Mr. D's Notes on I Timothy
Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.
Copyright 2000

CHAPTER 14

TO QUOTE A FEW CHILDREN I'VE HEARD, "MINE!"

INTRODUCTION:

Several years ago we took our daughter and grand daughter to Nebraska to see some relatives. We had noticed and mentioned earlier that our grand daughter had not used the "mine!" word in her short little life.

When we arrived at our relatives, it was not long before grand daughter and the relatives little children began playing together. Their son was very cruel in mentality. He walked up to me with a monster action figure with sharp edges and laid it on my forearm and scraped it as hard as he could down my arm. He looked at me with a grin and asked if it hurt. They were very grabby, picky, noisy, and selfish. It was about five minutes before our grand daughter used that term "MINE!" for the first time.

She learned very quickly that to keep in that house, is to holler MINE!

In this text we find that church leaders are to have a prerequisite, even before they are examined to see if they are qualified.

Let us turn to I Timothy 3:1.

SCRIPTURE READING:

1 "This [is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

2 "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

3 "Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

4 "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5 "(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6 "Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 "Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

Notice in that first verse that the church leader is to desire the office that he holds. We want to delve into this idea of desiring the office of elder in this study.

"There's a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge. Socrates recognized a pompous numskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water. Then he asked, What do you want? Knowledge, O wise Socrates, said the young man with a smile. Socrates put his strong hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. What do you want? he asked again. Wisdom, the young man sputtered, O great and wise Socrates. Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. What do you want, young man? Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, Knowledge, O wise and wonderful... Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. What do you want? Air! he screeched. I need air! When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge." (M. Littleton in Moody Monthly, June, 1989, p. 29)

The church leader should be able to look at his position and say, "MINE!" They are to WANT AIR!

Now, understand what I am saying. I am not saying that church leaders are to act like little children nor am I saying they ought to be bad swimmers!

I am saying however, that a man should not be in church leadership unless he has considered the ramifications of this verse.

Once he is convinced in his own heart and mind that he desires the office, he should then be examined to see if he is qualified according to the rest of the text as well as the list in Titus.

You may be saying to yourself why consider the desire of an elder. I personally have not heard a message on the subject, and as I went looking for commentary information, I discovered that many do not discuss the thought when commenting on this passage. I want to comment on it in this study because to me it is a new problem facing the church. In years past I think most people that were in office were there because they enjoyed that ministry, but I'm not sure all officers today are there because of a desire to serve.

Many are the men that I have run across in positions in the church are qualified, but are not totally committed to their work and ministry. These men are doing a good work and are sincere in their effort, however they are not the men that God wants in that position - they don't desire the work. God will call men to the work and give them the desire to fulfill that position by prayer and the Word not by being voted in.

I have also come in contact with men that desire to lead the church and do some of the preaching, but are not comfortable with the other aspects of today's concept of pastoring. These men are not serving in the position that they should because of their churches traditional concept of pastoring. They have the desire but not the opportunity.

It is of interest that God might well call a man and give him the desire, long before he is qualified. That would indicate that training and discipleship are required in some cases. There might also be a man that has been in a church for many years, highly qualified, and is called later in life that is fully qualified.

The text is not limiting to a set pattern, but rather is limiting to a set list of qualifications. A call, a desire, and a life that is fitting the office that is desired.

We need also to point out that not all men should desire the office. There are more that will not desire it than those who do. God only needs a few to oversee the flock.

We want to take a look at the terms that are used in this verse, and then we will look at the implications of the text.

WORD STUDY:

"This [is] a true" This term is closely related to the word that is normally translated faith.

This term is used of someone that shows themselves faithful in business transactions/is used of a person that follows orders/is used of a person that is worthy of trust/is used of a person that can be relied upon. It is also used of God being faithful (I Cor. 10.13; II Cor. 1.18).

The term is used of a person having faith in Christ's resurrection and His Messiahship. "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." (Luke 7:50) It is the term that Luke used of Stephen in Acts 6.8, "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people."

Barnes mentions of the word, "...means assuredly true; it was that which might be depended on, or on which reliance might be placed. (Barnes p 122)

"saying" This is the same word that is used to describe Christ as the Word, Logos. It is also the same word that is used to describe God's Word the Bible. It has the idea of something that is spoken or said. It seems to be a general term which takes on special meaning when related to Christ and/or the Bible.

