Qualifications for a deacon. 1 Timothy 3:8-13.

 Paul started this third section of his letter to Timothy discussing the qualifications for a Pastor; depending on the translation, you might see terminologies such as an overseer or a shepherd.

I am surprised anyone qualifies, as we are all so broken, and many people I know should quickly shy away from being a pastor. I struggled with being a group leader in the recovery group, but there was a leader who was brave enough to tell the crowd what got him into recovery, and this brother in Christ took me under his wing and calmed me down on several occasions.

Fortunately, God sees us in a better light than we do and believes better things for us; (I am speaking bluntly because, by Paul’s admonition, he forbids women from being overseer’s of the flock,) so if a man had problems in the past, they might not have those problems now, because that man has put his faith and trust in Christ Jesus, and allowed for God to change him.

Now when it comes to skeletons in the closet, I am not sure how you prevent those skeletons, some of which should never again see the light of day, from being made public. Perhaps making sure you only talk with safe people is one way, but my trust-er is seriously damaged, and believing that people can be safe is difficult. Another idea you can try is to keep your mouth shut; it works for me.

One of the methods of background checking, according to Paul, is to ask those that know the person what they are like. Many could see that as a problem especially if they saw you get hauled away in cuffs during the night. And even if you did not get arrested, what makes you think we neighbors can’t hear you screaming at your wife and kids. Look, WE ARE ALL BROKEN and have a propensity to blab/sin to make ourselves look better, and we will rat you out. Phenomenon such as this is highly prevalent in religious circles as we seem to be competing for promotions, I guess.

When we covered Pastors in the previous post on Timothy, I told you that I do not fully understand alcoholism. Oh, sure, I can comprehend the effects, and I have seen the damage it causes the person and their family. Now, I am not an alcoholic, but I had a terrible struggle with rage. The point of this is, having a cold beer, for me is NOT a problem.

Yeah, I can hear some of you whining now about how I am making you stumble in your walk Jesus. We will get into that shortly. First, look at this, just in case you did not see Paul’s advice on selecting potential pastors.

So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money.
(1 Timothy 3:2-3 NLT)

I am faithful to my wife, but I don’t always practice self-control, and my belly demonstrates that fact, however, I have seen what alcohol can do to me, and I must say, I don’t enjoy being out of control. I also know how much it takes for me to get out of control, and I make a conscious choice NOT to go there. So yes, when it comes to alcohol, I do practice self-control. By the way, I am not looking for a job, so I don’t care what you think about this startling revelation, but if you are a religious zealot and love to judge people, you need to know something.

God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them. (Matthew 7:1-2b CEV)

For the past twenty + years, I have gone out of my way to develop a sound and godly reputation.

Thanks to some terrible decisions many years ago, I ended up working for Home Depot; there, I quickly found out that cussing, among the employees, is a skill set, and I learned that skill. However, I had been straining to be the kind of Christian that my mother wanted me to be, and the internal emotional pressures were pushing me to my limits. To maintain my sanity while I worked there, I would exit the building at lunchtime. In a short time, I began taking my bible to the places I would stop for lunch. I spent at least thirty minutes at lunch, studying my bible, and I read every day, taking notes and writing down the questions and challenges I had for God about what I read. This reading program became a part of my morning breakfast stop before work. I would leave the house an hour earlier to spend the extra time in God’s word. And I would take my bible to dinner with me. I worked at Home Depot for seven years, and I operated on this pattern almost every day. The result of this behavior was that I became skillful with God’s Word and would respond to people’s questions about the Word of God, Jesus, and God’s nature and character.

Now I am up against another set of standards, but this time, for deacons.

1 Timothy 3:8-9 NASB Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, (9) but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

Let's start with this word deacon. First, there are a variety of translations, such as:

• Church officers (this makes sense to me as deacons, as far as I know, play a considerable role in church financial decisions.);
• Eugene Peterson's Message gives us this, “those who want to be servants in the church.” Well, that’s a rather broad definition as some servants, like a friend of mine who before he retired, was a school principal and teacher, but now, among other things, rearranges the chairs in church several times a week.
• And lastly, the Tree of Life Translation calls them Servant-leaders. They, like Stephen, should be servants and leaders.

These deacons have similar demands to the pastors.

• One that catches my attention is the statement that they are not to be addicted to wine.
• From the TLV, not greedy for dishonest gain.
• Men of dignity. The word in Greek is honorable.
• Not double-tongued. Don't change the rules to fit the status of the person. Be a person that people can confide in and trust.

