A cartoon showed a picture of a woman lying in her sick bed, obviously in misery. In the sink were stacked piles of dirty dishes. A huge basket of clothes to be ironed sat nearby. Two dirty children were fighting in one corner, and in the other a cat sat licking spilled milk. A smiling woman stood in the doorway and the caption had her saying, “Well, Florence, if there is anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

What a picture of the local church! Pastors and church staff are overwhelmed with work. More needy people cry out for their attention than they have time for. Sunday school and other youth programs lack workers. Visitors need a personal call. New people need someone to befriend them. The missions program needs dedicated workers. Facilities need maintenance and improvements. Even some who are involved seem to be committed only when it’s convenient. And yet people often say, “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know!”

The fact is, God does not save us so we can sit, but so we can serve. Just as there is no such thing as a non-functioning member of your human body, so there ought to be no such thing as a non-functioning member of the body of Christ. If God has saved you from your sin, He has called you to serve Him in some way in accordance with your gifts and abilities.

What often happens is, you hear this truth taught, so you take a stab at getting involved in doing something for the Lord. But not very far into the process, you find yourself in over your head. You thought you would be serving in line with your gifts and abilities, but you find yourself overwhelmed with inadequacy as you face a situation not in line with or far beyond your gifts and abilities. You thought you would be having a wonderful time of fellowship with others in the body, but instead you find fellow Christians being petty, criticizing you for picayune things. You thought everyone would like you, but they’re not being nice. You thought everyone would appreciate your contribution, but instead, you haven’t heard a word of thanks. You thought serving the Lord would be kind of fun, but you discover that it’s fun like war is fun.

BACKGROUND: Timothy found himself there. He had been a teenager in a home with a pagan father and a Jewish mother, living in the town of Lystra in what is today south-central Turkey. His mother and grandmother had taught him the Scriptures, but he didn’t know that Jesus was the promised Messiah until a rabbi named Paul came to town. Paul healed a man who had been lame from birth and preached the gospel, but then was stoned by the fickle mob and dragged out of the city, thought to be dead. Amazingly, he got up, went back into the city and left the next day. Later he courageously returned and strengthened those who had believed, saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Timothy was one who had believed. In the years that followed, he grew in the Lord and was highly regarded by the church for his ministry in their midst. Then the Apostle Paul came through town again and this time he invited Timothy to join him in his itinerant ministry. What an opportunity, to travel and serve with this courageous man of God who had led Timothy to faith in Christ! Timothy would have been in his early twenties, Paul near 50 at the time. For about the next 18 years, until Paul was beheaded by Nero, Timothy served with Paul, as a devoted son would serve his father.

The Book of Acts ends with Paul in prison in Rome. There is good reason to believe that he was released around A.D. 62, shortly after writing the “prison epistles” (Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians). Timothy had been in Rome with Paul (Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:1; Philemon 1), so perhaps after Paul’s release, the two men made their way to Ephesus, among other places, where Paul left Timothy to deal with some matters while he went on to Macedonia (Philippi and Thessalonica). From there, sometime between late 62 and early 64, Paul wrote First Timothy to his younger co-worker, to encourage him in his ministry there and to give apostolic instructions on church life for the whole congregation (3:15).

Serving Christ with and under the Apostle Paul sounds wonderful and exciting, but it wasn’t idyllic! Paul’s early message, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God,” proved all too true. Timothy often felt like he was in far over his head. Timid and shy by personality, he was not inclined toward conflict; yet he often found himself in the midst of controversy. He was inclined to back off rather than to confront difficult people and situations. Many times he felt like quitting.

And this was one of those times! We often hear people talk about the New Testament church as if it were nearly perfect. I don’t know which Bible they read, but my Bible shows that there were some serious problems in many New Testament churches. Ephesus was a town rife with sexual immorality and occult practices. As often happens in such places, the church was being plagued by some false teachers (we’ll look next week at who they may have been). Timothy’s task is summed up in 1:3, 4: “Remain on at Ephesus in order that you may instruct [lit., “command”] certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies ....”

On the surface, that sounds simple. But as you can imagine, people are not detached from their strange doctrines! In fact, people get emotionally attached to their strange doctrines! When your job is to confront their doctrines, they take it personally.

Do you get the picture? Here is this timid, shy, peace-loving, ordinary man who finds himself in a church where some men were teaching some strange things and it was Timothy’s job to confront them. No doubt there were people in the church who liked these men and who thought their teaching was helpful and good: “How dare this young man come in here and say that these men are wrong!” So Paul wrote this letter to bolster Timothy and the truth he was proclaiming in this church that had been infected with these false teachers.

The message of the book can be summed up with the command, “Guard the deposit of sound doctrine!” In 1:18 Paul tells Timothy that he is (lit.) “depositing” the command to him (to stay on at Ephesus and teach the truth). He doesn’t say, “Have fun at the Sunday School picnic”; but rather, “Fight the good fight!” He repeats the command at the end of the book, “O Timothy, guard what has been deposited [lit.] with you.”

A number of themes occur under the overall theme of guarding the deposit of sound doctrine. The theme of sound doctrine or teaching occurs repeatedly (1:10; 3:2; 4:6, 13, 16; 5:17; 6:3), as well as the warning against turning aside to false teaching (1:3, 6, 19; 4:1-3; 5:15; 6:3-5, 10, 20-21). The theme of faith (meaning personal trust in Christ and the Word--1:2, 4, 5, 14; ing the deposit of sound doctrine. The theme of sound doctrine or teaching occurs repeatedly (1:10; 3:2; 4:6, 13, 16; 5:17; 6:3), as well as the warning against turning aside to false teaching (1:3, 6, 19; 4:1-3; 5:15; 6:3-5, 10, 20-21). The theme of faith (meaning personal trust in Christ and the Word--1:2, 4, 5, 14; 2:7, 15; 4:12; 5:12; 6:11) and “the faith” (meaning Christian doctrine and practice--1:19;

1. Sound doctrine related to the gospel message (ch. 1).

2. Sound doctrine in the church (chs. 2 & 3):

A. In church practice (ch. 2).

B. In church leadership and purpose (ch. 3).

3. Sound doctrine for church leadership (chs. 4-6):

A. To preserve pastors from apostasy (ch. 4).

B. To promote practical pastoral wisdom (chs. 5 & 6).

With that as an overview of the book and its setting, let’s look at Paul’s greeting (1:1-2). We can draw the lesson:

God has saved us and conscripted us into service so that we might bring forth true children in the faith.

Verse 1, where Paul identifies himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior,” shows us how God saves us and conscripts us into service. Verse 2, which addresses Timothy as Paul’s true child in the faith shows us that the goal of our service is to reproduce ourselves spiritually, as Paul had done with Timothy.

1. God has saved us and conscripted us into service (1:1).

The foundation for any service we render to God must be the glorious truth that:

A. God has saved us.

Paul uses an unusual phrase in this verse: “God our Savior.” This description occurs six times in the pastoral epistles (here, 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4) and nowhere else in Paul’s writings. It occurs elsewhere only in Jude 25, with a similar expression, “God my Savior” in Luke 1:47. In fact, the word “Savior” is only used 24 times in the New Testament, including 10 times in the pastoral epistles and five in 2 Peter.

The designation of God as our Savior is rooted in the Old Testament. But, significantly, when you come to the New Testament, Jesus is designated as the Savior (Luke 2:11), which shows that Jesus is God. His very name means “Yahweh saves.” The angel explained to Joseph that the reason for naming the child in Mary’s womb “Jesus” is that He would save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). One reason Paul may have emphasized this term for God in the pastoral epistles is that the corrupt emperor Nero had assumed the title, “Savior of the world,” for himself. Paul is countering that by stating, “No, Nero, you are not the Savior; only God can save!”

