1 TIMOTHY 3:8-162007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Timothy 3:8-16

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. So the qualifications for pastors, for elders, for bishops, we studied that two weeks ago and now Paul goes on to talk about a different group and those are the deacons and what is required for them and what are the qualifications for a deacon.

Jesus said that to whom much is given, much is required. And we see that here in these qualifications that are given. The qualifications that are given to the elders or bishops or pastors are a little bit more intense than the qualifications that are given for deacons. There's less requirements. There are a little bit looser requirements for deacons than we see for the elders or the pastors.

The role of the deacon has been seen differently throughout the years of the church. Some groups say that the deacon is an officer in the church, that they are responsible for the business aspects of the church and things like that. Other groups say, well, no, it's just any type of leadership within the church. Others say, well, no, it's just anybody who serves within the church. A lot of times we look back at Acts chapter 6.

If you remember the situation there where the apostles are ministering in Jerusalem and there became this dispute among the Hellenistic Jews, their widows weren't being taken care of like the other widows. And and so they were they were disputing and having this problem. And so the apostle said, well, pray and and.

Let's lift up seven men to take care of this ministry, take care of the situation and make sure that everything is done fairly and appropriately. And often those six men are looked upon as deacons, as an example of what Paul is talking about here.

But we actually don't have a lot in the scriptures of definition or clarification of what a deacon is or what their role was. They're mentioned here and really only mentioned elsewhere in Philippians chapter one, verse one, where Paul is greeting those he's writing to in Philippians and he's in Philippi and he says, hey, greet the saints, greet the elders and the deacons.

And so there's these three separate types of groups that he's greeting the saints, the elders or the pastors and the deacons. And so that's that's all that we know. There's no, you know, specific declaration of this is the role of a deacon. This is the office of a deacon. This is their function, as opposed to the pastor. We know throughout the scriptures we have great detail about what the pastor's job is and what they are to do.

And it's not quite the same with the deacon. And I believe it's intentional, the way that God has done that, because in every place and every church, it's going to be different. The needs are going to be different. And the role of a deacon, I like to look at just the definition of the word. And I really believe that that's where God wants us to focus this morning.

The word deacon literally means servant. It's one who execute the commands of another. It's often translated throughout the New Testament. This word is as a verb. It's translated to serve or to minister. And so we see the the role of the deacon is to be a servant and to minister. It's to just do kind of whatever needs done or whatever they have responsibility over.

This is the role of a deacon. It's one who executes the commands of another, specifically the Lord, but also being in authority or being under the authority of the church that God has called them to. As I look at these qualifications that Paul will mention, what stands out to me is that Paul is not talking about calling or gifting. He's talking really about character. The issue is not

Well, you have to have these, you know, this type of resume and and you have to be able to, you know, do this and you have to have this type of personality. No, what God is dealing with here in these qualifications is the character of the person who is serving the character of the deacon, the character of the one who is being obedient to God in the calling in their lives.

God wants us to have godly character. And so however you interpret the form or the role of the deacon and whatever you want to believe about deacons, we can look at this and understand God wants us to have godly character. This is the type of character that God desires for his servants. And so this is the type of character that you and I need to have. And so we begin looking at the character of a deacon.

In verses 8 and 9, it says, Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. The deacons are to be reverent. They're not to be double-tongued.

They're not to be given too much wine, a little bit different than the elders we saw two weeks ago. They're not to be greedy for money and they're to hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. This is the character of the servant of God, the person that God wants to use. He says, first of all, they need to be reverent.

In the same way that the elders or the bishops are expected to meet these requirements, now the deacons are expected to meet the requirements of, first of all, being reverent. A servant of God needs to know how to be reverent, how to be respectful and serious.

Now, some will take this to the extreme and, you know, we're supposed to walk around with a straight face and not wear bright colors and just be very serious and somber. But that's not what Paul is saying. That's not what God intends. It's not that we're not to joke or have a sense of humor, but to know when it is appropriate and when it is not.

To have a reverence for the word of God and the work of God and the ministry of God that we don't distract from what God is doing.

