Well, here we are back with 1Timothy. Last week got everyone nervous and I appear to have steered through a minefield. We like our spirituality to go unchallenged by our actions. Yet God says, in James 2:17, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

 

This week we look at the Leadership of the Church.

Now these are all political leaders. What qualities did they show? If you were choosing a leader, what would you look for? Actually you will be voting on 4^th May for our local council and, probably your MP whether you are in Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency or Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner Constituency. (We all need to get our heads round the new boundaries because they cut across this area.)

 

So what do we look for in our leaders? Lets be clear this is not about political leaders, this is about leadership in the church. And more specifically, in this church.

 

READ 1Timothy 3

 

Can I remind you that the substance of this letter begins with, First of all, pray. Not argue with and criticize but pray with. And as we turn to the question of leadership, I want to ask you , do you pray for the leadership of this church?

 

Paul was a man of his age, so was the church. It was established in the Roman empire, which was dominated by Greek though. The church was growing out of the Jewish Faith. I say this because the word for overseer and deacon are unfamiliar to us.

And Paul in talking to Timothy about who to appoint as leaders in the church, uses these terms. First we need to understand a little of what they mean but we must not be bound into a 1^st Century culture while trying to live in the 21^st Century. The principles are the same, the qualities of leadership are the same but sticking Greek labels on a person either defined them or their responsibilities. The churches have variously used the term overseer or episkopos to be Bishop or , as in this church, in the 1950s “oversight”which is a poor word for leadership if there ever was one! Up the road, the Baptist Church will have a diaconate of deacons who run the church and a minister or two. St Marys has a Vicar of the Bishop of London and deacons who are responsible for the buildings although I have only heard of “archdeacons”. The structure is not the key issue here, it is the qualities and characteristics of the leaders that Paul is speaking about. So if we end up using modern words in our church like CEO or director, or manager, treasurer or accountant, or producer or Leadership Team or what, they still have to be appointed by these characteristics laid down in this passage. And what are they?

 

Paul says that the episkopos is a noble task. And he amazingly says that one might aspire to be a leader. Ambition in the church, surely not? But it depends on what you are ambitious for. If you want status, or power or secure employment then you have a false ambition. But if you want to nurture the church, build up others, care for the vulnerable and visit the sick. If your passion is for the people of God to grow then wanting to be a leader is a noble ambition.

So what about God´s calling? Well, that is to be tested by the Church as well as the ambition and the character and background. In fact Leadership comes about by the call of God, the willingness of the person and the approval of the Church. All three play their part.

 

Paul, helpfully gives a list of ten areas to be investigated. It is assumed that the person is a born again believer and baptised because all members are baptised believers. But Paul’s list is not about getting God’s approval because we are all sinners saved by grace but the practical characteristics we should look for in leadership.

 

The first has caused lots of problems in the church. What does he mean? Clearly the Roman Catholic church is wrong in insisting on celibacy. But is the Eastern Orthodox Church right in insisting that a leader should be married? This church has tended in the past to view this that marriage was a requirement. However, singleness is specifically encouraged in the New Testament so I would suggest this is not barring single people from leadership.

It could mean ‘not a polygamist’. And in the African church today, where polygamy is common, this is considered correct. Polygamists can be baptised and enter into the fellowship of the church but not become leaders.

But polygamy was not as common place in Paul’s day. What was common was divorce and remarriage. So is Paul’s rule about remarriage? Should the ban be on those who have remarried? Now some argue that he is even referring to widows who remarry. But this seems unlikely as it is specifically permitted in the New testament in Romans 7 and 1Corinthians 7:39.

Finally it could mean Paul is excluding all those guilty of Marital unfaithfulness. This is then more a matter of fidelity in marriage.

 

Temperate or sober but not sombre. Self-controlled and respectable. The inner discipline should reveal itself in respectable behaviour. This is not middle –class respectability with its house, car, suit, skiing and foreign holidays respectability. It is about authentic integrity of life style.

Hospitable. Actually this word means “love of strangers”. So it is not measuring the quality of your cuisine but the way you welcome strangers. Jesus commends us to entertain those are not of our circle of friends and specifically those who cannot repay our hospitality. And that is not in the context of leadership, just being a part of the kingdom of God.

 

Able to teach. Some argue that this is somehow an overriding quality, so they train their leadership to be teachers and little else. I think it has more to do with the natural ability to explain clearly the truths they know.

Drinking habits. Binge drinking is not new, but it is alcoholism is recognised as a bar to leadership in the church, partly because it is clear evidence of lack of self-control.

Gentle, not violent, nor quarrelsome really is best explained by looking at Jesus. He was not afraid of speaking the truth and was even provocative but he was gentle, committed to non-violence and not stirring up dissension for the fun of it.

Not a lover of money. Later Paul says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (6:10). Making money out of ministry is sadly very common. There is something of an industry in church management and while a labourer is worthy of his hire applies to employed leaders, one would be suspicious of someone demanding bonuses, and pay rises linked say to membership. The Methodist church, for example, pays all its staff, the same salary although makes London a difficult place to serve in. But this is not about wages it is about attitude. Even volunteers who are obsessed with making money should be treated with suspicion.

 

Then Paul goes further, with manage family well. This is more an issue for appointing single people than having one wife. The church is an extended family. It is the family of God. And a leader in the church shows his or her qualities of leadership first and foremost in their own family. So the ruthless manager who has no interest in his family is going to be a poor leader for the church. The person whose family is out of control is not suitable for the church any more than the overbearing parent would be. That applies to single people because we are to measure their care for the extended family. You must understand that the nuclear family of parents and children is unknown in the church. Your family includes all the more distant relations and grandparents, cousins, etc. So we would be cautious of isolated individuals with no family.

