Lord. We're going to walk with the Lord. And that's the role or that's the characteristic of a godly leader. In verse 6, we find the 16th thing. He says, Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Number 16, characteristic of a godly leader, of a mature believer, is he's not to be a novice. Not to be a novice. It's a word that literally means newly planted.

He's not to be newly planted, a new convert, a new believer, just having come to faith in Jesus Christ, just having begun to walk with God. Timothy, that's not the kind of guy you want to look for. Wait for them to become rooted and grounded. Wait for them to become developed. Wait till you see the fruit of endurance in their Christian walk. Otherwise,

He warns against them being puffed up with pride and falling into the same condemnation as the devil. That is, the devil being lifted up in pride. The I wills from Ezekiel. I will lift myself up. Actually, it's Isaiah 14. I will set my throne above God. I will be like the Most High. He goes, I will, I will, I will. The sin of pride that the devil had. If...

a new convert is placed in an area of leadership, of oversight, then there's a potential of him being puffed up with pride and therefore falling into the same trap, the same condemnation as the devil and being elevated and seeking to elevate himself.

Finally, we close the qualifications in verse 7. It says, That's number 17. You must have a good testimony outside of the church. I think this one is very interesting. The godly leader, the mature believer, is to have a good testimony outside of the church.

The word testimony means report. He's to have a good report. In other words, the people outside of the church that know this guy or that know these people are to bear witness. They're to bear witness of your life and your character. That it's not just here that you put on the Christian face and the Christian attitude and the Christian sayings and pretend to be this godly leader.

But that it really is who you are in your life. That no matter where you are, Paul has dealt with the home. You're to be the same godly leader in the home that you are in the church.

But also outside of the home. And that's where it often breaks down for Christians. And maturity comes to a halt when Christians are different at home than they are at church. And they're different at work than they are at home and at church. And they have these alternate lifestyles or attitudes or personalities that they put on depending on where they're at.

And God says, look, in the home, you're to be godly. You're to put me first. You're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the people in your home should be able to bear witness to that. It will be evident by your home and the way it is and the people that are there, the way that they are. And that will be the evidence of your leadership, of your godliness, of your character at home.

But not limited to that. You'll see it in the church, Paul is saying. You'll see their characteristics. You'll see the godliness, the leadership, the calling upon their life and the evidence of maturity in their life. But it's not just in those two areas that God looks. He says that those outside of the church, you need to have a good testimony among those who are outside of

That is those who aren't in your home and those who aren't in the church. That's your neighbors, your co-workers, the people that you are friends with or the people that you run into wherever you happen to be. Paul says they need to bear witness. Now, there's always the potential of people being critical and not liking you and saying things and so on and so forth that you don't earn or you haven't earned. But

But aside from those, Paul says, look, in general, you need to have a good testimony. In other words, you can't be ripping people off in your business practices and expect to be a godly leader within the church. You can't have these multiple personalities and these fronts and really pretending to be godly when the reality is you're all of these different people depending on where you are. But this character, these qualifications are to be with you

in every aspect, in every element of your life. Paul says this is the qualifications for an overseer. These are the qualifications, again, as I challenge you, of mature believers. The evidences or the characteristics of mature believers. I don't know about you, but there's a lot of these that I still need God to work in my heart with. There's growth that needs to take place in my life. And I believe in your life as well. I would challenge you this morning

to evaluate these 17 things and allow God to do the work in you that He wants to do. If we stop growing, then we'll come to need milk and not solid food. We revert back to infancy if we don't continue to grow in our relationship with God. If we don't press on, if we don't push forward, if we don't allow Him to work in our lives. We need to be growing on to maturity. Let's go on to perfection.

the author of Hebrews says. I would encourage you to do the same. Let's go on to perfection. Let's allow God to work in these areas. Maybe there's one of them that stuck out. Maybe there's a few. Maybe there's a whole bunch of them that you know, man, God really needs to work in my life. Allow Him to do that work. Be obedient to Him in His words. Surrender to Him. Because this is what God desires for all of us. To draw close to Him. To put on the nature of Christ.

and put off our old nature, the flesh. Or you may be listening to this and you've never been born again. Maybe you'd like to live this kind of life, the blameless and moral life, being tempered and sober-minded, and so on and so forth. You can only do it through a right relationship with God. You can't live this life and fulfill these characteristics on your own. You need to be born again.

You need to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Have a right relationship with God. And He will work in you and produce in you these characteristics as you draw close to Him. So I would encourage you this morning, those of you who are believers but need growth, let's draw close to Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives. And if you've never made a decision to follow Jesus Christ, today's the day for you. Make a decision to follow Him. Give your life and your heart to Him.

Ask him to come in and change you and he will produce in your life these things and so much more. He has great plans for you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I lift our hearts up to you, God, and there's many of these areas that we're weak in, that we struggle in, that we fall short in. And I thank you, God, that we can come to you and confess and be forgiven. And so, Lord, we confess to you that we fall short. We confess to you that we sin.

Lord, we confess to you our need for you in producing maturity in our lives. Lord, in helping us grow and drawing us close to you. We need you, Jesus. God, I pray that you would work in our hearts. Lord, right now we surrender to you in those areas and the things that you're speaking to us. God, we give you the freedom to work. We invite you and we ask you, Lord, do this work in us. Cause us to grow.

Lord, as we draw close to you, would you draw close to us and make us more like you? Lord, help us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and not conform to this world any longer. And God, for anyone who does not know you, God, I pray that you would remove all the barriers, whatever would keep them from right relationship with you, Lord, that they would know how much you love them and that you send your son to die upon the cross for them, that they could have right relationship with you.

Draw them to a saving knowledge of you, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.