1 Timothy 3:1-16

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP—
THE NOBLE TASK
1 Timothy 3:1-16
Key Verse: 3:1
9-26-11

“Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart
on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”



Part l: A Short Review Of The First Two Chapters.

I apologize for jumping into chapter three. It is because of upcoming conferences. But let us have a short review of the first two chapters. Paul entrusted Timothy, with the church in Ephesus. Paul had great hope for it to grow as a hub for world missions. They began to obey Jesus’ command to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, (Matt 28: 18-20). Paul was alert for any activity that might hinder the work of God. He foresaw that false teachers would infiltrate the church and sway the new believers away from the Christian faith. And this happened. False teachers came who tried to corrupt the truth about God’s grace of salvation. Paul had taught the Ephesians that salvation was by the grace of God, and that it took pure faith in the grace of God in order for a person to become a member of God’s family. But these people were saying that the grace of God was not enough. They were teaching that salvation still required some form of obeying the laws of God. They also added some of their own ideas alongside the Old Testament Laws. They taught that alongside faith in what Jesus had done us, a Christian’s salvation also hinges on the work of mediators, such as angels, whom we must go through in order to strengthen our relationship with God and receive a better salvation.

What could Paul do to rescue the church? He knew how important the church was in the eyes of God, for he wrote in verses 14-15, “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” He could not ignore the church problems and things that set themselves to destroy the church. Paul did many things but he also set out to raise up leaders who could hold onto the deep truths of the faith. Among such young leaders was Timothy, a young man whose faith was sound, but who was lacking in spiritual weight. Paul trusted him, and decided to entrust to his leadership, the Church of Ephesus. Paul believed that God would bless Timothy and would help him if Timothy would only accept Paul’s instructions and put them into practice. So Paul ordained him a pastor. There were some members who were not listening to Timothy, believing him to be too young to take care of a church. But in the eyes of Paul and of God, Timothy was the ideal shepherd to be put in charge. So Paul wrote him two letters to instruct him on how to get the church and the members back on gospel track.

In the first chapter, Paul gave Timothy the authority to command false teachers to stop teaching falsehoods. He also reminded him of the grace of God, and the true faith in the work of our Lord Jesus. To demonstrate this, Paul reminded Timothy of God’s powerful work in Paul’s own life. He then urged him to fight the good fight [of faith] to maintain the grace of God. Paul reminded him that the Christian life is a battle, a battle that we must fight every day.

In chapter two Paul showed Timothy the best way to maintain the grace of Jesus in his own life, and in the church. He must learn how to depend on God through prayer. He must also teach everyone to make prayer a priority and a habit. In brief, Paul taught Timothy that prayer is the solution to all things. But for prayer to work, both the men and the women of the church would have to work together to make an environment for the Gospel to grow and to prosper.

In chapter 3 Paul proceeded to reveal one of the main reasons why that particular church was so easily plagued with problems. Our key verse is verse 1. “Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.” Paul brings up the subject of spiritual leadership. There were some in the church who desired the role of spiritual leadership and there also were some who lacked that desire. So in this verse Paul made it clear to Timothy that a desire for leadership in the church is a noble task. Let us, then, give some thought to Paul’s counsel to Timothy.

Part ll: A Noble Task

Apparently, there were no established spiritual leaders in the Ephesian church. Timothy was appointed by Paul. But even that appointment was not respected by the majority of members, simply because Timothy was considered to be too young.

Leadership is extremely important in life. It is important in sports, the society, in the family, and especially in the Christian home, and Christian church. Thus without spiritual leadership, the Christian church is chaotic and problem filled where do as they seem fit. Jesus wanted his disciples to stand up as leaders in his church. Look at what Jesus said: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16) Look at what Paul says to the church members: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (Hebrews 13:17) When Paul spoke to Timothy about leadership, he wanted him to establish order in the church. He wanted him to be a leader and to establish trustworthy leaders.

Paul encouraged Timothy to direct others in pursuing spiritual leadership. Read verse 1 again. “Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.” There is a hint in this church that some wanted to become leaders. Paul was happy about this. He wanted to encourage their noble desires.

