The Overseer’s Fitness-3

The OVERSEER’s FITNESS-III—1Timothy 3:1-7

Attention:

As a kid, I remember capturing 3(4?) baby snapping turtles(one was named ‘Otis,’ but I can’t remember the others)/I placed them in a large washtub, fed them as best as I could, changed their (creek)water regularly, changed their sand, placed obstacles(rocks, sticks, etc.). In short I oversaw their living conditions so they would do as well as snapping turtles could.

I actually did a fairly good job of it for a pre-teen boy. In fact, I was wise enough to know when I should let them go, nearing winter.

I became a Fit Overseer of the snapping turtles...but my fitness began way prior to my catching them! It was ‘character’ related.

Likewise, oversight of the local church requires a certain fitness.

Need:

Paul related the moral qualifications for an overseer of the Church.

Character traits for overseers of the church are definitive/unequivocal.

?What character traits define an overseer’s fitness for office?

?How is an overseer’s fitness determined?

Characteristics by which an overseer’s fitness for office is decided.

In previous weeks we have found that An overseer’s fitness for office is decided by His...

1. DESIRE(:1)

2. BLAMELESSNESS(:2a)

3. MARITAL COMMITMENT(:2b)

4. EMOTIONAL STABILITY(:2c)

5. SELF-CONTROL(:2d)

6—An overseer’s fitness for office is decided by...

His ORDERLINESS(:2e)

Explanation: (:2e)

:2—A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;”

Not party to disarray.

A pastor/overseer must also be “of Good Behavior/Respectable” in that a degree of orderliness must rule his life.

He will not be one to live in chaos—emotionally attaching himself to every whim of life’s unexpected challenges— nor will he fall victim to the various upheavals in others lives.

*He is to be a leader not one who is lead by either his own flesh or that of others.

*This leaves him compassionate but not outwardly controlled...a shepherd responsive to, but not party to, the whim of those he leads.

He neither enjoys chaotic irregularity nor that which is not “good.” Some things must be set & expected...in his life & in the life of the church!

“Adornment”—

1Pet. 3:3—“Do not let your adornment be merely outward--arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel--”

We are to ‘adorn’ the testimony of God in Christ. Such requires an Orderliness inherent to such a Divine call.

“Preparation”—

Rev. 21:2—“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Such preparation requires an inherent Orderliness, which is to be imitated.

“Good behavior/Respectable”—kosmiov—Adj.—Well arranged, seemly, modest. Strong—Orderly, i.e. Decorous. Used 2X.

Argumentation:

Acts 16:12-13—“& from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; & we sat down & spoke to the women who met there.”

Acts 17:1-2—“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis & Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, & for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,”

*Mat. 6:1[NASB]—““Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

Mat. 6:2-4—““When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues & in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; & your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

This implies the presence of a continual repetition of such actions in the believer.

1Cor. 14:40—“Let all things be done decently & in order.”

Illustration:

No legitimate business can thrive when it is unorganized/No plan, no regularity, no goal=No business!/This is why a bank will not loan money to an upstart business with no written, clear-cut rules of order/His ORDERLINESS

TV’s “Shark Tank”/Potential businessmen present their new idea to a team of investors/The investors then decide whether they are in or out/Most leave with no support, because ironically, they have not thought thru how they are going to wisely use the money they are asking for/His ORDERLINESS

Application:

?Does your pastor exemplify godly ORDERLINESS?

?Your Pastor Fit for Office?

?How do you measure up regarding the same qualifications?

1Tim. 5:19—“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.”

7—An overseer’s fitness for office is decided by...

His OPENNESS Toward STRANGERS(:2f)

Explanation: (:2f)

:2—A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;”