For the sake of a good time, we need to approach the ministry and our service to the Lord seriously and have the honor and respect that's due when the word of God is going forth, that we're not causing distractions or making trouble or when someone is sharing with us and we're to be ministering to them or praying for them. We're not, you know, cracking jokes and and and making, you know, diminishing really what what they're going through, what they're experiencing as we're dealing in different situations. We're not, you know,

We're to have a good sense, a reverence of knowing, hey, when it's appropriate and when it's not appropriate. We need to approach things seriously and be committed to what God has called us to. So the servant is to be reverent. The servant of God is also not to be double tongued. It's an interesting picture. Double tongued. This is an important one that we need to hold on to.

The servant of the Lord needs to be trustworthy and consistent in their speech. The idea of being double-tongued is saying one thing here and then another thing there. It's the idea of deception or lying or just not being consistent in what you say. Well, you know, this is a story when you tell it to them, but then when someone else asks you, it's a different story. Okay.

Or when you give this counsel, then someone asks you, hey, you know, what did you say? And then you say something else or or you give two different pictures or talk about people in two different ways. Oh, hi. Oh, man, you bless me so much. You're so great. And then you turn around and I hate that guy. I can't believe he's still here. Why doesn't he leave the church? I mean, the double tongue, the speaking two different things, depending on the context, depending on who's there, depending on the situation.

God wants us to be single minded of simplicity of heart, that we're to speak the same thing and be consistent in our speech, not being double tongued, not backbiting, not slandering, as we will see in just a few verses. The servant of God is also not to be given too much wine.

Now, when Paul is writing to the bishop in verse three, he said that he's not to be given to wine. But here for the deacon, he says he's not to be given to much wine. If you remember in First Timothy, chapter five, verse twenty three, he tells Timothy to drink a little wine. And so we understand from this God is not administering an absolute prohibition against drinking wine. The bishop is not to be given to wine.

The deacon is not to be given too much wine. But Timothy, hey, if you need to drink a little, then drink a little wine. It's good for your stomach. It has value for you. You need to partake of it a little bit. Now, some will take this and say, aha, so I can drink and have a good time. Well, the scriptures do teach very clearly against drunkenness. And so know that that is prohibited.

Also, as I encouraged you two weeks ago, things to consider are, hey, wine is not the same today as it was then. The alcohol content, alcohol content was much lower. And the intent of drinking wine at that time was very much different. And the idea of drinking it for the drunkenness was is prohibited in Scripture. It's spoken against by the word of God.

And so you need to be careful about that. Also, something to consider if you feel that freedom, if you feel you have the liberty to consume alcohol, I would encourage you to read Romans chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians chapters 8 through 10.

Where Paul will challenge us to consider others with the liberties and the freedoms that we have, that we should be considerate of those around us and what might cause them to stumble, what might cause them to go astray, what might cause them to violate their conscience because of the freedoms that they see us exercising. There's a great danger there of leading others astray by flaunting our freedoms. And so,

I would encourage you to consider that, to spend some time with the Lord if you feel that you have that freedom. But the issue is not an absolute prohibition. The deacon is not to be given too much wine. He goes on to say that he's not to be greedy for money.

It's not to be greedy. Paul will go on in chapter six to tell us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It's a path to destruction, to be greedy for money, to be chasing after the things of this life, to be coveting the things of this world. And so Paul says, hey, this servant of God shouldn't be caught up and consumed with greed.

With material things and financial things and chasing after the next buck. He shouldn't be involved in all the get rich quick scams. He should be focused on the things of the Lord and trusting the Lord to provide for his needs. And so the servant of the Lord is not to be greedy for money. And then he says in verse 9 that he's to hold the mystery of the faith in.

With a pure conscience, the mystery of the faith. I really like this, what Paul is talking about here and the idea that he's conveying. This word mystery is something that was previously unveiled. The gospel message, the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Messiah coming to die upon the cross, that we might have right relationship with God. All of that was veiled previously in the Old Testament.