1 Timothy 3:10 NASB These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.

Tested is to approve or examine. No, we are not merely talking about taking tests, it is watching how the person trying to be a leader performs under pressure. How do they respond to people in the church clamoring for their spiritual help and guidance. 

Note that Paul says these men must also first be tested, but gives no extensive definition like he did the pastors; however, he does give us tests we can use.

Reproach is the Greek word anegklētos and, according to Thayer, means that they cannot be called into account. In defining reproach, the dictionary tells us that this has to do with someone being able to censure you. To censure is the act of blaming or finding fault and condemning as wrong.

So, how or why would someone want to blame or find fault with your choice of a deacon?

Our first example has Paul speaking of women, but we can apply it to men as well.

1 Timothy 3:11 NASB Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

We already covered dignity when we addressed the men. It is the Greek word semnos and means to be venerated for character, honorable. So nothing, in importance, has changed.

If we think that being a malicious gossip is reserved for women, then we are either naive or deceived as we men are quite skilled in this regard.

Temperate is another term that we covered, as it applies to abstaining from wine (in excess,) just like men.

Faithful applies to persons who show themselves faithful in business transactions, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties. This should be expected of anyone, especially since you are dealing with the church finances.

1 Timothy 3:12 NASB Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.

I included the emphasis (italics) provided by the NASB.

Note how it says only one wife. Many of the men I have known, and at least one pastor, have been married several times. There is no need to get all judgmental; simply remember that we are ALL broken. The hope is that somewhere over time, we get that brokenness fixed.

I will let you in on a little private information; I am on my third marriage.

How did my brokenness affect my marriages?

Well, with the first, I was a novice raised under highly religious legalism, and seriously co-dependent. If you don’t know what it is to be co-dependent, it means that you become dependent upon how others think and feel about you and, therefore, create a relational atmosphere in your mind based upon their perceived like or dislike of you. If a co-dependent marries a broken individual, this can be an explosive mix. Add to the marriage the fact that she cheated on me twice. I can only handle it once. Still not free of the co-dependency that affected me, I married a second time to a woman with two children. The short of it, I destroyed this one. I know now, that my psychological problems and inadequacies caused that marriage to fail. The third marriage only happened in the last few years, but my desire and attempts to be married were initiated over twenty years ago. With only two weeks before we were to get married, my brother-in-law, the associate pastor, told me that he was disallowed from marrying us and that we would have to obtain counseling from the lead pastor. Now mind you, that lead pastor and I had been involved in a strained relationship which initiated about ten years prior. The other part of this disaster came into play as he had also played a role in my wife’s ill-fated marriage to her first husband. Combined, he saw no hope for us and made hateful accusations concerning the fact that we had both been married previously and had failed marriages. That day he seemed to forget how he also had a failed marriage. Since a rather large religious organization ordained this broken man to be the pastor, I guess the fact that he had been married before was no hindrance to his being a pastor now.

So, this term only implies that you should NOT be married to more than one woman at a time.

“and good managers of their children and their own households.”

Again, I am looking at the italicized words, and the word “and” does not change the understanding of the sentence, however, the usage of the italicized word“their” creates the idea that these deacons should be able to handle children, period. What that means, I am not sure.

The word manager is proistēmi and means to be set over or rule. There is nothing here that means rule with an iron fist, but considering that parental attitudes, the influence of education; and, governmental themes and laws have created a generation of children that will refuse to comply with reasonable demands, like sit down. (And we get to watch children like this at the daily riot.)

We will finish this section with this.

1 Timothy 3:13 NASB For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Well is defined as honestly.

And to obtain is to get possession of.

While there is the possibility that you may obtain some reward now, here on earth, but the greatest probability will be at the Bema seat.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB

On several occasions, I have talked about this idea of being recompensed. When you look at the Greek, it conveys the idea of rewards and wearing a victor's crown as you might in the Olympics.

So if you serve, do it with honesty, and then allow Him to pat you on the back and say, well done, my good and faithful servant.

• Holding to the mystery of the faith.
• He who was revealed in the flesh,
• Was vindicated in the Spirit,
• Seen by angels,
• Proclaimed among the nations,
• Believed on in the world,
• And taken up in glory.
•  

This is the Messiah Jesus that I serve.

