Reverend Jonathan Waits
Sermon: Well Led (1 Timothy 3)
Date: September 24, 2023
Have you ever had the pleasure of strolling through a really well-tended garden? When I think about that, something like the Biltmore Estate immediately comes to mind for me. Those gardens are absolutely exquisite. There’s beauty everywhere you look. It is a place of peace and tranquility—even in the winter—and a nice escape from the world. The whole estate is like that, but the gardens up near the mansion are a particularly good place for it. Imagine, though, that you were walking through a forest and came upon a garden like that. Your first thought would not be anywhere in the universe of, “Wow! What a beautiful garden that grew up here like this out in the middle of nowhere all by itself.” No, you’re thinking something along the lines of, “Someone did beautiful work making this garden look like it does.” You might also be thinking, “Uh-oh! Whose land have I accidentally trespassed on? I hope they don’t have a big, vicious dog guarding it.”
A beautifully cultivated garden like this is never the work of chance. It is unfailingly the work of a really good gardener. Now, this isn’t to say there aren’t beautiful things that occur naturally in the world around us. There indisputably are. Lisa and I used to live in Colorado. We saw them every single day there. Rather, it is to say that a cultivated garden doesn’t happen on its own. It takes work and intentionality over time. Furthermore, it’s one thing to create a beautiful garden. Anybody with sufficient resources can do that. If you pay enough money, you can hire landscape engineers to buy all the right materials and build a wonderscape of a garden for you. But maintaining a garden over time is another matter entirely. That takes a lot of work. It takes the direction of a master garden. If the garden is big enough—like at the Biltmore Estate—it takes more than that too. It takes a small army of gardeners who all know their respective roles and play them to the best of their ability, picking up the slack for one another when someone can’t fulfill her duty for some reason. Can you hear the parallels to the church just yet?
This morning we are in the fifth part of our teaching series, Nuts and Bolts. For the last few weeks we have been talking about the church. We’ve been talking about what the church is, what it’s for, and how to get it right. We have done this through detailed conversations with the Scriptures as our guide. We have experienced all of this together as well as we have gotten to do some really fun things over the last few weeks like ordaining new deacons, commissioning a missions team, getting an exciting report from that same missions team, adding new members, and celebrating new believers. It’s been a good few weeks, and I am excited to see what God has planned for us next as we keep pursuing Him together as a church.
So, last time, we talked about discipleship in the church. We didn’t go into a lot of detail on the matter, but I did lay out for us the importance of that particular element of our operation. What we said then is that discipleship is how the church grows stronger. If we aren’t growing together in Christ, then we are either growing apart from each other, or we are growing apart from Him, which will eventually lead to our growing apart from each other anyway. Discipleship—growing as followers of Jesus—is something the church has to be doing. There’s no substitute for it or excuse for not doing it. But the thing about something like discipleship is that it doesn’t happen on its own. Our natural, inertial pull is not in the direction of Jesus. If we are not all of us being intentional in this together, it’s not going to happen. But there’s another challenge here. Groups like this don’t tend to move in the same direction together unless there is good leadership in place helping to push things in the direction we want them to go. With that in mind, this morning, as we keep talking about the nuts and bolts of getting being the church right, we are going to talk about church leadership.
Church leadership is a big topic. If you pay much attention to it, it seems like it’s a pretty complicated topic as well. After all, there are thousands of books written on the subject with dozens more being added to the pile every year. If you wanted to, you could probably keep yourself busy all year along doing nothing but attending church leadership conferences around the country. There are classes you can take. Gurus you can hire. Models you can implement. Best practices you can observe. What’s more, nearly all of these guarantee that getting the whole thing right is really very simple. That, though, just begs the question of why there is a whole industry dedicated to helping us get something so supposedly simple right. As we have said before when we’ve tackled other big topics, though, this all just means that when we leave here in a little while, we will not have completely settled this matter. Not even close, in fact. What we are going to do, though, is to reflect a bit together with the apostle Paul on why getting it right matters so much and what happens when we do.