What does “noble” mean, and why is the pursuit of spiritual leadership a “noble task”? Noble is closely related to dignity. Something noble is something dignified, and righteous. There are noble people in the world, and there are noble deeds. It is noble for a person to honor his rival when his rival has won a contest over him. We see this in sports when an opposing team member offers a hand to fallen opposing team member. We see it in the work place when a person congratulates and commits to working under a person who just got “that” promotion. One of the best definitions for the word noble is self-sacrifice. Self sacrifice is by far the most noble thing a person can do in his or her life. We see noble deeds coming out of our war on terror. What about the soldier who went back and forth into an ambush to rescue 36 people from certain death? What about the kid who wants to give his Christmas money to the poor rather than fill his life with more clutter?

Some of the most noble of people who ever walked on the face of the earth are the men and women of God. They had sacrificed themselves in the cause of the Gospel. Moses sacrificed his palace and princely position in order to identify with the slave Israelites. Daniel was a court official of the highest order. But he was ready to sacrifice that office in order to identify with God’s people. Mother Teresa sacrificed her life in the name of Christ in order to tend to the most needy people of the world. I always thought the missionaries were the most noble people I knew personally, because they were willing to sacrifice time, money, and position in order to reveal Jesus and the love of God to young Canadian students. There are so many in history who have nobly done what was impossible for the ordinary person to do, all for the love of God and for the love of their neighbor. Therefore “noble” is a word reserved mostly for those who are self sacrificing. Who is the most noble person that you know in your life and why?

But Paul recognized “noble” from a spiritual point of view. In the sight of God, the noble are those who do the work of God. Why? Because serving God and God’s cause is the most noble cause a man or woman could every pursue. The work of God is a work of sacrifice. It is a work of love and of compassion. It is the work of service. It is a work which brings life to others. It does not draw attention to one self. It does not reward in a worldly way. It does not bring any human benefit. Rather sometimes it brings sorrow and pain. It brings poverty on those who willingly give up everything in order to serve Jesus. It also brings ridicule from those who can never understand why a man or woman may sacrifice their lives in return for nothing. Still, according to God our Father there can be no more noble thing in life than to serve God and to do his work. It is most noble because it follows in the footsteps of the Most Noble One, Jesus our Lord. Jesus was noble. He was the most noble person who ever walked on the earth. He sacrificed his glory. He sacrificed his position. He sacrificed his comfort, and all. Finally he was willing to sacrifice his very life for the sake of those who did not honor him, nor appreciate him; for those who scorned him and tormented him. Still, Jesus never flinched from his great sacrifice. He set his heart on it because it was God who called him to fulfill this most noble task. Jesus pursued it to the end. And he called us to follow him and to do as he did. He did so in order to gather for himself a family of noble people who can dwell with him in the kingdom of God.

You may think that it is impossible to be a noble leader in the church of God. On our own it is true. It is impossible. But we must begin our quest. It is what is good, and the most blessed task a human being can pursue. God works in the heart, even unholy desires will change to holy desires. Even those who begin with an unholy desire for leadership may learn what it means to be truly noble. Just try by faith.

When God made man in the beginning, God made people to be noble stewards of his creation. He created him from dust to be a child of the king and to walk with their God. From the beginning God told man what he created him for. He tells us in Genesis 1:26-28: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” In other words, we were all made to be rulers, stewards, caretakers, managers of the world and managers of one another. But sin destroyed this most holy office and desire in man’s heart. We can see it in Cain’s heart who boldly stated, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He did not want to serve his brother. In order to avoid the responsibility, he killed his Able. Cain did not want anything to do with the nobel task of being his brother’s keeper. He did not want spiritual leadership. It was all about him. He has forever become an example of ignobility.

Part lll: Set Your Heart

Paul taught Timothy something that people must set their hearts on. Read verse 1 again. “Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.” It is not easy to pursue spiritual leadership. We must set out hearts on it. To set your heart on something means to pursue something. To set one’s heart on something is to pursue it with devotion and dedication, with commitment and enthusiasm. It takes a commitment of the heart to pursue that which is in essence difficult. When a lion pursues its prey, it sets its eyes in the prey. When a soccer player faces the opposing team he sets his eyes on the ball and game. Our pursuit of spiritual leadership must be an attitude of wholeheartedness. It takes a willing heart. It takes an obedient heart. It takes a humble spirit willing to learn from others who are spiritually more mature. It takes prayer and most of all it takes a persistent spirit willing to endure the many hardships that come as a result of serving God. But we must pursue it with confidence, with courage and with faith.

