The Qualifications for Deacons, Elders, and Pastors-1 Timothy 3

Here are the specific verses I have started looking at and are some initial observations on this verses.

1. There is clear difference between overseer and deacons. The way I read this passage is that the overseer is more an authoritative/investigative body. Whereas a deacon is more servant. In many ways this would make sense in that within a church you would have a group of leaders who serve as the administrative leaders and another group who would serve as more of the doer type of leaders.

2. Why does Paul switch from the feminine to the masculine forms of the Greek word we translate overseer? He could have used the masculine in both cases right so why didn't he? If you have some insight on this I would sure appreciate it.

The Qualifications for Deacons, Elders, and Pastors

Currently, there is some significant debate over the roles of women in the church. For some time I have held a certain set of views. Lately I have been presented with some challenging questions. As a result I have embarked on a journey to review as many passages as I can find that deal with the qualifications for someone to be a Deacon, Elder or Pastor. My hope is to use this blog to share with you some of thoughts I have along the way. It is my hope that you will share some of your thoughts, feelings and insights as we go along. To get us started I wanted to post the list of verses I will be examining first.

• 1 Timothy 3:1-12
  
• Titus 1:5-9
• 1 Peter 2:25
• Ephesians 4:11
• 1 Timothy 4:11 6:2
• Acts 6:1-6
• Mark 10:42-45
• Phil. 3:12-15;
• Jeremiah 45:5
• Romans 16

My hope is to really explore the original greek meanings and context. It is my hope and belief that I was work through these verses that I will come out on the other end of this with a more thorough and biblically solid understanding of Biblical church leadership.

God's Plans and Our Arrogance

Nothing will stop God's plans other than God. There is nothing you and I could ever do on our own to slow down, change or stop God's plans! If you think you have any control over it then get over yourself and move on! This is not to say that God does not, in his infinite wisdom, allow out decision to impact the plans He has. Even in this though the power still remains with Him and it always will.

Have you ever thought about the Exodus and how it was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart! It was not Pharaoh it was God. I have always been curious as to why He did this. I realized today that I think a great deal had to do with desiring a personal relationship with Pharaoh. He wanted Pharaoh to realize who he was and who He was.

The other aspect of this great power is that God has stopped at nothing to show us His great and incredible love for us. He has given all that He can to prove to us by His actions His love for us. Jesus says again and again that it is His actions that proves He is the Son of God. Does not God's actions prove who He is.

Three Kinds of People

Some have argued that there are only two kinds of people in this world, saved and lost. While I do agree with this, I also think there is another way we can view the world. This perspective actually yields three groups of people.

Group 1
They care nothing about God. They are cold towards Him. They do not want hear anything about His truth or His plan for their life. This group includes people have a passion for other gods but not the One True God.

Group 2
They sort of care about God. They are willing to hear about Him and even talk Him. Many in this group have an incredible amount of head knowledge about God. Many in this group attend church on a regular basis and may even be active in some way at church. Yet God is definitely not first in their lives.

Group 3
This group passionately lives out their lives in submission to God. They love Him and His Word. To the best of their ability they seek to follow His will. The recognize that He is their sole source of peace and joy in this world. They understand that every good thing comes from Him. God is first on their priority list.

Which group are you in?

God desires us to be in Group 3. He wants us to live passionately for Him and when we are not doing that then we are living in sin.

My Family

It has come to my attention some of you may have found my various subject matters a little too heavy of Spiritual as compared to my wife's postings. In light of this I wanted to take a few moments and reflect upon my incredibly awesome family.

My wife is the most incredible woman in the world. She is a godly woman who desires to do all that God wants her to do. Her passion for children (both ours and others) is unmatched in this world. She also does an incredible job taking care of me, our boys and our home. She keeps us organized and on track. It is a scary thing around our house when she gets sick because all sorts of chaos happens. Beyond all of this she is the love of my life and I am so thankful that I married to her.

My oldest son is something special. He is incredibly smart and loves spending time playing puzzles with his daddy. He is getting to a wonderful age where he is really starting to understand more and of the world around him and simply loves exploring it all. He is so trusting of Angie and I it is amazing. He also has an incredible heart for God and loves going to church. He also has some the sweetest prayers. I hope that he never loses that sweet spirit.

My youngest is also something special. He is also incredibly smart and loves to climb all over the world. Right now he is a little ocd about buckles but his older brother went through a stage like that. His personality is really starting to blossom and I am looking forward to seeing more and more of who God made him to be.

We having a little saying in our family of "We are living the good life." That statement is so true. Despite all of the stress of giving Aiden shots, family sickness and other stresses, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that we are truly living the good life and I look forward to many more years of it.

Here are few pictures of the boys playing the backyard the other day.

The Conscience of Tough Choices

Each of us is born with a conscience. God writes it upon our hearts (Romans 1:20-21 & 2:15). From this each of us has the opportunity to follow this conscience and consequently to follow God's Law. Unfortunately, sin gets in the way of us being able to hear and follow this innate sense of right and wrong. When we accept Christ as Savior then we are able to truly follow our conscience (the Holy Spirit uses our conscience to accomplish His work).

When we are able to follow that which is written on our hearts then we will receive Praise from God and not necessarily praise from man. It is God's praise that we must yearn for. For He praises us for what He sees in our hearts and man praises us for what he sees on the outside (Romans 2:27-29).

In the end we must follow God even when that decision will be tough. We must follow Him even when it will make some people mad and yes we must follow Him even when it will hurt someone. Decisions in life can be excruciatingly difficult. This is especially true when it involves relationships. Some times we must stand-up for what is right and we must defend the honor and emotional well-being of those whom we hold most dear. When we do this many times we will find well intentioned people (believers and non-believers) will tell us that we are wrong or even ungodly. They are free to have that opinion and when it comes from a believer I do consider with great weight and prayer. I must do what I believe God desires me to do. If later I see that I was wrong then I will deal with that when the time comes. As for now I must follow Him the best I can and trust that He knows best and will provide all that I need.