Now, when thinking about the idea of church leadership, the Scriptures have a lot to offer. The challenge here, though, is that much of what we find falls more on the descriptive side than the prescriptive side. We see several examples of what the church was doing when it came to their leadership, and we are right to take our cues from that, but we don’t find nearly as many examples of someone like the apostle Paul giving us explicit instructions for how all churches should be doing it. Now, when it comes to the matter of the character expected of leaders in the church, there is plenty there that is prescriptive including the passage we are going to take a look at together in just a bit. But as far as what the whole thing looks like in practice, there’s not much in terms of clear guidance. Different churches can structure themselves in different ways from a leadership standpoint and still all be equally committed to the inerrancy of the text and the glorification of God in Christ. As a matter of fact, different churches do structure themselves differently from a leadership standpoint and many of them are equally effective in advancing the Gospel in their various communities. The uncomfortable truth here for a people who thrive on clarity and neat resolutions to difficult questions is that there isn’t any one right way to do church leadership in the Scriptures. Across church history it has been pursued in a variety of ways, most of which have been equally influenced both by what we do find in the Scriptures and their various cultures’ understandings of leadership best practices.
That all being said, while a specifically prescribed structure for church leadership in the Scriptures is hard to find, there are several leadership positions that we see mentioned frequently enough both in the course of narratives like Acts and more direct teachings like we find in Paul’s letters, that together create a rather powerful sense that these are positions we should probably have reflected in our churches today. One of these positions is the apostle. The original group of apostles were the core group of Jesus’ eleven remaining disciples after Judas’ suicide as well as Mattathias, who was appointed to replace him by the casting of lots as we see in Acts 1. These twelve men were tasked with planting and leading the church in Jerusalem in the very beginning. Eventually, though, all of them left Jerusalem and headed off on journeys around the world to plant churches in the various places they visited. From a technical standpoint, though, an apostle was simply a messenger sent out by a master with a specific mission. And indeed, Jesus sent the original twelve apostles to proclaim the Gospel as they served as His “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” From a practical standpoint, the apostles were the ones who started new ministry ventures. Over the course of the rest of the New Testament, we see various other individuals referred to as being apostles including Paul, Barnabas, Jesus’ brother James, Andronicus, and a woman named, Junia.
Another frequently mentioned role in the ancient church was that of a prophet. A prophet was understood throughout the Scriptures as being someone who spoke God’s words to His people. This is a role filled by both men and women in the Scriptures. In the New Testament, there are several different folks referred to as being prophets, and Paul mentions the practice of prophecy multiple times as being among the various spiritual gifts God gives His people to build the church up in the love of Christ. On balance, the role of prophet in the church seems to be something that a number of people might be gifted at filling rather than its being a specific office filled by one specific person. Other roles like evangelist, teacher, and even pastor all appear to function in roughly the same way. Today, in the Protestant (that is, non-Catholic or Eastern Orthodox) tradition we have generally adopted the custom of using the word “pastor” to refer to the ordained members of a church’s leadership team who are often compensated for their work thanks in part to Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians 9. But throughout the New Testament, pastoring, or caring for God’s people as a shepherd might do for his sheep, appears as something multiple members of a church might be gifted to do and is never limited to what we might identify today as the paid staff.
Each of these different roles are all part of what we might identify as the leadership of the church. They are all different from one another in ways that are sometimes subtle, but also significant. They are also all important to the proper and healthy functioning of the body. What all of this means is that the leadership of the church is not something that is totally monopolized in a small core of people while the rest of the group simply does what they are told. No, there are several different levels of leadership in the church, and if the whole thing is going to be healthy and function well as God designed, then it is vital for folks who are gifted for these various roles we have mentioned and others like them to serve as God has directed them for the benefit of the body as a whole. Putting everything we’ve said so far in the context of the discipleship we talked about last week, all of these different individuals with unique gifts and callings are essential parts and pieces of the church’s larger discipleship ministry. They are all able to reach different people in different ways using the differing gifts God has given them, all adding different and important elements to the shaping up into the image of Christ that all the members participate in by virtue of their membership.
