What does the Lord require of the leaders of His church?
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. – from the First Letter of John 2:1
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. – from the First Letter of Simon Peter 2:11
Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6
Suppose for a moment, that Jesus had been married (or living in sin as some heretics would claim). Who would we look to for example for a woman? Jesus’ wife! A woman of the flesh, imperfect though joined to our Lord. Again, NOT God’s plan.
And suppose, further, that Jesus and a wife of the flesh had children in the way all of us have children. To whom would the world and the church look to for establishing and building Jesus’ MEGA-church to go into all the world? Again, in the traditions of ancestry: the PREACHER’S KID. Some responsibility, right? Yet in His omniscient wisdom, God the Father had no such plan.
Jesus was not married. Jesus had no children of the flesh (as we are born as sons of a sinful man and of a sinful woman born of a sinful mother and father in adam).
Peter, however, was married. As was the custom, there may have been sons and daughters of Mister and Missus Simon Peter: Preacher’s Kids. Yet we do not hear of these. For that matter, we hear very little about the wives of the Apostles, including Peter’s wife whose mother Jesus healed.
We hear little of the women of the church (only occasionally of a mother or sister of the church noted for her humble service and faithfulness). For that matter, we hear little of Simon Peter, Christ-appointed successor to unify the Apostles in the Gospel through the Holy Spirit. Without Peter’s approval, without Jesus’ brother James’ approval and without the approval of the risen Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit, Paul (Saul of Tarsus) would not have been preaching to the church and writing letters to the churches, as did the other Apostles.
Without the leadership of the Spirit, Paul could not have instructed Timothy in the leadership of the church as the Gospel takes root in the adopted souls of the generations.
Yet understand that some of Paul’s instructions for the church are cultural, while other instructions of leadership point to the most important character of the leadership and members of the body of Christ we call ‘the church’ or the ‘saints.’
1 Timothy 1
English Standard Version (ESV)
… the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Against this contrast of sin and worldliness, Paul lays out examples of leadership and the character REQUIRED of leaders of the church under constant scrutiny by the congregation they lead; a pastor, elder, bishop or deacon watched closely by a world they would lead to Christ.
Just imagine the lives of Peter’s kids or any Preacher’s Kids in the probing eyes of others as the child of witnesses for the Lord who said, “I will make you fishers of men.”
We learned in Acts of the Apostles that Peter and the Disciples and appointed Deacons were first and foremost servants of the church and the body of believers. By the instructions of Christ our Lord they did not lord it over one another.
Our Lord, Christ Jesus does not suggest any arch-Apostle or Bishop over bishops. We are instructed to love and serve one another, even as Christ humbled Himself to serve sinful man.
Yet Paul emphasizes Christ-like requirements in the leaders of Christ’s church:
Therefore an overseer [episkopos or Bishop] must be above reproach,
the husband of one wife, [Note that an unmarried man would NOT qualify; nor a woman: married or unmarried]
sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
- not a drunkard,
- not violent but gentle,
- not quarrelsome,
- not a lover of money. [Preachers of prosperity wouldn’t qualify.]
- He must manage his own household well…
[The KJV states: ‘ruleth well his own house.’ We don’t cherish the idea of even a pastor ruling over us, do we?
However as prerequisite he must rule also over his wife and his children with the love and charity of Christ Jesus. Any leader of Christ’s church must rule over people, priorities, time and money with maturity and discernment of the Spirit.]
- … with all dignity keeping his children submissive, [Lookout, P.K’s: it means obedience.]
for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
[An excellent point of the Apostle Paul.
Do you want a man without such charitable rule over those under his care at home to have authority over your church?
For that matter, should a ‘father’ with no children instruct you and your wife and your children how to live and witness as a family in Christ Jesus? {Controversial, in these later last centuries of a broken church body.}]
Paul continues:
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Quite a list for a leader of the church, is it not?
Can any Bishop or Elder of the church live up to this perfection without some failing of flesh? Certainly not in his own will; yet it is the standard to which our leaders are held accountable. Certainly the Preacher’s wife and Preacher’s Kids are also viewed in the spotlight of this higher standard. May God help them.
To this Paul adds requirements for Deacons:
Deacons likewise must be dignified,
They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.
And now Paul reiterates requirements for wives of Deacons and requirements for Deacons the same as the high standard for Pastors and for Elders:
11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.
Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.
For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
To be continued…
Against this contrast of sin and worldliness, Paul lays out examples of leadership and the character REQUIRED of leaders of the church under constant scrutiny by the congregation they lead; a pastor, elder, bishop or deacon watched closely by a world they would lead to Christ.