Pastor Linnecar shows how we can draw out from the life of Timothy details of the qualifications for eldership – and how those qualifications also apply to us as individual believers.
If you’re a Christian, you know that as you live your life, the Lord God, living inside you reaches out through you to those He wants to speak to. Some people have come this morning to have a specific need met. You have come to the right one – not the right place, but the right one – Jesus Christ.
I want to talk about the character of Jesus Christ and what it means to be someone who has Jesus Christ living inside – a new person with Him inside.
We are in the process of sorting things out for the way forward. I’ve been doing a lot of reading to do with leadership and with the character of an individual who wants to be and is being like Jesus Christ. It’s His life inside.
If you’re not a Christian, then today it might be a different slant to realise that Christianity is a relationship with the living God, made possible because God works in an individual’s life. We see many glimpses of the nature of Jesus.
Ephesians 5:25-27Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church. When we consider what the church is, it’s people, not a building. In the early church, there were no buildings – people met in houses. It wasn’t until a few hundred years later that there were specific buildings. Church was the people, and Jesus Christ gave Himself for the people. He gave Himself for the church, and the result was that over time there will be a glorious church – one fit for glory because He will have sorted everything out, and the people in the church will be ready, as will those who have already died. God is sorting things out in our own lives. We may face various pressures, and these are all to do with Jesus Christ preparing things and getting things ready. A glorious church – no spot or wrinkle. He was holy, pure and without blemish.
When we look at the structure of the church, the nature of Jesus Christ is sacrifice, putting others first before ourselves.
As the church developed, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the whole world, so they appointed people to oversee the church in each locality. In any locality where people gathered together in His name, so through the Holy Spirit, He Himself was there. And as the church developed, they needed the right kind of people to take responsibility for the church going forward.
Acts 14:23There was an ordination of elders / pastors / leaders / overseers. They prayed with fasting, because they wanted to get it right. And they commended them to the Lord.
This weekend I want to bring attention to the fact that we want to have a pastoral team. So far, we have a pastor – myself. And the Review Group have met three times, and at this point we’ve accepted we need that team. So over the next meetings, I will be describing from scripture, what the qualifications are of someone who should be part of that team. I cannot do it all. So a team is needed – in the same way as they appointed people in Acts 14.
There is no “thou shalt” in the New Testament as to how you should do this. But there is enough in scripture for us to get it right. We definitely want to make sure that God by His Holy Spirit is able to do what He wants to do here.
It’s all to do with what God wants to do through you, reaching out to those in need. We don’t want to create an empire for ourselves. But we are aiming to glorify the name of Christ in everything we do. We want to lift Him up and to let Him fulfil His purposes in what has happened and as we go forward.
We have various groups (Jam, Logos, Ark, Heritage) and that went well – we studied scripture, and people want to get it right for their lives. Not only want to, but will. God doesn’t play secret squirrel. He doesn’t deprive you of the things you need. When Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church, He gave Himself utterly and completely.
Over the next two meetings, I’ll talk about what it means to be an overseer / elder / pastor. We want to get this right, and in the New Testament people prayerfully considered this. Often they fasted. As far as I’m concerned, I think it would be good to suggest a day when we specifically consider and pray about this matter. It’s an important thing.
I want this morning to consider the life of someone who helped Paul – Timothy. In Timothy we’ll see the character and traits of someone who was an overseer.
Acts 16:1-3Note: “well reported of by the brethren”. When it comes to thinking about an overseer, or a pastor, it has to be that the report of that individual – by the brethren, not those who aren’t Christians – is a good report. It’s no good getting a report from those who perhaps are having a go at the church. Jesus said blessed are you when all men speak ill of you. You’re bound to get a bad report. But this is from the brethren.
When Paul wrote later, he helped us understand the character of the right kind of person.
1 Timothy 3:7Make sure there is a good report from those who are close to the person. And he must have a good report from those outside. It’s no good electing an MP on the basis of trust, if you then find he’s been taking money.
1 Timothy 3:2“Apt to teach” doesn’t mean it has to be someone who teaches like this on a Sunday. You might advise someone in a small group. We’re not saying that people have to be a teacher to a large group, but they have to be apt to teach.
