Author: Jinson Thomas

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/jinson-seron-170813_1128.mp3″]

Good morning church! So glad to be a witness to wonderful things God is doing in and through the Gathering. Today we launch our bilingual Gathering and we believe it will help in communicating the gospel in the heart language of many people in the city. Coming to our series, we are reading through 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus as a church. Currently we are in 2 Timothy and as you all remember, this is Paul’s final letter to Timothy in the New Testament. He is awaiting his execution in a cold dungeon in Rome. He’s sharing final instructions and words of encouragement to his disciple and close friend for many years. Timothy is a pastor of the church at Ephesus. He is still facing a lot of issues with the false teachers out there. That is the context of this passage. This passage specifically describes the sins of these false teachers. Let’s turn to this week’s passage:

[1] But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. [2] For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, [4] treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5] having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [6] For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, [7] always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. [8] Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. [9] But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

I was really encouraged by last week’s sermon on fleeing from youthful passions and pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart. As young people who are looking to live out our faith, we must hold fast to this verse (2 Tim 2:22). Let it be reminded time and time again because this is what we have been called to and this is what truly gives life. So if you missed on last week’s sermon, I’d recommend you to listen/read (link) it on the Gathering website.

Coming to this passage, I want us all to think and ponder on why does Scripture speak so much on identifying false teachers. Why couldn’t it just be a chapter on it? Why emphasize so much on it as we’ve read through these letters? And what’s the heart or the root behind false teaching? Can you and I also be influenced by false teaching? We’ll address these questions and more in today’s sermon.

V1 starts with But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Whenever you notice the word “But”, it always means a contrast. What is this passage being contrasted with? The previous passages talk about being a gospel worker, it talks about right teaching, it talks about fleeing from youthful passions and pursuing Christ…right living, and also how to correct opponents gently. This is contrasted with the description in today’s passage. Paul says “But understand this”. It seems like he is saying “Don’t be surprised! Mark my words in the last days you are going to face a lot of trouble from these false teachers”. Which last days is he talking about? In the bible, the last days began when the Spirit poured out on the believers in Acts 2 fulfilling the prophecy of Joel. So since the day of Pentecost, we have been in the “last days”…and it will continue until Christ returns.

That brings me to an important question, why does Paul think it’s important to repeat and re-iterate about false teachers?

1. Obvious reason is that it was a current issue within the church at Ephesus.

2. Church leaders and members cannot overlook or ignore the reality of false teachers in the church.

Acts 20:28-31 : [28] Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,[e] which he obtained with his own blood.[f] [29] I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; [30] and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. [31] Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Sometimes we think that the best way to not get into controversy is ignoring controversial people. We think “why to be concerned about someone else? Let’s be focused in what we need to do and let other people do what they want to do”. That’s not what the Bible teaches us. We need to deal with false teaching straight up. For three years, Paul warned the elders at Ephesus regarding false teachers. It’s almost as if he is saying that it is inevitable. It is going to happen.

3. Paul was passionate about Christ and His church.

Paul was deeply in love with Jesus and knew the love Christ had for the church. He loved the church so much that He gave himself up for her so that he might cleanse her and present the church to himself in all splendor without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. Because Paul loved Christ and the church, he couldn’t stand the fact that wrong things were being taught about Jesus. It’s like a person trying to cause a fight between a married couple by telling each of them wrong stuff about each other. If you were a close friend of the married couple, you would get worked up and would feel the need to confront that person for trying to cause issues in their marriage.

So we understand how important it is to identify and also be alert regarding false teachers so that you can guard your hearts from it!

He then goes on to describe these teachers:

[2] For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, [4] treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5] having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [6] For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, [7] always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. [8] Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. [9] But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Lets look at the descriptions in detail. These people would be:

• Lovers of self: selfish, only concerned about their own interests, what can other people do for them, thinking about themselves all day long
• Lovers of money: They love money, constantly they think about how can they get more money, they lose their mind and sleep over having lack of money or wanting more money, money controls every decision they make
• Proud: someone who boasts a lot, they keep bragging about what they have, what they’ve done and what they know. They keep talking big things even if they don’t have proper knowledge of certain things
• Arrogant: They feel superiority to others, look down on other people and treat them without respect, they think they are more important and deserve more importance than others
• Abusive: Immoral, sinful and ungodly things are uttered out of their mouths. They don’t even speak of God with reverence
• Disobedient to parents: They do not submit or obey parents that God has placed over them. Throughout the Bible, obedience to parents is considered important to God. That’s why it’s also one of the Ten Commandments. Culture might think that it’s not important but it is important to God and therefore is absolutely important for us too!
• Ungrateful: We might not think of this as sin, but not being thankful to God is counted as one of the sins in the Bible! When is a person usually ungrateful? When he feels entitled, he feels that he deserve everything that he has. Or a person feels ungrateful when he expects more than what already has. This doesn’t glorify God because it views God’s gifts and actions towards us as unworthy and useless which is not the case
• Unholy: wicked attitudes and wicked actions
• Heartless: They are hard hearted and unloving. Unloving toward God and unloving toward people
• Unappeasable: You can never convince this person to stop fighting and to be peaceful, unending fights
• Slanderous: Falsely accuse someone, it can be about God or man
• Without self control: No self restraint, you do whatever you feel like doing at the moment, your impulses control you
• Brutal: Violent, fierce and aggressive
• Not loving good: They oppose anything that is good or anyone that is good
• Treacherous: betraying someone
• Reckless: rash in your actions or decision making
• Swollen with conceit: Being blinded by pride
• Lovers of pleasure: Their goal in life is to pursue pleasure for themselves. So they’ll go to any extent to receive pleasure. They think that it doesn’t matter how immoral the thought or the action is…as long as you receive pleasure!
• They have an appearance of godliness but deny its power: When you look at them or talk to them you may think that they are spiritual but it’s only external. Their lives lack the transforming power of the Spirit because they refuse to change.

These false teachers have their lives characterized by these sins above. They are known for these sins. However, I don’t think any of us can look at this list and claim to not have sinned in any of these areas. All of us if we are being totally honest will admit to struggle in one or more of these areas. That’s why I want all of us to pay careful attention to the next part!

We are now delving into the root cause of false teaching. If you see here, the list starts with lovers of self, lovers of money and ends with lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. The real issue here is misplaced love!

[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Rom 1:18-23)

When we read this passage, we see how the issue in human history has always been about misplaced love. The reason why God’s wrath is revealed against us is because even though we’ve seen and experienced the love of God in creating us and sustaining us and providing us with this beautiful world to live in and displaying His greatness in His creation, we still love created things rather than Creator God!

When Adam and Eve were created, they were created with the purpose to love and honor God. The devil told them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan told them that if they ate it they would become like God! At that moment they had to chose to either “love God” or “love themselves”. They chose to “love themselves” and all of humanity and creation fell into sin and destruction! Misplaced love!

After Genesis, you see the story of the Israelites in their relationship with God and you see misplaced love. Time and time again God rescues them and loves on them and provides for them but they keep running after idols and false gods made of metal and stone. The pagan nations around them would worship idols. Israelites even after seeing God perform astonishing miracles before their eyes, chose to love “idols” rather than “Almighty God”. Misplaced love.

And we come to our present age and we love other gods in our lives. In our hearts, we build special shrines for these idols:

• Social Media Idol: We say things like “I’m addicted to social media” but don’t admit that we love seeing ourselves get all the attention. We don’t admit that Facebook is probably the first thing we look up each day and the last thing we say good night to each night
• Entertainment Idol: And this is something I confess…is looking at entertainment as a way to self-medicate you from the issues of your life
• Work Idol: I must perform better at work in order to have my self-worth
• Family and friends Idol: Both family and friends are good things and God desires that we cherish these relationships. However, these are not meant to be substitutes for God in your life. Would you lose all reason to live if your friends and family aren’t around you? Is your happiness motivated by the circle of family-friends present with you?
• Pleasure Idol: In order to feel loved you gravitate toward seeking pleasure for yourself. Your decisions and actions are motivated by your pleasures. You look at your pleasure and you look at Jesus and your pleasures seem more sweeter and better!

And you don’t need to be a psychologist to figure what your idols are. Whatever you end up thinking most of the time or whatever you end up talking about most of the time is your idol. And it is your idol because you have greater affections for these things than Jesus. You love them more than God! You may look at this and be like “what’s the big deal? Why does God have to be so upset over me loving other people or things rather than him?”

How would you feel if your spouse goes around with other partners? You would be furious! Why? Because you know you belong to each other and this is an exclusive relationship that cannot be shared. Let’s look at us going after our idols as spiritual adultery! In fact, our sin idols ruined us and left us severely bruised. In OT, adulterers would be stoned and publicly humiliated. The punishment we deserved for our spiritual adultery was the wrath of God. But God sent His only Son Jesus to buy us out by giving up his own life. The most precious gift that could have been given was given to rescue us from the penalty of sin, death and Satan! Do you see the love that God has for you?

In the light of God’s amazing love for you, how do you show your love for Jesus?

1) You express your love by sacrifice.

Whenever we think about love in today’s age, we always think about love in terms of a feeling or an emotion. Biblical love is much more than that. In John 3:16, we see God the Father loving the world so much that he “gave” his most precious gift to save us. We can show our love for Jesus by giving something that’s really costly to us. The control and authority of your life is most important, wouldn’t you agree? Maybe you’ve been holding onto it for so many years, would you give it to Jesus because you love him more?

2) You express your love loving one another.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (John 13:34)

As God’s church and family, God doesn’t want us to be consumers but imitators. The same love Christ pours out to us, we bend it outwards to each other in God’s family. Interestingly the verse says “just as Jesus loved us, we ought to love one another”. It’s the same sacrificial love we are display to each other. Look for ways to know the other members in this family, find out how you can serve them, think about ways where you can share your life with them.

3) You express your love through obedience.

[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. (John 14:15)

[21] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21)

See there is a difference between obeying the commands of Jesus to “show people” that you love Him and obeying the commands of Jesus “out of” your love for Him. You can obey the commands just because those are the right things a Christian should do. Or you can obey the commands of Jesus because you are deeply in love with Jesus. Which do you think glorifies Christ and honors Him?

The truth is you will listen and obey the person whom you truly value and treasure in your heart. If you don’t value a person, you might still do it out of obligation but not willingly and gladly. So ask yourself today, how valuable is Jesus to you today? Is he so valuable and so important that everything he says you want to do? Or is he just like someone you like listening to when you feel like?

Another question I would like to put in front of you for reflection, think about some sin that you struggle with. Maybe 8 out 10 times when you are tempted, you fall into it. Your habits, patterns, thoughts are driven by this temptation because its hard. Would you consider asking yourself the next time you are tempted “Do I love Christ more or this sin?” Your desire and will to trust Christ and obey him during moments of extreme temptation and testing makes Him look big and precious!

Good morning church! We are going through a series titled “God Alive Church: A journey through the book of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus”. For us as a church it’s been exciting to hear and know what God desires from us individually and corporately as His body. We are in 2 Timothy right now and the context of this letter is essential to understanding the weight and thrust to each of these passages. Paul is writing this letter to his dear friend, companion and disciple Timothy while he’s in prison awaiting his execution. It’s his last few days/months on this earth and he wants to communicate some urgent important instructions for Timothy and the church.

Last week we read how we can be strengthened by the grace of God. And we learnt three analogies by which we were exhorted to have a single-minded focus, obedient and hardworking pursuit of Christ. One thing we need to constantly encourage each other and challenge each other is to live a life worthy of the gospel. God didn’t send His only begotten Son so that we may live in sin. He sent His Son so that we can be free from sin! Jesus didn’t shed His blood on the cross for us so that we receive “Salvation” and then pursue our personal ambitions. Christ became our ambition! Now as his church we want Christ and we want to become like Him! Christ wasn’t nailed on the cross so that you and I live purposeless lives. He gave us a new purpose…an eternal purpose to know Him and introduce Him to others so that we all know and relate to Him as His bride! Let’s not be fooled or deceived by the world and Satan….when everything around you compels you to live for yourself and this life! No, live for Jesus! Live because He showed us grace!

We continue our study this week in 2 Tim 2:15-21

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

This passage might seem like it’s only meant for full time, professional ministry workers or pastors, but I believe the principles apply to every believer in the church because all of us are called to disciple people…help people become and grow into Jesus (Matt 28)! In that sense all of us have a calling to lead and teach people. Where all does this apply?
• We speak the gospel to each other within the church when people struggle with guilt, doubt, loss of identity, depression, sexual temptation, pride, anger, unforgiveness etc. and suffering.
• Parents need to lead their families to know, trust and love Christ.
• We declare the gospel to unbelievers outside of the church when we interact with them on weekdays at work or college or the streets.