A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term logos around 600 BC to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. This word was well suited to John's purpose in John 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

"If a man" The term seems to indicate that any and all men are open to have this desire, yet only those so burdened, gifted and called would have the desire. If any man desires, is the idea. This presupposes salvation - the man must be a believer.

"desire" The Online Bible states: "to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something" They also list as a usage, "to give one's self up to the love of money" Picture a greedy person - you know, like Scrooge McDuck - their desire for money - the man desiring to be a church leader should be so desirous.

Vinzant vol. 3 mentions "Originally to stretch forth, to reach after. Here it implies not only desiring but seeking after. The word implies eagerness...."

The term is a verb and the construction indicates continuing action that the person has involved himself in. He is actively desiring.

I Tim 6.10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The term coveted is the term we are looking at.

Heb 11.16 "But now they desire a better [country], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."

"the office of a bishop" This seems to indicate the office or name of the position that is desired. (Lu. 19.44; Acts 1.20; I Tim 3.1; I Pet. 2.12.) The term elder or shepherd pictures the ministry of the one in that office.

The idea of investigation and inspection are seen in the term. These terms are used in the thought that as a church leader, the person would inspect the church constantly and determine what needs to be done and set into motion the work to accomplish this.

The shepherd does this constantly in the field with the sheep.

"he desireth" The idea seems to be to long for, or to desire. Since the word is translated lust and covet also, we must assume that this longing or desire is quite strong, indeed, strong enough I assume, to move the person to act upon that desire by seeking the office.

Christ used this word for a man's lust for a woman in Matt 5.28.

Luke used the term to describe the desire of a hungry beggar wanting the crumbs from the rich man's table: "And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." (Luke 16:21)

"a good" There are many terms listed in the Online Bible to describe this term. Beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, precious, admirable and magnificent, to list some.

It is used of good works, of good fruit, good ground etc., indicating that this work that is desired is a GOOD DEAL. Something quite acceptable and good.

"work" This is a word that simply means that which occupies our time as we do things. Work normally indicates effort and exertion.

It is used of the works that believers have done which will be tried by fire at the judgment seat of Christ. I Cor. 3.13-15

"good work" might also be translated a good office, or good ministry. Paul is telling Timothy to find men that desire to be involved in the oversight of believers. He is then to look at their overall character and find if they qualify according to the list that is set forth in the coming verses.

The Darby version seems to put it quite nicely: "The word [is] faithful: if any one aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work."

To put it into the thought of our word study you might try this. It is true to say, if a man really desires to oversee the church, he is seeking a good ministry.

"Faithful is the saying" in the King James indicates that this is just a saying that is true. The Darby indicates that this is the Word of God that is faithful. A saying in the Word elsewhere dealing with this subject or the Word itself. Which case is correct? If we had a passage in the Old Testament or writings of the New Testament that predated I Timothy, we could suggest that the Darby translation was correct. If not, then the King James would be correct.

The literal translation of the verse states, "Faithful is the word" which does not indicate if it is just a saying or The Word. I do not find any previous reference to a person desiring the oversight of believers. There are a few references which mention that God is in the business of overseeing His people - Jer. 31.28; 44.27 for example. Luke 2.8 mentions of shepherds, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." This illustrates our text. A shepherd desires to oversee the flock as does a church leader. However, no ref. to indicate previous mention of men desiring to oversee.

I think the King James is probably the closer to what Paul had in mind. I really do not see any indication that the Bible was in his mind.

I. BASIS OF THE WORK

The true saying is that if you desire the work, you desire a good work. Now, if there is any other desire, or if there is no desire, then the saying is not true of you.

The desire is for the work and nothing else! If there is anything else involved then you no longer have a true description of yourself.

Let's consider some of the possible wrong desires. I would like to just list three possibles and read a verse for each.

IN THE NEGATIVE:

A. Not for money - I Tim 3.3, "Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;"

Many are the stories that I could tell you of pastors that are more interested in the "pay package" than they are in God leading them into or out of a work.

Let one account suffice. One of our chapel speakers at the school where I taught was a camp director in Montana. He told us of a pastor that had told him that he was changing churches because he needed more money. Up front - that is no reason to change churches. The camp director asked the pastor how much he was getting at his present church. The pastor replied, "Only $40,000."

