Good morning.
We are going to continue our study of 1 Timothy chapter 3, so I encourage you to get your Bibles out and turn over to that passage, 1 Timothy chapter 3, as we continue our study of
the qualifications of elders and the role of the eldership within the body of Christ.
We're gonna begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.
Our gracious God, Father and giver of all good and perfect gifts, we come before you grateful for the safety that we've had through the storms that have rolled by.
We pray also for those who have not had the safety that we have been blessed with.
We pray that you will give them the ability to recover from
the effects of the storm.
We pray that you will bless those who are endeavoring to help with the recovery from the storms.
We pray that you be with those who are working to provide aid to those who are in need.
Lord, we are mindful of the struggles that exist in this life, some of them natural, some of them manmade.
We pray that you will help us as we all face the difficulties of this life.
And then we might be mindful that while the difficulties of this life do present challenges to us, that your word and your will and the grace that is provided through the
salvation that is found in your Son is truly the thing that overcomes this life and gives us assurance into the next.
Lord, we pray that you be with this congregation as we prepare for the evangelism seminar.
starting next week.
We pray that we will have our minds set on the work that is before us, that we will be receptive to being trained to teach others, to evangelize better, to be more effective in
the things that we do.
We pray that we might be diligent in applying these things within the congregation, within our own lives, that we might be more
faithful to you but also that we might be able to reach those who are lost and looking for the truth.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus name, amen.
In 1 Timothy 3, Paul writes concerning elders.
What was the very first thing that Paul said needed to be true in order for a man to be an elder?
He needed to what?
desire the work.
He needed to be one who had his mind set on this work and understood that and understands that it is a work, it is a good work.
But in order for someone to do the work, in order for someone to hold the
position of an elder within the church.
Paul says there's some qualifications that you have to meet.
You'll notice that many of these qualifications are negatives.
Many of these things are things that this individual cannot be this.
He cannot have this characteristic.
But then there are some of these characteristics that are positive attributes.
He must be this.
So we've examined a few of those as we've gone through verse two.
We'll notice as well that verse two says, a bishop must then be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.
We noticed last week the sober-minded, temperate, and of good behavior qualifications, and as we go beyond those, the next one that we run into is hospitable.
Does this mean that the elder, in order to be qualified to be an elder, is someone who needs to make sure that he's had every family member in the congregation over for dinner
at least twice every year?
Is that kind of the qualification?
Is that what we're talking about?
No.
What is hospi- hospitality, let me get it in the right form.
Hospitality in the-
biblical sense.
Where do we see examples of it where we could understand what this really means?
Okay, here's a great example, the Good Samaritan.
When you have Jesus's account of the Good Samaritan, there's here is a man who is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, he leaves Jerusalem, goes to Jericho while he's on
the way, what happens to him?
He's met by robbers, he's beaten, he's robbed, all of the things that he has are stolen and he's left for dead.
When the priest comes by on his way to Jerusalem and sees the man there on the side of the road, what, according to Jesus' account, does the priest do?
crosses to the other side and continues on.
Now.
What would have happened to the priest had the priest helped the man?
Think about the priest's role.
He would have been ceremonially unclean.
Because if this man has been beaten and left for dead, and as we find throughout the remainder of the text, the man had wounds and things that result from the attack.
If the priest had touched those open wounds, if the blood of the individual had gotten on the priest, if bodily fluids from the individual had gotten on the priest, he would have
been unclean.
Well, what if he's traveling to Jerusalem and it's the Sabbath day and he's got responsibilities to take...
Did Jesus give the priest an out because he was a priest?
Did he give the priest an out because the law would have declared the priest unclean and unable to function in the priesthood?
No.
So a Levite comes along, and the Levite sees the man.
What does the Levite do?
Levi passes by on the other side.
And then a Samaritan comes by.
Why do you think Jesus is talking about a Samaritan?
Okay, he's not a Jew.
Say again.
Alright, the Jews couldn't stand the Samaritans.
What was the question that was asked of Jesus that resulted in Jesus giving this account?
Who is my neighbor?
The lawyer had asked Jesus, who is my neighbor?
And Jesus replies by telling the people standing there and the lawyer who asked the question about this event, and he says, the good Samaritan comes by, he finds the man, he
binds him up, he wraps him up, he puts him on his own donkey, and he carries him to the inn.