You and I might be employees 5-6 days of the week, but we are Gospel Workers 24/7. And there’s no retirement here! Therefore, it’s very important that as a congregation we understand what this passage is trying to say to us.

1. Diligence as a Gospel Worker

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

All of us understand the phrase “Do your best” when we think about college or work. But what does it mean as a Gospel Worker? Let me clarify at the outset that you are not working hard and doing your best to earn God’s favour. All of our best efforts are like filthy rags before a holy God. (Is 64:6) We do our best because we have earned unmerited unending favour from God!

So what does “Do your best as a Gospel Worker” mean?

It means to exert yourself and persistently work and put your efforts to present yourself to God as someone approved!

I work in a company where we sell a software product. The software developers build the product but it’s not released immediately. It goes through a testing phase where the Quality Analysts check to see if the developer’s code meets the expectations. Only when the QA team approves, is the product released.

Have you wondered what might it be to be approved by God?

It means two things:

1. Right Message: “rightly handling the word of truth”. Some other versions put it in this way “rightly divide the word of truth”. The illustration is to smoothen or straighten the paths. The idea is to correctly teach the Word of God. This directly applies to elders but as shared earlier applies broadly to every member because all of are part of a royal priesthood with a calling to teach and disciple others (1 Pet 2:9).

And in order to rightly handle the Word of truth it takes time to sit and understand what the passage is trying to say. When we look at Scripture we automatically bring our own baggage and experiences to it. Sometimes it’s our own baggage which prevents us from hearing from God. Sometimes we add things to Scripture that isn’t quite there. So in the last few years I’ve learnt how 3 things are essential to bringing out the right message from Scripture:

Context:
Every book, every passage and every verse has a context. We need to understand the context in which that verse was written. One of the reasons why we follow Expository preaching at our church is because we don’t want to take anything out of context but want to preach messages in the manner that it was written.

Authorial Intent
God used human authors to write Scripture and supernaturally used their personalities, experiences and circumstances as they wrote it. Every letter and book in the Bible has a purpose for which the author wrote it. For ex: John 20:30,31 : Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Gospel Centricity
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:17)
If Scripture is all about Jesus and everything points to Him, then how can our messages be true and complete without showing how everything in that passage is pointing us to Jesus.

2. Right Intent of the Messenger

Another thing that I believe is important is the intent of the messenger. 1 Sam 16:7: The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

So it’s not good enough to have the right doctrine and right theology. Why are you teaching this message? What is the heart behind it?

Do you share the Word so that people can look at you and praise you because of your biblical knowledge?

Do you share the Word with people because you really love them?

Do you share the Word so that Jesus gets the glory? In other words, is it your true desire to see people treasure God, see Him as the most valuable treasure & give Him utmost importance in their hearts?

Do you share the Word with people because you want something back from them? Money, appreciation or acceptance?

Do you share the Word with people because in some way you feel it cancels out the bad stuff you do?

This is a hard hitting truth for me because I know every time I preach or share the Word with another person, I know I also need to have the right intent to communicate the message of God and be approved by Him.

2. Distance yourself from unproductive teachings

16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

Paul tells Timothy to keep away from ungodly teachings and conversations as a speaker and listener. These false teachings end up spreading like gangrene. In science class we would’ve learnt about gangrene….how it infects a part of the body, causes severe inflammation and unless it is operated on will continue to spread in the body. If it reaches the bones, amputation is required. So you can see how this is deadly! That’s how deadly false teaching can be. False teaching has the opposite effect of sound teaching. It makes people more and more ungodly! Two false teachers are mentioned: Hymenaues and Philetus. Hymenaeus was previously mentioned in 1 Timothy when Paul said that he was excommunicated (1 Tim 1:20). It doesn’t seem like he changed. He’s continuing to have an effect on the church saying things like “resurrection has already happened”. For all believers in Christ, we experience a spiritual resurrection when we heard the gospel and repented of our sins and placed our faith in Jesus. And as the Bible says, we will also have a physical resurrection where it will become glorified just like Jesus’s glorified body. Now what these teachers propagated was that it already happened. Firstly, this wrong teaching gives a wrong idea about God. Secondly, this wrong teaching results in a wrong lifestyle.

In today’s day and age, you’ll find false teaching in different ways. Let me cite a few:

1. Prosperity theology: God exists to bless you financially and also give you the best health right now. “Claim it in the name of Jesus”…The Bible never promises a best life now….it promises our best life in heaven! But they twist verses to make it sound like all God wants to do is make you prosper. No! God wants to glorify Himself through His Son Jesus. And sometimes that would mean us going through suffering and persecution in order to glorify God!

2. Over emphasizing Grace: There are some teachers that over emphasize on grace. The Bible talks about grace but never as though it’s cheap. These teachers talk about grace but it’s more in a sense of a license to sin rather than true grace which draws people to repentance. There is no emphasis on repentance. Rom 6:1,2: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

3. Irrelevance: They say that since the Bible isn’t as relevant as it was in 1st century AD, we’ll need to bring in science and modern ideas into the messages. The Bible isn’t sufficient for us. The Bible is then viewed mainly for social and psychological learnings but not to meet God through Jesus.

4. Liberal Theology: It’s as good as Hinduism which says that there are many ways to God. John 14:6 says : Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

5. Jesus as friend but not Lord: This is a very subtle form of false teaching. People say they are believers because they prayed a prayer. But there is no true repentance and understanding of why they needed a Savior. Christ is not the Lord of their life. They are just very Christianized unbelievers.

There are many more but the only way you will not get caught up in this is if you listen and enjoy and grow in pure teaching of the Word. As you drink from Christ – the true fountain, you’ll not want to go and drink from contaminated water! And neither will you want anyone else to drink contaminated water. That’s why it’s important to refute false teaching and also persuade others who are in it to find and drink from the true fountain of living waters!

Paul thinks about how deadly this teaching is and how many believers are getting affected by it. But he ends on an assuring note.

Rest in God’s Sovereign hand over His sheep

19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 

This is an amazing truth! It is true that there is false teaching in the world today but God’s hand is firmly holding His church. He’s not like a father who doesn’t care about his children. He cares so much that when they were wayward and enroute to hell, He sent His only Son to die and give His life as a ransom to buy them back. He will ensure that His sheep remains in Him. But His people need to respond as well. If you are God’s child, here’s how you will respond when your father corrects you. You will need to repent. “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

You know what’s a key characteristic of being a child of God: you repent frequently and you continue to repent with gladness. You are constantly departing from iniquity! Paul uses an analogy to help us understand this. If we were to contextualize this today, the wood and clay vessels can be compared to something that you would use to pick up something dirty from the floor. You wouldn’t use a silver spoon for that right? Similarly, if you repent and depart from what is dishonourable in you…it can be a wrong teaching and it can be wrong lifestyle and trust on Christ’s work on the cross, Jesus can transform you into a vessel for holiness and for His glory. You can be made into a vessel useful for Christ and live with Him and for Him forever!

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/170709_1136.mp3″]

We’ve had an amazing journey studying the book of 1 Timothy. We completed the letter of 1 Timothy last Sunday and we are starting with 2 Timothy this week. In terms of its biblical context it does seem like a couple of years of years passed since his last letter to Timothy. Some things have changed since then. Paul was arrested and imprisoned in Rome for a second time. From the description given in this letter it does seem like this imprisonment was much more severe and confined than the previous experience. So much so, that a believer named Onesiphorus needed to search earnestly in order to find him. (1:17) All of Paul’s companions abandoned him by this point. His chains and his martyrdom were too much for the others so they left him alone. Only Luke remained with him (4:11). It’s in a cold dungeon as he’s waiting for his “departure”, he writes a farewell letter to his disciple, faithful companion and close friend.
This letter is ordained and written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but we’ll see elements of personal heartfelt statements as Paul remembers his memories with Timothy. Few of the key themes that we’ll come across in this letter are:
• Suffering
• Truth
• Godliness

Let’s look at the first seven verses of 2 Timothy 1 for today’s meditation:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Tim 1:1-7)

In our Christian walk there are many instances where it calls us to be bold! Let me also say by boldness I don’t mean arrogance, dominating and harsh. In our culture, that’s what we refer to as being bold. Being bold is like Arnab Goswami is what we think in today’s culture. However, biblically being bold is about having strong convictions about the truths of the gospel but expressing it with gentleness and humility.
24 And the Lord’s servant[e] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 2:24, 25)

So there are quite a few places where it requires us to be bold:

1. We need to be bold in our witness. We need to boldly speak the truths about Jesus while speaking to unbelievers.

2. We need to be bold while confronting the sins within the church. This is probably something we don’t hear nowadays. “Oh, well you have no right to tell me what to do” or “Who made you judge over my life?” These might be the responses you will hear if you confront sin in today’s church. However, as we see in Scripture the church is the body of Christ and we have a role in maintaining its purity and unity. So there’s always going to be a need for confronting sin until we are made perfect (completely separated from the presence of sin) on the day Christ returns. Paul in Galatians 2 confronts Peter with his sin because the moment a few people from the Jewish circumcision party came to Antioch, he withdrew himself from the Gentiles and only ate with Jews. Paul had to confront him because this was hypocrisy and would negatively affect the Gentile believers at Antioch. And this was Peter! Just imagine having to confront someone like Peter. That requires boldness, don’t you agree?

3. We need to be bold against false teachers. That was the context of Ephesus at that time. Timothy’s role as a pastor there was to teach the right doctrine but also refute and stop the false teachers from influencing the church. Even though some time has passed since Paul’s first letter it seems like the false teachers were still having an influence in the church. Timothy was also facing opposition from these men. They were probably older in age and claimed to be “wiser” and more knowledgeable. He needed boldness to refute them.

So we do understand that boldness is required. But what about times when we aren’t bold but timid. Here’s how today’s passage can empower us to have godly boldness:

1. Remembering each other constantly in prayer (v3)

3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

One thing I wonder when I look at this passage is, why does Paul thank God for Timothy?

It’s a prayer of thanksgiving along with petitions made for him. Paul is probably thanking God for choosing Timothy sovereignly. In God’s Sovereign wisdom, He chose Timothy to be adopted as His son in Christ. Paul’s also probably thanking God for saving Timothy. The gospel one fine day started to make sense to him. It’s like the lights went on! Suddenly the story of Christ crucified on the cross seemed so beautiful to him because he saw that his sins were placed on the cross. Christ rising from the dead gave so much hope and joy to Timothy that he wanted it and desired to repent and place his full trust in what Christ did for him. It’s the story of every believer. And Paul rightly could thank God for that. Paul then probably thanked God for the many ways in which Timothy is being changed into the likeness of Jesus. Paul has fond memories of the first time he shared the gospel with Timothy. And then seeing Timothy grow through those years of life on life discipleship – 15-20 years. Paul also probably thanks God for using Timothy to lead and minister to the church in Ephesus which was a growing church.

The next question is why does Paul constantly pray for Timothy? Doesn’t God already know what Paul has been asking for Timothy? Why pray more?

Sometimes we forget the purpose of prayer. Prayer is not designed so that God can find out what we need.

for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt 6:8)

Prayer expresses our trust on God and is a means by which our trust increases. When we look at the “unceasing”, “non-stop” prayers that Paul makes for believers in other letters we see how he actually believes and has faith in what he prays. It’s not because he just wants to say something positive and encouraging to the believers. Here are some examples:

11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess 1:11-12)

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks[d] to the Father, who has qualified you[e] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Col 1:9-12)

You see a firm conviction that God will answer because these requests are in perfect accordance to God’s will.

In Luke 11, just after the Lord’s prayer Jesus encourages his disciples to pray because God delights and responds to his people’s prayer.

11 What father among you, if his son asks for[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

If we knew how God acts and accomplishes His purposes through prayers of his people, we wouldn’t stop praying!!!

Just know that one of the most powerful and real ways in which you can help and encourage your brother and sister in Christ who struggles with timidity and fear is by praying for them.

2. Reminding each other how sincere faith is expressed by exercising our gifts

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands

What does Paul mean “By sincere faith”? It means a faith that is genuine and not hypocritical.