They had glimpses. They had hints. They knew of the Messiah. They knew that the Messiah was coming, but they didn't understand completely what his ministry was going to be, that he was to die upon the cross. Even at the very end, the disciples were saying, hey, Lord, now are you going to set up your kingdom right now? Is it time now for you to establish your kingdom? Their minds, their eyes, their hearts were veiled. They didn't understand. But now...

We have a further revelation through the word of God of Jesus, his ministry, the fact that he's coming again. We have the mystery of the faith unveiled, the gospel message unveiled, the reality of a relationship with God unveiled.

And the servant of the Lord must hold fast to this mystery, to the fact that we have right relationship with God through Jesus Christ and his death upon the cross. The servant of God must hold fast to those things, must hold fast to the gospel message, must hold fast to what God has revealed to us, holding fast the mystery of faith.

Firmly. Not swing from it. Not string from it. Now, this is important because just after the portion we're studying today, as we begin chapter four next week, Paul says the spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith.

giving heed to deceiving spirits and to doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. And then he goes on to describe more and more of what they do. So you have the picture, the contrast. The reason why the servant of God must hold firmly to the mystery of the faith is because it's coming and it is taking place that many are departing from the faith.

They're giving heed to deceiving spirits. They're following other doctrines. Their conscience is seared with a hot iron as opposed to having the pure conscience as the servant of God. And so there's this contrast. There's this reason why we need to keep our hearts pure and why we need to hold on to the mystery of the faith.

Because there's a danger, there's a real danger, a reality of the possibility of walking away from God, departing from the faith, leaving the things that we have been taught and following deception and lies and hypocrisy. And so Paul says the servant of God must hold firmly to the mystery of the faith. Now, I like that Paul didn't say that he must hold the answers of the faith, right?

Because then we'd all be disqualified. You know, we don't have all the answers. There's a lot of questions that we have. We have what has been revealed to us, what has been unveiled. But often even that doesn't make sense in our heads because our ways are not God's ways. They're contrary many times to what we know and think from what we learn in the world. And so the servant of God is to hold on to the mystery of the faith, believing God at his word.

The mysteries of the faith require faith. You must believe God at his word about the gospel message that by believing in Jesus Christ, you have eternal life, that you can receive forgiveness and grace because of what he did upon the cross. It doesn't make sense. You can't calculate that and figure it out logically. All you can do is believe it and receive it. The mysteries of the faith require faith.

Because we're to believe God at his word, even if I can't understand it. Hold firmly to the mystery of the faith. Hold on to it. Believe the word of God. Believe what he has revealed, even if you can't figure it out. Even if you can't understand it. Believe what God has said. That's the servant of God. That's a qualification or characteristic of the servant of God or the deacon. Let's look at verse 10.

He says, but let these also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons being found blameless.

So Paul says, here's the qualifications. Here's the requirements. Just these five things. That's what's necessary. He'll go on to mention a couple more in a few verses. But he says, kind of a side note here. Okay, so here's this characteristic, this list that you can hold up next to someone and see, okay, do they measure up? Are they really a servant of God? He says, let them first be tested. Okay.

And then if they pass the test, if they're found blameless, there's, you know, nothing holding them back from from these things. Then let them serve as deacons or as ministers. Let them be tested. Paul says, you know, God's particular about his servants. Sometimes we get the idea or we can assume that God is so desperate about getting people to do things that, you know, he doesn't care about who he uses.

But God is particular about who he uses. He's particular about his servants. Now, he'll use the things that the enemy means for evil and turn them to good. And he'll use all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. But but for you and I, we can't just expect God to use us and live however we want. I want to be used by God. But, you know, I don't want to give it this. I don't want to be like this. You know, I want to do things my way. Well, don't expect God to use you.

He's particular about who he uses. He's particular about those that he enlists into the ministry. We're all called into the ministry. We're all called to be servants. We're all called to share the gospel, which means that God calls all of us. Again, he wants all of us to have this type of godly character. He wants us to meet these qualifications. And in order to do that, he wants us to be tested.