Part lV: To Purse Spiritual Leadership Takes holiness.

A leader had to have the right inner qualities. An overseer is like a Pastor, a shepherd of the flock of God. Look at the qualifications of an overseer. Look at verses 2-8, “2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”

Paul goes onto to talk about the qualities of a deacon. A deacon is one who takes care of pastors. Look at verses 8-12, “ Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. … 12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.” The qualifications set a very high standard for spiritual leadership. Do you have these qualities? Do I have these qualities? We all have some of them, but not all of them. If it were not for the grace of our Lord Jesus I could never be the pastor of this small house church.
We should not despair about our present condition, but have hope in Christ. Jesus came to help us. He is our Savior. Look at verses 16-19, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He[c] appeared in a body,[d] was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” Jesus came into this world to be our Savior. He came in the flesh. He shared in our humanity. He suffered along with us. He understands us. He knows our holy desires and our inability to achieve this on our own. He is more than willing to help us when we live by faith in him and answer his call to be his disciples.

We can see how one man, Peter was changed by Jesus. Peter was a rough and tough and brash fisherman. His name was Simon. He was very emotional and a man who was like sand. (For that is what Simon means, “sand”) But when Jesus called him he called him Cephas, which means Peter or Rock. On Peter’s faith and his confession, Jesus would build his church. Peter would stand up as the leader of the first century church. Jesus called Peter to come and follow him promising to make him a fisher of men. After Peter accepted his mission from God, he was no longer a “sand-like”, emotional person with no clear life direction, but he became a man like Jesus, who wanted to please God with his life. Eventually all the disciples became noble men and women who took upon themselves the task of serving God’s purpose in their lives.

I can see God’s changing work in me. I was far from noble. In fact I was the most ignoble person. I am still very ignoble and under-qualified to be a leader in the work of God. But I have hope in God. I have hope in the life changing power of Jesus and as long as I cling to the cross of Christ I will be changed. And so can you.

We learned that we must have noble desires to be leaders in the work of God. God will change us by his grace, love and power. We must set our hearts on the task. Through our study of this passage may God bless you to set your heart on becoming a spiritual leader. May God bless you to pursue this role until God transforms your inner person. and raises you up as a shepherd for his flock. May God also help you to grow in a noble spirit, the spirit of Jesus. Amen.

1. Read verse 1. What is Paul's trustworthy saying? What is an overseer? In what sense are all Christians leaders? (Mt 5:14)

2. What is the "noble task"? What does it mean to "set his heart on..."? Why must one who would be a leader make such a decision of faith? (Think about some important decisions made by Jesus' disciples in the Bible: Acts 19:21;Jn 6:66-69)

3. Think again about the "noble task." Why is teaching the Bible a most noble task for a Christian leader? (2c; See 2Ti 3:16,17)

4. What are the basic qualifications for a Christian leader? (2-4,12) Why is "the husband of but one wife" repeated? What does this teach us about God's will for Christian families?


5. Read verse 2 again. Think about the meaning and importance (Pr 16:32) of "self-controlled." How is this related to the other qualifications in verses 2-3? (How can people born with sinful natures be self-controlled?)

6. What does it mean to be "hospitable"? Why is showing hospitality important? Can you think of any examples of hospitality?

7. What does it mean to "manage his own family well"? (4,5,12) How can one do this? Why is this necessary for one who would be a leader? What can we learn in verses 6-7 about how to defeat the devil?

8. What kind of persons should deacons be? Why should they be diligent Bible students? (9) Read verses 8-12. (See Jn 8:31,32) What kind of persons should the wives of leaders be? (11) What are the marks of a trustworthy woman?

9. Read verses 14-15. Who belongs to God's household? Why is the church that teaches the Bible called the "pillar and foundation of truth"?

10. Read the doxology in verse 16. Compare with Jn 1:14. How does this poem describe the gospel of Jesus and proclaim its power and glory?