Paul is trying to encourage Timothy by reminding him of his faith and also talking about his spiritual heritage. Not to say that Timothy inherited his faith from his mother or granny. No, we enter into a relationship with Christ through personal faith. But the work of Christ in his family’s life was visible evidence to the work and power of Christ! Which is why it’s important to see our homes as one of the most key places where we display who Christ is to our family members! The way we talk about the gospel, the way we apply the gospel and the way we respond to the gospel matters at home especially.

Paul makes an interesting connection between this verse on sincere faith and relates that with the next verse which talks about “fanning into flame the gift of God”. Even though in this passage it’s not clear what the gift is but I really believe it’s referring to his gifting of “preaching and teaching”. Where do we see that?

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Tim 4:1,2)

13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. (1 Tim 4:13-15)

So that was his gifting but let’s understand the principle here. If you have sincere faith, then it will need to be expressed by using your gifts to help and serve the body! You cannot have a situation of a person who says “I have really genuine faith but I don’t want to serve a local church”.

Saju and I were just talking a few days back of how sometimes the main reason why we fail to experience joy and life in our Christian walk is due to boredom! We are just bored lacking that purpose which needs to drive us each day. And Christ didn’t give us gifts to “preserve” them. He gave them to us graciously so that we may “spend” them on the people he’s placed around us. Just imagine how passionate and life-giving your life would be if you thought each day “I need to use my gift to serve this person, I need to use my gift to meet this need, I need to use my gift to bless this person”. Our job as elders is to facilitate and encourage multiple gifts and ways by which the body is being built up into Jesus. Our conviction is that if we are all not contributing and serving each other, then we in fact end up hurting each other.

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

The illustration that helps me understand this is how if one of our legs is injured, the other leg has to apply extra effort in order to make the body move forward. And it’s true about the church too.

My personal experience with this is: I’ve seen so much of joy and passion as I’ve invested and spent myself in serving others with my gift. That in turn has also fuelled my faith. So let’s have those conversations about how can we use our gifts more and more.

Seeing Christ work through our administration of our gifts as we serve each other adds more confidence and boldness in our faith. That’s the principle behind 1 Tim 3:13.

Lastly, we can be encouraged to be bold by:

3. Understanding the power of the Holy Spirit within us

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (v7)

How many of us truly believe this verse? Often in churches like ours it’s a topic we end up wither side-lining or diminishing in terms of its focus. If I have to be honest, this understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit is something that I have a lot to grow in. When we look at the book of Acts and even other places where the Spirit is mentioned it’s in a sense of power and divine strength being given to the believer. Often times when we talk about the Holy Spirit we think of it as a fire-cracker when it’s supposed to be a dynamite in the sense of His power! Here are a few verses that reveal the miraculous power of the Spirit:

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:8-11)

2 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22)

In the book of Acts, whenever we see instances of the disciples being “filled in the Spirit” it results in them boldly declaring about Jesus. And if we have believed in Jesus, we too have the same Spirit in us!

Also, this Spirit empowers us to love God and people in a special way! Which means that even during times when we are being severely persecuted for our faith, the Spirit will strengthen us to love God. Also, with respect to love…the Spirit will empower us to love people who hate us. And sometimes these things seem unimaginable or extremely hard but that’s the powerful Spirit within us. We do have to be step with the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (v25)

There is an action, a human responsibility involved here. For example, if we aren’t spending time fuelling our love for God by studying Scripture, we cannot automatically expect affections for God to suddenly turn on. True Christianity isn’t lazy Christianity! Another example is if we don’t take radical measures to kill sin and keep ourselves pure, we cannot expect our love for God to grow from there.

Finally, self-control…why is self-control mentioned in that list? How does self-control relate with boldness?

I believe the lack of self-control often affects us from being bold for the Lord. Either it adds a lot of guilt. “How can I share about Jesus when I myself struggle with an excess love for money, position, pleasure?” Or where it becomes a reason for reproach from others where they point fingers at our lifestyle.

I hope we don’t look at this passage and feel disheartened if we don’t see perfect love for God or people, or perfect self-control being exhibited in our lives. The bible has a word called “repent” which means change of mind and turning back to God. Acknowledging the Spirit’s work in our life and now keeping in step with the Spirit.

There is a reason why Paul mentioned these ways reasons to encourage Timothy in his moment of fear: remembering him in prayer constantly, reminding him to exercise his spiritual gift and helping him understand the power of Spirit that is in him. Let these three ways encourage our hearts toward immense boldness in the faith!

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/jinsin-the-roots-of-flase-teaching.mp3″]

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound[b] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and[c] we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

1. Identifying False Teaching (v3-5)
2. Identifying Godliness (v6-8)
3. Identifying the Desire to get rich (v9-10)

As a church we’ve been studying the book of 1 Timothy. It’s been a very meaningful journey as we’ve learnt what the gospel is and how it affects and shapes the life of the church. We’ve seen how the gospel applies to the roles of men and women in the church, we’ve seen how the gospel helps us select the right people to be elders and deacons of the church, we’ve seen how the gospel trains us up for godliness and over the last three weeks we’ve seen how the gospel empowers us to honor different groups of people: widows, elders and our masters.

Last week’s sermon was super helpful to me as it helped me understand how I could glorify God in my workplace using those 5 biblical principles. This week’s sermon is titled “Getting to the root” and I believe today’s passage speaks about identifying false teaching, identifying godliness and identifying the desire to get rich.

1. Identifying False Teaching (v3-5)

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound[b] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

The first thing that catches my attention in verse 3 is that Paul is writing against those who teach a different doctrine that doesn’t agree with the sound (healthy) words of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ refer to his life, teachings and work. Now why would that be important?

So when Paul brought the gospel to Ephesus and spent that time teaching and training the disciples, he didn’t produce a new teaching. All he did was apply the sound words of Jesus. Even when you read all of the other letters, Paul isn’t trying to bring some new idea to the church. What he does is he elaborates and explains the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! And this is critical in our day and age where we are more concerned about what’s new rather than what’s true! In our Christian culture we are much more eager to listen to a new thought or idea rather than listen to the same gospel message that gives life to our souls!

In Luke 24 when Jesus meets the two disciples walking to Emmaus, he tells them how all of Scripture beginning from Moses and all the prophets concern about himself. Later on in the chapter when he meets his disciples, he tells them how he needed to fulfill all the prophecies that were written about him in the Law of Moses, Prophets and Psalms. (v27, 44-47)

That’s why anyone who strives to be faithful to the Scriptures needs to talk about Jesus all the time because all the Scriptures talk about him. No preacher can add anything to the Bible or the gospel. In fact adding anything would mean making the gospel powerless and ineffective.

When Paul came to the Corinthians the first time, And I, when I came to you, brothers,[a] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5)

It was a culture that adored and looked up to new philosophies and ideas. They would’ve really been impressed if he changed the gospel and made it look new and hip. However, even then he still didn’t play to the galleries but chose to preach Christ crucified so that people’s hearts be truly changed by the power of God!

In order to know if the teacher is true, the questions for the church to evaluate are:

Is Christ being made much of through the sermon? Does Christ look big to you as a result of the preaching of the Word? Who is the centre of the sermon? Is it the preacher or Christ?

This is a big one. Is the preacher making the message more about his jokes, quips, stories or is it about displaying Christ as he is. As we learnt a few weeks back, the job of the elder is to remove all kinds of barriers to ensure that the Word is handled and preached as it is supposed to be: the Word of God. That also involves removing themselves from becoming the object of worship. This I do understand also has to do with the heart of the listener but there are many today who intentionally use the pulpits to make themselves known rather than Jesus.

Is the message calling you to repent of the idols in your heart? We see that when Peter encounters Jesus in Luke 5. After the miracle, when Peter understands that he is in the presence of Holy God, he doesn’t just stand there and have small talk. He falls at Jesus’ knees and says “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.

Are you being encouraged to trust in Christ’s work or yourself?

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8,9)

Talk about counter-cultural. Today if someone came up to and told you “whatever you do, your going to fail on your own strength”. How would that make you feel? Yet that’s the story of the gospel, it tells us how weak and incapable we are to make ourselves right before God. The only way we can be rescued is by relying on the sacrifice made by someone else. Yes, you need to trust in Christ’s life, death and resurrection to rescue you from the wrath that comes upon you for your sins. It humbles us to the core because we know we are helpless.

Is it a teaching that accords with godliness?

In other words if your sin is being exposed through the message, if repentance and faith is being preached in the name of Jesus then it should lead you to greater reverence and love for God. There is always an urge for holiness that comes from true biblical preaching.

I remember once going to a Christian concert. There was wonderful excitement and joy as people worshipped God. In the middle of the worship set, the leader asked us all to be seated and asked us to think about our need for help, healing etc. He then asked us all to respond with a loud shout and call out to God which was then confirmed as assurance of salvation by the worship leader. There was no call for repentance and need to trust in Christ as Savior. Not only did it give the wrong picture of salvation but it also didn’t encourage the believers to grow in holiness. All they got was an emotional experience!

4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Now it goes into a description of the fruit of the false teacher: you will get to see it in his lifestyle, the way he conducts himself.
• You’ll see him be arrogantly prideful about matters that he doesn’t have accurate or full information of.
• He’ll have an unhealthy appetite to stir up controversial topics.
• You’ll find him frequently argue and debate about empty, unimportant and trifling matters.
• Those discussions and teachings always result in jealousy, quarrels, damaging each others reputation, suspicion and purposely behaving in a way that’s unreasonable and unacceptable.

Then he goes deeper into the root of the problem:

It’s caused due to a depraved mind (mind that is rotting and being corrupted by desire) and deprived of truth (lack of truth – he didn’t want to hold onto to truth). What is the desire? Imagining that godliness is a means of gain. The issue starts there! Because at the deepest level of his heart his desire is to please himself, that’s why his teaching reflects what he desires and not what God desires, and he arrogantly justifies his position with his pride. It’s hard for me to look at this passage and think that prosperity preachers have good intention especially when they arrogantly boast about it. However, if you have friends or family who are in a prosperity church please don’t write them off. Continue to pursue them lovingly and Scripturally showing them what the truth is. Show them how God desires that at the deepest level of their hearts He wants to see Christ and not themselves or money. But know that this is a very enticing theology and many have been hooked onto it.

2. Identifying Godliness (v6-8)

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and[c] we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

This great gain is contrasted with the wrongful gain in the previous verse. Contentment is a conversation the urban church needs to have today. I’ve actually heard less sermons on contentment. In fact I may have heard more talks or lessons in my moral science class. Isn’t that strange? I think it’s because all of us struggle with finding contentment. Interestingly this verse says that godliness is complemented by contentment. It goes side by side. I believe there are few important things we need to learn about contentment from this passage:

a) We need to understand that our earthly lives are finite. There is a start to it and an end. It’s short-lived too. James 4:14 says our lives are like mist that appears for a little time and vanishes.
b) We weren’t created for money or possessions. That’s why we come into the world with empty hands and we leave the world with empty hands.
c) We need to understand the difference between our needs and our wants. Often our hearts get it all mixed up. Our needs are those things that are essential to us existing. Our wants are the add-ons that we often turn into our needs and then later turn into idols.
d) True contentment is found in God only. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb 13:5) We’ve usually only heard the later part which says “I will never leave nor forsake you”, however, we often miss the part before that which says “keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have”. What does that have to do with the promise in the next verse? I think what it means is: our hearts long for satisfaction and security which we often mistakenly look for in money. However, we weren’t created for money but we were created to find that security and satisfaction in the promise that God will be with us forever and never abandon us. As little children do you remember going to your parents and telling them about your fears and things that would trouble you. At those moments you didn’t want to hear the best and most sorted plan to deal with your issues but what calmed you and gave you so much of rest was when your parents put their arms around you and told you that they would be there with you. Now there was nothing more to be afraid of. Isn’t it weird how God tells us that in an even more serious way…by sealing these promises with his blood, but we still don’t believe?

