“Whoever aspires to be a leader desires a noble task..” - Apostle Paul, Routly Translation

Introduction:

One of the most challenging aspects of having a healthy, growing organization is having healthy, growing leaders. If you believe as I do, that everything rises and falls on leadership, it's not hard to see why Paul approached this subject with his mentee, Timothy. These first 7 verses of the third chapter set the bar pretty high. But then again, it is for those who lead as members of the body of Christ.

Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

Paul writes, "Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap." (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

In all, that's 14 qualifications, some of which could be thought of as check boxes - either they have it or they don’t. But most could be a rating scale, say, from 0 to 10. And if everything does in fact rise and fall on leadership, the higher the level of leadership, the higher quality of the health of the church.

I would start by saying that Paul is not laying out an organizational chart or structure for the church. These are qualifications for two classes of leaders within the church: Those whose leadership requires teaching (Overseers, often referred to as Elders, and you could argue Pastors), and therefore adequate theological and Biblical training, and those who are not required to teach (Often referred to as Deacons).

First: Those who teach. Note the end of verse 2 says one of the qualifications is "able to teach." It's the only qualification which is absent from the qualification of Deacons.

But before he gets into the actual qualification, Paul writes, "Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task." It reminds me of the Proverbs, which are trustworthy, but not always 100% of the time true. They are usually, mostly true, but there can be exceptions.

Look at it this way: "Whoever aspires to be Prime Minister of Canada desires a noble task." That's true, but it doesn't mean that everyone who aspires to be PM is noble! The task is noble. The role should be considered noble, but the one fulfilling the role may come far short of it. So, if someone has aspirations of leading a church, or any organization, don't just accept it at face value! Delve into that person's character by examining these facets of his life. Some are attitudinal, some are theological, and some are behavioural.

And we're going to have to leave it right there, for now.

Next time we'll start to dig into these 14 qualities.

But for now, I'm going to ask you to pray for those who are currently leading in your church. Whatever you call them - pastor, elder, deacon, board member - pray that hey don't just aspire to the office, but that they aspire to the kind of qualities that are named here.

And pray for those who are leadership roles throughout your life - your employer, your manager, your parents, your spouse, and your political leaders.

I've never met any leader who wasn't human. They don't have a supernatural ability to live above the fray, to rise above the temptations that surrounds us all. They're only human, after all, but then again, so are you. And every one of us is called to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16).

So, pray for them. Every one of them.