B. Not for pride - I Tim 3.7, "Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." Most feel that the snare of the devil was his pride.

C. Not for self - I John 2.15-17,

15 "Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 "For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

Do it because you feel compelled to do it for God! No other reason or desire should be involved.

IN THE POSITIVE:

I would like to submit three references and just list some of the positive aspects of this work.

A. THE CARING: Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." WATCHING AND FEEDING.

This work is done for the Holy Spirit because it is done at his command and call. I don't know about you, but I've been in a number of meetings where people were almost railroaded into office by a congregation that needed someone to fill a position. This is not the desire of the Lord.

It relates to the oversight of the church.
It relates to the spiritual feeding of the people of that church.
It is done for those that Christ died for.

It is of note to me that in this great passage, given to the elders of the churches there is no mention of all the things that we feel a pastor is to do. Visitation, marriages, mowing, cleaning, funerals, community projects etc. Not that these things are bad, but they are not a Biblical job description for an elder.

The pastor is to be involved in feeding and watching for the people.

B. THE PREPARING: Eph. 4.11-16

11 "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 "That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:

16 "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

Note: Christ = Head
Leaders of the body
For the perfecting of the saints.
For the edification of the saints.
For the protection of the saints
For body increase.
For the work of the ministry. (Both the ministers and saints.)

C. THE SENDING: II Cor. 5.18,19; Matt 28.18-20; Acts 1.8

I would like to list the II Cor. passage. The others are probably familiar to you - if not take time to read them later.

18 "And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

We are to be spreading the message of reconciliation to the world.

THAT IS MISSIONS!

All too often our leaders teach the people, and maybe even care for the people, but few churches send their people. The number of mission minded churches is on the drastic decrease today.

When on deputation, I ran into a church in Washington that had sent out more than fifteen couples to the mission field. That is a church that takes time to teach its people about the Lord's command to go.

We want to move on now to the desire of the work.

II. DESIRE OF THE WORK

The man that is spoken of in this text is one that is somewhat consumed by what he wants to do.

I am reminded of people that I have seen that are involved in car racing. Their every moment is geared toward the next race and getting the car ready for that race.

Their money quite often is committed to the car, their time is committed to the car, their thought life is committed to the car and all else that they have is committed to the car.

So, the man that desires to oversee the church should commit himself, his time, his resources and his effort to doing the work of God.

If he is still in the seeking stage of his desire and not qualified then all should be committed to assuring that his life measures up to the standard that follows in I Timothy.

The man should want to do it.
The man should want to do it well.
The man should want to do it well for Christ.
The man should want to do it well for Christ only.

His total focus should be on the work that he is attempting to do for Christ and Christ alone. The work is not for his benefit, but for the benefit of Christ and Christ's people.

And now the nature of the work. A GOOD WORK. Not one that brings shame or division to the church or Christ. A GOOD WORK!

III. NATURE OF THE WORK

A. It should be a work that glorifies God. There is no other logical reason to labor for God.

"[Even] every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." (Isaiah 43:7)

B. It should be a work that increases Christ's body.

The whole concept of the Body of Christ is the growth, maturing and the working together of the members.

If we are afraid of growth in our churches, we are afraid of what God wants. This is not uncommon today. Many are afraid their apple cart will be bothered, thus don't like the thought of growth.

We were in a church that was interviewing a candidate. The man wanted to do some new things to see if he could bring about some growth in the very stagnant church. The people became nervous and asked all kinds of questions about why he wanted growth etc. They did not call the man. It was of interest to us that the man they called had similar ideas about growth but didn't tell them about his ideas. They called him and he brought about growth in the church. GOD WILL HAVE HIS WAY, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

The whole idea of evangelism is growth in case you haven't noticed. If we are leading people to Christ, then the body will be growing.

By the way, this is the problem today. We aren't leading people to Christ fast enough to replace those that the Lord takes home. We either need to get out and begin evangelizing or ask the Lord to let the Christians live longer.

C. It should be a work that flows from the Holy Spirit.

Any labor that is not directed by the Holy Spirit,
any labor that is not empowered by the Holy Spirit,
any labor that is not centered in the Holy Spirit cannot be a work that is from God.

