Latest / Scripture Unscripted / 1 Timothy chapter 3

Transcript

1 Timothy chapter 3 · Scripture Unscripted

• 0:01
  First Timothy chapter 3. Let us pray.
• 0:07
  Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name.
• 0:15
  Lord, Let us lift your name up higher than any other name in
• 0:20
  the entire world, in the entire universe.
• 0:24
  Father, You're the name that is above all names.
• 0:27
  We honor it. We exalt it, Father.
• 0:31
  We look to you, God, for our healing and for our salvation.
• 0:36
  We look to you, Father, for direction today, for you are
• 0:40
  holy and you are mighty to save God.
• 0:45
  We're praying for your Kingdom to come on the to this earth,
• 0:48
  God. Let it come through your Saints.
• 0:51
  Let it come through those who are completely sold out to you,
• 0:55
  God, who are not wavering, who are not tossed to and fro, God,
• 1:00
  but those who are laid down, lovers of the way, Yahweh,
• 1:07
  everlasting King Jesus, we love you.
• 1:10
  Bring your Kingdom to this earth.
• 1:12
  Father, I pray for your will to be done today throughout all the
• 1:18
  lands, throughout every continent, all people groups.
• 1:22
  God, we pray for your will, Lord, and your ways are so much
• 1:26
  higher than our ways. Your thoughts are so much higher
• 1:30
  than our thoughts. But God we get out of our own
• 1:35
  understanding, we get out of our own morality.
• 1:39
  God, we get out of our own thoughts and feelings, and God,
• 1:47
  we trust the words that you have given us that were written so
• 1:51
  long ago that are still just as viable today.
• 1:56
  God, we stand on the truth of the Word, your Word, Father.
• 2:02
  And so God, I pray that you'll give us the direction that we
• 2:07
  need. Father, help us and give us
• 2:11
  strength to do the will that you have for our lives for this day.
• 2:18
  God, I pray in the name of Jesus for daily bread.
• 2:22
  God, I pray in the name of Jesus for sound doctrine.
• 2:25
  God, I pray in the name of Jesus for sound theology.
• 2:29
  God, I pray as we get into Your Word, Your Word gets into US.
• 2:34
  Help us to meditate on it. Help us to bury it deep within
• 2:39
  the recesses of our mind. Help it to come out at the
• 2:43
  proper time when it is beneficial and useful.
• 2:47
  Season our conversations with Your Word.
• 2:52
  Bring it into our remembrance each and every day as we enter
• 2:57
  in through praise and Thanksgiving.
• 2:59
  God Almighty, we love you. God, I pray that you will
• 3:06
  forgive us for all the times that we have missed the mark,
• 3:12
  all the times that we made it about this world, we made it
• 3:15
  about pleasure, we made it about self-reliance.
• 3:21
  Lord, I pray that you'll forgive us for all the times that we
• 3:25
  were silent when we should have spoken up.
• 3:28
  God, I pray that you'll forgive us for all the times that we
• 3:31
  spoke out of turn when we should have been silent.
• 3:36
  Lord, help us to extend forgiveness and grace out to
• 3:40
  those all around us each and every day.
• 3:43
  Help us to see people the way that you do.
• 3:45
  Father, help us not to hold on to bitterness and wrath, but
• 3:49
  God, let us be a forgiving people marked by your grace and
• 3:53
  your mercy and your love. Lord, keep us from all the
• 3:59
  schemes of the adversary. Shut the mouths of the lions.
• 4:03
  Lord, I pray that the flames don't even harm us and we do not
• 4:10
  even smell like smoke. God, I pray in the name of Jesus
• 4:14
  that we are able to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the
• 4:19
  words of our testimony. Lord God reign supreme forever
• 4:29
  and ever and ever. For yours is the Kingdom, yours
• 4:39
  is the power, yours is the glory, forever and ever.
• 4:47
  In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Let's start in verse one.
• 4:54
  This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a
• 4:59
  Bishop, he desires a good work. This word that we see here,
• 5:05
  Bishop is an overseer, somebody who has great insight into the
• 5:12
  Word of God. And you need to understand that
• 5:15
  it is good for a man to pursue this if he has a calling that is
• 5:20
  placed upon his life. But it is not a leisurely
• 5:25
  office, it is a office of great work, and it is a heavy burden
• 5:35
  that Jesus must come alongside and bear the load for us so that
• 5:40
  it does not crush us. It is of an utmost importance
• 5:48
  that we do battle with the darkness in the place of those
• 5:56
  that are weak and maimed, and with that responsibility we come
• 6:04
  into contact with the dark spiritual beings.