This is a truth that constantly needs to be reaffirmed because the proud human heart constantly does what Nero did--if not to claim to be the Savior of the world, at least to claim to be my own Savior. Proud people think that because they are worthy, or by their own efforts or good deeds or will power, they can save themselves from God’s wrath against their sin. But the message of the cross of Jesus Christ humbles human pride by stating, “No flesh shall boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:29).

We need to proclaim clearly the message that people are lost and need a Savior, not just that they need a little improvement or help. The gospel message is not, “If your life lacks fulfillment or if you’re having a few problems, try Jesus.” The gospel message is, “Apart from Christ, you are lost, perishing, under God’s judgment! You cannot save yourself. God does not save any who are worthy, because none are worthy. But in His grace, God does save unworthy sinners who take refuge in Jesus and His shed blood on the cross. So trust in Him!”

I fear lest anyone in this church may be serving God who have not first been saved by God. I fear that there may be some who serve God in an attempt to earn His favor. Paul himself had been there. He was zealous in religion, keeping the law outwardly, (Phil. 3:6), advancing beyond many of his contemporaries. But then God, who had set Paul apart from his mother’s womb and called him by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to Paul on the Damascus Road, and Paul was saved (Gal. 1:13-15).

It’s possible to be raised in the church, to be outwardly religious, to be zealous in what you think is serving God, but not to be saved. Make sure that God is truly your Savior. Then you can serve Him.

B. God has conscripted those He has saved into service.

If God has saved you from the awful judgment you deserved, then you are not your own. You’ve been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus; you are under orders. Paul did not dream up the idea of becoming an apostle. It wasn’t his career objective, determined by taking a number of occupational and personality tests. He was an apostle “according to the commandment of God our Savior.” That means that ...

(1) Those who are saved are conscripts, not volunteers for Jesus. In Sunday School, I used to sing songs about being a volunteer for Jesus. The underlying notion behind that is that you can choose to serve if you want to, but it’s optional. But service is not an option for those who are so inclined. Serving Jesus is mandatory for all who have been saved by Jesus! You don’t volunteer for Jesus’ army; you’ve been drafted! The only question is, will you be a faithful servant or an unfaithful one?

We need to be careful here, because the church in our day has created a false distinction between those who are supported financially by their ministries and those who are not. The former are thought to be “called” to serve God; the latter are not called, they’re just “laymen” who volunteer some of their spare time. But Paul didn’t know any such distinction. If you go by this system, Paul was a layman, because he supported himself in ministry most of the time!

But the teaching of the Bible is not that some Christians are called to serve God and others are not. Every Christian is saved to serve! The matter of how you are supported may depend on the type of service to which you are called. Those who labor at preaching and teaching and those sent out as missionaries have a right to be supported (1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 Cor. 9:1-14). But God hasn’t saved anyone so they can just sit around. Every person God saves is conscripted into serving Him according to how God has gifted him (1 Pet. 4:10-11).

Does that mean that service is easy or without struggles? Not at all! Serving Christ means waging war against the spiritual forces of darkness and warfare is not easy. Sometimes warriors get discouraged. Timothy was prone to discouragement. So Paul shows him from the outset that ...

(2) Christ Himself is our hope in serving. “Christ Jesus, our hope” (v. 1). What a great phrase! Our hope is not in a religion. Our hope is not in human beings. Our hope is not in a better world. “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness!” Christ Jesus Himself is our hope!

Biblical hope is not an uncertain wish for a better tomorrow. Biblical hope is certain, but not yet realized. It is certain because our hope rests on the resurrected Christ, whose bodily resurrection from the grave is an attested fact of history. Our hope believes in the reigning Christ, seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority (Eph. 1:20-23). Our hope waits for the returning Christ, who has given us His sure word that He will return bodily to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Acts 1:11; Rev. 19:15). Hallelujah! Because such a Savior is our hope, we can serve Him and know that our labor is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).

What is the aim of our service? Ultimately, it is to bring glory to God. But one of the main ways we do that is by working to bring people into submission to God as His true children.

2. The aim of our service is to bring forth true children in the faith (1:2).

Paul addresses Timothy as his “true child in the faith” (or, “in faith,” meaning faith in the gospel). The word “true” points to the genuineness of Timothy’s conversion as attested by his years of faithfulness in the Lord (Homer Kent, The Pastoral Epistles [Moody Press], p. 77). Modern evangelistic methods teach us to follow up a person who has prayed to receive Christ by giving him immediate assurance of salvation. But it takes longer than a few minutes or even a few months to determine if a person’s profession of faith in Christ is genuine. Paul expressed concern for the Corinthians and the Galatians that they may have “believed in vain” (1 Cor. 15:2; Gal. 3:4). He said to the Galatians (4:19), “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” They had professed Christ, but Paul was not yet certain if they were true children or not.

Paul urged the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5). Peter exhorts his readers, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you” (2 Pet. 1:10). John wrote his first epistle to give his readers a number of tests by which they could know that they had eternal life (see the entire book of 1 John, but esp. 5:13).

Timothy had grown up in a home with a godly mother and grandmother who had taught him the Scriptures that lead to salvation through faith in Christ (2 Tim. 3:15). But he had not believed in Christ unto salvation until he heard Paul’s preaching. Timothy’s experience shows that even if you’re in a mixed marriage, as a believing parent you need to teach your children the Scriptures with a view to their salvation. God may use you or He may use your teaching coupled with someone else’s preaching to bring your children to faith in Christ.

How can we know if we are true children of God? Many sermons could be preached on this and I must be brief! Note the marks listed here:

(1) True children know the grace of God. Grace is the sweetest sound to those who are true children of God, because it means that He pours out His favor on the undeserving. He calls sinners, not the righteous.

(2) True children know the mercy of God. In his greetings, Paul adds this word only here and in 2 Timothy (the addition in the KJV of Titus rests on weak manuscript support). While grace points to God’s forgiveness to the guilty, His mercy points to His kindness to the miserable or helpless. Every true child of God knows His mercy.

(3) True children know the peace of God. God’s peace is more than just inner calm, although it is that. It refers to the overall well-being of a person who has been reconciled to God. Such a person experiences God’s blessings, even in times of suffering and sorrow. It is a peace that surpasses human understanding (Phil. 4:6-7). God’s children know His peace.

(4) True children know God as Father. The Bible reveals God as the kind, caring Father of His true children. Even if you had a harsh, unloving earthly father or no father at home, you can come to know God as your true Heavenly Father as revealed in His Word. One of the marks of believers is that they know God as Father.

(5) True children know Christ Jesus as Lord. The distinction between Christ as Savior and Christ as Lord is a false one. He is clearly both Savior and Lord. If you are not living each day by yielding to Jesus as your Lord, you ought to question whether He is truly your Savior. Many will say to Him at the judgment, “Lord, Lord, we did many things in Your name.” But He will say to them those awful words, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:21-23). True children know Christ Jesus both as Savior and Lord.

Conclusion

Do you know God as your Savior? If not, do not rest until you do! If so, then know that He has saved you to serve. The aim of that service is to bring glory to Him by you becoming His true child in faith and by your bringing others to become His true children in faith, as Paul did with Timothy.

