1 Timothy 3 - Leadership Growth
It’s a great year for growth - training for godliness. Happy New Year!
We can’t flip a switch and have an instant Christian leader. God’s way is growth. You see it everywhere in His design. With trees and leaves. With puppies and potty training. With toddlers and speech development. God designed growth.
A Christian leader's character qualifications develop through daily growth - guided by the Spirit of Christ. It is a daily interaction and a lifelong process. We continue (or start if need be) today. Now. Right now.
The Christian man proactively leads. We are not lazy and we don’t sit back. We are servants of the Creator of everything. Jesus Christ has high expectations for His men and women.
In this passage, we are told to live with a clear conscience. This is a daily obligation. We need to act as ambassadors daily. Our neighbors, the lady at the mall, the FedEx driver, the guy at the golf course, your coworkers, etc. They all matter to God. And every interaction with people is an opportunity to help them, pray for them, tell them the truth of Jesus, and be a good ambassador for Christ Jesus. We are tasked with reconciling people to God.
Don’t get drunk. Never be violent, rude, mean, or unkind. If you think God doesn’t need to warn and teach us these things, go into the parking lot at a local church. Or listen to the parents fight at a youth football game. Sadly there is dysfunction, divorce, and violence inside our churches. We have a long way to go. And I believe we will get there.
We have to love people. Truly. And we have to enjoy having guests in our houses. That means we serve and feed people and have rich conversations with them - the Dale Carnegie kind - not the kind where we brag about ourselves and tell nauseating stories. Let’s pour into people and find people interesting. People of all ages truly are interesting. They are loved and designed by God. Be interested. Ask good questions.
All of your interactions with people combined, totaled, summed, that’s your reputation. At work, in the church, and in the community. Some Christian leaders are rude 90% of the time to all people, but think a nice Sunday comment makes up for it. It does not. God tells us here about the importance of good reputations. Treat all people well. Represent God well to all people all the time.
Don’t pretend that people don’t like us just because we are Christians. If they don't like you it is likely because of an earned reputation. We play the persecution card a lot. We cannot fool or mock God. Jesus Christ is our Judge - and He judges justly.
Pay particular attention to pride. It’s the devil’s way - Satan is puffed up and rebellious. He envied God and wanted the power for himself. Don’t be the devil’s boy or his girl. Don’t be puffed up. We see arrogance all over the church. Our organizations are filled with it.
Jesus says we will be known as Christians by our love - not our arrogance. Stop it. Don’t be like that nor condone it in your church. Jesus knows our hearts, and his standard is humble, godly, gentle, and strong leadership. And servant leaders who, like Timothy, will teach the truth of God’s word. God forgives us and He knows that we are a work in progress. But let us today commit to serving Christ well this year. Let’s man up and follow Him.
I'm so excited to grow in both physical fitness this year and spiritual fitness. Thank God that we have His word to lead us. The last part of this chapter is remarkable. In Isaiah 62 we hear the prophet Isaiah's prayer some 700 years before Christmas. Isaiah is praying for God’s people, for Zion and Jerusalem. Isaiah prays and prophecies that one day a Savior will come. Then God’s people “will be called ‘The Holy People’ and ‘The People Redeemed by the LORD’" (62:12). This is what Paul is reminding us of at the end of chapter three.
There is only one people of God, those redeemed by Jesus Christ. There is only one LORD, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). You who believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior have the “same kind of faith Abraham had” (Romans 4:12).
That is what we hear in this chapter about the truth of our faith. We are the people that Isaiah foresaw. The household of God is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth (3:15). The church is the Bride of Christ. God only has one Bride, one Holy People.
Jesus will return. When He does, The Kingdom that He inaugurated at His first appearance - and Isaiah’s vision of a New Jerusalem - will be perfectly completed as a new heaven and a new earth that God promises us filled with God’s righteousness.
There is no second chance for salvation after the second coming of Jesus Christ (John 6:37-40). We (like every human being) get one life to live. When Christ returns on the day of Judgement “the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything in it will be found to deserve judgment” (2 Peter 3:10. See also John 5:28-29, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 12:35-48).
Thank you for this new year Lord Jesus. Please help us to relay the urgency of faith in You well and to understand the truth of faith in Christ. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the faith of Abraham. Thank you for your Kingdom and your Church. May we glorify you in all we do this year. Amen.
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