To be demonstrating this godliness, these characteristics to those around us. As we often say, God is not looking for your ability, but your availability. But we should consider that being available means that we're of good character. That we meet the qualifications and that you're willing to be tested in these things. Are you available to be used by the Lord in this way and serving Him in these areas?

or however he desires to call you and use you, are you available? Are you making yourself available? It's more than just, okay, Lord, I'm available, here I am. But now it's really your character. It's surrendering of yourself and allowing him to work in you the things that he wants to do. It's submitting to the time of testing. Now, how are deacons to be tested? Well, Paul doesn't go into detail about that.

But one good way that we're tested very often is just by observation. Timothy, as a leader, as you're looking out, as you're ministering to the body, observe those who are fulfilling the role of the servant of God. Do they demonstrate these characteristics? Watch their lives. Watch how they handle problems and situations. Watch how they apply the Word of God to their lives.

See, the idea here is not that the church appoints someone as a deacon and now, okay, this is how you're supposed to act and this is the characteristics that you're supposed to have. So, you know, come on, get on the ball and get these in place in your life because we've just nominated you and appointed you as a deacon. That's putting the cart before the horse. The idea here is that the church sees those who are already fulfilling these requirements and already has this character and

And says, oh, that's who God wants us to use. That's who God wants to raise up and use to serve him. Whether inside the church or outside of the church, God looks for those who have this character, who has these characteristics. And those are the ones that he desires to use. Those are the ones he'll be free to use.

To minister to the needs of others. God is talking about character, not calling. It's not like, well, you know, I'm not really called to do much in the church. So none of these things really apply to me. No, he wants you to have godly character because he wants to use you. And he wants you to be a powerful impact in the kingdom of God, to be a witness for him to the world around you. He's talking about character. Do you qualify? How's your character? Do you measure up?

Do you have reverence? Are you double-tongued? Are you given to much wine? Are you greedy for money? Do you hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience? These are the things that are required for you and I as servants of God that he demands of us. Do you qualify? Going on in verse 11, he turns his attention...

He says, He says the wives. Now, some suggest here that this is not actually referring to wives of the deacons, but to women as deacons or deaconesses.

There's the possibility of Phoebe being mentioned in the New Testament as being a deaconess. She's mentioned as a minister or servant. This word that's translated deacon here, a servant of God. And so it's believed that she was a deacon or a deaconess within the church. And so there was this role that she was fulfilling as a role of service and ministry that she was fulfilling within the church. So it's possible that it's referring to a deaconess.

But more likely that Paul is referring to the wives of those who are called to serve the Lord. Now, either way is possible. God uses men and women in his service. And so we look at the ladies. The requirements for the women are mostly the same as what he has just mentioned for the men in verse eight. First of all, she's to be reverent.

Again, it's the same word used of deacons in verse eight. And so she is to have this honor and respect and to be serious and approach the ministry seriously and have a reverence for the things of God. Again, not that we're not supposed to have a good time or joke or laugh, but timing is very important. As servants of the Lord, we need to know when it is appropriate. We need to have respect for the word. We need to have a love for the people.

He goes on to say, she's not to be, they're not to be slanderers. Slanderers. Now, this is an interesting word, slander. It's the word that's often translated devil in the New Testament. Because this is what the devil is. He's a slanderer or accuser. And they're not to be like that. Slander has always been a problem in the church. From the very beginning, obviously, Paul is dealing with it here.

Until today and tomorrow and the next day, it's a problem in the church. Slander, gossip, they go hand in hand. They're interchangeable and they're prevalent within the church back then and still today. Now we have all kinds of justification for

Well, you know, it's the truth. I'm not speaking a lie. I'm not telling you something that's wrong. So it's the truth. So therefore, it's not gossip. It's not slander. You know, I can tell you because it's the truth. It's really what happened. Or I'm telling you so that you can pray or so that you know what's going on because, you know, we need to pray, you know, whatever, all the things that we come up with. Slander and gossip. It's the work of the devil who is our accuser. Now, the thing is,

with slander, with gossip, is that it would not be an issue if we followed the word. It kind of goes along with being double-tongued, like Paul said of the deacons in verse 8, saying one thing here and saying another thing there, talking behind people's back, accusing, slandering, saying bad things, or even spreading the truth, but the truth that's not edifying and not uplifting, the truth that doesn't help anybody,

is not to be shared. It's not to be spread. It's not to be the conversations that we have. This would not be an issue if we followed the word. I would encourage you to meditate, to consider 1 Corinthians 1, verse 11. Paul tells the Corinthians as he has to deal with some situations there in the church.