There he provides for the man by making sure that the innkeeper will take care of him and assures the innkeeper that whatever cost the innkeeper incurs in order to provide for this
man, he will cover it the next time he comes through.
Now, draw out of the things that the Samaritan did, what is hospitality as seen in this passage?
All right?
Providing for or taking care of a stranger.
Somebody had something else.
Alright, taking care of a person in need.
So you have a stranger who is in need.
Alright, what else?
Only dealing with spiritual issues?
Physical issues pertain to hospitality.
What else?
All right?
So he was considering not just the immediate need of binding the individual up, not letting him die on the side of the road, but also bearing the cost of providing for what
the individual needs and looking ahead to the future cost of what this individual would need in order to recover, in order to return back to a normal state.
And he bore that cost as well.
What else did he do?
there as he finds the individual.
What did he do?
He had compassion.
He bandaged his wounds, he took care of those physical needs.
All right?
So that's where my brain was going.
He was riding his donkey.
And he got off of his donkey.
He put the man up on his donkey.
He walked and allowed the other man to ride.
So he inconvenienced himself so that the other man could endure the journey.
to go to the inn in order to be taken care of.
All of these things are pieces of a picture of hospitality.
And Paul is telling Timothy, when you look at the man who is being considered to be an elder, is this the type of thing that this man would do?
Is this the type of character that this man embodies?
Or is the character of the priest or the Levite who sees a person in need and goes around on the other side because they cannot be inconvenienced with the need of a brother?
But consider that the Samaritan wasn't a brother to the man who was beaten.
See, the man who was beaten was a Jew.
The Levite was his brother.
The priest was his brother.
The Samaritan wasn't.
Samaritan wasn't a Jew.
Samaritan was from a nation that that man's nation hated.
Yet the Samaritan is the one who showed compassion.
The Samaritan is the one who was acting as a neighbor to the man.
As you consider this, consider that not only did the Samaritan do all of the things that we described, the Samaritan set aside social norms and social hate that existed between
two nations in order to do all of those things.
He looked at an individual who was a stranger, he looked at an individual who was not of his nationality, he looked at an individual who very well may have hated him in another
scenario, and treated him like a brother.
That's a picture of hospitality.
What's another picture from the Old or New Testament?
Abraham.
So there's a number of different things that could be drawn into this.
One of the ones that comes to mind immediately is when Abraham is there in the court of, or the tent, that's what I'm trying to say, there in the tent in the heat of the day and
he sees three men journeying.
What does Abraham do when he sees the three men who are journeying?
All right, the text specifically says that he runs to meet them.
He goes to them quickly.
Now, you might think, oh, I mean, some good, ambitious individual might get out and run to meet.
Bear in mind, Abraham's over 85 years old.
Matter of fact, he's 99 years old when he runs to meet them.
99-year-old man running to meet these men who are journeying by.
Why do you think he went out to them?
Just your conjecture, not looking for what the passage says because the passage doesn't tell us, but why do think he went out to them instead of allowing them to come to him?
All right?
Desire to offer them hospitality?
The desire to make sure they knew that they could stop there?
You know, if you ever go hiking or out somewhere in the outdoors and you see somebody else's camp as you're going along the path, do you immediately assume that you're welcome
to come sit down with their camp?
Probably not.
Unless they come and say, hey, come on over, have a seat, here's a cup of coffee.
He invited them in.
You ever wonder why there's more people who've never stepped foot inside of a church building and sat down at a worship service?
Maybe it's because they've never been invited.
They don't just assume, well, there's a building.
I there's a lot of buildings in Memphis.
I don't just walk into all of them.
Why?
I don't know if I have any business being there.
And other people might not want me there.
So Abraham runs out to meet them.
What does he do after he greets them?
Alright, so as Eddie pointed out, everything that the passage talks of him doing, he does in haste.
He runs to meet them.
He goes to quickly prepare the food.
He goes to make sure that the preparations are made.
And then he stands by and serves them.
He does all of this so as to not inconvenience them, yet to provide for them.
So Abraham is in consideration of their needs, but also their own desires, their own need to go, they weren't coming to him in Abraham's mind, though in sense they were, but they
were going past him to somewhere else.
So he provided for what they needed, he pleaded with them to accept his hospitality, and then as the food is provided,
and it is brought out for them to eat as they are eating, Abraham is standing by as a servant to serve them.
