First Timothy lesson 15 cont.
1 Timothy · Mike Doyle · Dec 22, 2024
1 Timothy, No. 45
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261937413178

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are in the study of 1 Timothy. We are in Lesson 15, which is chapter 3, verses 1, 2, and 3. And they're just statements that have to do with the qualifications of someone who has a desire to be an overseer, or we would call them an elder. And and uh, his god's word says that it's a it's a fine work if you desire to do it, but then it goes through the qualifications Above reproach the husband or one wife temperate prudent respectable hospitable able to teach not addicted to wine or pugnacious but general peaceable and Free from the love of money. So we had gone through all of those except the last couple And we had just we were in question six down to Talking about peaceable patient I My notes say the word is used in Philippians 4 or 5 in translated moderation. The lack of this grace was at the bottom of the differences between those two saints, Judea and, I forget how to pronounce, Synthike? Is that how you pronounce her name? They were not on speaking terms and that's because one or both of them weren't peaceable.

So the next one is not quarrelsome. Really interesting that that Greek word quarrelsome really means that they're not combative or they're not a brawler. So does that mean that the elder is a milquetoast? Everybody know what a milquetoast is? We all know people who are ready to fight at the drop of a hat. An elder can't be a fighter like that.

He can't be contentious. You can't be looking for trouble. There's people that just go around looking for trouble. Or maybe, some of the notes I have, maybe they don't have what you would call a chip on their shoulder. Or they're too sensitive. You know what I mean by that? That they're not approachable because you know if you challenge them, they're gonna get angry.

And they're gonna, you know, Those are fighting words. It's interesting too, you know, like those cop shows we watch, alcohol and being contentious. seem to go together very well. Our television lineup is pretty boring, but one of the shows we love is called On Patrol, and it's live cameras in patrol cars all over the country. Things that are happening at that moment, and how amazing it is that people are stopped or there's a call out to a domestic problem, and alcohol or drug addiction, these people are combative. It's like the more alcohol you drink, the louder you talk, the faster you talk, you're gonna win the argument, not against the policeman, you're not.

And I'm amazed at how calm the police are. You know, they don't, very few of them ever sort of lose it. They're very calm, you know, and I think that that's one of the characteristics, whether you have it, whether you weren't like that early on, but as the Lord called you and suited you out for to be an overseer. That's gotta be one of the characteristics, because some of the stuff you're gonna hear, you're gonna think, really? And the last one is really interesting. It says, not covetous. It means, it's two words, filio, which means fond of, and agaros, which means silver. not fond of silver.

So in today's Christian environment or Christendom, I would say that almost every televangelist has got this problem because they're in it for the money and you can tell that they are. You know, I mean, we laugh at some of the stuff that they pull off. You know, that Crefalo dollar told his congregation five years ago that he already had a private jet, but he needed a bigger one that cost $35 million because he needed to get to prospective persons who wanted to get saved faster. and he told his congregation it was their obligation to raise the 35 million so he could buy this.

Well, guess what? They didn't raise it. But if you watch those guys, they're all about the money. They're all about living high. And you can even go on the web and say, give me a list of the 25 wealthiest pastors. And every one of these guys has a TV show. And some of them are incredibly wealthy. And the interesting thing about Olsteen, he's not even a Christian. He comes from an Armenian background.

He doesn't acknowledge that the Lord Jesus is his savior. He won't do that. But John MacArthur doesn't do it either, so, you know. Anyway, and you don't have to see it on a large scale like that. You can see it in small environments, too, or in small churches, where I think it's cool how Roger and I have nothing to do with the money. Nothing. And that's perfect.

I've looked at the financial report lately because we have an idea about bringing guest speakers in. Could we afford to do that? But you'll find that a lot of guys, how do I say this? young guys I've met, they have gone to school and educated themselves for the job of pastor. And the money is really important, how much the job pays. And I remember when we were looking for, years ago, we were looking for a pastor when Hal said he was gonna step aside and We were having a meeting, we had a committee, a pastor search committee. And I think we, I don't know, we were advertising, we had 50 some responses. And all but two or three of them wanted to know about the salary and the money and that kind of thing. And to Art Lother, most of you guys remember Art Lother. He said, the guy we want, he won't be worrying about the money. That was a revelation to me, because I'd never done that before. I remember Vern never talked about the money, never. Yeah, he was. But he was a gracious guy, too. He really was.

So that's an interesting characteristic that a potential elder shouldn't have. Now, it doesn't mean that he isn't financially responsible for himself and his family. He has to be. You just can't say, well, Mike, I want you to be the elder, and we're not going to pay you. Well, we've got to pay you. We have to. We have to support you.