He's heard about some things that are going on. He shares with them. It has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Paul says, this family told me that this and this and this and this are going on. All the issues that he's going to have to deal with, the contentions and so on and so forth. And this is a wonderful principle for us to follow.

If we will follow the word of God, slander will not be an issue for us. Here's the principle. Only speak the things that you're willing to attach your name to. Only share the things, only speak the things, only talk about what you are willing to attach your name to. Paul says the members of Chloe's household shared this with me. And so now I'm dealing with this situation.

You and I as believers, we need to stay away from the secrecy. Oh, don't tell them I told you. Or just tell them, you know, you found out or you heard. Or don't tell them who shared this with you. Or don't tell them that I know. You know, all of these things are not of the Lord.

We need to stay away from gossip and slander and be willing to attach our name to everything that comes out of our mouth. And that's a scary thought, I understand. But that is what God calls us to be. Understand, just like Paul said, if you come to me and talk to me about someone, I'm going to go to that person. I'm going to say, hey, this person came and talked to me and told me this and this and this about you. So what's going on? Do we need to deal with this? Is this the truth? What's really taking place?

And if you dealt with that,

Or like that with those who came and talked to you. Hey, did you hear about so-and-so? Really? Okay, let's go talk to him. Okay, so-and-so. Hey, this other person told me this and this and this and this. It's really following Matthew chapter 18 saying, hey, something's going on. Let's go back to the source and find out. Is this the truth? Is this something we need to deal with? Is this something we need to talk about? Is it edifying? Does it help us? Does it build us up? If it doesn't, let's stop talking. I don't want to listen. I don't want to hear the things that

that aren't that aren't wholesome ephesians 4 tells us paul tells us he don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but it's only only what's useful only what's edifying only what builds up and blesses those who hear those who are involved slander it's a problem within the church but we need to be obedient to the word of god going on he says they're also to be temperate

This is the same idea as not being given to wine. She is to be sober, to be not under the influence. And so the same qualification for her is to be temperate. And then also to be faithful in all things. Faithful in all things. The servant of God needs to be reliable, faithful. The servant of God needs to be... Well, the point of this word is that they can be trusted to fulfill their responsibilities or whatever instruction they're given. Now, this...

is not limited to church or things of ministry, but your boss giving instruction needs to be able to trust. I don't have to tell them twice. They're Christian. They have godly character. They're faithful. And so they're going to be faithful to follow the instruction that has been given.

Or they have the responsibility. I know they're not going to drop the ball. I know they're not going to just give up. I know they're not going to just forget about it and do their own thing. Because they're faithful in all things. Within the church, it's the same as well. Very often, God gives us instruction. He gives us responsibility. And we need to be faithful. As we often talk about, even faithful in the little things that God instructs to us. Be faithful to carry out what God reveals to you.

What those that he has placed in authority over you deliver to you, be faithful in all things. That is the character of a servant of God. A tower to be, having godly character. A tower to be as Christians. In verse 12, he goes on to say, Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. This is the same thing that Paul says of bishops, to be husband of one wife. Now,

Again, as we discussed, I don't believe that this is saying that a servant of God or a deacon cannot have been divorced and then remarried. There's a lot of things to consider when you talk about those types of situations, and we sure know how to make things complicated in our society today. But the things before Christ should not affect, do not impact,

are serving Him and are walking with Him now. If before, bless you, before you were a Christian, if before you walked with God, I just remembered something else funny, but I'm going to keep going here. There was that situation, there was a divorce or some type of immorality or something like that. Well, that's B.C. That's before Christ. That's before you were a new creation in Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5.17.