Various verses describe Timothy.
1 Corinthians 4:17Timothy was faithful in the Lord, and Paul was confident that Timothy would communicate his ways which were in Christ. He had a particular way of talking to people – the character which esteems others better than yourself, which looks for the work of God in a person.
1 Corinthians 16:10You won’t find Timothy putting things ahead of the work of God. He won’t be besotted with anything but the work of God.
2 Timothy 1:1-5Timothy was a man of unfeigned faith. If you bore through to the heart of Timothy, there was a faith in God, big time.
2 Timothy 3:14-15Someone who is overseeing needs to know the scriptures. Someone who is part of the pastoral team needs to understand that this book is the one upon which we are dependent. We are dependent on Jesus Christ – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was in God.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-3Brother, minister of God ... to establish and comfort. Timothy was concerned for the people of God and for the church. His heart was to care for the people. And when he spoke to someone it was to help that person increase their faith in God, to point out the way God was involved.
In Philippians 2, we get an idea of the nature and spirit of Jesus Christ. He is the senior pastor of His church – He is in control, He is building His church, the bride of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-5As we go through this, you’ll see ... caring, loving other people. As far as Jesus Christ was concerned, He laid down His life for other people, for the church.
“... being of one accord, of one mind. / Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory” Let’s not have anyone doing anything to score points.
When you think about someone is your immediate thought, “How can I help that person?” or do you think, “That confirms what I thought. I must pass this information on.”
Philippians 2:5-8“This is about Jesus, but it’s not applicable to me.” But Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit lives within you. “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.” He made Himself of no reputation. But didn’t we say earlier that someone had to be well reported of? What we’re saying is that Jesus Christ set aside His glory. He told the disciples that the greatest among them should be their servant.
The key word in verse 8 is that He became obedient. The character of Jesus and of any individual in a church is that they should be obedient to what God wants, laying down their lives for the brethren.
Philippians 2:9-11“To the glory of God the Father” Set yourself this coming week to bring glory to His name, to have God live through you, to make you sensitive, to help someone. Someone may be facing particular pressures. God is your Father. He will make provision. Let’s stop thinking about ourselves, but about the ones He wants to reach through us.
Philippians 2:12-13For those of you who are taking exams, it’s incredible pressure at this time. You can pray to God to organise things in your life, so that in the pressure of it all, God’s peace can rule your heart. It doesn’t mean you sit there and look at the paper dwelling on God’s peace – you do have to write the answers. But it’s God who works in you, even in exam time, to will and to do of His good pleasure. “I want You to help me get the grades I need to fulfil Your purposes for my life.”
Philippians 2:14-17The character of Jesus Christ – laying down your life for others. And the more Paul talked about the character of Jesus, so Timothy came to his mind again. He was with Paul when he wrote this.
Philippians 2:19-24An overseer / pastor is someone who naturally by the Spirit of God will care for the people, will have a heart for the people. We can apply that to an overseer, but what about in your life? What would Paul say when it comes down to “All seek their own”? I don’t want to condemn you, but I’m encouraging you to consider what is the priority of your life. What could I point to in my life to say that I’m seeking not my own but the things of Jesus Christ? I’m not filling my head with wrong music just ahead of the meeting; in the week I’m not cramming myself with wrong thoughts, not so bound up with “me” that no one else gets a look in.
Before we are a Christian, it’s all about me and mine. But when Paul thought of Timothy, he knew he was speaking about someone who put God and the people of God first.
You may say that was Timothy’s job. You may say as pastor, it’s my job. But we’re talking about the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ in you. Let me urge you to think about how you want God number one in your life, how you will prioritise your time appropriately.
Philippians 2:13God loves you and He wants you to live and be right. And He is the one who is working in you actively, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He’s not against you.
It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. As we go forward together as brothers and sisters in Christ, so I have complete confidence in God who will outwork His purposes. And I have a continuing sense of how God is so careful to make sure that as there are those whom He would draw to Himself through you, so He will fulfil His purposes here for His glory.
Think about the character of Timothy, and about the nature of who Jesus is. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There was no subordination in the Trinity. God was in Christ.