3. Identifying the Desire to be rich (v9-10)

9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Another important lesson for the church today is identifying the desires of your heart. We live in a culture and generation where the one who chases after money, gets it and lives a lavish lifestyle is praised! We love listening and talking about rags to riches stories. Materialism is all around us or rather within our hearts…sometimes we get so desperate that we’ll do anything to be able to latch onto material things. These are verses that should give us a sober warning. The love of money is seriously dangerous. Just to clarify, you don’t need to be rich to have the love of money. It’s the desire of your heart. Here are few things we can understand from these verses:

1) By having a love for money we open ourselves to various temptations. The love for money is a huge breeding ground for sin and the attacks of Satan. Because you are constantly thinking of how you need more money to give you a life you always wanted or to buy you things that you always desired. You become open to compromising your faith to get what you want. This leads to destruction.
2) It is a root of all kinds of evil. We probably don’t expect this to be a root of evil. We may expect adultery or sexual immorality to be the root. However, this verse should really give a strong warning that “all kinds of evil” spring up from this desire. No wonder one of the qualifications of an elder and deacon is “should not be a lover of money”.
3) Through this desire, people have wandered away from the faith! I think this has to be the saddest consequence of harbouring the love of money. The worst thing that can happen to a person is not lose a job, lose money or anything else but is to go away from our loving Saviour. It’s like in the Garden of Eden where the saddest moment was when Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God. Moving away from our Creator and Sustainer – you won’t be living without Him! You wouldn’t have been born at all without Him. Not just that but he loved us so much that while we were still sinners, he died a painful death on a cross. He died to redeem us from the curse of being separated from God. He died so that we can be with Him forever. Why would you want to wander away from such a loving Saviour?

Ask yourself these questions to know if you are a lover of money?

Is money controlling your life? Is the presence or absence of money changing you and the way you behave with others?

Would you do anything you can do to get more money? Would you compromise your faith to get more money?

Is money always on your mind?

Maybe the love of money doesn’t quite apply to your current situation. Could it be possible that like the false teachers in Ephesus that in some way you are looking at godliness as a means to some gain? Money, popularity, fame, self righteousness, acceptance etc. Would you repent of that desire and turn to Christ to help and strengthen you? Or you’ve recognized how you’ve been discontent with life and what you have…would you repent and trust on the promise that Christ would never leave you nor forsake you?

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/jinson-nuew-edited.mp3″]

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled “God Alive Church” reading through the pastoral epistles of 1 & 2nd Timothy and Titus. It’s been a joy for me personally to read and discover God’s plan for the church and how He intends that the life of the church be shaped by the gospel. The gospel changes the way we relate with each other – the family of God. The gospel allows us to live out our God given roles within the church and the home. The gospel produces God glorifying lifestyle. A godly life is the product of the gospel! Last week we got into some more practical applications of the gospel life.

As we read through the first 16 verses of 1 Timothy 5, we learnt about the 5 signs of a healthy church life:
a) Being considerate and respectful of one another
b) Giving generously
c) Testing and validating believers
d) Seeking sexual purity
e) Avoiding slanderous talk.

This week we look at v17 through 25, Paul gives instructions to Timothy on how to care for the elders in the church. We probably are well versed with the care that needs to be given to the congregation but what kind of care would need to be given to the elders? If this were an organization, probably this question about caring for your leaders wouldn’t come up. We know however that the church is the family of God. In a family everyone takes care and responsibility of each other. So what does it look like?

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” 19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. 22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) 24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

Let me put it out there that it feels a little strange to preach on this topic being an elder myself. I wouldn’t want to lay it down as though these were my own thoughts. These are the words from Scripture – and so let’s remind ourselves that this carries the authority from God.

Coming back to this passage, I believe there are three ways by which we can care for our elders:
1. By supporting them (v17-18)
2. By being prudent in handling accusations against them (v19-21)
3. By being patient in selecting them. (v22-25)

1. By supporting them (v17-18)

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

The first verse starts by mentioning let the elders who rule well as a prerequisite for considering those worthy of double honor.
What does that mean? For this we’ll turn 1 Peter 5 which I think is a great measuring stick for an elder to assess himself:

2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Elders are called to be shepherds of the flock. The imagery is of a shepherd tenderly and gently taking care of his sheep. How do they shepherd and oversee the flock of God?
a) By doing it willingly and not under compulsion
b) By doing it eagerly without desiring some shameful gain
c) Not abusing the flock but rather being examples to them.

And it says when the Chief Shepherd appears, elders that have “ruled well” will receive the unfading crown of glory. And that surpasses any other incentive or kickback in this lifetime – receiving honor from God!

Another thing we see here is “double honor”. What does that mean? I think it means a couple of things. Firstly, it means respecting and submitting to their leadership. And this is not an easy thing to do in our natural self. Our natural self runs away from submitting to any kind of authority. Be it parents, or spouse, or teachers, or boss, or government or God. In our sin, we are prewired to rebel against all authorities. But that changes when we come to know and believe in Jesus. We realize that though Jesus is God the Son, He submits to the Father and is fully obedient to Him. In God’s wisdom He created authorities in our lives to help us understand the intimate relationship between the members of the Trinity. So even in your church setting, when you submit to the leadership of your elders and other people who might be discipling you, know that you are becoming more like Christ in that process.

Secondly, I think honor also refers to financial support. How can we say that? Because of v18 which quotes two verses. The first verse says “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” which is an OT reference. Now I don’t any of us is familiar with farming analogies so this will need some explaining. What this means is when the ox is plowing the field, it deserves to partake in some of his own labor. The command is to not muzzle the ox when he is trying to eat the grain. Apparently in OT times other nations would actually muzzle the ox and not allow him to eat. The Israelites had to stand out in terms of its fairness and compassion towards animals. Similarly, Paul uses this verse to state how elders who “labor in the word” need to be treated fairly by receiving financial support for their ministry. He explains this in a little more detail in 1 Cor 9:9-14:

9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

Then the next quote that Paul uses in 1 Timothy 5:18 is “The laborer deserves his wages.”

This is a command from Jesus when Jesus sends out the Twelve in Matthew 10 and 72 disciples in Luke 10.

“And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.” Luke 10:7

This kind of financial support is given to the elder so that it can free him up to focus on the work that God has appointed him to do for the church.

Also we notice in v17 is that it mentions “those who labor in preaching and teaching”. When you think about labor what pictures come to your mind? It’s wearisome, tiring hard work to be able to communicate God’s truth accurately!

It’s like a person holding precious jewels (Word of God) and sharing it with his friends with utmost care. That’s why this passage doesn’t agree with those preachers that expect a spontaneous revelation from God to preach God’s Word. Lack of preparation is justified by saying that they are led by the Spirit. That’s not how it is. There is labor that goes into preaching and teaching the Word of God. Why? Because it takes work to remove the pre-conceived notions and erroneous thoughts we may have about God and our own hearts. The hard work is not in creating a sermon. It’s easy to manufacture a man made message. The hard part is to remove the baggage to allow God to speak clearly and powerfully through Scripture. The preparation time is bathed in prayer asking God to help us apply this to the congregation.

An illustration would be of a mother that takes time to think and prepare a meal for her kids that would nourish them and also make it enjoyable for them. Just making a tasty meal is not enough; she makes something that’s healthy for them. After 3-4 hours when the meal is prepared the kids enjoy the meal.

This labor is not just in words but also in deeds. There is labor in discipling people with a lifestyle that’s consistent to the message.

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (Heb 13:7)

We are all called to be disciple-makers. (Matthew 28:19-20) Disciple-making happens not just verbally but as you show people how to love, obey and trust Christ. That’s why it becomes hard to teach someone forgiveness when you yourself harbour unforgiveness in your heart.

Having said that, let me also say that elders don’t perfectly obey their sermons. That’s why we need to preach the same message to ourselves. Elders are also sinners saved by grace. We are need of Christ’s grace each day as much as anyone else. So the question is what should the church imitate and absorb from the elders? Their pursuit of Christ.
1) Are they pursuing Christ through prayer and the Word? If yes, copy that
2) Are they frequently repenting of the idols in their lives? If yes, copy that
3) Are they humbling themselves before the gospel every day? If yes, copy that.

So one of the first ways by which we can care for our elders is by supporting them: showing them honor, submitting to their leadership, financial support and imitating their pursuit of Christ.

2. By being prudent in handling accusations against them. (v19-21)

19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

The lives of the elders are always on scrutiny because they lead the church. Therefore there are always going to people who would disagree with decisions they take or have some accusations against them. What biblically we see here is that the God honouring way of handling accusations against elders is by admitting a charge only when evidence is provided by two or three witnesses.

This is not absolving them nor overlooking the accusations made against them but being fair to the God called and appointed elders of the church.

V20 talks about the case where an elder is proven guilty of a disqualifying sin and continues to persist in it. In this case, the elder who is persisting in rebellion will need to be publicly rebuked and corrected. This is important because it highlights how seriously the church views sin matters. A public correction reassures the congregation that a disqualifying sin by an elder will not be covered up. As we know elders are pace-setters. Therefore, even in sin matters if they aren’t corrected, it will begin to affect the church negatively.

We know of a lot of churches which have been broken because disqualifying sins of elders were covered up or tolerated. Just imagine the brokenness among believers when they find out that their pastor is caught in adultery or homosexuality. Furthermore, they are even more discouraged when they see these things being covered up or tolerated. One of the other disqualifying sins according to 1 Timothy 3 is also “he shouldn’t be a lover of money”. Yet there are many churches in the world where the pastor is an outright lover of money and his lifestyle is being applauded. It’s damaging to church!

After telling this to Timothy, Paul presents a picture of a heavenly court with God the Father, Jesus and other angels looking on. In front of this heavenly court Paul testifies and commands

Timothy to be faithful in rebuking any elder publicly who has persisted in disqualifying sin. When it comes to this, there is no room for being biased or partial.

I really think a lot of the churches in world would look very different if disqualified leaders would be publicly rebuked as laid down in this passage. How much more purer and devoted would the church be as a result of this? Also, I think the church would look a lot more different if the church was more prudent in admitting charges against the elder. This is the second way how you can care for an elder.

3. By being patient in selecting them. (v22-25)

22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) 24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

Laying on of hands is a biblical symbol of appointing ministers to service either elders or deacons. What Paul was telling Timothy is that he shouldn’t be quick in appointing elders. Not before he assesses their theology, lifestyle, maturity and witness. And these things take time. That’s why v24 says “the sins of others appear later”. This is contrary to what we see in the world. For eg: if you’ve gone to seminary and got a degree – people say “you are fit to be an elder automatically”! Or if you’re involved in church activities, “well you should try ministry”. In fact v22 says that if you appoint someone hastily to be an elder, you also share in the responsibility of the elder’s future sin. That’s what it means when it says “nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure”. Time and time again we see examples of people being pushed too early to lead a church without having their lives analysed. It wrecks havoc.

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9)

Your sin will find you.

That’s why I added this point of being patient in selecting elders because the best way you can also love your brother who has potential and is passionate about Jesus is to also wait until he matures in his speech and lifestyle before he is given that role. In Acts 19:10, it is reported that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks! That is astounding! Now just imagine the requirement for elders in each of those churches. Must’ve been huge. More than anyone else they would’ve wanted to have elders in place merely to organize themselves. Yet Paul says “do not be hasty in the laying on of hands”. How does that speak to our culture where we want everything to happen instantly? Yes, we should disciple people…give them opportunities to serve the church…train them to be more effective in evangelism but be slow when it comes to appointing them as deacons or elders. “Let them be tested first…let them not be a recent convert”…those are the instructions for deacons and elders.

The encouragement is in v25 where it says that “So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”

The good works (lifestyle) of people will also be evident, so if you are living life in your community, your community will be in the best place to identify you as someone who can be qualified as an elder.

This passage gives us a good guideline on how can we care for our elders : by supporting them, being prudent in handling accusations and being patient in selecting them. What are some places where you feel God has been speaking to you today? Is it something God wants to change in your beliefs? In your attitudes? In your actions?

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/jinson-28-may-170528_1116.mp3″]

A new missionary recruit went to Venezuela for the first time. He was struggling with the language and didn’t understand a whole lot of what was going on. Intending to visit one of the local churches, he got lost, but eventually got back on track and found the place. Having arrived late, the church was already packed. The only pew left was the one on the front row.

So as not to make a fool of himself, he decided to pick someone out of the crowd to imitate. He chose to follow the man sitting next to him on the front pew. As they sang, the man clapped his hands, so the missionary recruit clapped too. When the man stood up to pray, the missionary recruit stood up too. When the man sat down, he sat down. When the man held the cup and bread for the Lord’s Supper, he held the cup and bread. During the preaching, the recruit didn’t understand a thing. He just sat there and tried to look just like that man in the front pew.

Then he perceived that the preacher was giving announcements. People clapped, so he looked to see if the man was clapping. He was, and so the recruit clapped too. Then the preacher said some words that he didn’t understand and he saw the man next to him stand up. So he stood up too. Suddenly a hush fell over the entire congregation. A few people gasped. He looked around and saw that nobody else was standing. So he sat down.

After the service ended, the preacher stood at the door shaking the hands of those who were leaving. When the missionary recruit stretched out his hand to greet the preacher, the preacher said, in English: “I take it you don’t speak Spanish.”