And so that's not the issue that Paul is dealing with. But what Paul is dealing with here, again, literally, it's a one woman man. We're called to be committed to and faithful to the spouse that God has given to us. Again, I shared it with you two weeks ago, but I'll share it again. The Greek culture, they would say that every man should have three women in his life, a mistress for conversation, a concubine for pleasure and a wife to bear his children.

So the idea was you were to be a three-woman man in the Greek culture, at least. But Paul says, no, this isn't the godly character. This isn't the character, the nature of the servant of God. They're to be faithful and committed to the institution that God has created in marriage and be faithful to their spouse. Now, again, it speaks also to this generation, to us, that the servant of God is not to be living in a homosexual relationship.

but honoring the institution that God has given in marriage, one man, one woman, and being faithful to that. He says deacons are to be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. I think the point that Paul is getting across here is that deacons are to be the same at home as they are at church.

That there's not to be this different type of lifestyle that goes on or different type of nature or characteristics from one place to the other. That to demonstrate the same character within the family as they do at church. It's easy to be a Christian at church.

It's a very limited time that we're here and, you know, it's a pretty safe environment and not much conflict happens, hopefully. And so, you know, there's there's it's easy to be here. There's not much test on your Christian character at church on a normal basis. The real test and deacons are to be tested. The real test is how you are at home.

Do you demonstrate the same characteristics? Do you have the same nature? Is Christ first in your life at home? Do you lead in one place the same as the other? Is your relationship with God the same no matter where you are? How about your language, your speech? Is it the same in one place or the other? The idea here is that you're to be a Christian at home, to lead your home in the ways of God and to serve Christ.

in your home just like you do at church so paul says these are the requirements now it's not as big of a list as paul gave for the bishops or pastors but you know sometimes it's difficult to find these characteristics in christians it's difficult sometimes to be able to fill the needs that we have here within the church because there's not a lot of people who will say yes i want to be here and be available and serve the lord

Sometimes it's very difficult to find people who will demonstrate godly characteristics, godly character. Sometimes it's difficult to find people who will be willing to commit themselves to serve the Lord in the different capacities where there's need. God is looking for your availability. Are you available? Again, that means do you have the characteristics of a servant or a deacon? Are you reverent? Are you double-tongued?

Are you given too much wine? Are you greedy for money? Do you hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience? Are you involved in slander and gossip? Are you temperate and sober? Are you faithful in all things? Is your home in order? These are the things that God looks at. These are the things that God says, hold this up to this person and see, are they faithful? Are they ready to be a servant? Are they ready to be responsible?

For ministry to be responsible, it's a serious thing to represent God. It's a serious thing to carry the name of God and deliver his word and his messages to the world around us. We need to be prepared for it. We need to have godly character. Now, God does not require perfection, but he does require submission and growth.

And these things that we're talking about, these qualifications that Paul is listing, these are not things that we can correct or change on our own. These are things that we must allow him to do. We must allow him to work in these areas in our hearts in order for change to take place. He goes on in verse 13. He says,

Here's what God's saying. Hey, I'm not just using you because I need to get something done. It's good for you, first of all, to have godly character, but then it's good for you to serve the Lord because you have a good standing and great boldness. There's benefits that you have as you serve the Lord that you receive. You obtain for yourself good standing, good standing before men. I think of Joseph, who was faithful in his service. He was faithful in all that he put his hand to.

And he had good standing in the eyes of all those that he was...

He had good standing in the eyes of Potiphar as he was serving there in his house. And then he had good standing in the eyes of the jailer as he was there falsely imprisoned. And then he had good standing in the eyes of Pharaoh. He was faithful. He had godly character. He represented God. He had these characteristics. And he served well. He gave his all. He was faithful in all things. And he had good standing before men.