That all being said, in spite of a number of different leadership roles like this that might be filled by a variety of people in a given church in a fairly informal way, there are a couple of leadership roles that appear to be a bit more formalized. Even this, though, is not something about which we can be dogmatic. The Catholic and Orthodox traditions argue for three distinct roles, while the Protestant tradition generally makes the case for two, arguing that two of the words are used interchangeably in the New Testament. That just means we have to be humble in our posturing and positioning on this matter. The two roles that receive a bit more formal definition in the New Testament are the roles of overseer and deacon.
Now, the word “deacon” is pretty familiar to us. It has long been a part of the tradition of this specific church, and we have talked about it before on more than one occasion. The word “overseer,” though, may not be. The Greek word behind it is the word episkopos from which we get our word episcopal, as in the Episcopal Church. The other major Greek word that’s relevant here is the word presbyteros, from which the Presbyterian Church gets its name. In the New Testament, both of these words are translated as “overseer,” but also as “elder,” which is a bit more familiar a word, and the one I’m going to use as we continue this conversation just a little bit longer.
While the position of deacon, again, functions basically like many of you already understand it to function, the position of elder is a little trickier. From what evidence we can see in the New Testament, the elders were the group tasked with the executive level leadership of a given church. This would have included things like the administrative functioning of the church as well as the spiritual direction it was going. Sticking with a theme that we have come back to more than once this morning, different churches understand what the position of elder entails and how exactly it works differently. Some, like the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, or the Episcopal Church (who might refer to the position as Presbyter or Bishop) see a single elder or perhaps a group of elders as providing direction for a whole group of churches at the same time. In the Baptist Church and others who similarly value the autonomy of the local church (that is, they don’t let anybody outside their local church tell them what to do), the elders—if they exist—are a small group of leaders who provide the direction for just their one church…unless the one church exists as a multi-campus church, in which case it would seem they are functioning more along the lines of those other traditions by overseeing a group of churches. And if you find yourself with your head spinning just a little bit…that kind of makes my point. This whole thing isn’t as clear a thing as we’d like it to be.
Okay, so then what is clear in all of this? Well, a couple of things. First, these two positions in particular are both ones that should be functioning in the church. Now, the role of elder is often associated today with the position of senior pastor. So, in a sense, they are both functioning in most Baptist churches. But, while the senior pastor should be among the elders of a given church as a kind of first-among-equals, from the evidence we see across the New Testament, it seems that it was pretty common for churches to have multiple elders functioning along the lines of how many churches’ deacon boards function. That is, it is not at all uncommon today for churches to confuse these two positions and treat them as interchangeable when the New Testament authors pretty clearly treated them separately. What exactly that means for us as a church is something we are not going to even try to sort out this morning, but is perhaps worthy of our consideration as we continue to pursue together becoming more fully the church God created us to be.
There’s something else that is pretty clear when it comes to church leadership. This is the character required of these two positions. Paul writes about this rather directly in his first letter to his protege Timothy. Timothy was serving as the leader—what we would call the pastor, or perhaps the chief elder—of the church in Ephesus (yes, that’s the very same church in Ephesus I told you last week gets most of the attention of the New Testament authors), but he was still pretty new to the whole pastoring thing. So, Paul wrote giving him all kinds of advice on how to do the job well including, as we are about to see, leading the other elders of the church. Included among this counsel are essentially character descriptions for elders and deacons. If you have a copy of the Scriptures handy, find your way with me to 1 Timothy 3 so you can see this for yourself.
