Category: 1 Timothy (Page 1 of 2)

The last five verses of this letter from the apostle Paul to Timothy and the church at Ephesus are a postscript to the main body of the letter. The main body of the letter ended with Paul’s benediction in verses 15 – 16 of chapter 6. But it appears that as Paul reviewed his letter to Timothy and the church that he needed to make one last postscript statement regarding wealthy Christians.

These verses are a charge from the apostle Paul to Timothy his son in the faith. There’s something very powerful that happens when a father speaks to his child. The Scriptures teach us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. With our tongues we can speak deadly hurtful words that wound people unnecessarily. Likewise, with our tongues we can speak life-giving words that challenge and encourage and motivate people.

Teach and urge these things. Some have wandered away from the faith. These phrases act as bookends to everything that Paul says in verses 3 – 10. In our study of 1^st Timothy, Paul has consistently drawn our attention to the issue of false teachers, shipwrecked believers, departed disciples and now wandering heretics. And he says: teach and urge these things. Paul’s message to us in this letter regarding those who apostatize from the faith is an urgent matter.

I want to do three things today as we study this passage. I want to deal with the elephant in the room in regards to the topic of this text, which is Paul’s apparent ignorance of the horrors of slavery. Then I want to explain what Paul is actually saying in the text. And finally I want to tie everything together under the bloody cross in the doorway of the empty tomb in practical application for us.

The focus of our text today is an instruction from Paul to Timothy on helping the Ephesian church care for her pastors. His instructions here reminded me of a quote from our theology/philosophy of eldership…

There’s no such thing as lower class, middle class or upper class in the church family. There’s only the class of sinner turned saint. There’s only the class who’ve been redeemed from the pit. There’s only the class that once was lost but now is found. There’s only the class who were orphaned by sin but adopted by the Savior. There are no second rate citizens in the church family and there certainly are no citizens with special privileges.

Paul’s words to Timothy in the opening verse of our text carry a tone of seriousness that cannot be dismissed lightly. Five words in the first verse: Command and teach these things. Five simple words that carry serious meaning. We all have a serious responsibility to command obedience to the teaching of God’s Word. This is a serious matter because men and women who teach with their words what their lives don’t support are dangerous teachers to follow.

Everyone wants to hear the words “Well done my good and faithful servant”. No one looks forward to a day when someone will say to him or to her “You have done your job poorly and you are an irresponsible servant. Depart from me for I do not know you.” Deep down inside, every one of us has a deep desire to serve well. We want to excel at things. We want to be successful. We want to be good at something. We want to be good servants.

What is your vision of Jesus right now and how does that vision affect your behavior, your church engagement and your proclamation of Christ? Last week I made the statement that I believe that the church in the western world worships a small vision of Jesus. And my prayer has been that God would reveal to us where our vision of his Son needs to be increased.

The passage in front of us today is Paul’s second pass as laying out the qualifications for leaders in the church. The first round focused on the role of Elders (3:1 – 7) and this second round focuses on the role of Deacons (3:8 – 13). At first glance both sections appear to be identical and there are many things that are identical in these verses. But there are also many things that are unique to the role of a Deacon in comparison to the role of an Elder. Look at what Paul says…