• 6:09
  The desire to crush us. And if it was not for the help
• 6:14
  of God Almighty, who sends his angelic host to encamp and
• 6:19
  protect and to form a hedge around us, we would be
• 6:24
  completely demolished. If you go up against the demonic
• 6:31
  on your own and in your own power, you will be crushed 10
• 6:35
  times out of 10. But in the mighty name of Jesus
• 6:38
  Christ, the darkness flees. Bring that name upon your lips
• 6:44
  today, within your own household, within the car,
• 6:48
  within your office, within your own life, in the recesses and
• 6:53
  the hallow of your mind and in your thought processes.
• 6:57
  Bring it on your lips today and watch the darkness flee.
• 7:01
  It is work nonetheless, friends, but it is the highest office
• 7:09
  that a man can attain, and it is of the most noble position on
• 7:18
  planet earth is to be the intercessor and to be the
• 7:24
  mediator and to be the one who has insight into the Word of God
• 7:30
  and that can teach it and that can help people and that can
• 7:34
  pull those firebrands out of the destructive blaze, to pull the
• 7:44
  people that are drowning out of the icy waters into the
• 7:48
  lifeboat. Friends, there is nothing more
• 7:51
  noble on planet earth than to give your life over to serving
• 7:56
  the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
• 7:59
  But it is work nonetheless. Verse 2 for a Bishop then must
• 8:08
  be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good
• 8:14
  behavior, given to hospitality, apartment to teach.
• 8:19
  So he's telling us that this office requires a man to be
• 8:25
  level headed, to not be promiscuous, to be a husband and
• 8:34
  a good husband who loves his wife.
• 8:37
  And this is not to say that all overseers must be married, but
• 8:42
  that they must only have one monogamous relationship with
• 8:50
  their wife. Not someone who plays the field,
• 8:54
  not someone who has a new girlfriend every time you see
• 9:01
  them. This is not somebody who is
• 9:04
  given over to pornography. This is not somebody who is
• 9:08
  promiscuous. This is someone who has their
• 9:11
  wits about them, someone who understands that God desires for
• 9:18
  one man and one woman to come together and to be married and
• 9:23
  to raise children, godly children.
• 9:26
  This is a man who understands the word of God, this overseer.
• 9:31
  This is a man who does not get blown by every single wind and
• 9:37
  every single wave. This is someone who is vigilant.
• 9:44
  They do not stay silent when they need to speak up.
• 9:47
  They see something, they say something.
• 9:50
  This is someone who is sober. They're not giving over to
• 9:54
  drunkenness, they're not given over to violence.
• 9:58
  They're not short tempered friends.
• 10:00
  They don't have an anger issue. This is someone who is able to
• 10:07
  listen and to think and to reason before they give an
• 10:11
  answer. Friends, this is what it takes
• 10:14
  to be a proper pastor and a proper overseer. 3 Not given to
• 10:23
  wine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient.
• 10:28
  Not a brawler, not covetous. So this man is someone who can
• 10:37
  be trusted, who has integrity. They're not those that are
• 10:44
  always looking for a fight. They're not those who are trying
• 10:48
  to live above their means. They are content and they are
• 10:54
  able to keep a level head in the midst of pandemonium.
• 11:02
  They are able to keep a level head whenever there is chaos
• 11:07
  that ensues. They are not driven by emotions,
• 11:13
  friends, but they are driven by the Word of God, by the revealed
• 11:18
  will of God that He was well pleased to give us in the 66th
• 11:23
  Canon from Genesis to Revelation.
• 11:26
  And these men are steeped in God's Word, and their worldview
• 11:34
  is shaped by the Word of God. Friends, this is the one that
• 11:40
  you want to be an overseer of a congregation.
• 11:50
  For one that rules well his own house, having his children in
• 11:56
  subjection with all gravity. So he must be able to be a
• 12:03
  pastor within his own home to his own family before he would
• 12:08
  ever desire a position over others.
• 12:13
  If his family is in shambles, if he has children that are
• 12:21
  disobedient and a wife that is not submissive, then he does not
• 12:26
  have the ability to be able to lead well.
• 12:30
  It is hard for a man, it is impossible for a man to lead a
• 12:37
  congregation well when he cannot lead his own family.
• 12:42
  And there are children who grow up in a most wonderful
• 12:47
  environment and they choose to go their own way.
• 12:50
  They choose to go the way of Cain.