But I think even more important than that is to have good standing before God. You remember Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 through 30 is Jesus gives the parable of the talents of the master who was going away and he gives this sum of money to his servants. And he says, OK, here, do business, occupy until I come back. Be faithful. Take care of this responsibility that I've given to you.

And to those servants that were faithful, to those servants who did what the master said, to those servants who are faithful in all things, he came back and he said, well done, good and faithful servants. Foreshadowing for us, looking forward to the time that we stand before the Lord. And then I desire to hear that come from the Lord. Well done. I gave you these talents, these gifts, these

I gave you this time. I gave you those finances. I gave you these resources. And you used them for my glory. You used them for my kingdom. You are faithful in all things. Well done, good and faithful servant. Those who serve well as deacons obtain for themselves good standing before God and before men. And great boldness. Great boldness. Now, this is awesome because great boldness comes along with serving the Lord.

You know why? Because you're watching him work in your own life. First of all, the godly character. You've seen what God has done in your life. You know, hey, God can change a life as you've seen him work in your life. You've seen him move in your heart and transform you into his image. You also get to watch him use you to minister to others.

Knowing this isn't me, this isn't of me, this isn't what I have to give. This is the Lord meeting needs. This is the Lord using me. There's no greater experience. There's no greater feeling than being used by the Lord in that way and knowing, man, God, you used me to meet the needs of another. It's incredible to be used by the Lord in that way.

And so you get to see God working in you. You get to see him using you to minister to others. And so you gain confidence and great boldness in God's work, his power to change lives. You have great boldness now in the faith, knowing, hey, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will be born again. He will transform your life. He's able to set you free. Good standing, great boldness, wonderful reasons for us to be faithful in serving the Lord.

Going on verses 14 and 15, Paul says,

Paul throws in a side note here. Hey, I'm writing these things to you. I plan to come shortly, but if I'm delayed, this is so that you can know how to conduct yourself. This is so that you can know how a servant of God is supposed to be within the church and what type of person an elder or bishop is supposed to be. And this is the order of service as we looked in chapter 2. You need to be emphasizing and putting prayer first.

And you need to make sure that men and women are fulfilling their proper roles within the fellowship. And he'll go on to say, these are the things you need to teach. Paul is writing this to Timothy so that he knows, hey, this is how church is supposed to happen. This is how you're supposed to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. Timothy, I hope to be there, but in case I'm not there, these are the things that you need to put in place. And then he closes with verse 16, saying, and without controversy.

Paul says, Great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness. And then he goes on to list these things about God.

He was manifested in the flesh. He was justified in the spirit. He was seen by angels. He was preached among the Gentiles. He was believed on in the world. And then he was received up in glory. Great is the mystery of godliness. What is Paul talking about here? I find it interesting that he uses the word mystery twice in this passage. In verse 9, talking about the mystery of the faith, holding the mystery of the faith of the pure conscience.

Now here talking about the mystery of godliness. What is godliness? Well, godliness, I'll define it this way, having godly character. What we've been talking about as we look at the deacons, this is what God desires and requires of us, having godly character. When we have godly character, our lives will be lived in a godly manner. We will be Christ-like. We will represent him to the world.

But godliness is a great mystery, Paul says. It's a mystery. How do you be godly? How do you take on the characteristics and nature of God? It's a mystery. You know, when the world looks on at Christians who are demonstrating godliness, they wonder, how is that?

Often the world will look on at Christians who are experiencing trouble and persecution and difficulties and trials. And they're praising the Lord and smiling and trusting him. And they say, how can you look at what's going on in your life? Shouldn't you be stressed out and worried and concerned? It's a mystery. How can you be this way? How can you have this character and this nature? It's a mystery.

The mystery of godliness. It's great. He says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. This is not something that's disputed. This is a great mystery. This is something everybody knows. Indeed, this is a great mystery.

Godliness, having godly character. Now, if you fall short in the areas and requirements that Paul has been talking about here, as servants of the Lord, God wants us to have godly character. If you fall short in these areas, how do you improve? What do you do? Do you try harder? Why do you have such a straight face? Well, I'm trying to be reverent. It doesn't work that way. You can't try harder to be reverent. You can try to watch your tongue and not be double-tongued and not to slander. It won't last very long.

