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I Timothy 3 "Shepherds and Servants"
We have been studying Paul’s first letter to Timothy, in which he is encouraging this young leader to set the church in Ephesus back on the right course. The church’s main problem was a lack of leadership, or perhaps more precisely a lack of godly leadership. The leadership they had was unstable, leading them into legalism and allowing the church to get into all kinds of sidetracks. Timothy had to lead them back into love and prayer and then raise up godly leadership for them. Paul uses two words to describe the kinds of leaders that the church needs to have. The first kind of leader is an “episkopos” and the second is a “diakonos”.
Shepherds
“Epi” means “around” and "skopos"
means "to look". It is related to our modern telescope. Which
uses the same "skopos" and "tele" which means "far".
So the first kind of leader is a guy who "looks around". What
kind of person is this? In the book of Acts (20:28) , Paul instructs
these "episkopos" to shepherd the church. In 1 Peter 2:25,
Jesus is described as "the Shepherd and "episkopos" of
your souls". This makes sense. What does a shepherd do? He spends
a lot of time looking around. The idea is to avoid trouble before it
happens and to respond quickly when it does. The shepherd is constantly
watching to see if a sheep goes astray, or if a sheep doesn't look healthy,
or if there is a danger nearby. The church needs this kind of person
and Paul gives Timothy some advice in how to find them.
This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, soberminded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (I Tim. 3:1-7)
Let's take it bit by bit. First, this is a position. There
are gifts of the Spirit and each person in the church ministers to each
other, but there is a need for a shepherd, a person who can look around,
and to whom the others can look for direction, comfort and protection.
Because it is a position, not just anybody can fill it. If everybody
is a shepherd then there are no sheep. I think that the first thing
that is required is to have the desire in your heart. When I first came
to Japan as a missionary, I had no desire in my heart whatsoever to
become a shepherd. I only wanted to lead people to Christ, but the idea
of always looking out for people, tending people's needs, taking care
of people did not appeal to me. I told my wife, "Don't worry, honey,
I 'm not going to be a pastor." But when I went back to the U.S.
for seminary, God changed my heart, and I began to desire to be a pastor
for the first time. If there is not a love for the work in your heart
do not even consider becoming a shepherd. Don't take on this kind of
work because you are the only person available and you don't want to
let people down. You have to truly desire it in your heart. Is there
room for only one shepherd in the church? No, our church has four already,
Pastor Hirano, Pastor Chu, myself, and from next month we have another
pastor joining us, Pastor Kamijo.
Because it is a position, there are also qualifications for the job.
The first that Paul lists is to be blameless. This seems to be a pretty
difficult thing to measure up to. I will confess to you right here and
now that I am not perfect. Paul admitted that he was not perfect. So
what is he talking about? The word means that there is nothing that
you could grab onto to bring him down. Have you ever watched the sumo
wrestlers trying to get a grip on their opponents belt (mawashi). Sin
in our lives is a handle which Satan, our adversary will use to try
to overcome us. Part of a shepherd's job is to look around and spot
weaknesses in others before Satan can use them against us. Like a coach,
the shepherd leads his people out of sin, making them stronger in Christ.
How can the shepherd do this if there is sin in his own life? If Satan
constantly has the shepherd down on the mat, how can he lead others
to victory? Paul is not talking about perfection, but he does require
that these men be walking in victory.
Servants
The second kind of leader in the church are "diakonos". The
word is translated a number of different ways in the New Testament but
its basic meaning is a servant. In Matthew, Jesus explains it this way,
"Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave --
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:26-28) Now, the
interesting thing is that the Shepherd, the episkopos, is also a Servant,
a diakonos. Paul calls himself, an Apostle, a diakonos, a servant. Jesus
Himself calls himself a diakonos, a servant. Listen to what Paul says
in 1 Corinthians, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord."
This word "ministries" is the same word that we have been
studying. You could translate this "service" just as easily.
He then goes on to list all the different kinds of ministries that the
Lord gives to those who will serve Him, words of wisdom and knowledge,
faith, healings, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues
and interpretations.
Now in the book of Acts there was a problem that arose in the church.
It seemed that as the church was meeting the needs of some of the widows,
the food was not being distributed fairly. Some of the widows who happened
to be Jewish were getting more than the widows that happened to be Greek.
This complaint came to the Apostles who were busy "shepherding",
teaching and watching out for the souls of the thousands that were coming
to Christ. So the Apostles said, "It is not desirable that we should
leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out
from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit
and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give
ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
(Acts 6:2-4) Were these men serving before? Certainly, that is how they
got a good reputation in the first place. Were they the only people
serving? No, there were many that these men were picked out of. So in
what way were they different from the others? They were chosen for a
specific task, the food ministry to widows, and given responsibility
for it.
How are they different from Shepherds? Well, when you look at the list
that Paul gave to Timothy, they really aren't that much different at
all. In fact the only real difference between a Shepherd and a Servant
is the degree of testing.
Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. (I Tim. 3:8-13)
Paul says they need to be tested and those who serve well
as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness
in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Look with me at what happened
to Stephen and Philip, two of the guys who were chosen to serve tables.
Stephen began to be full of faith and power and did great wonders and
signs among the people. Not only did his ministry expand but he had
the faith to face martyrdom and be the first Christian to die for Christ.
Philip became an evangelist and preached the gospel in Samaria, cast
out demons and baptized an Ethiopian. I believe that all of us need
to be servants in the basic sense of the word. This is the exciting
work of the church, finding ways in which we can help each other, sharing
the love of Jesus Christ with the world. And there are really an unlimited
number of areas in which you can serve. The best thing to do is if you
see a need, jump in and start working. If you do this, guess what, you
just started a ministry. Anyone can do this. Paul mentions in his letter
one of his fellow servants, Pheobe, a sister who was a servant of the
church in Cenchrea. If the Lord has put it on your heart to serve then
serve. But from time to time we will need to raise up leaders to be
responsible for some of this. I am working toward that in this church
with our ministry teams of worship, care, evangelism and equipping.
I have asked four men to lead these teams. But I still would like to
go slowly and hesitate to call them deacons. They are definately servants,
as many of you are servants, but as Paul advised Timothy, there needs
to be a time of testing. Let me give you two good biblical reasons why
we need deacons in our church to finish up today.
The first biblical reason to appoint some men as leaders of a ministry,
like Stephen and Philip were in the book of Acts, is to relieve the
Shepherds from having to do that work. Now I do not think that Peter
and James and John were running the food ministry to widows in the first
place, it was just something that naturally started to happen as the
church loved each other and saw the need. But when the details started
to become a problem and complaints started to be made to the Apostles
then it became work that distracted them away from the job that God
had given them to do. We are at the point now as a church, with three
congregations, that I am very distracted from my main job, which is
to "look around", guiding, feeding and protecting sheep. I
need some people who will take responsibility for some of the things
that I usually take responsibility for so that I can concentrate on
my job, and the needs of the church will be better met.
The second biblical reason for appointing some men as leaders is so
that they might "obtain for themselves a good standing and great
boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" There is no way
to train for ministry except to minister. You have to experience responsibility
before you can be responsible. Since we started this church seven years
ago, we have planted 8 congregations and one daughter church in Yokohama.
I strongly believe that the Lord would have us continue doing this.
I believe that there will be many, many more daughter churches that
will spring out of Tokyo Horizon Chapel. But to get ready for these
churches to be born, we have to become a church of servants, a church
willing to take responsibility and step into leadership, and a church
that prays for its leaders.
These things I write to you, though I hope to come
to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how
you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world, Received up in glory. (I Tim. 3:14-16)
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