D. L. Moody was an uneducated shoemaker whom God saved. A man named Reynolds told about the first time he ever saw D. L. Moody, before Moody became famous. Moody was in a little shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon keeper, holding a small black boy in his arms, reading to him the story of the prodigal son. Moody couldn’t even read all the words, so he had to skip them. Reynolds thought, “If God can ever use such an instrument as that for His honor and glory, it will certainly astonish me!” Yet we all know how God used D. L. Moody. He can use you and me that way, just as He used shy, timid Timothy. We’ve been saved to serve!

Discussion Questions

1. Must salvation be a dramatic experience (like Paul’s) or can it be a quiet recognition? Cite Scripture.
2. How can a person know if he (or she) is called to “full-time” Christian service? Is the term a misnomer?
3. Is being overwhelmed by inadequacy a sign that you’re not in God’s will in serving Him? How can you know?
4. Is every Christian supposed to bring others to Christ or is that just the responsibility of those so gifted?

Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

When I was trained to share my faith in Christ, I was taught that I should not mention to a potential convert anything about his particular sins, since that was not the main issue. Yes, you tell him that in general, everyone is a sinner. But you don’t confuse the issue by confronting his profanity, immorality, drunkenness, or greed. The only issue, I was told, is his need to believe in Christ, so I should put my focus there. Also, since judgment and hell are sensitive issues, I should downplay them and rather put my emphasis on the abundant life Christ offers here and now. So I was taught and so I practiced for many years.

But I never was completely at ease with this methodology. For one thing, it didn’t seem to square with a number of Scriptures. Also, it struck me as being a lot like good salesmanship, where you try not to say anything to turn off the potential customer. But in catering to the customer, it seemed to hold back a crucial part of the truth of the gospel. And, some of the people who “bought the product” didn’t seem much concerned with holy living. They were more caught up with having a happy life. For them, Jesus was not so much essential as He was useful, in terms of helping them to enjoy a better life.

The more I read some of the great evangelists from the past, the more I realized that this approach didn’t square with how they presented the gospel. They thundered against sin and preached about judgment and hell, so as to strike terror into the hearts of the lost. Their message wasn’t so much, “If you’d like a bit happier life, try Jesus.” It was rather, “Because of your great sin, you’re under God’s wrath. Unless you repent and trust in Christ, you will spend eternity in hell.” They pled with people to flee to Christ with a lot more urgency than the modern evangelical salesman with his low-key approach: “Try Jesus for just 30 days and see if you aren’t totally satisfied.”

I came to realize that a major missing ingredient in the most popular gospel presentations of our day is the proper use of God’s law to bring deep, lasting, life-transforming conviction of sin. People who are not convicted of their sin and who do not realize their own utter inability to meet God’s holy standard by their own efforts are not desperate for what God offers through the gospel.

They’re like casual shoppers. A desperate shopper would be a person who has to have bottled oxygen to live. His supply is almost gone because there has been a strike at the company that supplies it. He’s down to his last bottle when he rushes in the door of the bottled oxygen company and pleads, “If you can’t sell me more oxygen, I will die!” A casual shopper is a person with a closet full of nice clothes who goes strolling through the mall. He doesn’t have a great need for anything, but if something grabs his fancy and the price is right, he might be in the mood to buy.

By not preaching God’s holy Law, we’ve given self-righteous, contented people the false impression that they can be casual shoppers toward the gospel when, in fact, their condition is desperate. In 1 Timothy 1:7, Paul wrote to Timothy about some false teachers troubling the church at Ephesus who wanted to be teachers of the Law, but who didn’t understand its proper use. In verses 8-11, Paul shows that ...

The proper use of God’s Law is to bring conviction of sin so that people are driven to the gospel for salvation.

When sinful men and women learn the righteous demands of God’s Law, they should be driven to despair because of their guilt before God. In this desperate state, the good news that Jesus Christ bore the curse of the Law on our behalf and offers pardon and eternal life freely to any who will believe in Him should impel them to flee to Christ that they might be saved. Thus we who have been entrusted with this great news need to know how to use God’s Law properly. We must never fall into the error of marketing Jesus as the way to a happier life.

1. The proper use of the Law is not as a means of salvation, but to bring conviction of sin (1:8-10).

We aren’t sure exactly what these false teachers were saying, but if they were Jews with a pharisaical bent, they probably were teaching that keeping the Old Testament Law is the means of salvation, while at the same time they were living in a licentious manner. That sounds contradictory, but really it is not. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because on the one hand they were promoting a works sort of righteousness, urging the keeping of the Law (both the Law of Moses and their various traditions); but at the same time they were inwardly licentious or lawless (Matt. 23:25-28).

It is commonly taught that legalism is on one extreme and licentiousness is on the other and that grace is the balance between the two. But that is not what Scripture teaches. Legalism and licentiousness are actually two sides of the same coin. The common operating principle for both is the flesh. The legalist takes fleshly pride in his observance of certain rules (of course he always picks rules he can keep!), but since he operates in the flesh, he has no power over indwelling sin. Since sin is not being dealt with inwardly, sooner or later, he falls into outwardly lawless behavior. Grace, on the other hand, operates in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who enables the believer to judge sin at the thought level and to be transformed in the inner person through the renewing of the mind through God’s powerful Word.

Thus we must be clear on both the improper and the proper use of God’s Law:

A. The improper use of God’s Law is to try to be saved by keeping it.

Paul doesn’t specifically address this improper use here, but this was the entire thrust of his life before he was converted. As he explains in Philippians 3:4-6 (also Gal. 1:13-14), he was zealous for the Law, thinking that keeping the Law and the Jewish traditions was the way to salvation. But in actuality, he was a violent persecutor of the church, far in his heart from the inner righteousness required by God’s Law. As he explains in Romans 3:20, “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

God’s Law can be compared to a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is not to wash your face, but rather to show you the dirt on your face and drive you to soap and water. The purpose of the Law is to convict you of your sin and drive you to Christ for cleansing. Keeping the Law can’t save you because, as we shall see, no one is able to keep it perfectly. Only Christ can save.

If the Law can’t save us and if we can’t keep it, we are prone to say that the problem is with the Law. But Paul affirms, “The Law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1:8). There is nothing wrong with the law. The problem is our sinful nature. It is only the delusion of our sinful pride that makes us think that we can commend ourselves to God by keeping His Law. When we look more carefully at the Law, we discover that ...

B. The proper use of God’s Law is to bring conviction of sin.

Paul says that the Law is not made for a righteous man (1:9). I understand “law” (1:9) to refer to the Law of Moses. Paul has just twice referred to it (1:7-8) and his list of sins (1:9-10) is parallel to the Ten Commandments. When Paul refers to “a righteous man,” I take him to mean one who has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Such persons are the only ones who are truly righteous, because they have God’s righteousness imputed them. A merely good man (by human standards) or a self-righteous man (some take it this way) is still under God’s condemnation and thus needs the Law to reveal his sinfulness.

Thus Paul is referring to those who have been declared righteous by faith in Christ. Such persons are not under the Law, but are under grace (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 5:23). This does not mean that they are lawless; they are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2), also called the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). Nor does Paul mean that the Law has no benefit for believers. It reveals God’s righteous character and how we must live to please Him. But since “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4), we who are in Christ are not subject to the Law’s condemnation. The primary function of the Law is to bring conviction of sin to those who are still in rebellion against God.