They're eating, he's standing by.
There was a quote that I heard this last week and apparently it comes out of the Marine Corps, but this individual who was a former Marine, she said,
You know, in the Marines we understand something, that leaders eat last, but leaders always eat.
She was talking about the fact that you have to take care of yourself if you're going to actually provide for others.
But Abraham stands by as they are eating.
And all of these events transpire because Abraham has a character of hospitality.
This has never given the impression that this just happened to be the only time Abraham ever did this.
Now if you go over to the book of Hebrews and you look there in Hebrews chapter 1 about the reference, and I believe it references this particular occasion, that there are times
in which individuals unknowingly entertained angels.
Abraham didn't make this choice because he knew there was something special about these three men.
Abraham did what it was Abraham's practice to do.
And God knew it was Abraham's practice to do it.
And God would use that occasion to be able to tell Abraham concerning the fact that within a year, he and Sarah would have a child.
But also to inform him concerning why the angels were headed to Sodom.
Hospitality involves things like food.
It does.
It goes way beyond that.
It goes to providing for needs.
It goes to providing for needs that someone will not even ask for, but you know it's a need.
It goes to doing things for others, not asking for anything in return.
to the company.
Absolutely, so the idea of a lover of people, a lover of hospitality as seen over in Titus, bear in mind that one of the things that a hospitable person who has this
characteristic is part of their mindset is that they understand we are created by God.
You know, there's the line from the Declaration of Independence that all men
are created equal.
But do all men have an equal distribution of this world's goods?
Do all men have an equal distribution of this world's resources?
No.
And yet, this, that's an expectation that the individual who meets this qualification doesn't care if someone's rich or poor.
He doesn't care if they're Jew or Gentile.
Rather, He is one who exhibits the love of men toward them.
It really goes back to what was the second greatest commandment in the law according to Christ.
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Which, by the way, was the reason why the lawyer had asked, well, who is my neighbor?
Because Jesus had said this is the second greatest commandment in the law.
And the lawyer wanted to know, well, who do I have to do that to?
And Jesus makes it clear in the account of the Good Samaritan, you have to do it to anyone.
who you come near who is in that scenario.
But then he says, not only must an elder or one who's being considered for this position be one who is hospitable, one who is sober minded, one who is of good behavior, but he
must be able, or the King James says apt, to teach.
The term here doesn't mean one who gives public lessons, okay?
That's not just the idea behind this.
This is one who is diligent in teaching.
There is a need for elders to teach.
There is a need in a leadership role because remember, the function of an elder is the function of a shepherd.
How did the Old Testament shepherds lead their sheep?
with their voice.
The sheep heard their voice and followed them.
Jesus and Paul have already made it clear that if you're going to be a shepherd, your voice must be heard in the congregation.
But Paul is making it clear this individual must be able and prone and habitually one who is a teacher of others.
Here's a man.
who sees someone who's destitute.
and out of the compassion of their heart, they provide the food and the raiment that the person needs.
because they have a loving heart.
but they never bothered to tell them anything about how to be a Christian.
So they've provided their earthly needs, but ignored their greatest need.
Have they truly shown the hospitality and brought out the characteristics of a godly elder?
No, because they left them spiritually destitute while physically provided for.
When Jesus taught, did he always teach in public?
No.
Did Jesus often teach in private?
Yes.
Were the lessons that Jesus taught in public the most important ones and the lessons he taught in private the least important ones?
No, not at all.
You go read John chapter 14, 15, 16, those are all in private.
Those are all with the disciples in the upper room.
The passage where Jesus says, a new commandment I give you that you love as I have loved you, that is a private teaching where we find that recorded.
The emphasis of being a shepherd is this person must be publicly in front of the congregation.
The emphasis of this person must be apt to teach is this person must have made it a pattern of life that they are a teacher of others,
and that they will do so wherever the opportunity is found.
A reluctance to teach from a man who is holding the position of an elder is a problem.
An inability to teach is an even greater problem.
Turn back to the book of Ezra.
In Ezra chapter 7 and verse 8, Ezra is coming to Jerusalem.
And as Ezra records it, we read in verse 8, and Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
On the first day of the first month, he began his journey from Babylon.
And on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem.
according to the good hand of his God upon him.
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel."
This passage encapsulates what an elder should have been doing to prepare himself for the role of an elder.