“This saying is trustworthy: ‘If anyone aspires to be an overseer [that is, an elder], he desires a noble work.’ An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife [a phrase that meant they should be faithful to their spouse and which therefore does not somehow limit this position to only married men], self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach [which, I should note, is the one major difference between elders and deacons here; elders are deacons who have taken on the additional and important role of imparting Gospel truths to the church, and leading them in grasping their application], not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders [that is, non-believers], so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.”
Those are elders. Keep reading with me for Paul’s description of deacons: “Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. They must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons. Wives [which can also be translated as simply “women,” suggesting that women can serve as deacons— something we see explicitly elsewhere in Paul’s letters], too, must be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything. Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently. For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
Now, there is a lot there that we just don’t have time to explore in more detail together this morning. But let me point out just a couple of things worthy of our attention. First, did you notice just how basic these descriptions are? Other than perhaps being able to teach, there is nothing here that is somehow above and beyond the call of duty for the average follower of Jesus in the church. Everyone should aspire to this kind of lifestyle. What that means, though, is that character really counts for leaders in the church. If someone is not displaying the kind of character that is intentionally and recognizably modeled after Jesus’ example and the teachings of the apostles, he shouldn’t be elevated to a position of leadership. He needs to grow more fully into who God in Christ has called him to be. But, and as we’ll talk about next week, Lord willing, that’s a growth that needs to be happening or else another conversation becomes necessary. More on that then.
There’s one other thing that’s clear here, and we get this in the next couple of verses as Paul pauses to offer a personal note to Timothy. Look with me starting at v. 14 now: “I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon. But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
It’s a little tricky to see what Paul does here, so let me lay it out as clearly as I can. Paul was giving Timothy these instructions about the character of church leaders so that the whole church had a better understanding of how they were to get along in God’s household. You see, the thing about leadership is that it has an impact on the people who are being led. That’s unavoidable. All leaders change the people who are following them. It may be that they change them for the better, or it may be that they are changed for the worse. But they are changed. That much is unavoidable. Paul was incredibly clear-eyed about the challenges facing the church. He was relentlessly honest about the challenges that come part and parcel with seeking to follow Jesus together in groups. He wanted to make sure that Timothy and his church were up to the challenge of being part of the pillar and foundation of the truth (and just for fun sometime, let the implications of that idea really start to sink in). And he knew that one of the best ways to make sure that was happening was for the church to be led well. But Timothy couldn’t do the whole thing on his own. No one person can. And if someone tries anyway and appears to succeed, they’re probably not building on the foundation of the Gospel, meaning it will all fall apart when they’re not there to keep it going any longer. That’s not a good and God-honoring outcome for a church. So, Paul gave Timothy instructions for how to raise up leaders and the kind of people those leaders should be.
The idea driving all of this is very simple: When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. They are made stronger. They are made wiser. They are grown in righteousness. They reflect the love of Christ more fully and completely through their lives. They are kinder and gentler and humbler and more self-controlled. They effectively steward the truths of the Gospel to a lost and broken world. When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. And God Himself is glorified.
So, what do you need to do with this? Let me give you one thing to reflect on that will allow you to put all of this into practice in such a way that this church is made stronger, and then we’ll be out of here. When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. How is God calling you to be a part of the flourishing of His people in this church? That is: How is God calling you to be a leader in this church? And before you go there, don’t take the copout path of, “I’m not called to be a leader.” As we have already seen this morning, there are lots of different ways to lead in the church. Some of them are really small and easy to overlook. Some of them are great big and can’t be missed. They are all tailored to the gifts and passions and abilities God has given you for the building up of His body in love. And they all matter. All of them. Even if you are only leading yourself right now to reflect the character of Christ more in your life, that leadership matters. And when you get that down pretty well, your leadership will be extended to include others who need that same help. When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. If we want to be a flourishing church, this is the pathway to seeing it happen. I want you to be praying specifically over and for the leaders of this church and considering carefully what your role in that might be. When the church is led well, God’s people flourish. Let’s pursue that flourishing together.