Thus Paul says that the Law is for the lawless. God’s Law speaks to the sinner to reveal his sin and convict him of sin. Paul gives a catalogue of sins that roughly parallels (in order) the Ten Commandments; first, offenses against God; then, crimes against fellow men. Note the parallels:

In each case except the last (a catch all term), Paul takes a flagrant violation of the Ten Commandments, perhaps to make the contrast between the righteous (for whom the Law is not intended) and the unrighteous (for whom it is intended) more vivid. At first glance, the person of average morals might look at Paul’s list and think, “He’s not talking about me. I’ve never done these things.”

But a more careful look will convict even the most moral person. Who has never been lawless or rebellious against God? Who has not been ungodly and missed the mark of God’s righteousness (a sinner)? Who has not been unholy and profane (to tread on that which is sacred)? Who has not been disrespectful in striking out at his parents, if not physically, in word or thought? Who has not been angry enough to kill someone else, except for the restraint of the law? Who has not entertained immoral thoughts? Who has not taken that which is not rightfully his? Who has not bent the truth? Who has not wrongfully desired that which is another’s? On all ten counts we all stand guilty before God!

But it only takes one count to convict us! The Law is like a chain--one bad link means it’s broken. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). If you are in a boat in a swift river, 25 feet from a high waterfall, and I throw you a chain secured to a tree on the shore, you are saved. But if there is just one bad link in the whole chain, you’re lost. One violation of God’s Law brings condemnation. Thus the Law is aimed at those who have not been justified by faith in Christ to bring them to a point of despair so they will sense their condemnation before a holy God.

In my opinion, this proper use of the Law is greatly lacking in our day. Many people think they’re doing God a favor to put their trust in Christ as Savior. Others come to Christ with the attitude, “I’ll try Jesus and see if He can make me happy.” What they need to realize is that they’re heading toward the falls! You don’t need to sell a man about to plunge to his death the idea of grabbing the life ring. We need to know God’s Law so that we can use it to reveal God’s holiness to a generation of men and women who have flagrantly violated that Law. The proper use of the Law is to bring conviction of sin.

But God does not leave us in despair. The Law is not revealed apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. The result of using the Law properly is to drive people to the gospel for salvation (1:11).

The fact that the Law is not for the righteous but for sinners is “in accord with (Greek = kata) the gospel of the glory of the blessed God,” that Christ bore the curse of the Law for us. The law proclaims, “We ought to obey God, but we haven’t; furthermore, we can’t.” It’s not in our will power to do it. And so we’re condemned. The gospel proclaims, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13)! There are three points to note concerning the gospel:

A. The gospel brings spiritual healing.

The word “sound” (1:10) modifying “teaching” means healthy or whole. It is a predominant theme in the Pastoral epistles; this word occurs in its metaphorical sense (“spiritual health”) eight times in these letters, and no where else (in that sense) in the New Testament. The good news is that no matter how spiritually diseased a person may be, no matter how far gone in sin, there is healing in the gospel and in the teaching of God’s Word.

The late Malcolm Muggeridge told of an incident while he was in India. While swimming in a river he noticed an Indian woman who was bathing in the same river. She was naked. Muggeridge dived and swam under water to surprise her. As his head rose above the water, the woman turned toward him. Muggeridge froze. The woman was a leper! He retreated with shame, stung by the realization that it was his heart that was leprous.

Religion can clean up the outward person, but only Jesus Christ and the sound teaching of His Word can heal a leprous heart. I don’t mean to imply that believing the gospel brings instant, permanent deliverance from lust and other inward sins. We who live in this body struggle against such sins every day (Heb. 12:4; 1 Pet. 2:11). But when we believe the gospel, we are delivered from sin’s penalty; as we learn sound teaching, we can experience daily deliverance from sin’s power.

B. The gospel reveals the glory of the blessed God.

Verse 11 literally reads, “according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, ...” God’s glory is the splendor of His attributes. The gospel reveals God’s glory--His love, righteousness, mercy, grace, wisdom, and power. God is described as “the blessed God” (6:15 is the only other time this phrase occurs in the Bible). This does not refer to men blessing God, but rather to the fact that God is in and of Himself blessed (or truly happy). He is perfect in Himself. The source of all true happiness and joy is found in God through the gospel.

C. The gospel is entrusted to redeemed sinners to proclaim to lost sinners.

“With which I have been entrusted” (1:11). As Paul goes on to show, he was the chief of sinners, and yet God saved him and entrusted him with the awesome responsibility of proclaiming the gospel to others. The solemn truth is that God does not save us so that we might live happily for ourselves and go to heaven. He has left us on this earth to proclaim His message of reconciliation to others (2 Cor. 5:18-21). He could have shouted it from the sky or used angels, but He didn’t. He uses redeemed sinners to take the message to lost sinners. Sharing the gospel is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. God has entrusted every believer with the gospel to take to a lost world!

Conclusion

One of the greatest evangelists of the 19th century was the British preacher, Charles Spurgeon. Both his father and grandfather were preachers, so he grew up in a home with strict Christian standards. He grew up in an age without the pervasive corruption, sensuality, and violence that bombards us through TV, movies, pornography, and other modern media. Listen to his account of the deep conviction of sin that he went through before he was converted at age 15:

When but young in years, I felt with much sorrow the evil of sin. My bones waxed old with my roaring all the day long. Day and night God’s hand was heavy upon me. I feared lest the very skies should fall upon me, and crush my guilty soul. God’s law had laid hold upon me, and was showing me my sins. If I slept at night, I dreamed of the bottomless pit, and when I awoke, I seemed to feel the misery I had dreamed. Up to God’s house I went; my song was but a sigh. To my chamber I retired, and there, with tears and groans, I offered up my prayer, without a hope and without a refuge, for God’s law was flogging me with its ten-thonged whip, and then rubbing me with brine afterwards, so that I did shake and quiver with pain and anguish, and my soul chose strangling rather than life, for I was exceeding sorrowful.

... For five years, as a child, there was nothing before my eyes but my guilt, and though I do not hesitate to say that those who observed my life would not have seen any extraordinary sin, yet as I looked upon myself, there was not a day in which I did not commit such gross, such outrageous sins against God, that often and often have I wished I had never been born.... Before I thought upon my soul’s salvation, I dreamed that my sins were very few. All my sins were dead, as I imagined, and buried in the graveyard of forgetfulness. But that trumpet of conviction, which aroused my soul to think of eternal things, sounded a resurrection note to all my sins; and, oh, how they rose up in multitudes more countless than the sands of the sea! Now, I saw that my very thoughts were enough to damn me, that my words would sink me lower than the lowest hell, so that I could not bear them. I thought I had rather have been a frog or a toad than have been made a man. I reckoned that the most defiled creature, the most loathsome and contemptible, was a better thing than myself, for I had so grossly and grievously sinned against Almighty God....

A spiritual experience which is thoroughly flavored with a deep and bitter sense of sin is of great value to him [who has] had it. It is terrible in the drinking, but it is most wholesome in the bowels, and in the whole of the afterlife. Possibly, much of the flimsy piety of the present day arises from the ease with which men attain to peace and joy in these evangelistic days.... Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Saviour. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate the evil which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honour of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed (C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography:1 The Early Years [Banner of Truth], pp. 58-59; last paragraph, p. 54).

Today most Christians would think that a boy who thought like that must be from a severely dysfunctional home and that his parents had seriously failed to build his self-esteem. But that’s how God used His Law to convict and drive to the cross one of the greatest evangelists in his generation.