The missionary recruit replied: “No I don’t. It’s that obvious?”

“Well yes,” said the preacher, “I announced that the Acosta family had a new-born baby boy and would the proud father please stand up.”

In this case, this was just an embarrassing funny incident but when it comes to following the crowds, the question is how do you know that you’re not led into following some type of false doctrine? I liked the way Saju described false teaching: “False teaching always finds its way through the present cultural myths, ideas and thought patterns.” We are bombarded with so many different thought patterns from our culture, how do you know that you are not being swayed by some kind of false teaching? And sometimes it can be very subtle. Let me give an example, we can have accountability groups or sessions where we communicate that no one will be judged and it’s an open place for us to share anything and everything. But unless the sin is identified as sin and repented of, it’s doing no good for anyone in the group. Without talking about the promises of God to victoriously defeat sin, without coming to specific ways to fight sin, it’s going to be a useless exercise. So you’ll have week after week of accountability sessions where the members of the groups are super honest and super vulnerable but not repentant. And guess what, that is a thought pattern that agrees with our culture which tells us to not judge anyone but live as we want to live. The context of this entire letter has been revolving around confronting the false doctrine in the church at Ephesus. When we think about confronting false doctrine, we probably expect some sort of fierce argument and debate taking place between Timothy and the false teachers. Interestingly that’s not the advice Paul gives him. The instruction is quite the opposite. Let’s look at our passage for today.

[11] Command and teach these things. [12] Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. [13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. [14] Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. [15] Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. [16] Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

What Paul is essentially trying to say in these 6 verses is that our lives need to be shaped by the gospel if we need to confront false teaching. What does a gospel shaped life look like?
1. Right teaching
2. Right living
3. Right Community
4. Right Scrutiny

1. Right teaching

Right sound Scriptural teaching needs to be heard, meditated upon and shared.

11 Command and teach these things.

Timothy had been given specific instructions in this letter on what needs to be taught to the Ephesian church….the sound doctrine which needs to be declared to them. The whole letter is filled with these instructions from Paul who is writing with the authority and commendation from God. When Timothy reads this letter, he isn’t reading it thinking that it’s just Paul writing to him. He sees it as what it truly is “the Word of God”.

[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God[a] may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16, 17)

And so should we also look at Scripture. This is the very Word of God…way more weightier than the letter from the President of the country, way more purer than pure gold, way more sharper than a double edged sword, way more powerful than an army of a billion soldiers.

Therefore, how do you know if you are listening and absorbing right teaching?

a) The Word would be exalted and treasured through that time of preaching.

It won’t be about quips or fun stories or the charisma of the speaker, but just how precious is each and every word from the Bible.

b) Christ would be made much of.

Christ would be the centre of attention, his life of holiness and purity, his sacrificial love to come to us and die on a horrific cross, his humility to serve us, how glorious he is and how dependent we need to be on him. That would be the focus.

c) It would bring you to repentance and faith.

When we are confronted by a Holy God as being revealed in Scripture, our response can’t be one of arrogance or self righteousness but of humility and repentance. Just like Isaiah says “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Is 6:5)

Or Peter in Luke 5, when he sees that impossible miracle take place where he catches a large number of fish, he realizes he’s in the presence of God. He says “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man O Lord”. Christ tells him, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men”.

2. Right living

2 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. [13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. [14] Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

There are three aspects to this:
a) Setting an example
b) Devoting to Scripture
c) Actively using the gifts

a) Setting an example:

Scholars estimate that Timothy was in his late 20s or mid-30s when Paul wrote this letter. By this time he had been an experienced missionary and served with Paul for 15 years. (Acts 16:1-5)

Why would he be despised for his youth?

He was probably young compared to the older men in the church. Usual perception is that men get wiser with age. Also, the same is expected spiritually, where one assumes that older men are more spiritual than younger because younger men are immature. Youthfulness has always been paralleled to rebellion and indulgence.

So how was Timothy to express his maturity?

Not by telling everyone and announcing that he was mature but by setting an example for them. In other words had to display his maturity by being someone who was worthy of imitation.

He had to show his maturity in his speech. We live in a culture where people are applauded for speaking their mind but what we speak reveals a lot of what is in our hearts. (Luke 6:45) Unfiltered conversations or unwholesome talk is a condition of the heart primarily which needs to be changed and repented of.

He had to show his maturity in his conduct. His behavior.

He had to show his maturity in his love. The way he would love his brothers and sisters. Show charity and forgiveness and patience.

He had to show his maturity by his faith. Showing confidence and reliance on Jesus. His convictions on the truths about Scripture isn’t frail or weak. Strong confidence in what he believes.

He had to show his maturity through his life of purity. Holiness is very important to him because it matters to God. It’s God who says “Be Holy for I am holy”. (1 Pet 1:16) His lifestyle of holiness points to God who is Holy.

Do we have a lifestyle worthy of imitation?

It’s something that even the unbelieving world understands to a degree. They know that respect belongs to those who have a lifestyle of high morals. Leaders by definition are to be pacesetters. All of us however are called to be leading someone. When we read Matt 28:19 -20

[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

We know it applies to each and every believer across all ages. We are all called to be disciple-makers by baptizing people and teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded. Now the teaching them to observe part is not just a verbal teaching but actually disciplining people by modelling obedience for them. Showing people how to forgive when someone has wronged you. Showing people how to be patient when someone keeps frustrating you. Showing how to trust in God’s provision through prayer.

Unfortunately we live in a generation where people want others to imitate their doctrine but not their lifestyle. It doesn’t make sense.

b) Devoting to Scripture:

[13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

This instruction is specific to Timothy’s calling of being an elder – therefore the call to exhort and teach. I think this can also broadly apply to our need to be devoted to Scripture. Being devoted to reading, applying and teaching others Scripture. I know I’ve been challenged this week with asking myself of how important Scripture means to me. Do I only read Scripture when life is okay and comfortable? Is Scripture reading driven by my circumstances or is it food for my soul? Brothers and sisters, I know it seems so basic but it’s something which we sometimes fail to see the value of. We feed our souls with all kinds of worldly stuff and go around hungry, we try different ways to self-medicate ourselves from the troubles and pressures of life, but we are never happy. We try to find our identity in our work, our righteous deeds, our church activities but are left purposeless. It’s only Scripture – true words of God that can fill us, heal us and change us. If we were created to know God and relate with Him, then the Bible is the medium God uses to communicate with us. Anything else and everything else just leaves us restless.

c) Actively using the gifts

[14] Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

Looking at these two verses it does seem like Paul’s referring to Timothy’s gifting of preaching and teaching God’s word. And this call and ministry came from God himself. So the instruction is to not take it lightly. What if God told that to each and every one us “Don’t take your gift lightly”? As we’ve been learning over the past few weeks, God has graciously given the church gifts so that they can build up each other. Let’s realize that one of the key ways by which God wants you to live out your faith is by using your gifts to help and build up your brothers and sisters. One of the reasons why people feel lifeless in their faith is not just due to sin but also because they aren’t using the gifts that God has specifically given them to build up another person. Some of us may still be thinking “Oh…I don’t know what my gifting is. How can I use it?” And it’s often because we think about one or two gifts particularly and compare ourselves against them. That’s not how you should be thinking about it. Rather look at it in this way, find out what people in your church need and then look for ways to serve them. As you do that, you will discover what gifts God has given you. For example Barnabas in the Bible meant Son of Encouragement. Now I don’t think they called him that because he had a skill in giving compliments to people. I think it was because whenever he interacted with people, God gifted him with the ability to provide encouragement to those specific areas of need.

3. Right Community

[15] Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. [16] Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Twice in these two verses, Paul brings out the community angle. He tells Timothy to carefully pay attention and practice these things so that “all may see your progress”.

Piper has a famous quote where he says “Sanctification is a community project”. It’s not you who can attest and confirm your maturity but it’s your community that you live life with. When you aren’t able to see the chink in your amour, it’s your community of believers who will be able to show that to you. That’s why Christian growth cannot happen outside of Christian community. There are some moments in the Christian life when you wouldn’t be able to trust your own self because of sinful erroneous thinking, just know that in those times you can trust your brother or sister in Christ.

Second part in v16 says “Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Paul is not trying to say that by works Timothy will save himself and his hearers. We know that we are saved by grace through faith alone in the finished work of Jesus. But what he is saying is that Timothy’s perseverance in the faith will impact the faith of his community too! That’s mind boggling. Have you ever considered the fact how your faith is affecting the person sitting next to you? It’s true in the positive and negative sense. In the positive sense, your faith can spur and lead others to love and trust God more consequently pointing to genuine saving faith. In the negative sense it means unrepentant persistent sin. It can move through the members like yeast.

4. Right Scrutiny

[16] Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

I find this a fascinating verse because this is an instruction Paul gives to his spiritual son Timothy. Timothy has faithfully been with him for 15 years. In Philippians 2 he says about Timothy, that there’s no one else like him who is genuinely concerned about the church’s welfare. Such a solid, dependable guy. But still Paul says “Keep a watch on yourself and on the teaching”.

It’s not because he didn’t trust Timothy. He trusted him completely but Paul understood the sinful desire of the heart and the schemes of Satan.

And this is consistent with Paul’s other letters when Paul says:

[5] Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Cor 13:5)

He is writing this to the Corinthian church! Paul actively discipled these guys and now he’s asking them to test their faith! Again I think that illustration helps: of how we know we are alive because we are breathing and not just because we were born on a certain day in the past.

Brothers,[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Gal 6:1)

Spiritually mature brothers and sisters are supposed to restore people who are caught in sin with gentleness. However, they need to be careful and watchful or they themselves be tempted. Why would Paul mention that if they were mature already? That’s because he realizes that sin desires and the attacks of Satan won’t completely be eliminated until Christ comes back again. As believers we still experience the effects of that. God has given us the Spirit and also these warnings to help us.

It’s not a bad practice to evaluate your day…think about what was said, what was done in light of Scripture. However, this should lead you to repentance and greater dependence on Christ. If the end result of evaluating your life is either self-pity or judgmental…then it’s not right scrutiny! Right scrutiny is one that comes to Christ helplessly seeking forgiveness and grace to live out the Christian life. A person who constantly engages in this type of scrutiny and repentance will find that this experience draws him/her closer to God.

I was 14 years old when a family friend of ours looked at me and said, “You’ve got broad shoulders. All you need is some muscle around it and you’ll look great.” I still don’t know if he was joking or not but I took his advice seriously. Over the course of the next few years I worked hard on building some muscle. At that point I was really skinny and so it took me a while before I saw any impact of the workouts. But that made me think and wonder…how does the body of Christ get built up? What does that look like?

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”[a] 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?[b] 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers,[d] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I think this passage tells us about three stages in that body building process:
– Christ gives gifts to the church graciously
– The church utilizes the gifts faithfully
– The church grows into Christ eventually

1) Christ gives gifts to the church graciously

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (Eph 4:7)

V7 says that grace which is the unmerited favour from God was given to us. This grace is the reason why we are saved. By grace we are saved through faith. (Eph 2:8) And this grace is also the reason why we’ve received different kinds of gifts. The whole definition of grace means that it’s not earned neither can someone claim to deserve it. Two observations on this:

a) God’s has graciously given us gifts for the church

Paul uses his own example in Eph 3:2 to tell the Ephesian church that the gifts that God gave him were meant for the church.  While addressing the Corinthian church that was divided over having certain kind of spiritual gifts, Paul says “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Paul was telling them that they were missing the point by arguing over which gift is important or better than the other. Gifts were given for the common good. So that others may benefit out of it not for your own good. This is a very essential thing to remember…in the world people are hailed and exalted because of their talents. That’s not how it’s supposed to be in God’s church. You’re spiritual gift was not meant for yourself but for the “common good”.

b) God determines the gifts that are given to each of us.

V7 says grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gifts. Do note that God has given all his children gifts. He’s not partial and he decides which gifts for us are the best ways in which He can be glorified. That’s why it doesn’t help when we complain over not having certain gifts or are jealous over other people’s gifts. By doing that we undermine God’s wisdom in giving us those gifts and also become ungrateful and ineffective in using them. The point for giving gifts again was not to grow in prominence and become famous but to serve each other with these gifts.

Now let’s come to the uses and the goal of giving gifts:

2) The church utilizes the gifts faithfully

8 Therefore it says,“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”[a] 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?[b] 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers,[d] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

V8 further is a quotation from an OT psalm. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

“he ascended” is a reference to Jesus which we see being explained in the next two verses. It says Christ gave gifts to men. Now when we come to v11, we see the details of these gifts.

