Qualification for leadership and discipleship

1 Timothy 3 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. ² An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. ⁴ He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity ⁵ (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), ⁶ and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. ⁷ And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

⁸ 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. ¹⁰ These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. ¹¹ Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. ¹² Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. ¹³ 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.

¹⁴ I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; ¹⁵ but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how ^[l]one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶ By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:

He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

James 3:1 says:  Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.  In today’s text, Paul outlines the qualifications for being an elder or deacon in the church, saying: It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.  He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity  (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),  and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.  These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.  Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. 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.  So, there are many qualifications for being a either an elder or a deacon in the church. It is not my intention to review, discuss or interpret these qualifications. That is something that needs to be done by each individual church body or denomination. One of the things that is true in both of Paul’s lists is that he says the leader should not be a new believer; that they should be tested.

While time and experience may be important to leaders, it is not necessary for discipleship or for sharing the gospel. When Jesus called the disciples they were not men who were experienced in religious leadership. They were fishermen and tax collectors; ordinary men. Jesus called them with only one qualification. He said: “Follow Me.” Immediately they began to share Jesus with others. John 1:40-42 says:   One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.  There are qualifications for being a deacon or an elder. Not everyone is a teacher, a pastor, a prophet or an apostle, but to be a dsicple requires only that we respond obediently when Jesus says: “Follow Me.”

Look also at what it says in John 4:28-39, after Jesus revealed Himself to the Samaritan woman at the well:  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,  “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”  Then they went out of the city and came to Him…  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”   The woman at the well did not wait to be trained or ordained. She went immediately and told others about Jesus. Likewise with many others who were touched and healed, restored and delivered by Jesus, they immediately testified about the things that Jesus did. Being a witness of and for Jesus does not require that we be trained or that we wait till we are experienced and mature in Christ. It requires only that we are changed by Him; that we are touched, healed, restored and delivered by the power of the cross. We need not be Biblical scholars or experts in theology. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul who was himself a religious scholar; one who has helped to establish the doctrines of the Christian faith says:  When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.  Like Paul, all that we need to know is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; that He died for our sins and was raised from the grave so that in Him we would have life.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus decribes the qualification, not that we need, but rather that we receive. He says:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  The Holy Spirit, which we receive from Christ, gives us power to be His witness. It doesn’t stop there though. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to do whatever Jesus asks us to do. In John 14:12-14 He says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”  In Mark 16:15-20 it says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.   Jesus begins by saying come, follow Me. Then He says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”   He Himself, through the Holy Spirit, is the only qualification we need to do the works He calls us to.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for the redeeming and restoring power of the cross and for qualifying me to follow You in power.   Amen.