Two final thoughts: First, do you know personally anything of what Spurgeon experienced? Or could it be that you mistakenly think that you’re a basically good person? Thus, “forgiven little, you love little.” Knowing God’s holy Law should make us cling thankfully to the cross and walk daily by the Spirit who works God’s righteousness in us. Second, do you recognize that if you’ve believed the good news, you’re under obligation to take it to others? Make sure you don’t try to “sell” Jesus as the way to a happy life. He came into this world to save sinners (1:15)! Use God’s Law to bring His conviction to sinners, so they will flee to Christ to be saved.

Discussion Questions

1. 1.              Are we too quick to alleviate the guilt of a person under conviction of sin? Give biblical support.
2. 2.              Have we watered down the sinfulness of sin and the just condemnation of God in an attempt to make the gospel more acceptable in our age? What are some results of this?
3. 3.              How (practically) can we share God’s Law without sounding like we’re condemning the person?
4. 4.              Does the Law have any benefits for the believer? What?

Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Dr. Howard Hendricks tells of the time he saw a young reporter interview Bud Wilkinson, who was then the coach of the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners football team. The reporter enthusiastically bubbled, “Coach Wilkinson, tell us what contribution collegiate football has made toward physical fitness in America.” He was rather stunned when Wilkinson replied, “I do not believe that football has made any contribution to physical fitness in America.” “What do you mean?” asked the dumbfounded reporter. “I define football,” replied Wilkinson, “as 22 men on the field desperately needing rest, and 50,000 people in the stands desperately needing exercise.” Dr. Hendricks concludes by saying, “What a description of the local church!”

Sadly, Christianity in America is often a spectator sport. You go on Sunday and sit and watch while the pros perform. After all, that’s what they’re paid to do, isn’t it? “But me? Well, you see, I’m just a layman.” But as we saw last week, “there ain’t no such animal in the Bible.” In the New Testament, there is no special class of persons called “ministers” or “clergymen” or “priests.” Rather, every believer in Jesus Christ is a minister and priest before God. Every believer is to be a functioning member of the Body of Christ, with a God-given ministry to fulfill.

I emphasize the point because we have been so indoctrinated with the faulty viewpoint of our culture that it’s difficult to shake. I’ll bet that if someone new in the church asked, “Who is your minister?” most of you would reply without a thought, “Steve Cole is our minister.” Do you know what you should reply? You should say, “Which minister did you have in mind? We have about 300 of them here. If you’re asking ‘Who is it we support so that he can devote full-time to teaching the Bible and shepherding the flock?’ the answer is, Steve Cole. But he is only one minister of many in the church.” We need to challenge faulty cultural views and evaluate everything in light of the Scriptures.

Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to confront some false teachers who were leading people astray through their wrong teaching from the Law. That wasn’t a “fun” assignment, especially for someone of Timothy’s timid disposition, so he was probably tempted to look for a more peaceful situation. Paul urges him to remain on and confront the problems (1:3). As he reminds Timothy of the gospel he is to preach (1:11), Paul is diverted to remind Timothy again of the life-changing power of that gospel as experienced by Paul (1:12-17). In our text (1:18-20), he returns to his task of urging Timothy to “hang in there” in the ministry to which God has called him.

These verses reveal seven principles of ministry that apply to every believer, because every Christian is in the ministry. These are not the only principles you need to know, nor are they even the most basic. But you won’t survive in Christian service and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” from our Lord without them.

To serve the Lord faithfully, you must understand and follow these principles of ministry:

1. The ministry is a sacred trust to be obeyed.

Paul says (1:18), “This command ....” It’s the same word used in verses 3 and 5, and refers to the command to promote sound doctrine by confronting the false teachers and their doctrines. It’s a military word that means an order passed through the ranks from superior to subordinate. Paul received his orders from the Lord; he passes them on to Timothy, who is to relay them to the church. The word conveys a sense of urgent obligation. Donald Guthrie writes, “Timothy is solemnly reminded that the ministry is not a matter to be trifled with, but an order from the commander-in-chief” (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, The Pastoral Epistles [Eerdmans], p. 67).

Paul says that he entrusts this command to Timothy. The word “entrust” is used of entrusting something valuable to someone for safe keeping. It is used of making a deposit in a bank; also of entrusting a loved one to another’s care. “It always implies that a trust has been reposed in someone for which he will be called to account” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Westminster Press], p. 51).

The lesson for us is this: The ministry is not an optional choice for the more dedicated. God doesn’t call for volunteers. The ministry is a sacred trust from God to each individual which each person must obey and for which that person must give an account. If God has called you to Himself, then He has called you to serve. His particular orders to you as to how and where He wants you to serve must be seen as a sacred deposit entrusted to you by the commander-in-chief. You’re under orders. And you do your ministry to please Him, not for strokes from others or for self-gratification.

2. The ministry is people building into the lives of people who build into the lives of people.

We can see this principle more specifically in 2 Timothy 2:2, where Paul used this same word, “entrust.” The principle is, Paul entrusted certain things to Timothy; Timothy was to entrust them to others; and the others were to entrust them to others. It’s a process of multiplication, where a more mature Christian imparts life in Christ to one who is younger in the faith so that person can grow to maturity to repeat the process. In 1 Timothy 1:18 we see Paul involved in the process with Timothy, whom he affectionately calls, “my son” (lit., “child”). The word shows that ministry is always in the context of warm personal relationships.

What often happens in the local church is that ministry becomes institutionalized instead of being personalized. In other words, “having a ministry” comes to mean, “I serve on the board of elders,” or on the budget committee, or “I teach Sunday School.” All these are important ministries, of course. I’m not belittling them. But it’s possible to keep the institution rolling along, but to miss the heart of ministry, which is building into the lives of people. I read of a new Christian who was leading a number of his friends to Christ and seeing them begin to grow in Christ. But the people in his church were encouraging him to become one of the sponsors of the high school youth group so that he could have a ministry!

The reason ministry tends to become institutionalized is that we’re threatened by people. We’re afraid to open up and share our lives. We’re afraid to have others be honest with us. It’s so much more comfortable just to keep the institution functioning. But the ministry is not an institution. It’s people. I define ministry as a person being full of Jesus Christ and slopping over to build others through open, caring relationships.

3. The ministry is in accordance with spiritual gifts.

The phrase “in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you” probably should be connected with 1 Timothy 4:14, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” This probably refers to God’s confirmation of Timothy’s spiritual gifts through the elders in the church. If this is the sense, it means that Timothy was ministering at Ephesus because of his divinely indicated spiritual gifts, confirmed through these church leaders.

While not everyone’s ministry is so dramatically indicated (I think Timothy was an exception), the principle still holds true that ministry should be in accordance with the spiritual gifts God has given you. God has given each one of us spiritual gifts which equip us for unique ministries in the Body of Christ. You can do things that I can’t do as well, because I don’t have your gifts and personality. When you minister in the area of your gifts, it is usually a source of joy to serve, because you’re doing what God has equipped you to do. (I said usually! I’ll say more on that in a moment.)

Two cautions are in order at this point: (1) Don’t sit around waiting for some special revelation of your gift. Some Christians study the lists of spiritual gifts and pray that God will reveal their gift to them. But they never get involved in serving. Their excuse is that they don’t know their gift.

That’s a fallacy. Gifts are always revealed in the context of serving. Timothy was already serving the Lord in Lystra when Paul returned to town, Timothy’s gifts were recognized, and he was asked to join Paul in ministry. Paul himself, as soon as he was saved, began preaching Christ in Damascus. He went into Arabia for some special training and returned to Damascus, still preaching. He went to Jerusalem and kept preaching. He went to his home region in Tarsus, where there is good evidence that he continued preaching. Barnabas tracked him down and took him to Antioch, where they taught the church for a considerable time. In that context God called him to go out on his first missionary journey. Spiritual gifts are revealed and recognized in the context of serving. So get involved in building people in Jesus Christ, and your gifts will become obvious.