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers,

This is important thing to note. When Christ ascended into heaven, he gave some gifts to his church. They were apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. Apostles were messengers or delegates sent forth by Christ. The church was founded on the apostles teachings (Acts 2:42). It wasn’t self created teachings by the apostles. They were echoing what Jesus taught and showed them during his earthly ministry and communicated what was being taught by the Holy Spirit. Now we have their written letters in the NT. All these NT scriptures are authoritative because they taught as delegates of Christ.

Prophets in the NT were people who were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak, instruct, rebuke, comfort, encourage, convict and stimulate their hearers by spontaneous words of revelation.

Evangelists are people who would be gifted to preach the good news. Just let me add here, that all of us are called to evangelize and tell people about Jesus. However, for some people it comes very naturally and easily. I remember once when I went with Supreet for jail ministry and met a brother there who had the gift of evangelism. Could see how people didn’t even bat their eye lids as he presented the gospel to them with clarity.

Shepherds and teachers: I believe these are not referring to two different roles but a single role of an elder or overseer. As we remember studying in the qualifications of an elder…he needs to be an apt teacher. Why? So that he can lead people in their study and love for Scripture. A shepherd/pastor spends time trying to understand what Scripture says and apply it to his church.

And so you see 4 different types of giftings mentioned here. It’s not to make them more prominent than the others. The next verse states the purpose for giving these gifts to the church:

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

The reason why these church leaders (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherd-teachers) are given to the church is not to exalt them or make them popular but so that they may “equip the saints for the work of ministry”.

The Greek word used for equip means “to perfect or complete” the saints for the work of ministry. Hebrews 12:2 clearly says that Christ is the founder and perfecter of the faith. Christ does use church leaders to strengthen the faith of his people. And we’ve learnt a great deal over the past few weeks on why it’s important to be led by church leaders. Obeying leaders is important because they are the ones whom God has appointed to watch over your soul. (Heb 13:17)

Equip the “saints”. The word saint actually means “most holy thing” and someone who is “morally blameless”. I look at this definition and I realize how all of us don’t deserve that title of a saint. We are everything apart from being saints. We are so corrupted by sin that we cannot comprehend what it means to be holy and a saint. All our sins have been committed against God defying His Holy will and character. We loved sin and hated God. Every time we look at our sinful pleasures, our pride, things of this world, praises and acceptance from people and find more joy in them than God, we literally communicate how much we love sin and hate God. God being righteous has to punish and pour His wrath on sin but He also is full of grace and love. He sends His only Son (Jesus) to die as a pure, spotless sacrifice to pay the penalty for our disobedience and our hatred toward God. Three days after dying Jesus rises from the grave to make the “most unholy” people like you and me “most holy” before God if we trust Him as Lord and Deliverer. Christ’s death is the reason why we are saints. It’s a free gift from God.

Saints are equipped for what? Work of ministry. What does that mean?  It’s the labor put into serving people with your giftings, time and resources. You would be praying and serving people in such a way that they grow and are benefitted by your service. Did you ever see yourself as a minister of God? Did you ever think how God has given you spiritual gifts and leaders to help you labor more effectively as a minister? Church leaders exist to fuel and fan into flame your passion to serve people around you.

for building up the body of Christ,

This phrase means the act of promoting another person’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness and holiness.

It plays out in two contexts:

1) To the outside world: The desire to kill the selfishness within you to want to see the lost come to know and experience the love of Jesus.

2) In the church: Wanting to see your brothers and sisters in Christ exceed you and grow in the knowledge and wisdom of the Word. Wanting to see them have more better prayer times. Desiring that they experience great joy and happiness in Christ. Wanting to see them have a life of holiness that surpasses yours.
And this is crazy because it goes against what we see in the world around us. The world around us gives us models for self-growth to progress and succeed. In the body of Christ, success is desiring and working towards seeing the other person grow to be the people God calls them to be.

I think this is what Hebrews 10:24 says “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,”

Till when is this building supposed to happen?

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

The goal is attaining the full maturity: that is becoming completely and fully like Christ. That’s why it’s wrong to think we’ve arrived in our spiritual faith. If the thought process for you is to think that you are mature and look down on others & think you don’t need to be actively participating in the building up process, here are a few observations from this verse:

1) You will only truly reach full maturity when everyone reaches unanimity of the faith.

2) Are you trying to say that you have complete knowledge of the Son of God? And this knowledge isn’t theoretical or intellectual knowledge. It is experiential personal knowledge. Knowledge by understanding, applying and living out your faith.

3) Are you trying to say that you’ve already become like Christ with no more sin issues to be dealt with?

Biblically, knowledge of Christ is always related or connected with becoming like Him. In other words, knowing is becoming! So if you claim to know Christ because of your immense theoretical knowledge, then can you back it up with a lifestyle consistent to that knowledge? I’ve met many people who have been to seminary and yet not known Christ!

1 John 2:3-5 says “[3] And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. [4] Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, [5] but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.”

Again it’s not referring to sinless perfection. However, if you’re life is described by your persistent sinful lifestyle you need to question if you are truly in the faith. Remember, knowing Christ is coming into an intimate knowledge of Him. You can’t know Him and not be changed by Him. That’s not how it works and it’s not true salvation either. What characterized your life? Is it sin or holiness unto God?

If the answer is no to these questions, then we should humbly assume a posture where we realize there’s so much more to grow spiritually and also actively use your gifts and resources to help others grow in their faith.

3) The church grows into Christ eventually

14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Mature manhood in the previous verses are being compared out here to being a child. If mature manhood means reaching the fullness of Christ and unity of the faith with other believers then being a child would mean being easily influenced by different doctrines around you. I remember as a young believer I was fascinated by these televangelists. I would spend hours watching these programs and paying attention to their sermons. There was an elderly man meanwhile who would faithfully take bible studies for us at our church. Initially I would argue with him because I believed in prosperity theology with all my heart. I was convinced it was scriptural. Over a period of time by the grace of God I got introduced to proper bible teachers who helped me see the glory of God in Scripture and also see my utter sinfulness. But the more I thought about it, my growth took place not in the idleness of trying to discover right theology but as I tried to apply Scripture and immerse myself into serving other people. An idle mind and a selfish heart are good breeding grounds for wrong doctrine.

V15 is often misunderstood as telling hard truths to believers in gentleness. Recently I came across an interpretation of that verse that makes it clearer…speak the truths refer to speaking truths about Jesus and His acts to each other “in love”…with love and affection. We are constantly embedding the gospel into every conversation and life situation. Conversations about Jesus are woven into moments of doubt, conflict and temptations. As that’s happening, we are selflessly building up the faith of the other person because the most loving thing you can do for a person is not tell him 5 worldly solutions to solve his problem but to direct him to Christ who is His Lord, comforter, provider and Savior. And that’s how the church grows into the head- Christ!

V16 is another reminder how the body orginates from Christ by His victorious work on the cross. The body of Christ is also sustained by Christ. And the body grows into Christ as well. Let’s not forget that as we think about the call to action. Christ strengthens us to build the body. However, there is a participation required from our end.  when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Have you ever broken a foot or sprained an ankle? I’ve had several accidents in my lifetime and so I know the amount of extra effort that my other foot needs to put when one foot isn’t functioning properly. If that’s true of the physical body then isn’t that true also about the body of Christ? If I’m not actively using my gifts to serve my brothers and sisters, if I’m not speaking the truths about Jesus in love, if I’m selfishly only being concerned about my own problems and my own life…isn’t Christ’s body being affected by it? Isn’t my involvement essential and indispensable to the body growing up into Christ? How does that speak to the passivity of our hearts?

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/jinson-23-04-2017-new.mp3″]

Good morning church! It’s been just a wonderful process to know what the will of God is for the church (the family of God). Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen biblically how men and women have complementary roles within the home and the church. We also looked at the qualifications and the roles of an elder…how God desires faithful men to lead, care and protect His church.

Always remember elders are under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ. I hope this series on 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus doesn’t feel like an academic study on the structure of a church. Rather let’s remind ourselves that as people live out their roles within the church, God’s church is being built up into the maturity and fullness of the head, Jesus Christ! (Ephesians 4) And we are collectively called “the body of Christ”. Not a few individuals, not just the elders but all of us together form the body of Christ. That is the goal that we are working towards. So let’s look at the passage carefully to understand what it says.

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,[c] not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise[d] must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 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.

Today’s passage in focus deals with the topic of Deacons. So I would like to split it into three parts:

1. Who is a Deacon?
2. What are the qualifications for deacons?
3. What does this mean for each of us today?

Firstly, let’s try and understand who or what is a deacon. The word “Deacon” is derived from the Greek word “Dee-ak-on-os” which means “one who serves”. Deacons are Christians who are appointed to serve with the elders of the church in a variety of ways. Just to add, this is not a derogatory responsibility. In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples which was something that a slave/servant would do to symbolically show his disciples how they were to serve one another. So every believer in the church needs to be a “servant”.

In Acts 6:1-7, we see deacons being mentioned for the first time. Due to the increasing number of Christians, at one time the Greek speaking Jews complained about the Hebrew speaking Jews.

They said that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the 12 apostles gathered together all the believers and told them that it wouldn’t be right for them to give up the preaching of the word of God to wait on tables. So they asked the believers to select seven men among them of good reputation, full of Spirit and wisdom who will be appointed for this duty. Seven men were selected among whom were Stephen and Philip the evangelist so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. They prayed and laid their hands on these deacons and the very next verse (v7) says that the number of disciples multiplied greatly. There you see the impact of deacons in the building of the body. This work was different from what the apostles and the elders did, but it in no way was inferior or lesser in value.

When we learnt about the roles of the elders, we saw how the elders are to feed the flock with the preaching of the word, elders are to care for the flock by leading them eagerly and being examples for them and they are to protect the flock from false teachings and false teachers. Teaching and exercising oversight are the responsibilities of an elder. Apart from that, there are a variety of roles that deacons can serve in. They can include administration, handling finances of the church, music ministry, helping the poor and widows, children’s ministry etc.

Secondly, let’s come to the question: what are the qualifications for a deacon? So let’s turn to 1 Tim 3:8-13.

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,[c] not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

Why does it say “likewise”? In the same manner? It’s obviously telling us that there’s a link between the qualifications of elders and qualifications for deacons. As we go ahead, you’ll see similarities and the differences. One thing we can notice right off this verse is that just like elders, deacons also need to exhibit strong character qualities.

It says deacons “must be”. These are not optional qualifications for good deacons. There’s no second cut off list for the second grade of deacons. These are compulsory requirements for a person to be qualified as a deacon.

Deacons must be “dignified”. The word dignified means a person having honorable and respectable character. In other words, he needs to have a character which is being respected and looked up to. Now why would that be necessary? You might think…ok I get why an elder needs to have this requirement, why does a deacon also need that?

The reason is because deacons serve the church with elders. It’s the same people that both the deacons and the elders are ministering to…the family of God.

When Paul writes to the Philippians in 1:1 he says, “Paul and Timothy, servants[a] of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers[b] and deacons”

They are together in this. It’s the same church that Christ loved so much that He gave Himself up for. (Ephesians 5:25)

It’s the same church of God that “Christ obtained and purchased with His blood.” (Acts 20:28)

This is a serious call and responsibility!

A deacon must be “not double-tongued”. What does that mean?

It means double speech. Saying one thing with one person and another thing with another person. Now why would that be important? The book of James has a lot to say about this.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. (James 1:26)

4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,[a] and set on fire by hell.[b] 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:4-8)

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; (1 Pet 3:10)

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

I’m sure all of us at some point or the other have had friends who have been double-talkers. Isn’t it dangerous? Double-talk is poisonous and destructive and hence that becomes an important quality to examine in a person who wants to be a deacon.

A deacon must be “not addicted to much wine” which means not being attached to wine or be controlled by wine.

I think this is a point that is easier to accept by Indian culture because culturally it is viewed as something wrong. But at the same time, the stereotype for a Christian in the world today is someone who’s drunk and parties all the time. Every time I tell people how I don’t drink, it just puzzles people. They mostly think I’m crazy for taking this stance but I have to say it does identify me as someone different. As believers, we have the unique privilege of responding to any kind of excess with “we know someone better. We experience something better with Christ. There’s no need to get a high with alcohol when we experience immense pleasure in the presence of God!” So that’s the key here, is being defined not by a substance mastering over you but by being defined by Christ who lives in and through you.