Because the first thing that Ezra did is he prepared his heart to do it.
He set his mind, his decision-making process, and his affections on God and the people.
Ezra didn't prepare his heart to teach so that Ezra could be lifted up in front of the people.
Ezra prepared his heart to teach because the people needed a shepherd.
They needed someone who could tell them the laws and the ordinances of God.
And Ezra's going to fulfill that role, but Ezra didn't wait until it was time to fulfill the role to start getting ready for the role.
had Ezra waited until it was time to actually become a teacher to start learning how to become a teacher, Ezra wouldn't have been able to fulfill the role.
We need in the body of Christ more men who are not aiming to be full-time employed preachers of the gospel,
but are diligently preparing themselves to be elders in the church.
Because I'll be honest with you, in all my years growing up and all the congregations I've been in,
been in a lot of congregations and I've been in a lot of places in this country and other places.
And the thing that the church is needing the most are prepared and qualified elders, not preachers.
A prepared and qualified elder and a prepared and qualified eldership can create a preacher.
They can raise a preacher.
They can teach someone to preach.
But it takes a whole lot longer to prepare a man for an eldership position.
And if his heart has not been set on that, if his heart has not been set on preparing himself to be able to teach, to be able to function, to be able to serve, long before it's
ever time to do it, he won't be.
You do not find elders
who decided a year or two ago that they'd like to be an elder.
Doesn't happen.
You find elders among men who decided two decades before that the church needed good shepherds.
And they prepared themselves to fill that role.
Paul says that this one who is going to be an elder
is one who is going to be hospitable.
He is one who is able and apt to teach.
He is not given to wine.
Now, in the text, the not given to wine phrase does not have the word wine anywhere in it.
This is an occasion where the translators tried to give you a meaning
instead of a direct translation, okay?
The word here in the Greek is literally not a brawler.
Not someone who is involved in carousing and drunkenness and brawling and fighting.
He is not of a character of an individual who is embodying that type of person.
The word wine isn't in this passage.
If it were, it would be appropriate because that is part of what the word carries with it.
One who is a drunkard and as a result is a brawler.
But the reason why it's important to recognize that is because people will come to verse three and they'll say, the elder is not given to wine.
And then they'll come down to verse eight and they'll read,
The deacon is not given too much wine and they'll say, see, this is a difference of degree.
No, it's not a difference of degree because the word wine's not in verse three.
This is the characteristic of a brawler.
This is the characteristic of one who is not given to a character of life that is the embodiment of one who is a drunkard, a brawler, a carouser.
Furthermore, and we'll deal with this more when we get to Deacons, but the qualification of not giving too much wine has some discussion that needs to happen around it.
For instance, when Paul gives the instructions to not be overly evil,
What do you think he means?
means just only be evil a little bit, right?
Keep your evil to a minimum and God will be fine with it.
Just be casual.
I tell you what, be socially evil, right?
As long as you're just socially evil, God's fine.
Just don't be overly evil.
No, that's not what the passage means.
That's not what the context carries with it.
The context of both of these passages is the character of an elder, the character of a deacon is that they are not overcome with wine.
They are not ones who participate in alcoholic beverages.
They are those who have their heart and mind set on spiritual things.
And their entire character demonstrates it.
Now, go further with this.
He says he is not, and as it's translated in the New King James, not given to wine.
As the passage is translated, the emphasis is this man has not given himself over to the lust of the flesh.
This is an individual who has done the opposite of this if we were to go through the passage and we were to consider some of these knots.
All right, let's do this for a moment just as a mental exercise.
The next one is not violent.
Do we think that the meaning of that is this man is only moderately violent?
Or do we mean here's violent, a violent individual and this person is the polar opposite of that?
As you consider the negatives, this is not Paul saying don't be an extreme violent person.
He's saying this person could not be characterized as a violent person.
Consider further.
He says, not greedy for money.
well, this man is moderately greedy, but he does keep it tamped down.
You know, he won't beat you and rob you and steal from you, but he might not necessarily make the transaction work out in your best interest.
Is that the character of an elder?
No.
You see, with all of these negatives,
Paul is saying the polar opposite of the negative is the picture of the elder.
And as we find this picture of one who is given to wine, his life has been handed over and is controlled by the lusts, the desires of the flesh.
He has given his thought process over to intoxication.