The second caution: (2) Don’t neglect serving in certain capacities because they aren’t your gift. We’re all commanded to do almost every one of the tasks for which there are spiritual gifts. Some people cop out of their responsibilities by saying, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism, so I don’t have to witness for Christ.” Or, “I don’t have the gift of helps, so I can’t get involved in setting up chairs and tables.” That’s ridiculous!

As your gift emerges, it should define your primary focus for ministry. But it should not exclude you from tasks that may be unpleasant to your personality. Timothy was a timid soul, and yet Paul is exhorting him to hang in there and confront those false teachers. Being gifted doesn’t mean that the Christian ministry is all fun!

4. The ministry is a long fight, not a short picnic.

Paul doesn’t say, “Play the good Sunday School picnic,” but “fight the good fight.” The ministry is spiritual warfare. The word fight signifies a campaign rather than a single battle. To change the metaphor it is a marathon race, not a hundred yard dash. And the enemy is trying to trip you up and get you to drop out.

To serve the Lord faithfully, you’ve got to realize that you’re in for the long haul and it isn’t going to be easy. Some people get all excited about ministry, but they burn out. Others get excited until problems hit, and then they quit. Others bail out when they catch criticism (which you will!). Others expect instant results; when it doesn’t happen, they get discouraged and quit. Others are so excited about ministry, they don’t get any training, and they run dry after a while. All of these problems could be solved if people would realize that the ministry to which God has called each one of us is a lifetime campaign against a powerful enemy. Note that Timothy’s fight was against men who were in the church. That’s usually where the battle is waged.

5. The ministry is more dependent on personal integrity than on polished technique.

Paul exhorts Timothy to keep “faith and a good conscience.” “Faith” is probably a broad reference both to doctrine and to belief. Timothy is to hold to his trust in the truth of the gospel. And he is to walk uprightly. He is not to violate his conscience, which is to be shaped by the Word of God. Belief and behavior always go together. In the case of the false teachers, they had abandoned (the word means “to push away”) their good conscience, resulting in the subsequent shipwreck of their faith. Quite often, doctrinal errors are the result of moral problems rather than intellectual problems. Men who teach false doctrine often do so to avoid the moral implications of God’s truth in their own lives.

The basis for having a ministry in the lives of others is to have a personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word and to walk in obedience to Him: “faith and a good conscience.” We live in a day that has gone crazy over methods. Hardly a week goes by without my receiving a flyer promising me proven techniques to increase attendance in this church. While there may be some helpful methods, I tend to avoid such techniques like the plague. The best method for any ministry is to hold on to faith and a good conscience. If you have reality with God, He will use you in fruitful ministry in the lives of others. If you do not, methods will avail you nothing, and you will suffer shipwreck in the faith.

6. The ministry has casualties.

Some shipwreck their faith. To use the earlier analogy, some go down in battle. That fact is not news to anyone who has been around for a while, but it is important to remember. We all have a tendency to put our eyes on certain church leaders instead of on Christ Himself. Satan can’t cause Christ to fall, but he can work on leaders who have a lot of people looking to them for growth. If such a person falls, there are usually a lot of others who fall as well. We need to develop the attitude that says, “Even if _____ (whoever you admire spiritually) falls away from the faith, I’m going to keep serving the Lord Jesus.”

Another reason it’s important to remember that there are casualties in the ministry is to constantly warn yourself of the danger from the enemy. If Satan can lull you into thinking that the Christian life and ministry to which you have been called is a Sunday School picnic instead of a war, then you’ll let your defenses down and he can get to you. I hear often, as you do, of men who have had effective ministries for a number of years, who have fallen into the sin of adultery. That scares me! It makes me confront the sin in my heart and be alert to spiritual danger. Satan shoots real bullets! Watch out or you’ll get hit!

7. The ministry involves unpleasant tasks at times.

Paul mentions two examples by name, Hymenaeus and Alexander. Hymenaeus is probably the same man mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17; Alexander may be the same as the man mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:14. At any rate, these men were apparently church leaders who were involved in some sort of sin (violation of conscience) as well as doctrinal errors. Paul had “delivered them over to Satan.” What does he mean?

Paul uses the same expression when dealing with the Corinthian man who was openly committing adultery with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5:5). Paul viewed the world as Satan’s domain. To be in the church, under the authority of the elders, provides a person with a certain amount of protection from the devil and his attacks through the world. What Paul probably means is that these two men were delivered over to Satan’s domain, the world, by being excommunicated from the protective covering of the church and from the fellowship of its members.

Beyond this, there may be the further idea that those in the church were to pray for some bodily ailment to come upon these men to humble them, so that they might repent and be restored to fellowship. The Lord sometimes must strike a person with some severe physical problem to cause the person to turn to Him. The goal of any discipline is to restore, not to punish. Paul’s desire was not to get rid of these men, but to see them “taught not to blaspheme.”

Sometimes ministering to people involves the unpleasant task of confrontation. On rare occasions, it may have to go before the church and result in formal excommunication, with the prayer and aim of restoration. That is never pleasant, especially for leaders with timid personalities, like Timothy. But it must be done if people are going to grow in Christ and if the body of Christ is going to reflect His holiness and love.

Conclusion

The ministry is not easy. But every person who knows Christ as Savior is called to serve. Knowing and following these seven principles of ministry will help you to be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ:

1. 1. The ministry is a sacred trust to be obeyed.
2. 2. The ministry is people building into the lives of people who build into the lives of people.
3. The ministry is in accordance with spiritual gifts.
4. The ministry is a long fight, not a short picnic.
5. The ministry is more dependent on personal integrity than on polished technique.
6. The ministry has casualties.
7. The ministry involves unpleasant tasks at times.

A little boy went to his first day at first grade. When the clock hands reached 12 noon, he got ready to go home as he was used to doing in kindergarten. The teacher decided to take a positive approach, so she said to him, “In kindergarten you only got to stay here ‘til noon, but this year you get to stay all day!”

He looked at her with shock on his face and blurted out, “Who signed me up for this, anyway?”

Timothy probably felt like that as he faced the task of confronting the false teachers in Ephesus. That’s how you will often feel in ministry! “Who signed me up for this, anyway?” The Lord did! He’s the commander-in-chief; we are drafted to serve faithfully in His army.

A pastor had a son who felt God’s calling to follow in his dad’s footsteps. When the pastor heard it, he said to his son, “Keep close to God, keep close to men, and bring the two together.” Wise counsel for faithful Christian service!

If you’re not involved in serving the Lord--remember, I’m defining service as being full of Christ and out of your fulness seeking to build others--if you’re not doing that, I’d ask you to evaluate whether you are walking closely with Christ. You can’t give out what you don’t possess. The Lord always calls us to be with Him before He sends us out to serve Him (Mark 3:14). The other area you need to evaluate is, are you too self-focused? If you’re so busy doing your own thing that you don’t have time to serve the Lord, you’re too self-focused. If you’re focused on yourself, you won’t be looking for opportunities to minister to others.

I heard of a successful Southern California doctor who met Jesus Christ and left his lucrative practice to serve in a primitive country. His non-Christian partner couldn’t believe that he would do this. On one of his trips around the world, the unbelieving doctor stopped in to see his former partner.