Then it says that a deacon “must not be greedy for dishonest gain.”

The Greek actually means “must not be greedy for money”. And this is a big thing for churches. Churches have been divided and broken over money. Leaders and deacons who people thought were spiritual were in fact harbouring a love for money in their hearts. When it reaches its tipping point, this plays out in a very divisive, evil manner. That’s exactly what 1 Tim 6:10 says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matt 6:24)

What these two passages tell us is how evil and idolatrous the love for money can be. Money is literally the other god we make in our lives. And Jesus says “you will love one and hate the other”.

“You will be devoted to one and despise the other”. I wouldn’t want to be the one who hates and despises God but that’s what our love for money does. So not only are you dividing the church with your love for money but you’re also telling people that “money is more secure, dependable, satisfying and valuable than God”. And that’s a lie! Money doesn’t give anything. And that’s why a deacon should first be a worshiper and lover of God who doesn’t hold on to his pocket tightly.

9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

Deacons must cling on to and be closely joined to the “mystery of the faith”.

Now when we think about mystery we usually think about something secret, something unknowable but when the Bible uses this phrase “mystery of the faith”, it refers to the hidden purposes of God which God fully reveals in Jesus: “The gospel”. The gospel for many generations before Christ was hidden. People weren’t fully aware nor understood how God was planning all along to redeem them through the sacrifice of His only Son.

Deacons need to cling onto the gospel with a clear conscience – a pure conscience! And we learnt some time back that the phrase “keeping faith and pure conscience” means holding onto the gospel and having a life consistent with it. Now why is that required?

a) Because the gospel helps us see God for who He is.

He is a Righteous God who punishes sin! He doesn’t overlook or ignore sin but deals with it because He is Just and Holy. At the same time, he is a loving God who doesn’t want to destroy His creation so He sends His Son to take on the whole punishment for sin. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, we can now see, love and fellowship with God as He is.

b) Because the gospel gives us our true identity.

We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God. We were predestined to be adopted as God’s sons and daughters through Jesus, we have redemption through Christ’s blood, and in Christ we have full forgiveness of sins. (Eph 1:3-10)

Family, apart from the gospel we will relate with God either in fear or arrogance. But through the good news, we see Him as the loving God who makes us His children through His Son’s sacrifice!
We saw earlier in chapter 1 how some people by rejecting faith and a good conscience ended up shipwrecking their faith! Hence, it is a critical thing for a deacon but it is also an essential thing for a believer.

10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

As we can see in v10, there is an examination and a scrutiny that is taking place. They are not blindly appointing these deacons due to their giftings or leadership skills or serving skills but by watching their lives. And that can only be done in the context of Christian community. So your community plays a very important role in affirming your level of maturity. That’s why it doesn’t make sense when people say they are mature in the faith apart from being around and involved in Christian community. We can acquire a lot of knowledge by reading books, listening to sermons by the best of preachers but your maturity level can only be confirmed if you’re serving and living life with other believers.

Blamelessness is another requirement. Let’s remind ourselves that it doesn’t mean sinless perfection. If that were the case, then no one would qualify to be a shepherd or a deacon. So what does blamelessness mean? It means having a lifestyle free of scandal. And again here, we’ve seen how scandals have wrecked people’s faith and divided the church. Both elders and deacons need to be pace-setters not injuring people’s faith.

11 Their wives likewise[d] must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.

Now he comes to the wives, telling how they should be respectable, not falsely accusing others but being calm and composed in their conversations. The wives are to be fully reliable in all things. At this point, you’re probably like “Wait a minute. I get why deacons should have qualifications, why should their wives also be scrutinized?” 

I think that’s why it’s essential to look at the church as the family of God. It’s not an event, not a club or an organization…it’s family! Family, as God designed it requires women to play an essential part. We see that at our homes, right? So crucial the role of a woman. The church is God’s family and so the actions of the wives of the deacons can positively or negatively impact the family.Secondly, wives can influence their husbands. If you have any doubts, talk to our forefather Adam. Therefore, it’s important to also look at their lives to qualify the man as a deacon.

12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

Similar to requirement for elders, a deacon should be loyal and faithful to his wife and also manage his children well. And again, these are not things that we usually look for in people to serve the church. Family leadership is vital to being able to serve in this capacity. This is not something that happens automatically. There is hard work that goes into staying faithful to your spouse and also leading the family well. This kind of commitment and hard work will play out even within the church if it is being practiced at home. We again see the close relationship between our family and our church family. It was never intended to be separated. And that’s why if we think about it biblically, Sunday event Christianity doesn’t make sense. It ends up being Sunday Christianity for some of us because we aren’t willing to live life with our brothers and sisters every day. Just think about the freedom you’ll have from pretending before others if you realized how we are all family in Christ. And the truth is real life together is messy but we have Christ and each other! Why do we still then live like orphans?

13 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.

It ends with an encouraging note for the hard work put in by the deacons. “They will gain a good standing for themselves” which means they will be respected and appreciated in the church for their ministry. Just to clarify, deacons shouldn’t serve because they want to be appreciated and respected by the church but instead as they eagerly and willingly serve the church, people will recognize their efforts and appreciate their work. But that kind of public acknowledgement is just one side. There’s something more than that which we will receive for a lifetime of faithful ministry:

People who serve well, will receive great boldness and confidence in the power of the gospel as they see it being proven time and time again in their own ministry. Your effectiveness in ministry will also increase as a result of this.

Sometimes, as believers we get into this self-centered space where we are only caught up in our own world and issues and insecurities…it leads us to be unsure of our faith. We end up doubting God’s purposes for us. If that’s what you are going through, let me encourage you to start serving in some capacity or the other.

It’s Christ himself who said “It’s more blessed to give than to receive”. (Acts 20:35) There is a supernatural blessing we can experience when we give our time, our money and our talents to serve someone else. We would’ve experienced this when we’ve gone to orphanages or mission trips. We go with an intention to give and not expecting anything back. More often than not we return back learning something new and feeling more satisfied than we were before.

So if you’re there today, thinking that you’ve reached a rut in your spiritual walk. You need to definitely ask yourself where’s your heart in relation to God. Repentance is necessary but that would also involve you removing your focus from yourself and placing it in people whom God has placed in your life. If you’re still figuring what that looks like, in what capacity can you serve the church, you can get in touch with either Saju or me and we’ll be happy to suggest some ways.

We did talk a great deal about the qualifications for deacons today. But I don’t want us to look at the list and think it’s not required for us. If there’s something both these qualifications teach us, it is that God desires holiness in the character of His children. We’ve cheapened the meaning of grace as believers today. Standard for purity and integrity in churches are very low. But as we see in 1 Tim 3, God has set a high standard for the church and the leaders need to set the pace. Let the requirement for holiness make us more and more dependent on Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Let it result in cries for strength and grace from heaven to be the kind of people God calls us to be.

Secondly, let’s also remind ourselves that God calls us to serve the church. Whether you are an ordained deacon or not, you are called to serve! You don’t need to be the most gifted individual leader to serve, all God desires is willingness. And as you serve people, you will begin to understand God and His attributes in many newer ways because He Himself came not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45). You emulate and imitate your Lord and Savior when you serve the church. What is God calling you to do today?

The passage we are going to cover today has been a fascinating one for the church over the ages. More so in recent times this has been a reason for a lot of fascination because it deals with the different roles that men and women have within the church. And the goal of the sermon is not to make it a more fascinating topic but to recognize God as absolutely fantastic due to His wisdom and ways!

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

3 weeks back we looked at the passage in chapter 2 which urged us to pray all kinds of prayers for all kinds of people…especially those that are harsh toward us. And what was the reason for this: is that they come to knowledge of the truth! One of the key points we were challenged on was to pray for someone who has actually harmed us or wronged us. Someone who we think would never get saved. Two things happen when we pray for them:

a) The gospel is exalted because we affirm that it has the power to save anyone. No matter who you are and what you’ve done, the good news (that Jesus Christ died and rose again) is able to deliver you from the wrath of God. That’s the powerful message we communicate when we pray for those that are against us or against the gospel. Do we really believe that the gospel is “good news for all”? Even the worst of sinners?

b) God is glorified because we reflect the heart of God when we pray and desire their salvation. We show ourselves to be God’s children by wanting our “enemies” and people unlike us come to the knowledge of the Savior. If we ourselves were enemies of God who were shown immense mercy and patience through the gospel, how can we be self righteous to not make that same prayer for others no matter how cruel or wicked they’ve been?

Today’s passage jumps off where we left. The context is about prayer…praying for all kinds of people so that they get saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

V8 says: I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling.

We are talking about church Gatherings here. Paul is obviously not saying that only men can pray in a Gathering but I think he’s pointing toward men taking the lead as they offer various prayers for various people.

“Lifting holy hands” is a typical posture for prayer in the Bible. Few examples are:

Psalm 63:4: I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

God tells the sinful Israelites in Isaiah 1:15, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood”.

And then he goes on to add “without anger or quarrelling”…what is he trying to say here?

He’s probably saying that because anger and quarrelling was an issue in the Ephesian church. It could probably be the result of controversial teachings that were being propagated by false teachers. So Paul wrote this to Timothy so that he could bring order to their church meetings. Also what I think he’s trying to say here is that the lives of men who profess faith in Christ should be defined not by anger or quarrelling but by prayer. Isn’t that profound but also convicting?

If people from within the church and outside the church would be asked to describe you based on your lifestyle, what would they say about it? Would they say it’s defined by prayer? Or would they say that it’s defined by quarrels and anger?

One of the things that men generally struggle with is a desire for respect and pride. We are always crying and demanding respect from various people in our lives. Our parents, our spouse, our colleagues, our friends and our church family as well. When we don’t receive it, we end up quarrelling.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:1-3)

Men, the reason why there are constant quarrels and fights is not because of the other person or the circumstance but because of your sinful desires. If the way you deal with tough times and conflicts is by fighting over it instead of bringing it to God in prayer, the truth is that you struggle with a great deal of pride and selfishness. And that speaks a lot about whom we trust and whom are we trying to please. Are we really trusting God or are we trusting and trying to please ourselves? Our lifestyle displays what we believe. Our lifestyle communicates what we love.

Luke 6:45: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

What would it take for us to be identified as men that are prayerful?

9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

When Paul instructs the women, he tells how they should be defined by their “good works” and not what they wear. And this is a huge deal for women. In today’s time, this might seem to restrict a woman’s right to wear whatever she wants to wear.

Let me phrase the same question that was phrased to the men, if people from within the church and outside the church would be asked to describe you based on your lifestyle, what would they say about it? Would they say it’s defined by good works? Or would they say it’s defined by the external and what you wear?

And I think while the struggle with men is with pride, women generally on the other hand struggle with acceptance. Therefore, what they wear gives them self worth. That feeling of being accepted by people. The instruction here is to not adorn themselves with costly clothing and fancy hair and jewelry but to adorn themselves with good works.

3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. (1 Pet 3:3-6)

What this passage says is what God actually views as beautiful is not the external adornment but the gentleness and character of the heart. A submissive heart is what God finds very precious! One may ask, “Well is there something wrong in trying to look nice?” No, there’s nothing wrong. However, if most of our effort and time is spent in making us look attractive externally rather than considering how can we serve and love Christ and people, then it is an issue of the heart which needs to be addressed.

What would it take to be identified as a woman of good works?

And I think the gospel addresses both of these issues that men and women face. Our struggle with pride and acceptance can be addressed by the gospel. When we understand how big, Holy and loving God is and how sinful we are in the light of His holiness, it completely crushes the pride in us. We realize the only way we can have a restored relationship with the Creator is by trusting in a Wonderful Savior and not in ourselves. The cheap thrill that we have by exalting ourselves and fighting for our pride is thrown away when we receive the true Joy giver.

On the other hand, we know that through Christ we are fully loved and accepted by God. There’s no greater fulfillment and satisfaction than knowing that our Creator and Redeemer has totally accepted us. So we’re freed to pursue what God has called us to do.

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve;14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Now what does Paul mean here? If we don’t understand the context and the reason for what Paul is saying we might assume that he is being chauvinistic. So let’s dig deep to know what the context is?

Is Paul trying to say that women cannot speak in Gatherings?

No, because in 1 Cor 11:5 Paul talks about order in worship out there and he clearly describes women who pray and prophesy.

but every wife[c] who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven

Just to clarify on this verse that head covering in the Corinthian culture, a married woman who uncovered her head in public brought shame to her husband. As you can see in v5, praying and prophesying by women was permitted or he wouldn’t have mentioned this example.