Not a recent convert. Makes sense that young Christians are not suddenly given large responsibilities. But it also does not say that leaders have to be old, they grow old as everyone else! The terms Elder suggests age is a requirement but maturity does not necessarily come with age.

Finally a good reputation with outsiders. Seems a little odd in a persecuted church where the leaders are reviled and abused but it is this matter of public integrity and care which is being looked for.

 

Then we turn to Deacons and we find virtually the same list. The differences are not that significant, They are to keep hold to the deep truths or mystery of the faith, with a clear conscience but not necessarily to be apt to teach. The paragraph on wives could be about women deacons which we know were appointed in the early church.

The question that comes most to mind is what were these two labels for? What is different about a ‘episkopos and a ‘diakonos’? Essentially the epispokos is a term for church manager, guardian of the truth or inspector with responsibilities for the church, the diakonos is someone on the workforce, although it has charge hand connotations.

 

In a church where we all are part of the team, All serve in some way, the question is how we measure up to the qualities expected of us. And they are the same whether the spiritual leadership of the church, responsible for some aspect of the work or a member of the team.

So our verse for the year is relevant “pursue, righteousness, godliness, faith, love endurance and gentleness.”

 

What follows is a change of gear. Having spoken about Church practise he pauses to speak about his plans and this takes his mind on to first what the church is and second the mystery of godliness. It’s that word godliness again!

But like Paul we must not get bogged down in church leadership and lose sight of what the church is.

In this passage the church is three things:

·        God’s household

·        The church of the living God

·        The pillar and foundation of the truth

God household. You are the family of God, you are individually sons and daughters of God. This is a royal palace. And Paul says we should conduct ourselves appropriately and he has just spoken about what he means by that.

The church of the living God. The emphasis is on the living God as opposed to the dead Gods around. The word church means congregation not building. The living God dwells among his people. Not only is God’s Household but he is present here now. The Holy Spirit is among us. He will be with you every step of the coming week. But it is vital we come together and sit at ‘home with God’ in the company of the rest of the church. It is here we share our worship, lift holy hands in prayer, allow the Holy Spirit to move among us and for the gifts to be rightfully exerted.

The Pillar and foundation of the truth. Pillars have two roles in Greek architecture.

These Paul and Timothy were familiar with . This is a street in Ephesus with the library at the end. They would have walked down this road. Pillars support beams that support roofs. It was the failure of pillars that caused so many of the deaths in Haiti. And Paul is clear that the church is the pillar of society and the foundation. It is what creates strength. Our society is weak and collapsing because the church is no longer recognised as the pillar of our society. Our wisdom is disregarded for both liberal and, at the same time, restrictive attitudes that will lead disaster.

But pillars have another role in Greek architecture. They promote a celebrity or an ideal. This one is called Pompey’s Pillar and is in Alexandra but it actually is about another emperor. The inscription says: “To the most just Emperor, tutelary of Alexandria Diocletian, the invincible, Postumus, the Prefect of Egypt (has erected this monument)”. We are here on earth to stick out like a sore thumb, a pillar of the truth, to act as a lighthouse, a warning, an proclamation. Not for the church to hide away in a side street and keep its head down, hoping no-one will notice us. We have a gospel to tell, a Saviour to declare. We are his Pillar, the body of Christ, the living God revealed to a dying world.

 

Then Paul says

“¹⁶ Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:

He appeared in a body,

was vindicated by the Spirit,

was seen by angels,

was preached among the nations,

was believed on in the world,

was taken up in glory.

 

This is so well formed as a piece of verse that it ranks as an early creed. To be recited to aid memory. Remember the church was barely literate. And there was not much to read. So memorable verses would be an aid memoir to the truth, which we are the pillar of.

This creed is entitled the mystery of godliness is great. We have already had in verse 9 the mystery of our faith mentioned. Now the mystery of the faith is the mystery of godliness.

What’s this godliness? Well, first and foremost, it is about Jesus! He is the subject of this creed. He is the revelation of God. Godliness is about imitating Jesus, following him, behaving like him, thinking like him.

And what was the key facts about Jesus we are helped to remember here?

He appeared in a body,

was vindicated by the Spirit,

was seen by angels,

was preached among the nations,

was believed on in the world,

was taken up in glory.

 

This is very typical poetry of its day. It is three couplets. Each pair has both similarity of thought and contrast. They also progress through the story

The first reminds us that Jesus was a human and that he was also divine. God became flesh and dwelt among us. And the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove. It is about revelation. And we are the congregation of the living God! Human and Spirit are the contrast.

The second pair speaks of the witnesses of Christ. The angels and the church going to all the nations to tell the good news. Angels from heaven and nations on earth are the contrast. Angels attended the shepherds at his birth to tell the good news, and that good news is being preached to the nations.

The third pair speaks of the reception Jesus was given. We have believed are part with those early apostles, standing watching Jesus ascending into heaven. Heaven welcomed Jesus back. But we look to see Jesus return and ascend to heaven again, this time with all the saints with him. Heaven and earth are contrasted.

It also breaks into two halves, the first three lines about Jesus life and death, the second three about what is often called the day of grace. The time now when the gospel is preached.

 

This may seem a long way from leadership but in two weeks time we consider the defence against false teaching in the next chapter. So we are set up by being reminded that the church is here to proclaim the truth, that is Jesus. To do that we must organise and work together to be an effective demonstration of the love of God. That is why we need godly leaders as described in this chapter. This is not some social club, it is the family of God, the congregation of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

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