 

Anyone whose goal is to serve. 1 Timothy 3:1-7

 We closed out chapter two with Paul saying, "I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I'm not exaggerating—just telling the truth." 

While learning about faith and truth is vital, something else is just as essential, and that is the need to pray. 

Paul puts it like this, "in every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy." You can find this in 1 Timothy 2:7-8 NLT.

Controversy is an interesting word. The dictionary defines it as dispute; debate; agitation of contrary opinions.

The NASB uses the term dissension instead of controversy. If you look up the Strong's concordance for dissension, you get the word dialogismos, which means discussion, debate, and reasoning. 

The logical assumption on my part would be to say that this is where we get our word dialogue. Dialogue, of course, implies that the parties involved are having a meaningful conversation. Welcome to my world, where, in a household of those who claim to be "Christians," there is non-stop dissension and agitation due to contrary opinions concerning the mandates put on us by our California Governor, and faith. It is painful to watch, as faith means nothing.

By the way, my home has become a model of the church today, as with minor exceptions, the church lives in fear, and pastors, preach nothing to stimulate faith and boldness.

Paul opens chapter three, talking about those that aspire to be church leaders. The assumption here would-be pastors, but it can cover a variety of ministerial titles.

I wonder what Paul would think of us today. 

1 Timothy 3:1-7 NLT "This is a trustworthy saying: "If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position." (2) So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. (3) He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. (4) He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. (5) For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? (6) A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. (7) Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap."

• "If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position."

If it is your goal, or you are shooting for the role of being a church leader, you do well. That is if your motives are correct. 

What do I mean by that? 

I have seen many come to the mega-churches because that is where the money is. Maybe their motives were pure, and they truly wanted to shepherd people, but you find out quickly that shepherding is often complicated and uncomfortable. You also find out that the bigger the church, the more exhaustively elaborate the organizational system. Timothy found out about people and their eccentricities, because he was asked by Paul to put several of these unruly sheep in their place, and, if necessary, kick them out of the congregation.

If my mother had raised Timothy, he would have found that difficult to do.

The context of 1 Timothy chapter three has everything to do with someone seeking to be the shepherd of a church body.

Verses 2-7 cover the qualifications.

Paul tells us that if any man aims to be the overseer or pastor, it is a fine work he desires to do. 

An overseer, then, must be:

• A man whose life is above reproach.

Here we are in a Presidential election year, and it doesn't matter what side you are supporting, as your candidate will have their skeletons exposed. Of course, they will counter with dirt against the opposition and do their best to cloud the issue against them. 

What's the point here? 

Everyone has skeletons in their closet. Are you willing to take the heat for those skeletons? Maybe the best approach is to air out the laundry at the beginning, and then there will be no secrets that you have to dodge later on.

The Greek word translated as a reproach is anepílēptos and implies one who has nothing which an adversary could seize upon with which to base a charge. (WSD)

Why does this make me think of a church like Victory Outreach, where some of the Pastors will, in their testimonies, tell you that they murdered someone. It seems then, as if this reproach would be more of an active lifestyle thing, but not necessarily. 

• He must be faithful to his wife.

Sadly, most of us know of some pastor who has had an affair with their secretary or someone else. 

• He must exercise self-control.

Without some parameters, this could apply to anything, some being nowhere near as destructive as the others. The Word Study Dictionary states: "to be sober. Sober, temperate, self-controlled, especially in respect to wine." This does not give you any more crazed freedom with whiskey or other libations.

Not being an alcoholic, I don't understand the dynamics of alcoholism. You see, I put myself in recovery because I was getting far too comfortable, allowing rage to make my decisions for me. You might think I would understand the alcoholic better, simply because I attended recovery and led the anger group. But rage, for me, was a choice. With an alcoholic, I am not so sure there is a choice as it is an addiction.

If you did not check the background on this, new, potential pastor, then their propensity for excess might get past you and explode in all your faces.

• Live wisely, and have a good reputation.

The NLT has no direct reference to word origins in the Greek, and so I have to try to make an accurate comparison with something that does, like the NASB, or KJV. The words the NLT gives are, live wisely, and have a good reputation.  These are useful words for the moment, but several of these words overlap in their definitions and repeat a theme. The KJV uses terminology such as be vigilant, sober, and of good behavior. The Greek words used to make this sentence are nēphálios, sṓphrōn, and kósmios. 