The Christian doctor was performing surgery on a poor woman in extremely primitive conditions. The non-Christian doctor said, “Don’t you remember how much you would have made doing this surgery in Southern California?” “Yes,” replied the Christian, “many thousands.” “Then why are you doing it?”

“Several reasons. See her clenched fist? In it there are a few coins she will give to our mission. See those kids over there? They will be forever grateful if I can save their mother’s life. But there’s one more thing--I hope to hear from my Lord someday the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”

God may not direct you to go to a foreign country. But He does want each of us to live in reality with Him and then to get involved in the lives of others in this church and with those who do not yet know Christ, with the goal of seeing every person know Christ as you do and grow to maturity in Christ as you’re growing. That’s your job as His minister.

Discussion Questions

1. Does the thought of your being “in the ministry” scare you? How would your life be different if you saw yourself that way?
2. So many today talk about “burn out” in ministry. Why do you think this is so? Is burn out avoidable?
3. How important is it to know your spiritual gift? How can a person know it? What difference does it make?
4. What is the most difficult thing for you in serving the Lord? How do you deal with it?

Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

“Who’s in charge of the church?” Most American Christians would answer, “The pastor is.” And many American pastors are burning out or dropping out because they’re overwhelmed with the responsibility of running the church (in many cases, the church is running them!). They feel like a chipmunk running inside the spinning cage-wheel, getting nowhere except exhausted. As a church grows, the pastor’s role often changes imperceptibly into a business manager rather than a pastor-teacher. To prevent these problems, we need to answer from the Bible, “Who is in charge of the church?”

Furthermore, most American churches are run like American government. Democracy is assumed. Members have a vote and they use that vote to exercise control. If they don’t like the way the pastor or the church board is doing things, they organize a movement to vote them out of office. That’s the American way! But it’s not necessarily the biblical way. We need to answer clearly from the Bible, “Who is in charge of the church?” so that we don’t just do things the American way.

In 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Paul enumerates for Timothy the qualifications of those who serve as overseers (or elders) and deacons in the local church. Before we examine these qualifications (in future messages), I want to take this message to explain some basics about church government. Even though we are affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Association, we have people here from a number of different church backgrounds. Many churches are governed on patterns stemming more from tradition and culture than from biblical principles. So among us we probably have different ideas about church government, including the role and function of the pastor, the elders, and deacons. I want to develop the idea that ...

Christ exercises headship over His church through spiritually mature elders who shepherd His flock.

1. The basic principle of church government is that Jesus Christ is the Head of His church.

Who is in charge of the church? Jesus Christ is! It is His church; He bought it with His blood. The local church does not belong to the pastor, to the elders, or to the congregation. It belongs to Jesus Christ who alone is the Head (see Eph. 1:20-23). No one dare proclaim, “This is my church!” It doesn’t belong to any of us. It belongs to Christ the Lord. Never in the New Testament are the leaders of the local church referred to as “head” of the church. Neither is the church viewed as a democratic organization, where the members are free to vote their own minds on issues. The key question in church government is not, “What is the mind of the members?” but, “What is the mind of Christ?”

The church is a living organism, with Jesus Christ as the living Head. The church is not to be organized as a corporation, with the pastor and elder board as the directors and the congregation as shareholders! Webster defines an organization as “an administrative and functional structure.” He defines an organism as “an individual constituted to carry on the activities of life by means of organs separate in function but mutually dependent.” The church is the latter. While an organism is organized, it is more: it is living, responsive to the living Head. The church is a living organism in which every member is to be submissive and responsive to the Head and in mutual dependence and interaction with the other members so that the will of the Head may be carried out in a harmonious corporate manner.

So the main function of church government is to allow Christ to exercise His headship over His church. Having that view of church government results in an entirely different way of conducting church business. If you view the church as a democratic organization where every member has a right to vote, you’re into church politics. Shortly after I came here, I had lunch with a denominational executive who advised me, “You’ve got to build your power base as a new pastor in a church.” I didn’t reply, but I thought to myself, “I’m sorry, but I’m not into building a power base.” If you operate that way, you’re simply trying to manage and manipulate a bunch of self-willed people expressing their wishes through majority rule. But if the members are living daily in submission to the living Head and seeking to obey His Word, then when they come together to take care of business, they are denying self and reverently seeking what the Lord is saying to His church corporately. That’s an entirely different thing than church politics!

To implement this principle, Scripture teaches that ...

2. Christ exercises His headship through spiritually mature elders.

There are two main terms used interchangeably in the New Testament to describe church leaders: “elders” and “overseers” (Titus 1:5, 7; Acts 20:17, 28). “Elders” (Greek, presbyteros; see also 1 Pet. 5:1-4) looks at the man himself. It refers to a man of maturity, not necessarily in years, but in spiritual discernment. While the Bible doesn’t put any age requirement on the office, I would say that an elder under 30 should be an exception (Jesus began His ministry around that age). Once in a while you see a Spurgeon come along, who began pastoring at 17 and was a godly example and a superb Bible expositor from the start. But that is rare. “Overseers” (Greek, episkopos; 1 Tim. 3:1-2) looks at the nature of the work. It refers to men who superintend, watch over, or guard the local church. This term points to a man who is spiritually mature enough to discern spiritual dangers and to guard and guide the flock into spiritual growth.

A third word, “pastor” (= “shepherd”), is used in noun form only once for church leaders (Eph. 4:11), where Paul says that God has gifted some as pastors and teachers, the two concepts being tied together. The verb is used of church leaders in several places (John 21:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). In 1 Peter 2:24, Jesus is called the Shepherd (Pastor) and Guardian (Overseer) of our souls. Thus human pastors and overseers work under and are accountable to the Lord Jesus, the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Pet. 5:4). The word “pastor” looks at the work from the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep.

A fourth word (Greek, prohistemi, from a compound, “to stand before or first”) means to lead or have charge over (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 3:4, 5, 12; 5:17; Rom. 12:8). A fifth word (Greek, hegeomai, we get our “hegemony” from it) means to lead or rule (Heb. 13:7, 17, 24; Luke 22:26). While it involves authority (Heb. 13:17), it also requires servanthood (Luke 22:26).

The point of these various terms is that there is to be a designated body of leaders in the local church. The Bible prescribes several things concerning these leaders:

A. Elders should be men, not women.

As we saw last week (1 Tim. 2:11-15), leadership in the local church is to be male, not female, in order to preserve God’s order instituted in creation, but violated in the fall. Also, every time elders are mentioned in the New Testament, they are men, not women. The qualifications (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Pet. 5:1-4) also make it plain that this office is for men (“husband of one wife”). This means that the elder who is supported as the teaching pastor (1 Tim. 5:17) must be a man. Women may serve on the staff of a local church as pastors and teachers of other women (Titus 2:2), but not over men.

B. Elders should be spiritually mature men.

This was already indicated in the terms used for the office: elder, overseer, shepherd, and leader. But it’s also spelled out in the list of qualifications. We will examine these more carefully (next time), but for now please note that as a whole the list consists of qualities that reflect spiritual and emotional maturity. “Above reproach” heads both lists (1 Tim. 3:2 & Titus 1:5) as a comprehensive term looking at his integrity and reputation. Of the other qualities listed, only one has to do with ability or giftedness (“able to teach”). The others have to do with his home life and personal ethics, especially qualities that can be readily observed.

C. Elders should be a plurality.

The term is always used in the plural with regard to a single local church (see Acts 14:23; 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:5). It may be that one elder had oversight of a single house church. It also may be that one elder, especially the one supported to preach and teach (1 Tim. 5:17-18) will be looked to as the leader among the elders, as Peter was among the apostles and as James was among the elders in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:2-21; 21:18; Gal. 2:9). But the church in a city was viewed as a unit over which there were several elders.

