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TIMOTHY'S CONFESSION!
By the time Timothy received this first letter from Paul he had been around
the block a time or two. He had seen the church at its best in Philippi,
a church that had partnered with Paul from the very beginning. And he had
seen the church at Corinth; a church with so many problems it took a team
of pastors to deal with all the issues and even then it took a long time
to establish a healthy church. It was also the one church that was slow to
accept Timothy as a leader. In fact, for a long time they were more inclined
to verbally abuse him than to follow his advice.
So when Paul charged Timothy with the task of selecting elders in Ephesus
he was probably hesitant to say to them that "If they have their heart set
on being an elder, they desire a noble task." It's more likely that he
looked them square in the eye and said, "Look, I appreciate the fact that
you all have your heart set on being an elder but I have to be honest with
you it's not going to be a walk in the park. It's a demanding task with few
people really appreciating the long hours you put in on behalf of the church.
Then, especially here in Ephesus, you will need to confront false teachers
and those who have fallen into sin. Neither group will welcome you with open
arms, they may not even invite you into their homes. And at times you will
feel like you have your hands tied behind your back because sometimes you just
can't tell the full story to others - especially when it comes to personnel
matters. Furthermore, Satan knows how to target leaders and he will work overtime
in hopes of sidelining your work."
Continuing he would then say, "I must confess to you that being a leader
in the church doesn't feel like a noble task. Most of the time it just feels
like exhausting work as I deal with one problem after another. And while meetings
are necessary, they always seem to last twice as long as I expect them to last.
Generally the time is used well but the late evenings eventually wear me down."
"Then when I look at the requirements for someone being an elder I notice
two facts. The first, which is encouraging, is that the requirements are high
enough so that those with outstanding moral defects are excluded from office.
In fact, they are excluded from any responsible position within the church.
That's good! Otherwise Christ Jesus is dishonored not by one's words as much
as by one's behavior.
"The second thing I notice, however, unsettles me a little bit. I notice
that the requirements are low enough, so low that they are practically boring,
that almost any member of the church can qualify - even those people who tend
to rub me the wrong way. Look at it this way, if anyone can qualify then this
means that the Board will probably consist of just ordinary people who lack
- well, they lack nobility. So I must confess to you that when I sit down with
such ordinary people, who on occasion have really stupid ideas, I hardly feel
like I'm doing a noble task!"
It is for this reason that Paul concludes chapter 3 with a much needed reminder
of why serving the church is indeed the noblest of all task. In I Timothy 3:14
- 16 he writes:
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so
that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves
in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation
of the truth. 16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
God's household, the place where God dwells in each of us, is not the temple
of dead idols. Yes, the pagans in Ephesus once shouted "Great is Diana
of the Ephesians" for two full hours. But all of their shouting didn't
change the fact that this pagan temple in Ephesus was full of dead idols. Not
so the church! For within the corporate body of The Church of the Living Way
in Ephesus God dwelt within the believers - individually and corporately. I
say corporately for it is my belief that God can work within the corporate
atmosphere of a church as easily as he can work within the heart of an individual.1
It's role was, and is today, to be the foundation and pillar of the truth.
It is to keep a firm grasp on the truth in the midst of heresy and unbelief
while it holds the truth up for all to see. At this point, it is interesting
to note that pillars don't simply exist to hold the roof firm, they exist to
hold it up.
The inhabitants of Ephesus had a vivid illustration of this in their temple
of Diana or Artemis. Regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world it boasted
100 Ionic columns, each over 18 meters high, which together lifted its massive,
shining, marble roof. Just so, the church holds the truth aloft so that it
is considered by all who live in the world. As someone has put it, the church,
you and I:
Digest the truth.
Defend the truth.
Disseminate the truth.
&
Demonstrate its power in consecrated living.
Beyond all question, without controversy, at least within the church, this
truth about godliness is a great mystery. It is literally a "mega" mystery
unfathomable in its depth, overwhelmingly large in its scope, and unparalleled
in its significance. It is a "mega" mystery that has been revealed
to us. So while Union 486 consisting of the craftsman and other workmen in
related trades shouted "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians," the church
sang How Great Thou Art.
Well they didn't really sing How Great Thou Art. But they did sing a hymn that
could have very easily been entitled How Great Thou Art. For it was a hymn
that exalted Christ Jesus, the Head of this body of Christ that we call the
church. The implication is abundantly clear, great is the church because great
is its Head - Jesus Christ.
Paul introduced the song with the words "Beyond all question, the mystery
of our godliness is great." Or, "Beyond all question, the mystery
of our devotion is great." Here he calls Christ the mystery of our godliness,
or our devotion not only because had he not been revealed to us, we would not
have known him, but also because he transcends our comprehension of Him. The
best we can do to put his immeasurable greatness into words is to sing a hymn
that exalts his glory. And so Paul closed the first half of the letter with
this hymn in adoration of the Christ. It reminds us that when we serve the
church in whatever capacity we perform a noble task.
The hymn reads:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
The six lines of this hymn of adoration begin with a line about Christ's lowly
birth and end with a reference to his glorious ascension. In the course of
the hymn the contrast between this world and heaven are clearly drawn. The
flesh is contrasted with the strength-imparting Spirit. The sphere of the unseen
angels is contrasted with the nations. And the world in which we live is contrasted
with the glory above.
But the beauty of the hymn is that despite these regional contrast, or rather
because of them, Our God is exalted. For our God appeared among us by taking
on the very nature of our humanity so as to lift us up. He did so, so as to
take ordinary men and women and make them extraordinary so that as we serve
beside others in the church we are indeed serving beside those of noble character
doing a noble task.
1 See Acts 19:23 -41 (in particular v. 34). The Ephesian goddess Artemis (Diana in Latin) was the great goddess of fertility in Asia Minor. Silver craftsman made statues (shrines) of this Ephesian goddess, but because of the power of the gospel, because the gospel had been lifted up by the church, the business income (the money) of the craftsmen & related tradesmen had gone south.
IN STEP WITH TIMOTHY 10/30/05
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