You can try to put on these characteristics. You can try to put on this character and this nature. But if you do it yourself, it won't last. You won't be successful. You can't achieve godliness by being more determined or trying harder. The only way to grow in godly character is to spend time with God and let Him do that work in you. And see, this is the mystery of godliness. This is possible now.

It's possible to spend time with God and allow him to do that work with you because God was manifested in the flesh and he was justified in the spirit and he was seen by angels. He was preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up in glory because God did that because Jesus came and died upon the cross. Now it's possible for us to have a relationship with God, for him to transform us, to make us new creatures in Christ. And so it's possible to have godly character. It's a mystery.

We can't say, well, you know, I just finally figured out, you know, what I need to do and now I'm godly. No, it's just, he praised God for his grace and mercy. I don't know how he did it, but he's working in my life. He's transforming me. He's changing me. He's doing a work in my heart. Great is the mystery of godliness. Our lives should not be a testimony of ourselves.

Well, look how disciplined I am and that's why I have these characteristics or this nature or I'm able to approach these situations or perform this ministry. Our lives are to be a testimony of God. It's supposed to be a mystery. I don't know. I don't deserve it. I didn't earn it. I'm not worthy of it. But God's doing it. He's making me more like Him. That's what I want in my life. I want God to be working. I want God to be transforming. I want Him to have the glory.

I want my life to be a testimony of Him as I serve Him. And it's possible because He was manifested in the flesh. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ, being God, became a man to take our place. We were owed the penalty of death and God substituted Jesus in our place and gave Him the punishment and the penalty that we deserved. We're redeemed. We're forgiven.

Because of what he has done on the cross for us. He was manifested in the flesh. He came to die for you and I. To take our place. Hebrews 10 tells us that now because he's done that, we can enter into the presence of God. We can have relationship with God. We can dwell with him. He was justified in the spirit. Which means that the spirit bore witness of who he was.

Romans chapter one, verse four, it says that he was declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. He became flesh. He was manifested in the flesh. He came and he died. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, he resurrected on the third day, proving his claims to be who he said he was, proving himself to be the son of God.

Proving that by believing in him, we can have right relationship with God and receive everlasting life by faith in him. Now, it's so appropriate that Paul is sharing this. We're studying this. And this is what we remember when we partake of communion. And let's prepare to do that now if the ushers could come forward and the worship team. Great is the mystery of godliness. You know, God wants to use you.

He desires to work through you. You're to be his servant. But he requires that you have godly character. And that godly character cannot be obtained by trying harder or being more determined or being more religious. It can only be accomplished in your life through relationship with Jesus Christ, through relationship with God, through the ministry of Jesus Christ, what he did for us.

To be prepared to serve God, you don't have to go to the school of ministry or read books about serving or jump through these hoops or anything. To be prepared for ministry. The only thing that you need to be prepared for the work that God has for you is godly character that comes from a relationship with Him. Great is the mystery of godliness. Holding firmly to the faith. Holding firmly to the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and I.

Let's draw close to Him, remembering His death and His resurrection, remembering that He is coming again and that we're to be about His business. I want to encourage you to use this time of communion to spend time with God just between you and Him because that's how godly character is built in your life. Just between you and Him. If you need to repent, if there's sin issues in your life, get right with God. If you need to receive Him for the first time,

Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Cry out to Him. Let Him transform you and make you born again. If you need to express your love to Him, as you worship the Lord, as we worship the Lord, express your love. If you need to ask Him for help, whatever you need, use this time of communion. Spend it with God. Reflect on what He has done. Great is the mystery of godliness. And hold firmly to the mystery of the faith.

that God might demonstrate in you this character, this nature, that you might be prepared to be used by him in all the ways that he wants to work and use you in your life. And so spend time with Jesus as we worship. And whenever you're ready as they lead in worship, just between you and the Lord on your own, partake of communion as you feel led by the Lord. Let's spend time with Jesus.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.