There is wisdom in many counselors (Prov. 11:14) and there is wisdom in sharing the responsibility and authority in the church, so that no single person will dominate without accountability. The only one-man ruler in the New Testament is Diotrephes, whom the Apostle John castigates because “he loves to be first” and he exercised heavy-handed authority by himself (3 John 9-10). The elders need to be subject to Christ through apostolic authority (now, the New Testament; Diotrephes was not). From that base, they can then relate to one another in harmony as a practical expression of the Body of Christ.

Thus the elders should be spiritually mature men, subject to Christ as Head of His church. How are the elders selected?

D. Elders are selected by God and recognized by the church.

As already mentioned, the church is not a democracy. That may sound un-American, but remember, not everything that is American is biblical. Democracy may be a great way to run our country, but it’s a lousy way to run the church. The church is a living organism under the headship of Jesus Christ, subject to His Word. As such, the church must be living in submission to Christ as it seeks to discern His mind in line with the requirements of His Word. That’s a lot different than just taking a vote and following the majority opinion!

Acts 20:28 states how a man becomes an elder or overseer: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” How does this happen? Originally, it was by apostolic appointment (see Acts 14:23). Paul didn’t hold elections; he appointed elders. Later he had his delegates, Timothy and Titus, appoint elders (Titus 1:5). In 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9, we have the Holy Spirit-inspired qualifications which we must look for in those who are to be elders. It is the responsibility of the church to seek the Lord (Paul fasted and prayed, Acts 14:23) to discern which men meet those qualifications and are willing to devote themselves to that ministry, and to recognize them as elders.

Thus rather than “voting” for elders at our annual meeting, we should view it as confirming these men as meeting the biblical qualifications. To that end we have elder candidates fill out an extensive personal questionnaire to learn about their walk with God, their home life, etc. The nominating committee interviews each candidate, going over these questions. Also, the committee welcomes any input from the congregation. We want men in office who are examples of godliness.

There are no stipulations in the New Testament as to the number of elders per church. That should be determined by the number of qualified men and the need for shepherding in the church. It is almost impossible for one man to shepherd more than 20 families, so the larger the church, the more elders will be needed.

Although there is no concept in the New Testament of elders serving a set “term” of office, it is not a bad idea to have a fixed term so that an elder can be reviewed by the congregation and so that he can determine whether to continue serving or to take some time off. It’s a demanding ministry, and men who work in an outside job can’t always continue in it year in and year out. Also, family pressures change with the ages of a man’s children, and so it seems wise to allow him to limit his commitment or renew it as his personal circumstances dictate. I understand that our new church constitution will allow for the elders serving terms, as is currently the case for our deacons.

Thus the basic principle of church government is that Christ is the Head of His church. He exercises His headship through spiritually mature elders. What are those elders supposed to do?

3. The elders’ task is to lead by shepherding God’s flock.

The various terms used for church leadership as well as several of the key passages reveal several broad areas in which elders are to serve:

A. Elders should provide leadership by example and servanthood.

(See 1 Thess. 5:12; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:1-5.) Elders have charge over the flock and are accountable to the Lord. But they are not to lord it over those allotted to their charge, but to be examples to the flock. Peter reflects the leadership style set forth and modeled by the Lord Jesus, who humbly washed the disciples feet and instructed them, even on that night, that the leader among them should be as the servant (Luke 22:24-27).

Leaders know from the Word and from experience what healthy spiritual maturity is so that they can guide others in the ways of the Lord. Thus as elders humbly walk with God in their own homes (1 Tim. 3:4-5), they lead the church into maturity by their own example.

There are times, of course, when those who lead by servanthood and example must exercise authority. Paul tells Titus (1:9) that an elder must “be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” There are times when certain practices among God’s people must be prohibited and wrong doctrines must be confronted. There are times when church discipline must be carried out. None of these things are easy or pleasant. But servant leadership is not soft leadership. An elder must never be self-willed and use authority for personal power. But he must be strong in leading God’s people in truth, which means confronting error.

B. Elders should shepherd God’s flock.

(Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2.) The word “shepherd” is the same as “pastor.” The work of pastoring is shared by the elders. It is impossible for one man to adequately pastor a church this large. The ministry of pastoring involves doing what a shepherd does for his sheep: He knows them (John 10:14); he leads them (John 10:3-4); he feeds them and guides them into the rich pastures of God’s Word (John 10:9; 1 Thess. 5:12; Titus 1:9; Heb. 13:7); he guards them from wolves (John 10:12; Acts 20:29-30); he seeks the lost and straying sheep and helps heal their wounds by getting them restored to the Lord (John 10:16; Ezek. 34:4-5); he corrects the erring or rebellious (2 Tim. 4:2); he equips the flock for maturity so that they can serve the Lord as He has gifted them (Eph. 4:11-16).

C. Some elders should concentrate on preaching and teaching.

(1 Tim. 5:17-18.) We will cover this in more detail when we get to these verses. But you will notice that Paul distinguishes some elders who labor in word and teaching. Verse 18 makes it clear that such men should be supported financially in their work. It takes both giftedness and hard work (which means time) to do an adequate job of preaching God’s truth. Those who are so gifted should devote themselves to that ministry. In the early church, the apostles were being pressured by the practical needs of the congregation to get involved in administrative matters. But they told the church to select qualified men who could take care of these matters and added, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Sadly, too many pastors in our day allow themselves to get diverted from prayer and the ministry of the Word. The entire church suffers if a few men do not devote themselves to this crucial work.

D. Some elders should concentrate on administration and oversight.

(1 Tim. 5:17.) The deacons, as we will see, can aid the elders in this important task, just as the first deacons in the Jerusalem church relieved the apostles from ministering to the needy. But the elders should lead by overseeing and by equipping those under their oversight for various ministries in the church. Remember, an organism is not the same as an organization, but an organism is highly organized. This means that we can’t just adopt business management principles straight into the church. But we do need proper organization, delegation, equipping, and oversight for the local body of Christ to function effectively.

Conclusion

Thus the answer to “who is in charge of the church?” is, Jesus Christ is! He exercises His headship in the local church through elders who are spiritually mature men, selected by God and recognized by the church, who through example and servant-hood shepherd His flock.

Note one final thing: In 1 Timothy 3:1 Paul says that a man should aspire for and desire the office of overseer. It is a fine work. The word “aspire” means to stretch oneself out or to reach after. This is not ambition for power and status, but a reaching toward spiritual maturity so that you can serve the Chief Shepherd by helping to shepherd His flock. Some of you men should have this desire from God to become elders. To get there, you should be growing in godliness (the qualities of 1 Tim. 3:1-7) by daily time in His Word and in prayer. You should be shepherding your own family, setting an example in your own home. You should be taking advantage of every opportunity to serve God’s people, building caring relationships with others with the goal of seeing them become mature in the faith. In other words, the church should not put a man into the office of elder so that he can serve; it should recognize as elders the men who are already living the life and doing the work. We need men who desire that fine work of oversight in this flock. We cannot grow without it. I pray that some of you will aspire to that work.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some practical differences between “church politics” and biblical church government?
2. To what extent do business management principles apply to the local church? Where are there differences?
3. Some churches are heavy on organization and light on organism. Others are the reverse. Where are we?
4. As Americans who love democracy and freedom, we tend to resist submission to authority. Where does democracy conflict or coincide with biblical church government?

Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation