1 Timothy 3:1-13
Leaders in God’s household
Before I start looking at this text today, I just want you to know that I will be preaching from this text again in the October holidays?
Why?
I just won’t be able to do this text justice in the 10 minutes I have.
There is so much the bible has to say about Leadership in God’s household and we will only just cover a slither of it today.
We will only touch this passage in Timothy today.
Now, before we look at the details of this passage, it is important to know that leadership in God’s household, has servanthood and sacrifice at the core of it.
Servanthood and sacrifice is the heart of leadership in God’s household.
Leaders of God household, do not follow a pattern of this world, which in many cases, has dominance, position, power and self-exaltation at the heart.
Look at what Jesus said from Mark 10:42-45
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Leaders in the household of God, are to follow not only the commands of Jesus, but to follow his example-the example of the chief shepherd- Jesus- an example of service, an example of sacrifice, an example of suffering for the gospel.
Just as the chief shepherd- the good shepherd led by example, the under shepherd- the apostle Peter led by example, and so the shepherds of God’s church today, are also to lead by example.
Just listen to this from 1 Peter 5:1-4
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but
eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Peter emphasises that leadership in God’s household is not domineering, like it may be in worldly leadership.
Peter also emphasises that leadership in God’s household is not done for shameful gain, it is not done for power, it is not done for self-glory, it is not done for money. It is not done to enhance your career.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9, that sure, leaders are worth their pay, he refers to leaders as ox’s that we should not muzzle as they tread out the grain, but leaders in God’s household are not focusing on worldly treasure, but they are to focus on the heavenly treasure- the crown of Glory, the words, of “well done- Good and faithful servant” from their chief shepherd- Jesus.
That is all the reward, the leaders of God’s households desire.
By the way, I am very comfortable with calling leaders in God’s household- shepherds.
Why?
It easily points people to our chief shepherd- Jesus.
It highlights what the leaders of church do- they shepherd the flock- they know their sheep, they get intertwined in their lives, just like the chief shepherd knows us by name.
The shepherds feed the flock the word of God. They constantly bring God’s word to bear on their lives.
They protect them from false teaching, they protect them by giving them fences of God’s laws.
They lead them to Jesus, they encourage the flock to stick close to Jesus.
And so I like using the word shepherd for leaders of God’s household……….. but if you want to use pastor, which is the Latin equivalent for shepherd, that’s good too, or as the apostle Peter did in this passage, you can use the term elder.
I like the term elder, or shepherd, because it may help protect the church from a worldly form of “professionalism” which is killing parts of the church.
When a church labels their leaders- executive pastors, or even senior pastor, or other things, it could easily lead to a worldly mindset where people grapple for position and power.
As shepherds, elders, - leaders of God’s household, we are shepherding messy people, including ourselves. We are constantly praying, repenting, believing, grieving, celebrating, we are constantly going about God’s business, and God’s business is not something that we can put a worldly “professional” tab on.
How do you “professionally” repent?- You don’t- you just repent
How do you “professionally” pray?- You don’t- you just pray
How do you “professionally” read God’s word and obey?- You don’t- you jsut hear God’s word and you just obey
How do you “professionally” grieve?- You don’t- you just grieve.
It is obvious from the list of qualifications that the apostle Paul wrote for elders, that Paul wasn’t that interested in how many letters a person had after their name, he wasn’t that interested in a “professional” resume, but he was more interested in the character of the man.
Out of all those qualifications that Paul lists: all of them, bar 2, where character traits.
The only two skills that Paul was looking for in an elder, was
1. Being able to teach God’s word- since they need to feed the sheep
2. Being able to manage (not control) their own family- since they need to manage (not control) God’s household.
The rest in the list, where character traits.
As many great theologians have written, when it comes to the leaders in God’s household, God is far more interested in the holiness of the leader, than the skills they bring to the table.
As leaders in God’s household, we must be, first and foremost be captivated by the gospel, captivated by the good news that Jesus saved me from my sins, because at the end of the day, as Charles Spurgeon once said,
We leaders, are just beggars, beggars of God’s grace, and we are showing other beggars, as we open God’s word- where the food is.
There is nothing “professional” about that.
Let us pray.
Yorumlar