• 12:53
  And that is not the parents fault.
• 12:58
  That is a rebellious spirit that is crept in and it is prevalent
• 13:03
  in our day, in our society, and it comes by way of all of the
• 13:11
  media that is shaping the culture and this powerful
• 13:16
  delusion that has come in. Which is why it is so important
• 13:21
  at the tender young age to instill godly value into a child
• 13:26
  and to remind them of who their Creator is.
• 13:29
  Remind them of their purpose. Remind them of their dignity in
• 13:34
  Christ Jesus and what He's done for us.
• 13:37
  And if we will train up our children in the way that they
• 13:39
  should go, then when they are old, they will not depart from
• 13:43
  it. They'll know where to come back
• 13:45
  to when their life goes into shambles.
• 13:48
  And we pray circles around those prodigals.
• 13:52
  And that is the call. And it is not a disqualification
• 13:57
  for an overseer if they have done their part, if they have
• 14:01
  disciplined well, if they have trained their children up in the
• 14:05
  way that they should go. And you can see so much of what
• 14:08
  goes on beyond closed doors by the children and what the
• 14:14
  children are like out in public. There's so much that gets
• 14:18
  revealed about the secrets of a home within the workings of
• 14:24
  children out in public. You can see it, friends.
• 14:28
  But by and large, you need to understand that all overseers
• 14:33
  will be able to lead their families well and train their
• 14:38
  children up and be able to be good model of Jesus Christ to
• 14:48
  their wives, which will help them to feel as if they can
• 14:54
  submit to their godly husbands who are sold out to the Lord.
• 15:00
  And Paul, writing to Timothy, wanted Timothy to know that just
• 15:05
  because you are a male, it does not automatically qualify you
• 15:11
  for these positions. There are some requirements that
• 15:15
  God has revealed to us that we should look for this godly
• 15:21
  character to be able to put people in positions of authority
• 15:29
  over others. And this is what pleases God,
• 15:33
  friends. And This is why it is so
• 15:35
  important to have integrity. This is why it is so important
• 15:40
  to make sure that you do the right thing in the sight of God,
• 15:45
  because God sees everything, and whatever is done in secret, God
• 15:50
  will bring into the light in due time.
• 15:52
  Friends, at the perfect time He will reveal the good that you
• 15:57
  do, and he will reveal the evil that you have done. 5 For if a
• 16:03
  man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take
• 16:08
  care of the Church of God? Could not be said much better.
• 16:12
  Paul is letting Timothy know that an overseer must have full
• 16:19
  accountability and must have full control over his own house
• 16:26
  before he could ever lead well within the congregation of the
• 16:31
  Church of God. 6 Not a novice, unless being lifted up with
• 16:38
  pride, he falls into the condemnation of the devil.
• 16:44
  So that is the sin that is the original sin is pride, friends.
• 16:54
  And this pride that puffs up, this is what got Lucifer kicked
• 17:00
  out of heaven because he wanted to be higher than God.
• 17:04
  And you can see here that if you were to promote someone who has
• 17:09
  not developed godly character too soon, their high position
• 17:13
  would lead to pride and they would be follow the trap of the
• 17:18
  adversary and they would fall into spiritual pride.
• 17:23
  And the pastoral office is one of the only offices that we push
• 17:30
  a young person into too soon without any real experience, and
• 17:36
  it is to our detriment. Friends, even if a young man has
• 17:42
  the call to preach placed on his life, we need not place him in a
• 17:47
  high position too soon before he has gone through the sifting and
• 17:53
  the trials that produce the perseverance and the character
• 17:57
  that the Lord desires. 7 Moreover, he must have a good
• 18:05
  report of them which are without, lest he fall into
• 18:09
  reproach and the snare of the devil.
• 18:12
  That is what you need to understand is that there are
• 18:16
  things that happened within the confines of a person's house
• 18:20
  that God sees, but perhaps those that are on the outside do not
• 18:27
  see. And This is why it is so
• 18:29
  important that he is of a good report to his own wife and he is
• 18:34
  of a good report of his own children and his own family
• 18:37
  members and those that study his life.
• 18:40
  And they could see that he's the same inside as he is on the
• 18:44
  outside. He's the same seven days a week.
• 18:47
  He does not give himself over to violent, wild shifts in his
• 18:54
  mood. He's not given over to
• 18:57
  drunkenness. He's not given over to sexual
• 19:02
  impurity. He's not given over to
• 19:05
  disappearing. He is a man of wonderful godly
• 19:11
  character and this world is in great need of those that will
• 19:15
  put down their childish ways and step in to manhood and step in
• 19:23
  to the responsibility that God has placed on our lives.
