The Blueprint for Godly Leadership in a Strong Church

going to give a little bit of an introduction kind of build up some speed to hit our passage tonight but in the me term if you got want to already start looking there if you turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3 um we're going to be there looking at the first seven verses but in our study that we've been doing on First Timothy we've titled it the blueprint for a strong church and every lesson we've had coming up to tonight has uh been given teachings to have that strong Church church but they've they've been corrective up until this point Paul has been giving Timothy things that Timothy needs to address within the church there at emphasis but now starting in chapter 3 comes the things that are

necessary as Pastor said especially within leadership uh that need to be there for there to be a strong church now what we're going to find as we start to look at these things is that they are not what our culture would necessarily say is needed for leadership and this really shouldn't surprise us because the church as a entity is a unique organization within this world in the book of Colossians in ch 1: 16-17 we're told that Christ is head over all uh worldly powers and authorities and that he has head over all Thrones and dominions and principalities and powers and that all of these uh exist then by his power but then in verse 18 it it brings in something else and it says in addition or it

doesn't say in addition but it shows that in addition to that there is another entity called the church the church is separate from these Earthly powers and authorities and it's not ruled by them but it's it's ruled by Christ and it's the only organization uh that actually has Christ as a part of it because he is the head of the church and so all other powers and authorities and forms of government while ultimately under Christ do not have Christ as its head and so because of that they operate apart from Christ and so they operate according to their wisdom according to their desires which we know are corrupted by their sinful Natures this means that God's design for the church in all of it

runs countercultural or is countercultural it goes against culture it goes against our culture and it it went against the culture of its day when it when the church first started I want to highlight this by briefly looking at a little bit of the passage that we had from last week in 1 Timothy chap 2 it says that the women or women in the church are to be modest in their apparel and they're to not teach in this kind of setting with the mix men and women wouldn't be teaching in the main services in Pastor when he had this passage he correctly explained that that that does not mean that a woman is any less than a man it just means that there are different roles for men and women within the

church but yet to limit the teaching or tell women to limit their ability to be able to te you guys know as well as I do that just that just runs right against with what we hear in the culture but what I wanted to point out that is is that that also in a different manner ran against the culture of Timothy's day the church always runs countercultural in Timothy's day they would not have a have had a big problem with this issue of limiting women to teaching because of the women in the church that have been able to have been educated would have only been the wealthy women in that time and that place uh women were not valued as men they were not equal to men and so the education of a woman was

not important and so it would only have been the wealthy women that could have adorned themselves in the manner that that Paul tells Timothy to correct it would have only been the wealthier women who who would have been able to gain an education to actually have been able to teach and so for for their worldview uh what what Paul is asking Timothy to to Timothy to correct isn't a big huge deal it doesn't affect a whole lot of people however also within that passage is an element that did affect them greatly in verse 11 Paul commanded them he said let the women learn in Silence with all subjection this is a command from Paul to Timothy saying that women are to be silent they're not to teach

that's the that's the context of that but yet they are also to learn women Paul says or or Paul commands Timothy that the women in the church church are to learn the women all of them without exception are to be educated this is countercultural for their day women are less than men in in the culture's mindset this is not where you're going to put your resources and yet in the church it's different and my point being and bringing all this up is that while it's different in the church it is of Christ and it is good and all of it whether it runs against our culture or not it is good and so what we need to do when we come to the Past passage as well as this passage that we're going to be looking

at tonight and in next week uh Peter's going to be covering the aspects on the deacons I'm going to be covering the aspect of the bishop or Elders tonight but whatever cited it is we need to put away the things of the culture that are telling us we need to do that are the correct ways and instead submit to the hup of the Lord Jesus Christ and follow what is good teaching here and implement this into our church so that we can be that good strong church that makes impact in our culture now as Pastor noted the passage we're going to be looking at tonight deals with the leadership and it's in that 1 Timothy CH 3: 1-7 and let me let me read this for us there it says this is a true saying if a man

desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife Vigilant sober of good behavior given to to hospitality apt to teach not given to Wine no Striker not greedy of filthy luer but patient not a brawler not covetousness not Covetous one that Ruth his ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God not a novice less being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil moreover he must have a good report of them which are without L he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil now just in me reading

that passage you you listen to the requirements and you are immediately picking up on the idea that that that some sort of special skill or some sort of special schooling is not actually necessary it's not the requirement not necessarily anything wrong with those but that's not the requ requirement there's not a a requirement for a vibrant personality to lead the Church what you pick up immediately in reading this is that the issue that is necessary in leading the church is a man who is Godly a man who is Godly and Paul's going to build on that but before he builds on it the first thing he has to kind of remind Timothy In this passage is that that role of leadership Bishop Pastor or Elder

that role that he's going to speak on is actually a a good work that's okay to desire we can understand why Timothy might be doubting that a little bit at this period of time Paul starts his letter off to Timothy and one of the first thing he tells Timothy the younger man in the church is to go tell the other teachers that what they're teaching is is is not correct he commanded to tell them to stop teaching to put that in a little bit of context that's like inner the youngest on the pastor pastoral staff coming up to Pastor me and Peter and telling us hey guys you got it wrong you got to stop teaching right that's a big thing for a young man to take on but then Paul has also told Timothy to

go and to tell the wealthier women likely educated likely part of the families that are contributing the most financial support to the church tell them they're misplaced they're not supposed to teach that's a tough thing Tough Enough we all chicken out and left let pastor Wayne teach it last week he I mean he was joking around last week but he was also telling the truth all three of us are like now you got this one but for a young man like Timothy right this is tough and yet Paul reminds him that this work is a good work we needed pastor Wayne to come to us last week and boldly say what is God's word and boldly say that yes it is against the culture but this is how it takes place in God's

church and we need that and it is a good work to car carry out and so while it is difficult there's a lot of times where there's no support in it it's not always put you in a position where you're liked it's not a job that people know what you're doing most of the time but it is a job as a position that does a good work it's needed and it's needed to be done by Godly men and so because of that it has very very high qualifications let's look at verse two the first part of verse two it says a bishop then must be blameless blameless means without handles I can't grab on to it it doesn't necessarily mean the person is sinless actually actually it doesn't mean they're sinless what it means is

that no charges can be brought against them they will fail they will sin but they will confess those sins they will repent they will seek for forgiveness they will work on themselves to be able to not sin again they have lived their life in a manner so that no charge can be brought against them now I want to point this out though in this issue as well as every single thing on this list it is not specific for pastors or deacons or Elders it is for all of us for something that sets apart the deacons and the elders and and and the Bishops but and we'll get to that in a second but the requirements here are actually for all of us this idea of being blameless actually starts with everyone's

salvation in Romans 5: 5-8 it says this but to him that worketh not but believe but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness and so the one who who has Faith he's not relying on his works he has righteousness that is given to him verse 6 even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute uh impute sin and so for the person that has accepted Jesus Christ as their savior they have received forgiveness of all sins and because they have you know past present and

future because they have for have received forgiveness for all sins by that one-time action of our Lord Jesus Christ what means then is in Christ we are blameless because we have been forgiven our sins have been paid for there is there is no uh legal guilt that can be placed against us with the law because we have been forgiven the price has been paid and so in Christ we are blameless but how we live now it's not what we necessarily are in Christ you know we trip up and we fall and we still have sin issues but the thing is there's this process that we are in where we need to be moving uh more and more towards what we actually are in Christ and that is blameless Paul prays for this for the

