Morning Moments

1 Timothy 3:1 and 1 Peter 5:2-3

To bring you up to speed in our study let me give you the brief outline so far -

Chapter 1 - Sound Doctrine
The Truth in it
The Trust with it
The Treatment of it

Chapter 2 - Sacred Duty
Public Worship
Personal Witness

Chapter 3 - Spiritual Directives for Servants' Demeanor and Deportment
The Position - "Bishop" (pastors, elders, shepherds, overseers)
The Passion - "desires"
The Productivity - "good work"
The Prerequisites -
Honorable Reputation - We must be clear about this. Many, prior to their faith in Christ, have been scoundrels, but Jesus changes things, saves from sin, and give new life. The key here is that he must be "proved", and found to be "not a novice", which is to say that he is to be closely scrutinized for a period of time to established his true conversion and his committment to service and his gifts.
Honorable Relationships - Ministry is all about relationships. It is so easy to whip out a little booklet with a stranger and give a sales pitch about Jesus, but it is another thing altogether to plug into another's life for the gospel.
His companion - he is to be a one woman kind of man - one wife. I am so tired of so-called scholars trying to dance around this simple truth. It does NOT mean one at a time! It means that he can be held up as an example of committment to one woman - for life - his or hers. When enough church members and deacons starting divorcing, pastors followed suit.

Let's not make this say what it doesn't - It doesn't say he can't preach or teach. It is speaking of the office of bishop, pastor, elder, etc.. LET'S BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS. If God called you to preach then PREACH, although you may be disqualified to pastor. Why is this so difficult to understand? IF YOU DON'T MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS, YOU ARE NOT TO DO THE JOB. We understand that in the world, but fail to understand that in the church (local assembly) which is the subject here.

If you are a runner in the olympics (selected among thousands), and you are found to break the rules, you are disqualified. The same is true in other sports, business, and every other area of life. But the church is stuck on stupid about this. Why? Because we don't think God is serious about it. We don't think it is "fair" (a term we coined becaused we can't get our way). This has absolutely nothing to do with forgiveness! But we tend to think we can be forgiven and go right on sinning. DUH! I don't care what your degrees are, where you teach, preach, or whatever. God requires that a pastor be the husband of ONE wife, and the marriage committment is "so long as we both shall live", so Paul says in Romans 7. I've heard all the arguments, but any argument that contradicts Scripture is wrong. End of story!

When Charles Stanley's wife divorced him, there was such a stir about his remaining the pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta, but as far as I know, he was and has been faithfully the husband of one wife. The Scripture does say to believers that if the "unbeliever" departs, let him/her depart, but remain UNMARRIED. Stanley has remained unmarried.

We must stay with the Word of God and approach it without denominational bias or personal prejudice. "To your own master you will stand or fall", but we have opened the door to every kind of situation possible to justify the violation of Scripture and tradition.

Suppose your church treasurer stole from the offering. And suppose he genuinely repented of it and returned what he had stolen, would you think it wise to let him remain as the treasurer? Of course not! You may forgive him and he may walk with God again, but he has disqualified himself as treasurer. IF WE ERR, let us err on the side of safety and purity. AMEN.

BLESSINGS!