• 19:31
  And if he will not, if he gives himself over to the ways of the
• 19:35
  world, it will be a trap laid by the devil.
• 19:40
  A likewise must the deacons be grave, not double toned, not
• 19:51
  given to much wine, not greedy, a filthy lucre.
• 19:57
  So here Paul is saying that they need.
• 20:00
  To speak the truth in love, they don't need to try to be
• 20:04
  deceptive. They don't need to try to cover
• 20:07
  the tracks. They have a life that is laid
• 20:10
  open and bare. These deacons, these are the
• 20:14
  table waiters. These are those who are called
• 20:19
  into service within the church and the deacons do not need to
• 20:26
  have the ability to teach the Word of God.
• 20:29
  They just need to have the heart of a servant, somebody who is
• 20:33
  willing to do The Dirty work, somebody who is willing to wash
• 20:37
  the feet of the disciples, somebody who is willing to get
• 20:41
  level with the gravel friends. And Paul saying if they desire
• 20:45
  that position, it is a wonderful desire, but their character
• 20:50
  needs to shine through. They do not need to live above
• 20:54
  their means. They do not need to be in love
• 20:56
  with money. They do not need to be deceptive
• 21:00
  in their speech. They do not need to be those
• 21:05
  that are known to get drunk. They are to have modesty and
• 21:11
  temperance. Friends 9 holding the mystery of
• 21:17
  the faith in a pure conscience. It's what it takes, friends.
• 21:21
  It takes having integrity. It takes giving your database
• 21:28
  over with all the passwords so that anyone can look through it
• 21:33
  and there is nothing that you have to hide.
• 21:36
  It's giving your files over. It's giving your records over.
• 21:40
  It's giving your entire life over to scrutiny to where if
• 21:48
  someone was to look through all of your transactions, do they
• 21:54
  add up? Does it show that you are sold
• 21:57
  out to the Lord Jesus Christ? And I believe this is where so
• 22:02
  many people feel that calling, but then they back away because
• 22:07
  they're not willing to put their lives under the microscope.
• 22:12
  They're not willing to give up this life.
• 22:16
  They're not willing to put their hand to the plow.
• 22:19
  They're not willing to take up the cross and follow the Lord
• 22:23
  Jesus Christ. They want this life and the life
• 22:26
  to come. They just want enough of Jesus
• 22:29
  where they don't want to have to go to hell, friends.
• 22:32
  And we have to move beyond that into a deeper understanding of
• 22:37
  who the Lord Jesus is and what he requires and what he is
• 22:41
  worthy of, which is your very next breath, Friends.
• 22:45
  We must get into the vein of his revelation for this time, for
• 22:51
  such a time as this. And we must be like Daniel.
• 22:55
  Whenever they tried to scrutinize him, they tried to
• 22:58
  find some dirt on him, and they could not, because he was a man
• 23:02
  of great integrity. And that is the call that has
• 23:07
  been placed on us, friends, and we must heed the call and step
• 23:12
  into it. 10 And let these also first be proved.
• 23:21
  Then let them use the office of a Deacon being found blameless.
• 23:28
  There is no accusations that somebody can rail against a
• 23:31
  leader in the church that is going to cause the church itself
• 23:37
  to look as if it is in. I'll repute that is.
• 23:42
  The call here is that before a person is chosen for these
• 23:47
  positions, there needs to be some investigation to make sure
• 23:54
  that their lives are not going to mar the image of God's holy
• 24:00
  house and His holy habitation. Friends 11 Even so, must their
• 24:08
  wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
• 24:16
  So that is the other side of the coin is that the men who desire
• 24:21
  these positions must have a good understanding of the character
• 24:28
  of their wife before they ever aspire to these positions.
• 24:32
  If she is one who is a pot stirrer, somebody who is
• 24:37
  negative, who is slanderous, A gossip, then they need not try
• 24:44
  to aspire to these positions. They need to pray for their
• 24:48
  wife. They need to instruct their
• 24:50
  wife. They need to be good examples of
• 24:53
  their wife. They need to correct and rebuke
• 24:55
  their wife so that she can step into the fullness that God
• 25:00
  desires for her life. They do not need these men, do
• 25:04
  not need to aspire to a position of leadership if they cannot
• 25:11
  teach their wives, if they cannot help their wives grow
• 25:17
  into the mature Christians that God desires. 12 Let the deacons
• 25:26
  be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their
• 25:30
  own houses. Well, this is what it takes,
• 25:33
  friends. It takes men who are great
• 25:36
  leaders and who care for their families first.
