Welcome to the Daily Blade . The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit , the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil . Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson , and they stand ready to equip men for the fight . Let's sharpen up .
Speaker 2Welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade . This week I want you to keep one question in mind Do I have what it takes to be an overseer ? Do I have what it takes to be an overseer ? So and the Apostle Paul is actually going to help us with that question we're going to park in 1 Timothy 3 , verses 1 through 7 , this week . This is where the Apostle Paul is laying out the qualifications of an overseer of the church .
Speaker 2So for some context , paul is writing this letter to his mentee Timothy . It was written in the early 60s AD , after Paul's first Roman imprisonment , and Paul planted Timothy in Ephesus in order to straighten out the church that was in the city . So this church is very important because at this time in history , ephesus is the third most populated city in the world , only behind Rome and Alexandria . And the church in Ephesus is getting dominated at this time by false teachers , false preaching , weak leadership , generalized disorder and so on and so forth . So Paul is writing this letter to his sidekick , timothy , to help give him a playbook for what a healthy church looks like and the actions therein . So at the beginning of 1 Timothy 3 , as I said , paul's giving Timothy the qualifications of an overseer of the church . Overseer is commonly translated as bishop , but essentially this is synonymous with an elder of the church . So Paul wants Timothy to know precisely the kinds of people that should be guiding and caring for the local body of believers . So I'll go ahead and read 1 Timothy 3 , verses 1 through 7 , now in the ESV .
Speaker 2The saying is trustworthy . If anyone aspires to the office of overseer , he desires a noble task . Therefore , an overseer must be above reproach , the husband of one wife , sober-minded , self-controlled , respectable , hospitable , able to teach . Not a drunkard , not violent , but gentle , not quarrelsome , not a lover of money . He must manage his own household well , with all dignity , keeping his children submissive . For if someone does not know how to manage his own household , how will he care for God's church ? If someone does not know how to manage his own household , how will he care for God's church ? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil . Moreover , he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace , into a snare of the devil . So today we're actually going to focus on verse 1 , so I'll read it again here the saying is trustworthy If anyone aspires to the office of overseer , he desires a noble task . So right from the very beginning here , Paul elucidates that only men are to be overseers .
Speaker 2Okay , now , I know , I know that doesn't comport with modern feminism or what a liberal , apostate church would say , but there's simply no ambiguity in the language of the text . Okay , paul's about to lay out a bunch of different qualifications , but he's attaching those qualifications to one sex , males . Okay , he used the word for he here , not he or she , not they , them , not zur zur's he . So this next part shouldn't really need to be said , but for the sake of clarity I'll say it . This does not mean that men are more important to God than women are , obviously . If you think that you're dumb , so let me help you . God loves men and women equally right , but each is given different roles with different tasks to serve the greater kingdom of God . So if you are at a church that has female pastors , female elders or female bishops , might I be so bold as to suggest that you leave that congregation , because odds are that you're attending and funding what the Apostle John would call a synagogue of Satan and not a biblically-based church . So with all that out of the way , let's continue .
Speaker 2One of the first things Paul mentions is that overseers have ambition . He describes an overseer as someone who aspires to the role of overseer . So they are literally desirous of the task . So I've heard some people say that the only people that should end up being elders are the men that least want the gig , and so they liken it to kind of the reluctant leadership that we heard about , like historical figures like George Washington in the United States or Cincinnatus in Rome . But that's just simply not the case here . Paul straight up says that the desire for the task is noble . Now , we don't really talk about being noble much in our modern context , but , simply put , being noble just means that you possess very high and outstanding qualities .
Speaker 2Okay , now why would it be noble for someone to aspire to a role of high honor ? Right , I mean , that seems a little self-serving , does it not ? But therein lies the point . If you aspire to the role of overseer , you are aspiring to a role that is defined by how you serve others , not yourself . You see , the weight of what it means to be an overseer of the church is substantial . So it's not for the faint of heart , it's not for weaklings , Because you know , if your favorite descriptor of yourself is that you're a victim , that you're not qualified to be an overseer . If you put your own interests ahead of the interests of the , that you're not qualified to be an overseer . If you put your own interests ahead of the interests of the flock , you're not qualified to be an overseer . If you aspire to the role of overseer out of some sort of misguided , vain conceit , you're not qualified to be an overseer . So again I ask you do you have what it takes to be an overseer ? Keep that in mind as we work our way through the week .