Philippians in chapter 1 in Philippians 1 uh verses 9- 11 it says this and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in judgment that you may approve things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offense without offense it's a different Greek word but it means exactly the same as the one that that translates to blameless for us that you would be without offense or without blameless that that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Jesus Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God and so then all believers are called to the exact same thing that pastors and and

elders and deacons are called to the only real difference here is that for leadership while there's no special skill for leadership is for the man who has been intentionally putting into practice and seeking to work out what every believer should be doing it is the man who intentionally works out his salvation it is for the man who has humbled himself and has worked towards personal righteousness Samuel Logan bringle was a leader of the Salvation Army in the early 1900s and he writes on spiritual leadership and I think he did such a fantastic job and I want to read this to you he says Brothers can we get up there on the screen by chance okay we'll read it listen closely spiritual leadership

is not won by promotion but by many prayers and tears It Is attained by confessions of sin and much heart searching and humbling before God by selfs surrender a courageous sacrifice of every Idol a bold and deathless uncompromising uncomplaining embracing of the Cross and by an external unfaltering look unto Jesus crucified it is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves but rather like Paul by counting those things that are gained to us as lost for Christ that is a great price but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would not who would be not merely a nominal but a real spiritual leader of men a leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven on Earth and in hell I think

that is so well put because it speaks to the intentionality and the effort of living out the Christian faith to be Godly to be Christlike to be blameless and for the men that will put in and seek this humbly and with with confession and effort for them as they become Godly as they work out towards godliness they are the ones that are then the ones that are um ready for leadership in the church now their work they do have some work that goes in first that gives them some experience before they can become a leader and that's spoken of in Verses 4 through 5 and this would also apply to all of us as well too in verse four it says there that they are also to be one that ruleth well his own house

having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God and so the Godly Man's leadership has to also be put into practice in the home he is the one who rules his who rules his house well and the evidence for that is within his children I want to take a side note or take a take a little tangental spin-off here for a second on this the requirements that we have in this passage don't have to all be met to be able to be in the position for Christian leadership look at the guys who are in this letter we have Timothy and Paul neither one are married Timothy doesn't have children and and we never hear of

children with Paul so it's possible Paul doesn't have children either and so they wouldn't be able to meet this requirement they wouldn't be able to meet the requirement one wife which we'll talk about in a little little bit and so what you see is this is not a a something that everything has to be met what this is is these are guidelines to show what the blameless man is in these areas of his life and so for the man who is married and has children the question is is how are they how has he done there with the the management of his own house and of his own children has he led his children with all gravity or with all dignity is another way to understand that you know there's two ways to

understand this verse you could understand it that um this is of having his children uh and the the children themselves are in subjection or obedience uh with all gravity or with all dignity but that's actually not the not the way to handle the sense the sense should actually be understand as as the man uh who is leading the family has LED his children towards obedience in dignity it's speaking to his leadership it's speaking to his leadership style he is a man who has uh correctly understood the scriptures and know how to lovingly bring his children on and to teach them obedience and so if there is a man who is a harsh father who rules by force and rules by threat he he would not be

qualified he would not be qualified because how he is caring for his children in that manner is how he is supposed to or will care for the church and the church is not to be handled in that way these are brothers and sisters uh of well all brothers and sisters but we're children in the Lord and and the leadership is to build them up not slap them into submission and so a harsh father would be not qualified he has to learn same thing with a weak father a weak father who uh justifies his children sin nature and is slow to correct and slow to train so that his children are out of control he's not qualified he's not qualified because he hasn't learned or doesn't know how or doesn't want to

provide that loving discipline to develop a CH a child and that loving correction is necessary in the church and if he can't do it at home he's not going to do it in the church so he needs to learn what is needed is in need what is needed is the man who with dignity manages his home according to God's word who is that loving father who who is looking to build up his children into men and women who someday hopefully will come to Christ and that their obedience ultimately is a testimony to that man's godliness within his own home now I want to take a minute and talk to the men here with the young families maybe some that will have young families and I want to basically plead with you for a

