Women are awesome! Women and extremely important to the church!

The Apostle Paul continues to share with Timothy (Elder at the church in Ephesus) the standards by which the church uses to find qualified leaders. It’s important to notice these standards are not so much about what our talents might be but more about our heart. Paul moves from Elders (who lead) to Deacons (who serve). The qualifications are similar but the responsibilities are different.

The Apostle Paul spends considerable time discussing the qualifications of church leadership. Why? Because they are the models to which the church is to rise. If the leadership has a minimal standard, the church will likely have a minimal impact and ministry. As we discussed before, the overarching attribute of leadership is to be “above reproach” (blameless KJV). Paul lists a number of moral qualifications (vs 2-3), The he discusses the leader’s family (vs 4-5), his spiritual maturity (v 6) and his reputation with outsiders (v 7). If you are a leader/participant of the MBC, how do you measure up?

Why is Easter so important?

The world is messed up including you!

It wasn’t created this way, but we messed it up!

But God loved us too much to leave us messed up!

Easter is the story of God fixing a messed up world!

Jesus died the death we were already dying to give us the life we could never have on our own!

Christ suffered for our sins once and for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. he suffered physical death, but He was raised to life…1 Peter 3:18.

Timothy is in Ephesus, by the request of Paul, to deal with the false teachers and to strengthen the church. Paul lists the qualifications for the leadership (some of the leadership were the false teachers). The standards listed are very high! The leaders have to rise to these standards so the people see the goal to reach (1 Corinthians 11:1), “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”). Paul goes on to group these standards into 4 categories, the first being the LEADERS CHARACTER.

Timothy is in Ephesus, by the request of Paul, to deal with the false teaching by some of the church leadership (Acts 20:29-31, 1 Tim 1:3). Therefore, the major issue that Paul wants Timothy to address is the standard by which leaders are chosen. These standards center on character not performance. Before we jump into the character study of a leader we need to answer 2 important questions.

Building on the theme of 1 Timothy 3:15, “…instruct people how to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church…” Paul corrects some of the doctrinal errors that have arisen in the church of Ephesus (Acts 20:28-31, 1 Tim 1:26). Some of those errors had to do with the place of women in the life of the church, especially in corporate worship. He instructs men in verse 8 and he instructs women in verses 9-15 and then he instructs leaders in chapter 3. There seems to be six ideas that speak to a women’s place in the church and world.

First of all, God’s desire is for all people to come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ! Not all will (Matthew 7:13-14). Nonetheless, God’s desire is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Is this desire “first of all” at the heart of Minnetrista Baptist Church? If not, Paul shows Timothy how to join in God’s ultimate desire.

Dan (I can’t remember his last name) was a high school classmate of mine. He drove an orange VW bug. He knew I was a Christian and was always very critical of Christianity. I prayed for him often. One September as we were finishing summer I saw him driving to school. He had a Christian fish symbol on his VW. I later learned he had become a Christian that summer! If Dan could become a Christian, I thought anybody could, The Apostle Paul thought the same thing about himself.