If we look at kósmios in The Word Study Dictionary, we get this, "Plato presents someone who is kósmios, much like the citizen who quietly fulfills the duties which are incumbent on him and is not disorderly."

Plato associates such a person, as Paul does, with sṓphrōn, where he conveys the idea of a sensible, self-controlled person who voluntarily places limitations on their freedom.

Immediately I can tell you that some will lose their minds simply because Plato, the philosopher, is being referenced. There is no denying that usage, but if good, Godly sense shines through, then the goal is accomplished, and Paul calls for this very thing.

The end of this sentence above is quite telling and might severely impact those who choose to lead man-cave groups that have little to no restraints.

• He must enjoy having guests in his home.

Well, at least not in its present condition. The wife and I have talked about this very thing many times. 

• He must be able to teach.

Keep in mind that Paul already went through a long oration about how women are NOT to be Pastors. Honestly, I am not sure about the whys, but many hold to this standard. There is no doubt in my mind that there are women who can teach, and Beth Moore comes to mind as she did a teaching on Daniel that opened my eyes. However, such a harsh rejection is one reason I struggle with Pastor John MacArthur, as he rudely told her to go back home.

If you have sat under a Pastor who clearly could not hold an audience, you can understand what Paul is talking about. 

• He must not be, as the NASB states, addicted to wine, or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 

Yes, I know, this is a lot to cover in one breath, but, in many ways, we had already touched on this, when we covered self-control, because of the word pároinos. "The word-picture is that of an individual who always has a bottle (or wineskin) on the table and so signifies addiction."

Moving beyond the alcohol addiction, what about this idea of being gentle. The Greek translates to equitable, fair, gentle.

Equitable, according to Webster's means: Equal in regard to the rights of persons; distributing equal justice; giving each his due.

• "He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him."

I guess I just got lucky. When I had a family, I married into it, and then added two of my own. The step kids were well mannered and respectful. I never asked or demanded that they call me dad, but they did, and they complied when I called them. I suppose a lot of the respect I experienced came from their mother, who would back me up. The step kids parted from my fellowship as the price of divorce, but my girls also grew up without me, apparently having their choices forced on them. 

As for discipline, I did not count to whatever stupid number some people ascribe to before I asserted my will on them, as their count was included in the words, "I need you over here." I managed and coached the ball teams for both the step-son and the step-daughter, and as far as I was concerned, they were my kids. My daughters, without me in their lives, have shown me no respect. I am not sure the circumstances reflect a fair assessment of my ability to run a household.

I have only known one pastor who held the respect of his daughter, and it fair to say, he only had one child. All the others had children that were out of control. One pastor had to put his boy in a military academy in the hopes of straightening him out. I am not sure how that worked out; most I know that did that same thing, got back a child that was now rigidly antagonistic toward their father. 

Even worse, the passage ends like this, "For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church?" It seems like a logical assumption, doesn't it?

• "A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall."

Here's the logic. New believers may have enthusiasm, but do they have an understanding of the Holy Spirit? Probably not; it is not impossible, but not probable. The wisdom of the Lord and how to use it, come over time, with practice. 

A new believer, thinking they know everything, can and will become proud and irritating. I speak from experience as this is what happened to me when I was in the faith movement.

• "Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap."

This is not a command; however, this is a method of judging whether the man is what he says he is. You go to the references, those who know him, and ask some probing questions, as you try to find out what kind of character this person has. If the community feels like he is tense and irritable, then this is a trait that you are likely to experience.

The pastor of the church that I was recently attending, in his introductory message, informed us that he was a recovering pharisee. Most in the church that morning had no clue what that meant. To me, it said that he still had the potential to be another Saul, hopefully stopping short of having people stoned. He also told us that his dream for the church was to have it filled with forty-year-old couples. Considering that the church body's average age was around 60, that should have made those of us that are older speculate about what our potential we would continue to have there.

Note how this sentence “people outside the church must speak well of him,” in effect, it says that if the people don't speak well of him, he will be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap. 

To fall is the Greek word empiptō, which means to be entrapped by the community.

In other words, these people, having the dirt on this guy, may be able to destroy any good work he could do.

What's my take away? 

Don't hide any skeletons in your closet.

Perhaps, the knowledge of information that could destroy your ministry should cause you to step away from potentially being the pastor.

Maybe an alternate method of dealing with this is to keep your closet clean.

Remember, our secrets become our prison cells.