But someone may say “what about 1 Cor 14:33-35 where there is a similar instruction?”

As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Again to understand this, we’ll need to look at the immediate context which is v29: Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. The context dealt with examination and critique of prophecies which is more a ruling or governing function of the church.

Therefore, even in 1 Tim 2:11, when Paul says she is to learn quietly in submissiveness, he’s not saying that she cannot speak at all but the reference is to v12 where he says:
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man

Now if you remember from last week, the elder has three roles: feeding the church, caring for the church and protecting the church. Teaching and exercising authority over a man are roles fulfilled by the elder in a biblical church. Teaching is how the church is fed by the Word of God and exercising authority is the governing authority to lead, care and protect the church.

One may ask, “what if the woman is gifted to teach? What about that?”

13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

It’s interesting how Paul doesn’t talk about culture as the reason for this mandate but goes back to Creation to show how this was the order in God’s design.

Adam was created first by God. In God’s mind, the leadership at home was given to the man. That was his role. This in no way makes the woman unequal. There is a difference in role but both have equal worth, importance and value. Both men and women are equally important and valuable to God.

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)

The second reason Paul gives is Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

Again, Paul isn’t trying to blame Eve for the fall and say Adam was innocent but he was trying to point to something else that happened in the Garden.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths. (Gen 3:1-7)

Adam was present with Eve at the time when she was being tempted. His responsibility was also to protect the spiritual life in the home. He silently watched and participated in the act of disobedience instead of preserving the faith of the family while Eve took the lead. This role reversal resulted in the Fall of mankind. Satan attacked the male headship of the home when he spoke to Eve and deceived her. Paul probably is stating this to show how disastrous it can be when men don’t ascribe to God’s design and take up spiritual leadership in the church.

This is not to say that women are incapable of teaching the Bible. In fact a woman in a church might be better gifted at teaching but the office to lead and shepherd the church is for a man. In Titus 2, it urges mature woman in the faith to disciple younger women and children. Their gifts can still be used in the church but differently. For eg: if me and my wife did the same thing and didn’t have different roles, our home wouldn’t function properly. Each of us have different skills which we bring to the table but our roles are distinct.

Another question would be, “can a woman participate/help in other ministries of the church like example worship/music ministry?”

The only exception given biblically is with respect to the office of an elder. Yes, she can help in other ministries. Regarding worship leading, the Gathering doesn’t view worship leading as an office of an elder. The person leading worship isn’t teaching expositionally nor does the person exercise any authority. Reading scripture, selecting songs, prayer can and should have participation of women. I think the concern would be if a man came up to Jane or Angela and asked them to pastor/lead him.

We realize that God desires and has ordained for men to be the spiritual leaders at home and in the church. In God’s heart, this was the best way (complementary roles) to reflect the harmonious interpersonal relationship within the Trinity. In the God Head, all members are equal in worth and personhood yet they have different roles.

So what’s the application here?

One of the reasons why I feel women have had to step up in the last few years has been because men have been passive and lazy toward their responsibility of spiritual leadership. In my experience in youth ministry for a few years and also the churches I’ve been to, it’s been sad to see a minority of men participating, getting involved and leading people in the faith. “Where are the men?” is a question often asked. God’s church requires faithful, reliable and prayerful men who will lead their families and the church to know and love God more. You don’t have to know everything or even be smarter than the women to lead. God calls men to lead by taking the initiative.

The encouragement to women would be to continue to actively participate in all the different ways that God has designed for them with the variety of gifts that they’ve been given. However, if they notice a pattern where there’s only a female initiative in evangelism, bible studies or discipleship…it would be good to just have a word with the men gently encouraging them to take the lead in those areas. This I think works well in a context of a husband/wife relationship where the wife can gently encourage her husband to take the lead and also in the context of close GC relationships because we see how God has called and designed different roles in the family of God to display who He is.

It’s been an amazing journey of understanding God’s heart for the church as we’ve looked through 1 Timothy. Last week Jeff preached on the “Qualifications of an Elder”: What are the qualifying characteristics of a person who needs to be appointed as an elder? Do you remember the 6 points?

1. Desire
2. Character
3. Ability
4. Family Leadership
5. Maturity
6. Reputation.

This week we’ll be jumping off what we learnt last week…We’ll get into the nitty gritty details of “What an Elder Is” and “What he does”. Isn’t that a great question? What does an elder do? Just to remind you all again…Elder, Pastor, Bishop and Overseer all mean the same thing. In the Bible, these words are used interchangeably.

So coming back, why do you think it’s important to know what is an elder and what he does biblically? I think there are two reasons:

1. To prevent abuse within the church of God

We’ve all heard numerous stories how elders have wrongly used their spiritual position in the church to take advantage of their people physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Just imagine the damage it would’ve caused. Some victims of this kind of spiritual abuse have even abandoned the faith because the leaders who should’ve led them toward Christ are in turn abusing them. That is really cruel! Christ would never ever want that to happen to His church!

2. To get rid of the unhealthy baggage from our previous church experiences

Most of us who have been to other churches in the past are carrying some unhealthy perceptions on the role and function of an elder which can affect our involvement and participation in this local body. Believe it or not, all of us are carrying some kind of baggage. Two examples are here:

a) Authoritarian View of an Elder

Some of us have seen elders from other churches being harsh, prideful and dominating. He’s more like the “Boss/Landlord” rather than a “Shepherd” taking care of the flock. This develops an unhealthy pattern of fear among the church. People are always fearful of the elder and the pursuit of the congregation turns into pleasing and exalting the elder rather than Christ. The elder is viewed only in terms of his administrative and organizational qualities.

b) Diminished View of an Elder

This is the other extreme where there is no respect for the elder. You’ll often find people frequently bad mouthing the elder and also being non-submissive to anything he says. Well, the main issue with this view is that they are slandering the authority that God has placed over their souls. This is never pleasing to God.

These reasons (abuse and baggage) often hamper us from really enjoying God’s design for the church and living out God’s purposes in and through our lives. There is a reason why God has placed called and gifted individuals over the church so that they can lead people to love, trust and obey God more effectively. Again to re-iterate Jeff’s point last week…Pastors/Elders are sheep themselves. We are equal in dignity and worth before God. And we are equally in need of God’s grace each day. But by rebelling against God’s appointed leaders, it doesn’t enable us to have greater love and intimacy with Christ. It’s like a wife responding to a question on her husband’s leadership saying “Leader? You wish! He can’t lead anyone”. Although both the husband and wife are equal in God’s sight but in order to grow and live out God’s purposes they’ll need to complement each other in their roles and not fight to establish their dominance at home. So the attempt this morning is to understand the weighty call of the elder and also grow in appreciation of God’s design for the church.

So let’s try to answer: What is an elder?

An elder is a God called and qualified person appointed to feed, care and protect His flock through the authority of the Word. The goal for this leader is to help people love, trust and obey God more effectively.

Let’s look at Scripture to make sure we’re grounded in our understanding and definition of what an Elder Is and Does.

We did go through last week how God qualifies an elder. (1 Tim 3:1-7)

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer[a] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,[b] sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Just to touch on the topic of what it means to be God called:

V1 talks about the desire that God places on a person’s heart to pursue this ministry. And this is not a desire to become great, famous, popular and rich. Those are all wrong motivations and a person should be not be qualified if that is the motivation. The desire which is being referred to here is to see people’s lives being changed by the gospel through the faithful shepherding of the flock which results in total dependence on the sufficiency of Christ. In other words, the heart beat and passion for a pastor called and qualified by God would be to echo the words of John the Baptist “He must increase, but I must decrease”. (John 3:30) The success of this person’s ministry is not defined by how much he/his church has accomplished but on how much his church trusts and relies on God.

Just to clarify, all of us have been called by God to proclaim His excellencies (1 Pet 2:9). We all are a royal priesthood. But God does have a specific role for elders to equip and build up the church so that they can be more effective in ministering to people.

Ephesian 4:11-12: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers,[d] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ

2) What does an Elder do? How does he equip the body for ministry?

1) Feeds the Flock
2) Cares for the Flock
3) Protects the Flock.

Let’s look at each of them in detail.

1. Elders feed the flock

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you (1 Pet 5:1-2)

The Greek word that is used for “shepherd” actually means “feed”. Essentially Peter is saying as a fellow elder he urges “shepherds/elders” to feed the flock. What should they be fed with? Not grass. But with the Word of God. Christ’s sheep needs to be nourished and nurtured with the Word of God. And that’s why the only qualification that deals with a capability from that list in 1 Tim 3 says “able to teach”. An elder spends time and energy with the Bible so that Christ’s church can be fed with the pure instruction and preaching of the Word. The seriousness of this call is humbling for me because it reminds me that if this passage is interpreted and applied correctly as it was intended, then you would be listening to not the word of man but God Himself! This “feeding” is however not restricted to a Sunday sermon but a lifestyle of discipleship. The gospel is being applied in discussions about life, work, marriage, entertainment, children, fashion, relationships, conflict, education, career etc. The elder is not expressing his opinions on these topics but is delving deep into Scripture to help people understand what God thinks about these topics and how he wants us to respond. It’s really disappointing that there are some pastors today that think that the Bible isn’t relevant anymore so they come up with sermons and teachings on the basis of worldly wisdom using verses to support their claims but denying the power and truth of Scripture. My point is…if we want to hear what the world thinks about these questions we don’t need the elder to tell us that. We’ll source that from other places. What we need to hear is what Christ wants to us to believe, desire and obey.

2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2. Elders care for the flock

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet 5:1-3)

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,[a]which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)

Few things we can understand from these two passages:

i) Elders care for the flock by understanding that they are overseeing the flock of Christ that He purchased with His own blood. This is as weighty as it gets. Remember earlier we talked about elders that have abused their congregation. The reason they do it is because they don’t realize that these are the very people that Christ brought out of slavery with His own blood. The flock is treated with utmost care.

ii) Elders care for the flock by being an example. This is so powerful. All of us know the impact that actions can have more than words. An elder nullifies his doctrine with an inconsistent lifestyle. The best way an elder can love and care for the church is by showing them how to love and serve Christ.

iii) Elders care for the flock by shepherding willingly and eagerly. As we’ve seen, leading and caring for Christ’s flock involves a lot of work, time and energy. All of us know of tasks that we do out of compulsion and obligation. However, Christ intends that elders joyfully and willingly embrace the responsibility. Secondly, in our flesh and self-centredness we are always looking to do things which give us some immediate returns. Christ calls elders to not do it out of shameful gain but eagerly not expecting immediate returns but the heavenly reward for those who do it well. 1 Pet 5:4 : And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

3. Elders protect the flock

Titus 1:9 : He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound[g] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

An elder needs to be gospel fluent : his understanding about the glory of God, the pre-eminence of Christ and our desperate need to trust in the sufficiency of Christ. He needs to be gospel fluent in order to preach but also to rebuke wrong doctrine.

Acts 20:29-31 : I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

In Acts 20, Paul calls the Ephesian elders to meet him at Miletus. He exhorts them before he leaves on how they need to take care of God’s flock. But look at the language he uses to describe false teachers : “fierce wolves”. These false teachers will come up among the disciples and will speak of strange twisted things in order to draw disciples after them. Again you see the connection between wrong doctrine and wrong intention. But the exhortation to the elders is that they remain alert! They can’t just allow anybody to come and teach anything. If the pure word of God is able to nourish and build up believers, then the impure, contaminated teaching would harm and destroy the believers. And elders shouldn’t allow that to take place. It’s like a shepherd allowing wolves to come and devour the lambs. Will a good shepherd allow that to happen? No. Saju narrated an incident once where a gospel singer contacted him through the website. This person claimed to have written many Christian songs and he wanted to check with Saju if he could come to the Gathering and sing his songs and share his testimony. Saju told him that he was welcome to attend our Gathering but he wouldn’t be allowed to share his testimony or sing a song because we didn’t know anything about him. Didn’t know his life or his doctrine. We couldn’t allow him to come and say anything because it could be something absolutely unbiblical which could harm the flock. Protecting the flock is one of the key responsibilities of the elder.

As we’ve all read and understood the call and the function of an elder, I pray that it does a couple of things in our hearts this morning:

1. If we’ve had negative baggage with respect to church leadership, I think this calls us to repent of those false beliefs and embrace God’s design as He’s laid down in Scripture.

2. Submit to elders in a way that is honouring to Christ. Heb 13:17: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. What would that mean to us today? How can we make it a joy for our elders to serve and watch over our souls?