moment and I want to plead with you not from a pastor down to the congregation but I simply want to plead from you from an older father to a younger father I know there's a lot driving on you as a young man you got to build your career you got to pay for the family you know they want a house they want a better place to live they want more rooms so you got to work harder to be able accomplish that you got demands at work because you're early on in your career you're low lower on the totem pole and they're going to load you up with work I understand I live through it myself but just for somebody older can I tell you and just just plead with you for a minute that you would make the pursuit of

godliness your personal pursuit of godliness more important than your career and more important than your hobbies and then if you would do that if you would also make your wife's spiritual maturity more important than your career and your hobbies that is such a huge need and you know guys from men my age almost what would say every single one of my friends and pretty much everybody I can think of out the top of my head who's a Believer has times where we look back at how we raised our family and we have moments where we recognize that we kind of lost our way for a period of time and we got focused on different things and the reality is our families suffered and there's another generation

coming up and that's why I'm pleading and I'm pleading with you younger guys to break the cycle God will provide you with your career God will provide you I can tell you as an older man that's true trust the Lord with your Provisions right seek after that personal Holiness seek to walk after Christ as your most important thing and then encourage your wife in that same way look to build her up as Christ builds up the church and in that the management of your family is going to go unbelievably better than what you anticipate you're still going to be troubles kids are still going to be rebellious they still going to deal with it but you're going to be addressing them from a different point of

view and that's The Godly point of view and that's what's necessary break that cycle of men who grow up or who get older and have focused so much on their career they've missed importance things with their family and so the effects of a godly man they're felt in his family but they're also felt in his community look at verse 7 it says therefore or sorry moreover he must have a good report of them which are without the godly man also makes an impact on those outside the church with a good report another way to say that is he has a good reputation with unbelievers outside the church and ultimately this speaks to um the effectiveness of his evangelism outside of the church because he is

respected by unbelievers he can speak then into their lives when they come to ask him about the hope that he has a Godly Man not only makes an effect with his family but most makes an effect with the unbelievers outside and so God godliness which is what is called from all believers by the way keep that in mind does manifest itself within the family and the and the society around the family and the man that then practices pursues and applies godliness is the man that God says now is qualified to lead the church now I haven't covered a lot of verses we're going to go through the rest of them pretty quick here but in the verses that are left that I'm going to go over next everything there is

basically the description of the man that is blameless and so we're going to go through these starting in uh verse two here in a second but as I go through through each one of these qualities I want you to ask yourself two questions as we go through these the first one I want you to ask as we come to these is this true of Ohana's pastors and of Ohana's deacons and if it's not I'd like to ask you as one of the pastors here is to please pray for us in this make a note that this is where I think they're week and then please commit to praying for us amen amen and secondly as you go through this list ask the same question of yourself are you blameless in this area we're starting a new year this

fantastic time right to make new commitments of of how we're going to focus for the next 12 months uh make the mark you know in this area I got to work Mark that and as we go forward in this year work on that so that the end of the year you can say that I've moved forward in my godliness in this area and so let's look at these and let's rate ourselves look at uh second part of verse two it says they are to be the husband of one wife now to my knowledge all the pastors have one wife so for that issue we're okay but you can push that thought a little bit further right how's the marriage how's the marriage are marriages good folks in here that are married are your marriages good are you

blameless in this area when people look on the outside and see you guys as a couple can they say yes they're solid the does it need work the second one is vent vent you can actually translate as being not intoxicated but it doesn't have the idea of being drunk in this context uh that's actually going to come with other words later on but but in this context it's talking about being uh addicted having something in your life that that takes over control of what you're thinking about it could be something like video games or time on the computer or any other thing that draws your mind away from where you need to be are we blameless with this and then Sober Sober speaks to being of sober minded

of being of self-controlled which is ultimately only a Christian attribute because we are the only ones in the world Christians who have been freed from the power of sin and because we've been freed from the power of sin we truly can't seek to be self-controlled and so are we self-controlled are we are we blameless in this of good behavior mean orderly and then are we given to hospitality you know our pastor is a very good example of this of of being hospitable but I wonder if a church if this is us it is true we are a very friendly church and for that that's a good thing you know we don't want to move away from that that's good but are we hospitable hospitable the idea is that you're

