Quality Of Potential Leaders

Title: Identifying Potential Shepherds

Purpose: To motivate the church to encourage potential leaders

Intro: Jorge Rodrigez - Meanest most ornery bandit on Texas Mexican border

Raided banks and race back to Mexico could never catch him

Assigned best Texas Ranger who caught up to him in a Saloon south of border I got you, stick em up and hand over the money Little guy at end of bar, “wait, he no speak english, I his amigo, I translate” Tell him if he doesn’t tell me where the money is, I fill him full of holes” Guy translates, Jorge says ”they got me. The money is under the bridge”Guy tells ranger “He says, go ahead big mouth, shoot, I not tell where money is”

We want faithful trustworhty translations. The Bible gives us some faithful sayings

• Trustworthy sayings: 2 Tim 2:11-13; Titus 3:4-8a

• Trustworthy/faithful sayings are ones people know, are repeated encouraged

• Another faithful saying: I Tim 3:1

• This is the basis of the next 7 verses in I Timothy 3

This morning’s passage is going to deal with identifying shepherds/guardians

Text says that anyone who desires guardianship desires a fine/good work

a. 2 words for good: agathos - upright, just ; kalos - fine, beautiful, honorable

b. Kalos is what is used. It is an HONORABLE work (not a position) he desires

It is followed by “dei ou” - It is necessary therefore...

a. Begins with the most general and moves to more specific

b. He must be “ABOVE REPROACH”, since the work is honorable, he needs to have an honorable character.

c. What follows is outlining what the qualificaitons are

d. Some call them qualities, some call them qualifications.

- They focus on two areas

-Internal - Personal, self discipline, maturity, character (qualities)

-External - Ability to communicate, teach, care for (qualifications)

- Gives public and observable qualities and qualifications

Proposition: An honorable work of gaurdianship calls for an honorable man with ability

what: qualifications/qualities

I. Husband of One Wife

A. He is to be above reproach in his marriage

B. What this means

1. He is to be married man and not single nor a female

a. No ajective for “married”, so would have to say “husband of a wife

b. However, text does not say “A” wife, but “ONE” wife

c. Text is saying more that just he is to be married and not single

2. Must not be a polygamist (married to multiple wives at one time)

a. Dt 21:15-17 - Polygamy was accepted practice, law regulated it

b. Even though it accepted practice, it was not the ideal

- “God made them man and woman, not women”

- Mk 10:6 - God made them male and female from Gen. 2:24

- Gen 4:19 - First practiced in the ungodly line of Cain

- Dt 17:17 - Kings were not to multiply wives for themselves

- Prophets used monogamy to illustrate God’s love for Israel

- Since it is not the ideal, elders should not be polygamists

- Hebrew word for 2nd wife lit. = “rival wife”

c. While this text excludes polygamy, it is probably not the main

thrust of what is being communicated

- Text does not say not to “multiply wives”

- Polygamy was not practiced as much in the first century

3. Must not be a re-married person, married only once in a lifetime

a. Divorce was rampant in 1st century (many documents - divorce decrees

b. However, text says nothing about specifically divorce or remarriage

c. What if a wife dies and the husband remarries?

- No longer husband of one wife. Does this go against God’s ideal?

- Rom 7:1-3 - Freed from marriage covenant by death (Rom 7:39)

- I Cor 7:15, 27-28 - Freed if unbelieving one abandons)

- 2nd marriage is sanctioned

- In either case, it is no reflection on a person’s character

d. Therefore, it cannot be a blanket prohibition against 2nd marriages

4. He is to be faithful to his one wife

a. Grk: “one man woman” (Pointed out be Lloyd Cain and Eugene Brewer)

b. This prohibits both polygamy and promiscuity

c. In 1st century, extra-marital relationships was an accepted practice

- Demosthenes described accepted rule of life: “We have courtesans

for the sake of pleasure, we have concubines for the sake of

cohabitation, we have wives for the purpose of having children

legitimately, and for having a faithful gaurdian for all

our household affairs.”

d. Those who had concubines in O.T. as well (I Kg 11:3 Solomon had 300)

5. All in all he is to be above reproach in his marriage

C. A person who is a known womanizer will not be a good leader or role model

1. Solomon had 300 concubines, his kingship was a disaster even though from