But if you show up one day with a new Mercedes, then we got a problem. And we have base salaries that we face, but then we basically have requirements so that they raise a certain amount of their their own income. They raise income, and it raises maybe a lot of income. So, you know, if you came in a Mercedes, is that necessarily that made you raise the money?

We've just been through this, and it's like, so you cut people off and tell them not to give. We tell them not to give money. How do you do that? It's just kind of an odd thing, we've been through this. Well, that's like your televandalism. Yeah, but I mean- They go by, well, that's my income, I wrote that book.

Yeah, it's kind of an interesting quandary, is that how much is enough, and who determines that? I remember when Miles Stanford died and myself and another guy were kind of taking care of Cornelia's money and stuff. They were very, very generous, the two of them, to lots of maybe a dozen people and that kind of thing.

After about six months, Cornelia didn't have enough money. So we sat down with her and said, Cornelia, you have to cut back on some of these donations. They're just too much. You can't afford them. And she agreed, but there was one person that wanted to know why we were sending them less money.

And I've noticed that with missionaries sometimes, you know, that they Or you would help somebody through a short period of time, and then the issue is resolved. But they never say to you, don't give me the money anymore. Yeah, I mean, it's a real quality. It really comes down to their motive or their hunger. And part of the discussion was you're asking people to give you more money. But who determines what that amount is? As a board of directors, it's very difficult, actually. I can make so much money, but we're going to keep you down. It's very difficult. What you said just triggered something in me. Went to a school of the Bible, it was like that. Everybody, the professors and everybody that's there were missionaries.

And they didn't pay any salaries to anybody. Is it because most people just don't understand it's the Lord's money? They don't. That's exactly right, they don't. And, you know, When you live in a society like we live in where everybody has an opportunity to be financially successful, you can tell a person who is about the money. I was a realtor for years and years and there's a group of realtors that really cared about their customers and there were other guys who was always and only about the commission.

That was it. It gets so bad sometimes. Oh, it is. It's awful. But it's true with lawyers. It's true with anybody that's on a performance-based environment where whatever they do, they don't get paid a salary. To me, the poster child is Frank Azar. I mean, Frank Azar got me a million dollars. He doesn't tell you how much of that million he got. Fifty percent. Yeah. Yeah. He got half. Yeah.

And I think it really comes back to, kind of off on a tangent, it's free from the love of money. Yeah. Money is everything. It's your motivation, your heart, that money is the key. your ministry or whatever. If money is your, you know, it's again the same thing we've said, if it masters you, or if you can, you just can't do with less, you know. Yeah. You know, I think that's, it's, that's coming out in here in the qualification.

You could be, you could be very wealthy and be a But you realize that, as Mike says, it's the Lord's money, and if you lose it or you have it, it makes no difference because it's the Lord's money. And there are Christian men that have a lot of money, but they were qualified by the Lord to have that money. Donna? You know, you talk about the basic principle of the sin nature is that it desires. and that almost all of these things we're talking about, if you're in Adam, those are going to be a problem. Absolutely they are. And we'll probably revisit this in the next lesson, so let's go there. Lesson 16, and the verses are 1 Timothy 3, 4-7.

He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? And not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." Really interesting, cool verses, I think. So, the first one is, he must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control. My first question was, explain what the words manage, manages his own household well, tell us about an elder's personal responsibility.

Because if you go to Ephesians 5 and other places and you look at what your responsibility is just as a person, a Christian person, and or as a husband or a wife or whatever, I mean, the Lord is very, how do I say this? He is, everything the Lord does under grace, he does based on principles of, what's the word I'm looking for? Or order, principles of order. He's very orderly. and how he sets up the church, how he sets up the family, how he sets up relationships, how he sets up governments, everything. He's very orderly about that.

And so, our requirement here for, manages his own household, couple of words, the word manages is the word rule, and it's the word that we get superintendent from, or to preside over, or to maintain. In other words, this person who candidates needs to be in charge of his family spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. That's what he needs to do. Now, that doesn't mean he can't delegate some of that authority. He can't. But he's in charge. He's responsible. And so, and I think you find situations where a candidate may not be managing his own household spiritually, which means he doesn't spend time with his kids and teaching them, or his wife. And he's the spiritual leader.

One of the things we talk about in marriage counseling, especially in 2024, men will say, well, I'm supposed to, you know, my wife is to submit to me. And okay, well, what makes you worthy of that? Because just because somebody wrote it down doesn't mean it's gonna happen. You have responsibilities.

And I've told more than one guy, I said, look, you have to understand, you're the spiritual head of your household, which means you need to be with the Lord more than any of the rest of them. You need to be paying attention and studying and growing spiritually so that if anybody in the family has a question, who are they going to go to? You. You're the one.