inviting somebody that you don't know either a stranger or somebody that you don't know very well into your home for the purpose of getting to know them and making them a friend are we hospitable are we blameless here to be honest I think as a church this is an area we can work at we are we are friendly we we love one another for sure but are we hospitable are we inviting people to our house or are we too busy or are we prideful and we think you know what my house just isn't good enough for somebody to be here I'm a shame of what I have you know most Brethren and sisters aren't going to care they're going be glad you invited them let's be hospitable apt to teach now apt to teach this is

something special this means skilled at teaching and this this needs some gifting of God to be able to take place and so um the question on this one is is how's your pastoral staff doing how's your pastor's doing on this one are we skilled at teaching I can tell you every single one of us wants to be and if you look at us and you see a weakness pray for us pray for us not give to one wine has the idea of remaining or staying near wine and and are we a church or are we individually are we we blameless in this area or do we let alcohol or some of the other stuff that we know locally goes around uh let us get intoxicated in a sense are we free of that not to be a striker you do not strike out

in anger in any manner whether physically or verbally you don't see anybody doing that in church but how's that in the house how's it in the home how's that when nobody's looking right are we blameless in this area not greedy a filthy filthy lucer not greedy of crooked gain does does anyone compromise for financial gain we cheat on our taxes or do we do we work something in some angle to be slightly um corrupt to be able to get a gain out of it and nobody's going to see are we blameless in this are we patient I like this one this is good patience some of your translations if you're using something other than King James you'll have it gentle but to be honest um gentle kind of works with the

Greek term um patient probably a little bit better but it's not the primary uh definition of patience that you think of in in like that waiting kind of idea of patience the the second definition of patience in the Webster's Dictionary actually covers this closer to what the Greek term means and and that is uh manifesting forbearance under uh provocation I want to embarrass our brother Grady tonight because gr actually does this and I love how he does this sorry brother it's GNA come Grady and Jennifer they they take care of the twos and threes and they're really really faithful about that and they love those kids and those kids love them but every once in a while know gr's told me this they

get a little screamer in there and he's going to holler or she's going to holler and Grady will pick him up he'll put him on his lap and he'll hug him and he'll wait and he'll wait until that child settles down to where they need to be that's the idea it's patience it's got that corrective issue with it and it's got that long suffering issue with it of waiting till the person comes along and is this not the leadership that you want in your church the leadership that will will patiently wait until we get to that point continuing to be there for us encouraging us along in the way that we need to go until we actually get there are we patient in this manner are we blameless in this do we show

this kind of Tender Love and then last two we're not a brawler which is the opposite of being peaceful we're not quick to defend ourselves and lastly not covetous so as I went through that list how'd you do what areas do you think you need a little work on how the church leadership do I have some questions and hopefully they come up on the screen there I'm not sure if anything else has come up on the screen I'll read them here we have some questions that we're going to break up in a minute after I pray and Clos us uh to discuss good they've come up on the side fantastic and what we're going to do if you haven't come here before and there's first time to an evening service here at Ohana what

we do is after the message we'll break up into discussion groups for about 10 15 minutes and discuss the the passage and and it's based on the questions that are up here and what these questions are is the first one what I did is I listed who the Pastors in atana are and who the Deacon trustees are and then I asked based on 1 Timothy 3: 2-7 in what ways can you be praying for these men brothers and sisters these are the men that are leading the direction of the church and so what ways can we pray for them and then secondly what I'd like you to do is then go as a group reread 1 Timothy 3: 2-7 and then note what ways do you need to grow or which items do you need to grow spiritually in to be blameless and then how will you seek to do that so we'll break out to look at that in a little bit here but but let me go ahead and close in prayer and once again just as a a member on the staff if you would pray for us in these areas we would would truly appreciate it