As a church there should be much prayer concerning all facets of the ministry. As church leadership meets to plan the future of the church, prayer should be the prime force behind their action.

We ought not move without orders from God.

APPLICATION:

1. FOR THE CHURCH LEADERS:

Do you leaders measure up? I see few churches holding leaders to this standard in I Tim three.

I have seen a few men of this caliber in my life. I met one a number of years ago. He was a very busy man in his own life, yet he desired to do the work of the Lord. He was working long hours at work and yet he spent many hours in church work.

He was not interested in glory or recognition, indeed, oft times he would do things and the pastor would take the credit - it didn't matter to the man.

He was involved in ushering, he was a board member, he was involved in the missions committee, he was involved in visitation, and he was involved in other areas of the churches ministry.

He desired the work and he did it when given the opportunity.

2. FOR THE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP:

It is your responsibility to hold your church leaders to this standard.

NOT YOUR STANDARD,
NOT A PAST STANDARD,
NOT A FALSE STANDARD,

BUT GOD'S STANDARD!

In closing I would like to read four verses which show the balance of leadership in the church. We have Christ the Head, we have the leaders, and we have the people. There should be a balance between the three.

Acts 20.28 mentions the ministry of the overseer as well as Christ the provider of salvation.

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

I Timothy 3.1 mentions that the overseer should desire to do the work that he is entrusted with, and then the following verses tell us of his qualifications.

"This [is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."

Heb. 13.7 mentions that teaching is part of their ministry, as well as living a good example before man.

"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of [their] conversation."

Heb. 13.17 tells the congregation that they are to obey the overseer. The congregation is also to submit to the overseer. The clear teaching of this verse is that the overseer must give account of his sheep.

"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that [is] unprofitable for you."

I might be quick to point out that these last two verses do not teach that the pastor is in total power, and that he makes all decisions for the church. This is a false line of thinking that is being spread through the country by a Bible College in Missouri.

Illustration: We started going to a church that as we found out later had no board, the pastor controlled all aspects of the church’s life and program. He had come in and eliminated the board over time and was in total control of the church. His belief was that the people were there to do his bidding and he was to tell them what to do. If they did not follow him, they were standing against the Lord's anointed.

Thus, we see that Christ is the provider of our salvation and head of the church. He directs the church via prayer through all the saints. The overseers are to set the tone of the church for the congregation, and the congregation is to obey and submit to the ministry of the overseer.

There is one item that has not been covered. Who makes sure that the overseer lives up to the qualifications? This should be the responsibility of all believers in that church. I assume that the elders will do much of the work with the person desiring the position, but the congregation should also be involved. They are the people that know the candidate the best.

So, we come to the end. The man that desires to be an elder is to desire that ministry with a Godly desire. The congregation in turn with, and through the present elders will assure that the man is qualified according to God's standard.

Before I close, I must warn you. There is a danger in what I have told you. IF YOU HOLD YOUR CHURCH LEADERS TO THIS STANDARD, THEY ONE DAY WILL, AS THEY SHOULD, HOLD YOU TO THE SAME STANDARD. All except one of the qualifications for the elder are restated elsewhere in Scripture for all believers. The "apt to teach" is the only qualification that is not for all believers.

In our churches, we should be holding the leaders to this standard, and they should be holding us to the same standard. THINK OF IT - church purity in action!

When in Bible College in Denver we knew a graduate student that was pastoring a church. He was a student and was working near full time in the electronics industry.

He was quite busy in his life and was doing quite well in school, and the church he was pastoring was growing.

They had two children but one had been in poor health. They finally found a specialist that told them that the child had a serious long term expensive problem. The couple had no health insurance and did not know what to do. The man asked the student body to pray for his family.

A few days later the man's boss called him in and asked him to transfer to a larger facility out of state, as management. It would include all moving expenses, a very large increase in salary and full benefits with the company, which included complete health insurance.

You see the dilemma. Leave the pastorate of the church and school and have all the financial security they needed and move up the corporate ladder or pass up a good promotion and face the thousands of dollars in upcoming medical expenses.

He again asked the student body to pray. In a few days he announced that he had decided that the pastorate was much more important to him, his family and His Lord than any money, job or security and that he had already turned the employer down.

That man desired the office of bishop.