• 25:41
  It is the breakdown of the family that is the dismantling
• 25:47
  of a society. And if a man desires an easy
• 25:51
  position within the church and he's trying to get away from
• 25:56
  hard work, it is not a good motive.
• 26:01
  Friends, if a man just desires to escape the rat race of the
• 26:08
  humdrum of the secular life and he wants to hideaway in the
• 26:17
  church and be a lazy bone, it is not a good look.
• 26:26
  And so he must be diligent and have integrity and care for his
• 26:33
  own family first before he tries to care for others.
• 26:39
  And this is a husband of one wife.
• 26:43
  And I want you to know something.
• 26:45
  It is not a requirement to be married in order to have these
• 26:49
  positions. It could be misconstrued that
• 26:53
  way. And it is also a fallacy to say
• 26:58
  that a man who has been married prior and biblically divorced in
• 27:06
  the sense of infidelity is a man who is not able to hold these
• 27:12
  positions. That is not what the Bible
• 27:15
  teaches. They are teaching the Word of
• 27:17
  God teaches God Almighty teaches a monogamous marriage of one man
• 27:24
  and one woman. That is the requirement.
• 27:27
  Not somebody who has given over to lust, and not somebody who
• 27:32
  has given over to flirtatious behavior, but a man who is
• 27:37
  honoring of his spouse is a man who is worthy of an overseer and
• 27:43
  a table waiter within the church. 13 For they that have
• 27:51
  used the office of a Deacon well purchase to themselves a good
• 27:57
  degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
• 28:03
  There is a supernatural feeling for a man.
• 28:06
  There is a supernatural reward for a man who desires these
• 28:10
  things. He hears the call and he
• 28:12
  responds to it in faith, and he moves in faith and obedience.
• 28:17
  And then God brings in these supernatural feelings and these
• 28:22
  supernatural knowledge, and the supernatural wisdom that only
• 28:28
  God can give a man whenever he moves in obedience.
• 28:31
  Friends 14 These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto
• 28:38
  you shortly. So Paul had left Timothy behind
• 28:43
  an Ephesus in this rough, rowdy place, and he desired to come
• 28:48
  back to him. And he was letting Timothy know
• 28:51
  that he was not an island, that Paul was still standing with
• 28:55
  him, and he desired to come back, and that he wanted
• 28:58
  Timothy, while he was still young, to not be looked down
• 29:03
  upon. And Paul desired that Timothy
• 29:06
  would be strengthened. 15 But if I tarry long that you may know
• 29:15
  how you ought to behave yourself in the House of God, which is
• 29:20
  the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the
• 29:25
  truth. That is what you need to
• 29:27
  understand is that the church is not instituted by man.
• 29:32
  It is not a playground. It is not a Playhouse, it is not
• 29:36
  a clubhouse. It is not some Country Club of
• 29:41
  membership where we all sit around in a circle singing
• 29:45
  kumbaya until the Lord comes back.
• 29:49
  The church is to be the light that is set up on a hill.
• 29:56
  It is to be the salt within a very bland and wicked and
• 30:00
  perverse world. It is to be the shining
• 30:06
  difference in a very dark, demoralized, depressed state.
• 30:15
  And it is where hope should shine through in the darkest
• 30:19
  days. 16 and without controversy.
• 30:27
  Great is the mystery of godliness.
• 30:31
  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of
• 30:40
  angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the
• 30:45
  world, received up into glory. So here we can see Jesus Christ
• 30:51
  made manifest in the flesh, first born of humanity, entered
• 30:55
  into heaven, seated at the right hand of God Almighty, revealed
• 31:01
  to the myriad after his resurrection.
• 31:04
  And Paul here breaks out into great song.
• 31:08
  He breaks out into worship and adoration of King Jesus and the
• 31:14
  plans for the ages. What an amazing God we serve.
• 31:18
  What an amazing, amazing chapter this is.
• 31:20
  I hope that you've been blessed by it.
• 31:23
  I know I sure have. Praying for every single one of
• 31:29
  you. Stay prayed up today.
• 31:42
  Put on that full armor. Exude the fruits of the Spirit.
• 31:49
  Tell your pastor you love them. Tell your pastor you're praying
• 31:55
  for him. Encourage your pastor today.
• 32:02
  God bless you. I'll see you back here tomorrow.