He has given his decision-making process over to the flesh.
Paul says, no, no, no, no, no.
The elder is the polar opposite of that.
He is one who has already been described as temperate.
He is one who has already been described as sober-minded.
He is one who would never
give his mind over to the flesh.
Turn over to the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 13, Paul as he is writing to the church at Ephesus says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.
What does the word circumspectly mean?
All right, carefully considering is the idea that you, we were to visualize this, if you were to walk down a beach and you turn around and you look at your footprints in the sand
and you study the path that you walked, this is an individual who looks at his steps in character and in life and examines them.
so as to see whether or not they match what God would have him to do.
He is one who is self-aware of his actions, who is moderating and controlling his actions.
He is not a fool.
He is a wise person.
But he then says, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
You have a series of parallels here.
In contrast, you have someone who walks circumspectly.
Contrast of that is he's a fool.
Or the contrasting individual is a fool.
This person is wise.
You have the one who is not being unwise, but rather, contrast of that, the one who knows the will of the Lord.
Here is an individual who has trained himself, who has nurtured in himself the knowledge of what would God have me to do.
And he is called a wise person.
because he is contrasted with an unwise person.
So notice he says, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.
Paul continues his contrast.
And in continuing the contrast, he said, circumspect, unwise, knows the will of the Lord.
What was the one in this passage?
Drunk with wine, filled with the spirit.
Can you be a fool and a wise person at the same time?
No, you cannot.
Can you be a circumspect person and a fool at the same time?
No, you can't.
Can you be drunk with wine and filled with the spirit at the same time?
No, you can't.
Paul has set diam...
diametrically opposed physicians three points in a row.
And he says the person who's given himself over to wine, he is diametrically opposed to being filled with the Spirit of God.
So much so that you see in this picture that the more the man is filled with wine, the less the Spirit is involved in his life.
It's a direction.
Here's an individual who says, like the direction of alcohol.
Then he's headed the opposite direction of God.
Now notice he says, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord.
There should be an appreciation that the polar eye
opposite of one who gives themselves over to alcohol is one who worships God.
There are way too many people in the religious world, and unfortunately there are some within the body of Christ, who will argue you can drink Saturday night and show up at
worship on Sunday morning.
You can party on Friday night and be at worship on Sunday morning.
And everything's just grand.
Scripture says not a chance in the world.
As a matter of fact, you'll all the way back to Leviticus chapter 10, and we'll close here, but Leviticus chapter 10.
as the Old Testament Tabernacle is consecrated and set in order and the very first worship service of the Old Testament Tabernacle is occurring.
Fire comes down from heaven and kills Nadab and Abihu, two of the sons of Aaron, two of the priests.
I was asked recently, because I made a comment in a conversation that the reason they were killed is because they were drunk.
And somebody said, I read it and I don't know where that is.
I didn't see that, you know, in the text.
I said, it's there.
You gotta pay attention to what happens.
Fire comes down from heaven and kills Nate Abinabaihu.
And then Aaron and Moses stand back.
and then instruction is given for the cousins of the brothers to come and carry their bodies away.
And Moses tells Aaron and his brothers, you do not mourn.
You do not tear your clothes.
You are consecrated before the people.
You allow all the rest of the people to mourn the loss of your two brothers.
But you don't do it because you are standing consecrated before the Lord.
and then around verse eight or nine
Moses, sorry, in the text, the Lord speaks directly to Aaron and the Lord tells Aaron that no priest is to touch wine nor strong drink when he is in the service of the tabernacle,
that he might know the difference between that which is holy and that which is common.
What's that tell us about what just happened?
Nate Abedimahue offered fire that was profane or common instead of the fire that was supposed to be offered which was holy.
And God speaks from heaven to Aaron on that occasion and says, do not drink wine as priest because you will not be able to discern between that which is holy.
and that which is common.
You have a direct point being made.
as much as you have alcohol in you, you are diminished in your ability to serve God.
And it's a direct correlation.
So, an elder, would he ever desire to do anything that would diminish his ability to serve God?
No, it's not in his character.
It's not in his mindset.
And so we see the picture here of an elder.
That's all the time we have.
Thank you for your attention and we'll be dismissed.
We'll carry on with this not next week because Rob will be here for our evangelism seminar, but we'll be picking it up the week after.
Thank you very much.