See? And so, in a couple of cases now, friends of ours, they end up being friends, that's turned out to be the case, that the guy is the spiritual head of his household, and in two cases, his wife is really a dynamic person, but she looks to him for spiritual guidance. See? And even in a case where this one guy's wife makes more money than him. But she says to him, how should we spend this money?

You know, that kind of thing, so. Usually a wife has no problem with that, though. Usually not, but some do. And the submission, there's gotta be a wooing. Well, it's interesting. If I, as a man, and submitted to the Lord Jesus as my Lord and life, then I recognize if someone's gonna be submissive to me, what it's gonna take for them to do that. And I can't tell you how many men I've said, look, the only reason your wife isn't submitted to you is because you don't qualify. Well, it's gotta be Christ. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's the only reason.

I mean, when you think about it, the Lord Jesus isn't your boss. He's your savior, you know, and he's gracious. And, you know, I mean, when you sit down and think about who he is and what he's done, has anybody else ever died for you? No. Has anybody else ever really wanted you to spend eternity with them? No. And when he says, you know, when he asks you as a man to be submissive to him, you don't have a problem with that.

Let me put it this way. So much of Christianity, people are running around trying to prove to God how faithful they are. When in fact, what's really going on biblically is that God is about the business of proving to you how faithful he is. Because once you get that, then you'll submit. And you'll listen under, and you'll go along. It's the same thing. It's like trickle-down economics, same kind of thing.

It starts here and trickles down, and it goes husband, father, mother, children. Now, you know, and if you've had more than one child, they're all different, but you'll find that there's a certain love there. Thankfully that the Lord is loving and he's gracious that permeates, you know, it's like, why do you love God? because he first loved you. Well, why does your wife love you? Because you first loved her. Why do your children love you? Because you first loved them.

That's why. Yeah. I think a big part of the problem that I've noticed with a lot of people is they don't understand the true definition of what submission means. And they make it, okay, well, your wife is more like your servant. I don't think so. And I think that's where we run into a lot of trouble. Traditions, marriage traditions, and what the world says about what marriage is all wrong. Marriage is an interesting thing because what prepares a guy Take the guy's side. What prepares a guy for marriage? If he's not a believer, he's not prepared. If he is a believer, he's got a shot at being prepared.

See, that's the thing about God's word. God lays this out. I mean very carefully and exhaustively about how a family should work. Understanding your position, your new birth, and also your identification. All of those things matter. Yeah, all of those things matter and they play into the role that God calls you as a husband, as a father, as a whatever, you know, a family, a functioning family. It has to start with the Lord and, as I said, trickle down from there.

You know, one of the guys I know that has a really cool family, I said to him one day, I said, what's your secret? It's a great answer. He said, I figured out that if I gave my kids a very safe place to grow up, they would prosper. And what's the safe place? He's the spiritual head of his household. He loves his children. And all of them are prospering, you know? He's involved in their lives, they're involved with him, you know? It's cool to see. Physically, emotionally, and financially, you know?

So the next word here is own, O-W-N, manage of his own household, an elder's own private peculiar household, as contrasted with the household of God. So, what Paul is telling Timothy, those who ascribe to be an elder need to have their own household in order. It can't have all the other qualifications and not have this one.

This next part was kind of interesting. House is oikos, and we've talked about the household of God. That's where we get the word oikonomia, which is the word we use. Dispensationalism really means rule and order in God's household. And the word house is interesting, is masculine. The word well is masculine. feminine and the word, the idea of moral and honest behavior, doing well means moral and honest behavior is neuter.

So God covers all the bases just in this command. Manager of his own household, So it kind of, it kind of says less, like we're, we're, um, Myles Dreeger and his family are going to move here and going to get involved with us. Does he fit this environment? Well, his family was here this summer.

Sure. They do. Sure. They do. Raising a household. the man really finds out what grace really means. Sure does. And it's very interesting the kind of man that Miles is in terms of his focus and interest in the Lord Jesus and how it filters down through his whole family. I mean, here's a guy that grew up in a Christian environment that was very legal. And he admits that his whole focus on Christianity was legal, had to do this, had to perform, and had to do everything right. And he marries Elissa, who also comes out of a legal environment, and they're married, and they have kids, and God begins to teach him about grace. And he said, we started to wake up about how grace really functions. And he said, when that happened, the pieces started to fall into place. And I thought, wow, that's pretty cool. And you know, the world has great power.

I mean, I won't let you watch that show. Well, they'll just go over. to their friends and watch them there, you know. But if they love you, if they love you, they won't. But even if they do, you're there for them. Oh, yeah. To explain to them. Yeah. You know, if they run into trouble, it's soft. Yeah. Yeah. I just looked at the time. The singers have to go.

Father, we thank you again for, we're excited at how orderly you are and how you have things in place. And not that we have to do these things to be blessed, but we are blessed because we have the opportunity to live like this. And we thank you for that. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.